Present day Earth's first contact with an advanced extraterrestrial race doesn't go how people thought it would. There's no invasion, no unfortunate probes, and no misunderstanding. The Lumenarians have come desperately seeking our help. Light years away in the Large Magellanic Cloud, a shadowy race known only as the Forsaken is decimating their people, and the Lumenarians have arrived on Earth to recruit humankind as soldiers. Equipped with new weaponry and biotechnology that gives them devastating abilities, the Terran volunteers are thrust into the middle of a vicious interstellar war begun when people were still firing muskets. Follow Will Reach, a damaged ex-special forces alcoholic with nothing to lose; Sarah Li, one of Earth's brightest minds trying to find her place in the stars; and Arthur, the enigmatic leader of the recruitment mission and commander of the flagship, Albatross. But with inner demons, inter-species struggles, and self-doubt plaguing the human/ Lumenarian alliance, their ability to overcome the Forsaken looks increasingly grim as the battles loom near.