These were pretty good books. Not actually military science fiction, but more of a detective mystery with a lot of military action. Don’t know if that makes sense, but it is what it is. Our main characters are Alliance Security and Intelligence (ASI) Special Agents. This whole story is about a case that Special Agents Jackson Fischer and his partner Aniyah Eliwood have been working on for a long time now. They have already found out more about what’s happening than they really want to know. It appears that there is a movement within the Alliance to overthrow the government and they have some very definite proof that it is being backed by their enemies, the Pegasi. Yet, it is also very painfully known that a number of Alliance citizens have turned traitor and are heavily involved in this disgusting plot.
That plot has taken on the name “Cardinal”. At first Jackson Fisher thought this might be a person, but over time and realizing the scope of what was going on, he felt that this was more the name of a criminal organization. He knew that it had reached even the heights of the Alliance Admiralty since Admiral Young had already been arrested and was supposed to be awaiting trial for treason. Except Admiral Young have very skillfully been rescued by forces that were surprising to a lot of people. They seemed to be very well equipped and informed about when and where Admiral Young was being transported for his trial.
That rescue has really burned Jackson Fisher. He hated nothing more than a turn-coat military person and this guy was at the top of his list for re-capture or worse. Jackson had already been involved in another situation that Admiral Young had created and it resulted in the death of almost a whole platoon of special operators. These people weren’t just killed, they were tortured and murdered by thugs under the direction of an Alliance Ambassador, no less, with orders from Admiral Young. Fisher had managed to rescue one of these young Marines, a Corporal Allen Sheridan, who had watched a lot of that torture of his fellow Marines. Corporal Sheridan was ready and willing to put a bullet through the head of Admiral Young if ever given the chance.
But, something has gone wrong with the investigation. Someone is giving Cardinal inside information as to the whereabouts of the *Legend* and its very classified operations. The *Legend* was a very special stealth ship built under the direction of Fleet Admiral Hunter for the purpose of hunting down a growing pirate threat in the outer regions. It was felt that someone was providing a lot more support and help to these rogue elements and they didn’t all appear to be actions of just pirates. It was felt that someone was slowly trying to start a war with the Pegasi and that someone was this Cardinal organization. Still, Fish and his boss had to find the mole planted within their own agency before any more plans could be made.
So, they were able to identify a couple of individuals that had access to some recent messages that did provide critical information on the “Legends” operations. They managed to track one down, but that person was assonated before anyone could do anything about it. This meant that this Cardinal organization was keeping tabs on its operatives and eliminating them if they felt they were about to be found out. The other person was a young woman named Riley Davis. She had managed to apparently kill the person sent to kill her and then she fled to parts unknown. Fisher and Eliwood had to find her before Cardinal tracked her down. They need more information on this Cardinal organization and thought that Davis could provide it if they could find her alive.
So now it’s just a bunch of police work looking for clues as to where Riley Davis might have gone to. Meanwhile, the *Legend* and its crew highly trained Naval personnel and its detachment of special operators had to cool their heals until something they could do came up. Surprisingly, one of the special operators is this detachment was Corporal Allen Sheridan. He wasn’t sure what this Cardinal organization was all about, but he knew that Agent Fisher had said that former Admiral Young was involved and that’s all he needed to know. He was going to make sure, some how, that when they met up with this former Admiral that he was going to end him one way or another. Young had to pay for everything that had been done to Sheridan’s dead friends.
Following leads, this story is going to go from one planet to another. There will be a lot of fighting in various places and since a lot of the opposition appeared to be Alliance citizens turned traitor, you didn’t know who to trust. They were even going to have to invade an Alliance Embassy but didn’t know who in that Embassy belonged to the Cardinal organization so everyone there was suspect. That was going to cause all sorts of problems.
So, you’ll find that this book kind of wraps up this entire series. It does so by tying up all the loose ends pretty well. I don’t know if the author will be writing more stories with Agent Fisher as the main character, but if he does I might read them. It’s good writing, kind of throwing a detective story in with military operations. Not that bad of an idea.
==[Note: As of 12/03/2023, this will not be published on Amazon since I have been banned from posting reviews for some unknown reason. Once the ban is lifted, assuming it does get lifted, I’ll go back and post this to Amazon.]==