by Edmond Hamilton
Starwolf 1
Ace Books 1967
Chane is a Starwolf - hated interplanetary raiders. He flees his own people and joins up with mercenary Earthman Dillulo, who blackmails him into aiding him in his missions.
The mercs get involved with a war between two planets, both populated by jerky races that look down on humans. They're tasked with discovering the secret weapon of one faction, which proves to be a giant, city sized spaceship left by an ancient alien race.
OK setup, but I think it was against Hamilton's religion to write an action sequence. I've seen this in other works of his, where the fights are resolved in less than a sentence: "They surprised the aliens and won the fight."
This was made into a Japanese TV series, then dubbed and re-edited into English, and then featured on MST3K, yet some scenes managed to survive almost word-for-word.
Nobody tries to kill anybody with a forklift, but that may be in one of the other two installments.
Get used from Amazon.
