Friday Fiver Challenge

You know how this goes. Five sentences from the fifth chapter of a Kalquorian universe book. Name that book.

He went on.  “I am drunk and in despair, little Earther.  All I’ve worked for is gone, an entire lifetime of research tossed away by those with the power to do so.  I want something warm and sweet to console myself with.  Is that such a terrible thing?”