This book concerns Mickolai's first real combat.

Earth had been treating the interstellar colonies in much the same way as England treated the American Colonies, squeezing them for everything it could get, and then initiating the inevitable war itself.

But the story line starts out slow, so to brighten up the beginning, I used the same technique that Heinlein used on Starship Trooper, the prelude.

There is a nice, snappy, wipe-out-the-bad-guys chapter at the start that really belongs half way through the book. But if Heinlein could get away with it, then so can I.

If you've read A Boy And His Tank, then you know that my hero has a bit of the con man in him. Oh, he never actually steals anything, but making a fortune by turning a few deals on the side is not below him.

I wanted to make him rich and happy so that when the chips were down, he had something real to fight for.

On New Kashubia, 20,000 troops are engaged in a bloody slugfest that isn't accomplishing much. Mick's boss thinks well of him, and sends him behind the lines with six troops to see what he can accomplish.

He accomplishes a lot, cutting the enemy supply line, knocking out their headquarters base, and sending them on the run. I was particularly proud of the chapter called "Dirty Rotten Tricks".

Once again, Mickolai is a hero, feted by the masses, and this time, it's for real.

A huge, flawless, diamond made out of pure Carbon 12 plays a part in this story. Everybody told me that such a thing was impossible, but I left it in, anyway. Recently, years after I wrote the book, a star was found with a core made of pure diamond. Nobody has proven that it is pure Carbon 12 yet, but I'm betting that it is. This sort of thing happens to me fairly often.

For the last battle, I decided that the kid was having too easy a time, and made it one hell of a blood bath, with over half of his troops snuffed.

But it made for a good ending, with the colonies victorious and Earth joining the new federation as an equal member.

Except that federation expenses would be paid by an income tax on individuals and corporations. Since Earth had most of the population and most of the wealth, and since there were over fifty colonized planets that also got an equal vote, the end result was that the colonies had the say-so while Earth paid the bills.

Still and all, it sounded better than tribute.

Enjoy.