The Ethos Effect

Commander Van C. Albert of the Republic Space Force of Taran is known
as a brave and resourceful officer. However, a civilian liner was
recently lost during a struggle between Van’s ship and a larger enemy
ship and he was held responsible for the tragic loss. Now, although he
has been cleared by the board of inquiry and allowed to continue his
military career, Van is still not popular with the high command and they
will take any opportunity to force him out. So, when Van is seriously
injured while heroically preventing an assassination attempt his
superiors leap at the change to promote and retire him with honors while
he is still unconscious.

Van wakes after a long recovery to discover that he is no longer an
active member of Republic Space Force and needs to find a new career to
occupy his time. Since there are few jobs for ship captains of his
experience, Van decides to take a chance on a somewhat mysterious
non-aligned foundation—Integrated Information Systems. But IIS is more
than it seems at first glance. In reality, it’s a surprisingly powerful
force in the inhabited galaxy and more importantly, possibly the only
one that anticipates the coming interstellar war. Van will again find
himself in the midst of international conflict.