More than two hundred years after Skydark, the hybrid barons cling tenuously to their waning influence, losers in an internecine war to control nuke-shattered America. A new thread has emerged, one whose intimate knowledge of pre-Dark technology fuels a grim new bid for power. To begin, he must penetrate the central nerve node of a small and dedicated band ow warriors fighting to free Earth's survivors of long-ago devastation from slavery and misery...

Cryogenically preserved before the nukes obliterated their own way of life, an elite team of battle-hardened American fighting men have now been reactivated for duty, commanded by this supreme manipulator. Their first mission in a tortured new world: move in and secure Cerberus Redoubt and the mat-trans network at any cost. Ina world where trust is hard-won and harder kept, Kane and his fellow exiles must convince Team Phoenix that they are on the same side—for humanity and against the hybrids and their willing human allies.