Far from Earth, an outlaw and a cop are the first on the scene when an alien ship crashes on a human colony
Centuries after the ecological collapse of Earth, humanity has spread among the
stars. Under the governance of the League, our endless need for
resources has driven us to colonize hundreds of planets, all of them
devoid of other sentient life. Humanity is apparently alone in the
universe.
Then comes the sudden, brutal decimation of Kassa, a
small farming planet, by a mysterious attacker. The few survivors send
out a desperate plea for aid, which is answered by two unlikely
rescuers. Prudence Falling is the young captain of a tramp
freighter. She and her ragtag crew have been on the run and living job
to job for years, eking out a living by making cargo runs that aren’t
always entirely legal. Lt. Kyle Daspar is a police officer from the
wealthy planet of Altair Prime, working undercover as a double agent
against the League. He’s been undercover so long he can't be trusted by
anyone — even himself.
While flying rescue missions to extract
survivors from the surface of devastated Kassa, they discover what could be the most important artifact in the history of man: an alien
spaceship, crashed and abandoned during the attack.
But something
tells them there is more to the story. Together, they discover the cruel truth about the destruction of Kassa, and that an imminent alien
invasion is the least of humanity’s concerns.
“A fast moving and cynical who-done-it, thriller, political novel,
and space opera all rolled into one, with a touch of romance as well,
where you can't help cheering for the protagonists, even as you wonder
exactly how they'll manage to pull it out.” — L. E. Modesitt, Jr., author of the Recluce Saga
“Takes the tried-and-true motif of space traders... and embroils them in a web of conspiracy worthy of John LeCarré himself... I haven’t had my spine
chilled by paranoia this strong since I first read Frank Herbert’s Dune. Planck is to be congratulated on a most impressive debut.” — Dave Duncan, author of The Seventh Sword
