Drakon (novel)

_Drakon_, the fourth novel in S. M. Stirling's alternate history series The Domination, is a science fiction story published in February 1996. Centuries after the Domination conquered Earth and the Solar System, the Alliance survivors built a new civilization, the Samothracian Republic (often called Samothrace), in the Alpha Centauri system. The two societies traded technology and occasionally skirmished, with faster-than-light travel impossible, leading to multiple space conflicts when colonists from both sides reached the same worlds. The Draka continued enslaving any intelligent species they found, using genetic engineering to create docile versions.

The plot begins in 2442 A.D. in sparsely inhabited North America, where Gwendolyn Ingolfsson, a genetically engineered Draka, ends a hunting trip. Contacting legate Tamirindus, she is sent to Reichart Station to oversee a wormhole generator test. An error catches her in the wormhole, transporting her to an alternate Earth (Earth/2) in 1995. The event is detected by the USSNF _President Douglas_, a Samothracean FTL starship using wormhole technology, positioned a tenth of a lightyear from Pluto. Gwendolyn lands in a New York City warehouse during a drug deal, kills all 22 participants, and steals their money. Detective Henry Carmaggio investigates the scene, finding victims killed by blunt trauma or unnaturally sharp blades, plus an animal-like arm.

Gwendolyn hides in apartments after killing the owners, while Carmaggio stays a step behind. During interviews, he meets Jennifer Feinberg. Deciding to contact her Earth, Gwendolyn goes to Cali, Colombia, recruits followers, and founds IngolfTech to sell high technology and raise capital for a wormhole device. Meanwhile, Samothracean agent Kenneth Lafarge arrives in an Illinois cornfield. He tries contacting the CIA but is dismissed as insane and fights his way out, prompting Carmaggio to investigate Gwendolyn further. Carmaggio and Feinberg develop a relationship.

Jennifer follows coworkers to IngolfTech's Bahamas headquarters. Lafarge learns Gwendolyn's location and attacks but retreats when unable to overcome her and her security. Returning to New York, he explains everything to Carmaggio, who recruits colleagues. Lafarge provides plasma rifles built with local technology.