I think things are slowly coming to a head in this series. This book kind goes away from Samuel Hyst and his current situation in prison, but it also alludes to his possible escape to join with Lord Indron. Meanwhile, Lord Indron has his own Echo Squad of former salvage marines and Reapers plus two of his own shock troopers. They were going to a desolate moon called Sakaratul Maut (yeah, I have trouble pronouncing these names also), and acquire something that was very valuable to a very mad scientist.
The last information they had about this place was that it was occupied by some very poor Red list squatters, people that belonged to no corporation. They weren’t supposed to be there and they weren’t going to get in the way of this operation. In case you haven’t tied the two together, Lord Indron is the former Boss Aiken of Reaper Tango Platoon. He’s now running his own show and has gathered some of his former associates with him.
Now the actual target of this current mission was none other than a live Gedra cyborg in cryo-stasis! While this was not something most troops wanted to deal with and had dealt with in the past, this payoff was going to be substantial. They were going to land on the moon at the edge of nowhere, get rid of the Red listers with whatever it took and then secure the package in its secure coffin and bring it back aboard their ship. Hopefully, they would all return so as to enjoy the benefits of a job completed when the package was delivered to the mad scientist. What he wanted with it was of no concern to Lord Indron or his troops.
Then we go back to Jada Sek who had left Tango Platoon and joined the Dire Swords. She was still in the process of finding her place among these extraordinary troops and while she had gone through the physical transformation in a super soldier, she still didn’t feel as though she fit in. She still had memories, actually nightmares, of her time with Tango Platoon and especially with Samuel Hyst and the Vorhold spires. She knew she had to stop these thoughts because they were reducing her effectiveness as a Dire Sword. And the Dire Swords had their next mission.
With a new contract let by the Merchants Militant, they were going to conduct a rescue mission. It seems that a number of Helion personnel were stuck on a claimed tomb world! Jada bristled at the mention of her long time enemies, the Helion, and she assumed they were going to displace these Helion corporate flunkies so Grotto Corporation could move in. But, no, that wasn’t the mission. They were going to rescue all the Helion human assets and bring them to safety no matter what it cost! Helion Corps apparently didn’t have the available resources to do the job although they had been promising their people that reinforcements were coming. They were not.
As you’ll recall or might not, tomb worlds have some kind of automated defenses in the form of mechanical spiders. They swarm anything that disturbs their peace. Tango Platoon had been to one such world and had walk deserted streets after a penal legion had gone through and been completely wiped out. Yet, they found no bodies! Then after a while the next attacked was made by again mechanical spiders with mounted guns and sharp appendages plus what appeared to be resurrected humans turned into cyborgs. These were found to be what used to be members of the penal legion re-animated and now fighting without concern for dying! If this was the situation the Dire Swords were going into, then things were definitely going to be bloody and not everyone would make it back. Jada had to reconcile that his was being done for Helion personnel, something she had hated for a long, long time.
So, both mission have their difficulties. Both come up against unexpected troubles and, unfortunately, both groups are going to lose comrades. Just who will die and who won’t is covered in the story. What is also revealed is the purpose of the tomb worlds and why the Ellisian Line was even established in the first place.
What is certainly surprising to me is that this seems to be the end of the series. I don’t think it really ended. I thought there would be more with Samuel Hyst getting hired by Lord Indron, but that’s not in this book and there isn’t a mention of a book 9. So, I guess will just have to wait a while.
==[Note 1 (12/23/2025): I’m no longer associated with Amazon and will no longer provide any links to books from that website. You can usually find books that you like at your usual source.]==
==[Note 2: As of 12/03/2023, this will not be posted on Amazon since I have been banned from posting reviews for some unknown reason. ]==