Six years after Lt.-Colonel Anton Vereshcagin's 1st Battalion, 35th Imperial Infantry Regiment (Rifle) quelled the revolt that marooned it on Suid-Africa, another fleet appears in the skies: Earth has not forgtten Suid-Afrika, nor has the Japanese company that once ran the planet.The fleet is to reintroduce what the Japanese think of as order - ever higher production norms for the metals that make interstellar flight possible, and compelled obedience to the company's rules. There are no Caucasians among the new forces, and even the soldiers of the Manchurian regiment are led by the Japanese.Despite Lt.-Col. Vereschagin's efforts to prevent bloodshed, war eventually begins, and he sides with the colonists. Vereschagin realizes that Tokyo cannot overlook the loss of a planet to rebellion; it has an interstellar empire to protect. No, Tokyo must be convinced that further attacks are dangerous - and to do that, Vereschagin has a plan....