In this thrilling new installment in the Far Stars saga, a reluctant hero with a bloody past must reunite with an old love to battle an evil emperor willing to destroy all their worlds if he cannot control them.
When the Far Stars came under imperial attack, Astra Lucerne-the daughter and successor of the Far Stars' greatest conqueror-Marshal Augustin Lucerne-rallied her father's confederation forces to defend their worlds. They were joined in the fight by former imperial general Arkarin Blackhawk, a warrior whose skills and brutality made him infamous, and who has, for two decades, sought the redemption he knows is unreachable.
Now, with the imperial foothold in the sector eliminated, the Far Stars is free and almost united. While Astra's forces continue to depose local tyrants and warlords, Ark and his crew have slipped back into the shadows. Though his heart belongs to Astra, Ark cannot get too close. His imperial conditioning remains under control, but it is still volatile, and the temptation of power threatens to unleash the dark compulsions that made him the most merciless of the emperor's servants. He cannot risk allowing Astra to see the darkness inside him.
But while the battle has been won, the war may not be over. A petty smuggler makes a discovery that can enable the emperor to strike back and crush the resistance-unless Ark and Astra join forces again to stop him.
Red Team Alpha. An elite military unit. Twenty highly trained veteran warriors, Mars's best. They are capable, dedicated, armed with the best technology Mars has to offer. And they don't exist, at least not officially. Now the team will be called upon to face its greatest test. On a planet in a newly discovered system there is a mysterious wreck, the remains of an ancient ship. The discovery is a momentous one, first contact and proof that mankind is not alone in the universe. It is a job for the Team, but even these crack soldiers will be tested to the limit of their abilities as they uncover the dark horror within, a technological nightmare that threatens the very future of humanity. The soldiers of Alpha will fight, ignoring the odds as usual, but this time they will be caught between two enemies. For they are not the only ones who know about the ruins. Even now, the notorious Gavin Stark and his Alliance Intelligence forces are on the move, seeking to seize the ancient vessel and the priceless technology within for their own purposes. And they are ready to do whatever is necessary to gain the priceless ship . . . including wiping out Red Team Alpha completely.
Blackhawk: a wanderer, a man running from a dark and sinister past. A genetically-engineered warrior, a capable and accomplished killer, he is also a lost soul, a man who has fled to the deepest reaches of space seeking his true identity. The Far Stars: the farthest extent of human habitation in the galaxy, a sector of a hundred inhabited worlds, it is a dangerous expanse full of pirates, mercenaries, and cutthroats. The sector is a rough and rugged frontier, lying beyond the darkness of the great Void, and the only place in all the vastness of space where men live free of the brutal empire that rules the rest of mankind. Celtiboria: once the premier world in the Far Stars, now a planet wracked by centuries of brutal civil war, driven to the edge of a dark age by the unending struggle among its Warlords for power and control. Augustin Lucerne: one of Celtiboria's feuding Warlords, a brilliant tactician and a respected commander. Lucerne is something rare on Celtiboria, in all of the Far Stars . . . an honorable man who fights not for personal aggrandizement but to save his world.
The planet Haven slides closer to revolution against its parent nation, Federal America. Everett Wells, the fair-minded planetary governor, tried to create a peaceful resolution, but his failure has caused the government to send Asha Stanton, a ruthless federal operative, to quell the insurgency. Wells quickly realizes that Stanton has the true power . . . and two battalions of government security troops under her control. Unlike Wells, Stanton is prepared to resort to extreme methods to break the back of the gathering rebellion. But the people of Haven have their own ideas. They are not the beaten-down masses of Earth, but people with the courage and fortitude to tame a new world. Damian Ward is such a resident of Haven, a retired veteran and decorated war hero, who has watched events on his adopted world with growing apprehension. He sympathizes with the revolutionaries, but he is loath to rebel against the flag he fought to defend. That is, until Stanton's reign of terror intrudes into his life-and threatens those he loves. Yet the battle-scarred warrior knows that even if Haven's freedom fighters defeat the federalists, the rebellion is far from over . . . it's only just begun.
The battle for the unification and rule of the Far Stars Confederation will be decided in this exhilarating third and final book in the swashbuckling space saga begun with Shadow of Empire and Enemy in the Dark.
The Far Stars stands on the edge of a precipice. The forces of Governor Vos have surged forth, conquering worlds and imposing the emperor's brutal rule over millions. Only one thing stands in the way of total victory: Marshal Augustin Lucerne and his newly created Confederation. Vos has a simple plan: assassinate the marshal, and manipulate his generals to fight over his legacy, destroying each other in the process.
But another threat lurks: Arkarin Blackhawk. The smuggler and mercenary has been the marshal's ally, working in the shadows and unraveling Vos' plans. The governor can only hope the mysterious adventurer continues to resist a formal position in the Confederation.
Or he can have Blackhawk assassinated, too.
Because with Blackhawk succeeding Lucerne, the black and gold imperial flags will be stained red with blood. For his is a dark and dangerous past, and if he is put at the helm of the Confederation armies, the brutal imperial general he once had been may rise once again.
The Far Stars are facing the final battle. The Imperials seem unstoppable. But if Blackhawk somehow survives-and can come to grips with the horror deep within him-he just might be able to save the Far Stars from the iron hand of empire.
The second book in the Far Star series follows Blackhawk and the crew of the Wolf's Claw as they are gradually (and unwillingly) drawn more deeply into Marshal Lucerne's campaign to form a united power bloc in the Far Stars to resist imperial encroachment.
Successfully completing their mission to rescue Marshal Augustin Lucerne's daughter, Astra, the crew of the Wolf's Claw are enjoying some well-deserved rest-all, that is, except Blackhawk. The space gun for hire cannot escape Lucerne's relentless pleas for help against growing imperial control in the Far Stars. While Blackhawk deeply respects his friend, he fears that the power Lucerne offers will lead him back to his old dark ways.
His resistance crumbles, however, when Lucerne presents evidence that the imperial governor has been manipulating the conflicts in the Far Stars. Convinced of the deadly danger of imperial domination, Blackhawk and his crew board the Wolf's Claw once more and set out to gather intelligence on the Empire's movements-the proof Lucerne needs to unite the fractured and feuding worlds of the Far Stars into single power bloc capable of resisting imperial aggression. But deep in the sparsely populated territory of the Far Stars, he discovers that the imperial governor's machinations are far reaching-and threaten the independence of every world this side of the Void.
A man seemingly running from himself, Blackhawk is beginning to realize he can no longer remain a prisoner to his own past while the future of the Far Stars is in jeopardy.
The first installment in the Far Star series, a swashbuckling space saga that introduces the daring pirate Blackhawk and the loyal crew of the Wolf’s Claw, from the author of the bestselling Crimson Worlds saga.
Smuggler and mercenary Arkarin Blackhawk and the crew of the ship Wolf’s Claw are freelance adventurers who live on the fringe of human society in the Far Stars. A veteran fighter as deadly with a blade as he is with a gun, Blackhawk is a man haunted by a dark past. Even his cynicism cannot banish the guilt and pain that threaten his sanity.
Sent to rescue the kidnapped daughter of his longtime friend Marshal Augustin Lucerne, Blackhawk and his crew find themselves drawn into one deadly fight after another. When the Wolf’s Claw is damaged, they are forced to land on a remote planet subsumed by civil war. Pulled unwittingly into the conflict, they uncover disturbing information about secret imperial involvement that could upset the plans of Lucerne.
For the Marshal is determined to forge a Far Stars Confederation powerful enough to eliminate all imperial influence and threats in the sector. He needs a skilled warrior like Blackhawk on his side, but the mercenary, plagued by dark memories from the past, refuses to join the cause. All too soon, though, he and his crew will have to take a stand.
