February 1806 and Giles Courtenay is promoted Flag-captain with his command, the 80-gun Argyll becoming Flagship of a new squadron to be commanded by the inexperienced Rear-admiral Sir William Channer. Their mission; to chase a French squadron newly escaped from Brest and which is known to be heading for the East Indies, there to stir up trouble for the British and their possessions in the Indian Ocean. The new squadron sets off in pursuit, Courtenay meeting up with his old friend Piers Tandy en route, but is side-tracked for a while by the requirements of a more senior office trying to rescue a captured British convoy.
On their way again, they almost catch the French in the South Atlantic, but a lucky shot from a French ship cripples Argyll. Once in the Indian Ocean, Channer and Courtenay learn that ships from Trincomalee had been in a fight with French ships, and they track some of them to the French possession of Ile de France, where they destroy a French two-decker, capture a corvette and recover a British ship. They then assist the Flag Officer in Ceylon with ridding him of the menace presented by local Dyak pirates, who were conspiring with the French and the Dutch and finally set a trap for the French squadron off the islands now known as the Maldives.