The Pack Leader

Astelantida, a world of murdering energy-beings, encircled by the armadas of the Oikumene. The Council of the Galactic League debates until they are hoarse: what to do with the stubborn Island of Capels? Three solutions—quarantine, destruction, and forced technological conversion—each have their pros and cons. At stake is the fate of an entire race. Counter-admiral Van der Weiden will carry out any order: he will tear Astelantida to pieces, land a landing party on the planet, or stand as an armored cordon on the borders of the system.

In the middle of the dispute, on Tishri—the planet where the League Council is based—arrives the ober-centurion Mark Tumidus. Everything is new and spotless: an eye, a rank, an order, goals and means. Only the wolf-like nature of the Pompilian officer remains unchanged. Though the purity of the young officer’s race, for some time now, has been raising doubts…

"The Pack Leader" is the third and concluding book of G. L. Oldi’s novel trilogy "Savages of the Oikumene." This long-awaited continuation of the cycle begun with the novels "Oikumene" and "City and the World." The heroes of the earlier epics were the performer Luciano Borgotta and the doctor Regina van Frassen. The hero of "The Savages of the Oikumene" is the soldier Mark Kai Tumidus. One could say: a professional hero.