Straha

Straha was shiplord of the 206th Emperor Yower of the Race's Conquest Fleet. In the Fleet's chain of command, he was subordinate only to Fleetlord Atvar and Shiplord Kirel, and was a bitter rival of both. He was extraordinarily flexible by the Race's standards and was frequently frustrated by the slowness with which his colleagues, and especially Atvar, adapted to the Fleet's unexpected circumstances. He insisted that he would make a better commander for the Conquest Fleet, following a much more aggressive strategy of using the Fleet's most powerful weapons against the Tosevites before they could design countermeasures.

When the Soviet Union detonated an atomic bomb against the Race, Straha called for a vote of no confidence in Atvar, a very rare legal manuever for the Race: If the competence of a member of the Race is called into question in the absence of a superior, that individual can be made to resign if 75% of his or her immediate subordinates vote for this to happen. Straha convinced 68% of his fellow shiplords to vote against Atvar.

After his failed attempt to overthrow Atvar, Straha stole a shuttle from his starship and defected to the United States. There he made propaganda recordings encouraging the Race's soldiers to desert and defect which were broadcast all over the world.

After the war ended with the Cairo negotiations, Straha was not allowed to rejoin the Race's society. He endured twenty years in exile, a difficult time for him during which he became addicted to ginger. He was not fully trusted by the US Government, which assigned an OSS agent G. Gordon Liddy, to be his driver and "assistant"--but his real mission was to keep an eye on the shiplord. Straha was not fully comfortable with the Race's expatriate community in the United States, made up mostly of POWs such as Ullhass and Ristin; he saw them as too quick to give up their allegiance to the Empire. The only bright spot for him in those years was his friendship with Sam Yeager.

It was Yeager who eventually provided Straha with a means to end his exile. When Yeager determined that President Earl Warren had ordered a secret attack on the Colonization Fleet, the OSS seized him and took him to an undisclosed location for an indefinite amount of time. Fearing for his safety, Yeager had entrusted Straha and a number of others with an envelope to be opened in the event of his death or disappearance. The envelope contained evidence proving Warren's involvement, and Atvar deemed it sufficiently valuable information to readmit Straha to the territory of Tosev 3 the Race inhabited.

Atvar, Kirel, and Reffet all reluctantly consulted Straha on matters related to Tosevites during his time in Cairo. He was also quietly allowed to continue his ginger use despite its strict illegality in the Race's territory.

In 2031 the United States invited Straha to be an observer for the Race on the inaugural flight of the FTL starship Commodore Perry. On reaching Home, he confirmed that he had not been put into cold sleep and that the journey had indeed lasted only five weeks. Atvar attempted to discredit him, and the two immediately resumed their antagonistic relationship. At one point a quarrel was prevented only by the intercession of their mutual friend, Sam Yeager.

Of all the members of the Race to have dealings with humanity, Straha had perhaps the best understanding of the human mindset.