David Feintuch

An alien attack and an admiral's betrayal leave a wounded Commander Nicholas Seafort stranded aboard a doomed ship of arrogant colonists and violent street children. His crew is rebellious, his ship short of weapons, fuel, food. Easy prey for the alien predators now massing to attack. Only Nick Seafort's will stands between his charges and violent death. But is he merely postponing their end?

A hideous accident kills the senior officers of UNS Hibernia--leaving a terrified young officer to save three hundred colonists and crew aboard a damaged ship on a seventeen-month gauntlet to reach the colony of Hope Nation. With no chance of rescue or reinforcement, Nicholas Seafort must overcome despair, exhaustion, guilt; he must conquer malfunctions, mutiny, and an alien horror beyond human understanding. He must save lives. And he must take them, in the name of duty.

Naval Academy Commandant Nicholas Seafort is a legend to the masses, an idol to his hundreds of teen cadets. They don't see the tormented soul of a man who believes that merciless duty has led him to betray every friend he ever loved, every ideal he ever cherished. After a lifelong ordeal, Seafort needs time. Time to reflect. Time to heal. Instead he is pulled into a maelstrom of crisis, corruption, and danger as the helpless, unprepared Earth faces annihilation from a horde of alien attackers. Alone at the center of a cosmic apocalypse, Nick Seafort must face his final battle . . .And his most unforgivable sin.