The Lensman

"Triplanetary" is a science fiction novel by E. E. Smith. The novel covers several episodes in an eons-long human breeding project by the super-intelligences of the Arisians. This alien race is breeding two genetic lines to become the ultimate weapon in Arisia's cosmic war with their archenemies, the Eddorians. The story cover the Kinnison genetic line during the fall of Atlantis, Nero's reign in Rome, World Wars One, Two, and Three.

The final chapter of "Triplanetary" tells of the discovery of the inertialess drive that allows faster-than-light travel. Patrolman Conway Costigan and his friends engage in a space battle with Gray Roger the pirate gangster. This conflict is complicated by the arrival of the technologically superior, extra-Solar, amphibian-like Nevians, resulting in the first interstellar war involving humans.