The Echo is broken...Janet Chamberlain, an aging field operative with the Northern Democratic Union-and Jim Atteberry's ex-wife-is compelled to undertake one last mission: to save their daughter Mary from those who will stop at nothing to scrape her mind for the alien secrets she holds. Chased by the ruthless Benedikt Winter of the Prussian Consortium, and coveted by Titanius CEO Clayton Carter, the Atteberry's search for a way to remove the alien Keechik's knowledge that is destroying Mary's brain. But time is running out . . .Against a backdrop of increasing global tension and deteriorating peace in North America, Jim desperately pursues a solution while Janet contemplates the unthinkable: kill their daughter to protect the future of all humanity.As galactic warfare breaks out, the Echo is conscripted to offer Mary one last chance at life, but Winter is determined to seize both her and the ship to promote his own diabolical vision of the future. Can humanity survive these final three days of darkness?