The Uplift War

After the first starfaring expedition of neo-dolphins made a stunning discovery of a fleet of abandoned Progenitor ships, all hell breaks loose. In a ruthless attempt to gain whatever advantage the discovery might yield, the strongest races of the Five Galaxies throw their might at humans and their client allies.

The outlook is especially bleak for the human colony on Garth. In a frantic rush, most aliens desert the colony, leaving behind a handful of humans and neo-chimpanzees to fend for themselves. A notable exception from the general flight, the Timbrimi ambassador with his daughter stays with the defending force.

When the onslaught of Gubru aliens comes, the defenders are quickly overtaken - but not before they manage to put up a token of resistance that makes it impossible for the Gubru to simply seize the planet with their superior numbers. Constrained by the law of the Five Galaxies, the Gubru try to sow dissent between human and neo-chimpanzee colonists, making the humans look as an unfit patron race.

The Gubru, however, are losing their grip on the situation. By sheer luck, the very first attack of guerilla fighters kills a member of the Gubru leader triad. Even though a replacement is found, the triad remains destabilized and rather schizophrenic in its leadership of the invasion force. A false lead planted by the Timbrimi ambassador makes the Gubru look for a mythical new race - a hunt that the invaders finally abandon in despair, not realizing how close they came to revealing a secret uplift project run by humans - a knowledge that would surely give them the upper hand in the conflict ...