Ben has just completed a hard day’s work blowing up psychotic killing machines, when he’s acclaimed a hero and sent off to Ceres, an icy planetoid orbiting beyond Mars. He sees this as a promotion – his boss sees this as a way of getting him killed. Once he gets to Ceres he discovers his imminent demise is the least of his problems.
Invincible aliens are on their way from the far side of the Galaxy to eradicate all human life. And the only faint hope for the survival of the human race is a very special young woman, a human/AI hybrid who his bosses also want to destroy. The AI is of alien origin, and gives her “magical” powers. This helps her to fool and outwit the people trying to kill her. Ben would rather just shoot them.
He’s also skeptical about the mysterious Alien AI. Humanity’s own experiments with advanced AI led to the rise of the crazed warmechs that destroyed his family. But as it turns out, nothing is quite what it seems, and everyone has a hidden agenda.