The Aux

A Military Science Fiction series by David Gunn.

"Aux" is short for "Auxiliaries". Namely, Sven Tveskoeg's auxiliaries, an elite squad in an elite regiment of Emperor Octo V's army. Sven himself is a Badass Abnormal Anti-Hero / Punch Clock Hero with a bad temper.

Octo's glorious empire battles the Enlightened, watched by the United Free who drastically enforce The Laws and Customs of War when they feel like it.

Three books have been published so far:

• Death's Head
• Maximum Offense
• Day of the Damned

Tropes used in The Aux include:

• The Ageless: Octo V has been thirteen years old for centuries.
• All Crimes Are Equal: Well, maybe not all, but there are quite a lot of capital offenses in the Empire and the Enlightened.
• Badass Abnormal: Sven is only 98.2% human.
• Bling of War: Played straight in various armies, subverted in the Empire's Death's Head.
• Cyborg: The Enlightened.
• Drop Pod: used in the first book.
• Don't Sneak Up On Me Like That: Sven's "first second rule" basically says that you can, but if it gets you hit, it's your own fault.
• Empathic Weapon: The SIG.
• The Emperor: Octo V
• The Golden Rule: In the third book: "Do unto others as they would do unto you. But do it first and harder."^[1]
• Healing Factor: Sven's 1.8 percent of "something else".
• Honor Before Reason: Well, not actually honor, but loyalty before reason: Sven fights very dirty, but once he has picked a side, he will just. never. leave. it.
• Penal Colony: In the first book.
• Psychic Powers / Technopath: The Enlightened's biotechnology is centered about this. A few select citizens in the Empire have access to it, usually top servants of the Emperor, but it's a capital crime.
• Taking You with Me: Sven convinces A whole artificial world to do that to an Enlightened ship in the second book.
• Token Enemy Minority: Haze.
• You Said You Would Let Them Go: A deep part of book 3's plot in a nutshell. The United Free pressured Emperor Octo V into betraying General Jaxx, with the promise that violence would be limited to a few targeted assassinations. What happened instead was a reenactment of Saint Barthélémy.
• Command Roster:
  • The Captain: Sven
  • Number Two: Neen
  • The Smart Guy: Haze
  • The Marine: Franc
  • The Security Officer: Shil
  • Cold Sniper: Rachel
  • The Medic / New Meat: Iona
  • The Big Guy: Ajac
  • Sixth Ranger / Wild Card: Emil

1. ↑ Backtranslated from the French version