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“Cost of Hate”

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Cost of Hate

The last book I read in this series kind of bored me. Didn’t seem to be going any where and was getting a little tiring to see nothing happening that would get Earth back. As you know, the Veldon have attacked Earth suddenly and without warning. They completely obliterated Earth’s defenses including five fleets that were specifically assigned to protect Earth. During that attack, a retired Earth Defense Force (EDF) Commander named Gareth Weston and a scientist/doctor Keppler, managed to escape. They fled to deep space in search of Weston’s daughter Lieutenant Commander Chelsea Weston. She works for the JTF (Joint Task Force) which is something of a policing agency and not necessarily a military organization.

Assuming you have read the previous books, you know that Commander Weston, his daughter Chelsea and a trio of former criminals that Chelsea was attempting to capture formed a crew aboard a highly experimental, but very capable, EDF starship called the Pytheas. They had stopped at the JTF HQ so Chelsea could report in when she was summarily arrested and thrown in a cell. Even though this was his daughter, Gareth didn’t have any authority over the JTF so he told the rest of his crew they had to meet up with the only EDF fleet in existence and see if they could help.

When they did rendezvous with the EDF fleet, Captain Kensington wanted to discuss with Gareth the best way to task the Pytheas and its crew. Meanwhile, Lyra Vahst, a former criminal leader now Pytheas crew-member, decided that something was wrong with the JTF arresting Chelsea and she insisted they go back and rescue her. Commander Gareth wouldn’t listen so Lyra and the rest of the crew took the Pytheas and left on their own. Lyra managed to board the JTF space station, find Chelsea sitting in a cell with no food or water and no hope of getting out. Still, she managed to free Chelsea only to get caught. Just as they were trying to escape. They both got blown out of an airlock into space and were holding on for dear life to each other hoping the Pytheas would rescue them.

Commander Gareth, fuming that Lyra had “stolen” his ship, took a EDF shuttle in pursuit only to collapse unconscious due to the treatments he was not getting from Dr. Keppler. Prior to leaving Earth, the doctor had saved Gareth’s life by injecting him with a new serum that reversed the effects of aging and restored him to a youthful appearance and physical strength. There were six more injections that Gareth was supposed to have and he was due for the fourth one which was late so he completely passed out on his way to chase down the Pytheas. This isn’t such a good thing for your main character to do. So far, Gareth has been acting like anything but a main character. He’s either passed out or not doing what he should. And he should have been rescuing his daughter!

Anyway, the Pytheas had gone down to a planet which the JTF HQ orbited to rescue a JTF commander and his partner after the JTF HQ had shot them down. They didn’t know why the JTF did that, but it was just another strange action by the JTF that shouldn’t be happening. Then the Pytheas heard Chelsea’s emergency beacon going off so they immediately went after her and Lyra only to see JTF shuttles heading for them and the planet below. These shuttles were not friendly. They intended to destroy the Pytheas and finish off the JTF crew they had previous shot down.

Meanwhile, this is not all the story. Several human Ambassadors are out looking for allies in the fight against the Veldon. One such ally could be the Zitha, but they were a notorious band of pirates mostly known for killing everyone they met. Another potential allies were the Likari, an alien race that know one had ever seen. Yet, they were here and seemed to be very advanced. Then there was the Raldor, a very protective race that also hadn’t been seen by anyone, yet they might be willing to help the humans against the Veldon. So, at least in this book, things are looking up. There’s no assessment of how much capability each of these civilizations bring to the fight, but it should get pretty interesting in the next book.

While I had thought of abandoning this series, I think I’ll stick around a little longer. Book 7, “Collapse”, is available on Amazon and I just added it to my reading list!



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