Samuel Hyst has survived his last mission, barely. But it has cost him something terribly and we’re not even talking about the pain and suffering he went through. His spine had been extensive damaged so much so that he was looking forward to a life paralyzed from the neck down. He didn’t really know any of this until he woke up in the hospital and was told what had happened to him over the past two months. Fortunately, or unfortunately, Samuel’s Tango Platoon Commander Wynn Marsters had ordered that Samuel be give a very much upgraded Augur cybernetic spinal unit. Samuel would no be able to walk and eventually get back to his former physical self. The alternative would have been for him to have became a drain on Grotto Corporations profits and they would have probably terminated him. But, instead of being paralyzed and/or dead, he was now in much greater debt to the corporation since his new spinal unit was covered by the Standard Reaper Health and Wellness Plan!
So his idea that he and Sura might be able to get out of debt and even pay off the life-bond of their newborn son, Orion, was dashed to pieces. He was going to have to stay a Reaper Salvage Marine for the next foreseeable future and there was nothing he could do about it. So, he was just hoping that he and his unit would been sent out on some high priority missions that just might help him pay off his debts faster. Yet, he did realize that if he was killed, then Sura and his child would get his death benefits, but they still would be stuck working for the Grotto Corporation! What a life he and everyone else had. Working, even as a Marine, was nothing more than making money for a corporation and the more you worked the more profit they made since you definitely weren’t being paid that much.
So, this next mission finally came up and if Samual was lucky, it might pay off big time, and there might also not be that much combat! Or so they thought. Another corporation, Vorhold Ventures Corporation, had invested in a planet and that investment didn’t turn out. They had build some really big infrastructure to include these tall spire cities that went up into the clouds forever, but also went down below sea level forever too. And just like any place else, the more money you had the higher you got to live. Well, most of the higher ups had pulled up stakes and left the planet a long time ago. They took most everything with them so the Grotto Corporation was only looking a salvaging the city itself. Most all the Vorhold spires were made of metal and that had scrap value.
The reason the Salvage Marines were brought in was to go down to the sub-levels and get rid of anyone or anything still living down there. And of course, Grotto Corporation knew that something or somethings were very much alive in the depths below. They figure using their Salvage Marines could quickly get the job done and wouldn’t cost them what it would have if they had to hire mercenaries.
Samuel has a new squad Boss named Aiken. He was from a different fleet and did things a little differently, but Samuel figured he could work with him, no problem. But his platoon and his squad were definitely going downspire to find what was down there and deal with it. They were going to run into a lot of nasty gangs that had ran the sub-levels to these spire cities for a long time and they weren’t about to give them up now. Down below was also where all the waste of the city had accumulated over several years. There were things growing down there that hadn’t seen the light of day, ever! So, this was going to be a very nasty, dirty job with all likelihood that a lot of Salvage Marines wouldn’t be coming home.
Oh, this was going to be easiest of the two missions in this book!
Samuel does survive the Vorhold spires and was rewarded with another mission, only this one came with some pretty substantial bonuses. Surprisingly, Samuel had made enough money over the last six years to pay off his and Sura’s life-bonds, but they still owed for Orion and then had to have something to live on if they left the Corporation planet of Baen 6, which they did plan to do. So, Samuel knew he had more soldiering to do and that’s what he was ready for after 35 days at home with his wife and child.
Orders finally came in for Samuel to report for an in-brief on the new mission. This mission also included hazard pay and a bonus of a substantial amount. The Corporation was only taking the most experienced Salvage Marines and they were going to be augmented with a five-thousand person Penal Legion 223. That, in itself was startling to Samuel. But, then they were told where they were going and it was definitely far out in space, in fact it was so far that no one have ever ventured out far and returned to tell about it!
Samuel seems to be doing pretty good if he can survive this final mission and that’s a big IF. Still, something is still going on because book 3, “Trade War”, now available on Amazon.
==[Note: As of 12/03/2023, this will not be published on Amazon since I have been banned from posting reviews for some unknown reason. Once the ban is lifted, assuming it does get lifted, I’ll go back and post this to Amazon.]==