Dragon Award Finalist for Best Military Science Fiction Novel When you take the Emperor's gold, you become the Emperor's man. For Colonel Mulbah Luo and the Kakata Korps, their initial contracts with the Mercenary Guild had them defending Earth. Honest work, they were led to believe, keeping the citizens of Earth safe from alien pacification in their own way. As the occupation continues, however, their eyes are opened to the fact that the hand gripping their throat is slowly tightening. After an outside attempt to throw western Africa into unending civil war, the Kakata Korps must choose sides. Will they honor their oaths and fight their own people at the cost of their very souls? Or will the call of freedom - freedom from the Merc Guild - sway even the most hardened of souls? The war for Earth rages on. The souls of a people hangs in the balance.