Book excerpt: A GALAXY AFLAME… The universe has gone dark. Interstellar communications has been lost across the Inner Sphere, threatening the corporate giant ComStar—and maybe civilization itself. Risking everything on a last chance for survival, Comstar has kidnapped the engineering genius Tucker Harwell, hoping he can unravel the mystery of the blackout. But Tucker isn’t just working on why it happened... he’s also trying to figure out who’s behind it. Meanwhile, Khan Malvina Hazen solidifies her hold on a purified Clan Jade Falcon while hunting for the next enemy to crush under the talons of her brutal Mongol Doctrine. Hundreds of light-years away, Clan Wolf is carving out territory along the Lyran Commonwealth/Free Worlds League border—and Alaric Wolf is primed to make his moves in the halls of power. Plans years in the making begin to come together across hundreds of star systems, and secrets hidden for decades will finally be revealed while an empire goes up in flames…