"A human? What's a human?" The universe is teeming with life. Millions of alien worlds are ruled (just barely) by a sprawling government called the Synod. In the Synod, the old Council takes advantage of the masses to grow their wealth and power. But a new species is about to change everything. They're called humans, and no one has ever heard of them. How powerful can they be? On an arid world at the fringe of the Synod, an exile named Caly is drowning in debt. Fortunately, she has a plan to cheat and win at an infamous gun-dueling tournament. But when Caly faces a new xeno - a human, more powerful than any xeno she's ever seen - her dreams of wealth crumble. According to the human, money is the least of her problems. He says a Great War has begun, and it will destroy the Synod...