This is an omnibus of two early novels in L.E. Modesitts Ecolitan Matter sieries, The Ecolitan Operation and The Ecologic Secession. The series deals with the conflict between the old and corrupt interstellar Empire, and the Ecolitan Institute of the planet Accord. Major Jimjoy Earle Wright, secret agent of the Empire, is intelligent and highly trained. He succeeds too well in overthrowing a military dictatorship—and the result is a new government inimical to the Empire which employs him. So Jimjoy is disgraced and his superiors want him dead. After surviving two assassination attempts, Jimjoy begins to realize that his troubles are serious—that, in fact, his worst enemies could be his friends. He decides to change sides and fights his way to safety on the planet of Accord. Once there the Ecolitan Institute wins his loyalty and changes his identity. Now he is James Joyson Whaler, Ecolitan, in the middle of a war of independence against the inconceivably superior forces of the Empire.