In the third installment of Pocket's new series of Marvel novels the mutant superhero team bands together to save the galaxy from interstellar war...When the X-Men detect the emergence of a powerful mutant, Jean Grey, Cyclops, and Wolverine are sent to track down the source. What they discover is that the mutant lives within a tightly knit gated community - and that the members of that community are not what they seem, but are instead, alien Skrull shape-shifters. These Skrulls are outcasts who have been forced to leave the Skrull empire because of their traitorous beliefs in peace - beliefs that go against the militaristic culture that has guided their race for millions of years. They are led by Dezan, the last surviving member of the original Skrull royal family. The X-Men soon find themselves caught up in an interstellar conflict when the Shi'ar, an alien race with whom the X-Men are intimately acquainted, set out to crush Dezan and his band of outcasts - and a vulnerable Earth is stuck in the middle.