In the last book, we left the Morrigan in dire straights surrounded by ervas starships and getting the heck pounded out of him (yeah, this ship is a “him”). They way Captain Merkel got into this mess is by trusting his supposed allies, the Gold Empire. They agreed to send to ships along with the Morrigan to get the data from this secret lab and then put it out of commission. They thought there wouldn’t be any enemy contact since they didn’t believe the ervas knew the location of the secret lab.
They were wrong and Captain Merkel was going to pay a steep price for being so gullible and trusting of the Gold Empire. He was faced with a couple of immediate problems. He had to move the Morrigan away from the lab as quickly as possible since it was either going to be blown up by his people or the ervas. The other problem, among many, was how to get his people off the lab before it blew! They had two shuttles and both were initially used to send the scientist and soldiers to the lab to recover the information that were seeking and the retrieve any people that were stationed on the lab. While those two shuttles were occupied, his Marines had to wait for their pickup, but time was running out. There didn’t seem to be a very good solution to any of these problems. Was this going to be the end of the Morrigan? Oh, yeah, remember the War Dog, Mac, on the Morrigan? His kind have a tendency to go berserk sometimes!
Meanwhile, Rita Peck and Lisa Erris, were tracking down a scientist named Carl Petrova. Well, they found him and they also found Colonel Jerson Whitaker, the rogue Confed soldier planning to take over the Confederation. Actually, Col Whitaker found them and now they are his captives! They already know too much about Col Whitaker’s plans so they figure they’re never going to let them go so someone is going to have to rescue them. Good guess as to whom that could be since everyone else is very, very busy!
At least Major Oliver Peck and Dr. Meredith Lyson were rescued from the slightly disturbed hidden pirates on the planet where he and she got stranded. In that rescue, not everyone got out. A part of Rita’s old gang caught barricaded in a cave and now need to rescue themselves. The ervas have landed a shuttle on the planet which might just come in handy if they can kill all the ervas and take the shuttle out of there.
So, once again, a lot going on in what seemed to be a short book. I guess it really wasn’t, but the writing reads so smoothly that you don’t realize how much you’ve covered until you’re at the end of the book. That’s a good kind of book to read in a series that doesn’t seem to have an end.
I already have book 8, “Shifting Power” and 9, “Desparate Times” so I’ve got lots more reading to do.