Mysterious space station builders and a faceless enemy

[yodachan]

I think I read this in the mid to late 80s. Information I think I remember:

The main character was black. He belonged to a universe spanning organization that utilized highly automated bases, created by some unknown race I believe known as "The Builders".

I remember the book starting with a gunfight in an airport on earth, with the use of advanced weaponry. The main character is given bigger and bigger tasks throughout the book, eventually ending up in charge of most of the friendly forces against the enemy, another unknown race, perhaps known simply as the enemy.

Along the way, one of the main character's tasks is the retrieve a spoiled princess from another world, who eventually becomes part of his team.

Spoiler alert.



At the end it is revealed that the friendly "Builders" and the enemy are the same and that the war was created to bring the various planetary races together.

 

[yodachan]

Bump and add that I think that dead enemies vanished before they could be examined. Also involved were some non-humanoid aliens.

 

[yodachan]

Bump one more time to see if anyone new remembers

 

[Alex The G and T]

This is tickling my memory but I can't name it.

It has a taste of Saberhagen's Berserkers series to it.

(gooogle google) Aha, the berserkers were built by the Builders.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berserker_(Saberhagen)

 

[iansales]

Isn't there a series by James P Hogan that's similar to this? Or is it Charles Sheffield?

 

[yodachan]

Definitely not Saberhagen or Hogan, I'm very familiar with both authors. This was a one-off, not a series.

 

[yodachan]

For some reason, this book's title (well, enough of it for me to find the book) popped into my head in the middle of Thanksgiving dinner. The book is "The Janus Syndrome", by Steven E. McDonald.