As the Spider Wars intensify and mankind remains trapped in a losing battle against a mechanical race capable of tearing apart entire planets, a group of hardliners overthrow their commander in a desperate bid to get the war back on track. But when the commander's replacement is murdered, Special Agent Von Kodiak discovers the prime suspect is one of the Fleet's own, a psi-marine and decorated hero - a hero killed in action, months ago, at the same time his twin sister vanished from the Fleet Academy, where she was training to join her brother on the front. As Kodiak investigates, he uncovers a conspiracy that stretches from the slums of Salt City to the floating gas mines of Jupiter. There, deep in the roiling clouds of the planet, the Jovian Mining Corporation is harbouring a secret that will tear the Fleet apart. But there is something else hiding in the Jovian system. Something insidious and intelligent, machine-like and hungry. The Spiders are near.