Coyote Frontier

Set approximately twenty years after the conclusion of Coyote Rising, the third book in the series, Coyote Frontier tells the story of Coyote's attempt to strike a bargain with Earth. Coyote is resource rich. It has all the timber and metals that a culture could need, and much of its face is virgin. Coyote also need to replace its aging technical infrastructure, and the only way that can be accomplished is with Earth's help. It's too bad that those on Coyote cannot agree on a plan. Trade is now possible because Earth-based scientists have now figured out how to open a wormhole between the two systems. But instead of trade ships Earth sends frigates and soldiers.

A civil war threatens when those in charge plan on giving Earth additional colonization rights on Coyote, the moon that they have already won and asserted dominance over. Steele goes back and forth between the government and the protesters, and just when it seems that someone is going to take the initiative and force the other group’s hand, Steel introduces an alien race that makes things all better. Actually he reintroduced them. Leslie Gillis had seen their craft from afar in the early chapters of Coyote, but Steele had kept mum since then about them. This one also takes up the cause of environmentalism when the exploitation of Coyote gets a little bit out of hand and shades of the exploitation of Earth arise. Honestly, get this one if you are a fan of absolutely stupid deus ex machine endings. Steele is about to publish his fourth entry in this series. I won’t be bothering.