Janissaries - Clan And Crown

Rick Galloway and his mercenary soldiers have been transported to the distant planet Tran, where human societies exist at roughly the technological level of Renaissance Europe. Their alien employers expect them to supervise the cultivation of a valuable narcotic crop and maintain order among the inhabitants. Galloway, however, has developed the inconvenient idea that the people of Tran ought not to be periodically exploited and destroyed for somebody else’s commercial convenience.

In Janissaries: Clan and Crown, the sequel to Janissaries, Galloway and his men continue the dangerous task of surviving on a world of rival kingdoms, ambitious nobles, religious divisions and approaching catastrophe. They possess modern military knowledge, but only a limited supply of modern equipment, making every rifle cartridge a diminishing piece of technological superiority. Once the ammunition is gone, an assault weapon becomes a surprisingly awkward ceremonial club.

The mercenaries begin introducing new weapons, improved agricultural techniques and more efficient forms of organisation, hoping to prepare their allies for the struggles ahead. Unfortunately, technological progress does not occur in a politically neutral vacuum. A better cannon can defend a city, overthrow a ruler or give a previously unimportant nobleman extremely important ideas. Tran may lack industrial machinery, but it has already developed intrigue, betrayal and territorial ambition to a very high standard.

Galloway must navigate alliances among clans and crowns while concealing the truth about his origins and the alien powers controlling the planet. Some rulers regard him as a valuable ally, some as a dangerous foreign influence and others as a convenient source of military innovations they would very much like to possess without retaining their inventor. It is the traditional welcome offered to technical consultants throughout history.

Jerry Pournelle and Roland J. Green combine military science fiction with historical adventure, using the collision between modern soldiers and a pre-industrial society to examine warfare, leadership and political change. The novel is filled with campaigning, diplomacy, logistics and the persistent difficulty of persuading rival factions to cooperate even when disaster is approaching. Humanity has apparently mastered interstellar travel elsewhere in the universe, but getting several local leaders to agree upon a common plan remains beyond available technology.

The result is a robust planetary adventure in which battles depend as much upon supply, training and terrain as personal heroism. Galloway cannot simply manufacture a twentieth-century army overnight. Every improvement requires materials, skilled workers and time, while every successful innovation risks changing Tran in ways nobody can control. Civilisation is being accelerated, and as usual the brakes were not included in the original design.

First published in 1982, Clan and Crown is the second book in the Janissaries series. This 1986 Ace Science Fiction edition is in Good condition, showing the ordinary evidence of previous campaigns but remaining sound, complete and fully serviceable. No alien agricultural instructions or concealed stores of advanced ammunition have been discovered inside.

Sold by Crappy Old Books, where clans are welcome, crowns are accepted at the prevailing exchange rate, and mercenary forces are asked to leave all siege equipment at the door.

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