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A Tale Of Revenge

Vulcan was a factory planet, centuries old, Company run, ugly as sin, and unfeeling as death.

Vulcan bred just two types of native -- complacent or tough... and Sten was tough.

When his family died in a mysterious "accident," Sten rebelled, harassing the Company from the metal world's endless mazelike warrens.

Sten would have ended up just another burnt-out Delinquent if he hadn't rescued a mysterious stranger who turned out to be his ticket off Vulcan -- and an express ride back!

The Eternal Emperor ruled countless worlds across the galaxy. Vast armies and huge fleets awaited his command. But when he needed a "little" job done right, he turned to Mantis Team and its small band of militant problem solvers.

Just then the Emperor needed to pacify the Wolf Worlds, the planets of an insignificant cluster that had raised space piracy to a low art.

And Mantis Team could use all the men it needed -- as long as it needed no more than two.

Sten had fought his way up from slave laborer on a factory world to commander of the Eternal Emperor's bodyguard, the Imperial Gurkhas.

But during the first three months on Prime World, the most dangerous weapons Sten encountered were the well-phrased lies of Court politicians. It seemed no place for an honest fighting man. Then a bomb turned a spaceport bar and three strangers into scraps and well-mixed hamburger. The clues said "plot" and pointed right to the imperial staff.

Only quick -- and bloody -- work by Sten, Alex Kilgour, and a tough female detective would keep the Empire together and the Eternal Emperor alive.

Sten's luck was finally running out.

He had barely scraped through Imperial flight school when he was assigned a tac division in the Fringe Worlds, where the Imperial officers were more concerned with the perfect fit of their dress whites than with honing their fighting skills.

The enemy Tahn couldn't have picked a better time or place to launch their long-planned attack against the Empire. Sten and his men were outgunned, outmanned, and outfought -- and no reinforcements could be expected from the besieged Eternal Emperor.

It looked like Sten's number was up. But if he had to go, he didn't intend to go alone...

Sten had fully expected to die in a blaze of glory, taking his Emperor's greatest foe with him. Instead he was a slave laborer in a P.O.W. camp deep in the heart of enemy territory.

But sitting out the action had never been Sten's style. And now that the war was building to a climax, the Eternal Emperor needed him more than ever. Not even the toughest prison in the known universe could keep Sten from his mission...

The Privy Council who ruled in place of the dead Eternal Emperor needed to find his secret source of Anti-Matter Two. Unfortunately, the only man who knew where it could be wasn't talking. He had an agenda of his own and was willing to destroy the universe if he couldn't get his way....

The Eternal Emperor had returned at last from the dead, to pick up the pieces of his crumbling Empire. But even that great leader could not halt the Empire's decline alone. And so Sten, master spy, military strategist, and assassin, found himself appointed Ambassador Plenipotentiary to the Altaic Cluster, where a brewing civil war threatened the stability of the Empire itself.

Quelling a civil war was nothing new for Sten. But as one thing after another went wrong, he began to suspect that he was up against more than a mere local disturbance. Someone -- operating in deepest cover, with the highest authority -- was working behind the scenes to manipulate events and escalate disaster. And that someone wanted nothing more than to see Sten dead...

At last! The explosive finale of Sten's adventures as the eternal emperor's most trusted friend, bodyguard, troubleshooter... and assassin!

See Sten undertake the ultimate treasure hunt, as he and his comrades seek out the source of the Eternal Emperor's power: Anti-Matter Two.

Learn the secret of the Eternal Emperor's past: Who is he? Where did he come from? And how did he become immortal?

Watch as the loyal Sten turns traitor at last, turning on the Eternal Emperor to save his own skin...and the Empire itself!

Eternity is doomed to end. And if sten has his way, it will end sooner than later!

Contents:

• Sten - [Sten - 1] - (1982) - novel
• The Wolf Worlds - [Sten - 2] - (1984) - novel
• The Court of a Thousand Suns - [Sten - 3] - (1986) - novel

Contents:

• Fleet of the Damned - [Sten - 4] - (1988) - novel
• Revenge of the Damned - [Sten - 5] - (1989) - novel
• The Return of the Emperor - [Sten - 6] - (1990) - novel

Contents:

• Vortex - [Sten - 7] - (1992) - novel
• Empire's End - [Sten - 8] - (1993) - novel