The gangs ruled Cantilucca. Guns were the only law, and there was no lack of guns. It was hard to imagine matters getting worse.

THEN THE SURVEY TEAM ARRIVED

Major Matthew Coke knew his job was to sell the services of Frisian Defense Force mercenaries to the highest bidder. He wasn't a squeamish man, but he was human -- and the state of affairs on Cantilucca turned his stomach.

Captain Sten Moden had made a mistake on his previous posting. His huge body was scarred, but that wasn't the worst damage he'd received.

Lieutenant Robert Barbour gathered information. He'd been proud of his skill, until the morning he watched while howitzers and a line troop converted his data into action.

Lieutenant Mary Margulies had survived because a friend saved her life at the risk of his own. If she'd been lucky, she never would have met him again.

Specialist Niko Daun was young, cheerful, and as skilled a technician as anybody in the Frisian Defense Forces. He'd sooner have died than serve again with native troops on a backwater planet.

Sergeant Johann Vierziger said he had a purpose in life. To those around him, that purpose seemed to be to kill as often and efficiently as humanly possible...assuming that Vierziger was human.

They were professionals of violence, and with an instinct for good craftsmanship. In the end, they'd learned that they could defeat anything but their own consciences....