This book has a lot of things going on and they all eventually come to the same action, but I’m still not sure why some of the things that are happening are happening? Sorry if that doesn’t make much sense! The Triton is still following some kind of trail of some ancient artifacts, but some where along the line, I failed to figure out why! The two archeologist that we read about in the first book are still around and they’ve teamed up with with Ruhlin archeologist who seem to know more about what they are doing, but it’s still not well explained or I just missed it. Either way, not only is the Earth ship Triton on this mission, but the Prytin starship Brekka is also usually around. And then there’s the Kahl battleship with General Renz who is determined to destroy both the Triton and the Brekka.
The Triton has left their previous mission with new information about where to find the next artifact. It’s in an unknown region of space know to harbor pirates. It’s supposed to be a star system with eight or more planets, plenty of places for the pirates to hide and a hard place to find anything. Yet, when they arrive in the system, there are only a few planets left and a huge rotating pile of junk! That pile of junk seems to be a collection of starships and other space junk somehow joint together to form one gigantic floating space station! It appears to be a very dangerous place and it’s surprising that anyone would want to occupy something that looks like it’s about ready to explode!
This object is known as the “Flotilla” and it is a collection of pirate space ships, a very loose collection. There are several hundred pirates aboard this thing and it is ran by someone called “The Manager”. He’s a nut case that is alive because he figure out a way to keep this dangerous, cut-throat pirate entertained and take some of their money at the same time. He has set up a game where someone he doesn’t like is set out to some distant part of the “spacestation” and has to fight their way back to the hub. They are hunted down by other pirates while others are placing bets on who survives and who does not. One such guy is now the object of the hunt, but he’s not doing what he’s supposed to. He sees the Triton approach the area and figures that he can escape his deadly situation if he can get the Triton to rescue him.
The Triton contacts the Manager and asks him about the planets that were supposed to be in this system. His explanation is astounding although he does believe he has what the Triton archeologist want somewhere in his storage area. So, he allows a shuttle from the Triton to send some people over. Only these people find themselves not the object of the “Hunt”. They are also cutoff from contact with the Triton and grav-locked to the dock where they landed. So, the Manager is going to want to fight. He send a bunch of the pirate ships after the Triton, but they aren’t well armed. Still, there’s a bunch of them and the stings of a thousand bees can hurt! So, the Triton has a battle on it’s hands.
Meanwhile the Brekka is returning from the personal mission that Captain Pas Dain had them on; an unsanctioned mission which didn’t turn out the way he had planned. Still, he intends to find out where the Triton is located and meet up with it again. So, he’s headed for the same region to find the “Flotilla” which the Prytin’s have always considered just a myth. Captain Pas Dain is also following the same archeology trail as the Triton, yet I have no idea why. It seems like every where they go, there’s a lot of fighting so I don’t know if it’s worth the effort.
And, General Renz is always going to wherever the Triton and the Brekka happen to appear. He says he’s also following this archeology trail, but he doesn’t say why. Anyway, all three ships met while the Triton is already heavily engaged with the pirates. Then General Renz jumps in to attack the Triton with the pirates attacking both. Finally the Brekka shows up and gets involved. Meanwhile, the crew of the Triton that has landed on the Flotilla are steadily moving toward the relic that is some where on the space station. Whether everyone involve winds up killing each other is something you’ll have to find out when you read the book!
I’m just not getting too excited about this entire story. I initially thought the Triton and the Prytin’s would join together to protect Earth from the Kahl who are trying to conquer everyone, yet that’s not happening at all. And not knowing why they are going after these artifacts kind of makes their entire actions pointless. I guess I’ll continue reading the series, but then I might not.