No peace in the Universe! Into the corporate war in which the pilot of a combat robot, Jack Stanton, takes part, a “third force” intervenes—non-humans indiscriminately attack every participant in the conflict. Government special services manage to obtain information about an incoming assault by strangers—long ago alien beings who once ruled the planets of the sector and used humans as slaves. The outsiders have a network of long-conserved underground bases where garrisons are still stationed. All corporate wars are stopped, and the best units of the former enemies are transferred under the command of the Ministry of Defense. To preempt the outsiders’ decisive offensive, the military urgently prepares a counter-landing for deployment on the enemy’s space bases…