Peacemaker Van Tudor is still making his way in this strange and complicated world he now finds himself. After finding out that his Grandfather was a Peacemaker for a very long time, Van got the opportunity to take his place and do the same things. And he’s doing them very well. He and his crew of the Fafnir are still on the trail of some very vile criminals who can now be tried for Crimes Against Order which is about the worst crime you can commit. He has some definite leads and there is a strong suspicion that a leading Guild Master might be involved. Then he gets a call to report back to Anvil Dark and specifically to Master Yotov.
Even though he didn’t know this Master very well, he knew she was heavy into Guild politics which Van wants nothing to do with. He’s stayed away from Anvil Dark and Guild HQ since there has been nothing but political shenanigans going on for the three vacant Master positions. Now it looks like Master Yotov has consolidated her power and push through her nominees for those three vacancies. She not more or less controls the entire Master Council and can sway things to her liking when she wants. Only so far she hasn’t done anything that would cause anyone concern. Van has never met Master Yotov and doesn’t have a clue as to why she would be calling him to her office.
But, it turns out that it wasn’t as bad as he had anticipated. It seems Master Yotov has taken a liking to Van Tudor and is attempting to make his investigation much easier by promoting him not just one grade, but two! That does raise a few eyebrows among the other Peacemakers, but they all know that Van Tudor has been doing a very commendable job for the short time he’s been a Peacemaker. He’s still puzzled though about Master Yotov’s intentions. Is she trying to make him a target of scorn among the other Peacemakers by becoming what appears to be a Yotov puppet or is she really interesting and supportive of his crime fighting abilities? He doesn’t trust her and for her part, she tells him he should not since he doesn’t know her that well. And she tells Van to continue on pursuing his investigation now with more authority.
So, instead of his case being taken over by some other leading Peacemaker, Tudor finds himself even more into the investigation and now he’s uncovered some damaging evidence that another Peacemaker, not Master Yotov, is involved. He’s also finding out that there’s a substantial bounty placed upon him and his crew. That bounty is drawing a lot of unwanted attention and almost getting the Fafnir destroyed with all on-board. They do survive this attack and then find themselves once again the benefactor of Master Yotov in that she orders the Guild to cover the cost of repairing the Fafnir and upgrading it to full Dragon class!
Now with a much more capable ship, Van Tudor finds he’s taking on more and more crew. Some of the people he has ran into along the way have surprisingly came and offered their services as part of his crew. He readily accepts and now realizes that he might just have the tools needed to blow his case wide-open. Then he figures out that if the bad guys can’t get to him, where would they go to cause him the greatest harm? Maybe some place like Earth, Iowa and the farm? Is this going to make Earth now aware of the greater universe and that there are aliens out there among the stars? What will Miryam think if she finds aliens on the farm?
This is a very good story, but it doesn’t stop here. Van Tudor has a lot more to do and it’s going to be great reading in book 6, “Distant Horizon”, available on Amazon now.