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Two years after the unhatching of Callayan President Neiland's plot to make the capital city of Tanusha the center of the Federation, Callay is under siege. So begins the third installment of this gripping trilogy from an exciting new sci-fi author. A powerful faction of conservative Fleet captains has surrounded Callay, at Earth's behest, and is threatening a blockade – or worse. A fearful Earth does not wish to lose direct control of its precious war machine, and there are fears of civil war. All that Callay has to oppose the warships of the Fleet is the Callayan Defense Force (CDF) – a newly formed group of raw recruits led by a politically hamstrung general. However, the CDF is largely trained and organized by Major Vanessa Rice and her best friend, Callay's combat-android, Commander Cassandra Kresnov. But when Cassandra's lover, Special Agent Ari Ruben, discovers a plot to kill her using a killswitch, which her old masters in the League built into her brainstem, Sandy is forced to go underground to stay alive. ### From Publishers Weekly The tense third Cassandra Kresnov novel (after *Breakaway*) further develops the series' intriguing far-future setting. Cdr. Cassandra Sandy Kresnov, a GI genetically engineered to be a crack soldier and spy, is now second-in-command of the Callayan Defense Force: a tough job, especially now that President Neiland has nearly succeeded in making Callay's capital city, Tanusha, into the new Federation capital. Earth doesn't look kindly on this upstart world taking away its last claim to fame, and loyalists from the Federation Fleet have occupied Callay's space stations. With dock workers refusing to service Fleet ships and civil war threatening to break out, the last thing Sandy needs is to be targeted for death. She suspects someone has infiltrated Callay's security forces, but even as she struggles to uncover the spy, a rogue GI similar enough to be her sister appears, testing Sandy to the limit. Robert Ludlum meets Elizabeth Moon in this classic military SF adventure, buoyed by Shepherd's knack for balancing crisp action with characters you can really root for. *(Nov.)* Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. ### Review “For fans of military SF and action-adventure SF with strong female characters, the Cassandra Kresnov series is not to be missed. I hope there will be many more volumes to come.” — *Ray Gun Reviews* "Readers who relish strong female characters, complex storylines, and incredible action and battle scenes should give this trilogy a shot." — *Pat’s Fantasy Hotlist * “My favorite android [Cassandra Kresnov] is back… Espionage, battles, secrets revealed, escapes, political intrigue, personality clashes, high adventure, outer space—it’s all here. . . . Space opera the way it ought to be written.” — *Don D'ammassa's* *Critical Mass* "Robert Ludlum meets Elizabeth Moon in this classic military SF adventure, buoyed by Shepherd’s knack for balancing crisp action with characters you can really root for.” — *Publishers Weekly*