The colonial war on Venus begins to turn in favor of the Ishtarian aggressors, who capture the abandoned capital of Aphrodia. As refugees flee from the city, a full Ishtarian armored division turns toward the refugee camp and oxygen plant defended by Ken Seno and the tattered remnants of the Hound Battalion. The Hounds must make a fateful choice: Do they face certain death in order to give the refugees time to escape, or do they live to fight another day and leave the helpless refugees to the not-so-tender mercies of the armies of Ishtar?