Lieutenant Sven Tveskoeg is a killing machine whose DNA marks him out as less - or perhaps more - than human. He's survived everything a hostile universe can throw at him, but it's not luck that's kept him alive. A lucky man wouldn't be picked out of obscurity to serve in the army of his Emperor, OctoV, a machine-human hybrid who appears to be a teenage boy but is actually immeasurably older. Maybe Sven's survived out of sheer bloody-mindedness (although let's not forget his enhanced healing abilities and preternatural strength). He and his squad of auxiliaries are in Farlight, capital of the Octavian Empire, for a bit of R & R. But the emperor is missing and what begin as riots soon turn to slaughter as civil unrest erupts into civil war. And behind the double-crosses and Byzantine betrayals that threaten to topple OctoV from his throne is, of course, the U/Free, a galaxy-spanning empire with the technology of gods and the morals of schoolchildren. As anarchy takes over, Sven could choose stay low and do nothing. But when has he ever done anything that sensible?