Thousands of years before Hadrian Marlowe, humanity began settling the Norman Expanse, a vast, dense area of space near the heart of the galaxy, at the base of the Arm of Norma. A veteran of the Imperial Legions turned bounty hunter for the Wong-Hopper Consortium, Kalas has been tasked to retrieve some stolen terraforming equipment and retire the thieves that stole it. But Kalas’s mission will bring him face-to-face with the posthuman monsters that dwell between the stars.