"A soldier's destiny is to die young and unexpectedly." General Jason Wander is the newly hailed savior of mankind....depending on who you ask. By the time he turned 25, Jason found himself in command of the troops on Jupiter's largest moon, Ganymede. He helped win the battle that saved Earth from being overrun by its first and only alien threat, the Pseudo cephalopod.

A handpicked army of 10,000 orphans fought the Slugs (as the grunts who fought and died on Ganymede called them). Of those, only 700 returned to Earth. Among the dead was Jason's lover, pilot Pricilla Olivia Hart. Jason returns to a hero's welcome, but decides to leave the service as soon as the parades and handshaking are over. However, the government has another plan entirely.

A war-weary Earth needs a media hero to bolster their spirits and promote the government's new agenda for a costly reconstruction that will include massive cuts to the Earth's defense budget. Unwillingly Jason takes on the job. He tries to warn the powers-that-be that it's unlikely the Slugs have been eradicated, but the glad-handers in Washington don't want anyone, especially their handpicked golden boy, upsetting the populace by suggesting the Slugs are anything but extinct. When a new and immediate threat appears, Earth is unprepared to fight back. Jason takes a small band on a nearly impossible mission to confront and destroy the new invasion. The soldiers pray for the best but are aware they probably won't be coming home. Their only hope is that their sacrifice to save the Earth won't be in vain.

This sequel to ORPHANAGE is as fast-paced and exciting as its predecessor. At the heart of Buettner's story lies the camaraderie of the "plain soldiers," the men and women who fight and die together.