Palaton, one of the rare Choyan pilots born as a tezar, able to navigate starships through the chaos that faster than light speeds creates is facing burnout. Other races covet that ability and will do anything to learn and wield that power but tezars hold a tight monopoly…despite the high price they pay. Yet there may be hope for Palaton if he agrees to an experimental partnership with a new race trying to join the Compact, a race calling themselves humans. When he begins a link with the young male Rand, it is a beginning neither could anticipate. Yet as they navigate their bonding, Palaton must hide the truth even as his home world descends into deadly political games and perhaps a civil war. The tezar must uncover the mystery of his bloodline to survive the obstacles that face him, his bonded friend, and his world.