Nellie: Or Seeking Goodly Pearls (1882)

After setting up his fledgling empire in the unknown regions of space, High Admiral Legan goes on a quest to locate Crestanya, the armory world, in the hopes of acquiring the advanced technology that he needs to defend humanity against another nonhuman invasion. Meanwhile, the Cres Empire has fallen, and the emperor sends Mysonanda back to the humans with a plea for help, but when she arrives she finds that Legan has already lefta]with no way for her or anyone else to contact him. Faced with a timetable they canat ignore, Leganas subordinates must make the hard choices in his absence. Do they protect their anonymity and turn away the Cres, or do they risk Leganas entire operation by aiding the hunted nonhumans in exchange for access to their superior technology?