War Among The Ruins by Scott Washburn

The long war with Darj’Nang Empire is almost over. While newer and larger ships fought the war the old Star League cruiser Gilgamesh patrolled the border far from the action. Now with the war ending Gilgamesh is due to be decommissioned. Newer ships built for the war will be free to take over pirate duty in the backwater areas of the League.

For Captain Lu-Chin the end of the war means retirement, for Commander Jaqueline Ellsworth command of a new destroyer. As they approach the naval base at Leavitte IV the final attack by the dying Darj’Nang changes everything. In the blink of an eye the station and all of the orbiting ships loose power. Only Gilgamesh retains any power. Thanks to a supply officer who never threw anything away Gilgamesh has a supply of thirty year old power cells that still work. It’s not much but enough to run the air scrubbers on the base and rescue some of the crews of ships in orbit. The old cells also hold the answer to what is causing the power failures, not only at Leavitte IV but all over the entire Star League.

There are over a trillion people in the Star League, all of them dependent on technology that no longer works. As the League falls apart and the wolves begin to gather Gilgamesh and her crew set out for a forgotten world in search of a solution that will save the League. It will be a long, treacherous, and heartbreaking trip with more trouble at the end. But the survival of the League is dependent on them and they will do their duty or die trying.

This is science fiction at it‘s best. The characters are real and the action is non-stop. The story is well plotted and tightly written, focusing on a small part of a large picture. The heroes are heroes because of the situation, not because they are braver, smarter, or stronger then the rest of the human race. The villains are villains, not just enemies. All in all a very good read.

Mr. Washburn is a new author who has self published this book through Stellar Phoenix. It can be bought through Amazon. Hopefully we will be seeing more of his work in the future.