While moving Group Alpha away from an increasingly hostile Earth Government One, Mistress Deborah receives word that one of the few remaining church elders has been betrayed and is in grave danger. Between EG1's purge of historical accounts of religions and its relentless campaign against everyone over the age of sixty, Deborah knows her group must rescue Brother Alan to preserve both religious and secular history. Her sense of responsibility is complicated by the health decline of her mentor and Group Alpha's spiritual leader, Mistress Grace. She diverts the group from their northwest march so their best fighters can save Brother Alan before leaving western Tennessee. Alpha's scouts could not know EG1's patience with dissidents, and scattered pockets of believers with elders, has run out. Unwittingly, Group Alpha camps on a route EG1 trackers will use to attack resistors. The battle for Nashville forces all their plans to change.