Book excerpt: The blackest of ancient cabals comes into collision with the rebirth of hope in a new science-fiction series by George Wier, the Titan of Texas Fiction: It is a thousand years after the Breakaway War and the fall of the Union on the fringe worlds of human space. While escaping from the Wardens of the Committee, John Hark finds the armored suit of the last Union Ranger, Sam O'Shea, steps inside, and is rocketed into orbit and a universe of adventure. With his new computer program friends, Pry and Bee, John returns to a hidden and ancient Ranger base orbiting his home world's twin binary star, and thus begins his true education. But the armed and armored Wardens, and especially the Watchers—the Wardens' cloaked and hooded counterparts—dominate what remains of the human worlds of the Omicron twin-star system, and they hold the reins to the yoke that keeps mankind from arising out of the ashes of their ancient downfall with the continued plunder and hoarding of all technology. The Committee has become a bloody priesthood, with its foot upon the chest of anyone who would dare rise up, and so John Hark needs help in order to beat them; help that must come from the unlikeliest of quarters—those who have been marked for death! Thus begins the adventure of a lifetime for John and his reborn contingent of Rangers, and against impossible odds. But the heart of the Committee is truly the blackest of hearts, with a startling and ancient secret with its roots in the Breakaway War itself. With not only John Hark's own home world in the crosshairs, but the future of humanity throughout the galaxy hanging in the balance, the reborn Rangers of Company C have little choice but to either win in the end or die trying, with no time for drawing lines in the sand.