Space Opera First Contact

While the Galactic Conglomerate continues to fight the rising Darkkon threat, a working Yau A.I. is recovered from the wreckage of the recent battle, and it is the one lead the team has to dig deeper into the heart of the enemy's operation. Meanwhile, a treaty with the Vael Empire - the long-standing enemy of the conglomerate - may be the galaxy's only hope of defending itself against the Darkkon and their growing aggression. Pride must be swallowed and differences set aside to join forces in an alliance.

It’s the 22nd century. The galaxy has opened up to humanity as a hyperactive beehive of stargates and new technologies, and we suddenly find ourselves in a vast playground of different races, environments, and cultures. There’s just one catch: We are pretty much at the bottom of the food chain, and there’s only one way for humanity to move up - by becoming mercenaries. In every mercenary’s life, though, there comes a time when things go wrong and even the best laid plans go awry.

Albert Birnbaum was once one of the biggest political talk show hosts around, but these days he’s watching his career enter a death spiral. A stranger offers a solution to his woes, promising to put him back on top. It’s everything Birnbaum wants, but is there a catch? And does Birnbaum actually care if there is? "A Voice in the Wilderness" is a tale from John Scalzi's The Human Division, a series of self-contained but interrelated short stories set in the Old Man's War universe.

CDF Lieutenant Harry Wilson has one simple task: Watch an ambassador’s dog while the diplomat is conducting sensitive negotiations with an alien race. But you know dogs - always getting into something. And when this dog gets into something that could launch an alien civil war, Wilson has to find a way to solve the conflict, fast, or be the one in the Colonial Union’s doghouse. "The Dog King" is a tale from John Scalzi's The Human Division, a series of self-contained but interrelated short stories set in the Old Man's War universe.

The Conclave is a confederation of 400 alien races - many of whom would like to see the Colonial Union - and the humans inside of it - blasted to extinction. To avoid a conflict that neither side can afford, Conclave leader General Tarsem Gau appoints Hafte Sorvalh to resolve an emerging diplomatic crisis with the humans, before the only acceptable solution is war. "The Back Channel" is a tale from John Scalzi's The Human Division, a series of self-contained but interrelated short stories set in the Old Man's War universe.

2187. Earth is cold, dead and divided. The rich hide away while the rest will do anything to survive. Humanity have only one hope: crossing hostile alien territory to reach a habitable planet. Jinnifer Blue is on the run. An expert pilot, she apprehends criminals on behalf of the government and keeps her illegal genetic modifications a closely guarded secret. But when a particularly dangerous job goes south, Jinn is left stranded on a prison ship with one of the most ruthless criminals in the galaxy.

Jinnifer Blue opens her eyes to find herself in a nightmare. Her plan to expose the horrific truth behind the government's secret Second Species programme has failed, and now she's being turned into a weapon by her worst enemy...her mother. At the other end of the galaxy Caspian Dax, ferocious space pirate and Jinn's sometime lover, is facing an even more terrifying fate. He's being forced to fight in the arena on Sittan, a pitiless, ruthless alien landscape where blood is the only prize that matters. They will use him, destroy him, change him.

Tensions amongst the six realms are running high as the galaxy witnesses the overwhelming might of the Sa’Nerra armada. The Quarr race are facing defeat, and no one wants to be next. Desperate to find a way to unite the realms against the Sa’Nerra, Commander Reeves and his team take the warship Invictus on a quest to learn about the mysterious and ancient Progenitors—the puppet masters manipulating the war. With threats from the Sa’Nerran Imperator and the New Earth Movement looming over him at every turn, Reeves is still struggling to embrace his legacy.

Life on other planets is possible. The new planet discovered in the solar system, Klaskar, has been accepted as a reality and a peaceful truce drawn between humanity and the blue-skinned Klaskians. The species would have remained separate, until it was proved that a human could birth a Klaskian young. Life has come down to two choices for Janelle Speirs. Apply to the surrogacy program and be paid to use her womb to bear an alien young, or find herself homeless.

While the occupation of Earth continues, MinSha mercenaries under the command of Major General Drehnayl have assaulted human-held colonies in the outer rim, wiping them out. With the famed Four Horsemen nowhere to be found, the Mercenary Guild’s attempt to instill fear and subvert humanity is perilously close to reality. Tasked with finding the MinSha is Jessica Francis, Earth’s first Peacemaker, but the odds aren’t in her favor. Jessica realizes that finding Drehnayl's forces isn’t enough - she must do something to stop their atrocities and end their reign of terror.

Caiden's planet is destroyed. His family gone. And, his only hope for survival is a crew of misfit aliens and a mysterious ship that seems to have a soul and a universe of its own. Together they will show him that the universe is much bigger, much more advanced, and much more mysterious than Caiden had ever imagined. But the universe hides dangers as well, and soon Caiden has his own plans.

Esen's back! And the dear little blob is in trouble, again. Things began so well. She and her human friend Paul Ragem are ready to celebrate the first anniversary of their greatest accomplishment, the All Species' Library of Linguistics and Culture, by welcoming his family back. He hopes. Having mourned his supposed death years ago, understandably, feelings are bent. Instead, they’ve unexpected guests, starting with an old acquaintance.

The heart-stopping third episode in the Eden Paradox series. After 18 years, the quarantine that has protected humanity’s survivors on the planet Esperia is about to end. Mankind won't stand a chance without external help. Yet in the middle of a galactic war, who is concerned about one small planet when worlds fall every day?

Earth is in turmoil. The enemy is bearing down on us with every warship they have, and our only allies are in chaos. Our one hope for survival is Andy Clanton - a hack science fiction writer trying to convince some aliens that humans are worth saving. It’s an uphill battle, because to the aliens, we are the monsters. We look just like their sworn enemies, the Tevynians, who’ve sworn to wipe out both our civilizations. When everything falls apart and the fate of the galaxy is on the line, can Andy Clanton pull our fat out of the fire?

On August 25, 2012, the Voyager 1 probe crossed into interstellar space. It contained a "golden record" with sounds, pictures, and greetings from Earth. On March 15, 2013, NASA received a transmission from the spacecraft that said: "Hello. We received your golden record. Let's meet." Now, internationally best-selling author B.C. Chase invites you on a daring first contact mission into deep space with five intrepid astronauts, one spunky cosmonaut, and a 75-year-old truck driver.

Blake Harley is a Skiptracer - a kind of bounty hunter - on the faraway construct world of Concourse Prime. Hired by a corporate client to secure an overdue product, he'll make some quick cryp and be on to the next job. Easy. Except, this job is anything but simple. The product is tied to the immensely powerful and ultra-secret Hypertek, leaving Blake with a choice: be a good soldier, or refuse to help MagnaCorp become the most powerful entity in the system. Another problem: everyone else in Concourse Prime is gunning for the product as well.

Captain Tom Thrush is patrolling the Octagon Rift when his ship is attacked by a black destroyer that seems to predict his every move. Outgunned and outmaneuvered, he flees in a crippled ship to the only sanctuary he can reach—a den of thieves and spies called Lotus Station. His ship will be broken up for scrap. Half the crew are casualties. The rest are scattering, leaving Tom stuck on Lotus. As the black destroyer hunts down local freighters, Tom becomes obsessed with tracking it down and taking revenge.

Gnat the Devourer is becoming a more prominent figure in grand space politics. Sure, he may not be totally independent yet, but he has enough leeway to be able to differentiate Earth's interests from those of its Geckho suzerains and act exclusively for the good of his own kind. Gnat must balance obligations to his almighty suzerains against a desire to advance humanity's position in space, and his home planet's search for ever more allies.

The Academy is a galaxy-class school, created to train the next generation of Gatekeepers. Jules Parker is attending the Academy, alongside her best friend Patty. When the Kold threaten everything her father and his friends have spent years building, she must reveal that her Iskios abilities are stronger than ever. With Magnus and Slate away on the Horizon, and Mary working on the board of the Alliance of Worlds, Dean finds himself out of the action for the first time.

Three years have passed, and the children are growing like weeds as Aisha grows into a new career. A mob of alien party animals has settled near Union Station like a plague, but nobody seems willing to see them off. They bring word of a new wave of helpful artificial intelligence, but perhaps there's such a thing as too helpful?