As a Rogue, the Saeire Insu warship Failure is free to chart course wherever its crew pleases. Their mission, as it stands for all Rogues, is to do as much damage as possible to the Imperial Navy in order to clear the way for the rest of the Armada.

Ske T'Chel--"Sketch, " as he is known to his friends--is a member of this crew, and is also a member of the XVI Angeli Magna Coronados, the ultra-elite troop of warriors trained in the mystical martial art known as the Daen-Cer-Tain. As such he is trained to kill thousand-pound demons in a split-second, his blades moving so swiftly that they cannot be seen by the untrained eye. He was Melody Singleton's personal guard before the Armada crossed the Tangent to launch the Revolution, a great honor bestowed by the king himself.

As Failure sails deeper and deeper into ever more dangerous Imperial waters, they become aware of a dire threat that could squash the Revolution before it gains any consequential momentum. To Failure comes the message from Command: hunt down the fast Imperial warship carrying secrets that could doom the Saeire Insu to total destruction.

The chase exacts a dear price on Failure and her crew--but particularly Sketch himself, who finds himself, by virtue of his close relationship to the Apprentice, burdened with a new honorific, conferred by none other than the mysterious Sankyanness herself. She calls him Faithbearer. And to him she entrusts the ultimate fate of the Saeire Insu.