Synopsis: From the back cover of the Ace first edition: "Expelled from Earth's prestigious North American Military Academy on trumped up charges, Lon Nolan's honor seemed shattered. But the young student of warfare vowed to regain his good name - with the Dirigent Mercenary Corps, the DMC, where the bloody craft of battle had been refined into an art. Now the green recruit has to prove his worthiness - not in a academy classroom, but in the blood rite of first combat. No amount of schooling could have prepared Nolan's battalion for what awaited them - an assault more brutal than any the DMC had faced in over a century..."