Synopsis: Dangerous reptiles. For millennia after the collapse of the great galactic empire in a war that destroyed hundreds of whole planets, the surviving worlds of the Confederation had permitted no new scientific research. The resultant stagnation was considered an acceptable price, since it meant no new weapons of war would be developed, and wars could be confined to disputes between nations on a single planet. But when one of their colony planets was discovered by warships from the Caliphate, another surviving group of planets with technology superior to anything the Confederation possessed, the Confederation discovered that they had made a fatal mistake. Only the nearly superhuman abilities of the Tyss-trained White Regiment had driven off the attackers. But now the Caliphate is returning in force, with a vast fleet of warships, determined to conquer the Confederation. And there is a third player. Between the regions of the galaxy separating the two forces is a third empire of reptilian beings who were attacked without provocation by an earlier Caliphate incursion - and who make no distinction between one group of humans and another. They are determined to eliminate this dangerous ape species from the galaxy once and for all. The Caliphate thinks it has the element of complete surprise, as do the lizardlike aliens. But the mystic warriors of Tyss have made mental contact with both fleets, and they have a plan which is the only hope to avert a second galaxy wide war, a war that could shatter the worlds of all three sides. (from the back cover of the Baen Books first edition)