Some of the stranded crew encounter pre-sentient natives (called Kiqui). The resultant tsunami strands several crew and causes several of the uplifted dolphins (called NeoFins) to panic and revert to an instinctual, pre-uplifted mental state.

Almost immediately, the aliens begin to arrive - dashing Streaker's hopes of hiding, but some time remains for repairs when the alien armadas begin fighting each other.Ī Thennanin dreadnought is damaged during the fighting and crashes into the ocean near Streaker's hiding place. The novel begins about one month after the discovery in the cluster as Streaker arrives on the planet Kithrup in an attempt to hide and make repairs. Do not reply.” Attempting to comply, Streaker is ambushed at the Morgran transfer point and pursued by opposing fleets of fanatical alien races - all of them wanting the cluster co-ordinates, and all of them desperate to prevent their enemies from getting them. Decrypted, it says only: “Go into hiding. When Streaker receives a reply, it is in code. The crew of Streaker uses psi-cast to inform Earth of their discovery and to send a hologram of the alien.

Streaker manages to recover some artifacts from the destroyed derelict and one well-preserved alien body. The captain's gig is sent to investigate but is destroyed along with one of the derelict craft - killing 10 crew members. They appear to belong to the Progenitors, the legendary 'first race' which uplifted the other species.

In the year 2489 C.E., Terran spaceship Streaker - crewed by 150 uplifted dolphins, seven humans, and one uplifted chimpanzee - discovers a derelict fleet of 50,000 spaceships the size of small moons in a shallow cluster.

Star tide rising