Still mourning the death of Emma Lee who died eleven years ago in an action against mercenaries, wrapped in remorse, Major Jack Waco is sent by SENTI Command to Ursae Majoris where he conducts a recruitment session. The system’s commander, Maggie Wilson, decides to apply for a position as pilot and Waco begins her training.
At Earth Prime, Waco and Wilson are asked to go to Deneb, deliver a vaccine and Senator Bratcher. The vaccine facility there was attacked by a rogue SENTI ship who demanded a ransom for the vaccine or it would release a deadly bacteria. When they land at Deneb and Wilson’s father tells them that the senator and the system’s commander are mixed up in a conspiracy to spread the bacteria. Waco encounters the rogue SENTI ship, and in the fight the rogue ship self-destructs.
Waco and Wilson are sent to survey a system 1400 light-years from earth, and he starts to get romantically involved with Wilson. They report to SENTI Command and are ordered back for Bratcher’s trial. The new system is opened for colonization, but Waco and Wilson keep their claim on Jackwill, granting rights to the EMIS corporation to develop the system. POE mercenaries attack the system and SENTI Command assigns more people to Waco. After several encounters, Waco and his starfighters destroy a number of POE ships, eliminating the immediate risk to Jackwill. Following an action where Waco almost loses Wilson, he proposes to her, but the fight against the POE isn’t over yet.
With SENTI, GW Pickle delivers an interesting space action novel that has a lot of potential, which unfortunately, is not realized. The storyline and plotting is very basic – too basic in places – and hurried. The reader hardly has time to digest what is going on, when he is thrust into another whirlwind sequence. The awkward first person narrative employed by GW Pickle makes reading the story a chore. With judicious rewriting and further development, thorough editing, SENTI would make a great novel worthy of GW Pickle’s imagination.