It's a race against time. The planet teeters on the brink of disaster and the weight of an entire civilization rests squarely on his shoulders. It's up to him. Apsu must lead the expedition to a new planet to get a precious mineral they need. It is their only hope to save their planet. A hollowed out moon their government had been using as a space station is used to make the trip to the new planet. While on the strange new world, the members of the expedition find that the crushing gravity makes their mining of the rare golden mineral hazardous. They suffer bodily injuries as a result, and they are forced to use a morally questionable solution to solve this problem. To make matters worse, unbeknownst to Apsu and his team this new planet was already occupied. And Kuru, the prince of the original settlers, is not happy with their arrival. Apsu's superiors manage to make an agreement between Prince Kuru and themselves promising to give Kuru a share of all the gold mined. But when the prince realizes that Apsu's government officials have been cheating him and a failed recon mission leads to Apsu's team getting caught sneaking into a military base, the prince declares war and destroys every attempt they make to continue shipping gold back to their home planet. Desperate decisions are made, and matters only get worse... To find out what happens next get the book.