I trusted Ken and Sara with my life so many times. I did something crazy to protect them. They did something crazy to return the favor. They held the orbitals while I landed. Or I held the orbitals and they landed. Sara and Ken were one of my most trusted teams. I don’t think they ever failed me. Even when they died. That was when she followed the last order he gave her. She tracked me down and told me in person that he was gone. She was real insistent that she wasn’t going away until she avenged his death. And you know what? I was real happy to help her. I know things got complicated after that, but I honestly had the best of intentions. And in my defense, Charles has always played his cards close to his chest. I had no idea the hand he was playing with.
The Peloran were never numerous enough to defend the Albion from the Ennead. But once the Albion let them off their leash and ordered them to kill the Ennead, the Peloran proved their true capabilities. They fought from warships that could burn planets for the materials they needed to repair themselves and could feed on stars for the energy to travel. They sailed anywhere and attacked without warning. They were the perfect guerilla force with nothing left to defend, no supply lines, and only their orders to follow. They destroyed world after world and system after system. The other races soon learned that the Peloran would ignore them if they did not interfere, and the Ennead faced the Peloran alone in the end. The Peloran showed them no mercy. Their orders allowed them none. And so it was the Peloran and their cousins who killed the Ennead.
Ken “Buckaroo” Banno was a legend in his own mind. And his millions of fans, friends, and an extended family structure that encompassed nearly everyone with a drop of Japanese blood living within sight of Los Angeles. He was the golden child of Free Japan, the founder, the owner, and the chief advertising arm of Samurai Surfing. He was a successful businessman, a media personality, and he would have been elected in a landslide if he had ever run for political office. Some people would say he threw all of that away when he volunteered to serve in the military after the Shang attacked. But instead he became the one thing he had never wished to be. He became a hero to the people of Free Japan, a reminder of the proud and terrible forgotten history of military excellence carried in the lifeblood of Japan.
Sara was born after the Free Japanese of Los Angeles had suffered their second greatest catastrophe First was the fall of Japan, of course. We were still counting the dead in Los Angeles when she came into Ken’s life. That was a hard thing to choose to come into, but she thought it was worth it. She chose the appearance of a daughter of Japan rather than the polyglot Japanese-California mix that had become common by then. Color me confused at times on that, since she’s never seemed to favor Japanese clothing. She’s as American as apple pie in her actions, clothing, and speech. So why pick a pure Japanese look? I never have figured that out, and she’s never volunteered the information. And what can I say? No matter how curious you are, there’s some things you just don’t ask a lady.
The Albion were the most advanced race of their time, and their supersoldiers were the best of the best. The Peloran. The Arnam. And the others like them. They were ingenious tinkerers in the genetic arts, but all their tricks could not save them in the end. Most histories say that the Albion and the Ennead destroyed themselves. That is partially correct, and partially wrong. The Albion died first you see. There were not enough Peloran or their cousins in all the galaxy to save the Albion when the Ennead moved to Total War and began destroying entire planets and star systems. But the Albion did not die alone. When it became clear they could not win, the Albion gave a single order to their legions of supersoldiers. “Kill the Ennead.”



Forge of War on Amazon
Angel Flight on Amazon
Angel Strike on Amazon
Angel War on Amazon
Wolfenheim Rising on Amazon
Wolfenheim Emergent on Amazon