Lots of soldiers work for civilians they don't like, but these millennia-old Romans had it worse than most - their commanders were blue-skinned aliens!

The guilds of star-traveling merchants had strict rules to prevent their technology from falling into the hands of the natives of the primitive worlds they were exploiting: military operations had to be carried out with weaponry no more complex than what the natives already possessed.

So the merchant princes came to Earth for soldiers and returned to the stars with the best the planet had to offer. For over two thousand years the aliens thought they'd succeeded brilliantly - but then things changed

Set in the universe of Ranks of Bronze, masterful new novellas by David Drake, Eric Flint, S.M. Stirling, Mark L. Van Name, and David Weber explore the bleeding edge between human courage and the science of alien slavemasters. The right man with a sword is just as deadly as a technician with a laser - and not all the blood spilled is red!

YESTERDAY THEY WERE THE BEST INFANTRY ON EARTH - BUT ARE THEY READY TO TAKE ON THE WHOLE GALAXY?

This anthology contains the following:

• Introduction: Well It Happened This Way... by David Drake
• Ranks of Bronze by David Drake
• Sir George and the Dragon by David Weber
• Lambs to the Slaughter by David Drake
• A Clear Signal by Mark L. Van Name
• The Three Walls - 32nd Campaign by S.M. Stirling
• Carthago Delenda Est by Eric Flint