"The war with the Arduans--profoundly alien invaders who originally arrived in STL ships--is over. Most of them are now probationary (and very productive) citizens of the Rim Federation. However, many among the Arduan's warrior caste have not accepted defeat and their leader, the ruthless admiral of the second Arduan exodus, is in firm control of the Zarzuela system and hopes to find allies in subsequent refugee fleets that abandoned their race's now dead home system. While two heroes of the last war attempt to soothe tensions, they suspect they have stumbled upon a deeper Arduan plot; one which could shatter the Pan-Sentient Union, and perhaps interstellar civilization itself"--