Well, we thought that with the destruction of the USS Midway and the defeat of Specter, every thing was over. But, of course, this being a science fiction book, just about anything can and does happen. Admiral Jack Mathis has gone home to Earth and seems to be set for a desk job or retirement. Still, he gets a strange visit by one of his old friends, an English Captain by the name of Pippa Spears. She is currently commanding the HMS Caernarvon (don’t ask me how to pronounce it!) heading for deep space and just the place that Admiral Mathis wants to go. So, being friends and all, she invites him aboard and off they go.
Meanwhile, there are reports that the Forgotten, a War Veteran group with possible legitimate grievances against whatever country they fought for, have kidnapped a large group of children, mostly babies! For what purposes, no one can figure out. Admiral Mathis knows of a secret base that the Forgotten were using (ain’t much of a secret) and he kindly asks his English Captain to make a little trip out of the way to investigate.
Ok, so back home, Chuck Mathis and Elroy are visiting doctors trying to find out what is wrong with their son, young Jack. He seems to be sick, but noon of the so-called-expert doctors can figure out what is wrong. In fact, most just tell Chuck that his son is fine because they don’t know what to call baby Jack’s problem. Out of desperation, Chuck decides to call CIA Agent Smith. He believes that he could possibly know someone that might have a little different method to determine what’s wrong with Jack. Smith can’t be reached by phone. He just doesn’t answer. That’s when Harry Reardon and his brother Sammy show up. They also need to contact Smith, but can’t so they tapped the number Smith had previously used hoping someone would call that could get through. When Chuck called they decided to give him a visit and see if he knew anything more about Smith’s whereabouts. Eventually, they all get together and decide that the best place to find Smith is at some mysterious shipbuilding base out in a very dense part of the galaxy. So off they go in the Aerostar with Chuck and baby Jack.
So now our adventure begins. Admiral Mathis is looking for the Forgotten who seemed to have fallen in with his enemy, the Future Humans and Specter. Yes, it appears that Specter is alive and thriving. There is a lot of good fighting and ship combat and the good guys are dealing out a lot of damage. Yet, having a baby aboard any kind of starship poses difficult problems, especially if that baby happens to also get kidnapped! I don’t need to tell you that Admiral Mathis is now hell bent on finding whoever did the kidnapping and make sure they don’t every do something like this again. After all, young Jack is his grandson.
I like the story, but since I’m from an older generation, I can’t stand the inclusion of Chuck and Elroy. It’s just not necessary. Yeah, maybe I’m homophobic or whatever they call it, but that’s my choice and I choose which books I read based on who I am. Most of all, I can’t relate to those kind of characters which lessens the book for me. I think I’m finished with this series. I don’t know if it continues, but I won’t. It’s good writing, but not my kind of storyline.