Publisher's Synopsis
The Imperium crumbled, but the Ataro Empire continued to survive. The Federation of Planets controlled the other spiral arm, and Emperor Bino desperately needed inside information about this group. Allies or enemies? He sent Captain Nia Elain and the Eagle's Seed exploration ship into the Federation of Planets' space, seeking to discover the origin planet of the human race, a benign goal that would offend no one. She brought along a skeleton crew composed mostly of women, wholly non-threatening. Indeed, the civilizations within this spiral arm were much older than the Imperium arm worlds. Based on linguistics and archaeological evidence, Nia was able to prove conclusively that there was a single planet of origin for the human race in the galaxy. However, she also discovered the degree of decadence prevalent in these much older civilizations of the Federation. Unlike the ex-Imperium, here women were second-class citizens or worse. Each world had their own customs and enforced visitors to dress and follow their local customs. As Captain Nia Elain visited some key worlds, two linguists, and several archaeologists, she and her crew sparked a women's revolution within the Federation. That women were obtaining equality terrified the top rulers who had to invent a way to slow or stop this movement. Among the more decadent worlds of the Federation, some phrases were taken literally. On one of these worlds, the bride giving her hand in marriage to her groom was a physical reality, done in a special ceremony when the two married. Given the severe penalty for unfaithful husbands, this world had an almost non-existent divorce rare, unheard of elsewhere. Thus, the top rulers copied this world's ceremony, enforcing it across all major Federation worlds. In short order, all married women lost their non-dominant hand. Artisans were heavily affected by this brutal action. There were also quite a number of worlds on the Forbidden List, worlds shunned by the Federation worlds. Why? They were drug infested, criminal infested, and so on, worlds beyond redemption. One of these was far out on the rim, Gamelon-3, the world that had created the war between the Imperium and the Federation. These men were considered the garbage collectors of the galaxy, for they scavenged everything, including that horrific bio genetic agent whose use had caused genocides on many Imperium worlds. Two musicians who had their left hands removed fought back. They wanted the male rulers to lose their occupations too. Cleverly, they purchased some of that bio genetic agent from a Gamelon-3 trader, duplicated it, and unleashed it on the ruling bodies, turning them into the usual helpless, hermaphrodite freaks seen so frequently in the ex-Imperium worlds. Within a few years, other Forbidden List worlds also purchased copies of this bio agent. Naturally, they used it on Federation targets as well. Thus, at long last, the bio weapon that had devastated the ex-Imperium began doing the same thing in the Federation. Operating in the background, Captain Nia Elain and her crew, along with aid from Ashford-5, helped stabilize the Federation during this lengthy crisis. It covers the years 1381 through 1383.
