Some things change — war isn’t one of them.
James “Red” Maddox isn’t as young as he used to be, but when things need to get done, his crew are usually the ones to do it.
The Federation are fighting a hundred wars on a hundred planets, but when a high-ranking Ambassador is abducted by rebel forces in Uuhmback City on Akamora, an army just won’t do. Red and his crew are pulled out of retirement and dropped into the middle of a warzone, older and more tired than they’ve ever been, but no less dangerous at the controls of their rigs.
But — this time, Red knows something that the others don’t, and that makes this mission different. It makes it personal…
Bred to work.
Trained to fight.
Sent to die.
James Maddox is a colony rat. A tuber: born in a vat to live, work, and die on Genesis-526. The only way off a toxic dustball like Genesis is to enlist. But with a 7% three-year survival rate, the Federation's Ground Corps doesn't look too appealing...
Still, the recruiters are always looking for fresh meat. And they don't take no for an answer.
So when a Federation dropship descends from the sky, Maddox isn't given a chance to run. Hell, the damn thing nearly kills him. And that's before he's picked up, strapped to a rocket and fired at a training carrier in orbit. Ready to become cannon fodder on some alien battlefield.
Until he's offered a lifeline - the Mech Corps. They're the elite. The first in and last out of every fight, piloting twenty foot tall steel beasts of war. But no tuber has ever made it into the Corps, and they want to keep it that way. The instructors want him out, the other recruits want him gone, and they'll stop at nothing to make sure it happens.
But they've never met a tuber quite like James Maddox. Compared to working to death on Genesis, training is a piece of cake. And it's definitely better than getting shot at. After all, boot camp is a long way from the front line.
But when your ship is capable of interstellar travel, it's closer than you might think...
James Maddox is a hero.
But that might not save him...
The Federation don't like failure. Especially not when it involves the loss of a star carrier, and thousands of troops on board. They need someone to blame, and that someone is usually the newest, greenest recruit. Even if all Maddox did wrong was fall out of a burning spaceship onto a planet called Draven, recruit an army, blow up an enemy base and save the day...
Still, the Mech Corps prizes the Academy track. Uniformity. Everything that 'Red' Maddox ain't. He'll never be the automaton they want him to be. He'll figures he's about to be ejected, or worse, court-martialled.
But for once, he gets lucky. He's offered a gig in Special Ops. In the kind of unit where a soldier might make a name. Especially since it's run by a disgraced officer looking for redemption, and the motley crew from Draven.
It's a second chance. But Red's about to discover that if the Mech Corps was the frying pan, then Special Ops is definitely the fire...
The wheels of Federation justice turn slow.
After the clusterfrak on Telmareen, James 'Red' Maddox has been out of the fight for thirteen months. When you're used to the adrenaline rush of fighting aliens while strapped into twenty tons of Federation steel, ship duty is worse than torture. But the team is under scrutiny. One misstep, and they'll never pilot their mechs again. All they can do is hurry up and wait.
Until they're thrown a lifeline - a way to prove themselves to the brass. Someone's slinging Isckara on a neutral trading station, far outside Federation-controlled space. It's not much, but it's a clue, and it's all they've got. Volchek and the team mount up - quietly. The Federation can't afford a diplomatic incident. Unfortunately, where Red goes, chaos follows.
And so does the body count...
Out of the frying pan, and into the fire...
Bailing out of a tilt-wing at ten thousand feet isn't supposed to be fun. Unfortunately for James 'Red' Maddox, it's about to be the best part of his week. Red and Everett find themselves alone, on a dustball planet that's a hundred and twenty degrees in the sun, and ten below at night. The local wildlife is distinctly unfriendly, and the only thing they're lower on than water is ammunition...
But that's just the start.
If he survives, Red will find himself in the center of the galaxy's darkest secret: the hidden origin of both the Federation and the Free. A truth which threatens to shatter the universe's fragile balance of power, and lead to a war that could destroy life itself.
Red's used to saving himself.
But this time, the entire galaxy is at stake.