— Prologue —
First envisioned as slow-moving fortresses to creep through the muck of the First World War, tanks matured into the daringly fast panzers of the Second World War, but with the invention of the anti-tank missile, appeared poised to sink into oblivion by the end of the twentieth century. As man leaped to the stars, fools hoped that he would leave war behind him. But wherever there is need, there is want. So it was among the stars.
Those same tools that had helped man to conquer the stars helped man to once again eclipse the Queen of Battle. With the advent of portable fusion reactors, tanks were no longer limited by tracks—an earlier liability. Now they had the energy to lift themselves on air and hover above the ground, traversing areas previously impenetrable. Powerguns gave the new supertanks more punch than imaginable, while complex computer links gave the guns more range and flexibility than ever even dreamed. Still, the need was small and the want not frequent enough for most planets to consider building these masters of battle. So the need was filled by mercenaries. The best mercenaries could afford the best tanks.
And the best mercenaries were in the regiment of Colonel Alois Hammer. The best were also the most expensive. Many planets hired inferior mercenaries or did without. Those that could hire "Hammer's Slammers" were assured of victory—provided they could pay for it.
The expense of mercenaries was such that planets sometimes contemplated reneging on their contracts. There was also the chance that the mercenaries might consider filling in their own names on the line marked "victor." To prevent either misfortune, the Bonding Authority came into being as a powerful force for fair dealing. The authority had been known to reduce to rubble planets that broke their contracts, and also to eliminate mercenary regiments failing to honor theirs. Still, with every bureaucracy there is a certain inertia to action, and the thought of a mistake by the Bonding Authority was enough to give planet leaders, mercenary commanders, and the members of the Authority themselves recurrent nightmares.