Light Bringer

How it opens

Darrow and a small band of survivors from Mercury are marooned on a trash moon, living in an old Sons of Ares base and patching up a crippled corvette, the Archimedes. Cassius left six weeks ago with Aurae to fetch the helium the ship needs, and the castaways have no news of the war. Harnassus expects the reactor to be ready in time, but Screwface, scalped and missing a leg since Heliopolis fell, has given up hope. After an hour of sword training while the computer reads Aurae's book aloud in Virginia's voice, Darrow returns to his quarters, where the base's proximity alarm warns of an inbound Votum torchShip.

Who you meet early

• Darrow O'LykosDarrow lost his Free Legions on Mercury and fled with only a small band of survivors. They are now stranded on the trash moon Marcher-1632, cut off from all news of his wife, his son and the war.
• Thraxa au TelemanusThraxa au Telemanus is among the survivors on Marcher-1632. No space suit fits her, so she manages the work shifts from inside the base and often complains that she would rather have died by her own hand in Heliopolis.
• Cadus HarnassusCadus Harnassus, the Orange Imperator who served under Darrow on Mercury, leads the mechanics repairing the reactor of the Archimedes. He warns that Aurae could be a Rim spy, though he made her a lyre and never missed her songs.