Contact

Red Company #3

by B.V. Larson

Everyone wants a piece of the newly discovered alien tech, and they’re willing to fight over it. As tensions rise between Earth’s various factions, and the mining vessel Borag is refitted for war. She becomes a key player in a brewing conflict that threatens to shatter the fragile balance of power in the Solar System.

Sergeant Devin Starn of Red Company, the marine attachment stationed aboard Borag , heads into deep space once again. Starn and his squad must navigate a treacherous web of deceit and hidden agendas, defending their ship from increasingly powerful enemies.

In B. V Larson’s RED CONTACT , Starn faces his most harrowing challenges yet. Red Company’s saga continues, exploring the vast expanse of the cosmos and seeking to answer the great what came before humanity?

Genres: Science Fiction

315 pages, Kindle Edition

First published June 30, 2023

About the author

Brian Larson is an American science fiction and fantasy author

Reviews

[John Gerving]

Nonsensical neverending Crap!

Three books in and it just continues to follow a nonlinear, nonsensical and ignorant plot. No matter how stupid you think a story can get, this pathetic crap just keeps trying to top itself in a ludicrous plot that has b
No meaning or sense. Worst series I've ever wasted money on.

[John Kropewnicki]

Utter garbage.

#1 a company of marines or soldiers is 3-4 platoons. Red company feels like there are maybe 20 dudes in it.

#2 the space combat is nonsensical

#3 the maudlin love triangle is idiotic in the extreme .


#4 the end makes me feel dumber for having read it.

I will never read another book in this series, and probably nothing by this author

[Jim]

I really like B. V. Larson books, ususally. He writes with an excellent sense of humor as in his “Undying Mercenaries” series. But, he’s missed the mark on this series. This is just dumb. He’s trying to work in humor, but it doesn’t seem to fit the story-line which itself is hard to believe.

As before, we’re members of a mining spaceship called the *Borag*. This ship makes it’s money by landing on asteroids and mining common and rare minierals for Interplanetary Excavations, Inc. They haven’t brought in much money lately so their corporate bosses are making them do mission that are not part of their normal job. Still Captain Hansen had not choice since she and her ship were deeply indebt to the corporation for operating supplies, equipment and crew salary. The *Borag* is not a military ship. She has a small crew of so-called Marines who are self-trained and really nothing but mercenaries. They work for the ship to protect it from pirates. They call this group the Red Company although I’m not sure that it’s much more than a couple of squads. There is also a Green Company, again, it’s not that large and their function is to mostly protect the ship internals.

Anyway, Corporal Starn is a former rock-miner that has worked his way up to become a member of Red Company. He and his Sergeant are out training a new batch of recruits, but that job is very difficult because of the low quality of their recruits. Nobody in their right mind would want to work for a mining ship with the reputation of the *Borag*. She had just returned and another mission that saw her and her crew get involved with some very ancient alien artifacts, including an alien ship. Some of the crewmen that went into that ship were now showing signs of mutations. Corporal Starn, for one, has an unusually large and muscular left arm. The ship’s doctor has come up with a treatment to slow down the mutations called Lot Six. It has been successful in some cases and in others, not so much.

Corporal Starn has done some notable things lately. He’s been responsible for saving the life of the Captain on a couple of occasions and is now in front of the Captain for something else. To his surprise, he’s getting promoted to Sergeant and given command of his own squad, the same bunch of poor recruits he and Sergeant Cox were just trying to train.

Now his Captain has been called back to Interplanetary Excavations, Inc. HQ to recevied new orders. She’s told that her ship must go and assist another mining company, Teklutions, Inc., and their ship, the *Sarasvati*, has issued a Mayday broadcase and the *Borag* will answer it. Captain Hansen doesn’t necessarily want to do this and her corporate boss doesn’t want to fund the mission, but they eventually come to a satisfactory financial agreement, so the *Borag* takes off.

They eventually meet up with the *Sarasvati* and it’s in orbit over a 944 Hidalgo, a nondescript asteroid. There doesn’t appear to be anything immediately wrong with the *Sarasvati* so Captain Hansen contacts thier Captain and asks him what’t the problem. He tells her that the asteroid is very rich in minerals, but it’s been taken over by pirates and they want them eliminated! The *Sarasvati* has even a smaller crew than the *Borag* so they can’t do it themselves. Captain Hansen things this is a joke. She’s in no position to exterminate a bunch of pirates just because another corporation doesn’t want to take the time and expenses to do so. She does call back to her HQ, but they stand firm in that she’s to do whatever the *Sarasvati* requests.

So, both ships land on the asteroid and they are eventually met with a hoard of Pirates, mostly mutated humans of all different shapes and sizes. Some barely still resemble human with a lot of technology replacing normal human parts. Fighting these guys is not going to be easy and Sergeant Starn is going to be in the thick of it. There are a lot of battles over the next few days with the mutant Pirates almost taking both ships, but that effort is thwarted and the Pirates pushed back. Captain Hansen seeks a peaceful solution which involves trading some of her and the *Savasvati’s* captured crew for a load of Lot Six, the medicin that can treat the Pirates mutations.

And this is how the rest of the book goes. There is another mission involving Pirates and a big alien gun, but it falls along the same lines as all their other missions. Sergeant Starn is a capable Marine, but most of his other “Marines” are a joke. Still they do they job they’re paid for, if they ever get paid. There’s some story line about Starn getting along with the women aboard ship and he becomes the Captain’s personal bodyguard although it’s strictly professional, but it allows Starn to be in on a lot of conversations he would otherwise never hear.

I think I through with this series. It’s just no my kind of story and I don’t think it ever will be. The guys aren’t real Marines and never will be no matter what name they take. They’re just hired guns doing a job for a mining ship that apparently never mines anything. Yet, if you want to continue reading this series, book 4, “Invasion”, is now available on Amazon.

[E.L. Grover]

Another great adventure with Red Company! Once again, a good universe, that felt lived in and easy to connect to, the antagonists were still lovably dislikable, you wanted Karma to kick in some teeth, but as with all good things, you end up having to wait. Many more chances to flesh out some of the fights, but while getting closer to equal immersion, still felt short. The characters are all still crafted well and by this time, I wanted to slap the Doctor every time she said 'preposterous' as if the character didn't see what he saw. I was getting a little tired of the persistent micro troubles that I felt the characters could have resolved, the captain is clearly clever enough.

[James Arthur Ward]

Not exactly original but

Larson has written a book that brings together several often used scenarios evil corporations evil aliens space time disruption s an a standard B V Larson protagonist. Larson doesn't miss a beat. There may not be any strictly speakings, original plot devices, but Larson spins a page turning exciting and sometimes humorous story excellent writing!! I recommend the entire series!!!!!

[John Froemke]

Read all three by

All 3 books were easy to read And hept me interested. I enjoyed the supplats. The reason I gave it 5 stars was that I was looking for A follow up book. Keeps me Is5 stars.

[Michael White]

Great storyline

Easy to read, great story. Talk about corporate geek at it's best. Glad to see the Earth official get taken out by his own machines. The pirates had more honor then he did.

[M]

Lost 2 stars for NOT writing a Recap.

I think every reader needs to start doing this to force authors to write a quick Recap chapter, which readers can skip if they remember, and those who don't won't stop reading the series.

[susan chase]

Another great read

Red Company: Contact continues the series surprisingly agile twists and turns. The trio of books to date have been a completely different take on interstellar war. I look forward to more.

[Justin Redman]

Great series

Characters are well and really kept my turning the pages
Plenty of action typical of Larson and entertainment, as usual

[Mr David A Hodson]

Enjoyed the series

I like the way the stories are written and this particular series could really expand, can’t wait to see the next book!

[Richard Lindenmeyer]

Space opera

Space opera at its finest. Action is constant with a plausible storyline. The characters are well fleshed out and there is an element of comedy.

[David Cannistraro]

Wanting more

What a good series.Still looking for when the aliens will come in.Don't end the series now.Continue with another book.The story cannot end now.

[James R Brown]

Great Series...keep them coming

Another terrific bok i n the series...cannot wait for number 4. Keeps attention with many twists and turns...great read for sci-fi fans!

[Bobby J.]

great read

Hoping there will be another book in the series. Truly enjoyed this and would recommend to friends. Thank you for the story.

[Dave Hannum]

Great story

Do not end it in the middle, this. Story can go on and on or take a right angle and be about taking a different direction.

[Mark Baller]

Not a bad read

Ask virtual nice little trilogy Military sci-fi and Martian Survival in a crew universe with lots of bad guys running around.

[unknown]

Great read!

It's a truly captivating sequel in this new
series. I can't wait to read the next adventures of Starn and the dhip Borag. Great new series.

[Vidar Pedersen]

T'was okay

[Trevor Myers]

Awesome

Great space opera with a little time travel to boot. Who doesn't love alien over lords? Goodness all around. Sign up

[Phil Hendricks]

Sgt Starn you did it now. For all of us who have regrets, if there was a way to reset the past to fix them?