Patriot Star

It doesn't get much worse than the prospect of a three-way civil war, and in a global superpower grown arrogant and complacent in its prosperity, only one influential man leads the peaceful charge against corruption and tyranny, while others plot more radical solutions. Council Minister Merak Dorvallen's allies are few, and now his youngest son Coren, a Lieutenant in the vaunted Irrianite military, is the target of government assassins. Desperate, Merak reaches out to Ohrim Sunvail, an old friend in exile who harbors potentially helpful secrets. Ohrim's exceptionally competent and head-strong daughter Mei' Shera accepts the assignment and thwarts the assassins, setting in accelerated motion events that will shape a drastically different future for Irrianon. In the midst of the chaos, scientists in Irrianon have secretly cracked the code for interstellar space travel, which will shape a drastically different future for the entire planet of Toryl, especially when they find a sister planet of humans only a few years behind in technology. The winner of the Irrianite civil war will lay a solid first claim on the stars, unlocking a universe of possibilities for both progress and potential disaster.

Intelligent life on another planet. Human intelligent life. Many Toryllians had long thought it possible, but seeing these people for the first time-these Earthlings-was challenging to process. It would be easy to live among them, blend in, and observe. But for how long? When should the newcomers reveal themselves? Earth couldn't just become a galactic science experiment. And what if these Earthlings-these apparent siblings-needed urgent help? How and when should superior technology be brought to bear? Such issues would be difficult to judge, especially when things at home aren't going well, either. But if current trends toward a third global war on Earth accelerated, a decision would have to be made. In the meantime, new questions and discoveries regarding non-human alien races who visited both planets in the past could change the interplanetary dynamic completely. Is the galaxy ready for a new set of storms?