[Gil Hamilton]

Is Starfire the one where there were two battling human cultures and the smaller fleet took the larger by surprise and better tactics? I liked that one.

There's another story, can't remember title nor author- One guy from defeated society gets a hold of "supership x" or somename, and makes it back toward Earth, he has this "projector x" thing which, when activated, poof/presto- instant fully armed and ready battallion. "Wolf something?" It's mentioned in the story that with a slight mod, he could have projected lots of battallions. I often wondered why ST never developed this as an alternate means of creating enormous fleets/armys for those "desperate" times.

And- Another story-think it may have been several books- where (of course) the hero is a young prince in hiding, but, with much daring and feats of wonder, works his way up through the fleet. I love the mental image, the book gives at several points, of the fleet "docked" on the ground over hover pools. Great actioner! At least one, if not the whole series, was titled after one of the ranks he made. Great opening scene with the ship he's on getting torn up with laser turrets, missile salvos and zero atmosphere during combat to avoid explosive decompression in the event of hull breach- might be a good branch/feature for research.....