Lieutenant Commander Simon Crowe has given his life to the Solomani Confederation Navy, and that's no easy thing in an upstart confederation eclipsed by the massive Third Imperium. But Crowe, like the rest of the Solomani people-descendants of Earth's original humans-comes from hearty stock. Given command of the patrol frigate Stormshadow, Crowe will be put to the test much sooner than anyone anticipated, even in a region of space where civil war is never more than one ambitious young officer away. When the Zhongguo system exhibits signs of shifting allegiances, Crowe and the Stormshadow are put in a delicate position: defend the system from itself, defend the Solomani Confederation from the Third Imperium, defend himself against his own unsteady reputation . . . and in the depths of space, where a commander's quick thinking can mean the difference between war and peace, life and death, Crowe doesn't have the luxury of a single mistake. Simon Crowe can't just sit back and watch, he has to plunge himself, his ship, his crew, and his empire, into the very Shadow of the Storm Traveller game designer and one of the evolving Traveller Universe's most vocal champions Martin J. Dougherty adds his storytelling talents to a new line of novels based on one of the greatest role-playing games of all time.