The innocent run when everyone Pursueth! Sergeant Kendra Pacelli is innocent, but that doesn't matter to the repressive government pursuing her. Mistakes might be made, but they are never acknowledged, especially when billions of embezzled dollars earned from illegal weapons sales are at stake. But where does one run when all Earth and most settled planets are under the aegis of one government? Answer: The Freehold of Grainne, the only developed system that belongs to neither the unes nor the Colonial Alliance. There, one may seek asylum and build a new life in a society that doesn't track its residents every move, which is just what Pacelli has done. But now things are about to go royally to hell. Because Earth's government has found out where she is...This is a fast-paced novel of an indomitable individual against a monolithic tyranny.

Colonel Stell and his band of mercenaries yearn for a place to call home. To them Freehold is like a bright diamond in the vast universe. But its desert conditions, economic instability, social disarray, and political turmoil render the planet perfect for takeover. Willing to fight anything that stands in their way, Colonel Stell and his small crew contend with all who seek to dominate their planet, even vast interstellar empires. Their success will not be determined by their size but by their resolution to create creating a home for themselves.

Kenneth Chinran commanded the elite unit assigned to take out an entire planet in a terrible war.  Millions died; billions more perished in the aftermath.  One doesn't send a sociopath on such a mission.  A sociopath might not stop.  Chinran did stop – but in the process nearly lost his sanity and his soul. 

But one of Chinran’s men was a sociopath going in.  Now he’s a trained sociopath with the knowledge and firepower to take out entire tactical teams, evaporate through security cordons and change identity at will. Who do you send after a killer like that?  There’s only one answer:  the man who trained him.  The man who made him.

About Michael Z. Williamson:

“A fast-paced, compulsive read…will appeal to fans of John Ringo, David Drake, Lois McMaster Bujold, and David Weber.” – Kliatt

“Williamson's military expertise is impressive.” –SFReviews