When those enigmatic entities called humans sent their first exploration ship into Compact space all the traditional power alliances of the seven Compact races were totally disrupted. And, giving shelter to Tully, the only surviving human, Pyanfar Chanur and her hani crew were pitched into the center of a galactic maelstrom, key players in a power game they scarcely understood. Now, with space stations destroyed by rival factions, unwillingly "allied" with the most devious and untrustworthy kif, and forced to doubt their own long-time champions, the mahendo sat, Pyanfar and her space-going comrades had become the last desperate hope of the entire hani race! For, a one-planet race among whom only the females were allowed into space, the hani were in the direct path of a running space battle which might wipe the very memory of their world from the galactic maps!