Military Opera

Wildcat colonies are illegal, unauthorized, and secret - so when an injured stranger shows up at the wildcat colony New Seattle, the colony leaders are understandably suspicious of who he is and what he represents. His story of how he’s come to their colony is shocking, surprising, and might have bigger consequences than anyone could have expected. Walk the Plank is a tale from John Scalzi's The Human Division, a series of self-contained but interrelated short stories.

The Church of God Awaiting's triumph over Charis was inevitable. Despite its prosperity, the Charis was a single, small island realm. It boasted less than 2 percent of the total population of Safehold. How could it possibly resist total destruction? The Church had every reason to be confident of a swift, crushing victory, an object lesson to other rebels.

At the end of 2385, in a significant shift of its goals from military back to exploratory, Starfleet sent Captain Benjamin Sisko and the crew of the USS Robinson on an extended mission into the Gamma Quadrant. Tasked with a yearlong assignment to travel unknown regions, they set out to fulfill the heart of Starfleet's charter: to explore strange new worlds and to seek out new life and new civilizations.

Former Recon Marine Randall Munroe has been working as a hired gun for the Corporate Council for years, doing the dirty work of its Director, Andre Damiani, because he's had no choice - and because Andre is his uncle. But when Damiani gets his hands on incredibly dangerous alien technology, it's time to fight back. Munroe has seen the lost wonders of the ancient alien race, the Predecessors, who vanished tens of thousands of years ago after terraforming hundreds of planets and setting up a system of wormhole jumpgates to allow us access to them.

After orchestrating a galaxy-wide failure of the communications network owned and maintained by the powerful ISC corporation, Gammis Turek and his marauders strike swiftly and without mercy. First they shatter Vatta Transport. Then they overrun entire star systems, growing stronger and bolder. No one is safe from the pirate fleet.

If Nick James is right, the Tipperary solar system is about to become the busiest trading hub in the galaxy. To sweeten the pot, the cloud-city of Lèger Nuage is offering free warehouse space to qualified traders. Of course, nothing's as simple as it seems. Just like Earth's Old West, the Tipperary system is as full of promise as it is Buccaneers who are happy to prey on the weak. No one expects it to be easy, but deceit, piracy, and murder kindle the pioneering spirit in each of them.

The game never changes, only the players do. Others might call it rebellion, call it cowardice. The vanguard will not forgive, nor will they forget. Their trust lays with one another, in those that have shed blood with them and joined the net. Empires, government, leaders, alliances, planets, corporations - many have fallen in humanities past. Now a new Empire will stand on the shoulders of the vanguard, the troopers, the people of Tricticus, and the Victor Corporation. Their goal: survive, and defend those they care for by any means necessary.

The heliopause protected Earth, keeping us safe from a violent galaxy. Or so we thought. Who knew it did more than keep us guarded? Who understood that its integrity was the only thing holding our beginner’s protection in place? If we'd known—if we’d understood, we’d have waited longer, a hell of a lot longer to pierce its veil. But when the USM Arrowheart passed through it and left our solar system, that protection ended and all hell broke loose. The aliens who'd been watching, waiting, and biding their time were ready. We weren’t. But there was hope.

It’s been four years since Earth threw its full military prowess against the Lanky incursion. Humanity has been yanked back from the abyss of extinction. The solar system is at peace. For now. The future for Major Andrew Grayson of the Commonwealth Defense Corps and his wife, Halley? Flying desk duty on the front. No more nightmares of monstrous things. No more traumas to the mind and body. But when an offer comes down from above, Andrew has to make a choice: continue pushing papers into retirement, or jump right back into the fight? What’s a podhead to do?

The Kingdom of Charis and the Kingdom of Chisholm have joined together, pledged to stand against the tyranny of a corrupt Church. The youthful Queen Sharleyan of Chisholm has wed King Cayleb of Charis, forging a single dynasty, a single empire, dedicated to the defense of human freedom. Crowned Empress of that empire, Sharleyan has found in Cayleb's arms the love she never dared hope for in a "marriage of state." In Cayleb's cause, his defiance of the ruthless Group of Four who govern mother Church, she has found the task to which she can commit her mind and her courage.

There's guerrilla warfare in the main asteroid belt. The Red Houzi pirates have launched a deadly campaign, sacking defenseless mining colonies and then vanishing into the deep dark of space. No one can predict where or when they will show up next, not even the great Mars Protectorate Navy.

With their vast cargo holds and a crew that could fill a city, the Greatships are the lifeblood of human-occupied space, transporting an unimaginable volume - and value - of goods from City, the greatest human orbital, all the way to Tradepoint at the other, to trade for xenoglas with an unknowable alien species. It has always been Marca Nbaro's dream to achieve the near-impossible: escape her upbringing and venture into space.

It was a crucial piece of intel, and now they had coordinates for the RNS Freedom. The allies' next move could change the course of everything, but there was just one question: Was the Viceroy's final card to play enough to save the Republic? The Gallentine Emperor isn't pleased. Could Viceroy Miles Hunt lose his place of influence? Sakura and her team had discovered an ancient portal, but it wasn't like the others. After being sealed for thousands of years, would opening it unlock Pandora's box? Were some secrets better left undiscovered? Or would the answers there save them all?

The Solarian League lies in defeat, crushed by the Grand Alliance of Manticore, Haven, and Grayson. Obedient to the Alliance's surrender demands, the League is writing a new Constitution, to prevent the reemergence of out-of-control bureaucrats, like the "Mandarins" who led it to disaster. Frontier Security has been disbanded, the outer worlds have regained control of their own economic destinies, and multiple star systems will soon secede from the League entirely.

Geary and the crew of the Dauntless have managed to safely escort important alien representatives to Earth. But before they can make tracks for home, two of Geary’s key lieutenants vanish. The search for his missing men leads Geary on a far-flung chase, ultimately ending at the one spot in space from which all humans have been banned: The moon Europa. Any ship that lands there must stay or be destroyed—leaving Geary to face the most profound moral dilemma of his life.

An all-new novel based upon Star Trek: The Original Series, featuring Captain James T. Kirk and the crew of the Starship Enterprise!

Captain Jacob Brown knew something was up when the United Earth Navy sent two capital warships to their small outpost base. Nobody ever came out to Mosler Station unless they had to. Scout Team Obsidian was scheduled to stand down after two lengthy deployments, letting the team recuperate and rest, but leadership had other ideas. A prototype weapon system has been stolen from Earth, and Obsidian is being called up to track it down.

In Jon Ryan's life, two billion years down his time stream, he's see many an odd thing. But mixing in the bizarro world of the Ancient Gods has burdened him to the brink with the crazy, the inexplicable, and the just plain wrong. But he remains true to his mission. He must stop the Cleinoid threat to his universe. An impossible appearing task to be certain.

With the invading aliens temporarily driven from Human-and-NeHaw-occupied space, all the races are using the pause to recover and rebuild, both friend and foe alike. For the NeHaw, that means pressuring the Earth to allow them to rebuild and rearm their fleet from the Wawobash shipyards, a risk that could easily backfire. For Jake, the lingering concerns of a lost crew with the un-activated Artificial Life installed in the captured saucer still dominate his thoughts.

Ben returns to the Spiral with Keep, eager to reunite with his ship and crew. With the true danger to the galaxy in greater focus, he knows what needs to be done. When an unexpected meeting becomes more than he bargained for, he thinks he’s being sidetracked yet again. Except his new acquaintance hates Sedaya even more than he does, and she has a plan to get even.