A Tangled Road to Justice — Olan Thorensen

When former soldier Everett Cole signed on to help colony planets prepare for joining the Federation, his employers were more than a bit vague about their identity and his duties. Ditto when - 11 light-years from Earth - he met his partner, Edgar Millen, an enigmatic man with a fetish for the mythology and language of the American Wild West. 

It wasn't until they reached the colony world of Astrild that the mission became clear (somewhat). Cole and Millen were hired guns, tasked with removing impediments to order and justice - the methodology left open-ended. 

On Astrild, that means starting by freeing a dusty backwater from the iron grip of the local strongman, Cherkoff. Given the ambiguities of frontier life, and the suspicions of the colony's settlers, it will be no mean task. 

Working in the shadows, Cole and Millen must walk the thin line between right and wrong if they are to bring justice, protect the weak, and truly become Paladins of Distant Suns.