Strength and Honor

The forced alliance between the interplanetary Empire of Rome and the United States-led Earth forces is shattered as Caesar Romulus declares war, striking at the U.S. Deep Space base, and then following with a direct attack against Earth. Merrimack has no choice but to retaliate with an assault on the Roman capital world of Palatine. In the midst of this chaos, the Hive renews its invasion. And even if John Faragut and his crew can survive all of this, the rogue Roman patterner Augustus – who has long been assigned to his own mission aboard Merrimack – flees the ship when war is declared, and no one knows whether he is only biding his time, waiting to meet Farragut in a final deadly showdown.