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Title: Attack of Shadows
Series: Galaxy's Edge #4
Author: Jason Anspach & Nick Cole
Rating: 4 of 5 Stars
Genre: SF/Space Opera
Pages: 338
Words: 84.5K
Series: Galaxy's Edge #4
Author: Jason Anspach & Nick Cole
Rating: 4 of 5 Stars
Genre: SF/Space Opera
Pages: 338
Words: 84.5K
Synopsis:
|
From
Galaxysedge.fandom.com
On
the Black Fleet flagship Imperator, beyond Tarrago Prime, Goth Sullus
begins his attack on the Galactic Republic by jumping his three new
battleships, the Imperator, the Terror, and the Revenge into the
Tarrago System. The plan is to launch an all-out assault on Tarrago
and Tarrago Moon, which houses the grand defense of the Republic, a
massive space-based gun cannon powerful enough to destroy any
attacker. In addition, Tarrago is the home of the Kesselverks
Shipyards which supplies capital ships to Republic Naval stations all
over the galaxy. Controlling the shipyards will allow Sullus to choke
off the Republic Navy’s supply lines. Taking control of the
super-space gun will let him defend his new gain from any
counter-attack.
The
attack is being carried out with the knowledge and aid of House of
Reason Delegate Orrin Kaar and Republic Navy Admiral Silas Devers,
who Kaar has been grooming for command of the Navy for years. Their
plan is for Sullus’s Black Fleet to seize the defense cannon and
destroy the Republic Seventh Fleet while the Third Fleet, commanded
by Devers, takes control of the system, allowing Kaar to dictate the
terms of the Republic’s star lanes.
Sullus
has plans of his own and Devers is reduced to complaining to Kaar
about his being left out of the loop as the attack begins. The main
objective is to kill or capture the planetary governor and declare
Black Fleet rule over the system, then utilize the Kesselverks
Shipyards to construct more ships for the Black Fleet.
Aboard
the Terror, the tri-fighter squadron Pit Vipers launches, their
pilots eager for glory and a bit of revenge as they strafe the gun
emplacements of Fortress Omicron, the core of the Tarrago system’s
defenses. The base has long since been infiltrated by assassins who
worked to execute base personnel in key positions in order to keep
the base’s defenses inoperative and their communications down.
Unfortunately
for Sullus and his co-conspirators, the Republic legionnaires
stationed on Tarrago are not about to allow their defenses to be
breached, and are reinforced by Republic Army soldiers and Marines.
Over the course of a morning, the Black Fleet’s fighter squadrons
are reduced by the Republic’s combined Starfighter cover and
anti-aircraft turrets, while a ground assault bogs down and quickly
becomes a war of attrition between the Black Fleet troops and the
defending legions.
The
Republic Navy’s Seventh Fleet jumps out of hyperspace to see the
Tarrago system under attack. Admiral Landoo, the fleet commanding
officer, is under orders to defend the system but is less than
enthusiastic about losing her fleet in the face of utter destruction.
The Black Fleet’s battleships are massive, new, and never before
encountered as opposed to her own ships which are more numerous but
smaller, and their weapons and defenses are well known to any
well-informed ship's crew. Landoo calls Utopion for assistance as she
engages the Black Fleet and is told that Admiral Devers is on the
way.
The
fleet engagement ensues, damaging Sullus’s battleships and doing
real damage to the Seventh Fleet. A starfighter’s suicide attack on
the Terror’s bridge wipes out the command structure but gunnery
officer Vampa seizes the opportunity to turn the tables on Landoo’s
forces, and swerves the Terror to head into the clustered formation
of the republic destroyers, breaking their formation and stalling
their attack. Thus distracted, the Imperator and Revenge are able to
flank the Seventh Fleet and wreck a number of Republic destroyers.
As a
precaution against the total loss of the system, Landoo tasks the
Hammerhead Corvette Audacity with rescuing the remaining principal
politicians and their families from the surface, despite its lack of
weapons and resources (the ship is in the middle of a refit). Captain
Desaix runs the gauntlet created by the remaining tri-fighters and
lands on Fortress Omicron’s main landing pad, defies the governor’s
orders for immediate lift off, and stays long enough to fill the ship
with refugees.
Back
in orbit, the Audacity disembarks its refugee passengers into the
super-destroyer Atlantica’s hangar bay, and is immediately tasked
with shielding the Seventh Fleet as its ships try to escape. Desaix
intends to use the ship’s new multi-warhead torpedoes to delay the
Black Fleet despite the fact that the missiles have no warheads.
Through clever tactics and almost perfect timing, the corvette
releases the torpedos and distracts the attacking battleships long
enough for the fleet’s jump computers to pick their paths into
hyperspace. The fleet jumps away and the Audacity is captured with
its crew.
Back
on Tarrago Prime, captives are unloaded from surviving Republic ships
as the Black Fleet’s shock troopers take command of the system.
Goth Sullus executes Admiral Devers for incompetence as Orrin Kaar
realizes that he has no control over Sullus. Admiral Rommal,
commander in chief of the Black Fleet, hails Sullus as the new
Galactic Emperor, and his troops join in the salute.
My
Thoughts:
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Beyond the fact that I really enjoyed this book (probably the most in
the series so far due to it being a very linear timeline this time),
I've only have a few brief thoughts.
Anspach and Cole (the authors) do a wonderful job of portraying side
characters and their motivations for joining Goth Sullus in his bid
to bring down the Republic. Exo, one of the Legionnaires from the
first book plays a large role and so we know already why he's doing
it. But we get fighter pilots, other Legionnaires, soldiers, etc. We
get their personal stories of why they are fighting against the
Republic and it becomes extremely easy to sympathize with them and
even root for them. At the same time, you have the regular
Legionnaires who are doing their best to hold the Republic together
as they know that as bad as things are, a regime change will bring
chaos and death to a huge number of worlds. And I was rooting for
them too!
Make no mistake though, Goth Sullus is shown to be the figure of
terror that he is. His own people are afraid to even say his name and
near the end one of his generals has to decide whether to help Goth
Sullus or to kill him and take his place. And the general, while a
rebel, is generally portrayed as one of the good guys. On the
Republic side, you get some real scumbags too. General Devers, who is
an active traitor to the Republic and the character portrayed in the
first book, waffles back and forth in deciding who he is going to
actually support, all based on who he thinks he can get more power
out of. The main politician of the Republic is using Goth Sullus
without realizing that Sullus is using him. Despicable people and I
wanted them to face the justice they deserved.
The battle was great too. I enjoyed this book and am looking forward
to the next installment with anticipation.
★★★★☆
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