The first book in this series was so good that I decided to jump right in on the next one. There’s a lot of preliminary stuff that cover the first four chapters. Daniel West is still a Lieutenant now in charge of all the training for the exo-suit personnel. It’s one big job for a LT, but that how the story goes. His immediate boss is a full Colonel, so I’d say Daniel is getting paid well below his responsibilities. And his job is just about to get worse.
He’s ripped right out of Camp Perry where the training was being conducted and sent aboard the UES Shenzhen. There he meets his new platoon which, thankfully, was comprised of a lot of the Sergeants that all were trained by Chief Hammond and then went through the stuff in the first book with the LT.
So now he learns his mission is to go with the UES Shenzhen and i’s Navy crew to a far distant planet to establish a new colony of about 1,000 civilians. Yeah, they’re all aboard the Shenzhen and not happy about waiting for the LT to arrive. It actually doesn’t take them that long to get to the new planet.
Of course Daniel still telepathic contact with Captain Hope back on Earth. They weren’t sure how far apart they could be and this to still work, but, fortunately for Daniel, it does. This is only thing Daniel and Hope had not told the brass about that was seemingly caused by the Mozari suits and the left over nanites in his and her blood stream. Dan also has communications with the Mozari AI for some reason. I suppose she felt the need to come along although I don’t understand why. She was part of the original Mozari starship which has now been named the UES Sydney and it’s not on this mission. This AI also isn’t as bright as you’d think.
The planet Lyonesse was very similar to Earth. It had been thoroughly scouted by previous Earth scout ships and nothing of importance had been noted. It didn’t even seem to have much of a local animal population, but the dense jungle did hide a lot of stuff. Yet, this planet was deemed safe for human habitation and since no one else seemed to occupying it, that’s where the colony was going to go.
Only, that was just the beginnings of trouble. Professor Wilson was the head of the colony mission and he would have preferred to be called King or something just as important and arrogant. He certainly didn’t want the military in his colony and was quick to tell Daniel just that. Surprisingly, Daniel knew enough that he didn’t have to kowtow to this civilian. He told him that unless given orders from the military command chain, he, Daniel would do whatever it was to accomplish his mission. And his mission was to keep the colonist safe.
Just prior to orbiting the planet, the Mozari AI notified Daniel that they shouldn’t be there! Why she didn’t say something a long time before now is a great mystery only the author knows. And, soon after landing, ruins were found that someone or something had inhabited this planet at some time. The Mozari AI also informed them that this planet and the entire star system was actually a forbidden, sacred, semi-holy place that even Gresians were not allowed. Needless to say, humans on this planet were going to be a big no-no and the Gresians were going to remove them with prejudice! For an uninhabited planet, a lot of people are about to die!