Battles have been lost. Enemies stranded. The Conflict continues. The Ninth Fleet returns to Mars after barely surviving its last brush with the Va'alen; their enemy now marooned in the Centauri system after a daring mission far behind enemy lines to destroy their gateway device. Rearmed, refitted and hopeful that they pack enough punch to take on the superior foe, the human fleet heads back to pit their new ships against the Va'alen swarm. But when they get there, they find the whole sector of space empty. As they begin building a space station as a foothold in the region, the Ichi is sent ahead to explore, when a worrying discovery leaves Commander Brandt and her team stranded and cut off on the surface of a strange and hostile moon. Fighting against the clock, they face a danger the fleet might not survive, and treachery threatens everything they've built. After Contact there is inevitably Conflict. Continue the Expansion series today. From Devon C Ford, the bestselling author of the hit PostApocalyptic series, After It Happened.