What are the motifs in Startide Rising by David Brin?

Warfare is a recurring idea. Startide Rising by David Brin takes place under the cloud of Warfare. When the exploration vessel Streaker happens upon a Derelict Fleet that everyone in the Five Galaxies has apparently forgotten and reports the find to Earth, all of the militant races of the Five Galaxies converge to wrest the information from her. She is badly damaged as she flees and makes it to the isolated planet Kithrup.