A Matter of Importance

As humans settled their corner of the galaxy, armies and navies were replaced by policemen. And policemen don't want to win battles, they want to solve cases and restore order. So when a space liner makes an emergency landing on an uninhabited world then impossibly disappears, a veteran police sergeant and his patrolman sidekick come up against an old warlike culture called the Huks who hadn't been heard from for decades.