FIRST TIME IN PAPERBACK. #1 in an ALL-NEW military science fiction adventure series from veteran best-seller David Drake. Creator of Hammer’s Slamners and genre-defining author has sold over 4 million books.#1 in a new series from a military science fiction master with over 3 million books in print. A young hero comes of age in the crucible of war and galactic struggle. When Allen Allenson, scion of a noble family that has fallen on hard times, gets a mission to roust the power-hungry Terrans from a “wild” star sector where they’re encroaching, he jumps at the chance to show his individual worth, improve his family’s fortunes – and gather enough lucre to make a good marriage. But the wily Terrans are not so easily persuaded by a young colonial they think of as a rube.