A NEW NOVEL IN THE NATIONALLY BEST-SELLING RCN MILITARY SF SERIES David Drake Dean of Military Science Fiction returns with another entry in his best-selling RCN series FROM WEALTH & POWER TO POVERTY & INSULTS! Roy Olfetrie planned to be an officer in the Republic of Cinnabar Navy but when his father was unmasked as a white-collar criminal he had to take whatever he was offered What is offered turns out to be a chance to accompany Captain Daniel Leary & Lady Adele Mundy as they go off to start a war that will put Roy at the sharp end Duty snatches Roy from the harem of a pirate chief to a world of monsters from interstellar reaches in a half-wrecked starship to assassination attempts at posh houses Roy has the choice of making friends or dying friendless; of meeting betrayal & responding to it; of breaking his faith or keeping it at the risk of his life Pirates politics & spies—and waiting for Roy if he survives all the rest a powerful warship The action doesn&t slow—nor can Roy for if he does the only question is which of the many threats will be the one to catch & kill him But Captain Leary himself has given Roy a chance & Roy is determined make the most of it—THOUGH HELL SHOULD BAR THE WAY About the Author David Drake was attending Duke University Law School when he was drafted He served the next two years in the Army spending 1970 as an enlisted interrogator with the 11th Armored Cavalry in Vietnam & Cambodia Upon return he completed his law degree at Duke & was for eight years Assistant Town Attorney for Chapel Hill North Carolina He has been a full-time freelance writer since 1981 His books include the genre-defining & bestselling Hammer’s Slammers series the nationally bestselling RCN series including In the Stormy Red Sky The Road of Danger The Sea without a Shore & Death&s Bright Day