Jake Elwood

Out of the frying pan ... Tom Thrush thinks Basic Officer Training is tough - until he joins the frigate Kestrel and finds out what tough really means. The crew resents him. The First Officer is actively hostile. As the ship hunts pirates in deep space Tom struggles to fit in and wonders if things can get any worse. They can. And into the fire of interstellar war A devastating attack leaves the ship crippled with half the crew dead or dying. The senior officers are wiped out, leaving a terrified sublieutenant in the last place he wants to be. In command.

Rumors of War

A washed-up captain. A worn-out ship. A crew of green cadets. And they're Earth's only hope. The Alexander is the last true warship, a relic from the days of interstellar war. She's destined for the scrapyard, and her captain, Richard Hammett, is about to retire. Their last mission is a training run with a ship full of cadets. It's supposed to be a routine hop through a wormhole Gate. But Gates have been going offline, one after another, and Hammett knows in his bones it means trouble. The kind of trouble only a real warship can handle. Defying orders, he takes the Alexander through another Gate, and puts the ship smack dab in the path of an alien invasion. Now a captain at the end of his career will have to take dozens of terrified cadets and forge them into a crew of warriors, because the Alexander is all that stands between the Earth and the swarming ships of the Hive.

Starship Alexander

Brent Nichols

OSTRACIZED Jeff Yi thinks life at the Naval Academy is bad. He's harassed and despised by classmates who resent him for his family connections. He knows things will be different after he graduates. He doesn't know it's about to get a whole lot worse. TARGETED FOR ASSASSINATION A weekend of shore leave turns into a fight for survival when Jeff is attacked by strangely persistent muggers. His family's history makes him a symbol to the anti-fascist movement - which means the fascists see him as a threat. THROWN TO THE WOLVES The admiralty knows there's only one way to keep him safe. He must have his own command. They assign him to the Petrel, a tiny, worn-out stealth ship. He's not qualified for command, and he knows it. His crew knows it too, and they are not impressed. A LOOMING WAR Now, a young officer who only ever wanted to fit in will have to rise to the challenge of command. He'll have to overcome his own doubts and win over a hostile crew, and he'll have to do it quickly, because the galaxy is about to erupt in interstellar war.

Stars Like Cold Fire

A desperate captain. A crippled ship. An impossible choice. The frigate Kestrel has been shot to pieces. She's out of fuel, stranded deep behind enemy lines. It looks hopeless. But Tom Thrush, junior lieutenant and acting captain, has sworn he'll get his people home. Escape means fuel, and that means taking it from the enemy. A daring raid gives the Kestrel a fighting chance - but a rescued prisoner has some disturbing news. A ragtag local militia has put together a fleet. The fleet is gathering - and it's about to blunder into a trap. There's only one way the militia fleet will survive. The battered, exhausted crew of the Kestrel must turn their backs on safety and plunge once more into battle. They're hurt. They're scared. But they have their duty. The Kestrel is a ship of war, and she will not die easy.

Jake Elwood

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