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HE WHO LIVES BY THE SWORD...

The races which ruled the Galactic Federation knew they were vastly superior to the inferior species restricted to the narrow confines of their own star systems by the crudity of their technology... and they had every intention of keeping things that way.

It was a neat little scam, a rigged game in which only the House could win, which the Federation had played for over a hundred thousand years, and no one had ever managed to challenge it.

Yet all good things come to an end, and the Galactics made one mistake. It didn't seem all that terrible at first, only a single merchant guild which bought itself a Roman legion to use as enslaved sepoys on the primitive worlds where they weren't permitted to use their own weapons to force trading concessions. But the Romans were too good at what they did, and a desperate competing guild decided that the only way it could continue to compete was if it had Romans of its own.

Unfortunately, Roman legions were no longer available, so the competing guild had to settle for something else: English longbowmen on their way to the Battle of Crecy.

Roman legions make dangerous pets... but English longbowmen are even worse.

It may take a century or so, but the Galactics are about to discover what happens when the sword finally comes out of the stone.

Lots of Soldiers Work for Civilians They don't Like, but these Romans had It Worse than Most -- Their Commanders were Blue-Skinned Aliens!

The guilds of star-traveling merchants had strict rules to prevent their technology from falling into the hands of the natives of planets they were exploiting: military operations had to be carried out with weaponry no more complex than swords and bows.

That was no handicap to merchant princes with a galaxy to scour for military slaves to do their fighting for them. Some came to Earth for soldiers and returned to the stars with the best the planet had to offer. For over two thousands years the aliens thought they'd succeeded brilliantly--but then things changed!

Set in the universe of Ranks of Bronze, masterful new novellas by:

• David Drake
• Eric Flint
• S. M. Stirling
• Mark L Van Name
• and David Weber

explore the bleeding edge between human courage and the science of alien slavemasters. The right man with a sword is just as deadly as a technician with a laser -- And not all the blood spilled is red!

Yesterday they were the best infantry on Earth -- Now they're going to take on the whole galaxy.

• 1 - Introduction (Foreign Legions): Well It Happened This Way... - essay by David Drake
• 5 - Ranks of Bronze - (1975) - short story by David Drake
• 17 - Sir George and the Dragon - novella by David Weber
• 101 - Lambs to the Slaughter - novella by David Drake
• 165 - A Clear Signal - novella by Mark L. Van Name
• 217 - The Three Walls--32nd Campaign - novelette by S. M. Stirling
• 243 - Carthago Delenda Est - novella by Eric Flint

HE WHO LIVES BY THE SWORD...

The races which ruled the Galactic Federation knew they were vastly superior to the inferior species restricted to the narrow confines of their own star systems by the crudity of their technology... and they had every intention of keeping things that way.

It was a neat little scam, a rigged game in which only the House could win, which the Federation had played for over a hundred thousand years, and no one had ever managed to challenge it.

Yet all good things come to an end, and the Galactics made one mistake. It didn't seem all that terrible at first, only a single merchant guild which bought itself a Roman legion to use as enslaved sepoys on the primitive worlds where they weren't permitted to use their own weapons to force trading concessions. But the Romans were too good at what they did, and a desperate competing guild decided that the only way it could continue to compete was if it had Romans of its own.

Unfortunately, Roman legions were no longer available, so the competing guild had to settle for something else: English longbowmen on their way to the Battle of Crecy.

Roman legions make dangerous pets... but English longbowmen are even worse.

It may take a century or so, but the Galactics are about to discover what happens when the sword finally comes out of the stone.