When the enemy is stoking the fires, it is time for the mercs to make a deal with the devil and pray they have a hope of rescuing something from the flames.
What holds a community, a civilization, or a world together? Shared values? Mutual interests? Perhaps something less definable, like an ineffable source of unity? Or is it blood, terror, and primal drives that force the pack to close in and bare their fangs?
Such questions may be more suited to philosophers, but the DEMC and its mercenaries are the ones who will be doling out the answers.
As the Jindahin Empire crumbles, the mad mercs of Mugh-9 are holding back chaos with a strong arm and steady trigger finger, waiting for things to settle down. But what if they never do? What if the forces feeding off the anarchy like leeches slurping blood intend to suck the Empire dry?
All DEMC can do is plunge their armored hands into the molten furnace of war as they attempt to rescue a few good ones and get out in one piece.
Michael Anderle is the internationally bestselling author of more than forty urban fantasy and science fiction novels, including the Kutherian Gambit, Opus X, Federal Histories, and Exceptional S. Beaufont series. He is also coauthor of many more under his company, LMBPN Publishing, which has sold over 3 million books.
Sarah Mollo-Christensen is a stage and voice actor who received her BA from Dartmouth College and graduated from the Atlantic Theater Company's Acting Conservatory in New York. In addition to her work with audiobooks, her narration can be heard on several episodes of NPR's This American Life.