The Wolf Worlds
Allan Cole
 Sten, leader of the Mantis Team 13, Empire's covert ops, is on the way back from Eryx Cluster, when his spy ship is ambushed by Janissary cruiser. After crashing on nearby planet, Team 13 is able to overpower Janissars, capture their ship and return home. The Eternal Emperor is not pleased with results of Sten's mission, which confirms existence of very rare mineral in Eryx Cluster. The shortest path to Eryx goes right through Lupus Cluster. Also known as "Wolf Worlds", Lupus Cluster is a home of the cult of Talemein, religious dictatorship, whose military half, Janissars, practice piracy to acquire money and ships, and ruthlessly kill any captives who do not immediately and fervently convert. According to Emperor's analysis, in three years, every "wannabe merchant, miner and explorer" will travel right through Lupus Cluster, where they will be slaughtered en masse by one or other Talamein faction. Emperor will have to send Imperial Guard, which will be a great hit on his public relations, because he gave the worlds to the young soldier Talemein a few thousand years before. Since official action is out of the discussion, the only acceptable solution is unofficial one. Sten receives very simple order: in three years he has to pacify whole Lupus Cluster, by someone who will not shoot at miners when they arrive (i.e. not Janissars). How, it doesn't matter. He can recruit anyone, but no more than one other member from Mantis. Sten took Alex Kilgour, his best friend and former teammember from Mantis. Sten's first action is meeting with "moderate" Talamein, ruled by merchant prince Parral and his prophet Theodomir, and offering them mercenary services and unification of Cluster. They accept, secretly planning to kill Sten when he gets the job done. After that, Sten offers help to Bhor, natives of Lupus Cluster. Bhor are race of knuckle dragging Neanderthals, that, when they're not tearing their competitors in half the long way, they're doing the same to their competitor's bank accounts. Being militant and violent beings, they quickly develop a great friendship with Sten and Alex. Sten then begins his campaign by attacking Janissary military center, followed by multiple distraction attacks. His primary objective is to attack Janissary shipyards. Slightly understrength, Sten accepted help of Mathias, Theodomir's son, who has small group of his followers available. During the attack Parral betrays Sten and orders his ships to retreat, leaving Sten to die on the planet. Luckily, Sten is saved by intervention of Bhor, and he decides to pay Parral a little visit. After Parral's unfortunately demise from the hands of Mathias, Eternal Emperor personally visits Lupus Cluster and declares prophet Theodomir as legitimate ruler, in spite of the fact that Sten warned Mahoney that he needed more time for situation to settle. Day after Emperor left, Mathias murders his own father, falsely accuses Sten and declared holy war against traitors, unbelievers, and "that heretic Emperor". Sten and Alex escapes, but his mercenaries are captured. Sten asks Mahoney to give him back Mantis Team 13, hoping that he can resolve situation. With the help of his team, Sten infiltrates Lupus Cluster capital, where he frees his imprisoned mercenaries and launches an attack. Eventually, Sten captures Mathias, druggs him and forces him to recant and publicly declare peace. The Eternal Emperor is very pleased with Sten's action in Lupus Cluster and promotes him to commander of the Gurkhas, Emperor's personal bodyguards.