Based on the Armstrong Space Station orbiting the earth, the Black Stallion spaceplanes of General Patrick McLanahan's Aerospace Battle Force can attack any target on the planet within hours—and its powerful network of satellites can invade any computer network as easily as making a phone call. Western-educated Russian president Leonid Zevitin, one of the ABF's most dangerous adversaries, is determined to destroy all support for the space program by using a potent combination of top-secret anti-spacecraft weaponry, fear-mongering, and a new U.S. president's own egotism.

But McLanahan and his forces will not allow the Russian aggression to stand. Sensing deep-seated treachery, the general ignores directives from the White House and Pentagon and dispatches the ABF to attack secret Russian bases in Iran—which results in a presidential order for his immediate arrest. But before they can throw Patrick McLanahan in prison, the government will have to figure out how to retrieve him from his stronghold in space.