By 2070 environmental disaster and plague have reduced humanity's numbers and politics to carved-up nations of employees under the control of Companies. Reproduction is valued and same-sex relationships are outlawed. IN HIS COMMAND tells of Caspar Cannon, the commander of a southern America elite tactical unit, dedicated to rounding up deviants for correction. He can never admit it, but Caspar's as gay as can be, and he occasionally sneaks out of city premises to meet people like himself.

Loneliness is a way of life for Caspar, but he has one friend in the Corps - Liz, a tall girl who joined to get back at the Nomads who'd killed her family. She meets him after he narrowly escapes a raid, and tells him that there's a rebellion starting, originating in a district where water ran short. Summoned to the central office, Caspar hides his shock at seeing a burly blond man who had been at the gay hangout. Blondie Rice is a technical officer, and he's got everything to hide too. Caspar is ordered to escort Blondie to a bunker two hundred miles of wilderness away. Liz as his second in command has to stay and evacuate civilians, then put down the rebels or level the city. The electric grid is failing as Caspar passes on Liz's orders, and rebels are on the streets, even if only armed with bricks.

The story establishes straight away that Caspar is a rough tough guy, but we see that he does have feelings and emotional connections, keeping them deeply buried because of Big Brother type observation. The military life has further hardened him and he is constantly looking for threats. He's also obsessed with Blondie from the moment they meet, and can't stop thinking about sex, however risky. The wilderness turns out to be populated by flocks of cardinals, birds never seen in the cities, amid a chaos of brambles and thickets and trees. The Nomads live here too....

Waterboarding is one of the unpleasant techniques used in the story and the violence added to adult scenes means that this story of adversity, love and betrayal is definitely for adult readers. Rie Warren has put her talents to several stories with a Southern twang, and IN HIS COMMAND is a complex mix of science fiction and gay romance which will interest a variety of readers.