Roland Shaw is armor. At least that’s what he’ll tell you when asked. He’s also a captured prisoner of the Ibarrans, held in a cell Navarre, capital of the Ibarran Nation. How he got there is the story contained in the second book in this series. Now he has to deal with where he’s at and realize that he failed in his mission. Except his mission wasn’t as he thought it would be. Now he starts to learn some interesting details about the Ibarrans that he wasn’t getting from his Armored Corps leaders.
In fact, and surprisingly, the prisoner in the cell next to his is none other than Marc Ibarra, the grandfather of the two Ibarra’s who seemed to have deserted the Earth and Terran Union when things weren’t going their way. Stacy Ibarra is apparently very much in charge of the Ibarran Nation and rules with an iron fist. But, as Roland is soon to find out, there really isn’t that much difference in what the Ibarran Nation wants to do than what his own Terran Union is striving for. Still, the Terran Union has branded the Ibarrans as traitors to the Union and anyone aligned with them is a Terran Union enemy.
Yet, the members of the Ibarran Nation are the same people Roland has joined with since becoming Armor. There are numerous Armor Corps soldiers serving the Ibarran Nation and they are just as devoted to their cause as anyone else. The Ibarran Nation sees an alien threat that the Terran Union refuses to recognize. While the war with the Xaros may be over, there are other aliens who would be pleased to see humanity destroyed. Now that the Terran Union is part of the Galactic Alliance, they much adhere to the Hale Treaty which clearly states that humanity cannot create the proccies that was perviously used to help win the Xaros war. Proccies are genetically engineered humans that can and were grown in huge tubes taking on nine days to fully develop. These proccies were given false memories and when fully awaked assumed they were natural born humans but they were bread to fight. The ability to process humans this quickly definitely frightened other alien races so they wanted that practice to stop and that’s the Terran Union gave up to get the Hale Treaty signed. Except the Ibarrans didn’t want to sign the treaty and fled Union space and set up their own nation.
Now as a prisoner, Roland is going to find things out about the Ibarran Nation that he didn’t know and would have never known. He’s placed under the training of another Armor Corps Templar named Nicodemus. Nicodemus is the one who defeated and captured Roland. Why he wants to train Roland is somewhat of a mystery, but again, these Armor Corps soldiers aren’t much different than those of the Terran Union. Roland realizes this after awhile and his attitudes change, but he still knows that he’s a Terran Armor Corps soldier and must return to their ranks as soon as he can.
Then the aliens attack. The Ibarran Nations are rallied to go and repel this invasion when at the same time the Terran Armor Corps show up. Can these two supposed enemies join forces to defeat a common threat or will they find themselves fighting aliens and humans at the same time. And who’s side will Roland stand with. He definitely wants to fight the aliens and is given Ibarran armor to do so, but what if he has to fight the Terrans?
Good book. A little heavy on the mystical and religious aspect of the Templars and that is kind of confusing, but I guess it makes for a better story. I’m interested in reading the next book some time in 2018.