Four months ago, the Crickets—the Chhrt'ktk't, in their own language—had abandoned a mobile shipyard with a burned-out hyperdrive core in Sol system as a decoy.
They hadn't told humanity about the decoy part. Then they picked Alex Holder to operate it, simply because he happened to be the first human they found who could—because that would make it a better decoy. In perhaps as little as five years, the Khreetan will be coming. The Crickets hadn't intended for humanity to know that, either. Alex has those five years to build a defensive fleet from the spines out, recruit crews for his ships, and find enough humans who can reach full rapport with Cricket tech to command and control them—and get all of them trained to work together despite their national differences. All this while he tries to share the Crickets' scientific knowledge, distribute their technology where it is most desperately needed, and somehow still keep the peace. Fortunately, he has help and is beginning to find more people who can fully link with Chhrt'ktk't technology. But will it be enough?
