Showing results by author "Terry Maggert" in All Categories

Now at home in the Aquarian system, Dash and his team receive news from a dying ship. With 30 systems under their inhuman control, the newest enemy to free life in the galaxy seeks to engage and destroy the Messenger by any means necessary. The skyhooks are only the beginning of a secret plan to hide Dark Metal, but Dash, the Gentle Friends, and the rest of the Messenger's growing forces will find a way to fight back. Plunging into the swirling deep, Dash discovers an ancient plot to use drones, Dark Metal, and a device so advanced it is only known by one word: the Shroud.

As the Realm grows around a Kingsport that is now more massive than any human creation, Dash will find common cause with a race who lurk in the shadows, well beyond the edge of known human space. With ships of a new design, the Realm will turn outward, striking into territory long held by the Deepers and their unholy creatures, wrapped in technology as old as the stars themselves. But the universe is shrinking, thanks to Realm scientists and the efforts of Kai and his brethren, who find that secrets still remain in the hidden places where humans store memory and history - and weapons.

The revelations Mark Tudor unearthed on Tactus Ares were profound. The Piraxians fell victim to the aggressive, expansionist Eridani Federation. That same confederacy funded and facilitated the Lyrae. They made Stillness. And the Guild was complicit. How does one bring exposure to something the galaxy at large would rather forget? And how does an honorable man remove corruption when its gravity consumes all? A plan is hatched in secret.

Far out in the black, Dash and new Captain Lomas encounter the next lethal version of Deeper technology. Huge, armored beings are attacking inward, wrecking humanity in each shattering conflict. The Battle Princes are more than robots and less than human, and beyond their fearsome ability, they carry a secret that could change the nature of human warfare forever.

Disturbing the established order will mean kicking over a fair number of rocks, although Mark, Valint, and the others might be surprised by what scurries forth underneath—and what uniform it's wearing when it steps into the light. Mark Tudor will make the title Peacemaker mean something once again, but to do that, he'll have to face the worst the galaxy has to offer. Death waits in the quiet moments. And sometimes, it is a soldier's loved ones that pay the greatest price.

After a fateful expedition to Antarctica, Alexander Hawkes finds himself catapulted across the stars into a galaxy in chaos. The Emperor is assassinated. The Eternum Empire, already fading, has collapsed. But he has a starship now. And friends. Alongside a crew of unlikely allies—Ban Tarro, an honorable Barundi soldier; Diliseth, a genetically-engineered Nacendo handmaiden; and Four, a sentient AI—Alexander witnesses the brutal aftermath of imperial collapse on the planet Twilight. Driven by an innate sense of justice, Alexander proposes a radical solution.

A good Gajur gave his life. Will that sacrifice help bring the galaxy back to balance? Or topple known space into a war to end all wars? Armagost wasn't the only light snuffed prematurely. The attack destroyed an irreplaceable piece of Valint's life, as well. Now, Mark must toe the delicate line between lawman and friend, partner and lover. With those in power divided, the work has only begun. The galaxy no longer needs a maker of peace, but a lobbyist and negotiator. In order to deconstruct the entombed and corrupt system, Mark and the gang must stack the deck in their favor.

When the idyllic planet Nebo is scorched into oblivion, it’s obvious that the Nyctus are moving massive fleets into human space again, and their intention is clear: Even if they lose their ships, they will render planets into ash. To add to the damage, they seem to have key intelligence that could only have been obtained by a human crew. Only one ship has ever gone missing, its disappearance unexplained and its crew never to be found: The Pool of Stars, one of the first starships. And she’s been missing for centuries. Now, it’s up to Thorn to find it.

Fresh off their first major victory against the Nyctus, the Orbital Navy is moving forward in confusion. Starcasters, led by Thorn Stellers, are not trusted - magic has not replaced the power of steel and naval might, and humanity is at a crossroads. As Thorn and Kira define their roles in the new navy, magic refuses to stay still. When Thorn discovers he has untapped power, Mol Wyant helps him use it. The results will change every rule, along with the known galaxy, for Thorn Stellers isn’t just a magician of unknown power. He’s a weapon of undiscovered fury.

Thorn Stellers and his daughter are a problem, and not just for the Nyctus. With their power taking shape in directions like no one has ever seen, the Orbital Navy is faced with an unwelcome reality: The Starcasters are beyond control. Kira and Damien are assigned diplomatic roles in the growing sphere of galactic relations, leading them to a stunning discovery - humans are not alone in their fight against the Nyctus. Worlds are being destroyed by an unseen foe, with no defense against their attacks.

With new, more lethal weapons being added at every turn, the Forge goes into motion, advancing across the galactic arm in furious combat, leaving wreckage in the wake. But that wreckage has a purpose, and so does Dash. Until now, the war has been Golden allies throwing themselves in front of the Realm weapons, but that’s all about to change.

During a standard patrol, Thorn finds the scarred remains of a planet that has been reshaped by an unknown race. Massive machines were used to alter the landscape, and the only thing missing from the site is magic. Whoever is changing the galaxy, it isn’t the Nyctus.

On a sunny green world, a little girl watches as meteors fall, bringing death and fire from above. She isn’t alone. Thorn Stellers is there, watching, unsure of his connection and what he can do to save the child from a fate like his parents, all those years ago. Reaching across the lightyears, Thorn sets a chain of events into play that will shift reality as he knows it. For this little girl is no ordinary child, and the meteors are no accident. The Nyctus have targeted her green world for destruction, and the girl along with it.

It's the 22nd century. Humanity has taken its first steps into the galaxy, and we've found ourselves in a vast playground of alien races, environments, and cultures. As the newest players on the universal stage, though, our position is readily apparent - we're at the bottom of the food chain.

The Verity are in collapse. Clan Shirna is gone. And all along, the ships of the Cygnus Realm have been pushing back until only the Golden are left. Or so Dash thought. With the discovery of two new races and a sphere of stars embroiled in war, Dash hurls the Forge ever deeper into territory where no human can live free. The Golden are no longer merely advisors - now, they are present in the fights themselves, their silver ships gleaming with menace in a war that threatens to incinerate an entire arm of the galaxy.

Fighting over a span of light years that boggles the mind, Dash and his crew are drawn farther out in the big black than any human has ever gone...or so they thought. A small beacon of humanity drifts, alone, frozen, and ancient, out where the light of days is older than the history of mankind.

With the Realm advancing, Dash and his allies are faced with the full might of an enemy designed for one thing: to end all life. As the ships of the Realm push through the Cradle, the Golden defenses grow tougher, revealing entire fleets of ships, Harbingers, and new, more lethal weapons arranged in an impenetrable field of fire. From mechs to carriers, Dash and his allies must save those who have been enslaved by Golden technology, all while bringing about a final cataclysm.

Now, spreading among the new worlds of the Unseen gates, Dash and his people are building new lives, free of war and destruction. Until one of the former Unseen planets shifts in orbit - a small thing, but worth looking into. Close to this erratic world, something incredible opens, revealing a connection to stars so distant that they have no name on the Cygnus charts.

When Nolan Hayes crashes his borrowed (don’t say stolen) ship on Janusia, he finds a planet split by a river of epic proportions. Fast, deep, and deadly, the river is home to three kingdoms and a cable system left behind by people from the stars, who left no clues as to its intentions. Now, the river and all it’s connecting ports are controlled by a single guild. Night after night, ships fall from the sky, breaking apart and scattering bodies across the wide plains, the empty southern ocean, and the warring kingdoms.

When he was twenty, Conover joined Dash Sawyer, the man who would be the original Messenger, in fighting for humanity's future against an implacable alien foe. Two brutal wars later, Conover had proven himself a skilled mech pilot, flying the mighty Pulsar and helping win ultimate victory for Dash's newly-formed Cygnus Realm. Nearly a century-and-a-half later, an aging Conover now bears the mantle of Messenger, leading the Cygnus Realm through a long age of peace and prosperity.