As Ariel and her friends get ready to start making a difference, the Senate decides to do it for her and declares war on the Empire. Ariel learns more about what it means to be a leader, and the state in which the people of the Empire have been living. She has a hard time dealing with becoming the icon of hope for trillions of people when she is having a hard time just defending her own home. She learns quickly when the republican fleet arrives to kill her and her grandfather, and take over the Empire.