Book excerpt: It's an unfortunate but timeless story: the struggle for sovereignty against colonization. In this unchanged re-release of the original 1998 novel, an ensemble of characters resist the Consortium and their Peacekeeping protectors in an effort to stop the destructive mining of quilidon, the galaxy's most valuable resource. Idealistic, Earth-born Major Leith Eaglefeather believes he's on Palmares to protect its citizens, as well as its quilidon mines, from the shadowy rebels called the Kituhwa. But after a few weeks on the beautiful, unspoiled violet planet, he's beginning to realize there's another side to the story. The so-called Peacekeeping Forces are behaving more like an occupying army. Are Eaglefeather's superiors hiding the truth? And can he really trust Zaria, the lovely but contentious local dancer whom he's enlisted as a spy? Zaria Aquene has her own agenda. The new Major's infatuation with her is strategically useful - but what if he finds out she's a double agent? If she must, will she have the nerve to kill for her planet's survival? What if the person she must kill has become her friend?