Synopsis: From the back cover of the DAW first edition: "The opening salvo - Bakunin was the only human-colonized world which would not allow itself to be controlled by an form of government - whether a home-grown one or that of the Confederacy itself. When it TEC, the covert branch of the Confederacy, decided to do something about Bakunin, Colonel Klaus Dacham was the man they put in charge. And seeking revenge on his brother, Dominic Magnus, he chose as his opening target Dom's own company, Godwin Arms and Armament. Dom had thought it was a personal was, and though he'd lost the first battle, he, his allies, and his surviving employees had been carefully planning their own return strike. Then they received a desperate message from one of their own, Kari Tetsumi, a message that revealed what the TEC was really up to on Bakunin. Suddenly the stakes went far beyond personal revenge. For Bakunin was about to become an unwitting pawn in a Confederacy-wide power struggle. And to the mastermind behind the entire plan, it really didn't matter whether anyone on the planet was left alive at the end so long as the TEC achieved its goal..."