It seems as though we’ll be with the Tudor family for ever. Several years have now passed since the Calamity episode and things have been relatively peaceful. Van Tudor has now established the Nexus has his contact point for introducing products from space to the Earth. Of course it’s in Iowa right near the farm that his Grandfather had and that Van grew up on. The farm house still stands and is used by all when they are not busy doing Nexus or Fist of Orion or Peacemaker Guild (now Guild of Orion) work. So there is a lot still going on.
Now we also find out that the children of our favorite *Fafnir* crew are all grown up and have graduated from the Academy established by Van Tudor to train new officers for the Guild of Orion. Initially, they will be devoted to the protection of Earth and the Solar System, but Van and other parents fully expect their children to become full fledged Peacemakers enforcing galactic law. But for now their training continues under the watchful eye of Rab. Rab is now the Captain of the *AnaDarko*, an operational ship of the Fist of Orion. He and his charges are going on actual missions for the Fist of Orion, but mostly they will conduct some simple scientific investigations.
Rab is accompanied by Adept Abel Perry Tudor and Adept Kisni Tudor the progeny of Van Tudor and Torina Milon, then we have Adept Clip (Clivax) and Adept Tiki whose parents were Icky and Paxomar. Additionally among the crew were Melly and Budge, the children (adopted) of Funboy and Gabby. And lastly, we have Adept Zeke Mandeville. All of these children had graduated from the Bogalusa Academy and now were being taught how to be a crew of an operation spaceship. Rab, needless to say, had his hands full, but he was more than capable of keeping these young people in-line and on mission.
This first assignment had been a relatively easy one, going to Europa and exploring the icy depth below. Melly and Zeke had taken a class-2 workboat deep into a crevasse in the icy moon’s surface and were not attempting to grab some biological samples of the living beings beneath all that ice. They could see them on sensors and most of them were big, very big. All they needed was just a tiny sample from one of them and then they could leave. Well, that was the plan and it mostly worked. Still, it seems the entity that they took the sample from had definitely noticed the probe nipping him and didn’t care for it much. Melly and Zeke had a little trouble getting back into their workboat when this big alien broke through the ice. Still, some fast work by both young people saved the day and the sample. Now it was back to Earth and specifically Point Alus Kyr so the sample could be thoroughly analyzed.
And that’s kind of how the rest of the book goes. There is some scientific mystery around what they found on Europa and on a large gas giant planet named Harriot where they also found some strange aliens, but these were flying around in the gaseous atmosphere of the gas giant. Not only was the finding of these three previously unknown but very similar genetic partners a mystery, but they also seemed to link to Gabby in some way. She even recognized some of the sounds these aliens were making as a language, but nothing she could understand. And surprisingly, she did know of two uncles that kind of spoke the same language. So another mission for the crew of the *AnaDarko*.
But back on Earth, Van Tudor is seeing his own problems starting up again. It seems that someone is gathering a large, very large army out near Jupiter. For what purpose and how they are doing this is a real mystery that he and his Fafnir crew are going to have to find out. This could lead to finding some very bad guys who might be in the mood to shoot people that were snooping around what Van was trying to investigate. He didn’t want to bring in the *AnaDarko* as potential backup, but his kids and the others were going to have to learn someday that what they were doing could be very dangerous. So, with the concurrence of the other parents, he brought the *AnaDarko* into the investigation. And of all places for these kids to start was right there in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. A riot had developed it was rumored that something had been done at the Nexus that the people of Iowa didn’t like.
So, there’s a lot of things happens in this story that but none of it dreadful. Yes, the kids get involved, but they don’t really come into much danger. In fact, Van Tudor kind of solves the biggest problem before it actually does anything. Still, it seems that the story is getting ready to move the original players out and move in the new kids. I’m not sure that’s going to last. But, I do know that book 27, “Forged in Stillness” is out now on Amazon and I’ve added it to my reading list. It also seems that book 28, “A Rumor of War”, is also planned for release on 20 July 2025. Now that one has a very interesting title. More good reading coming.