You're only a hero until your next battle.

Legion General Bill Booly knows that peace is just a pause between wars. He's just crushed one uprising, and now a new rebellion is already brewing on a remote world light years away--spawning a web of terrorism that is close enough to catch the vulnerable Confederacy in its grasp.

From Publishers Weekly

In Dietz’s elaborate military-political thriller set on the galactic backwater world of LaNor, Lieutenant Antonio Santana, officer in a futuristic version of the French Foreign Legion, battles a far-reaching interplanetary conspiracy as off-world factions vie with an alien version of the Chinese Triad mafia for control of the planet’s resources and its strategic position within the shaky galactic Confederation. LaNor is peopled by a highly static society reminiscent of China’s during the colonial era. Dietz, the author of the Drifter and the Bounty military SF series among others, is known for the complex political and social layout of his future worlds. If the book offers little speculation on scientific advance, Dietz has created an intricate tapestry of local and star-faring culture with topnotch action sequences.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

As the Confederacy of Dietz's military sf series, which includes By Blood Alone (1999) and By Force of Arms (2000), mops up after a bloody invasion, more trouble brews. The insectoid Ramanthians, about to swarm, are determined to grab a new planet and additional ships by any means possible; mutinous legionnaires in possession of heavy armament must be tracked down; and on the independent world of LaNor, the cult of the Claw has started attacking off-worlders. Dietz bases this yarn on certain events of the Boxer Rebellion of 1900, especially the siege at Peking, and those familiar with the siege will have additional fun figuring out which of the novel's aliens corresponds to which of the various allies at the real-world siege. Others will simply enjoy the book as exciting military sf fare from a reliable vendor. Frieda Murray
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