Precursor

**The fourth novel in Cherryh’s** Foreigner **space opera series, a groundbreaking tale of first contact and its consequences…** Over three years have passed since the reappearance of the starship *Phoenix* , which two centuries before left an isolated colony of humans on the world of the volatile *atevi*. Since that time, humans have lived in exile on the island of Mospheira; but the unexpected return of the *Phoenix* has shattered the fragile political balance of these two nearly incompatible races. For the captains of the *Phoenix* offer the *atevi* something the Mospheiran humans never could—access to the stars. For three breakneck years the atevi labor to build a space shuttle which will bear their representatives to the *Phoenix* , to strengthen connections with their new human allies and retain their bid for control of their world. But as soon as the shuttle proves spaceworthy, the captains of the *Phoenix* suddenly recall their planetary delegates, breaking diplomatic contact and initiating a vicious bid for political dominance. But the powerful head of the *atevi’s* Western Association is not to be outmaneuvered, and he sends his own diplomat, or *paidhi* , Bren Cameron, into space to negotiate. Thrust into a political maelstrom with almost no preparation, can Bren gain control of the station and political supremacy for the *atevi* without sparking a three-sided interspecies war? The long-running *Foreigner* series can also be enjoyed by more casual genre readers in sub-trilogy installments. *Precursor* is the 4th *Foreigner* novel. It is also the 1st book in the second subtrilogy.