Ok, so by now you know what’s happened. Kyle Lassiter and company have transitioned to Eden and are ready to begin a new life. This time they should be free from all the government regulation and overbearing politicians that just want to make themselves richer and more powerful. Eden sounds like a paradise that’s too good to be true. Well, it almost is just that, too good to be true. It seems Eden has been visited by others not from Earth and that’s a big problem.
These others were human, but not like the ones from Earth. No, these “people” came out vicious from the beginning wiping out a small recently established settlement without saying why or how come. The settlement was taken completely by surprised and had no defenses except for the local towns folk having hunting rifles and such. The Chandra as they’ll become known didn’t take the time to talk nor did they take prisoners. Every single inhabitant of the settlement was killed, men, women and children! So that put a big damper on this whole garden of Eden thing. But, it didn’t stop the mass exodus from Earth. In fact, it speeded it up since some of those coming were going to be military, ex-military or people that could definitely help defend Eden.
That’s where Kyle Lassiter came in. He and Colonel Howard Pretty, former Army commander who had sense enough to join the exodus and had decided to do so a long time ago, were placed in charge of defending Eden. They were to recruit volunteers to create a militia that would defend settlements in the event of an attack by the Chandras. They were going to be assisted by one defector called “Audy” by the Earthmen since they couldn’t pronounce the name he had given originally. Audy gave a very precise and detailed account of the civilization that he came from. He said his kind, the Chandras only know war. They are raised from birth to be warriors and to fight for their clan. Everything revolves around the clan of which there were several. Audy said that the original attack had been done by a scouting party that had definitely gone back to Chandra to report that this world was free for the taking and that the colonist they found wouldn’t be a problem. He expected the Chandra to return in larger, very large numbers.
So, the bulk of this book is about building up an army or a militia of available volunteer settlers. There were a few since a lot of the kind of people that came to Eden had been in one war or another back on Earth. Yeah, some were getting along in years, but some still remembered what it was like to take up arms, only this time they were going to truly defend their homes and families. Kyle and his cadre of well qualified ex-military men got busy training up this volunteer force. Their major problem was that they didn’t have enough. Only about 1.2 million people had made it to Eden and that including women and children, young and old. Audy had told Kyle to expect the Chandra to return in the tens of thousands for each clan and to expect three of four clans to come to secure Eden for the Kaerin.
According to Audy, the Kaerin was the ruling clan of the Chandra. Audy wasn’t exactly sure why this was so, but he said that none of the other clans ever thought of rebelling against the Kaerin. Still, his clan had did just that and they were paying for it for all time. Apparently, the rebellion was put down at the direction of the Kaerin by other clans. One of which was the Strema (Snake clan). This clan had taken great delight in defeating the Jema, Audy’s clan, and in implementing the terrible punishment the Kaerin had inflicted on the Jema. Every adult member of the Jema clan was put to death and only the children were left to represent the clan and they were forbidden to every had children of their own! Audy had left his clan for this reason to see if he could find a better life.
Of course, when the volunteer militia wasn’t nearly ready, the Chandra arrived. Audy had said that they couldn’t control their gate arrivals like the Earthmen. He said they would arrive almost anywhere and not necessarily close to where they intended. But, he was correct in saying they would arrive in large numbers. The Strema clan had arrived with close to a hundred and thirty thousand warriors. And that was just one of three major sightings of Chandra. Two other clans, the Koryna clan was forty-five thousand strong while the Jema (Eagle) clan was thirty-five thousand warriors. The Eden volunteer militia numbered about 1,200. The odds were not in their favor!
Yet, Audy had a plan and he needed Kyle to help him implement it. If the plan worked, it might mean Eden could be saved for the Earthmen, but if it didn’t then both he and Kyle wouldn’t be around to find that out. They would both die a very painful death. Kyle wasn’t keen on that happening, but he ultimately decided it was worth the risk.
So, how’s this going to turn out. Read the book. You’ll find it hard to put down. While the Chandra have large numbers they don’t fight using modern tactics. They also have some very old technology compared to what the Earthmen are fielding. Doesn’t mean the Earthmen will have it easy, many will die, but the if the Chandra get back to their home planet, they could bring even more and that definitely won’t work out for the Earthmen.
While this book seems to close out pretty good, there’s apparently still more to come. Book 3, “New Shores”, and Book 4, “Bridgehead” are available on Amazon. I’m getting both, but will probably not go directly to reading book 3 right now. I need a change of scenery!