Captain Arturo Sanders was having a bad day. First the routine destruction of some ancient automatic defence batteries became a disaster when his ship’s screens failed and he had no choice to abandon ship. Then he had to rescue two left behind crew people which meant he missed the main shuttle evacuation leaving him and his two companions in a shuttle on their own at the rear. Then the shuttle was hit by enemy fire just as they traversed the jump point, of course! This sent the shuttle through something to somewhere but not the safe system the rest of the crew had jumped to! The damage to the shuttle meant they would need a dockyard or failing that they would have to land on a planet to affect repairs which seemed likely as the system had no electronic signature, so space docks looked unlikely. The third planet was in fact inhabited, but by primitives armed with swords and spears, probably an old Imperial colony that had been cut off and regressed tech-wise. They should be able to land and repair their shuttle somewhere out of the way except of course the engines decided to fail halfway down! This led to a close encounter with the side of a mountain, followed by a crash landing into a lake. And then his day got really bad!

Captain Arturo Sanders, former spaceship captain, now sword sandal epic lead character, has settled into his accidental time travel adventure. Sort of. Or is it time travel? All those paradox questions like if he changes his current now and as a result changes the history of the future, then how does come back to make those changes if his future no longer exists? In the end he largely shelved these arguments as well as the ones that suggested he was in an alternate universe anyway. There was no way of proving or knowing the answers to any of these questions given the 5th century tech base the locals had available. Of course, no sword and sandals epic would be complete without a horde of hairy barbarians – que the Selgovae just over the northern border. Or beautiful barbarian princesses, well one at least. Then of course there is the self-proclaimed Comes in Eboracum, the remaining local running dog lackey of the filthy imperialist oppressors. (That would be Honorius in Ravenna). Oh and somebody wants him dead… as in personally. It would all be so much easier if they all just left him alone to get on with railways, telescopes, two masted brigs, panes of glass and so for and so on…

Arturo Sandus, Federation Space Captain is a long, long way from home, but he is building a new home in Britannia of the early 5th Century. His plan to industrialize a moribund northern part of the dying Roman Empire is progressing but not without issues. His memory and lack of knowledge is proving troublesome. Just how do you make electricity? The neighbours are even more troublesome, wanting to invade and get into that rape and pillage stuff. The Christians are revolting, literally, at least some of them, while others are quite friendly. Romance rears its head but what about the wife he has 5,000 light years away and 5,000 years in the future? And every second person wants to know when he's going to invade the Empire proper and make himself Emperor. What the? But Arturo presses on with his New Roman Republic despite everything thrown in his way...

Arturo Sandus, former Federation Space Captain is building a new life in Britannia of the early 5th Century. He is industrializing the moribund northern part of the dying Roman Empire while slowly expanding his control to areas of Gaul and Hispania. The Emperor Honorius in Ravenna is not amused and decides enough is enough from these uppity Republicans and sends his armies north to deal with this Arturo fellow. After waiting a year so he could re-arm his troops with copies of a purloined musket as used by the Republicans a couple of years ago. The spectre of the Visigoths continues to dominate the western half of the Empire. The Imperial Roman leadership haven’t forgotten Hadrianopolis and are still scared to face the Visigoths in battle. The Vandali in Hispania, while cowed, are not conquered yet. Will the eastern half of the Empire send aid to Honorius in the west? Such are the threats facing the Republican cause. Expecting Arturo Sandus to be intimidated by a bunch of Romans with outdated weapons, to be scared of a horde of Germani squatting in southern Gallia or to be afraid of the threat of Eastern intervention is not something a good gambler would put money on.

Flavius Theodosius Iunior, by the grace of God, Augustus of the Eastern Half of the Roman Empire was having a bad day. The damn Republicans had sent their fleet to attack Constantinopolis, his elder sister, who was no longer his Regent, yet still acted like she was, along with his Praetorian Prefect thought the Empire needed someone more mature in charge during these trying times, not the sixteen-year-old on the throne. Arturo Sandus was coming, everyone was sure of that, but he doubted anyone could stop him. You only had to look out from the palace balcony to see the enormous metal ship sitting offshore to know the Eastern Empire was simply outclassed. He had no desire to be “put aside” which he rather thought would involve something other than a comfortable retirement. When you thought about the Imperial Court, one could be mistaken for thinking he’d be safer with the Republicans! Arturo Sandus has resumed his drive to restore the Republic. His friend and second in command, Valerius, is staging a seaborne attack on Constantinopolis to distract the Imperials while he sails down the Danuvius and takes their Field Army in Thrace by surprise. And then there are the Sassanians to try to keep the peace with. Nobody has done well against them, so at this stage he would be happy for peaceful relations. The trouble is the King of Kings has personally guaranteed young Flavius as Imperator as a favor to the now-dead Emperor Arcadius. If it’s not one thing, it’s another!

Arturo Sandus, starship Captain and inadvertent time traveler has finally defeated the last remnants of the old Imperial forces and secured the borders of the Empire. He has restored the Roman Republic, admittedly an all-new modern and hopefully longer-lasting Republic, and is looking forward to some time at home with his lovely wife, Morghanna. Flavius Theodosius Iunior, former child Emperor of the Eastern half of the Roman Empire has finally achieved his long-held aim and been assigned to one of the new, huge, armored, and steam-powered battleships of the new Roman Republican navy. Unfortunately for both men, the Huns have other ideas. They mount a successful raid on the Roman provinces on the lower Danuvius and once more Arturo must lead his army to war. Flavius is also sent to war, only not as he expected as he is transferred to a new unit, the Ala Caelum where he will be the navigator in a balloon. Whatever the hell that is. The Huns are the lords of the steppes and have whole armies of subject people at their beck and call... pity they hadn't caught up with the fact the new Roman Republic reacts aggressively to people attacking the Empire and that the Romans have weapons like nothing the Huns have ever seen before.

Arturo Sandus, starship Captain and inadvertent time traveler, is now working on improving the tech level of the Roman Empire, stepping away from civil and military activities. His aim now is to build up the tech level to a point where he can build a spaceship that will hopefully take him home. A development that is still decades away, at least. Others are taking advantage of the advances he has introduced to further Roman knowledge and power. Cymlac Rolfson has purchased the old warship Caesar to sail around Africa while the beginnings of a petroleum industry has begun growing in the Caribbean. But others have their eyes on the Empire too. A civil war amongst the Sassanians has brought Ardashur to the throne with an agenda of regaining the territories so recently lost to Arturo and his Romans. Meanwhile, further to the east, the kingdom of Liu Sung has no desire to be left behind and sends a commando team to kidnap the most important man in the world.