Last time we were with Lieutenant Solomon Cready, he was just chosen to lead the Ru’at’s invasion of Earth! Of course, Solomon wasn’t going to have anything to do with that. He didn’t know how Earth and Mars were going to defeat this invasion, but he certainly wasn’t going to led the enemy, even if he was truly a clone!
So, he and his compatriots waited for an opportunity to escape from the Ru’at city. That came suddenly when all the power to the complex they were being held in went powerless. Solomon rounded up Kol, Imprimatur of Proxima Rhossily Mariad and Ambassador of Earth Ochrie and headed for a transportation hum under the panic and confusion by all the power being out. They eventually found a Martian rover and headed out to the desolate planes of Mars. Where they were going was unknown and how long they could make their escape good was also an unknown.
At the same time, Lieutenant Jezebel Wen was attempting to not die at the hands of a Ru’at cyborg. She was temporarily trapped in the wreckage of the Invincible, the Earth’s Rapid Reaction Force’s former flagship. Now it was in pieces, but they have found a self-destruct bomb in the nose of the spaceship and were about to set it off. This explosion should take care of several Nu’at scout ships that were in the area. LT Wen just had to get away from the wreckage before the bomb was set off, or at least that was the plan. Her team aboard the Scout ship was trying to get in close to rescue her, but they couldn’t stay long if the bomb exploded.
If LT Wen made it safely to the Scout ship, they were going to land somewhere on Mars and attempt to make contact with Lt Cready. It just so happened that all the Outcast Marines carried and embedded transponder under their skin, so they did have a general area to search. Unfortunately, the Nu’at also found Lt Cready and his compatriots as they were trying to escape. Their rover was shot at and seriously tumbled down a huge crater coming to rest almost completely buried under the Martian dirt and rocks.
Ambassador Ochrie has a plan if they can get to the Experimental Command Hub (ECH). Once there they can contact Brigadier General Asquew and find out if there’s anything left to fight with. They no the Ru’at mothership is enroute to Earth and once there, nothing will stop them from either destorying all humanity or enslaving the world. Tough situation to be in.
Good book and interesting story all the way through. Not sure this is the end. but it could be. They haven’t totally defeated the Ru’at, but they now know how. Note: I still think the book cover is horrible. Cready’s eyes are two close together and it looks like he’s been eating dirt. Very ugly guy! Sure doesn’t look like the hero-type!