It’s been less than three weeks since the alien invasion of the New Hope Colony began and a week since the aliens were defeated at the Battle of McKinley Pass. Now, the aliens are building up their forces to attack Winter Haven. The colony transport ship Marco Polo has begun its journey to the colony carrying over 5,000 passengers, including 2,200 colonial rangers, one of them is Rick Cassidy’s sister LT Bridget O’Brien.

It’s time to begin training the students, and teachers from the New Hope Academy who survived the crash of the Cairo to fight like colonial rangers. They have just two months to get ready before the lake and river in their mountain valley freezes and the deadly demon wolves come down to eat them, and the aliens may come before that.

The Rift and their Andoval mercenaries are licking their wounds after being defeated at Winter Haven. The Rangers see an opportunity to go on the offensive even if it's just in a limited way. Major Naomi MacCaffrey, Captain Zoey Bryant, and a group of other officers from the Hot Tub Brain Trust have proposed a raid on the New Cancun Ranger Base to recover material needed for the defense of the colony. The initial proposal has now grown into a bigger mission and Zoey Bryant will lead the ground force.

In the mountain valley, far from safety and with little hope of rescue, where the transport Cairo crashed after being damaged by fire from alien weapons, Commander Rick Cassidy has decided that the students from the New Hope Academy, some as young as 14, have to be treated as adults if they are to have a chance to survive to see their families again.

The Rift have begun their invasion of the New Hope colony. They've shot down the 850-ft long transport Cairo which crashed in a mountain valley with CDR Rick Cassidy, GSGT Molly Pickford, and 50 female students from the New Hope Academy. The aliens have taken Southport and set their sights on their next target, New Cancun, as thousands of refugees pour into the western settlements.