Showing titles in First Contact

An explorer tug captain, Alex Racine detects a damaged alien craft drifting into the system. Recognizing a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to make first contact, Alex pulls off a daring maneuver to latch on to the derelict. Alex discovers the ship was attacked by an unknown craft, the first of its kind ever encountered. The mysterious silver ship's attack was both instant and deadly.

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....

Alex Racine, who led an elite group of humans and SADEs (self-ware digital entities), left the newly discovered planet of Celus-5 under difficult circumstances. Few of the Harakens with Alex thought there was little he could do to bring peace to the embroiled planet. From their viewpoint, the demands of the Celus-5 Swei Swee, the six-legged aliens of the ocean, and the Dischnya, the warring, doglike, intelligent creatures who inhabited the dry plains, were too convoluted to solve.

What should have been a routine survey mission became a disaster. To the Harakens' surprise, they discovered, not one but two alien species, which were constantly engaged in conflict. One species, the Dischnya, hid their nests underground, and each nest owed its allegiance to a queen. On the grassy plains, where the Dischnya lived, the resources were scarce, and the warriors competed fiercely.

Until the Confederation created Allora, it had produced SADEs (self-aware digital entities) for hundreds of years with enormous consistency and harnessed their capabilities to power the society. But this particular young SADE was disturbed by her confinement. Trapped in metal-alloy housing on the bridge of a luxury passenger liner, Allora sought to possess the same freedom enjoyed by humans, who came and went from her starship with abandon.

The Méridiens are fleeing to their far colonies - and they have reason to run. Over the course of decades, they have lost hundreds of ships, billions of people, and seven Confederation colonies to an alien enemy: an advancing swarm of silver ships transported in the bowels of a gigantic, spherical vessel. Alex Racine, who once enjoyed the solitary life of an explorer-tug captain, is now an admiral and responsible for the lives of a quarter million Librans.

Nine years of tranquility came to an abrupt end when a Méridien starship entered the Hellébore system, sounding a dire warning for Alex Racine, the Haraken president. Unwanted visitors had arrived again. But this time, they're not alien; they're human. Claiming to have followed the course of a colony ship launched a millennium ago when Earth wrestled with resource wars and climate change, the mission commander, Antonio García, requests a meeting with the planet's leaders.

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.

Die Physikerin Susan Boyle überwacht im antarktischen Winter ein Neutrino-Teleskop. Sie empfängt ein Signal aus der Richtung eines nahen Sternhaufens, kann aber nichts Außergewöhnliches erkennen. Bis nach und nach immer mehr Sterne am Himmel verschwinden. Der Astronaut Colin Curtis bereitet sich im Mondorbit auf seine Landung vor. Aber das Manöver wird abgebrochen, als eine Astronomin seiner Crew ein außerirdisches Raumschiff entdeckt, das sich mit großer Geschwindigkeit unserem Sonnensystem nähert. Es schickt eine Funkbotschaft an die Menschheit, bevor es davonrast.

Humanity lurches into an uncertain future, dismissive of warning signs. Only the most naïve believe humanity will step back from the brink. Yet in a place that doesn’t exist, a riddle, a puzzle, hope, fear, danger, salvation - all come together. Zach Marjek has faced death in the far corners of the Earth and survived where others have failed. Now, he's thrust into an unimaginable situation where mercenaries, an Inuit wanderer, a murderous Yupik, a young mother, a video game designer, a retired general, a president, a Chinese marine, and mathematics prodigies must come together.

Isaac Lestroud, admiral of the Exilium Space Fleet, has spent the last three years working with Ambassador Amelie Lestroud to build an alliance against the Rogue Matrices, AIs bent on converting every world into a paradise, regardless of whether anyone lives on it. As Isaac hunts the Rogue that destroyed one of their allies’ homeworlds, Amelie begins negotiations with a potential new ally that could tip the balance.

A dying world, shattered by a broken machine. A desperate flight, their only hope for refuge. A robotic race, ally and destroyer alike. The Republic of Exilium has grown in strength and confidence at the far end of the galaxy from the rest of mankind, sending out scout ships to survey the worlds around them as they try to learn more about the mysterious Construction Matrix AIs. Finding one of the genocidal rogues of that mysterious “race” in the process of destroying an inhabited world, Captain Octavio Catalan takes his ship into a desperate battle.

It’s been four years since Earth threw its full military prowess against the Lanky incursion. Humanity has been yanked back from the abyss of extinction. The solar system is at peace. For now. The future for Major Andrew Grayson of the Commonwealth Defense Corps and his wife, Halley? Flying desk duty on the front. No more nightmares of monstrous things. No more traumas to the mind and body. But when an offer comes down from above, Andrew has to make a choice: continue pushing papers into retirement, or jump right back into the fight? What’s a podhead to do?

When Lily is freed from alien captivity, she refuses to wait for rescue - or recapture. She'll take her chances in the forest. Navigating the exotic terrain won't be easy, but it beats the alternative. Then, an enormous alien falls into her camp and makes her question everything. He's rude, grumpy, and annoyingly sexy. Trusting him would be a mistake. And yet...the idea of leaving him behind hurts way more than it should.

After three years of exile from humanity's war against the Kurians, David Valentine returns to battle. The Lifeweavers, Earth's allies in the conflict, have mostly vanished, but those that remain are held captive by an overlord known as the Seattle Kurian. To free them, Valentine must convince the legendary resistance fighter known as Adler to join his cause. But the "Old Man" is something of an overlord himself....

Firstname Lastname is a no one with nowhere to go, with a name that is the result of an unfortunate clerical error and destined to be one of the only humans on an alien space station. That is, until she sneaks aboard a ship and joins up with a crew of repo men (they are definitely not pirates). Now she's traveling the galaxy "recovering" ships. What could go wrong?

Tragedy had reduced James to a nobody. Washed up and homeless in NYC, he thought his life was over. Then a message appeared in his vision: [60,000-year countdown has ended] [Nemesis 1 released] [Please acknowledge]. As the world falls apart, as billions die, as society collapses, and all hope seems lost, James discovers a powerful truth: he was wrong to think himself a nobody.

Eight years after their ship crash-landed, the colonists from Earth have learned to survive on another world. Despite the relative harmony of the colony, Galena remains a treacherous place. The oceans are ruled by massive aquatic beasts that restrict the survivors to their farms and the lands beyond...where other dangers lurk. A chance recovery of multipurpose space suits in a salvage crate and an unnatural tunnel leading away from the colony unlock a pathway to exploring the forbidden oceans, where an amazing discovery awaits.

As war breaks out among the colonies, a huge ship appears over the UPP mining planet Shānmén, releasing a horror that yields hideous transformations. Rescue is too far away, and the colonists’ only hope appears in the form of the vessel Righteous Fury. It carries the Jackals—an elite mix of former Colonial Marines and Royal Marines. Led by Zula Hendricks, the Jackals seek to rescue the few survivors from the depths of the planet, but have they arrived on time?

Over two hundred years after the first colonists landed on Pax, a new set of explorers arrives from Earth on what they claim is a temporary scientific mission. But the Earthlings misunderstand the nature of the Pax settlement and its real leader. Even as Stevland attempts to protect his human tools, a more insidious enemy than the Earthlings makes itself known. Stevland is not the apex species on Pax.