We’re back with a strange bunch of Marines who have been ostracized into a separate unit all their own. It’s called the Cygni Corps and the way you get assigned to this outfit is by doing something usually followed with a courts martial! It seems that the Merged Earth Coalition (MEC) has a use for Marines that don’t always follow the rules. Although in the case of Corporal Marco Morelli, his problem was due to very bad leadership. Still, he’s in Cygni Corps and trying to make the best of it.
His unit has seen some heavy fighting lately, mostly agains the various clans in the outer reaches of settled space. Now those clans are moving closer to what is considered civilized MEC planets and they aren’t welcome. Most of these clans have their own way of fighting and most are quite brutal. But, Cygni Corps also has its own brand of fighting and that’s with the use of Proteus serum injected into each of the Cygni Corps Marines. This serum supposedly enhances the Marines abilities and keeps them alive where otherwise they would have died from their wounds. But, Cygni Corps Marines have been dying and they will continue to die with all the fighting they are required to do.
Yet Corporal Marco Morelli (Mo’ Help or Mo’ anything) isn’t the only Marine that needs to stay alive. He’s also got another Marine by the name of Corporal Ellen Weaver (Hotshot or Hottie) who he wants very much to stay a live. They’re in different squads so don’t always fight together, but in the same platoon so they both get into the thick of stuff together most all the time.
Corporal Weaver has this on again – off again relationship with Corporal Morelli since Morelli seems to be getting a lot of attention from the unit Warrant Officer Hagen. She’s the led medically officer assigned to Khatri’s Duces which is a platoon in Antares Company (if I got that all right). WO Hagen administers the Proteus serum to each of the Marines and monitors its effectiveness on their combat abilities. It appears that she is especially interested in Morelli since his reaction to the serum is different than most other Marines. It doesn’t seem to be effecting him physiologically as it does most of the Marines. Overtime, most Marines on Proteus seem to be indifferent to combat and almost act like zombies to some very horrible battlefield situations. Morelli isn’t like that even though he has been on the serum for some time.
Early in this book, Morelli finds himself and his platoon involved in some heavy fighting. The Clans have some kind of program called Project Chimera that is producing all sorts of weird mutant beings. Some look like humans while others look like a terrible nightmare gone really, really bad. Most of these things have one purpose and that is to kill anything they come into contact with! They’ll even turn on the Clansmen if they are the closest to them so they are kind of a point, shoot and get out of their way weapons employed by the Clans. The MEC can’t figure out who or how these mutant things are being made. They send Cygni Corps to find out and this is where the fighting gets really brutal.
This first battle will see a lot of Morelli’s squad-mates get destroyed. The Cygni Corps doesn’t always get the best equipment and it shows in some of their battles where they are torn apart due to inferior equipment. Still, they have to fight just to stay alive. Morelli takes it upon himself to try and rescue a couple of his squad mates who have been badly injured. While trying to carry both of them to safety, he’s confronted by a huge eternal, but he, surprisingly manages to kill it and eventually save one of his battle buddies. They don’t win the battle, but Morelli is up for an award that he doesn’t want. What he wants is for Hotshot to stop being jealous of WO Hagen. Morelli thinks that Hagen is up to something, but he’s not sure what it is or why she’s so interested in him.
Lots of fighting in this book, some of it insane that nobody could put up with. These are all just kids not much older than twenty but they are now all veterans and will be until they die. Morelli is gathering quite a collection of memories of all the friends he once had that have not died in the line of duty. He’s not sure how long he can last doing this, but he knows he needs Corporal Weaver by his side.
This story continues since the war hasn’t ended. So book 3, “Operation Oblivion”, should be a very good end to the series. It’s available on Amazon 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.]==