Publisher's Synopsis
In the three hundred years after defeating the Thandol Empire, Mirikami formed the Galactic Police Force. It isn't a cop-on-the-corner force. The GPF is paramilitary with naval assets, patrolling Federation space, and inside the former Empire. The GPF guards against threats by the old Empire's aggressive species. A murderous Finth pack is secretly mining rare earth minerals on a clueless new alien colony, selling via intermediaries to the Planetary Union. The minerals maintain Kobani superconducting physiology for billions of newly transformed PU citizens. Using supply control, the Finth hope to provoke a war between the PU and their Federation competitor. Both need rare elements for their populations. A Federation distracted by war would allow the Finth to carve a new empire from the old fragments. To keep mineral thefts secret, alien miners die nightly in the jaws and claws of Finth Hunter-Killer packs, simulating wild animal attacks out of the unexplored wilderness. They don't know they need help. When it arrives, it looks worse than the problem.A Thandol Emperor of one faction enslaved a nearby species. Stewart Macdougal, the retired first Federation President, vanished on a mission to investigate the reports. The Olt'kitapi reveals he's missing to Mirikami, and innocently describe how they know precisely where he is. The embedded Kobani Comtaps, based on an Olt'kitapi design, has a hitherto unknown tracking capability. Stewart's life is in imminent danger, so Mirikami and his wife Maggi must Jump immediately to rescue him. It doesn't go as planned, but the fireworks are impressive.Problems continue for Mirikami and the GPF. The Thack Delos reveal new technology after they draw him and Ambassador Fisher into a trap. Tired of paying reparations for nuclear weapon use in the last war, they can void the contract if the negotiators are dead. A Kobani lives too damned long, and they have a cure! A visit by a GPF contact team to a species named the Corelians goes horribly awry. Before humans even left their home system, their brief radio broadcast to the galaxy proved there was life elsewhere. Faster Jump travel makes a visit practical, if not welcome. Finally, an elevated species, the Silha, make an offer to the Olt'kitapi and the Kobani, opening a vast region to them. Instant wormhole travel to ten thousand galaxies of a supercluster, if they support a project. The Olt'kitapi is to build multispecies habitats in each galaxy, and the GPF to give protection from hostiles. Its a risky fun adventure for the bored and long-lived Kobani. There's a scouting visit to Andromeda, using five replicated ships from the Silha. Who knew Andromeda was that organized? The dominant species control everything, and they don't like intruders. The great adventure is ending in total disaster before it starts. Pulling live rabbits out of an empty hat is the least of Mirikami's problem. He's trying to survive the day, and there are a million ways he won't.
