In the future, man will take to the stars and in doing so place his existence in jeopardy-for not all of space's inhabitants will welcome us with open arms. The war with the zor is long over, and Admiral Marais, the legendary 'Dark Wing,' is long dead, though some of his companions on that campaign of xenocide live on. The Dark Path introduced a new alien force into the delicate balance of power, one that was the actual puppetmaster of the human-zor war and now wishes to bring both worlds under its shadow. But the same ancient philosophy of the zor race that prophesized the Dark Wing has also foreseen a hero that will meet the new menace-a hero now mystically embodied in a rebellious space commodore by the name of Jackie Lappierre. As armadas clash and outposts fall, the overly confident alien menace will confront a zor-human alliance that has been warned of their coming, though victory is hardly as certain for either side in The Dark Ascent.