Space Military Science Fiction

Two centuries ago, the First Expansionary Fleet set off to the farthest reaches of the galaxy, hoping to explore, colonize, and conquer new worlds in the name of humanity. But when the fleet was violently and unexpectedly thrown off course, the colonists found themselves trapped in an unexplored region of the galaxy—and caught right in the middle of a bloody interstellar war. Now, after generations of relentless fighting, a tentative truce has finally ushered in an era of growth and prosperity.

Sergeant Richard Stavos was a Technomancer, capable of creating stronger than normal mental links with nanites. But that alone wasn't enough to keep him alive. Not when the Ka Empire wages wars across the galaxy. Death was supposed to be his release...an end to the constant fighting that plagued his life. But gifted beings like Richard are assets, and almost a decade after his death, the Ka overlords bring him back from the grave as a "reward" for his good service.

Gaining intel that a high-value target is aboard a luxury starliner, REC-Team Pelican hightails it to intercept. Dropping in system, they arrive to find the starliner crashed, enemy combatants swarming the vessel, and thousands of people in need of rescue from the ocean swallowing the ship. And while the REC-team works to avoid dangers at sea, their enemies close in for the kill. Can the team accomplish their mission and save the passengers? Or will their creed to bring the heartbeats home take a back seat to finally exposing the cabal that forced them into hiding?

Raised fatherless in a galactic Brinktown, Joe Pikeman only ever wanted to escape. The Galactic Guard offered that escape, with the promise of regular meals to boot. Now Joe is a full Guardsman, with his own ship and a snide partner bot who hates humans almost as much as he hates other bots. To the pirates he hunts, Joe is known as the Butcher. His bloody reputation has landed him in the center of a sweeping conspiracy that threatens to stamp out the galaxy’s last surviving human settlements.

Retired from his fighting days, John Perry is now village ombudsman for a human colony on distant Huckleberry. With his wife, former Special Forces warrior Jane Sagan, he farms several acres, adjudicates local disputes, and enjoys watching his adopted daughter grow up. That is, until his and Jane's past reaches out to bring them back into the game — as leaders of a new human colony, to be peopled by settlers from all the major human worlds, for a deep political purpose that will put Perry and Sagan back in the thick of interstellar politics, betrayal, and war.

The best of the year's science fiction and fantasy stories as selected by the multiple award-winning editor Jonathan Strahan. Distant worlds, time travel, epic adventure, unseen wonders, and much more! The best, most original and brightest science fiction and fantasy stories from around the globe from the past 12 months are brought together in one collection by multiple award winning editor Jonathan Strahan.

Follow a core group of characters known as the Trailblazers as they use alien technology and knowledge discovered in Antarctic ruins to obtain limited immortality and lead humanity out into the galaxy, encountering, befriending, and fighting hundreds of alien races all the while desperately trying to prepare Earth for the unbeatable threat at the core of the Milky Way that is destined to return and reclaim their lost colony and their former human slaves.

Follow a core group of characters known as the Trailblazers, as they use alien technology and knowledge discovered in Antarctic ruins, to obtain limited immortality, and lead Humanity out into the galaxy, encountering, befriending, and fighting, hundreds of alien races, all the while desperately trying to prepare Earth for the unbeatable threat at the core of the Milky Way that is destined to return, and reclaim their lost colony - and their former human slaves.

When Peter finds himself on a strange planet, drafted into a war by alien abductors, his only goal is to be one of the few to survive the war and return home to Earth. Peter is one of thousands who get abducted every year, as payment to the aliens. The aliens have given humans portal travel, healing serums, and other advanced alien technology. The quality of life has improved, but everything has a price.

They won't settle for mere victory. They want to exterminate us. Every last one of us. A surprise attack has sent the Star Alliance fleeing for its life. A remnant of a remnant, their meager fleet—all that remains alive—flees to what seems like a safe harbor: a forgotten backwater planet called Earth. Join ace fighter pilot Chase as he teams up with the modern-day militaries of Earth and fights the last battle for the universe.

This collection includes 'Chosen of Khorne' by Anthony Reynolds, 'Throne of Lies' by Aaron-Dembski Bowden, 'Perfection' by Nick Kyme, 'Ahriman: The First Prince' by John French, 'Repairer of Ruin' by Josh Reynolds, and 'The Embrace of Pain' by Ian St Martin.

A war-weary Battle Group Praxis arrives at the Knight world of Kamidar, ruled by the Iron Queen Orlah, to return the queen's slain daughter and heir, who died in Guilliman's name. In truth, the Imperium's mission here is twofold: to strip Kamidar of its resources in order to resupply the flagging armada, and to prepare the Ironhold Protectorate to become part of the defensive Anaxian Line, a crucial bulwark for the Indomitus Crusade.

Angela’s reset bought us a new chance, but with the event set to repeat itself, can she and Vaughn save their comrades? In Houston, Director Randal McCree races against the clock as he frantically struggles to save a scrabbled-together team. The survivors will have to join forces if Angela is to enact her plan to take the battle to the enemy.

Saint Sabbat has returned, and she is being hunted by the deadliest of assassins. Gaunt's Ghosts must fight to protect her - but can they defend against treachery from within? It's the culmination of a massive story arc that sees tragedy strike even as the Sabbat Worlds Crusade is given new hope with the reappearance of the Saint herself. Mysticism and warfare collide, with compelling results.

After a long and gruelling conflict, the traitors at last close upon Terra. But time is dwindling for an attack. Both Guilliman and the Lion are returning with all haste, and their armies could turn the tide. The hosts of the Warmaster must unite, for only then can they attack the Throneworld itself. While Mortarion is sent on ahead as the fleet’s vanguard, it falls to Lorgar and Perturabo to marshal Fulgrim and Angron, both now elevated to daemonhood and perhaps beyond even the will of the Warmaster to command.

Legend tells of a foolhardy expedition, led by the radical Magos Telok, that ventured out into the unknown space beyond the Halo Worlds in search of the 'Breath of the Gods' - an arcane device with the power to unmake and reshape the very stars themselves. Thousands of years later, the ambitious Lexell Kotov musters his Adeptus Mechanicus Explorator fleet and sets out to follow in mad old Telok's footsteps.

Removed from the concerns of the galaxy at large and regarding the Warmaster's unfolding Heresy with cold detachment, he has dedicated his hollow existence to the preservation of all the knowledge once held in the great libraries of Tizca, should mankind ever seek such enlightenment again. But his sons can see the change in their primarch - he is a broken soul whose mind and memories are slipping away into the tumult of the warp.

The temporary truce between Star Force and the V'kit'no'sat sends shockwaves throughout the galaxy. No one has ever defied the V'kit'no'sat and lived, but now Star Force has and many races are taking notice...including one that no one expects, on either side.

Hazard King had always wanted to be an Imperial Fleet officer, just like his father. But he’s a Prince of the Realm, which make things a bit more… complicated. And when Hazard’s parents tell him that they don’t trust his older brother and want Hazard to be the Crown Prince—the heir to the throne—things go from bad to worse. Just when it seems they can’t get any worse, the Empress is attacked.

The shrine world of Divinatus Prime has become lost to the light of the Astronomican, and no ship can piece its veil. Only the Lord of Death himself, Blood Angels Chief Librarian Mephiston, has any hope of discerning the fate of this once pious world. After enacting a powerful blood ritual, Mephiston and an honour guard of his fellow Blood Angels reach the stricken shrine world to find it seized by religious civil war. Each faction fights for dominance of a potent artefact, the Blade Petrific, said to be wrought by the Emperor Himself.