Strange Company 3: Hearts of Darkness

by Nick Cole

Caps to pop and bodies to drop.

As intergalactic civilization collapses and descends into chaos, the Strange Company must journey to the edge of human-controlled space to board and destroy the last ship of the corrupt Monarch Empire—in order to both satisfy a debt and salvage what remains of their reputation as hard-bitten and dangerous private military contractors.

But things are never easy for mercenaries. Eccentric warrant officers running amok—when they can be found, plots to kill one of them abound, and a bad case of serious PTSD about what lies ahead for Sergeant Orion plagues his waking nightmares as the Cult of Hot Soup grows. The company must "get gud" or die trying as they master boarding operations and prepare for the worst kind of combat a space marine can get their kill on compartment-to-compartment fighting on a ship so advanced in technology, it's almost… alien.

Stinkeye, Hauser, Chief Cook, Sergeant Orion, and new and old Strange Company brothers are here for the violence with a ticket to ride the lightning and settle accounts with the fallen tyrants as they get their stack on and get paid. If they can make it back to their ship and a safe world beyond the limits of the known, then perhaps the company can avoid the tragedy they've been sucked into.

The only way out lies beyond a praetorian guard of heavily armed commandos, emplaced guns, and enigmatic psy-powered operators. The Heart of Darkness waits at the Oblivion Gate, for the Strange Company to make one wrong move and disappear forever.

Live. Laugh. Launch.

664 pages, Kindle Edition

Published January 15, 2026

About the author

Nick Cole is a working actor living in Southern California. When he is not auditioning for commercials, going out for sitcoms or being shot, kicked, stabbed or beaten by the students of various film schools for their projects, he can often be found as a guard for King Phillip the Second of Spain in the Opera Don Carlo at Los Angeles Opera or some similar role. Nick Cole has been writing for most of his life and acting in Hollywood after serving in the U.S. Army.

Reviews

[NoahKessler · Rating 3 out of 5]

These books are not objectively good, they are derivative, and corny but they are my junk food and I love them. RIP Top, RLTW.

[Jim · Rating 5 out of 5]

Dark and gritty military sci-fi at its finest

If you like Black Company, you will love Strange Company! Personally, I think that these books are something like Quinton Tarantino would write if he wrote mil sci-fi. The tale is told in a disjointed manner. It's full of violence and blood. Fantastic series!!!

[John · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you loved the Strangs Company till here you will love this, the humor and get it on continues as a humble ruck hobo continues to prove the only thing dumb about the Strange is their tricks, and it isn't dumb if it works, we got to be honest about this.

[Mirko Unipan · Rating 2 out of 5]

The second book in this series was a marked improvement upon the first with more plot and much less zero-density monologues of the characters. Unfortunately the endless monologues from the first book are back in force, even more diluted of meaning than the first book. Had to dnf this