Nowhere to Hide (Five Worlds)

Non-dystopian. Contains strong language.

Kata has finally escaped the torture and illegal experiments of GenTech and the manipulations of his homeworld, Trandellia. Severely traumatized, he only wants one thing: a safe haven where he doesn't have to be used as a pawn in other people's games. With the help of Alan Morgan, the only adult figure whom Kata has ever learned to trust, he's begun to rebuild his life on the planet Akkhen.

Meanwhile, on Trandellia, the hol Diran Nasceri has just received a crazy assignment from Adrianne Demont, the Trandellian planetary ruler: join forces with the holin under Adrianne's command for a raid on Alan's base of command, the field hospital on Atthiras. Mobilizing all of the holin – Trandellia's shadow troops and assassins – for the sake of one target is unheard-of. Mobilizing them against Akkhenian soldiers in an assault is unthinkable. If Diran obeys, he risks everything he's been working for behind the scenes and the safety of those he cares about. If he betrays Adrianne, he'll be charged with high treason and face death by torture, but may be able to prevent the first war in centuries.

Kata, desperate to escape his past, reluctantly agrees to an offer from General Barrett: Kata and Alan can hide on the remote space station of Suliko on the pretext of investigating the alleged disappearance of four Akkhenian girls, which will buy High Command the time it needs to negotiate for Kata's protection. When the fake mission takes a very real turn for the worse, both he and Alan end up sucked into something darker than anyone could have expected.

Billions of kilometers apart, caught up in very different battles, Kata and Diran will unearth the same secret: one that threatens to shatter the safety of all the five worlds and plunge humanity back into chaos.