Three Plague Wars/Stellar Conquest novelettes in one volume. Steel's First Temper: Jill "Reaper" Repeth must complete a tough rescue mission on a Meme asteroid base while beginning to train a new protégé, Joseph "Bull" ben Tauros. Also published in the military science-fiction anthology Riding the Red Horse 2....

When the human race faces extermination at the hands of an expanding species the last survivors travel a thousand years to reestablish the race ten thousands light years away. It is now a thousand years after the birth of the New Terran Empire. The race has aggressively expanded during that time, with a fleet that has never lost a war against an alien species. But the signs are there, the old enemy is back, and the Fleet will face its greatest challenge in a foe fifty times their size.

The Hundred Worlds have withstood invasion by the relentless Hok for decades. The human worlds are strong, but the Hok have the resources of a thousand planets behind them, and their fleets attack in endless waves. The long war has transformed the Hundred Worlds into heavily fortified star systems. Their economies are geared for military output, and they raise specialized soldiers to save our species. Assault Captain Derek Straker is one such man among many.

Lieutenant Commander Shawn "Calvin" Hobbs has saved Seattle, traveled to the stars and forged new alliances with alien races. With the latest war concluded, he turned his attention to deciphering the strange rod an ancient alien civilization gave him as a test. Was a little downtime to work on the project too much to hope for?

Anderson Cross knows command is his destiny. But a seemingly victorious engagement turns deadly as his ship catapults through space into alien territory. As it escapes, an errant torpedo destroys a relic sacred to the aliens. A holy war starts with one lit match, then explodes. Now, Cross and his executive officer, Kate Flynn, face the might of an alien invasion bent on the destruction of all Earth’s children. Their solitary ship now bears the hatred of an entire species. Can they survive long enough to save humanity?

Kyle Riggs is snatched by an alien spacecraft sometime after midnight. The ship is testing everyone it catches and murdering the weak. The good news is that Kyle keeps passing tests and staying alive. The bad news is the aliens who sent this ship are the nicest ones out there.

The humans on the Sentinel Battle Station have waited a decade in silence for their enemy's return - a merciless, bird-like alien species known as Apex, who are bent on exterminating all other sentient life in the quadrant. But when a strange warship appears, the crew is thrown into chaos as one faction is desperate to communicate with the newcomers, and the other will kill to keep their mission a secret. For the crew of HMS Blackbeard, a Royal Navy warship light years from home, the battle station may be their salvation.

After 26,000 years the Void Wraith have returned. The Eradication has begun. Mankind’s outer colonies are disappearing. Without warning. Without a trace. Fleet command chalks the attacks up to pirates, but Captain Dryker of the UFC Johnston isn’t buying it. Humanity cannot stop them. Not without help. Captain Dryker’s only hope is to forge an alliance with mankind’s greatest enemy, the savage Tigris. One maverick captain, an unlikely crew, and an aging vessel are all that stand between humanity and the Eradication.

Admiral Cat Kimbridge and the Galactic Coalition of Planets must struggle to hold off an aggressive slaving syndicate bent on dominating Earth and the other member worlds of the GCP. New allies and technologies allow the battle to be fought between parallel universes. Just as it seems the GCP will prevail and right will conquer wrong...Cat discovers the real force behind the aggressors is an ancient and virtually unstoppable foe.

Flying at the helm of a powerful battle cruiser, former pirate Catarina Vargus leads a collection of colonists, miners, engineers, and navy personnel to establish an outpost far beyond the frontier. The Royal Navy needs a forward operating base in their war against the alien race known as Apex, who has vowed to exterminate all sentient life in the quarter. Catarina's expedition soon draws the attention of Scandian marauders, driven from their home worlds by plague and war in search of plunder.

The plot by the Galactic Union’s Mercenary Guild against the Four Horsemen has culminated in an invasion of Earth. Faced with an overwhelming force, the human mercs had no choice. They’ve fled, leaving Sansar Enkh to go to the Mercenary Guild headquarters on Capital Planet to stand trial for humanity. On the run, Jim Cartwright and Nigel Shirazi have travelled to the Winged Hussars’ secret base of New Warsaw, in an effort to convince Alexis Cromwell to join the fight, while the other mercenaries who escaped the fall of Earth have gone to the perceived safe haven of Karma.

A chance discovery on the jungle world of Hyperion leads Alliance scientists on a path to creating a permanent spacebridge to the distant Orion Nebula. In a matter of days, great fleets of military and civilian ships depart for the single greatest expedition since the colonization of Alpha Centauri. Into this great adventure travel two heroes of the war, retired Marines Spartan and Teresa Morato, and their son Jack.

Nate and his video gamer friends are given the chance of a lifetime, a six-month tour aboard the Alliance’s newest battleship, ANS Dreadnought. Two years at the Academy has tested Nate’s flying, combat, and technical skills to the limit. But nothing will come close to his greatest test. Captain Gaunt, one of the Alliance’s most decorated officers plans to use Dreadnought to start a war, one that will engulf the region and cost many lives.

In war, mistakes kill. Earth's fleet has just made the biggest one ever. The alien race's sacred relic, destroyed by a misfire.... Will humanity fall?

Disorder and chaos ravage London when thousands are contaminated by the accidental discharge of an experimental bio-weapon. The disease robs its hosts of rational thought, giving them a singular desire - find more living flesh to infect. Cut off from information and senior leadership, one squadron of soldiers under the command of their senior NCO, Sergeant Major Johnson, finds itself forced to operate independently until the remnants of military and government command re-establish themselves safely at sea in the English Channel.