Far-future clash-of-empires yarn, set in the same universe as Primary Inversion (1995), where Skolia's psi-powered Jagernaut space pilot/warriors try to keep the peace against the feudally organized Traders and their horribly sadistic, totalitarian rulers, the Aristos. Having been sabotaged, Jagernaut Althor, the heir to the Skolian throne, arrives on an alternate Earth in 1987, leaving his crippled ship in orbit. Althor focuses on teenager Tina Pulivok, an L.A. resident of Mayan ancestry; she has extraordinarily powerful psi talents that allow her to link mentally not only with Althor but with his ship, too. In the meantime, though, the government has captured Althor's ship; scientists investigating its psi and cyborg networks are causing further damage to both ship and Althor. With help from Tina's friends, Althor and Tina reach the ship, make hasty repairs, and vanish. But the moment they arrive back in Althor's time, they're grabbed by Trader agents led by a traitor, Admiral Ragnar Bloodmark, once Althor's trusted and beloved mentor, and sold to the Aristos. An unexciting but solidly crafted, and at times absorbing narrative, marred by overdetail, long, dull technical explanations, and a plot that runs out of steam halfway through.
