About the book: 2024 / Series summary: Four hundred years have passed since the creation of the warp engine. The colonists settled throughout the Galaxy and separated from the ancestral home of humanity. Life in the depths of space made them too different, and genetic experiments strengthened these differences. The society of Old Earth faces a new challenge - to protect itself, reunite the warring humanity and preserve its ideals, obtained at a great price. The Cosmoflot is an organization with an impeccable reputation, ready defend the Earth Alliance in open battle. But... in the depths of the Cosmoflot there is a secret unit in which people serve without a name, without glory and without claims to clean hands. Their only goal is the survival of humanity. Price and methods don't matter. These people are employees of the secret "xi" detachment. Abstract of the first part: Fifteen senior officers of the Cosmoflot were shot for no apparent reason by an unknown lieutenant. The killer is captured and confesses, but there's more to the crime than that..