The battle for Star Central has just begun. And already the weapon on which the Fleet's victory hangs, the mammoth space station Stephen Hawking, is under constant assault. Outside its heavily shielded hull, a swarm of Ichton crafts hovers menacingly. And within the pseudoplanet's stratified decks, the pressures of combat and close quarters turn the Hawking's overstressed crew into the enemy's most dangerous advantage...
David Drake is an American author of science fiction and fantasy literature. A Vietnam War veteran who has worked as a lawyer, he is now one of the major authors of the military science fiction genre.