Patrick Fitzpatrick III, grandson of former Chairman Maureen Fitzpatrick, was called back to active duty. He began as a spoiled recruit and became General Lanyan's protege, following the General's orders, he himself shot down Raven Kamarov's cargo ship. After the disastrous battle of Osquivel against the hydrogues, however, he was rescued by Roamers. He and other EDF survivors were not allowed to leave Del Kellum's shipyards in the rings of Osquivel, because of the information they could reveal about the Roamers. During that time, Patrick gained a new respect for the Roamers and fell in love with Kellum's daughter, Zhett. But duty required him to help his comrades escape. Though he acted as an intermediary with the EDF and allowed the Roamers to get away, Zhett resented him for betraying her and her clan. Later, as Patrick recovered on Earth, he urged his grandmother and others to make peace with the Roamers. When the EDF demanded that Patrick join in the defence of Earth again, he stole his grandmother's space yacht and flew off in search of Zhett.

The people of Theroc and their green priests also resented the tactics of Chairman Wenceslas, yet the great worldforest mind - speaking through the wooden golem of Beneto - insisted that the conflict was vaster than human politics. The verdani had barely survived an ancient war against the hydrogues, and now the worldtrees had to fight once more, forming an age-old alliance with the wentals.

Jess Tamblyn, impregnated with wental energy, came to Theroc and allowed elemental water to combine with the world-trees to create huge verdani battleships. After joining with the Beneto golem and other green priest volunteers, the living trees uprooted themselves and flew into space to join the battle. The wentals would also strike directly at the hydrogues, provided they could be delivered to gas-giant planets. The Roamers brought a large conglomeration of ships to Charybdis and other wental worlds, filled their vessels with the potent water, and launched to hydrogue-infested worlds.

Facing the same terrible war, Mage-Imperator Jora'h prepared to defend the Ildiran Empire. Generations ago, Ildirans had begun a sinister breeding programme on Dobro to create a telepathic saviour who could form a bridge between Ildirans and hydrogues. Even Jora'h did not know the part he played in these schemes until it was much too late. His green priest lover Nira, already pregnant with his daughter, had been whisked away to Dobro by Designate Udru'h as a breeding slave. There, over the years, she had given birth to five halfbreed children, all with the potential to save Ildira. The Mage-Imperator dispatched his daughter, Osira'h, to communicate with the hydrogues. Although she brought the deep-core aliens to Ildira, the hydrogues were not interested in peace. Rather, they issued a terrible ultimatum: Jora'h must betray humans and help destroy Earth, or the hydrogues would wipe out the Ildiran Empire.