Heretics — S. Andrew Swann

Nearly two hundred years after the collapse of the Confederacy -- the last government to claim sovereignty over all of humanity's far-flung interstellar colonies -- forces ranging from the Eridani Caliphate to the Roman Catholic Church to the alien-created Al named Mosasa are jockeying for control. So when strange transmissions are received from beyond the fringes of human space, the race is on to get there first.

As Heretics opens, all hell is about to break loose. Mosasa has been destroyed by Adam -- another of the surviving alien Als. And Adam is about to launch a plan of conquest that has been centuries in the making. If he succeeds, he will rule all humankind -- all sentient life-forms -- as a God.

Only a few know the truth about Adam's plans and how deeply he has stretched his forces across the galaxy. And even with the aid of some unexpected allies. does the human race have any hope of defeating this seemingly omnipresent and omniscient entity...?