Struggling with outdated systems and claim-jumping corporate interests in the deeps of the Kuiper Belt, a family on board the cramped mining ship El Cavador spots a rapidly approaching object moving toward the solar system that triggers a catastrophic war.

Dabeet Ochoa is a very smart kid - top of his class in every school. But he doesn't think he has a chance at Fleet School, because he has no connections to the Fleet. That he knows of. At least until the day that Colonel Graff arrives at his school for an interview. A new angle on Card's bestselling series, telling the story of the Fleet in space, parallel to the story on Earth told in the Ender's Shadow series.