Synopsis: From the back cover of the DAW Books first edition: A world united, a galaxy divided! The world of Bear Ridge, once colonized by Olde Earthe but later abandoned to survive or fall on its own, had struck a compromise for survival. Civilization had regressed, sacrificing technology and reverting to the level of warring city states. Then Thomas Jefferson Shepherd came to power, and Bear Ridge would never be the same again. For T.J. Shepherd was a man with a vision, a man who ruled with one goal always in mind. Shepherd was determined to reclaim a place for his world in the Federation of Planets, the intergalactic Council which could give his people back the technological knowledge lost to them for generations. But could even T.J. Shepherd succeed when his world was being torn apart by internal strife, when he himself had been marked for assassination, and when the rival world in competition for coveted Federation status would use any means to win, including the total destruction of Bear Ridge...