In the year 3016, the Second Empire of Man spans hundreds of star systems, thanks to the faster-than-light Alderson Drive. No other intelligent beings have ever been encountered, not until a light sail probe enters a human system carrying a dead...
The novel forms part of Pournelle’s Future History known as the CoDominium series. Chronologically, it is second to last in the series, contemporaneous with events in The Mote in God’s Eye.
In content it resembles Pournelle’s military fiction...