When the fledgling warp‑capable world of Hondel teeters between Federation friendship and Klingon fear, Captain Samuel Bradwell and the crew of the U.S.S. Torrent are dispatched to secure peace. But their mission takes a perilous turn when they uncover a deadly expanse of wreckage known as the Dead Sea—where countless ships have mysteriously vanished.

As First Officer Diana Sullivan becomes the unwilling host of a rapidly growing alien child, the crew realizes they are caught in a chilling first‑contact test: a trial of mercy that has doomed others before them. Haunted by guilt, loss, and the weight of command, Bradwell must decide whether compassion can save his ship—or whether mercy itself will be their undoing.

A gripping tale of survival, morality, and the true cost of exploration, How Long Shall Mercy Suffer? challenges the Federation’s ideals at the edge of the Neutral Zone.