Baen, 2000, $7.99, ISBN 0-671-31851-9, 407 pages, paperback

The third book in the Flight Engineer series finds our hero, Peter Raeder, in the Captain's chair of the carrier Invincible on a deep raid behind enemy lines. The war, going badly against the "Mollies" and their insectoidal allies the Fibians, needs a Doolittle-style attack. Who better then the unorthodox Raeder and his interstellar bag of tactical tricks?

Stirling, with some sort of feedback from Doohan, crafts another tense situation requiring brains, guile, and luck to pull off. Raeder continues his development as a character, and the plot introduces a more diplomatic element.

In some ways, the last part mimics a Star Trek script--too much talking and not enough phasers. That's understandable from a TV production budget, but the budget of my imagination is infinite. And the John Philip Sousa scene was dopey TV fare.

Still, I enjoyed most of the book and believe there's plenty of mileage left in the Flight Engineer engine. Here's to the fourth book.

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