Dan Lenson takes his first command to sea, only to be given a damaged vessel, a ragtag crew, and an uncertain mission. He is to accompany the ship on its final official Navy voyage across the world, to be donated by the military to Afghanistan. But upon reaching port in Kirachi, Lenson is given a new set of orders: to take the ship to the South China Sea, where modern day pirates are endangering shipping. Lenson's job is to stop them, but there is a larger purpose behind his mission, and amid near-mutinous circumstances, a crumbling ship, and a reckless crewman, Dan must defend the Navy's and America's interests in China's waters.