In the early 18th century the British army led by John Churchill, Duke of Marlborough, were the leaders of a wide-ranging and very successful alliance. Ramilles 1706—one of the great victories of the British army, a battle honor for the regiments who were there. But Captain Jack Steel, maverick gentleman and super soldier, finds himself at odds with his Allied partners and receives contradictory orders; and even after victory, he finds himself mired in further difficulties. The Allies had thought that they were liberating the Low Countries but some preferred their previous masters, the French, who at least were Catholic, and some wanted independence from all powers, while others of his fellow officers wanted out of the war altogether. Far from the battle lines he enjoys, Jack Steel is sent undercover to deal with the traitors and identify the loyal locals who would let British advance troops into the besieged city—a dangerous mission made deadly by an old enemy of his and the brilliant malevolence of the renegade French pirate who is in charge of Ostende.