This entire Omega Force series is one of the best for just plain military science fiction entertainment. I have enjoyed each book and hope to enjoy many more in the series although the author does pretty much wrap up everything with this book. The Omega Force, if you’re just joining us now, is comprised of several aliens who have banded together to help others not able to defend themselves. Captain Jason Burke; Twingo, Chief Engineer; Crusher, Security; Lucky, Security; Doc, Medical; and Kage, the co-pilo, are about as different from one another as can be, but they all have a grudging admiration for each others talents and together, the seem to be unstoppable.
To me, these books are different because Jason Burke, the human, isn’t the weak link in this group. He’s gone through a number of enhancements that have made him stronger, faster, and smarter. That his body could put up with all these changes is a credit to the human race and pretty much astounds Doc Ma’Fredich. He’s now the equal in physical combat to Crusher, who is a massive alien, all muscle, and bred for fighting. He’s also a formable challenge to Lucky, who is a synthetic being made mostly of electronics and high density metal. He’s also a walking computer, but Jason doesn’t necessarily have to rely on him for that purpose. No, Lucky, is more a of mobile armor platform than anything else. So, Jason is in charge and has proven himself on numerous occasions.
Now, they are off on another mission to transport and archeologist to a former dig to pickup some equipment and an artifact that was left behind in her hasty departure. Jason doesn’t really care what the archeologist needs to get or what she found as long as he gets paid up front. But, once a the far distant empty dust-ball of a planetoid, he finds that she hasn’t told him everything, as usual. He and his ship, the Phoenix find themselves being attacked by different factions for something they thing Jason’s ship contains. Jason and Twingo, his Chief Engineer, have pretty much taken the Phoenix apart and can’t find anything of particular value or anything that shouldn’t be on the ship. Then they bring this new artifact aboard and things start happening.
The writing in these stories is so fluid. It’s very easy to read on of these books and I kind of fly through them. Fortunately, each book has been pretty long and that even ads to the story-line. There is just a touch of humor also in the story which helps a lot. It would seem to an outsider that Jason’s crew can’t stand each other, but as they are together on some lengthy space voyages, they constantly bicker to just keep themselves sane. They all know that what they say doesn’t matter, it’s what they do that counts and no one ever gets left behind. Jason can also figure out what’s going on with the people he helps and knows when he’s not being told the whole story. It’s the same with this Archeologist. Unfortunately for her, she gets caught in a lie that results in her death. Jason isn’t really sorry about it, but if she had been honest from the start, it might have been prevented.
So, another good science fiction book for you to read. I’ve already bought the next one, “Omega Force: Redemption” and I’ll be enjoying it probably not long from now.