Showing results for "Todd" in First Contact

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.

The aliens didn't conquer Earth. They negotiated exclusive streaming rights instead. Unbeknownst to humanity, the powerful Voltaxians controlled the galaxy, their vast empire fueled by their monopoly on mana. Humanity feared invasion, only to find out the godlike aliens had something far different in mind. The Voltaxians offered a simple deal. Allow them to set up dungeons controlled by living intelligent dungeon cores on Earth to generate mana, and they'd share the wealth.

First contact has been made, and Earth's militaries and its premier mercenary companies stand ready to take their first tentative steps outside the solar system. With a galaxy of aliens to explore and fistfuls of credits to be made, follow along as the Four Horsemen select their contracts and venture forth to meet their destinies.

After a stunning victory at the Merc Guild shipyard of Golara, the leaders of the Four Horsemen mercenary units of Earth have decided it’s time to take back the colonies the Merc Guild has captured, and the Horsemen split up to liberate them. While the Merc Guild still has humanity outnumbered, Alexis Cromwell, the leader of the Winged Hussars, has incorporated the ships captured in Golara into her fleet, and she hopes the Humans can achieve local superiority across four systems with her new battleships and her Egleesius cruisers.

At the bloody height of World War II, the deadliest enemies in all of human history were forced to put aside their hatreds and unite against an even fiercer foe: a seemingly invincible power bent on world domination. With awesome technology, the aggressors swept across the planet, sowing destruction as Tokyo, Berlin, and Washington, D.C., were A-bombed into submission.

The invaders had cut the United States virtually in half at the Mississippi, vaporized Washington, D.C., devastated much of Europe, and held large parts of the Soviet Union under their thumb. But humanity would not give up so easily....

Communist China, Japan, Nazi Germany, the United States: they began World War II as mortal enemies. But suddenly their only hope for survival - never mind victory - was to unite to stop a mighty foe: one whose frightening technology appeared invincible. Far worse beings than the Nazis were loose. From Warsaw to Moscow to China's enemy-occupied Forbidden City, the nations of the world had been forced into an uneasy alliance since humanity began its struggle against overwhelming odds.

The Dusman offered to let humanity become their servitors, but the leaders of Earth’s Four Horsemen were unified in their decision: No, thanks. With the Dusman returning in strength, though, and steadily growing their influence and armed presence, humanity finds itself in a difficult place. The Guild War continues to rage, with planets becoming increasingly desperate for nonexistent help, while the Mercenary Guild continues to sit on its hands, despite Nigel Shirazi’s attempts to break the deadlock.

The Dusman have accepted the Humans as allies but have given no indications as to what their long-term intentions are. Their goals have to be large, though, as they continue to spread their influence across the Human colonies…and beyond. Fighting continues to rage between the guilds, both in the shadows and out in the open for all to see. Although one of the Synthetic Intelligences has been killed, the others are now restive, acting from the shadows to affect events galaxy-wide. As the end of The Guild Wars draws near, one thing is certain—the tempest will rage until the very end.

While the occupation of Earth continues, MinSha mercenaries under the command of Major General Drehnayl have assaulted human-held colonies in the outer rim, wiping them out. With the famed Four Horsemen nowhere to be found, the Mercenary Guild’s attempt to instill fear and subvert humanity is perilously close to reality. Tasked with finding the MinSha is Jessica Francis, Earth’s first Peacemaker, but the odds aren’t in her favor. Jessica realizes that finding Drehnayl's forces isn’t enough - she must do something to stop their atrocities and end their reign of terror.

War has come to the worlds of Humans. The rich planet of Tau-Rietzke, however, is far from Earth and the Mercenary Guild’s invasion, and its alien-registered mercenary companies are a safe haven for humans on the run. Organizations like the Midnight Sun Free Company. Having just completed another successful mission and taken possession of three Raknars, it was party time for Saisho Branco and the Midnight Sun personnel, and they were enjoying a little down time...until the war spilled over into their corner of the galaxy and two competing organizations showed up to steal the Raknars.

The Goltar were marginalized, and the Veetanho did everything they could to make the galaxy forget the Goltar had ever existed. The Goltar went quietly, pretending to sulk and accept their fate but they never did. They worked in the shadows, amassing power and resources, always looking for the right time and right opportunity to re-emerge and strip the hated Veetanho of everything they owned. In the depths of the Spine Nebula, a fly-over region known only for the bad luck of its inhabitants and the dangers that lurks in its fringes, the Goltar have a secret weapon.

Peacemakers. The Galactic Union’s most capable enforcers and resolute negotiators, their name alone elicits fear and awe among the Union’s citizenry. When necessary, the Peacemaker Guild deputizes citizens to carry out special missions of great difficulty and danger. The only person ever to land a Combat Assault System, Personal (CASPer) from high-altitude free fall without a parachute, Tara Mason’s career as a mercenary showed promise, but it crumbled under poor choices and even worse leadership

Fourteen years ago, Alan Porter returned from a contract with a hefty payday for his company, Silent Night, and a surprise: five orphaned Zuul pups. Although Humans and Zuul have faced off on many battlefields, little was known of the ancient mercenary race, and Alan and his wife, Dana, raised them the best they could. The five pups, Rex, Ripley, Drake, Sonya, and Shadow grew to maturity in Australia, happy with their lives. Until a Zuul with the Winged Hussars happens across the strange family and carries news of them home.

Defeated in battle, the fractious alliance of Goltar, Spine Patriots, and the Midnight Sun Free Company are chased across the Spine Nebula by the Endless Night and their sea-monster allies, the Tyzhounes. Abandoning the nebula is not an option. For the free trader skipper, Lenworth Jenkins, the people of its 15 tormented worlds are the cause he’s been searching for all his life.

Having destroyed the starkiller located at Aneb-4, the alliance of Goltar, Spine Patriots, and the Midnight Sun Free Company have gained a bit of breathing space from the criminal organization known as the Endless Night. But the Endless Night isn’t done. They have two more starkillers in their possession, and they are ready to use them against a civilization that no one - especially the Mercenary Guild - is going to miss. Their target: Sol. Although victorious on Aneb-4, the alliance only has the façade of combat power; they need time to re-equip and rearm…time they don’t have.

When Todd’s critically damaged ship dropped out of hyperspace near the human colony world of Azure, he had no memory of his past. He didn’t know who he was, or even what he was, and the humans didn’t either. That didn’t stop the colonists of Azure - they took him in, anyway...even though they didn’t understand how he could do some of the things he could do. Todd and his descendants consider themselves human - eight-armed and water-breathing - but human, nonetheless. After 70 years living among humans, Todd’s descendants are going back out into the Union to make their mark.

Bjorn Tovesson III, the owner of Bjorn’s Berserkers, is a man tied to the past but who’s not afraid to innovate. Whether it is new tactics or new equipment, Bjorn is willing to try anything once, in an effort to grow his company into the status of the fabled Four Horsemen. Looking to the future with his eyes open, though, he has seen a series of unfortunate occurrences running through the ranks of Earth’s mercenaries. Companies in financial troubles, some taking huge losses on contracts...and others not returning from their contracts at all.

In this thrilling conclusion to the breakout military science fiction series, we find Earth plagued with millions of miles of terraformed cities, black vines crushing concrete, revealing iron and steel. Those unable to escape the vines are empty vessels waiting to be filled, living storage for alien algorithmic thought. What else can happen? What more can be done? This has always been a time for heroes, for killers, for Grunts, but are they enough?

Now they’re rebuilding, but strange forces are at work. New friends on the ground and mysterious lights in the sky promise "interesting times" for the Humans and hyper-intelligent Wrogul of Azure. Meanwhile, mercenary leader Verne and Peacemaker Harryhausen resume their search for the ancestral home of Azure’s Wrogul. They encounter distrust, deceit, and misdirection from the all-powerful guilds, but they manage to learn of sightings of Wrogul-like aliens.