Denounced, humiliated, imprisoned, tortured. Taeris is in the deepest, darkest hole the Republic can find for him. Sent for education and punishment for the crime of independent thinking he is sure he will be forgotten forever and left to die. But then the Republic faces a threat from within its borders and Taeris may be the only solution they can find. After all, who better than a rebel to understand the mind of a rebel? Called upon to save the Republic that denounced him, Taeris is thrown into the front-lines of a desperate war of survival, but survival may not be what the Republic deserves. The first book in the Republic Series, this is a story of future wars, told by a future warrior.