I’ve had this book and this series on my reading list for quite some time. I just couldn’t seem to get to reading it until now. Boy! Why didn’t I read these a long time ago? This is a great science fiction space warfare series. I really, really like the way the author has taken present day military terminology and used it in his book just the way it’s supposed to be used. No more weird rank structure or having to figure out where someone fits in the chain-of-command. He’s also developed his characters very solidly especially his main character, Captain Jackson Wolfe.
Those of us who have seen their military careers wind down to an ending, probably never wanted that career to end or didn’t fully understand why it had to end when it did. And most of us probably had a superior officer that at least thought we were significantly to a purposeful mission even while are careers were coming to an end. Not so for Captain Jackson Wolfe. He’s an Earther, which in his universe, is about a bad a planet of origin as can be. Earthmen may have moved off their mother planet and settled the galaxy, but they also quickly forgot where they came from. Now anyone from Earth is considered a backward neanderthal and certainly not fit to command a Confederate star ship. Yet, Captain Wolfe has fought his way through the ranks and now commands the “ISS Blue Jacket”, an integral part of the Black Fleet located in the Alpha Centauri system and ported on the planet Haven.
Now, the “ISS Blue Jacket” is not a sleek state-of-the-art space-faring destroyer you might imagine it would be in 2423. Instead, it’s a bucket of bolts that’s barely being held together. It hasn’t been updated in hundreds of years and probably should have been retired a long time ago. The Blue Jacket’s crew also isn’t the most highly prized crew around either. In fact, this is where the misfits, trouble makers and rift-raft of the Black Fleet get assigned. They are sent on extremely long voyages to keep them from Haven and out of trouble. Admiral Alyson Winters is Captain Wolfe’s immediate superior office and she hates him with a passion, mostly because he’s an Earther! So, now he’s been ordered to take on an unknown Commander as his XO. He knows with certainty that Commander Celesta Wright has been hand picked by Admiral Winters to replace him as soon as possible. This next mission could be his last and will be if Admiral Winters has the final say.
So, now the fun starts. The “Blue Jacket” is sent to the far frontier to find out what’s going on for real and report back to Haven. There have been some alarming activities going on that make it appear that one or more of the different colonial factions are preparing for war. This is extremely frightening to a number of military people since a war hasn’t been fought between humans for several hundreds of years. With the colonial expansion going on and the fact that no one had ever found an alien civilization to contend with, anyone and every one with the money can colonize whatever planet or system they desire and reap the economical benefits of doing so unopposed.
That is going to come to a sudden halt. The “Blue Jacket” finds two formerly human colonized planets that have been wiped clean. Nothing left on them other than a slick, smelly sludge. Humanity has finally found someone that doesn’t like their presents and is wiling to go to war over it. Unfortunately, humanity will be represented by a ancient, barely space capable starship. Guess who’s going to win this first battle?
This series is so good that I immediately bought the second book, “Call to Arms” and will more than likely buy the third book immediately after reading the second.