Another fantastic book in this series. Mr. Ikenberry really gets down into the operational layer of fighting a battle. I really like that kind of realism in books even though there are a lot of fantastic technologies involved. A lot of what he puts into his stories are and were only dreamed of on the battlefield of the 21st century. To be able to float a UVA and watch your enemy move around was not even thought of in my day. We had to have eyes on before we could almost do anything. And don’t get me talking about intelligence, that was mostly guess work in my day. Still, this modern Army and Air Force are just now relearning the things that were done in the past quite well. Combine Arms of infantry, tanks, artillery and air craft operating against a single or multiple targets was the doctrine in my day. Here they are relearning all that again.
While the battle on Heske is over, the war certainly is not. The armor have gone back to Mars and are repairing their damages and obtaining new supplies, equipment and people. They are also going to be fleshing this new way to fight after having the Thunderbolt aircraft providing close air support during the rescue mission. That worked out very well, but part of it was due to the personal knowledge of the Thunderbolt pilots, Lieutenants Vivian Llewelyn, a.k.a. “Hellcat”, and Paige Dixon, a.k.a. “Bombshell” with Captain Mike Sandhurst called “Tank Boy” by the lady pilots. That familiarity was both a blessing and a hinderance since Hellcat got shot down and Captain Sandhurst wanted to immediately go after her. But, he wasn’t in a position to make that decision alone. So he had to wait for his commander, Colonel Snodgrass to approve the rescue plan. It involved a lot of assets that had to account for the Buzzer presence on the battlefield.
Obviously that rescue worked out, but Hellcat was looking at a long recover time. She had been seriously hurt while evading the Buzzers and awaiting rescue. She even got shot although it was just a grazing wound, but her leg and ankle got messed up when she fell in the dark. Now she has a long recuperating period ahead of her to include prequalifying for flight and passing a fly physical and a PT test. She’s got Bombshell along with her so she doesn’t have to do this alone, but she does want to take some time off to meet up with Mike Sandhurst on Mars if possible. They are heading towards a very romantic relationship.
Meanwhile, Captain Thomas Mace, commander of the starship Shackleton has been in the Trion system for some time watching for Buzzer activity. They had seemed to indicate on Heske that their next objective would be in this Trion system. Most of the Earth Maneuver Force (EMF) was out at transit points awaiting word of any Buzzer incursions. Captain Mace begins observing the planet Trion-2 when he and his crew notice what appears to be fighting on the planet surface. They can’t tell who is fighting who until they get closer so when they do it becomes clear that there is a Buzzer presence on the planet. This kicks off an immediate message to the EMF task force for assistance.
Task Force Eagle, under the command of Rear Admiral Ruben Luera, was ordered to immediately respond to the Shackleton’s request for backup. He then called Brigadier General Jeffrey Justice, commanding Battle Group Sheridan, to prep for immediate deployment as part of his Task Force Eagle. Unfortunately, Rear Admiral Luera was a very demanding commander and kind of head strong, but he was in a position to do what he thought needed done and that was what he was doing. He told BG Justice to get his battle group moving immediately and then they would join up to get to the Trion system as soon as possible. He further told BG Justice that he planned on making an ally of whomever was fighting against the Buzzers! To BG Justice that didn’t seem reasonable since they had no knowledge about who or what was going on down on the ground. Yet, orders were orders and had to be followed.
So, now you’re going to read about a disaster caused by a head-strong commander that didn’t take the time to gain the intelligence needed to make the right decisions. Someone will also have to come in and clean up his mess. This is an exciting story with lots of maneuvers by commanders, tanks and aircraft. I’m really glad that this isn’t the end of the story but there sure is a strange twist to the end of this book. More will be forthcoming in book 4, but that book hasn’t been identified yet. I hope it comes soon!