Koban Universe 3: Galactic Police Force

By: Stephen W Bennett

Narrated by: Eric Michael Summerer

In the 300 years after defeating the Thandol Empire, Mirikami formed the Galactic Police Force. It isn’t a cop-on-the-corner force. The GPF is paramilitary with naval assets, patrolling the Federation and the former Empire. The GPF guards against threats by the old Empire’s most aggressive species.

A murderous Finth pack is secretly mining rare earth minerals on a clueless new Carbola colony, selling via intermediaries to the Planetary Union. The minerals maintain Kobani superconducting physiology for the transformed PU citizens. Controlling the supply, the Finth intend to provoke a war between the PU and their Federation competitor. Both need rare elements for their populations. A Federation distracted by war would allow the Finth to carve a new empire from the old fragments. To keep mineral thefts secret, Carbola miners die nightly in the jaws and claws of Finth Hunter-Killer packs, simulating wild animal attacks out of the unexplored wilderness. When unexpected help arrives, it looks more terrifying than the problem.

A Thandol emperor of one their factions enslaved a nearby species. Stewart Macdougal, a retired Federation president, vanished on a mission to investigate the reports. The Olt’kitapi reveal that he’s missing to Mirikami and innocently describe how they know precisely where he is. The embedded Kobani Comtap communicators, based on an Olt’kitapi design, has a hitherto unknown tracking capability. Stewart’s life is in imminent danger, forcing Mirikami and Maggi to immediately rush to the rescue. Things don’t go as planned, but the fireworks are impressive.

Challenges continue for the GPF. The Thack Delos reveal new technology after they draw Mirikami and Ambassador Fisher into a trap. Tired of paying reparations for nuclear weapons used in the last war, the Thack Delos can void the contract only if the negotiators are dead. A Kobani lives too damned long, but there’s a simple cure!

A peaceful visit by a GPF contact team to a species named the Corelians goes horribly awry. Before humans even left their home system, a radio broadcast to the galaxy at-large by the distant aliens proved there was life elsewhere. Faster Jump travel made a visit practical, if not welcome. The downy furred little aliens went berserk at first contact.

Finally, the Silha, an ancient elevated species, make an offer to the Olt’kitapi and the Kobani, to open up an immense region of space to them. Instant wormhole travel to 10,000 galaxies of a supercluster, provided they support a “little” project. The Olt’kitapi are to build multispecies habitats in each galaxy, and the GPF to provide protection from hostiles. Its exploration and adventure the Kobani can’t resist. There’s an initial scouting trip to Andromeda, using five new identical ships the Silha somehow replicates. But who knew Andromeda was so well organized? Three dominant species control everything, and they don’t want intruders. The great adventure is ending in disaster before it starts. Pulling rabbits out of an empty hat is the least of Mirikami’s problem. He’s trying to survive the day, and there are a million ways to fail.

©2020 Stephen W Bennett (P)2020 Stephen W Bennett

Fantastic new direction for the series!

Wow! Still by far my favorite SciFi series, and this new direction provides all the action and science thrills I've come to expect from my favorite SciFi author! And frankly, I'm amazed!

While the first 2 Universe books were highly entertaining, they were their own stories, connected to the Koban series, but with a more intimate view of a few characters and their adventures.

With this 3rd novel in the Universe series, Steve has given us a surprise gift: The first novel set in the future of the Kobani experience, with new tech, new aliens, new conflicts and new opportunities for the Kobani to grow toward becoming an elevated species!

Wow! I did not expect that twist, and it left me wanting more -- which, let's face it, is always how I feel after I finish every one of the Kobani books.

Thank you, Steve! I'll be patiently watching for the next book in this new series, and it's so great to know that the Kobani story will go on!

Highly Recommended!

Expanding universe

I love the story and the space opera theme.
Looking for the next book story

Meh

No real threat of loss. They have no big bad to over come. it's like they can't get to the point during their conversations always go on side conversations.

Love Koban and Steven Bennett's writing!!!

It is all about character development, something Bennett has in all his books! Totally enjoyable!!!

This Audible edition is great

I read this story in Kindle when it first came out. When this Audible edition came out, I snapped it up. The story of the Galactic Police Force entering the Andromeda system is a great story, exciting and fast paced. Listening to it after I had read it was a great way to really experience these adventures.

Great addition!

This is another great installment in the Koban story. Love the story and narration. I can’t wait for the next installment!

Such an amazing story from koban

Such a wonderful series. I hope there are many more books added. Can't wait for more.

A Fantastic Series I Wish Would Contine

The 7 books in this series kept my interest from beginning to end. Just wish the author had continued the saga.

The perfect Way to Continue this Saga

When a series gets to a certain point they have a tendency to just start repeating themselves. Well Stephen Bennett has found a way to keep this series fresh, exciting and stimulating with this book. By taking advantage of the premise of the extremely long lives of the Kobani then projecting out 300 years into their future, he has found new challenges for them to overcome without too much repetition of what has come before. When taking in the series as a whole, this is the perfect way to continue it. I hope he continues to keep producing stories like this that will hop, skip and jump through time providing completely new challenges for Captain Mirikami and his friends to overcome. When you are not worried about time it opens up so many possibilities. I'd love to see what the Kobani will be doing another few centuries down the road.

Just amazing

I want these books made into a movie or miniseries. Stephen is a gift to science fiction.