Broken Orbit

Previously published as On Point by J. Clifton Slater

Can one man stop the carnage?

The reconnaissance of Construction Station went bad from the start. Sabotaged ion cannons during the insertion, firefight after firefight during the sneak-and-peek, a crash landing on a barren world during the exit, and in the end, Lieutenant Phelan Oscar Piran getting charged with murder.

Compounding his persecution, there are gaps and suppositions in his report that agents in the Intelligence Department didn’t believe. Being the Knight Protector of the Clan, he was unable to fill in the missing information without revealing his enhancements. Nor could the Realm know about the secret mission assigned to Piran by an ancient Heart Plant.

As Piran fulfills the secret mission, Constabulary warships target the Druid Valley. Heart Plants are destroyed and Druids die fiery deaths. Can one man stop the carnage? He might, if his call sign is J-Pop, and he can survive the broken orbit.