This series is getting somewhat better with each book. The annoying AI called “Skippy” is becoming slightly less annoying as Joe Bishop manages to handle him most of the time. Skippy is still very rude and arrogant but some of the crew know how to handle him very well. Unfortunately, the *Flying Dutchman* has now returned to Earth and is under UNEF control. They have removed most all of the crew especially most of the “Pirates” as the original crew have come to call themselves. And the crew are not being treated very well by their respective countries.
Joe Bishop, formerly Colonel Joe Bishop, has now been reverted back to a Staff Sergeant and has been undergoing some sever interrogations since his return. He’s not actually under arrest, but he has security personnel assigned to him around the clock. His movements are somewhat controlled in that he has to ask to go somewhere and then is transported to that place. He has chosen to go home to visit his parents in Maine. While there he manages to get a zPhone which keeps him in contact with Skippy. Of course Skippy is still aboard the *Dutchman* and he’s monitoring everything that UNEF is doing. He’s not happy!
Both Skippy and Joe know that their job isn’t done. They know that two Maxohlx ships are soon heading to Earth to investigate the strange actions of the local wormhole. That action was triggered by Skippy when they first left Earth and returned on their first mission. So, even though everyone was excited about getting back home, for Joe Bishop and some of the senior crew members, their excitement was definitely lowered. Joe knew that when the Maxohlx found out that Earth and humans were responsible for messing with the wormhole and that we had a broken down starship, Earth would be sterilized in a second. Joe and Skippy knew that they had to go back out and some how stop these two ships from doing what they were probably going to do.
But, none of the original crew were allowed anywhere near the *Dutchman*. They didn’t know what UNEF was doing, but it definitely didn’t include Joe Bishop and the crew of the *Dutchman*. Of course nothing done on Earth can stay secret from Skippy for very long. After all he’s a super magnificent AI that can do anything he wants. So, he finds out that UNEF is making their own plans and they are not going to work. In fact, what they want to do will ensure that Earth and all humanity gets totally wiped out of existence!
But, of course, Skippy isn’t going to let that happen. He finds out that the new crew aboard the *Dutchman* is hand picked by the UNEF to do something very dangerous. They plot to eject the escape pod that holds the beer can known as Skippy. Once they eject that pod, they blast it out of space using a deadly maser beam and that’s the end of that pod. It’s also supposed to be the end of Skippy. But of course it’s not. Skippy knew their plan ahead of time and made preparations to not only save himself, but to start recalling the original crew of “Pirates”. Joe got aboard secretly and so did a few of his original crew but not everyone. One of those missing was Gunnery Sergeant Adams, whom Joe had been quietly becoming very fond of. He didn’t want to go on another mission without her, but it looked like she was being held by the Marines in a closely guarded compound. There was no way for her to sneak out.
As you can tell, Joe and Skippy are attempting to take the *Dutchman* out on an unauthorized mission. The UNEF have an insane plan that won’t work and Skippy knows this. He doesn’t care that much for humans, but he doesn’t believe they should commit suicide if there is another way. They won’t let Joe Bishop command another mission so he hand Skippy have to commandeered the starship and go on the mission with the skeleton crew they have. Their mission is to find and destroy two very powerful Maxohlx starships that could swat the *Dutchman* out of space without really trying. If they don’t stop these two ships then it is certain that Earth will be destroyed. And they also have to keep it secret that humans are actually flying around in deep space in a stolen Thuranin star carrier.
So, nothing much has changed for Joe Bishop. At least he can assume his rank of Colonel aboard the *Dutchman* and everyone that they have aboard understands that he is in command. Some of the newbies don’t understand the relationship between him and Skippy nor do they understand anything about Skippy, but they know they have to tolerate him in order to survive. This book was very interesting and some of the solutions they came up with were very crazy. Don’t expect the ship to survive against two very, very powerful Maxohlx starships, that’s impossible as Skippy has clearly told Joe Bishop many, many times.
But we do have another book coming up after this mission, so that right there tells you not everything got totally destroyed. Expeditionary Force will be back in book 8, “Armageddon”, now available on Amazon.
==[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. ]==