When the colony worlds Now, years had passed and not everyone on the Cobra worlds thought that the Cobras were worth the cost of maintaining their existing built-in weaponry, let alone supporting research to improve the Cobra weapons, and possibly even put an end to the negative effects of that built-in weaponry, which caused Cobras to die much too young. Many who had never known interplanetary war were convinced that the Cobras were not needed at all. That was a grave miscalculation, because a Troft faction has decided to invade the Cobra planets in force, using a new strategy that even the formidable Cobra warriors may not be able to defeat . . . “Zahn keeps the story moving at a breakneck pace, maintaining excitement [in ].” — “[ ] is another finely wrought space adventure . . . [with] social, political and emotional complications, all of which Zahn treats with his usual skill.” — “Zahn paints every detail [in ] with gleamy realism . . . scientific dialogue that streams with starship hardware and military trooper talk . . . immensely appealing.” —