I think we’re coming to the end of this series. I don’t like it, but I realize it can’t go on forever. It doesn’t end with this book, but I can feel the end coming. There are going to be a lot of changes to the story-line with this book so hang on.
As you’ll recall, our IBHU Marines and their counterparts from the various human worlds were ostracized and placed on -board several starships that were directed to explore deep-space to find out if there was any threat to humanity. That really was a way for the non-augmented to get rid of what they considered dangerous and now useless Marines and soldiers. They started out with several ships, but after their last battle with an unknown alien civilization, they were now down to just one ship, yeah, just one. Aboard was everyone that was left alive to include the Genesians.
The Genesians occupied their own part of the ship and they pretty much stayed in their own spaces except when they needed to interface with the rest of the crew. Oh, the number of non-augmented people in this exploratory group had been cut down considerably. The Congress of Humanity had allow one ship to return with all those non-augments that wanted to return allowed to do so. This specifically didn’t apply to the augmented Marines or others and especially the Genesians. They were looking for their own home world so there was no thought for them to return to the center of humanity.
So, now the Galaxy Explorer, Captained by Nyad, the former XO, was looking for worlds that could be colonized or exploited for resources by those back on Earth if and when they ever got out this far. As the identified a system and any promising planets, they were land a small scouting party of military personnel. When they figured out there were no threats, then the civilian scientist would come down and start running their experiments. Lieutenant Colonel Bundy has been in charge of all the ground troops while he had a lead scientist to consult with on the ground. Since the military on the ground were responsible for security, the scientist usually did what the military told them, but often without some discussions.
As I said before, things are changing in this book. One significant change is that Lieutenant Colonel Bundy has to return back to Safe Harbor for some extensive medical care. Since there were no officers in the other military contingents, that put Sergeant Major Reverent Pelletier as the Senior Ground Force Commander. He didn’t have a problem with that as long as none of the Navy officers objected, which they didn’t. This put him on an equal footing with the ship’s Captain and the lead scientist. Rev started going down to each planet with the security element just to make sure things were going as they should. The only problem he encountered lately was that this mission was getting extremely boring. The last few planets they had landed on and established a base or several bases had nothing living on them or those that did have life, that life was definitely not dangerous.
But, boredom causes people to do stupid things and, unfortunately, our Sergeant Major isn’t exempt from that stupidity although you would have thought otherwise. What happened changes things for Rev and not necessarily for the better. He’s also going to find out some things he doesn’t want to know, but he keeps digging until the ultimate reveal is made with some help from the Genesians. This is going to lead us to a very different situation than we’re used to, but it should be interesting, I hope.
The story does continue in Book 15, “[Brave New Dawn](https://amzn.to/3O2k2YM)”. I do thing this is the last book in the series. I want to read it now, but I don’t want the series to be over yet, so I’m just adding it to my reading list, but I will have to get back to is some day soon.