Book excerpt: For more than a year, "divine leader" Daoshen Liao has relentlessly pushed his Capellan Confederation forces in their invasion of the Republic. Now the time has come for the next stage of his conquest - a conquest that will begin not with an enemy, but with his own family... Raised among royalty in the Magistracy of Canopus, where the superiority of women is a cultural axiom, Danai Liao-Centrella possesses all the confidence necessary for her to ascend through the Confederacy ranks, despite having to contend with the constant machinations of her maniacal brother, Daoshen. But when her latest mission ends in defeat and personal disgrace, Danai will face the greatest challenge of her life. Chancellor Daoshen rewards her failure by giving her a battalion of her own and a brand-new battlefield. And Danai is about to learn that in service to the state, even family comes second to safeguarding the Capellan Confederation.