The Starship Cornelia, barely a few months into a 3-year mission to visit the other inhabited Alliance planets, unexpectedly stumbles upon a disabled ship whose 10 alien passengers are found dead. The ship hails from Korvalis-the mysterious non-Alliance planet whose leadership allows no outsider to visit and no citizen to leave. But the tides shift when Cornelia's Chief Medical Officer and lead geneticist discover that one of the escapees is alive, having survived only due to his superior skill with genetics... and that he seeks asylum from Korvalis.
The Refugee-the first of the Korvali Chronicles series-tells the story of Eshel, the Korvali refugee, and Dr. Catherine Finnegan, the human geneticist who befriends him, as they face the political, scientific, and interpersonal ramifications of Eshel's living among humans. From censoring of their scientific work to intolerance for Eshel's cold arrogance, struggles abound... until an alarming incident changes everything.