Showing results by author "C. R. Daems" in All Categories

Anna survives a deadly virus at age four thanks to a poisonous red-headed krait. The medical community is excited since there is no known cure for the virus, but Anna and her snake, Red, have a symbiotic relationship. If she is ever separated from Red, she will die. As her krait becomes known and valuable throughout the three star empires as one of only a handful of such snakes, she fights off attempts to kill her and snatch Red. When the Naval Intelligence Agency, the NIA, recruits her, her adventures grow beyond fending off thieves and killers.

Based on her unique upbringing, Jolie decides to join the USP military, requesting to be assigned to the Tasmanians SFG, an elite all male unit. The military brass agree to let her enter the school, thinking she couldn't possibly succeed and plan to make an example of her when she fails. Although Jolie is small, she is not what she appears. But can her martial arts enable her to survive the treachery of the military brass, the grueling of the school, the prejudices of the instructors, and the testosterone of an all-male class.

Anna's nice comfortable world is in turmoil. Because of their success in destroying the foreign Raiders, Anna, Kris, and Adrian were promoted to full commander, and the project team was disbanded. Kris and Adrian were given NIA offices to manage on Stone Ring and Westar, and Anna is being pressured to move to Eastar to manage the NIA station.

Anna and her Naval Intelligence Agency (NIA) teammates have a new high-priority assignment: foreign raiders who are wreaking havoc within the United Alliance of Stars. They hit high value targets, have access to inside information, kill the security guards, and leave no witnesses. The NIA team soon discovers the raiders' system has been well thought out and has no weak links to exploit. The raiders prove arrogant, resourceful, and in no hurry to leave.

Not only is the Ghost Platoon the only permanently configured platoon in the Tasmanian SFG, it only has ten men assigned, never has an assigned objective, and is commanded by a woman whose call sign is Fox. While most in the Tasmanian SFG hunt the enemy like a pack of wolves, the Ghost Platoon is frequently behind enemy lines, like foxhounds, searching for ways to be a general pain in the enemy’s ass.

Ryana, a worthless girl-child, is sold to a mysterious woman who takes her to the home of the Shadow Sisters who are prized for their abilities as spies and assassins. She survives years of training in spite of being unconventional: adopting poisonous bats as familiars - something no one else would dare to do; choosing the blow dart as her weapon of choice - a weapon the Sisters don't teach; and relying on intuition rather than logic. As she completes her training, the Shadow Sisters are under attack and send Ryana out to find out who is killing Sisters and why.

An insidious cabal has decided to change the direction of the United Alliance of Stars (UAS) with a coup d’etat - but not through a military takeover. They have devised a subtler coup: the manipulation of the Committee, the 15-star system that sets policy for the UAS. The UAS Committee enlists their de facto troubleshooter, Anna Paulus, to shut down the cabal, but they insists she leave the NIA and manage UAS Committee Security. For Anna it’s a nightmare scenario, leaving her safe world for a completely new environment dominated by macho men with years of combat experience.

Repeated over and over by those answering the call, it would empty bars or a base or a city of Tasmanians, because no member of the elite unit would desert a brother in trouble, reinforcing their unofficial motto, Et Anima Una, Of One Mind. Jolie is the only female in the elite all male Tasmanian special forces group and loving every crazy minute of it; well, except for being made a squad leader. A duty no Tasmanian would want since it means having to make life and death decisions that impact their brothers' lives.

Anna's success as the Eastar NIA station chief has catapulted her into the position of Director of NIA Stations. Anna is uncomfortable with the promotion and bored. She has a master chief secretary, a lieutenant aide-de-camp, and 15 commanders and their staff to do the work. But she suspects not all of her commanders are happy with their new, very young admiral or are doing their jobs. But she has no way to observe those commanders as their stations reside on distant systems.

Mountain warriors raid Zara's village and make her a slave. That should have been her destiny, but Zara resists to the amusement of her captives, who let their young warriors train on her, believing they will cripple or kill her eventually. However, she survives the training and escapes—a savage warrior in a civilized land ruled by royalty. Zara tries to avoid the nobility and their unrealistic "requests" to help wipe out the mountain tribes only to come to the attention of a duke who asks her to save the daughter of a baron, captured in a recent raid.

The ruling Anixians believe Kayla is the "Wingless and Featherless" savior prophesied by Grey Seer hundreds of years in the past. As a consequence, they have given her the problem of saving Anixia from the multiple warlike races inhabiting the Milky Way. Unfortunately, Kayla is quick to realize she is in charge of a strategy with no chance of surviving contact with the three warlike nations currently known to exist: Tullizor, Soofir, and Jumanu. If that weren't enough, too many of the humans on Anixia believe stealing a cruiser and returning to Earth would make them rich and famous.

As the least favored child, it was no surprise when Rivka's father selects her, at age six, to comply with the country's conscript law. Sent away to the military to be raised and trained, she struggles to keep from falling into an abyss of despair. Only when she adopts a new friend's dream of becoming a member of the elite Black Guard does she find a new reason to live. Few make it into the Black Guard, but Rivka is determined. Yet when she makes it and is sent on her first mission, she discovers to her dismay that the Black Guard may not be as perfect as she had believed.

Surviving the training program was dangerous - even the first challenge to gain entrance to the school could get you killed. But the training was the easy part. Staying alive afterward was the hard part. Kazaks guarded individuals whose lives were deemed critical to the security of the United States. As such, Kazaks attracted fanatics and the best professional assassins money could buy - liars who could tell lies you believed, ghosts who could become nearly invisible, and Illusionists who could appear to be anyone.

The Jax Contract Committee, JCC, has released Rivka to take assignments, and her first involves her in a plot by several Systems within the Helix collection of systems to destroy the Jax. As the plot spreads, she is given assignments to combat the threat. Soon she becomes the JCC's problem solver for ill-advised and potentially ruinous contracts the JCC is forced to accept, including one by the United Freelands who is seeking revenge on her for their embarrassing defeat on Suryah.

Lynn the Fox has been a Kazak for several years and thought she had seen it all. She was, after all, a Master Kazak having killed more than five Assassins - professional killers with wizard-like talents. But life is unpredictable and the unthinkable is about to happen. Events that will not only put her in unexpected danger but also threaten the existence of the Kazak organization.

Nadia is now an experienced naval officer with two engagements with the Raider's cruiser packs. But hosting an intelligent parasite, she continuities to be seen as an alien, generating disgust, fear, hate, and attempts to kill her. To add to her problems, the Raiders have identified her as contributing directly to their bad luck and have designated her a dybbuk - demon - and have set a price on her dead or alive.

To everyone’s astonishment, the party girl and can't-make-up-her-mind Megan not only survived the Hill, the name for the Kazak School, but loves her job and enjoys learning about the lives of the VIPs she is assigned to protect. The most exciting part is the cat-and-mouse game with the Assassins and terrorists intent on killing her clients. Megan the Wolf - sociable, sexy, sly, and lethal - is the newest Kazak Guardian.

The Tasmanian's unofficial motto is et anima una: of one mind. Somehow, the elite special forces group performs like they have one mind. Jolie understands on a subconscious level, but not on an intellectual level. This is an important level for Jolie, as she has a platoon and no stated objectives while on assignments and, therefore, easy to lose her connection with the main force. A problem that could make her unfit for the Tasmanians.

The Shadow Sister Ryana, the very Shadow of Death, is marrying her beloved and joining his gypsy clan. War took her innocence, and now she's determined to rebuild her life. But religious cults are springing up, and the gypsies come under attack. Ryana's best friend in the Sisters, Jelena, has fled to join one of the cults, and the senior Sister asks Ryana to find out why. Too late, Ryana discovers their enemies have a sweet and seductive weapon, one that has turned Jelena into her enemy.

The quiet, unflappable Rivka is truly a black mamba in a mouse's skin as kings, queens, and raiders are about to discover. Because of Rivka's successes, the Jax Contract Committee continues to accept more of the lucrative, non-standard projects, and General Issak continues to shamelessly call on Rivka to solve his impossible problems. As a result, Rivka increasingly finds herself in stormy, unchartered waters. The inhabitable universe is about to discover the mouse is cute, but the mamba's bite is deadly.