Published by Baen, 1997, ISBN 0-671-57842-1, $1.99, 400 pgs

I picked up Once a Hero because it was $1.99, and if the publisher is going to bolster a new writer, well, I'd give it a try. I never read Moon before, although upon cracking the cover, I found she authored a dozen books. Although not quite up to the Honor Harrington series, Moon's done a good job of propelling heroine Esmay Suiza through a series of plot twists and character building exercises.

The beginning is a bit confusing--something about an action and meeting over Xavier, for which she is being court martialed for saving the day. Exonerated, she's transferred to a backwater mobile repair station. Yet, this station is the target of a takeover by the Bloodhorde, a particularly loathsome faction of humanity. And guess who will save the day?

Fortunately, the Bloodhorde are well trained for planned operations, and dim bulbs when it comes to thinking on their own. As Esmay and company frantically try to regain control of the station, the Bloodhorde neatly fall into a variety of traps. Only the clever prosper.

Moon creates a reasonable level of detail about station operations and the variety of interpersonal interactions of various crews. This is the strongest part of the book. You can see the wheels of bureaucracy turn slowly; the power plays and cliques, and the efforts of the military trying to keep ships flying.

The rest is a cut above average, and enough to propel me into the sequel--Rules of Engagement.