Smoke and Thunder - Kevin Ikenberry

Captain Mike Sandhurst and the 157th Tank Regiment have redeployed to Mars and are stuck in unrealistic training environments designed by those without combat experience and frustration mounts.

Lieutenant Vivian Llewelyn's Thunderbolts find themselves in a similar situation compounded by their newly assigned Commander Air Group. The loss of the planet Haven speeds the creation of Task Force Victory, combining armored ground forces and dedicated air support, but not before a devastating accident shakes the Thunderbolts to their core.

After a brazen, unprovoked on a critical Earth colony planet, Earth Maneuver Forces are without their second largest logistical hub and must respond in force. Task Force Victory deploys forward to the Haven system and a mysterious, barely hospitable planet named Honalee. Given the mission to take and hold a massive island named Paradise, Sandhurst and his friends discover the alien world, while capable of supporting life, is a very dangerous place. Confronted by a dedicated enemy force, complete with a newly discovered variant they name a Brute, Task Force Victory must overcome all of the challenges to establish a beachhead on the island and press the attack forward.

Will Sandhurst and Llewelyn succeed in bringing their units together to take Paradise, and what mysterious secrets are to be found there? What happens when the Task Force gets the attention of the rest of the galaxy?