In Alien Hands (Quest for Tomorrow)

Jim Endicott is a man with a secret -- hidden from himself. Encoded somewhere in his DNA, entwined with the mystery of his birth, is a cybernetic weapon that can alter the balance of power in the galaxy. Yet all Jim knows is that he has been turned down by the Space Academy and rejected by Cat, the woman who taught him to love. And to make things worse, he is being pursued by two alien operatives -- one sworn to destroy and the other to save him!Offered sanctuary and a position of honor on the planet Albagens by his alien ally, Korkal, Jim declines both. He knows that he must take his destiny into his own hands, no matter what the cost.On a planet where life itself is for sale, Jim becomes a mercenary, a warrior for hire to the highest bidder. There, in an unforgiving campaign of planetary conquest, Jim assumes for the first time the imperatives of command, and learns the first an dmost difficult lesson of his career. Amidst the horrifying brutality of high-vacuum war, he discovers which side he is really on.

From Kirkus Reviews

Second installment in a new series (Delta Search, not reviewed). Here, the Terran Confederation is locked in a deadly struggle with two alien races, the saurian Hunzza and the doglike Alba. On the human colony planet Wolfbane, 16-year-old Jim Endicott bids farewell to his Earth-bound girlfriend, Cat, only to find he's wanted by a pair of rival aliens: Thargos the implacable Hunzzan hunter and Korkal Emut Denai, an Alban spy with connections to Earth government bigwigs. Earth's top-secret computer systems, or mind arrays, are the best in the galaxy, you see, and somehow the key to them has been encoded in Jim's DNA. So when Thargos tries to grab Jim, Korkal intervenes, only for Jim to save Korkal's life; the two become allies. To evade Thargos, Korkal drops Jim off on planet Brostach, where he becomes a mercenary. Personable, intelligent, and capable, Jim advances rapidly and soon saves an Alban battle fleet. As war flares between Hunzza and Alba, Korkal admits that, without Earth's help, the Albans are doomed. So as the Hunzzan space navy closes in on Earth, can Korkal, Cat, and Jim construct a huge mind array in time to save humanity? Agreeably inventive, well plotted, interestingly peopled, deftly paced and controlled: a quantum leap ahead for Shatner, following the abysmal Man O'War (1996). -- Copyright ©1997, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

About the Author

William Shatner's career as an actor, director, producer, screenwriter, recording artist, author, and horseman has spanned more than fifty years. One of pop culture's most recognizable figures, he is also a major Hollywood philanthropist. Shatner and his wife and three married children live in Los Angeles.

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