Chief Inspector Achelous Forushen begins his battle with Nordarken Mining, the most powerful conglomerate in the galaxy, the portion of the Milky Way that has survived Turboii decimation.
Assigned to protect the primitive planet of Dianis from extrasolar incursions, Achelous learns he and the entire Interspecies Development Branch have been reassigned, under questionable circumstances, to a world far away.
Achelous struggles with his personal paranoia of what could happen and what will happen. The recent finding of a critical resource on Dianis, an gem crucial to the Turboii War effort, is suspiciously coincidental. Protected by ULUP, the Universal Law of Unclaimed Planets, worlds such as Dianis are strictly off limits for resource extraction and societal interference. Achelous, a trained cultural anthropologist, is exceedingly concerned as to what will happen should the IDB leave Dianis and expose it to depredations of galactic corsairs. His fear is acute as he has fallen in illicit love with Marisa, a Dianis provincial, which is strictly forbidden by ULUP. Moreover, he and Marisa have son. The thought of leaving Marisa and Boyd behind in the IDB exodus is unbearable and so is violating his oath to protect primitive worlds. As Dianis provincials, Marisa and Boyd cannot be extricated from the planet.
Moral ambiguity inflicts other members of the IDB team. Together, led by Achelous they plot, under the high-risk principal of Ultimate Cause, to thwart the supposed exploitation plans of Nordarken Mining. But other forces conspire against the team not least of which are the Paleowrights, a Dianis religious sect intensely interested in Achelous's activities. The Paleowrights want his secrets for themselves. Saving the planet from Nordarken exploitation is not their concern. They instead seek to crush all opposing religions and aid their patron, the Empire of Nak Drakas, in continental conquest.
Genre: Science Fiction