Cat's Game — Leslie Gadallah

Book 3 in Leslie Gadallah's trilogy of interstellar intrigue, The Empire of Kaz

The Kazi Empire, once beaten back, is inexorably returning to the offensive. With a small group of Oriani scientists, Ehreh, an elderly academic, is developing a new weapon he hopes will put an end to the Kaz for good -- but to deploy it, he must overcome the politics, rivalries, and special interests rife in the Strategic Conference and the hesitation and doubts of his own people, contend with spies and downright crooks, and find the means to take action.

And so, it falls to Lauren Fox, an ordinary human in extraordinary circumstances, to find the way.