The stories herein...

 

 

Venatoris (G. S. Jennsen)

Humanity may have colonized much of the galaxy, but space remains as dangerous as ever, and so do the people inhabiting it. When Alexis Solovy‌—‌space explorer, freelance scout, recalcitrant wanderer‌—‌lands the contract of a lifetime, the race is on to claim the prize. Now she must not only outrun but outsmart her rivals to uncover the secrets of an ancient, mysterious pulsar. For deep in the void, far beyond the reach of civilization, wealth and renown matter little absent the ultimate reward: survival.

 

Hope 91 (Nick Webb)

A child escapes Earth aboard a NASA spaceship, one of the few chosen to settle a new world thousands of lightyears away. With only a few robots as companions and decades of space travel ahead of him, the boy soon learns there is another space traveler nearby in another ship, and will do whatever it takes to talk to her. To see her. To console her. To laugh with her.

 

And hopefully, against all odds, to love her.

 

Symbiosis (Rory Hume)

Mariana Soto arrived in orbit around Verdu with one job: to observe the elevator taking cargo down to the planet. When the job ended up being more than Mari expected, and she was in the middle of an interplanetary war she knew nothing about, the only way out might be her coworker… a symbiote without a name.

 

War Stories (Samuel Peralta)

You don’t really want to hear about war. You want to hear about courage and honor. You want the medals, the bugles, the drums. You want to hear about starships on fire off Orion’s shoulder, plasma beams glittering as they slice through inertial drives. I’m sorry. This isn’t that story.

 

The Mergans (Ann Christy)

They are almost legend, but not quite. In a galaxy as vast as ours, it’s easy to miss one planet laid to waste. And if a few centuries pass and history remarks on the changes on that planet somewhere, who is to say what‌—‌or who‌—‌caused it? Are they pirates or rescuers? Fanatics or bringers of justice? The answer depends on who is asked.

 

To those who see the dark, round shapes in their sky, they are not legend. They are harbingers of the end.

 

The Immortals: Anchorage (David Adams)

Recruited into the mysterious Synapse Foundation, Nicholas Caddy‌—‌still bearing the scars of an interstellar war‌—‌is dispatched on his first mission with the Immortals. A passenger liner, the Anchorage, has gone silent. Their task is simple: find the ship, salvage what they can, report what happened. Simple.

 

Simple.

 

This is Part two of The Immortals series set in the Universe of War, thirteen years before the events of Symphony of War: The Polema Campaign.

 

Pele’s Bee-keeper (Annie Bellet)

A pilot crash lands on a faraway moon and discovers a solitary woman living there, trying single-handedly to terraform this barren world. Somehow the woman, layered in veils and mystery, is more than she seems. Somehow she knows that there was an explosion… a loss… a death.

 

There are sides to every fight, and secrets in every war. And sometimes it’s impossible to know if someone is an enemy or a friend.

 

Services Rendered (Theresa Kay)

Li’hanna, a member of the prized and elusive Kotkaa race, is prepared to do anything to keep the secrets of her clan out of the hands of the evil imperial fleet.

 

Captured by one of the imperial hybrids and his human associate, she’s smuggled aboard a transport ship that belongs to the vengeful Jeren Skalos. When she manages to break free, she finds herself assisting the human crew to outwit the enemy‌—‌instead of running for her life.

 

What starts as a desperate escape attempt engenders something else‌—‌a partnership that could be the beginning of a rebellion against the empire.

 

Spike in a Rail (Logan Thomas Snyder)

Trouble is brewing aboard Over/Under Station. Returning to the station after an extended absence, the huntrex Xenecia of Shih’ra is summoned by an elderly mystic known only as “the Grom.” The Grom has had a vision, she explains, one that speaks to the station’s imminent destruction… and only Xenecia can prevent it. How this catastrophe will come to be, however, the vision did not reveal. Is the station doomed, or can Xenecia discover the truth behind the Grom’s vision in time‌—‌even when all is not as it seems?

 

The First to Fall (Sabrina Locke)

When Fallan Jin-Dahl was six years old, her father gave her a child’s toy she named Paladin. Ten years later when Paladin goes missing, Fallan discovers there might be a whole lot more to the object than she believed. She might not be the person she’s always thought herself to be. The hunt for Paladin brings two mysterious guys onto her ship‌—‌Alden and Finn Hendrix‌—‌but are they her protectors or her jailers?

 

Fallan’s journey to find a lost toy leads her into adventure and tragedy. She will have to choose whether to cling to her family and her past or leave her old life behind in order to find out who she is‌—‌and more importantly‌—‌who she can become.

 

The Ivory Tower (Elle Casey)

In a world where the human race is at risk of extinction, the future is in the hands of the last four girls in existence. Each is kept in isolation, her every hour scripted and controlled by a team of men who call themselves fathers. Zelle has accepted her fate until one day someone offers her a choice: remain in her ivory tower to become a mother to future generations, or escape and perhaps live another life where free will is no longer just a dream.