Spirit Of The Bayonet — Ted Russ

How far must a man go to outrun the sins of war? The year is 2062. Somewhere between Earth and Mars, the deep-space freighter Odysseus travels toward the asteroid belt on a routine cargo haul. Paul Owens -- formerly one of the military's most elite augmented soldiers, and now a convicted prisoner -- works off his sentence as a member of the small crew. As they journey deeper into space, the captain begins to doubt the intentions of their ship's powerful integrated artificial intelligence, which monitors and controls every aspect of the Odysseus's operation. When misfortune befalls the isolated crew, Paul must somehow find a way to continue the captain's secret investigation. Paul forms an unlikely bond with a crewmate. As they fight to stay alive on the Odysseus, Paul recounts the terrible events that forced him to leave Earth, where AI has changed everything about warfare. As soldiers, Paul and his comrades had to face enemies determined to kill them, and a military-industrial complex desperate to profit, while they struggled to survive and live up to their code of duty, honor, and loyalty. Will Paul survive the journey to the asteroid belt? And can he ever escape his past?