The year is 2126. Unknown to the human colonists and the Colonial Rangers at the New Hope Colony on Tau Ceti 4 the alien Rift are finally ready to strike the first blow in their quest to remove the humans from the planet they'd claimed long ago but had never colonized or exploited themselves. Some of the senior Rangers however harbor some suspicions about the mysterious "fog" that has enshrouded a group of islands off the southeast coast of the Alpha continent for several months. Now the Rift are ready to strike.

In 2117 a Rift starship had discovered that humans have invaded a planet they consider theirs. The humans are judged extremely dangerous and must be eliminated. It will take a while for them to return to reclaim their property. LCDR Rick Cassidy and GSGT Molly Pickford have become very important to the New Hope Colony.

The story of the alien Rift invasion of the New Hope Colony begins on Earth in 2122 when all too familiar problems and events cause a chain reaction that will have repercussions on two worlds. Fleeing for their lives and to protect his family Navy, Lieutenant Paul “Rick” O'Brien and Marine Staff Sergeant Susan Mollison “Molly” Bennett will have to board a starship for the long voyage to Earth's first extrasolar colony under new identities. 

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.

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.