Swords and Saddles

Summary

Swords and Saddles is a must-listen collection of three novellas from New York Times bestselling author Jack Campbell.

The Rift: Answering a distress call from a colonized planet, a combat team finds themselves ambushed. They manage to scrabble their way to a remote research facility in the countryside, joining a group of schoolchildren that have holed up with the researchers—three groups united in fear that their lives will last only as long as they can avoid discovery by the aliens that have come to their planet.

Swords and Saddles: When lightning strikes Captain Ulysses Benton and his U.S. Cavalry Fifth Regiment, they recover to find an ancient structure in the desert that they've never seen before—and writing in a language none of them recognize. It soon becomes clear that wherever it is they are, it isn't 1870s Kansas.

Failure to Obey: When Lieutenant Jen Shen saves the day after a terrorist attack on a space station, she gets a medal, but Ivan Sharpe, a fellow officer and Paul's former master-at-arms, gets a court martial. In a classic court martial scene that rivals the best in American literature, Paul has to work behind the scenes to save Ivan's military career.