About the book: 2002 / ...One hundred and fifty years have passed since the day when the sudden transformation of the star Antares into a supernova cut off several systems colonized by earthlings from the rest of humanity....A century and a half silence. And then - the appearance of a warship of the Earth's fleet on the small, ordinary planet of Alta. A spaceship crippled in battle, with no one alive on board....So, the earthlings are at war with someone?...Who?!...WHY?!!Captain Drake and his crew set off on a reconnaissance expedition. They are poisoned - not yet knowing HOW soon the reconnaissance expedition will turn into a COMBAT expedition.