A reluctant young soldier must fight her way through hell to save the Interstellar Union and the man she loves.Mala Dusa Holloman pledged her life and sacred honor to the Union when she joined the Reunification Commission, but the Academy changed during her time there. No longer a center of scientific learning, it became a training ground for Earth's officers corps, its graduates destined for the front lines as conflict engulfs the Interstellar Union.The Tarakana are enabling the war. Alien, secretive, most are tearing the Union apart, feeding off human desire for blood and revenge. One Tarakana colony stands against them. Merrimac feeds on nobler emotions. Both sides are breeding humans for their own preferred traits. Mala Dusa and her lover, Samuel Coleridge, are Merrimac's latest generation, and their unborn child is just what the Tarakana want. All of the Tarakana.Merrimac has shown Mala Dusa many alternate futures, trying to coax her to his chosen path. In only one can she and Samuel survive after their child is born. The path is hazy, but they can live if she remembers the steps. One mistake could cost everything - their lives, their child, and humanity's future.