"First Molly saves me but I don't get to thank her then she's dead and I can't thank her. Then I get here and she's alive but I don't know it's her so I don't thank her then she's missing with Cassidy so I still don't get to thank her. Hopefully she's not dead again and someday I will get to thank her. That's if I'm not already in some alien giant's stew pot. At least they left us some useful 'odds and ends' to fight those monsters with." -Major Naomi MacCaffrey, Acting Director of Logistics, Colonial Ranger Regiment, New Hope Colony, Tau Ceti 4, Canada In the mountain valley far from safety and with little hope of rescue where the transport Cairo crashed after being damaged by fire from alien weapons Commander Rick Cassidy has decided that the students from the New Hope Academy, some as young as 14, have to be treated as adults if they are to have a chance to survive to see their families again. These survivors are about to begin their training under the supervision of Gunnery Sergeant Molly Pickford and the handful of Ranger NCOs that survived the crash. They have all the gear including the weapons and ammunition that were for the two Ranger companies that went ahead to New Cancun with Colonel Fox.

Deadly predators inhabit the mountains where the Cairo crashed and Cassidy and the other Rangers have to make sure there aren't any of them living in their mountain valley before they can go outside the downed transport. Southport and New Cancun have fallen to the aliens and their next target is the river settlement of New St Louis where the Rangers hope to delay the aliens long enough for the town to be evacuated. Short on weapons and ammunition the 'unauthorized' cache of ammunition and other Ranger gear that Cassidy and Pickford have been collecting may be critical in keeping the aliens at bay until help can arrive. But first someone has to find out about it. The Rangers have to hold the aliens back until word gets to Earth and that won't be for several months at best. Then it would take months more for a relief force to get there. The starship Asia is inbound to the colony and concerned about the loss of communications with the colony. Rick Cassidy's daughter Ciara is onboard and has been helping the Rangers onboard improve their scores practicing fighting demon wolves in the ship's Virtual Reality trainer.

She is the ship's record holder for top scores at both Levels IV and V, the levels the Rangers, all professional soldiers, train at and has impressed them with her ability to help them improve their own scores.