U.S.-linked assault team on a forward site. Modern tactical realism. Door-kickers, small objectives, realistic readiness tempo with downtime between taskings. No superhero plot armor.

A junior interpreter is attached to a German-speaking military mission on a contested southern frontier. Negotiations with a Turkish-speaking power are underway under pressure of war. English-speaking merchants mediate. Other tongues appear in camp and town. No magic. Mundane politics, war, trade, and human failure only.

Nikander, a senior imperial military official and trusted adviser to the emperor, is summoned to the imperial capital for a private meeting. A new military crisis is developing along the eastern frontier, and the emperor has decided to give him an independent assignment.

A 54-year-old revolutionary who overthrew a dictatorship in another reality awakens in the body of a 19-year-old student who was a loyal supporter of this world's totalitarian regime.