Golden Scorpio — Alan Burt Akers

When you're down there's no place to go but up. That's the way the brave think and if there is anyone on two worlds braver than Dray Prescot, he has yet to appear. Prescot, who had been a seaman and soldier on distant Earth, and now, on Golden Scorpio's fabulous planet, was claiment to the fallen throne of a conquered empire, would never give up. Single-handedly, if need be, he would be a deadly threat to the enemies of Vallia. But as he set out on a liberation mission incomparable in the history of two worlds he knew he would never be alone...