Lt. Leary, Commanding

INTO HARM’S WAY!

 Lieutenant Daniel Leary of the Republic of Cinnabar Navy commands the corvette Princess Cecile; his friend Signals Officer Adele Mundy has the latest in spy apparatus and the skill to prowl the most tightly guarded database. All they lack are enemies, and fate is about to supply that need in abundance!
Daniel, Adele, and their crack crew must battle bureaucrats and traitors, the winds of a barren desert and the strains of a voyage never before attempted. If they succeed at every stage, their reward will be the chance to fight another enemy: one which can blow them and a hundred ships like theirs to vapor!
Death is always an option but defeat can never be. Action, color and heroics merge with the gritty realities of war and politics in a story that never slows down. Indeed, how could it slow down, with Lt. Leary, Commanding?

 “. . . dashing Horatio Hornblower tactics and vintage John Wayne heroics . . . a full measure of appealing derring-do.” —Publishers Weekly
 “. . . demonstrates the author’s talent for arcane politics and vivid battle scenes . . . a pair of clever and resourceful protagonists . . . action-packed space opera. . . .” —Library Journal
 “Drake . . . creates two strong protagonists . . . this is an intelligent page-turner . . . the launching of a new futuristic space-navy saga.” —Booklist

Cover art by Stephen Hickman

Hardcover

Paperback

First paperback printing, June 2001
Distributed by Simon & Schuster
1230 Avenue of the Americas
New York, NY 10020 Printed in the United States of America

ISBN: 0-671-31992-2

DEDICATION

To my webmaster, cybrarian Karen Zimmerman,

who wasn't the model for Adele Mundy,

but might have been if I'd met her sooner.

(Of course, we'd have to work on her pistol shooting.)

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I guess one could say "the usual suspects" by this point.

Mark L. Van Name and Allyn Vogel took care of the series of computer events. (Did you know that files can become cross-linked on your hard drive? Well, at any rate, they could on mine.)

Dan Breen continues in curmudgeonly excellence as my first reader. There could be no better person for insights and scholarship.

When I'm working, I take up a lot of room and am frequently less than cheerful. I'm working most of the time. My wife, Jo, sticks with me; I really appreciate the fact.

BAEN BOOKS by DAVID DRAKE

Lt. Leary

With the Lightnings
Lt. Leary, Commanding

Hammer's Slammers

The Tank Lords
Caught in the Crossfire
The Butcher's Bill
The Sharp End

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 Belisarius series:

(with Eric Flint)

An Oblique Approach
In the Heart of Darkness
Destiny's Shield
Fortune's Stroke
The Tide of Victory (forthcoming)

The General series:

(With S.M. Stirling)

The Forge
The Chosen
The Reformer

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)

Enemy of My Enemy: Terra Nova
(with Ben Ohlander)

Armageddon
(edited with Billie Sue Mosiman)

Lt. Leary, Commanding

INTO HARM’S WAY!

 Lieutenant Daniel Leary of the Republic of Cinnabar Navy commands the corvette Princess Cecile; his friend Signals Officer Adele Mundy has the latest in spy apparatus and the skill to prowl the most tightly guarded database. All they lack are enemies, and fate is about to supply that need in abundance!
Daniel, Adele, and their crack crew must battle bureaucrats and traitors, the winds of a barren desert and the strains of a voyage never before attempted. If they succeed at every stage, their reward will be the chance to fight another enemy: one which can blow them and a hundred ships like theirs to vapor!
Death is always an option but defeat can never be. Action, color and heroics merge with the gritty realities of war and politics in a story that never slows down. Indeed, how could it slow down, with Lt. Leary, Commanding?

 “. . . dashing Horatio Hornblower tactics and vintage John Wayne heroics . . . a full measure of appealing derring-do.” —Publishers Weekly
 “. . . demonstrates the author’s talent for arcane politics and vivid battle scenes . . . a pair of clever and resourceful protagonists . . . action-packed space opera. . . .” —Library Journal
 “Drake . . . creates two strong protagonists . . . this is an intelligent page-turner . . . the launching of a new futuristic space-navy saga.” —Booklist

Cover art by Stephen Hickman

Hardcover

Paperback

First paperback printing, June 2001
Distributed by Simon & Schuster
1230 Avenue of the Americas
New York, NY 10020 Printed in the United States of America

ISBN: 0-671-31992-2

DEDICATION

To my webmaster, cybrarian Karen Zimmerman,

who wasn't the model for Adele Mundy,

but might have been if I'd met her sooner.

(Of course, we'd have to work on her pistol shooting.)

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I guess one could say "the usual suspects" by this point.

Mark L. Van Name and Allyn Vogel took care of the series of computer events. (Did you know that files can become cross-linked on your hard drive? Well, at any rate, they could on mine.)

Dan Breen continues in curmudgeonly excellence as my first reader. There could be no better person for insights and scholarship.

When I'm working, I take up a lot of room and am frequently less than cheerful. I'm working most of the time. My wife, Jo, sticks with me; I really appreciate the fact.

BAEN BOOKS by DAVID DRAKE

Lt. Leary

With the Lightnings
Lt. Leary, Commanding

Hammer's Slammers

The Tank Lords
Caught in the Crossfire
The Butcher's Bill
The Sharp End

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 Belisarius series:

(with Eric Flint)

An Oblique Approach
In the Heart of Darkness
Destiny's Shield
Fortune's Stroke
The Tide of Victory (forthcoming)

The General series:

(With S.M. Stirling)

The Forge
The Chosen
The Reformer

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)

Enemy of My Enemy: Terra Nova
(with Ben Ohlander)

Armageddon
(edited with Billie Sue Mosiman)