Resurgence — Charles Sheffield

THE GALAXY'S
IN DANGER--SEND FOR
HANS REBKA

Hans Rebka, interstellar troubleshooter, thought he had done it all by now--not only solving the mystery of the gigantic Artifacts which a vanished race called the Builders had left behind millions of years ago, but also preventing the warlike and tyrannical Zardalu from regaining their onetime dominance of the galaxy. He figured he was entitled to work on smaller problems that only involved one planet at a time. Unfortunately, he is about to find that his earlier exploits were only a warm-up for the main event.

In the Sagittarius Arm of the galaxy, something is destroying whole stellar systems. Only the Builders could have the power to snuff out whole stars and planets, but if the mysterious super-race has returned, why should they bring a wave of cosmic destruction with them? Has a new, malevolent super-race arisen?

Rebka reassembles his old motley crew of humans and aliens to investigate. But when they arrive in the beleagured spiral arm, they become trapped on a planet directly in the path of destruction. And they must escape, for they have learned the secret of the destroyed star systems: a battle is beginning that will determine the ultimate fate of the galaxy itself.