Dirge

In "Dirge," the second novel in The Founding of the Commonwealth series by Alan Dean Foster, the delicate diplomatic relations between humans and thranx are put to the test in the mid-twenty-fourth century. Amid the excitement of colonizing Argus V and the allure of a new alien race, the pitar, a brutal tragedy unfolds when the entire human settlement is mysteriously annihilated. As various alien species struggle to uncover the identity of the unseen assailants, a faint signal from a nearby moon may hold the key to the shocking events, propelling all involved into a cataclysmic battle that will alter their worlds forever.