The Icarus Needle - Timothy Zahn - Bog

"Ten thousand years ago, a mysterious people known as the Icari vanished from the Spiral, leaving behind a network of portals that can instantaneously transport passengers hundreds or thousands of light-years across the stars. Gregory Roarke and his Kadolian partner Selene have been tasked with seeking out these alien artifacts and bringing them under the control of the Icarus Group. But the Group's leadership has changed, and Roarke soon finds himself at serious odds with the new director's plans. The result: a counter-plan that lands Roarke and Selene on a distant world with a broken city, a dozen portals, and a group of aliens called the Ammei who dream of using the portals to bring back their own glory days. But their ambitions will be costly, and not just for themselves. Roarke and Selene must put together the scattered clues and solve the riddle of the Ammei and their plans, while at the same time fending off the Patth and their bid to claim the city and portals for themselves. Because the Icari are gone . . . aren't they?"--