The Lion in Paradise

All Col. Dr. Ariela Rivers Wolff, M.D., Ph.D., USSFM - the Lion of God - wanted was a little piece of paradise to call her own. Being stuck on a desert world - even if she the CO of the premiere battalion of the 1st U.S. Space Force Marines that was based there - was not getting her any beach time. Mostly because, without an ocean, there's really no beach at all. But she's got a fix for that problem. Now, if only the academics studying the problem of terraforming the exile world of al-Saḥra' would get out of her way . . . . . . and if only the religious fanatics who want their planet left as a desert, despite all the water from the planet's former oceans being accessible only a few miles down, will leave the terraforming project alone long enough to see the good it will bring them . . . . . . then, the Lion would truly be in Paradise. But even in paradise, black clouds - and black ships - can herald danger for the Lion, herself, and for her daughters as well.