The Colonial Union doesn't want another war with the Conclave, an alliance of four hundred alien species--a war that might wipe out humans in the galaxy. General Gau, leader of the Conclave, also wants to avoid a war, having noticed that the Conclave did not actually win the last one.

But there's a growing faction in the Conclave that does want war, and wildcat human colonies that just happen to include a few Colonial Defense Forces soldiers, risk giving them the excuse they need. Determined to avoid this, General Gau sends out a very private emissary for "back channel" negotiations to persuade the Colonial Union to "deal with" the offending colonies.

But some of the wildcat colonies aren't interested in cooperating. Can a solution be found in time?

This is the sixth of the thirteen episodes of The Human Division, and it's a good one.

Recommended.

I bought this from Audible.com ( )

This section is mostly talking heads, so it could have been info dumpy and dull, but it isn't. It's funny as hell, particularly the conversation over churros.

I bought it. ( )

Nice collection of stories set in the OLD MANƒ??S WAR universe. It continues the plot, so you donƒ??t want to miss it. I listened to the audio version which was very good. You can each episode separately or all together.
We've got a review of the full series here:
http://www.fantasyliterature.com/fantasy-author/scalzijohn/
( )

The Back Channel is put to very good use by Conclave representative Sorvalh (at the behest of General Gau) to deal with another wildcat colony. No spoilers but her interaction with Rigney was very well done & I look forward to seeing them chat again in future. Also, it was nice to know Sorvalh likes churros & felt badly about the goat. lol Looking forward to the next. ( )

I am still enjoying this story, although I think I'm going to wish I had just waited and got them all together. If nothing else, it means all this short fiction is pumping up my book count for the year! ( )