Beyond the Sky (Novel)

== Overview ==
Beyond the Sky was the first book in the series. 
== Plot ==
=== Summary ===
In the year 2962, former soldier and now special agent Maxie Valentine seeks a job as a top agent in the United States Of Venus's elite intelligence agency VISTA (Venusian Intelligence and Security Task Agency). Despite him being one of the most elite soldiers and agents in the country, he is passed over for someone named Val Dolion, someone who's connections have led him to gaining this position. He eventually fights Dolion, leading to him to be put on unpaid leave until further notice. 
Maxie is out of work, and must take up a new job as an auto mechanic in order to make a living for him and his brother, Vesper. Feeling betrayed by the nation that he protected during the Great War, he considers mercenary work. They are orphans, born to Cupidian nobility but orphaned after their parents died in a ship crash. After some time in this job, he is approached by a man in a bar claiming to work for Solaris, another nation on Venus and the United States of Venus' rival. Maxie is intrigued, and decides to visit Solaris' wealthy capital of Helios to inquire about the opportunity. 
After arriving in Helios, he is introduced to Emperor Masol X and is invited to the Imperial Palace to meet with senior military advisors and leaders. There, he is introduced to the Emperor personally, as well as top officers in S.W.O.R.D, the highly secretive intelligence arm of the Solarian armed forces. He is given his task - assassinate rogue colonel Octavian Cecil, who had just recently gone off the grid and taken some of his forces with him, carrying much classified knowledge. 
The motive for this desertion, as well as the desertion of his elite 65th Rifle Brigade, are unknown to the Solarian government. Maxie is tasked with finding out this motive, and stopping whatever he is trying to accomplish. The Emperor orders the general to be brought back dead or alive, with the latter being so that he can be tried for treason and sentenced to death. 
Maxie accepts this deal, as he is promised financial security and a job opportunity as one of the premier intelligence agents in the system. If he is successful in his mission, he will earn a spot in the famous Detachment 99. He is told that Cecil had ties to Radiance, a resort town in Solaris on the West Coast of the Aphrodite Terra.