Well, when you thought this story should have ended with the previous book, we’re back to find former Captain Edgar Bryce and his band of former military getting into even more trouble. As you read in book 1, they did pull off the greatest rescue of almost 200 POWs from the Xinthal. Those prisoners should have been freed when the latest surrender documents had been signed ending the war. Yet, they hadn’t and it seemed the Federation military had no desire to cross into Xinthal territory and rescue its own people. So, after making sure Admiral Keenan was aware of these prisoners and finding out he wasn’t going to do anything, Bryce took it upon himself along with some of his former associates, and they rescued the POWs.
They had put them on a Federation logistic ship which could handle that many people and more. Captain Amelia White had received bogus orders directing her ship, the *Swan’s Light*, to meet up with Bryce’s stolen freighter just outside the Xinthal border. That was accomplished and they were all trying to figure out where to go when the Xinthal showed up looking to destroy the *Swan’s Light* at all cost. At about the same time, Admiral Keenan’s flag ship had also appeared and ordered Captain White to arrest Bryce and his fellow military veterans. But when the Xinthal starship began attacking, Admiral Keenan’s flag ship fled the battle. Bryce and White manage to hold off the Xinthal ship just long enough for them to escape to warp. They headed to a potential Federation Outpost that had long-range communication capabilities which they planned to use to warn the Federation about the most recent Xinthal invasion and explain their story of the POW rescue.
Captain Bryce’s team had split up with Sibyl, Aidan, Anson (computer genius), Paul (diplomat) and Chelsea (the reporter) going with Sibyl and her ship to find out why the Federation military not want to stop another Xinthal invasion. That information might be hard to come by, but they had to try what they could and also find out if they were actually wanted by the authorities. There were rumors that Admiral Keenan had put a bounty on the heads of all the former military working with Edgar Bryce. Unfortunately, the only place they might get this information was on a planet ran by some cartels and they didn’t want to deal with them. Still, Aidan has a contact on the planet that might act as a go-between which would allow them to not have to deal directly with the cartel. So, off they went to handle that issue.
Meanwhile Bryce and Captain White had come to an agreement that maybe Bryce and his team weren’t all that bad and should be listened to and given what Captain White had seen of Admiral Keenan, she felt he was a coward not acting in the best interest of the Federation. So, they went to Archon Six. Unfortunately, Archon Six wasn’t the best place to be heading. It seems that the Federation troops station there were not of the highest caliber and had started fighting with the local colonists of Charity, the only major town. That’s not how the station was supposed to work. The colonist were mostly farmers who went about growing crops for their own needs while also feeding the Federation troops at the Outpost. Something changed and most of it was the fault of Captain Corey Maquine. He was a former friend of Edgar Bryce, but Bryce didn’t think Maquine was acting all that normal.
So, we have at least two thread working here. There is a third one with Janson Navarre. He’s the guy that helped Paul re-direct the Federation logistic ship and got helped Paul do whatever he needed to help the POW rescue. He was a recluse and didn’t think anyone would bother with him, but he was wrong. Some thugs from Devar showed up at his Alaskan hideaway and took him to see their superiors. At least they didn’t torture him, well at least not right now!
This story is interesting, but I have no idea where it’s going. Will there be another Xinthal invasion. That’s the biggest question. Is the Federation military working with the Xinthal to do something really disastrous? Hopefully, most of this will be answered in the next book, “[Veterans Honor](https://amzn.to/40vpuZO)”, now available on Amazon.