When their spaceship is attacked by pirates, Bill Anderson is saved by a fellow passenger, Talan, an Orian diplomat

Book 2 of The Empire of Kaz, Leslie Gadallah's fascinating alien political intrigue. Orian has been overrun by the Kaz, who are bent on exterminating the Oriani. A few Oriani have escaped and struggle to eke out an existence on alien worlds. Ayyah thinks she has found a way to get them back home where they can thrive. She recruits a couple of human pirates and a few Lleveci warriors to aid her in the task, but no one involved knew how much her scheme would cost.

There is a storm coming. The Kazi Empire may have been beaten back temporarily, but is inexorably returning to the offensive. Ehreh leads a small group of Oriani scientists developing a new weapon to defeat the Kazi once and for all—if only he can get anyone to listen. How is an elderly academic supposed to navigate the politics, rivalries, and special interests that dominate the Strategic Conference that decides these things? How can he tell friend from foe when half the representatives he meets are actually spying for someone else? How can Eheh convince a multitude of alien races to collaborate, when even many of his of own people oppose the plan? And so it falls to Lauren Fox, an ordinary human in the wrong place at the wrong time, to come up with a workable plan to implement Eheh’s final solution.