In the wake of the Shroud’s collapse, the Fourth Fleet pushes into the unknown depths of the Shackleton Expanse. A frontier of new alliances, forgotten dangers, and uneasy opportunity.

The USS Thunderchild is among the first to venture out from Framheim Station, tasked with deploying subspace relays to enable communications between the station, exploring vessels, and the newly charted systems. But when a distress call lures Captain Jast to the Paldor System, a mission of exploration turns to confrontation.

There amid the roaring tempests of Paldor’s gas giant, General K’Rath of the Klingon Empire claims the system and its inhabitants, the Secundi, fall under Imperial protection, defying the Khitomer Accords and threatening the fragile peace.