On the eve of the biggest war games in military history!...The Earth's top brass were lining up on either side. The softliners were hoping that a show strength would be a hint to the alien Hukk that their encroachment on Terran soil must end. But the hardline boys had something more amitious in mind: an "incident" to provoke an all-out war and wipe out the ugly, crab-like Hukk completely. In Commodore Tandredi Dalton both sides thought they had found the right man - a battle-wise veteran young enough to take supreme risks, and wise enough to be trusted with top-secret orders. Now Dalton is entangled in a diplomatic plot-counterplot: secretly ordered to start a war - and not to...and forbidden to trust anyone on Earth - or anywhere else!