Showing results by publisher "Vaughn Heppner" in Hard Science Fiction

Star Watch defeated the Swarm Invasion Fleet, but at a terrible cost in destroyed star systems, smashed battleships and billions of dead. In the aftermath of the costly victory, chaos threatens as worlds leave the Commonwealth of Planets, face mass starvation or succumb to increased piracy. The war against the Swarm Imperium has just begun. Humanity needs unity or each planet will fall alone. Brigadier O'Hara of Star Watch Intelligence stumbles onto a secret conspiracy. Someone is trying to destroy the Commonwealth from within, and they have an alien artifact of incredible power. O'Hara summons Captain Maddox. Although she fears to lose him, she knows that Maddox and his crew have the best chance of finding the hidden enemy. If the captain fails, the Commonwealth will be powerless to stop its destruction.

Lord Maddox the New Man, leader of a gargantuan fleet, waits for the Torus to reopen a breach into our dimension. Then, he will invade, annihilate Star Watch’s pitiful force and grind weak humanity under his heel. Captain Maddox has vowed to stop his alternate self, and is planning a daring commando raid into the other dimension to destroy the Torus and thereby end the threat.

Last voyage, Captain Maddox entered a distant star system with a Swarm fleet. The sheer numbers were staggering, a 100-1 advantage against all human spacecraft. If the highly aggressive, racist insects gained hyper-spatial tube technology - allowing them to cross 1,000 light-years in seconds - it would mean Armageddon for Earth. Star Watch desperately needs something powerful to offset the annihilating Swarm numbers. As if on cue, Professor Ludendorff declares he has discovered the whereabouts of ancient Builder technology, a tech so potent it could defeat the Swarm.

There are reports that hijacked Star Watch personnel are released onto a jungle planet in the Beyond. There, New Men hunt them down like animals with high-powered rifles and killer dogs. Captain Maddox would check that out, but he’s grounded on Earth and Galyan refuses to let anyone else use Starship Victory. Valerie goes in a Patrol scout with Keith at helm and the newly young Riker as security.

Starship Victory - Earth's ancient, alien spacecraft - has won a smashing victory against the New Men, driving them from "C" Quadrant. On their way home, Captain Maddox and his crew run into a vast machine trapped inside an ion storm. Maddox doesn't know it yet, but the meeting isn't an accident. There's a traitor aboard ship, implementing a secret plan, threatening to destroy everything Star Watch has achieved against the New Men.

It finally happened. Commander Thrax Ti Ix created a hyper-spatial tube for the Swarm Imperium. Across thousands of light-years, a vast armada of warships is heading for Earth to burn the homeworld down to its bedrock as the Swarm begins its genocidal campaign against the human race. No one - not the New Men, the Spacers, the Wahhabi Caliphate, or Star Watch - has faced such staggering odds. Alone or united, it makes no difference.

The effort almost killed him, but Maddox temporarily closed the breach to an alien dimension, one where genetic supermen rule humanity as gods. The trouble is the master race’s Ninth Assault Fleet is still inside Commonwealth space—and destroying worlds with hellburner missiles. Without the hyper-spatial tubes of the smashed Nexuses, the Grand Fleet can’t jump straight to battle. To win, Star Watch must relearn maneuver warfare across light-years against super soldiers bred for war.

An escape pod drifts through deep space—inside is a broken pilot with a warning from another dimension. He’s Keith Maker, a preman escaped from the master race. In his universe, the New Men conquered the Commonwealth, enslaving everyone. Now the Dominion has breached the wall between realities to conquer this one. Star Watch has never faced an enemy so brilliant, fearless, and ruthless— armed with weapons that slice through shields. But these New Men have never faced Maddox. And he’s not about to let this dimension fall without a fight.

Ten thousand years ago, a single alien super-ship survived a desperate battle. The vessel's dying crew set the AI on automatic to defend the smashed rubble of their planet. Legend has it the faithful ship continues to patrol the empty battlefield, obeying its last order throughout the lonely centuries. In the here and now, Earth needs a miracle. Out of the Beyond invade the New Men, stronger, faster and smarter than the old. Their superior warships and advanced technology destroy every fleet sent to stop them. Their spies have infiltrated the government and traitors plague Earth’s military.

The Sovereign Hierarchy of Leviathan leaves nothing to chance. Their strategists are the greatest in the galaxy, utilizing the tiniest details. Before unleashing the perfect invasion, they send Senior Dax to Earth. The cyber spy will assassinate the Lord High Admiral, throwing Star Watch into panic as one after another of their highest officials die hideous, unstoppable deaths.

The strategists of Leviathan are cunning and devious. They also fear Captain Maddox because of his unusual luck, his ability to turn sure odds into a disaster for them. Before Leviathan begins its invasion of the Commonwealth, they want Maddox neutralized. Thus, using elaborate deception, the strategists convince Star Watch that ancient doomsday weapons lie in the Aquila Rift. It’s a region of space 700 light years from Earth. Thick molecular clouds and dense gases hide its stars and planets.

Maddox and the crew are on their own, facing perils inside the ship and terrifying alien dangers outside in one of the remotest regions of the Orion Arm. Then they stumble upon the darkest secret of all. Unless the A.I. Galyan, Meta, Sergeant Riker and the others can help their beleaguered captain, Victory is doomed and Earth will never learn of the terrible threat gathering in the stellar darkness.

We fought the invading New Men to a standstill and defeated the alien destroyer sent to obliterate Earth. The worst should be over, but it's not. Perfect android replicas are impersonating high-level officials so trust is failing. Worse, the New Men have found allies with an impenetrable stealth technology. This time, however, Earth is going on the offensive. Admiral Fletcher is headed to C Quadrant with a Grand Fleet. He's to liberate the captured planets and find the enemy homeworld.