Starship pilot Terry Radnor is elated to be among those chosen to defend the secret colony Maclairn against enemies who pose a threat to the spread of paranormal human mind powers. He commits himself wholly to the goal of that world, not guessing how far his effort to protect it will take him from everything else he cares about--his promising career as a Fleet officer, contact with people who share his newly-discovered psi capability, his wife and unborn child. Torn away against his will after learning a secret too deep for its disclosure to be risked, he is forced into exile from all that has previously mattered to him, and must build a perilous new life far from Maclairn, grounded without hope of fulfilling his earlier pledge. Yet a mysterious and extraordinary destiny has been predicted for Terry, and against all odds fate puts him in place to confront the colony's greatest peril.
This is the first book in the Captain of Estel trilogy, but is complete in itself and can be read alone. Set two centuries later in time than the duology consisting of
Stewards of the Flame
and
Promise of the Flame
, which tell of the founding of Maclairn, it is an independent and quite different story that in no way depends on having read them. Please note that unlike Engdahl's YA novels, all five of these are adult noels and contain some material inappropriate for readers below high school age.