Michael A. Stackpole

TO RECLAIM AN ENTIRE PLANET.It was supposed to be an easy job. Walter de Mesnil, lieutenant in the mercenary company Angleton's Angels, was assigned to watch over Ivan Litzau, presumptive heir of the planet Maldive, in a 'Mech trial that is part of his ascension to ruling the planet. That is, until a fierce rebellion overthrew the government, slaughtered Walter's entire mercenary unit, and imposed their own brutal regime.
Outnumbered and vastly outgunned, Walter and his charge are forced to flee Maldive, and end up on Solaris VII, where they struggle to rebuild his fortune and amass a force powerful enough to return to his planet and take it from the ruling Collective. Years later, Ivan and Walter have raised enough of a force to finally begin planning to return and free his homeworld. But when news of his sister's capture reaches Ivan, he knows the time to go back has arrived.
However, a frontal assault against the enemy Collective would be suicide. To win his planet back, Ivan and Walter will have to apply the lessons they learned on the gladiator planet, where might doesn't always make right, and sometimes, the most important battles can be fought-and won-without firing a shot.