Stepwater

Old human John Minder XXIII is the current Arbiter in a line stretching back to the early pioneers. Like all his ancestors, his words decide the fate of entire worlds as he struggles to maintain peace across the thousands of inhabited planets in the Xarafeille Stream. But each Arbiter before him has held the ancient data blocks, key to all knowledge on the seven races of man... and vital to activate the Arbiter's hidden warrior fleet. Minder alone must find the stolen blocks before all the Xarafeille Stream erupts in interplanetary war. (Adapted from the back cover of the Roc Books first edition).