Space Military

The war will come - it is inevitable. After centuries of struggle, the ISF Intrepid has finally brought its colonists to New Canaan, a star system better than any they imagined. They made landfall and began to build their new home, far from the troubles of Sol and the Inner Stars. Yet no one in the Orion Arm has forgotten that the colonists possess the most valuable technology known to humankind, least of all Tanis Richards - as she secretly prepares to defend New Canaan against any and all aggressors.

Caleb Mitchell gave up everything to protect his home. Shunned by friends and family for abandoning the pacifist beliefs of their religion, abandoned by the love of his life, he left his home world of Canaan to go to the Commonwealth Military Academy on Earth and train to fight in the looming war against the implacable alien threat of the Tahni Imperium. When a training mission with a crew of cadets winds up caught in the middle of one of the worst battles of the war, Cal and his fellow students are officially declared dead.

The secretive Roma Union has stepped forward. The warlike Maraukians are coming, and humanity must rally together or shatter into oblivion.

The Aftermath of a stunning victory—especially an unexpected, complete, and final victory—should be high-fives all around, listening to politicians give boring congratulatory speeches, and a well-deserved rest for the Merry Band of Pirates. Yes, the galaxy is still a freakin' mess, but that is nothing new, and for a change, that can be someone else's problem. Until, you know, something really bad happens, and only the Pirates can deal with the problem... Or not.

With the system engulfed in a corporate war, Jai and Peyton are yanked in different directions. Jai has joined the rebellion while Peyton is amassing a pirate fleet. But when an old friend brings the twins back together, they learn of Zona’s sinister plan to quell the rebellion and institute an iron grip over the entire solar system.

When Shuos Jedao wakes up for the first time, several things go wrong. His few memories tell him that he's a 17-year-old cadet - but his body belongs to a man decades older. Hexarch Nirai Kujen orders Jedao to reconquer the fractured hexarchate on his behalf, even though Jedao has no memory of ever being a soldier, let alone a general. Surely a knack for video games doesn't qualify you to take charge of an army?

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.

Jonathon Hunter has evoked the wrath of 27th-century pirates. With his sexy twin bodyguards, Jonathon seeks to come to grips with station life in a suddenly hostile universe. Celebrity, gratitude, sudden attacks, and a mysterious prophecy are more than most 18-year-olds can handle. A reluctant hero, Jonathon is on a journey, seemingly out of his time, but always in time. Meet Jon Hunter as he starts a two-year journey to prophecy, with his AI sidekick and mostly female mercenary team.

The basilisks, cruel alien serpents, attacked our world. They bombed us. Hunted us. Butchered us without pity. But now we will be the hunters. We will assemble a fleet. We will cross the vastness of space. And for the first time, we will strike the enemy on his own soil. It's a time for courage. A time for heroes. We will no longer hide in bunkers. We will no longer die like sheep. Freedom will be won with blood and fire. Freedom will be the legacy of Earth. We are the last humans. And we will win!

Tyler Callas is the pampered heir of a high-level Corporate Council executive, groomed from birth to take a seat beside her as a member of the ruling class of the Commonwealth society. But the bloody war with the alien Tahni has hit close to home and Tyler wants to join the military, something his powerful mother won't allow. Desperate to escape her control, Tyler changes his identity to Randall Munroe, a product of the poverty-stricken Underground, and enlists in the Marines.

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.

While the crew of the starship Flying Dutchman have been trying to assure that hostile aliens do not have access to Earth, the UN Expeditionary Force has been stranded on the planet they nicknamed "Paradise". The Flying Dutchman is headed back out on another mission, and the UN wants the ship to find out the status of the humans on Paradise. But Colonel Joe Bishop warns that they might not like what they find, and they can't do anything about it without endangering Earth.

The Ragger and Sekar aliens have pushed humanity to the brink of annihilation. Two hopes for survival - genetic modifications to protect against the Sekar, and the death pulse generator - are years from completion. With no other choice, Fleet Admiral Stone is forced to make a deal with the devil in the form of a mutually beneficial exchange of technology with the back-stabbing Raggers. Naturally, the Raggers haven’t changed. However, the aliens are about to discover that when humanity is pushed into a corner, anything goes.

Only as interstellar mercenaries can humans go to the stars; the aliens who already dominate the galaxy allow no other recourse. But when Swordsman Third Class Kana Karr and his comrades-in-arms are betrayed and abandoned on a hostile world by their alien masters, the warriors from Earth begin a desperate but glorious march across a planet whose every sword is against them. Their actions may doom humanity's future...or lead the way to an empire of their own!

Why we think it’s a great listen: It’s easy to say that when it comes to sci-fi you either love it or you hate it. But with Ender’s Game, it seems to be you either love it or you love it.... The war with the Buggers has been raging for a hundred years, and the quest for the perfect general has been underway for almost as long. Enter Andrew "Ender" Wiggin, the result of decades of genetic experimentation.

Recovering from their first mission, the crew of the Vorpal Blade - humankind's first interstellar craft - is called into emergency action when an alliance gate colony is attacked. Who was the lethal alien enemy? What exactly happened at the colony? And dare the Vorpal Blade's battle-weary misfits engage a potentially superior force?

Monsters, saviors, and weapons - the Vanguard don't care what they're called. All that matters is that they answer the call when people cry out in need. The core worlds of the Roma Union are in the line of fire. Untouched by war for hundreds of years, they've become used to peace. The Maurakians, bearing new technology, can go wherever they want; with little warning, the blanket of safety that humanity has created is ripped away.

The Merry Band of Pirates are in desperate trouble after the end of their last mission, and the real danger to humanity is just getting started. Hostile aliens have discovered there is something odd going on with wormholes in the galaxy, and their investigations could lead to finding a shortcut to Earth....

A cease-fire that has lasted seven years... Worlds half-destroyed that have been rebuilt anew... Friends and crewmates scattered light-years apart... New leaders that would be kings... The Jung threat has been renewed, in ways not imagined. It will take a new savior to inspire the masses, and once again lead those willing to fight against oppression. But who will the new savior be?

Michael Chatfield and Dawn Chapman present Book 5 of the Maraukian War series.