Space Military

The Traitor Host of Horus Lupercal tightens its iron grip on the Palace of Terra, and one by one the walls and bastions begin to crumple and collapse. Rogal Dorn, Praetorian of Terra, redoubles his efforts to keep the relentless enemy at bay, but his forces are vastly outnumbered and hopelessly outgunned. Dorn simply cannot defend everything. Any chance of survival now requires sacrifice, but what battles dare he lose so that others can be won? Is there one tactical stroke, one crucial combat, that could turn the tide forever and win the war outright?

James Bigglesworth is not a young man anymore. He’s risen as high as he can go, and achieved more than all his ambitions, and even dreams, had him striving for. But his early life as an ace pilot caused damage to his body, and he’s known for a long time he’ll die younger than most. Being the Marshall in charge of carriers and fighters, in a military where the carriers are also dreadnaughts, has allowed him to scale back his role in things, and keep his failing health a secret. His protégé Lacey’s rejection of the top CAG position has been a constant thorn in his side, and being ...

When Russian Special Forces troops penetrate the security at Area 51, they pull off the biggest defeat of a peacekeeper ship in history. Fourteen men succeed where the Chinese base ship and the Russian navy failed. They manage to down the Guardian, trapping dozens of crewmen in the corridors of the ship. Time is running out for the trapped survivors. The peacekeepers are reeling from the devastating blow that has slaughtered hundreds of their number. Captain Evan Wilison is charged with the task of using the Athens to lead a peacekeeper armada in a strike to retaliate against Moscow. ...

Jake Fox wrestles free of Sotalorian politics to return home and learn what really happened to Earth. The only people he trusts are rebels, outcasts, and a starship that should have been scrapped decades ago. The sentient weapon he captured from his defeated rival is a dangerous burden, and the viceroy seems to have turned against him. All is not well for the only Star Blade. He uses the last of his influence to secure pardons for his friends, which are quickly rescinded by the Emperor's political machine, forcing them to run.

The Coalition faces a critical choice - press on into the enigmatic northern worlds or retreat amid mounting uncertainty. Abel's spirit falters, and Bndis bears the scars of a harrowing captivity under the oppressive Realm. Personal feelings emerge between Solara Bndis and Evan Abel. Bonds of love and loyalty are tested, with Bndis severing her ties to Abel. In a covert meeting, the Realm's Senior Magistrate Lonar unveils an enticing proposition - a joint venture to unearth the elusive secrets of their shared ancestry. Hidden within ancient texts and cryptic relics lies the map to their ...

Our universe is ruled by physics, and faster-than-light travel is not possible - until the discovery of The Flow, an extradimensional field we can access at certain points in space-time that transports us to other worlds, around other stars. Humanity flows away from Earth, into space, and in time forgets our home world and creates a new empire, the Interdependency, whose ethos requires that no one human outpost can survive without the others. It's a hedge against interstellar war - and a system of control for the rulers of the empire.

For nearly one thousand years, the Core Empire has held together thousands of star systems and billions of citizens. But a coup attempt has broken the empire into pieces. Some planets and systems have survived and still have law and order. Others have fallen to barbarism and piracy. For young Hugh Cascade, this is but a history lesson, even if the nightmares of kinetic weapons exploding have followed him through most of his childhood. Ten years later, the war finds Hugh, now a military cadet.

The embattled Republic reels from the attacks of Grand Admiral Thrawn, who has marshaled the remnants of the Imperial forces and driven the Rebels back with an abominable technology recovered from the Emperor's secret fortress: clone soldiers. As Thrawn mounts his final siege, Han Solo and Chewbacca struggle to form a coalition of smugglers for a last-ditch attack, while Princess Leia holds the Alliance together and prepares for the birth of her Jedi twins.

They say the darkest hour is just before dawn. Sergeant Pace Nix is all alone, in the dark. He’s not dead, but he might as well be. Unarmed, exhausted, on the verge of debilitating dehydration; when he sees a light, he isn’t sure if it is real or imagined. He’s drawn to the light, as all humans are. And what he finds there will change everything. NERO, the rogue AI system on Rastamus III is too big, too vast to stop. Yet, that is the task set before Sergeant Pace Nix and the survivors of The Philadelphia, after crashing on the forbidden planet. Is it truly a lost world, ...

After seven years of bitter war, the end has come at last for the conflict known infamously as the Horus Heresy. Terra now lies within the Warmaster’s sights, the Throneworld and the seat of his father’s rule. Horus’ desire is nothing less than the death of the Emperor of Mankind and the utter subjugation of the Imperium. He has become the ascendant vessel of Chaos and amassed a terrible army with which to enact his will and vengeance. But the way to the Throne will be hard as the primarch Rogal Dorn, the Praetorian and protector of Terra, marshals the defences.

Staff Sergeant Gracie Medicine Crow, United Federation Marine Corps, is the Marine's top sniper. It the mission is too dangerous or difficult to pull off, she's the choice to get it done. Even deep inside enemy territory, killing the target might be the easiest part of the mission. When you kick a hornets' nest, the hornets get angry. Getting herself and her a-gunner out and back to friendly forces might just be a bridge too far. This is the latest Gracie Medicine Crow story. Other Gracie works include the novel "Sniper" and the novelettes "BOLO Mission, "High-Value Target," and the 2018 ...

A vast battlecruiser moves silently through space—a ghost ship, abandoned decades ago. There could be treasure inside… or monsters. I’m the sucker who’s going to find out. Once I was a hero. An elite soldier fighting for the Paragon military. Now the Paragon’s wars are won and I’m nobody—a gun for hire, working illegal salvage operations. There’s money to be made out in the dark. Ships filled with valuable tech, left to drift between the stars. A smart salvage crew can get rich. Or at least die trying.

Sergeant Gastovsky—Gas to everyone but his superior officers—never wanted to be a soldier. Far from it. But when a con goes wrong and he needs a place to lay low for a while, he finds himself wearing the power armor of the augmented infantry. After three years on a six-year contract, Gas has found his groove running low-level cons and various illegal activities that make him good money on the side. He’s the guy who can get you what you need. But he’s always had his eye out for a big score—the one that might set him up for life after the military.

The Iron Belt is at war! Corporations fight in the street, employing mercenaries controlling powerful armoured mechsuits in their pursuit of victory. The war is a lie, provoked by the sinister terrorist group known as Black Rose. Xander Cain and his friends have beaten them once before. Now their newly formed mercenary company has been tasked with assaulting a Black Rose on the planet Cyclops. A bizarre tidally locked world, Cyclops is a place of eternal night and freezing cold. Winning will be Xander’s biggest challenge yet, as his company charges into the waiting jaws of the enemy. ...

Cast out by his family and exiled from the Rimward Commonwealth, Simon Forrester must make a new life for himself as an apprentice to the powerful Commerce Guild. But others aboard the merchant vessel Stacked Deck have a hidden agenda that might lead directly to interstellar war. Now with rising tensions between the Commonwealth and the neighboring League of Democracies threatens to erupt into open war, Simon finds himself forced to choose between old and new loyalties, with the fate of an empire at stake!

In the unforgiving northern frontiers of the Roman Empire, Centurion Marcus Scaeva and Cohors III of Legio IX Hispana battle rebellious tribes, unaware that a far more advanced alien civilization, the Progenitors, is silently observing. This ancient alien race, seeking a physically superior and aggressive species for their own galactic "Project Legio," identifies the disciplined and resilient Roman soldiers as ideal candidates. While Scaeva navigates treacherous ambushes and the ambitious plans of his superiors, the Progenitors meticulously study Roman tactics, physiology, and societal ...

Embarking on a supposedly straightforward assassination mission becomes a tangled web of intrigue when covert government agencies violently collide with nefarious crime lords spilling secrets. Tia Cooper, a top Enforcer, pursues a low-life crime boss on the galaxy's most extravagant space liner. Luxuriating in the lap of agency-sponsored luxury, she believes something is off. Has she lost her touch or is her assignment not what she was led to believe? Strap in for a high-octane, fast-paced science fiction escapade. In this short story, experience the whirlwind of Tia's hunt as she navigates...

THE FINAL COUNTDOWN Time has run out for Captain Joel Richmond. Trapped in the Necrodrome's deadly arena with a price on his head, he must pull off his most daring plan yet - destroying the entire palace complex while rescuing his imprisoned allies. But with warships patrolling the skies, factions turning against each other, and the Vasyke determined to execute him privately, Richmond's chances of survival are slimmer than ever. As explosions rock the city and alliances crumble, he'll need perfect timing and a little luck to pull off the impossible. The arena is about to face its ultimate ...

Wreck Jumpers are highly specialized soldiers trained for search and rescue deep behind enemy lines. They are the special forces operators sent in when things have already gone from bad to worse. Malcolm "Mack" Baines and his Recovery Team are the best of the best. When a Special Orbital Assault Regiment School nestled inside an asteroid belt suddenly goes dark, Mack and his team of Wreck Jumpers are tasked with putting eyes on the target. Their mission: recon the site and turn the comms back on.

First came the development of the Personality Matrix Construct—PMC, transferring human consciousness into a machine. It changed the galaxy and the way wars were fought. Then something went wrong with PMCs and the Federation Wars toppled the galactic order. PMCs became a menace to be hunted and exterminated.