from those they know and love - the faster-than-light "translation" engines cause some time lag between initiation and arrival, sometimes only hours but up to days, weeks, or even years or decades. Even the smallest translation error adds up eventually, isolating Service pilots who may be called upon to make numerous jumps over long distances in sub-optimal conditions, all factors that increase translation error. Serving as a pilot mimics Trystin's time on the perimeter, especially since he is sent to a cruiser in the Parvati system. He serves on board the Willis, under Major James Sasaki, a tactically brilliant man who is unfortunately deficient in piloting ability, and considered by many to have gotten his ship due to being from a powerful family in the arms industry. The missions against the troids are not very difficult at first, but the constant repetition and ever-increasing danger wear down Trystin and the Willis both. Trystin's skill and Sasaki's brilliance pull the cruiser through battles that newer and better ships fail to survive, until Trystin is once more offered a new job: spy. Due to the fissioning of human society along roughly racial lines, much of the Coalition's population is somewhat dark-skinned and dark-haired, or very obviously of east-Asian stock. Trystin comes from one of the rare few old-Anglo families in the Coalition, however, and his pale skin and light hair make him look just like a rev, who are predominantly Caucasian and fair-haired. For this reason, Trystin is taken by the Service's intelligence division as a potential field agent. Many intelligence agents are drawn from the pilot ranks, since much of the work requires piloting in rev systems. He is pressed through an intensive conditioning process to learn to act like a rev, and adopts the name of Brother Hyriss to infiltrate the rev capital world of Orum. There, he is to assassinate a rev general, in hopes of throwing rev planning into disarray and stalling the war for just a little while. Through this time, Trystin has also been participating in a medical and social study of humanity being performed by the Farhkans, one of the only other sapient races known to humanity. The Farhkans have highly advanced technology, and share some of their knowledge with the Coalition in exchange for permission to conduct the study. Several times, Trystin has to go through a physical, and endure short discussions with one