I’m almost positive I’ve read this book one already! Not sure why I feel that way, but I just know I have. Yet I don’t have any record of me reading it or of writing a review! I know I’ve read about some of the characters in this book, especially Jim Cartwright and his Cavaliers. I’ve also read about the Tortantula (giant sentient spiders), MinSha, and a few other alien species. But, again, I can’t remember when or what book I read about them. Still, I did read (re-read) this book and it was very good (again?).
There are a lot of characters introduced in this book. Most of them are Commanders of Mercenary outfits of one size or another. There are four of these outfits that are major players in the mercenary business, besides the Mercenary Guild which I’ll get to in a minute. As mentioned, Jim Cartwright leads Cartwright Cavaliers. He’s the son of the original commander and altho very young to be in his position, he’s proven himself in previous actions. Those must be covered in another book which I’m going to explore and probably read. Next is Asbaran Solutions led by Nigel Shirazi. Don’t know much about him other than he can be arrogant and compulsive. Then there’s Sansar Enkh, leader of the Golden Horde. She’s pretty smart although she does become a problem by getting captured. And lastly, we have Alexis Cromwell, head of the Winged Hussars, the only mercenary outfit to not be premaritally stationed on Earth. These four principals are also known as the “Four Horsemen” in mercenary circles and are considered the best of the best.
There are other mercenary outfits throughout the galaxy. And as Earth found out when finally crawling off their little planet, there was an entire galactic community of traders, craftsmen and mercenaries that had formed Guilds to guide their respective actions along guidelines established by the Galactic Union. Unfortunately, Earth wasn’t yet a member of this Galactic Union, but they were very successfully involved in the mercenary business. So much so that the other mercenaries of the Merc Guild wanted to stop their membership in the Galactic Union.
They did so by claiming that all of the human mercenary companies had violated Galactic and Union laws in several instances and that these humans must be brought under control. As large fleet, mostly of alien origin suddenly orbited Earth and demanded that all the leaders of the Earth mercenary companies surrender to General Peepo, a mercenary commander, herself a Veetanho, for future trail by tribunal at the Capital Planet. Of course all this was due to the simple fact that Earth’s mercenaries were doing so much better at this business than all the other alien mercenary companies and those other didn’t like the massive loss of profits they were experiencing. So, the plan was to gain control of Earth and turn these human mercenaries into quasi-slaves for the alien mercenary companies.
Only, three of the four Horsemen found out about this attack with enough time to gather some of their troops and flee Earth for surprisingly the hidden Winged Hussars base. Except for Sansar Enkh. She volunteered to stay behind and be captured by the aliens and was subsequently sent to Capital Planet for a tribunal. Of course, this tribunal was fixed and the ultimate outcome was already decided.
So, can the fleeing Cartwright Cavaliers and Asbaran Solution mercenary companies even find the Winged Hussars hidden base? And if they do, would the Winged Hussars be willing to support a possible re-taking of Earth. What’s going to happen to Sansar Enkh and her Golden Horde? You’ll find all the answers in this book, but it’s not over yet!
Book 2, “The MIdnight Sun” is out and available on Amazon. I’ve already started this one and I can firmly say I’ve not already read it, but I will!