Cancrizans

Zheng He is a twelve year old colonist on the planet Fairyland, clearing a patch of his father's Galactic Navy disability grant land for farming. With him is his nine year old sister, Feng Mian, assisting. When they find a black box from the long lost Royal Alphan Navy vessel "Prince of Wales" embedded in a stump, that is a game changer. Taking the device for analysis to the retirement villa of Commander Tse Deng, once the youngest Admiral in the New Outreach Navy, then, the longest serving, the boy meets that hero of the New Outreach. Tse Deng remembers Zheng's father working for him, and surprisingly invites the boy to become his apprentice. Working side by side with his friend Mei Hsiu Chen, Zheng He helps the Commander finish compiling his memoirs, rubbing shoulders with a historical figure, and learning lessons to last a lifetime. This rise in status comes just in time for the boy to get a front row seat for a major shift in galactic history. Who could have known that the Windsors of Alpha Centauri would attempt to claim Fairyland for their new Empire, much less take the whole human race into a crabwise backstep?Could this be the beginning of a galaxy-wide war?