Dunmoore and her crew discover a grizzly scene when they stop to refuel and replenish their new starship, leading to an undercover hunt for the perpetrators of the assault and theft under the Captain’s wrath.

From the first book in this series, I’ve always loved the way this author has described the military establishment on the starships, and this was no exception. This time, Dunmoore is in command of her new gunship, with the aim of luring their enemies into a trap, and using the superior firepower to overwhelm them. The book focuses a lot on that military procedure and protocol, sometimes to the detriment of the story itself. Especially in the middle of the book, where the new regiment is practicing its drills, it becomes a tedious mix of scenes with long titles, many minor characters, and military nomenclature. I understand that there is a lot of waiting in the days it takes to travel, and he had some interesting tactics to explore while merging a new crew, but it was a little much for me. My favorite parts were when they unmasked their true firepower, either to destroy an enemy or to impress the locals. The interaction between Dunmoore and her new crew, especially the marine Major, was also a highlight, as the relationship grew as the story progressed. The tale is one of revenge and the hunt, and the ruthless Dunmoore doesn’t disappoint. At some point, though, she’ll have to reel it in and I wonder if she’ll be able to come back to society, with its grey zones.

From the start, it was nice to be back with Dunmoore and her crew, though most of them are new to me. As I would expect, this one opens explosively, as Dunmoore lures a Shrehari ship into what looks like an easy kill, then proceeds to pound it to space dust as she reveals all the weaponry and shields available to her. As usual, there is some Star Trek talk in here, but I wonder if that’s only because Star Trek got it right some of the time.

After their battle, they stop at the planet Tobaso to refuel and replenish their supplies, only to find that the navy base was pounded into craters, along with the colonial government. Dunmoore was once a navy administrator here, and she recognizes some familiar names from a previous attempted takeover.

The story was in the way Dunmoore and her crew investigate the attack, interact with old enemies and potential friends, and then go on the hunt for the perpetrators. This part was very well done. Given that there isn’t much of a navy base left, Dunmoore takes Captain Salminen and integrates her as a marine division on board the spaceship. The group is disciplined enough that although there is some grumbling, they take well to their new environment.

Just when the politics and old animosities start to get tiring, the author moves the action off-planet. The sensors of the Iolanthe have picked up an ion trail, and she goes off on the hunt. They discover several small cargo vessels hiding among the solar system debris, one of which tries to engage and is destroyed, another one surrenders, while the others escape.

Dunmoore adds the captured ship, the Skogul, to create a small fleet, and puts one of her crew in charge of it. From here, as they search for their next destination, there is a lot of waiting around. The author does a good job of making it interesting, with training of the marines and acclimatizing to the new ship, disarming booby traps, and so on, but after a while, it got tiresome. Although there were small changes, I was no longer engaged in the story.

The lull in action did allow some good character moments, although as with the other books in this series, there are way too many characters to keep track of. I like a large cast, but this was too much for me to handle. Fortunately, while many had repeating roles, they were small, and I could treat most of them as individuals that I wouldn’t see again. Exceptions were of course her second and third officers Thorin Siroco and Ezekial Holt, as well as gropo Emma Cullop, her continued cox’n Guthren, and a few others. Mostly, though it was the Siobhan Dunmoore show, with supporting characters. There was a small arc about Dunmoore and her chess game, which she used to play against her former first officer on Stingray in Like Stars In Heaven, a game which her current officers don’t enjoy and are not as good at. But she makes a new chess partner in Salminen, which starts off their good relationship.

Fortunately, just a little beyond that, they are ambushed by a small Pradyn fleet, which they treat just like the Shrehari from the opening pages of the book. It’s another great action sequence. Once revealed, Dunmoore doesn’t want word getting back that a disguised Q-ship is wandering the area. She wants to keep using the element of surprise, so she must destroy all of the Pradyn. Unfortunately, one manages to jump to light speed, and Skogul follows. For the rest of their mission, they don’t hear back from it, which can only mean bad news.

From the prisoner captain, they determine a possible base of operations for the pirates, and pose as mercenaries at the independent colony of Barataria. Knowing that they have the stolen navy parts and Dunmoore’s internal reaction makes this sequence very satisfying. Once confirmed, she makes use of the training the marines had to practice in the middle of the book, and they do exceedingly well. The author knows how to write great action sequences, and it’s great to see how cunning and devious Dunmoore can be.

Hunting the remaining marauder, Dunmoore gets downright ruthless, and it’s nice to see the bad guy suffer, in a perverse sort of way. She’s outside the Commonwealth, and her word is law. It’s borderline illegal, but nobody is going to complain after all the Navy deaths these guys caused. Unveiling the Iolanthe, she threatens Barataria until they give up the stolen supplies, though they were ready to betray her, too –no honor among thieves, of course. Her marines completely overwhelmed the pirate base’s forces.

After that, she goes silent, knowing that Tarkon, their leader, will come back at some point. And of course he does, with the Skogul in tow, and its Navy crew captured. He agrees to an exchange, planning to blow up the prisoners after he gets his ship of supplies back. I don’t understand why Dunmoore didn’t see this coming, and unload the supplies onto the Iolanthe immediately, to better deal with the pirates. Instead, it created unnecessary tension in an otherwise well-laid plan, wondering if the Iolanthe would get the supplies or not.

Dunmoore has her demolitions experts rig the stolen ship she has to give back in trade for her crew, so they once again plan to double-cross each other. Dunmoore is quicker, saves her crew while sacrificing the shuttle, and saving the stolen supplies. As Tarkon runs, she catches up to him and blasts him to pieces.

Her mission of revenge accomplished, Dunmoore returns to Toboso after learning that the meek governer was in on the plot to take control of the colony world. She declares martial law in another satisfying scene, becoming de facto governer until a colonial representative arrives. She is able to deal with the scum like Devine and Martin. However, I wasn’t surprised when the colonial representative murdered Gerber, and walked out free. Martin gives up information for his own freedom, revealing that there are Earth government officials who are grabbing as many resources and money as they can.

We knew from the previous books that there is a dirty conspiracy on Earth, but this is taking it much farther. I can only assume that Dunmoore is going to have to take them on at some point, but I wonder how. This author is great at writing action sequences, and with full military process and procedures, but I wonder at his ability to write politics.

I guess the next book will tell, and I’m looking forward to it. These are well-written stories, with great characters and feel real. Thoroughly enjoyable.