Lieutenant Year 7

Montgomery Hale is still a Fleet lieutenant. The prison guards are not impressed.

The forged Academy record that got him aboard the Providence has finally earned him a cell on Mars. He can keep the bars on his collar, but he will be serving his sentence alongside men who have their own opinions about Fleet officers.

His new assignment is maintaining the Van Allen Ring, the enormous superconductor that rings the planet to protect it from radiation. His new workmates include a former chief petty officer who expects him to carry his share and a young pilot who can find something funny about almost any situation. Montgomery is good at fixing machines and flying. But he has a lot to learn about prison life and the men working beside him.

Captain Price has also given him a reason to look through the prison's old records. Someone helped put a saboteur aboard Earth's skyhook network, and some of that man's former associates are here.

Then a rebellion opens the prison gates, and Montgomery discovers that getting out of his cell hasn't made him free.

Mars is turning against the Union. The people offering him protection want his loyalty. And finding out who supplied the rebellion means lying to the friends who are keeping him alive.

For years, Monty worried that his missing Academy education would get him caught. Now the lessons he skipped could get someone killed.

Lieutenant Year 7 brings higher stakes and harder choices to An Officer of the Union Space Fleet, with the friendships, practical problem-solving, and resourceful young officer at its heart. Best read after the first six books.


A note from Joe

When I started this series, I wanted room for the things that happen between battles: the work, the friendships, the strange places, and the business of learning to be useful aboard a starship. I still do. But Monty joined a military service, and this book takes him into a part of that life he has been fortunate to avoid.

He forged an Academy record, so he didn't acquire the training that was supposed to go with it. Flying and fixing things have carried him a long way. Now he has to learn how to handle a weapon, survive under fire, and take responsibility for people who might be killed following his orders. That is a serious change for him, and I wanted it to feel serious to the reader, too.

Prison also gives this book some uncomfortable questions to explore. Criminal justice can be a sensitive issue, and I wanted to be fair to all viewpoints, as there are characters here spanning the spectrum. What are we trying to accomplish when we lock someone up? What helps a person change? What happens when we release someone with nowhere to live and no way to earn a living? Why do so many return to lockup? What does it mean to give the state the power to execute someone when we can never make a justice system incapable of mistakes? How do we balance mercy and forgiveness with the real need for public safety and respect for victims?

The people Monty meets have hurt others. Some unforgivably. Some of them may do it again. Getting to know them means having to think about their victims and their futures at the same time. As a person who's had family members interact with the system, I've seen first-hand how hard and heart-breaking these questions are.

The Star Trek influence has always included that willingness to wade into difficult social questions. It also leaves room for danger, violence, and loss. This book contains more of those than earlier installments. I still have no plans to burn down the galaxy at the end of every book, or make every adventure a bigger war than the last. But occasional combat belongs in Monty's life, and when it happens, it ought to matter.

There is still room at the mess hall table for a bad joke and another helping. I intend to keep that, too.

Happy reading,

-Joe