There Before the Chaos

Hail Bristol used to run guns across the galaxy. Years ago she fled her life as a princess of Indrana, and she never expected to wear the crown. A bloody civil war changed that: she avenged the murder of her family, drove the usurpers out of the Empire, and took the throne.

Now she has put down her gun and committed herself to ruling and to rebuilding the Empire. The peace is brief. Indrana's closest ally asks her to step into an interstellar military crisis, and Hail takes on the most dangerous diplomatic mission the Empire has ever attempted.

Two alien civilizations stand at the centre of it: the Farians and their ancient enemy, the Shen. Hail has to work out what each side really intends before the conflict becomes a full galactic war in which humanity is caught in the crossfire.

This is space opera, with an outlaw turned empress as the lead and politics as the main battlefield. It opens the Farian War series and follows the Indranan War trilogy by K. B. Wagers (Behind the Throne, After the Crown, Beyond the Empire). Readers new to Hail may want to start with that trilogy.