title: The Independent Command (Flight Engineer)
author:  James Doohan 
description: The third Flight Engineer yarn seems to conclude the adventures of Peter Raeder, at least as a Star Command officer. He and convalescing Sarah James have just become lovers when the insectoid Fibians launch a major attack on Star Command bases and human-inhabited planets. Succeeding to command of <i>Invincible</i> , Raeder takes her out on an improvised reconnaissance mission and, by a freak of physics, ends up taking a Fibian prisoner. He steadily unravels the Fibians' secret, which is that they are divided into a number of clans, of which only one, the youngest and most ruthless, is allied with the fanatical human Mollies against the rest of humanity. Horrified at their cousins' penchants for recreational sex and torturing prisoners, the other Fibian clans, who may have a hivelike society but include many admirably individualized characters, ally themselves with Star Command. That ends the war, reduces Star Command strength, and leaves Raeder anticipating a new career as a freelance explorer. Without pretensions and, of its kind, nearly flawless entertainment. <i>Roland Green</i><br><i>Copyright &#169; American Library Association. All rights reserved</i>
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  _**The Independent Command:**_
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  ## Volume 3 of The Flight Engineer
  
  
  _**by James Doohan and S. M. Stirling**_
  
  
  **Fout! Onbekende schakeloptie-instructie.**
  
  
  This is a work of fiction. All the characters and events portrayed in this
  book are fictional, and any resemblance to real people or incidents is purely
  coincidental.
  
  
  Copyright © 2000 by Bill Fawcett & Associates
  
  
  All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions
  thereof in any form.
  
  
  A Baen Books Original
  
  
  Baen Publishing Enterprises
  
  
  P.O. Box 1403
  
  
  Riverdale, NY 10471
  
  
  www.baen.com
  
  
  ISBN: 0-671-31951-5
  
  
  Cover art by David Mattingly
  
  
  First printing, November 2000
  
  
  Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
  
  
  Doohan, James.
  
  
  The independent command / by James Doohan & S.M. Stirling.
  
  
  p. cm. — (The flight engineer ; v. 3)
  
  
  ISBN 0-671-31951-5
  
  
  1\. Space warfare—Fiction. I. Stirling, S.M. II. Title.
  
  
  PS3554.O566 I54 2000
  
  
  813’.54—dc21
  
  
  00-058664
  
  
  Distribu