Lieutenant Commander Kaycee "Pecos" Jenkins is a navy strike fighter pilot and a damn good one, with three kills and a serious medal. But despite her best efforts, to her twin adolescent daughters she seems missing in action. And she has a secret she fears will destroy her Top Gun reputation. On a mission in the Indian Ocean, cruiser skipper Captain Mort Greenhouse discovers that crucial information is being withheld from him. He fears he's being set up for failure-by his boss. Many command levels above them, Admiral "Popeye" Finnegan labors to shake the fleet out of its peacetime mindset as a Chinese invasion of Taiwan looms. He orders Jenkins, Greenhouse, and thousands of others to carry out Operation Precipice, which he hopes will head off the invasion, but may trigger it.