The armoured ghost

the long version

The Armouron : Elite warriors who banded together centuries ago to fight for justice and for freedom. 'Planet Earth': Under the control of a huge corporation, led by the power-mad Chairman. 'The Cadets': Trainee gladiators at the Nu-Topian Academy - where something is very, very wrong. 'Salt': The grizzled old master of the armour workshop, with a secret in his past. 'The Story': The book opens with an old knight on a distant planet, fighting to keep five medallions from the Armouronaut, a robot built from the armour of ancient knights and powered by the mysterious thirteenth medallion. It was created by the chairman to defeat the Amouron and destroy all it came into contact with. Ten years later, the four orphan apprentices are taken under Salt's wing at the Academy. As this happens, they realise they have all been harbouring suspicions that the Gladiator Games are fixed. As they set about investigating the games, Salt enlists them into the Amouron. When they start operating as knights for the first time the Chairman is so alarmed at what seems to be the re-emergence of his old enemies that he awakens the Amouronaut and sends it against them.