If you think no good can come, you might just make that so. The Cephalic Civil War was ten years ago, but its tremors still vibrate... beneath the dancing feet of populations too busy celebrating their survival to assess damage... Or move forward. With the last mortar crumbling in the structure of the Inner Worlds Federation after the death of Mei Hsiu Chen, some see early glimmerings of a better, stronger 2nd Republic. Spymaster Henry Merlin Quakemeyer plots to convene trials exposing crimes which nearly extinguished humanity as Admiral B'Koi's Planet-Busters had destroyed whole suns and solar systems. Can knowledge of that genocide which ripped a growing future from Mankind's hands be used as a lever to reverse that destiny, moving souls back on course for justice, not revenge? Will Galactic Man be able to rebuild? Could King Alex of Alpha, target of assassins, busy suppressing a rebellion led by his ex-wife and her lover, be persuaded to help this plan? Can Li Chuang Weng, Henry's best field agent, find evidence solid enough to smash assaults against it, show citizens of good will it's more than just a political ploy? Enough to inspire the morality, principle, and focus to stir humanity out of lethargy & party-hopping? Li searches B'Koi's abandoned military HQ on a lifeless world, but with all the damage which the war did to the stars themselves, her subspace communications are out of whack, and she can't report to Henry. After loading what was found there into her needle ship - along with a frozen teenage girl who looks exactly like her (strange cargo indeed) Li's work is not done. A space pirate's hot on her tail-fins, and some unknown force is trying to control her vessel. How can she ever get back to Henry? Will it be in time?