This is where I quit reading this series. At the time I didn't know I would be quitting it, but I sure wasn't anywhere near invested enough to actively seek the next one. In the end I read a prequel in which I was seriously disappointed. As is usual in this series, McDevitt spends way too much time on things which really don't drive the story. In this case it's ironically the new drive (which will power McDevitt's other series in this universe, but which is set a couple of centuries later, I believe).
Finally McDevitt gets serious about the biggest threat to the galaxy, which was discovered in the first book in this series, but then inexplicably neglected until this story, five novels later! It turns out that the omega 'clouds' are coming from near the center of the galaxy, and inexplicably after being rather retired from spaceflight, Hutch pilots this next trip to seek out the source, which turns out to be rather boring. Nothing much happens - it's all journey and little payoff, and I think this boredom is why I lost interest in the series - that, and the fact that with this discovery, it was largely over by then anyway.
