This is a short book and I’m not sure I will be finishing this series. The stories are good, but it appears that each book might be just the story of single individual raised in the corporate universe. This one does continue with Jada Sek, a former combat veteran of Tango Platoon and the Reapers. She has separated herself from the Reapers and now is joining the Merchants Militant.
While she fought alongside the Merchants Militant before, she was always in awe of their absolute power and command of the battlefield. Now she was set to join the Dire Swords and become one of them no matter what it takes. She is very fit by Reaper standards. She knows the business of fighting but she’s always had to put up with poor equipment and the dual mission of being a salvage marine once the fighting was over. That’s all about to change.
Joining the Dire Swords isn’t just a matter of showing up and asking to join. No you have to have been recognized by one of the Dire Swords in battle from which they would issue you a coin. That coin came with it the opportunity to someday join them, because one of them had thought you might have what it takes to be a Dire Sword. But now Jada is finding out way these Merchants Militants are always so tremendously larger than normal humans. They undergo an injection that transforms their body into fighting machines.
She does find out that taking the serum comes with a cost. It’s going to be painful, oh, so painful that most do not make it through alive! Her body will literally be torn apart and rebuilt into a mass of muscles and super strong bones. Her mind will also be tested since the serum will bring back her worst nightmares. Those currently involve her time on Vorhold and in the depths of the dark pits where she lost her love, George Tuck. The Stalker had taken her captive and George had come to rescue her which he did but at the cost of his own life. Now she had to live through all that terror again and again until the serum she had taken to become a Dire Sword worked its magic.
And eventually it does. She has been strapped down and fed a year’s worth of nutrients and calories to make the rapid increase in body mass possible. This gene therapy is expensive so the Dire Swords don’t just give it to anyone. No you have to have already proven that you are of strong body and mind though previous battles alongside the Dire Swords or other Merchants Militant (mercenaries). Jada believes she’s been on the “rack”, strapped down for a year when it’s only taken one night so far and now she was looking at spending another six weeks going through a torturous process that ninety-six percent don’t live through.
Then she was done with the rack. Now her real training began. She had a new, rebuilt body that she needed to learn how to control. What used to come naturally to her was now going to be something different. She was vastly stronger and faster than before. She was also seven-foot tall and a mountain of muscles that were still going to be growing as she began her training. Yet, Jada already felt that nothing could possibly hurt her now. She was going to be the best Dire Sword there ever was and she would prove it to all the others in battle.
She also learned that she was going to be paid much, much more than she ever had been as a Reaper. Yet, the money she made didn’t have a purpose. Everything she needed was provided by the Merchants Militant and there was nothing she wanted to do be go on the next mission. And that was to become the focus of her new life. The next mission. All that mattered was when and where the next mission was to take them and when it was done, they would be paid. They had no loyalty to any corporation, no life-debt, and no need to worry about anything other than the next mission.
So, this is Jada Sek’s story. She has to bury a lot of cumbersome baggage she brings with her from the Reapers, but this is her new life and that’s how she wants it. The next book in this series, “Carrion Duty”, will probably be about someone else under the corporate thumb. I might continue reading, but I’m not sure right now.
==[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.]==