This story had been all over the place with about three or four threads all managing to eventually come together. They’re not there yet, but I can see how this might eventually end, if it ever does. We started this series with our supposedly main character, Gareth Weston, former EDF (Earth Defense Force) Commander, now retired. He was kind of set out to pasture in that his age was not going to allow him to do the things he had done in the past. Then the Veldon invaded Earth. That took everyone by surprise since the Earth had fought a long and terrible war with them not that long ago.
Still, the attack was unexpected and caught the EDF unable to defend the planet. It also appeared that the Veldon were looking for something or someone(s) on Earth since they sent troops down to specific locations. One of those locations was in the vicinity of Gareth Weston. Of course he was going to fight back which he did, but he was overwhelmed, and got shot up badly. He managed to stumble to a house occupied by Dr. Augustus Keppler. Dr. Keppler took in him and decided that to save his life he would use him to further his study of a new drug he was trying to perfect. This drug reversed most of the aging in humans converting them back to about their twenties physically but not mentally. The drug was actually a six-part treatment that had to have certain elements to do its work.
Well, it worked wonderfully on Gareth. He began to look like he was twenty-something not long after the first few treatments. He and the Doctor managed to flee Earth and met up with his Daughter, Chelsea, of the JTF. She was more of a law enforcement officer than military although she had done some time in the EDF. She was after a some what elusive criminal group lead by Lyra Vahst. Moving along in the story, Chelsea, with the help of her father managed to capture Lyra and her group only to find out they weren’t as bad as they appeared and, in fact, they became good friends and helpful to her father.
Of course, Gareth Weston purpose in life was now to stop the Veldon. But there was little he could do alone. So he eventually met up with the sole remaining Earth fleet. That fleet was commanded by an Admiral and they rescued or found the Earth’s Minister of Defense safely with the Korlas, an alien race that had an alliance with Earth. How the Defense Minister just happened to be with the Korlas when Earth was attacked was a question in the Admirals mind, but he didn’t dwell on it long since he was assassinated. It’s not know who did the deed, but the next up was Captain Harold Kensington. He took Gareth Weston into his fleet with Weston’s advanced starship, the Pytheas, coming along as part of the deal. Now, Gareth and his ship have been assigned the mission of going into Veldon territory to find out if they are as undefended as they would seem since all their fleets seem to be in the Solar System. This mission behind enemy lines isn’t one that will be easy, but needs to be done.
Meanwhile, a former criminal pirate, has assumed the identity of an Earth Ambassador and has managed to negotiate two alliances with to alien civilizations that were not formerly aligned with the Earth. These two races have agreed to help the Earth defend the Solar System since the Veldons seem bent on conquering everyone regardless of race. This Ambassador has now began negotiations with the Raldor, a very advanced civilization that was also very mysterious. These Raldor were asking the Ambassador and his people to help with a couple of issue they were struggling with in return for signing an alliance with Earth. The problem is, these Raldor problems could get the Ambassador’s people all killed.
So, a lot is going on, but it looks like an alliance of at least the Earth humans, the Zitha, and the Likari could be taking place. All that’s left is for the three Ambassadors or representatives to sign an agreement at a formal meeting on the planet Sentinel One. That was going to happen, but it appeared that some humans were very much against joining the Zitha as friends no matter what was at stake. Whether they would try something to stop the meeting was a question for Commander Marsha Silva and William Nesmith. They would be in-charge of the security for the site where the Ambassadors were to meet. They were in for a lot of trouble.
So, this has been a long re-cap of what’s going on. There is a lot of different things happening and sometimes it’s hard to keep track of the players. Commander Gareth Weston, remember him, the supposed main character, has taken a back seat to a lot of stuff and now he’s kind of a minor player in the whole story. Oh, he’s there with his crew of the Pytheas including his daughter, Chelsea, but he’s certainly not the main character any more or at least not in my opinion. There are a lot of characters in this book.
Clearly this story isn’t over. We haven’t even started to liberate Earth and we might not get that done if all the other alien civilizations can’t learn to trust each other. Book 8, “Unraveled” is out now and I’ve already got it on my reading list. Hope you do to.