The Star Kingdom of Manticore is once again at war with the Republic of Haven after a stunning sneak attack. The graduating class from Saganami Island, Royal Manticoran Navy's academy, are going straight from the classroom to the blazing reality of all-out war. Except for the midshipmen assigned to the heavy cruiser HMS Hexapuma, that is. They're being assigned to the Talbott Cluster, an out of the way backwater, far from the battle front. The most they can look forward to is the capture of the occasional pirate cruiser and the boring duty of supporting the Cluster's peaceful integration with the star kingdom at the freely expressed will of eighty percent of the Clusters citizens. With a captain who may have seen to much of war and a station commander who isn't precisely noted for his brilliant and insightful command style, it isn't exactly what the students of Honor Harrington, the "salamander", expected. But things aren't as simple-or tranquil-as they appear.