The Secret Navigator (2182) Spacer Series: Book 10

Captain Ecurba is almost killed by an unusual alien assassin, just the prelude to the hunt for a Qet artifact rumored to be on Deepstrike. The object offers legitimacy to anyone seeking to lead the seventy eight billion Qet within the Qet Sphere, and has attracted the attention of the Qet-Qeti, also known as The Secret Navigator, a shadowy male Qet wielding power behind the scenes. He wants to seize power, and believes the artifact will help. While their Qet-Qeti leader looks for the artifact rumored to be on Deepstrike (human population 20,000), two million Qet Simple Believer warriors start assembling nearby. Can Captains Ecurba and Chen get the Human Sphere out of this?