Dark Planet,New

From Publishers Weekly Abundant action, a fast pace and an unusual ethical dilemma help redeem this otherwise mediocre and derivative first foray into military SF from prolific military author Sasser (Detachment Delta, etc.). The Republic of Galaxia sends an expedition to the Dark Planet Aldenia, which is crawling with monstrous insects and reptiles, to deal with a threat from the alien Blobs. The expedition includes Kadar San, a halfhuman, halfalien telepath, a type that will be quite familiar to Star Trek fans. Kadar San and company face many hazards on landing, including the lindal, a powerful device left behind by the Indowy, who once held Kadar San's race, the Zentadon, as slaves. And Zentadons become lethally dangerous when under stresswhich promptly rises as the Galaxia soldiers fight temptation, the local wildlife and terrain, and one another. At the climax, as Kadar San and the team's sniper, 'Blade' Kilmer, stalk each other through the jungle, Kadar San faces a terrible choice: if he kills Kilmer and goes berserk from his own raging hormones, he may endanger his surviving comrades; but if he sacrifice his own life, the sniper will kill everyone, including the female sergeant with whom Kadar San has fallen in love. Readers may find the resolution of this conflict a trifle facile. Copyright Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. Product Description Kadar San, a humanZentadon crossbreed distrusted by both humans and Zentadon, is dispatched with a Deep Reconnaissance Team (DRT) to the Dark Planet of Aldenia. His mission: use his telepathic powers to sniff out a Blob assault base preparing to attack the Galaxia Republic. Dominated by both amazing insect and reptile life forms, and by an evil and mysterious Presence, Aldenia was once a base for the warlike Indowy who used their superior technology to enslave the Zentadon and turn them into super warriors to deploy against humans. The DRT comes under attack not only from savage denizens of the Dark Planet, but also from the mysterious Presence, which turns team member against team member and all against Kadar San. The Presence promises untold wealth and power to any member of the team unscrupulous enough to unleash the contents of a Pandora's boxlike remnant of Indowy technology. The box's possessor poses a greater threat than the entire Blob nation, for he is capable of releasing untold horrors upon the galaxy. Kadar San finds himself pitted against a human killer, an expert sniper, in a desperate struggle to save both the Republic and the human female he has come to love. Like all Zentadon, however, Kadar San cannot kill without facing destruction himself in the process, and he has no choice but to kill. In order to save the galaxy, Kadar San must face the truth . . . no one will leave the Dark Planet . About the Author Charles W. Sasser has been a fulltime freelance writer/journalist/photographer since 1979. He is author of nearly 50 published books, reprinted in several different languages, including Spanish, French, German, Russian, and Chinese, and has published more than 2,500 magazine articles and short stories. He lives and writes on a ranch near Chouteau, Oklahoma, with wife Donna Sue, where he rears and trains registered quarter horses.