The president is dead. The outer colonies are in revolt. One man will make himself emperor. The Commonwealth must stop him...or fall.

In the chaos after the death of President Barnes and the revelation of his betrayals, Brad Madrid has been imprisoned because of his relationship to the pirate known as the Phoenix. His relationship takes on a new edge when the Phoenix declares himself Lord Protector of the Outer Worlds - the unquestioned dictator of a nation born to wage war against the Commonwealth.

Released from his prison and drafted into the Commonwealth Navy, Brad is sent out to wage war against his last living relative. As his own home, Jupiter, tries to step aside from the conflict, he finds himself with a sparse list of allies - and facing a far more powerful enemy than he’d ever feared.

The Phoenix promised that he would be emperor. As years of hidden work comes to fruition, Brad isn’t sure he can stop him. He knows only one thing: brothers or not, he will defy the Phoenix to his last dying breath!