Special Delivery is something of a departure from the usual quirky, feel-good sci-fi comedies I have come to expect from its author, Rex Burke. Beginning with a typical military fantasy setting, we are introduced to the main character, Trooper Dix, during a wartime manoeuvre that goes horribly wrong due to an incompetent superior officer. Following a heroic misdemeanour involving said officer, Dix finds himself sent to a Prison Hulk space station – the kind there is no getting out of.
However, in line with Burke’s other sci-fi stories, the tone of the book is hopeful, and the hero always comes out on top. Dix soon finds himself offered a one-way mission which, should he survive, will allow him to make amends for his crime. He finds himself leading a ragtag crew, cobbled together from the Prison Hulk, to undertake a black ops mission on behalf of a mysterious spymaster who introduces herself as Major Galloway. The crew is comprised of:
“A busted trooper, a runaway pathfinder, and a captive smuggler-pilot – plus a hard-ass special operative, hard to command but eager to serve.”
Their mission, should they choose to accept it, is to retrieve a weapon from Vitlok, an unpopulated planet, and deliver it to the blockaded planet, Hauga, without discovery by the shady Axis (this universe’s Empire in Star Wars terms). Should he choose not to accept it, Dix is told he will be sent to a radioactive planet as slave labour. Difficult choice? Not so much, even with the fearsome Axis to avoid:
“These weren’t soldiers, they were butchers. Recruited by planetary warlords to fight under an Axis banner that meant little but self-interest. Hard-edged mercenaries who played by different rules.”
Special Delivery takes itself much more seriously than Burke’s other stories, but there is still a trace of his signature wry humour present. The team Galloway puts together wastes no time in striking up the banter and good-naturedly pointing out one another’s weaknesses. Each member has been picked for a very particular reason, which makes them ideal for this operation, and Alard was particularly intriguing. Described as a ‘geopath’, his pathfinding talents mean he can read the natural elements around him to tell when adversaries are approaching or to geolocate. Not exactly a treehugger, more of a rock fondler. This is particularly useful on the blockaded planet, after the ‘weapon’ has been retrieved, since no technology or weapons of any kind can be used there on pain of death by Axis. Drake and Vaskez are more usual team members, with Drake an ex-smuggler whose impounded spaceship becomes their transport, and Vaskez the special ops no-nonsense muscle and the only one who volunteered for the mission. I kept finding myself visualising Pvt. Vasquez from the Aliens movie, and suspect this character was a nod to her.
There is a surprising twist in the story when the team accidentally discovers the nature of the weapon they have been sent to collect. The cat really gets put among the pigeons and ultimately gives our heroes a doozy of a moral dilemma, but I am not going to spoil that extremely pivotal moment in the narrative.
The pace is fast throughout the story, with plenty of action, gory deaths, weirdo monks with a peculiar doctrine and a penchant for human experimentation. Even with all of that, you are still left with a good feeling by the end of the story:
“The gentle bickering began again, but it no longer had an edge. There was an underlying tone between all of them now. Respect, certainly. Trust, for sure. Friendship, of a kind. Their pot-luck crew had turned into a tight unit. Maybe the army had given them something, after all?”
If that all sounds intriguing, I recommend you pick up a copy of Special Delivery. Its relatively short length makes it perfect weekend reading.
