Publisher's Synopsis
Terran child psychologist Bryn Haslund has her hands full, treating youngsters from war-torn planets. Arthur Nagy, the brutal dictator of the interplanetary Star Alliance, ruthlessly suppresses dissent, launching increasingly devastating military campaigns. Once idyllic worlds are embargoed or bombed into ashes, and Nagy's StarOps secret police lurk everywhere. Bryn has tried to stay out of politics, leaving that to her charismatic statesman father, Ernst, the only one with the stature to stand up to Nagy. Despite her efforts to remain neutral, Bryn gets caught in the crackdown of a protest-turned-riot and only her status as her father's daughter keeps her out of jail. Ernst makes a speech in which he is expected to condemn the violence but instead, he issues his whole-hearted support for Nagy's policies and then goes missing under mysterious circumstances. With the Alliance's secret police hot on her heels, Bryn locates her father in t