Ok, so the Galdio Umbra didn’t save the planet Capriana Prime from Moldark! Stuff like that happens. Still, it looks like they did kill Moldark himself. They certainly destroyed his command ship, the Black Labyrinth. So now what? Well, the remnants of the Republic are pretty spread far and wide. Commodore Seaman is the ranking officer which makes him the ranking person in what’s left of the Republic. He believes his job is to gather up what’s left of the Republic and get it back to working. That’s going to be one heck of a big job. There are millions of people on Capriana that need to be rescued and the fed and given medical care. He needs everyone he’s got to get that done and that apparently includes the Gladio Umbra.
Of course the Gladio Umbra don’t just volunteer to join the Republic. No, Colonel Caldwell ain’t about to let the Republic do anything to his unit without his say so. In fact, the Commodore was considering whether he should be arresting Lt. Magnus and others for treason. He was quickly told that was a very bad idea and to let things like that go. If he even thought about arresting any of the Gladio Umbra, there might not be anything left of the Republic!
Colonel Caldwell decides they’ll help the Commodore out and pitch in where every possible. They have to have some teams go and free the other damage Republic starships. By free, I mean they have to find out if those surviving are still under the influence of Moldark or are they willing to turn themselves over and possibly get pardon for their actions under that monster. It’s expected that some of the soldiers/sailors on these damaged ships won’t surrender so some fighting is going to happen.
Then a team is going to go to Capriana Prime and help with organizing the refugees coming from the bombed out areas to the few areas that are livable. Sootriman, Ezo and TO-96 are assigned to that task. It seems like a simple job until they actually see what they are up against. The citizens for Capriana Prime have lived a good life and don’t know what bad means, until now. It might make Sootriman and Ezo’s job a lot harder.
The third team consist of Magnu and Awen. Awen is now the Gladio Umbra and she is to go to Aluross and see if they can accommodate the Gladio and a lot more of the refugees. Col Caldwell says it’s time for the Gladio Umbra to rest. He specifically orders Magnus and his company to do so once accommodations are arranged on Aluross. It’s not know just how the people of Aluross will feel about hosting all of these people, but the Sekmit who inhabit Aluross are know for their generosity and kindness. Well, most of them are. Awen might not have such an easy time of it, but she does agree that the Gladio Umbra, which include herself and Magnus, desperately need some downtime.
Meanwhile, things are happing on Worru. Su-Elku is up to no good. He’s already got one planetary Governor at his side and Su-Elku has vision of taking over what was the Republic in the name of peace. Some don’t know if that’s a good idea or not. The Luma have been an organization of peace, but lately they have been showing some unusual military tendencies. With their power to control and use the Unity, the Order of the Luma could become a very big problem for everyone.
This book is not as fasted paced as the previous books, and most of the fighting has died down. The various members of the Gladio Umbra see this as a time for some to go back home. It’s not know if everyone will actually come back so the Gladio Umbra might become a lot smaller.