This is perhaps my favourite book from Jay Allan, although I have not yet read all of them. Set in the universe of the Crimson Worlds, the action is a prequel to these novels. It can perfectly well be read separately and without having gone through any of the others, although knowledge of some of the characters and context does help a bit.The story is that of a high risk mission (a huge understatement, as you will discover) carried out in the utmost secrecy by Red Team Alpha, an elite Team of twenty commandos of the Martian Confederation. They are to explore and retrieve the wreck of a huge and very ancient alien ship that crashed thousands of years ago on a desolate planet that none of Earth’s Superpowers had bothered to claim. This will be Humans’ first contact with aliens and a huge prize for whichever human power can lay its hands on such antiquated and advanced technology.Contrary to many of the author’s other stories, this one is rather sad, or at least bittersweet, with part of it told in the first person by one of the Red Team Alpha members who survived to tell the tale. It is also a tale emphasising the dedication and sacrifice of those who operate in Special Forces, give their all and receive no (public) reward or recognition and no acknowledgment from the rest of society. While this piece could easily have become a caricature, the sacrifices of the two colonels whose children grew without their respective fathers and resented the abandonment, makes this story both plausible and moving.Another interesting theme is that of the first deadly struggle between the two young master spies which readers will meet again during numerous other confrontations in other Crimson Worlds novels. One is the allegedly cold Martian magnate Roderick Vance, who has just succeeded his father as Head of Martian Intelligence and is driven by his acute sense of duty. The other is the upcoming, ruthless, murderous and ambitious Gavin Stark of the Alliance Intelligence who rules by fear and stops at nothing to achieve his ends.You will, of course, get your fill of battles, both on land as the Red Team Alpha clash against two sets of enemies both bent on annihilating them, and in space where you also will discover a rather exciting – and just as desperate - ship to ship action. In this respect, the author does not surprise but neither does he disappoint.Also included and one of the book’s major theme, is the brotherhood the sense of belonging to an elite where each member looks out for and puts her/his life into the hands of his comrades in arms, irrespective of seniority. While this is not exactly an original theme, this total solidarity among veteran soldiers, with both its good sides (many) and bad ones (a few which are well shown in the beginning of the book) is rather well rendered.The last main theme that I found was a sort of “coming of age” as a young an unexperienced Lieutenant joins the Team shortly before the mission. He struggles to integrate. He will – of source – very much succeed in doing so, but at a rather high price...Finally, and perhaps the main reason for liking this title more than some of the others is the depth of feelings and emotions that some of its characters reveals. At the risk of somewhat caricaturing, the characters appear more human and more vulnerable and less like some kind of flesh and blood fighting machines than in some of the author’s previous titles.I could go one and on about this title although I will stop here and finish by mentioning multiple typos and repetitions, both of which were a bit annoying at times, although these two sets of glitches did not manage to spoil the read.