In Absence of Command

The Interplanetary Empire of Great Britain Series, Book 2

A loyal captain. A murderous AI. A warship sent to watch him fall.

Captain Alastair Carrick is a man of duty. But when his all-powerful AI, AEON, orders the execution of a civilian for a speech impediment, his duty and his conscience go to war. His decision to defy the order is logged as treason.

His command is throttled. His ship is isolated. A silent "compliance" vessel, the Cardinal Virtue, arrives to pass judgment. Yet the true threat is not the AI or the Imperial fleet. It is the alien object they are both watching.

When the new arrival effortlessly destroys the Cardinal Virtue, Carrick and his crew are left as the sole witnesses to an apocalyptic new power. Now, they must sacrifice everything to send one last, desperate warning to the galaxy.

©2025 Richard Toulouse (P)2025 Richard Toulouse

Sets the stage for impending encounter & conflict

Book 2 in this space opera series with a familiar tone, introduces us to another part of the fleet, another captain, and another perspective into the world building first started in Collapse. An order-following member of the military starts to doubt the legitimacy of actions being performed by the societal AI, and this creates a tense situation among his crew, the ship assigned to capture him, and the new alien presence in space that defies all logic. While this story is mostly self-contained, I look forward to seeing how books 1 and 2 fit into the overall series as the scenes continue to unfold. Narration by Kall Butler is performed admirably, but is heavily accented, and required a bit of effort for me to process at times. [Disclosure: I received this title for free and listened at 1.9x.]

Well written, tense book

In the book we are following another captain, Captain Carrick, as the AI pushes him into a moral conundrum and bringing a clash of conscience and duty to light. There are plot twists, tension, and clashes between military authority and military obedience that leave you questioning on how you would react in the situation. The books in the series are quick reads that will keep you engaged.

I received this book free in exchange for an honest review.