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THE ALIENS PLAYED BY THE RULES. THEIR RULES.

When the Lokaron suddenly appeared in the skies of Earth, America was enjoying victory in the off-and-on war that had occupied most of the 20th century. That's why they chose America to occupy and use as their puppet in dominating the planet. We were already set up to do it; now we would do it for them.

Not that they were evil; they just insisted that we trade with them. By their rules, rules backed up by irresistible weapons. In terms of those rules, they would even play fair--but in the long run, if they didn't own something, it would be because they didn't want it.

At first we tried to fight, but just as the Japanese, the Chinese, the Hindus and all the rest had learned, when the ones with the guns say ''Let's trade!'' they really mean 'Trade or bleed.'' And so you trade--even if you won't have a country--or a planet--left when the last round is played out.

But worms turn, and just as had the Europeans a century ago, the Lokaron were going to learn a lesson from their victims, a lesson that they weren't going to like one bit....

A near-future Earth has shaken off the devastating colonization by alien Lokaran invaders and totalitarian rule by the alien's puppets, the Earth First party. But now Earth is flung into galactic intrigue and war. The Lokaron empire teeters on the edge of a fratricidal meltdown and a cabal of ancient enemies hope to use Earth as a proxy to destroy the empire and rule over a new Galactic dark age.

Now Captain Andrew Roark, the son of heroes of the rebellion and an officer trained in Lokaran space warfare tactics, joins with a highly capable Lokar who opposes the empire but wishes to see it transformed rather than destroyed. Together they must uncover a conspiracy to control Earth, and then obtain the secret key to defeating it. War for galactic control looms, and freedom for Earth--so recently escaped from under the boot-heel of one oppressor--is once again in the balance.