Finally made it through all 17 chapters...
Nice work, Steve! Entertaining, captivating, and fun to read!
Sad to see what happened to Earth -- those dang fanatical Chinese!
I also liked the close POV of the leaders during the early story, but we kind of left President V. once the Commonwealth was united and the story expanded into space. BTW, he's also been President for a LONG time. How old was he at the end of chapter 17???
And a newbie question -- are ALL first contact encounters hostile? What's the liklihood that a NPR is non-aggressive when a PR first meets them?