The Mask of Strategy, (Paperback)

Perspective is a filter.

One hundred twenty-two years have passed since Earth's destruction, and Humanity lives within the grand interstellar colonies of the Hegemony. Progress is driven by fear of another collapse, and selective breeding ensures each generation is better than the last. The militarization of children is used as a method of payment to the government for providing their every need. The next generation of child soldiers is drafted during the prosperous reign of the Second Hegemon, but the rise of a terrorist group and an unexpected murder throws history down an entirely new path, bringing up the remnants of Earth's past.