The Elluvon Gift by Simon Lang

On the starship Skipjack, a valiant and costly mission of rescue has just ended - and an ordeal of terror is about to begin. For while dissension and rumblings of mutiny divide the starship's crew, a strange and alien entity - the Elluvon - appears in their midst, seeking shelter and offering a gift both precious and mysterious. The coming of the Elluvon plunges the Skipjack into a turmoil which threatens to engulf the entire galaxy. As the seeds of rebellion grow aboard the Skipjack, an ominous, deadly threat appears from without; an invasion by vicious intergalactic pirates determined to seize the Elluvon gift and sell it to the highest bidder - the dreaded Krail, skilled and fearsome warriors from another planet, poised for their final attack! Out of the worlds of the imagination comes a novel rich in adventurous, romance, and intrigue - a spell-binding leap into a visionary future in the great tradition of Simon Lang's ALL THE GODS OF EISERNON.