Marcan Rayger
Marcan Rayger is the eponymous protagonist of a series of Elite novellas written by Marko Susimetsä.
Story
The story is set in the Frontier: First Encounters universe, but, as anyone who has tried writing stories set in a game universe knows, involved some decisions of the author about how things and the world work, especially in regards to hyperspace travel.
The stories are interconnected and total in about 150,000 words, which is rather a hefty book.
Character
Marcan Rayger is a [Federation|Federal]] Military Intelligence agent. He starts out as a sergeant, but he also explores other career options.
Author
Marko Susimetsä wrote the stories in 1999 and 2000 under the name Marko Lehtinen.
Novellas
- Hunting Troy (Marcan Rayger #1)
Sergeant Marcan Rayger of the Federation Navy returns from a mission to learn that the man who taught him and betrayed his fighter strike group is still alive. His next mission takes him from his familiar ground of fighter piloting into the treacherous world of military intelligence. His mission is simple: to hunt down and kill the traitor, Emic Troy at any cost. But as the mission begins, Marcan Rayger starts to wonder if that is really the whole story.
- Castor (Marcan Rayger #2)
Retired from the Federal Military Intelligence, Marcan Rayger attempts to start a career as a trader. But he soon ends up biting a bigger piece than he can manage and winds up on the kill list of certain Mr Jones - a big time corporate who has big plans and no little people can stand in his way. From battling pirates in Riedquat to being stranded in an uninhabited system, Marcan is in for the wildest ride of his life!
- Inter-Mission (Marcan Rayger #3)
Marcan Rayger is trying to find out more information about Castor's past, when he is suddenly drawn back into the intrigue of the FMI and asked to find out how and why a Federation Skeet Cruiser was attacked and destroyed in a far-off un-allied frontier system. But more than the mission, Marcan's life is turned upside down by the officer the FMI sends to partner up with him. When Marcan Rayger and Sergeant Sheila Rasche arrive to the Tiessar system, they find out that the Skeet Cruiser was not the only victim of the ruthless attackers.
- Dioscuri (Marcan Rayger #4)
Marcan Rayger's quest to find Castor's brother is coming to an end. We finally get answers to what happened on Professor Bardoff's ship, the Argo II - but who is telling the truth and will Marcan receive the hefty reward that he was promised for finding Polydeuces?
Reception
Davidtq at Frontier forums commented:
I really enjoyed the "realism" of the various characters' motivations. Rather than just being an action story there was a good believable character, a person with reasons for what he was doing and not just generic action hero. The motivations and emotions were very thoroughly explored.
The fleshing out of the Frontier universe was very nice, putting a face and a style to both the federal military and the empire was great, far more interesting than the simple bbs in the game, giving a feel of real people instead of "standard unit" soldiers.
Overall though the story for me was to Frontier what the Dark Wheel was to Elite, but had the advantage of being substantially longer (definitely a good thing).
