The Colonial Union... disappeared. Half a century ago, the Blackout struck, turning a complex system of human worlds into islands, separated from each other by abysses of distances. But the worlds themselves have not become smaller - there are still thousands of them, and on each there is something mysterious from the inheritance of the lost races - the Forerunners. The Astarte colony was no exception. Arid Set and jungle-covered Vaal are antagonistic planets with their own laws and “skeletons in the closets.” Guardians, “copiers”, bionium, aggressive biomechs and an equally aggressive Corporation - and in all this mess stews a simple corporal of the “jungle infantry” Mike Bovey. After all, surviving in the humid hell of Baal is no easier than in the concrete jungle of the Capital on Set. And it doesn’t make much difference who to confront – the nightmarish creations of the Forerunners or the banal bandits, either from the slums or from respectable areas. Because there is such a word - necessary. And for some reason the stakes are always high – human lives. The villainous fate will not agree to anything less.