Mankind has expanded to the stars, settled resource rich worlds, and come to a tense peace with strange, alien civilizations. Hyperpowers vie for dominance, not on apocalyptic battlefields but in the shadows with small teams of highly trained warriors. In the Uprising, the resurgent Japan has rebelled and broken away from the megalithic StateEmpire of Yu Jing, fighting to forge their own destiny.

Takeshi "Neko" Oyama, a warrior renowned for near mythic survival in the face of overwhelming odds, grapples with his growing legend. Suddenly he is drawn into a clandestine operation back to the planet Shentang and the island of Kuraimori; territories now brutally occupied by Yu Jing. There he will have to rely on Mizu, whose yakuza ties have kept her gang alive after being left behind during the Uprising. She is called once again to gather her team, riding into battle alongside those who abandoned her and the war correspondent Bianca. Bianca's reporting set the Japanese Uprising in motion and earned her the ire of the StateEmpire. Now the award winning warcor is drawn back into the fray, risking death at the hands of those she wrote into infamy. All the while, the mysterious Hassassin Yasbir has started the avalanche that will bring them all together for a mission that is far more than the rescue operation it seems to be.

What secrets lay slumbering in occupied Kuraimori? Will the Yu Jing forces find them first?