Zhànshì Paladin, wandering knight (Mandarin, no case)Nihil: Nothing (Latin, genitive)Put the two together, you have either "a wandering knight of nothing," or "a nothing paladin."It is AE 460, and the Cephalic Civil War, which nearly eradicated the galactically expanded human race, leaving chaos and destruction in its wake, is only five years in the past.Survivors lucky enough to be washed up on the sunny beaches of Zhànshì succumb easily to denial, a fantasy heightened by the elites of worlds and empires who suffered less than their subjects and underlings, arriving on this resort world to bask in the sun and play merry games.It is a time, as well, when the Assassins' Guild has moved its headquarters here, pandering to some wealthy clients who seek to settle old scores with vengeance and venality more important in their mind than the fate of Humankind.Wiser heads, including prominently Henry Merlin Quakemeyer, head of the much-diminished Galactic Republic's Naval Intelligence, are horrified by the prospect that all of Humanity is edging towards a precipice from which they may not be able to recoil, much less live to reconstruct a galactic civilization.A wandering knight, Hhrremm Mruz Manolete, late of the Galactic Republic Navy, is recruited by the Grand Master of the Assassins' Guild, giving the young battle-hardened pilot and lost paladin his first assignments. Good performance as an apprentice, could set him on a course to fame and fortune, and the temptation beckons, like the beautiful hostess Shy, at the Cat & Canary Cantina.The first assignment is headed towards disaster, when the crash-landed spy team, sent by Quakemeyer, Li Chuang Weng and her Two Deadly Eyes, Ila Bett & Ima Bugg, arrive in the nick of time to save Hhrremm, and, unintentionally, bring him good repute with his new master.Then, however, things get even more interesting, as the wealthy clients of the Assassins' Guild, the rich snitch Mei Mengchu, his half-brother, Mei Xiè Hòu, their father, 300 year old kingpin of an Interstellar criminal Dynasty, Mei Hsiu Chen, and the brash playboy, King Alex of Alpha, all converge against each other, and Li Chuang Weng's spy squad... all headed towards a dramatic confrontation...... which may alter the course of history.
