Chanur's Homecoming

The fourth volume of the Chanur saga, set in the Alliance-Union universe, featuring the alien spaceship captain Pyanfar Chanur and her human crewmate Tully.

When those strange entities called "humans" sent their first exploration ship into Compact space, the delicate power balances of the seven alien races of the Compact were catastrophically disrupted. And by giving shelter to Tully, the only human survivor of his mission, Captain Pyanfar of The Pride of Chanur jeopardized the safety of her ship and her crew by placing them at the center of a deadly political maelstrom.

Now, with a new fleet of human ships approaching Compact space and with the Meetpoint and other Compact stations nearly destroyed by rival factions, Pyanfar and her crew face the ultimate threat to their species. For their home planet lies in the path of an impending space battle which could wipe their world off the galactic maps. Will Pyanfar be able to avert disaster for her homeworld and win herself the ultimate reward—a treasure beyond measuring—an exclusive trade contract with Earth?

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A member of the peaceful, clannish, matriarchal hani race, merchant-ship captain Pyanfar Chanur would rather be left alone to earn her living. Circumstances, however, have drawn her into a vast, complicated power struggle, as the uneasy relations among several spacegoing species are enflamed by the arrival of the first humans. Armed skirmishes are rare, but hostage-taking, torture and betrayal become standard. In this amalgam of strains from current international politics (the Mideast particularly), each race harbors several factions fighting to enact their own agendas and willing to deal with their ostensible enemies to come out on top. Thus, the ambitious kif Sikkukut releases his hostages to Chanur only after she agrees to help him seize Meetpoint station. As in the previous three titles in Cherryh's series, the interesting premise of action played out against a background of volatile culture clashes devolves into a drawn-out string of inconclusive conflicts. Paperback rights to DAW.
Copyright 1986 Reed Business Information, Inc.