Honor the Threat

Jessica Francis, Earth's first Human Peacemaker, gets pulled from desk duty for a species-induction mission on Weqq, a terraformed world seeded with medicinal herbs, when a routine collection turns up a TriRusk, a rare, diamond-synthesizing race not seen in centuries. With mercenaries closing in to kill everyone on the planet and a stubborn administrator refusing to hand the creature over, Jessica has to talk her way to a solution she is not sure exists.