Well, Ranger Antonin Murdock and Sergeant Phil Covington were in deep kimchee. They were now considered traitors to the Commonwealth having gone against the Marnies they were supposed to be working with in arresting Sanya Baretto. But what they had found out was something entirely different than what was known throughout the Commonwealth prior to their mission. Now things have even become worse.
Upon arrival back at Earth, they find Eden Station has been attacked apparently by a suicide run from one of Sanya Baretto’s forces. This attack had destroyed a large section of the station and they were just now beginning massive rescue operations. Needless to say, Commonwealth forces were on high alert about any incoming starships and weren’t being nice about it. Murdock knew he needed to report in to his boss. Gina Bonner. Hopefully, she would give him the chance to tell his side of the story instead of just telling the space fighters to shoot the *Carmalita* out of space.
So, Murdock does make contact with Bonner and he starts talking fast. He knows his brother, Henry, is behind all this fighting. He knows Henry set up Baretto with the supplies and equipment to start waging her insurgency and she had done a skillful job up to a point. Henry thought he could stop Baretto whenever she had done enough damage to make it look like he, Henry, was a war hero for bringing her in. Except, Baretto wasn’t listening to Henry Murdock any more.
Now Ranger Murdock needed some help in getting back into the good graces of the Commonwealth so he could pursue both Baretto and more importantly, Henry Murdock. He was bound to bring both to justice one way or another. The best way was to capture both so a very thorough investigation could take place and a trial could determine the length and depth of guilt both parties. Only he didn’t know how he was ever going to get close to anyone in the Commonwealth if his boss, Bonner didn’t believe his story.
She did, eventually and took him to someone that could further help. That person was none other than the current Chairperson of the Commonwealth Council. This was the person Henry Murdock was attempting to replace. While he was on the Council, he wanted more. He also knew that without the Tahni war, his military hardware corporation, Murdock Industries, was slowing going to go bankrupt. So, he had put together a plan to give the Commonwealth a new enemy until the Tahni once again decided to attack. Or, Henry thought, there might be someone even worse than the Tahni waiting to attack humanity. He actually thought humanity wouldn’t be ready to stand and fight against another enemy if we let ourselves be dulled by the current peace.
Ranger Murdock finally got his help from Patrice Damiani, Chairperson, Commonwealth Council. She gave him some pretty powerful credentials that might help make his job easier, but he was going to have to fight his battles with just him, Sgt. Covington and *Carmalita*. Not a problem, but he was up against two different Armies, the Commonwealth Fleet lead by Admiral Sato and the insurgent army led by Sanya Baretto. Plus, Henry Murdock had turned a Marine platoon against everyone thinking they were doing the work of the Council. They were an army by themselves, a relentless one led by Captain LJ Webb; one that formerly had Sergeant Phil Covington as a member. Only Sgt. Covington didn’t go in for killing innocent women and children which is what Webb’s group had done for no good reason. This was the kind of people Ranger Murdock and Sgt. Covington were up against.
So, who’s going to win? Or is justice going to prevail and allow one single Ranger to arrest all the bad guys? Will it be that easy? No it won’t. There will be losses, significant losses, but that’s how the story goes. I believe this is the end of this series. It seems to be, but it was one find story with a mix of police action and of course, Marines doing what Marines do best. A very good series and I hate to see it end.