Battle Calm (Battle Calm Cycle) - W.D. Kilpack III

2025 Finalist, Speculative Fiction, Utah Book Awards
 
Badger is the greatest soldier alive. He knows to never celebrate victories, no matter how hard-won, because the enemy never stops.
 
When Badger succeeded his father, Red Skin, as Keeper Base Leader, he was well prepared, raised to handle anything the enemy threw at him. He was the best killer, and the most respected tactician. He knew Red Skin’s Laws like he wrote them himself. Most importantly, he was always calm, no matter how frenzied the combat. These were only some of the reasons why he still had all his original parts.
 
Trinity would die for him.
 
Korry would follow him without question.
 
They were Keepers. They fought, they killed, they lived to kill another day, even when it meant bugging out to another Base ... and another. That was life when life was war. They knew nothing else.
But even war cannot last forever, regardless of the infallible truth of Red Skin’s Law #35: “Under conditions of peace, men attack themselves; thus, there never has been, and there never will be a time without war. It is the greatest, most perfect thing men can do.”