Inhabitable worlds are rare and precious.
Humanity has encountered another intelligent species, the Slazans. These are humanoid starfaring creatures who at one time shared a world with humanity. War broke out between the humans and the Slazans on this world, for reasons that are unclear, and the war reduced the world to bare rock. The human and Slazan military forces are fighting a war of attrition, each searching for the home worlds of the other race. The humans find an inhabitable world that is occupied by Slazans.