Military Opera

Commodore Straker's rebellion grows in strength - but his enemies are growing even faster. Faced with a dozen rebel planets in their territory, the Mutuality finally takes notice of the upstart known as the Liberator, and they gather a vast fleet to crush him. Preparing for a titanic interstellar battle, it's clear Straker has no chance. His tiny enclave of free planets can't survive the weight of 1000 worlds. His own officers realize this, and some of them begin to turn against him....

Captain Jason Burke hat allmählich den Verdacht, dass die zufälligen Angriffe auf sein Schiff in den letzten Jahren vielleicht gar kein Zufall waren. Es gibt zunehmend Hinweise darauf, dass sich etwas auf der Phönix befindet ... und dass mächtige Gruppierungen vor nichts zurückschrecken werden, um es sich anzueignen. Während die Mitglieder von Omega Force verzweifelt nach dem versteckten Objekt suchen, das so viel Ärger verursacht, müssen sie auch herausfinden, warum mächtige Feinde es wollen.

Defection. Once it starts, the flood gates open as Imperial troops sent to the Frontier to die for the Emperor suddenly see a chance to survive by hopping across the border into the Green Empire. The mass civilian exodus was bad enough, but when the Emperor's own fleet starts doing so in alarming numbers only a bit of trickery on the part of the Emperor is going to lead to victory before he loses too many ships to the growing sanctuary of sanity that is the Green Empire.

Deep in the shattered remnants of a dead moon, an ancient artifact pulses with Supernal Energy—power from before the Multiverse itself. The Hellmarine and his battle-scarred Stygians have stumbled onto a secret that Heaven would kill to possess and Hell would burn worlds to claim.

Opportunities there are few and far between...that is, unless you're willing to put on a uniform. For ace-pilot Deborah Allen Riker (aka “Admiral Dare”), life had never been easy. She's defended Earth against countless enemies, both alien and human alike. Now she's retired. Committed to a life of solitude and studying the aliens she spent a lifetime fighting...until she finds herself dragged into a new conflict. A conflict she never saw coming.

The third entry in the critically acclaimed Culture series, from British Science Fiction author, Iain M. Banks. The man known as Cheradenine Zakalwe was one of Special Circumstances' foremost agents, changing the destiny of planets to suit the Culture through intrigue, dirty tricks and military...