Showing results by publisher "Blackstone Audio, Inc." in Military

The best-selling Extinction Cycle series by Nicholas Sansbury Smith first introduced listeners to a world ravaged by an engineered virus that turned men into monsters. Humanity's only hope was not a cure, but another bioweapon. When deployed it killed 90 percent of the infected, but the remaining 10 percent transformed into even more terrifying creatures called Variants. Here's a collection of Extinction Cycle short stories that explore the human spirit and the fight for survival in the face of overwhelming odds from some of the leading voices in the post-apocalyptic genre.

The dust from Dr. Kate Lovato's bioweapon has settled. Projections put death counts in the billions. Her weapon was supposed to be the endgame, but it turned a small percentage of those infected with the Hemorrhage Virus into something even worse.

At the close of the 24th century, a series of revolutions has caused the galaxy to descend into chaos. With the Galactic Union Army stretched thin, mercenary units have arisen for those who have the need - and the means - to hire them. Kay, the alien member of the Cutter Force Initiative, has returned to her brutal home world of Vast on a mission of mercy. Before she joined the merc team, she was a great healer. And now her skills are sorely needed. Hundreds of Vastalimi - including her blood-kin - are mysteriously dying. But is the plague a work of nature? Or is it a bioengineered virus, purposefully unleashed?

John Eric Carver and Shrek, a retired SEAL war dog team, have created a safe haven in the high mountain desert. The remote former Boy Scout Camp seems perfect, with enough water and stored food to last years. Everything is in place to ride out the viral storm that is consuming the world. Off the California coast, an aircraft carrier strike group carrying nearly 15,000 souls seeks refuge. There is talk of moving to an isolated island, untouched by the infected. That changes when they are given new orders to retake Los Angeles from the Variant hordes.

In this finale of the Freedom's Fire series, the Free Army tries to salvage victory from what looks like a total loss. They've found a weakness in the Gray-Trog alliance they think they can exploit. But they'll need to ally themselves with the hated MSS and put their trust in people they've sworn to overthrow.

In the dark, primal jungles of the Congo Basin, something is ravaging the local population. When protests turn violent in front of the US embassy in Kinshasa, only the foreign policy experts paid attention. Civil war erupts, and people rip each other apart in the streets of the African capital. To avert disaster and preserve its self-image, an overwhelmed State Department dispatches a team of elite counterterrorism agents to bring their besieged people back alive.

At the end of the 24th century, war is fought in a civilized manner: Each side hires mercenaries to engage in combat in specifically designated areas. To the victor go the spoils - whatever they maybe. After a couple of assignments involving more intrigue and skullduggery than the Cutter Force Initiative ever wanted, the unit is looking forward to being part of a straight-up, short-term industrial war on Earth.

On the eve of extinction all seems to be lost, but there is still one final hope.... Operation Liberty has failed. Humans are losing the war. With no other option, General Kennor decides to pull back the troops and give science a second chance.

Before George Lucas's Death Star, before Star Trek's Doomsday Machine, came the Berserkers, intelligent, space-faring killing machines whose sole purpose is to destroy all life. The Berserkers have developed a new trick: Berserker units that can pass for human-created androids. They're gambling on the advantage this gives them and massing for an all-out attack on human-held space.

Captain Rick Galloway and his men had been talked into volunteering for a dangerous mission only to be ruthlessly abandoned when faceless CIA higher-ups pulled the plug on the operation. They were cut off in hostile territory, with local troops and their Cuban “advisors” rapidly closing in - and then the alien spaceship landed. Rescued from certain death, they now must fight another world’s war.

Newly christened as the leader of Delta Force Team Ghost, Master Sergeant Joe Fitzpatrick arrives in Normandy over 70 years after Allied Forces joined the fight against the Nazis. The war to free survivors and eradicate pockets of adult Variants and their offspring is underway by the European Unified Forces. But as the troops push east, rumors of a new type of monster spread through the ranks. Fitz and his new team quickly realize that the fight for Europe might be harder than anyone ever imagined.

The former warship Trouble Dog and her crew of misfits is called upon by the House of Reclamation to investigate a distress call from the human starship the Lucy's Ghost. Her crew abandon their crippled ship and seek refuge aboard an abandoned, slower-than-light generation ship launched 10,000 years before by an alien race. However, the enormous ship contains deadly secrets of its own.

Time to take the fight to the enemy, if they can find the Trog Fleet. The Free Army missed their opportunity to catch the vulnerable Trog Fleet docked together on Ceres with empty magazines after their latest assault on Earth. Now Dylan Kane needs to scout their bases to see where they're hiding. If he can find them, the Free Army has enough assault ships to attack and turn the tide of the war.

A deadly virus is sweeping through America's cities, pitting the worst humanity has to offer against its best warriors and scientists in a race against extinction. The virus doesn't just kill - it transforms and creates monsters of men and women called Variants. New York firefighter Meg Pratt is among those trapped in New York City. Together with her fellow rescue workers and the scattered elements of America's frontline military fighters, Meg fights to survive and hope to save civilians from the coming apocalypse.

War in the heavens for freedom on Earth. The mission to 61 Cygni takes a surprise turn when Kane and crew return to Trinity Base hunting survivors. They make an unexpected ally, though the crew believes the alliance will end badly for all. Without the time to stay and cement the new relationship, Kane begins the long journey back to Earth. What they find when they arrive makes them question all they've sacrificed so far.

After the harrowing trials of Emergence, Jed Welch finds himself alone in the ruins of New York City. But not all is lost. USMC Staff Sergeant Alexandra Gallegos and the two surviving members of her platoon find Jed, and together they will bring the full weight of their Marine Corps training, and mission-driven sense of vengeance, to bear upon the real monsters: human collaborators who aid the Variants at the expense of their fellow human beings.

East and West have fused into separate superstates known as the Allied National Government (ANG) and the Soviet International Bloc (SIB). As the Cold War rages, brilliant scientist Lucas Martino works on a top-secret project known only as K-Eighty-eight that could alter the balance of world power. The project goes horribly awry at an Allied research facility near the Soviet border, and Martino is abducted. After several months of tense negotiations, he returns severely injured from the lab explosion, and under pressure from America, he undergoes extensive reconstructive surgery.

The first interstellar war, a generation ago, left humanity enslaved. Now humans fight in the armies of their masters to save themselves from annihilation. At least that's what the propaganda insists is true. What the layers of lies keep hidden is how badly the new war is going for the people of earth. Now it's Dylan Kane's turn to blast into the heavens and join the battle, but what his masters don't know is that by putting a weapon in his hands, they're giving him the key to unlocking his hopes of freedom.

The Drone-masters are coming. Humanity is on the verge of extinction. And Earth has no idea. The fires of intergalactic war have given rise to an unexpected hero. Medical scientist by training and ship's captain by circumstance, Tag Brewer leads a band of aliens, a few humans, and a synthetic lifeform into the deepest reaches of unexplored space. They may be all that stands between humanity and utter annihilation. It's up to Tag's crew to unveil the shroud of secrecy surrounding the Drone-masters. He must destroy them before they destroy Earth.

Humanity's expansion into the stars has led to awe-inspiring discoveries - and terrifying new threats. An insidious alien race is waging an interstellar war, enslaving any civilization they encounter to carry out their galactic rampage. Now they have set their sights on mankind.