Pretender

One of the most prolific science fiction authors of all time, C.J. Cherryh returns with "Pretender," a tale of interstellar civil war. The crew of the starship Phoenix is ready to return home after a two-year rescue mission, but civil war has broken out on the atevi mainland, the Western Association has been overthrown, and Tabini-aiji is missing. Though Bren Cameron and the others are able to make planetfall, strife and danger await them at every turn. Can one elderly ateva and an eight-year-old boy - himself a prime target for assassination - protect Bren in a civil war that most atevi believe he caused.