Book description
Throughout the centuries that have passed since humans first ventured
into interstellar space, they have been at war with the alien Veich. The
human race has, in consequence, been fully militarized, its educational
system being a form of military training--which includes, among other
disciplines, the elimination of fear from the human psyche. Attitudes to
the war have, however, been colored by the gradual discovery of relics
revealing that it is echoing an earlier interstellar conflict whose
antagonists have completely disappeared, victors and vanquished alike.
On a neglected continent of an unimportant world, ex-sergeant Remy and
other human and Veich deserters have joined forces to form a mercenary
company that places its expert skills at the disposal of the dominant
indigenes. This refuge from the greater war is, however, disrupted when
archeologists on another world discover evidence that there might be
significant relics of the earlier war buried in the inhospitable heart
of the continent, where barbarian tribes are currently massing for a
religious war. Remy has no alternative but to revert to working for his
own race, knowing that whatever he enables them to find, or even if they
find nothing at all, his own life will be in grave peril, and that
nothing will ever be the same again.... Great military SF! Also
published as Optiman.
