The Sovereign's undefeated Jupiter-bound war fleet under Roque au Fabii—her instrument of fear, and Darrow's chosen prey.
The Sword Armada is the greatest fleet the Sovereign wields short of the Sceptre Armada at Luna—the iron hand by which she binds the worlds. Sent hundreds of millions of kilometers to Jupiter to crush the Rim's Second Moon Rebellion, it carries over two million souls, ten thousand Obsidian, two hundred thousand Grays, and three thousand Peerless Scarred, reinforced by Antonia. Commanded by Roque au Fabii, it has shattered every fleet thrown at it—Mustang's, the Telemanuses', the Arcoses'—and never been defeated.
Because it hangs isolated a billion kilometers from support, Darrow chooses it as the target that will 'rip the beating heart out of the Society war machine.' When the nuke evidence turns Romulus against the Sovereign, Roque, denied the Rim's surrender, vows the Armada will darken the Moon Lords' worlds and burn Ilium—declaring a battle of annihilation in forty days.
A vast war fleet of Society dreadnoughts, torchships, and destroyers, over two million crew, bristling with the Sovereign's Peerless knights and legions, unbeaten and far from home.
The Sovereign's undefeated Jupiter fleet; the war machine's heart Darrow means to destroy at Ilium, commanded by the poet Roque.