Paying the Piper

FOR THE LOCALS, THE WAR WAS A MATTER OF PRINCIPLE;
TO THE SLAMMERS, IT WAS A PAYCHECK
A score of separate states and factions fought to rule Plattner's World. That was bad enough, but the planet's great wealth had attracted not only mercenaries but a worse kind of looter: interstellar investors with no qualms about making a profit on blood, so long as the profit was high enough and the blood came from somebody else.
From a weed-grown landing strip to the narrow corridors of a modern office building, Arne Huber's survival depended on quick reflexes and the blazing cyan hellfire of his gun. He and his troopers didn't like some of the choices they had to make—but they'd make them regardless, because they were the Slammers and it was their job.
DECEIT AND BETRAYAL WERE THE ONLY CERTAINTIES
Arne Huber and his platoon had to face government officials with private agendas, politicians with armies of street thugs, and a hostile armored division with the most powerful tanks on the planet. The climax would come as it always did, when the Slammers slugged it out with the best the enemy could throw at them. Tank cannon, automatic weapons, and the world-shattering thunder of massed artillery would turn the night into
an inferno and a slaughterhouse.
Arne Huber and his troopers knew they could die, because they'd watched friends die on every planet where they'd served. Maybe they could even be beaten—
BUT NOBODY'D BEATEN THE SLAMMERS YET!
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Vietnam veteran, former lawyer, former bus driver, and now bestselling author, David Drake tells a military story like no other. His readers recognize that he can take them where no one else can, with gut-wrenching description that puts them face-to-face with the enemy, and in the midst of the action right on the battlefield. He helped create the audience for mercenary military science fiction with his bestselling Hammer's Slammers books. Drake graduated Phi Beta Kappa from the University of Iowa, majoring in history (with honors) and Latin. His stint at Duke University Law School was interrupted for two years by the U.S. Army, where he served as an enlisted interrogator with the 11th Armored Cavalry in Vietnam and Cambodia. Drake has a wife, a son, and various pets. In addition to his celebrated novels of Hammer's Slammers, his works for Baen include With the Lightnings and its sequel, Lt. Leary, Commanding, as well as Starliner, Ranks of Bronze, Redliners, the General series (with S.M. Stirling) and the Belisarius series (with Eric Flint), the latest of which is The Tide of Victory, and many more.
Illustration by Larry Elmore Cover design by Carol Russo Design

ISBN: 0-7434-3547-8

DEDICATION

To Larry Barnthouse, who long ago as another 96C2L94 was missed by all the same bullets that missed me.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

BAEN BOOKS by DAVID DRAKE

Hammer's Slammers
The Tank Lords
Caught in the Crossfire
The Butcher's Bill
The Sharp End
Cross the Stars
Paying the Piper

Paying the Piper

FOR THE LOCALS, THE WAR WAS A MATTER OF PRINCIPLE;
TO THE SLAMMERS, IT WAS A PAYCHECK
A score of separate states and factions fought to rule Plattner's World. That was bad enough, but the planet's great wealth had attracted not only mercenaries but a worse kind of looter: interstellar investors with no qualms about making a profit on blood, so long as the profit was high enough and the blood came from somebody else.
From a weed-grown landing strip to the narrow corridors of a modern office building, Arne Huber's survival depended on quick reflexes and the blazing cyan hellfire of his gun. He and his troopers didn't like some of the choices they had to make—but they'd make them regardless, because they were the Slammers and it was their job.
DECEIT AND BETRAYAL WERE THE ONLY CERTAINTIES
Arne Huber and his platoon had to face government officials with private agendas, politicians with armies of street thugs, and a hostile armored division with the most powerful tanks on the planet. The climax would come as it always did, when the Slammers slugged it out with the best the enemy could throw at them. Tank cannon, automatic weapons, and the world-shattering thunder of massed artillery would turn the night into
an inferno and a slaughterhouse.
Arne Huber and his troopers knew they could die, because they'd watched friends die on every planet where they'd served. Maybe they could even be beaten—
BUT NOBODY'D BEATEN THE SLAMMERS YET!
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Vietnam veteran, former lawyer, former bus driver, and now bestselling author, David Drake tells a military story like no other. His readers recognize that he can take them where no one else can, with gut-wrenching description that puts them face-to-face with the enemy, and in the midst of the action right on the battlefield. He helped create the audience for mercenary military science fiction with his bestselling Hammer's Slammers books. Drake graduated Phi Beta Kappa from the University of Iowa, majoring in history (with honors) and Latin. His stint at Duke University Law School was interrupted for two years by the U.S. Army, where he served as an enlisted interrogator with the 11th Armored Cavalry in Vietnam and Cambodia. Drake has a wife, a son, and various pets. In addition to his celebrated novels of Hammer's Slammers, his works for Baen include With the Lightnings and its sequel, Lt. Leary, Commanding, as well as Starliner, Ranks of Bronze, Redliners, the General series (with S.M. Stirling) and the Belisarius series (with Eric Flint), the latest of which is The Tide of Victory, and many more.
Illustration by Larry Elmore Cover design by Carol Russo Design

ISBN: 0-7434-3547-8

DEDICATION

To Larry Barnthouse, who long ago as another 96C2L94 was missed by all the same bullets that missed me.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

BAEN BOOKS by DAVID DRAKE

Hammer's Slammers
The Tank Lords
Caught in the Crossfire
The Butcher's Bill
The Sharp End
Cross the Stars
Paying the Piper

RCN series
With the Lightnings
Lt. Leary, Commanding

Independent Novels and Collections
The Dragon Lord
Birds of Prey
Northworld Trilogy
Redliners
Starliner
All the Way to the Gallows
Foreign Legions
(created by David Drake)

The Undesired Princess and The Enchanted Bunny
(with L. Sprague de Camp)

Lest Darkness Fall and To Bring the Light
(with L. Sprague de Camp)

Armageddon
(edited with Billie Sue Mosiman)

The General series:
The Forge (with S.M. Stirling)
The Chosen (with S.M. Stirling)
The Reformer (with S.M. Stirling)
The Tyrant (with Eric Flint)

The Belisarius series:
(with Eric Flint)
An Oblique Approach
In the Heart of Darkness
Destiny's Shield
Fortune's Stroke
The Tide of Victory