Then warships of the Empire of Man’s worst rivals shot the crippled vessel out of space. Why wouldn’t even his own mother, the Empress, explain whythey didn’t trust him? Or why the very mention of his father’s name was forbidden at Court? Or why his mother had decided to pack him off to a backwater planet aboard what was little more than a tramp freighter to represent her at a local political event better suited to a third assistant undersecretarv of state?īut that was before a saboteur tried to blow up his transport. He was young, handsome, athletic, an excellent dresser, and third in line for the Throne of Man…so why wouldn’t anyone at Court trust him? Now he must become a man, or the entire galaxy will suffer arrested adolescence. But they aren't about to give up, and with the help of those on the throne planet who are still loyal to the Empress they will infiltrate (under cover of a restaurant specializing in exotic Mardukan dishes, no less), they will make anyone who gets in their way (such as local mobsters who make the mistake of kidnapping Roger's fianc‚) very sorry that they did, and they will not rest until the rightful ruler has been restored.Prince Roger MacClintock is a spoiled young princeling hardly worth the space he takes up. Roger and his faithful band of human marines and native alien warriors have beaten the barbarian planet Marduk, and now they must re-conquer an interstellar empire. And Roger himself has been branded an outlaw and traitor.

Roger's brother, the heir to the throne, is dead. His mother the Empress is a captive in the palace and even in her own body, drugged so that her will is not her own. In Roger's absence, a palace coup by enemies of the MacClintock family has seized control of the Empire. But they're not home-free yet, because home is no longer free. So far, they've crossed a continent, crossed a sea full of ship-eating monsters, taken over an enemy spaceport, and hijacked a starship. until he and the Royal Marines sent to protect him were stranded on Marduk with only their feet to get them half way around the entire planet. Prince Roger MacClintock was an heir to the galaxy's Throne of Man-and a self-obsessed spoiled young brat.

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