After years spent in the saps under the defenses of the apparently impregnable city of Ap’Iscatoy, Bardas Loredan, sometimes fencer-at-law and betrayed defender of the famed Triple City, is suddenly hero of the Empire. His reward is a boring administrative job in a backwater, watching armor tested to destruction in the Proof House. But the fall of Ap’Iscatoy has opened up unexpected possibilities for the expansion of the Empire into the land of the Plains people, and Bardas Loredan is the one man Temrai the Great, King of the Plains tribes, fears the most. The Proof House is the gripping, hugely entertaining conclusion of K.J. Parker’s Fencer Trilogy.

An omnibus of books four, five and six in this fast-paced military SF series, full of action, adventure and intrigue, from the undisputed masters of the genre.
THE SIGNS POINT TO WAR

When rebels plot to murder the Emperor during a diplomatic delegation, Imperial bodyguard Sten only just manages to save his master s life. But the same plot took out the visiting Tahn delegation, causing relationships between the two powers to crumble completely.

While both sides gather their forces, the Emperor suggests that Sten join the Imperial Air Force, where he ll train for space combat. Sten finds himself back in basic training, with what feels like the same brash sergeants and raw recruits from his army days. But one thing is certain, he s never seen a war like the one that s coming . . .

This omnibus edition contains: FLEET OF THE DAMNED, REVENGE OF THE DAMNED and THE RETURN OF THE EMPEROR

Kylara Vatta is the only daughter in a family full of sons, and her father’s only child to buck tradition by choosing a military career instead of joining the family business. For Ky, it’s no contest: Even running the prestigious Vatta Transport Ltd. shipping concern can’t hold a candle to shipping out as an officer aboard an interstellar cruiser. It’s adventure, not commerce, that stirs her soul. And despite her family’s misgivings, there can be no doubt that a Vatta in the service will prove a valuable asset. But with a single error in judgment, it all comes crumbling down.

Expelled from the Academy in disgrace–and returning home to her humiliated family, a storm of high-profile media coverage, and the gaping void of her own future–Ky is ready to face the inevitable onslaught of anger, disappointment, even pity. But soon after opportunity’s door slams shut, Ky finds herself with a ticket to ride– and a shot at redemption–as captain of a Vatta Transport ship.

It’s a simple assignment: escorting one of the Vatta fleet’s oldest ships on its final voyage . . . to the scrapyard. But keeping it simple has never been Ky’s style. And even though her father has provided a crew of seasoned veterans to baby-sit the fledgling captain on her maiden milk run, they can’t stop Ky from turning the routine mission into a risky venture–in the name of turning a profit for Vatta Transport, of course.

By snapping up a lucrative delivery contract defaulted on by a rival company, and using part of the proceeds to upgrade her condemned vehicle, Ky aims to prove she’s got more going for her than just her family’s famous name. But business will soon have to take a backseat to bravery, when Ky’s change of plans sails her and the crew straight into the middle of a colonial war. For all her commercial savvy, it’s her military training and born-soldier’s instincts that Ky will need to call on in the face of deadly combat, dangerous mercenaries, and violent mutiny...

Kylara Vatta, risk-taking, rule-breaking, can-do heroine of Trading in Danger, is back in business–the kind that’s anything but usual–in the new military science fiction adventure by ace action storyteller Elizabeth Moon.

The exciting military career she hoped for never got off the ground–but Ky Vatta ended up seeing plenty of combat when she took the helm of one of the commercial transport vessels in her family’s fleet . . . and steered it into a full-blown war. Now the lessons she learned in that trial by fire are about to pay off: because this time, the war has come to her. To be exact, someone unknown has launched a full-throttle offensive against Vatta Transport Ltd., Ky’s father’s interstellar shipping empire. In short order, most of Ky’s family is killed, and subsequent attacks sever vital lines of communication, leaving Ky fighting, in every sense, to survive.

Determined to identify the ruthless mystery enemy and avenge her family’s name, Ky needs not only firepower but information. And she gets both in spades–from the band of stranded mercenaries she hooks up with, from her black-sheep cousin, Stella, who’s been leading a secret life, and from Stella’s roguish ex-lover, Rafe. Together they struggle to penetrate the tangled web of political intrigue that’s wreaking havoc within InterStellar Communications, whose effective operation their own livelihoods–and perhaps lives–depend on.

But the infighting proves to be infectious, and it isn’t long before Ky’s hired military muscle are turning their suspicions on the enigmatic Rafe, whose wealth of knowledge about ISC’s clashing factions and startling new technologies has begun to make him smell like a rat . . . or a mole. With swift, violent destruction a very real possibility, the last thing Ky needs is a crew divided against itself–and she’s prepared to take whatever measures are necessary to ensure that Vatta stays in business, as well as in one piece.

What she’s not prepared for is the shocking truth behind the terror– and a confrontation with murderous treachery from a source as unexpected as it is unrelenting.

In the wake of a series of assassinations that have left her parents dead and their shipping empire in ruins, Kylara Vata, the unorthodox renegade heir to Vatta Transport, Ltd., one of the galaxy s wealthiest merchant houses, sets out to avenge their death.

Skyball is popular, challenging, and violent. In other words, the greatest sport in the universe. The mercenary team of Star Risk, Ltd. has been hired to watch it...closely. Two opposing worlds are neck and neck, and lately the game s been a real killer. Riots, murder, a real madhouse for loyal fans. It s up to Star Risk to keep it galaxy-friendly. Good luck to them. They don t stand a sporting chance.

M chel Riss and the Star Risk, Ltd. team find themselves in the middle of a strange assignment: a staged bank robbery that involves putting money back. But the job soon takes an even stranger turn when they get caught up in a full-fledged war over an addictive new consumer product. The roguish mercenaries will need to rely on every resource possible to make a buck and make it out alive-in this fast-paced tale of hard-hitting action and a double-cross or three...

While escorting a group of privileged and wild girls from a finishing school on Earth to one of the luxury worlds, the Star Risk Ltd. team crosses paths with the huge security firm, Cerebus Systems--which has just put Star Risk Ltd. on the top of its enemy list. Original.

With the Vatta s War series, award-winning author Elizabeth Moon has claimed a place alongside such preeminent writers of military science fiction as David Weber and Lois McMaster Bujold. Now Moon is back and so is her butt-kicking, take-no-prisoners heroine, Kylara Vatta. Once the black-sheep scion of a prosperous merchant family, Kylara now leads a motley space force dedicated to the defeat of a rapacious pirate empire led by the mysterious Gammis Turek.

After orchestrating a galaxy-wide failure of the communications network owned and maintained by the powerful ISC corporation, Turek and his marauders strike swiftly and without mercy. First they shatter Vatta Transport. Then they overrun entire star systems, growing stronger and bolder. No one is safe from the pirate fleet. But while they continue to move forward with their diabolical plan, they have made two critical mistakes.

Their first mistake was killing Kylara Vatta s family.
Their second mistake was leaving her alive.
Now Kylara is going to make them pay.

But with a fleet consisting of only three ships including her flagship, the Vanguard, a souped-up merchant cruiser Kylara needs allies, and fast. Because even though she possesses the same coveted communication technology as the enemy, she has nowhere near their numbers or firepower.

Meanwhile, as Kylara s cousin Stella tries to bring together the shattered pieces of the family trading empire, new treachery is unfolding at ISC headquarters, where undercover agent Rafael Dunbarger, estranged son of the corporation s CEO, is trying to learn why the damaged network is not being repaired. What he discovers will send shock waves across the galaxy and crashing into Kylara s newly christened Space Defense Force at the worst possible moment.

Civitas Vadanis is in trouble. The Mezentines have declared war, and the Mezentines are very focused on their goals when it comes to killing.

Duke Valens, of Civitas Vadanis, has a dilemma. He knows that his city cannot withstand the invading army, yet its walls are his only defence against the Mezentines. Perhaps the only way to save his people is to flee, but that will not be easy either.

Ziani Vaatzes, an engineer exiled by the Mezentines for his abominable creations, has already proven that he can defend a city. But Ziani Vaatzes has his own concerns, and the fate of Civitas Vadanis may not be one of them.

The engineer Ziani Vaatzes engineered a war to be reunited with his family. The deaths were regrettable, but he had no choice.

Duke Valens dragged his people into the war to save the life of one woman - a woman whose husband he then killed. He regrets the evil he s done, but he, equally, had no choice.

Secretary Psellus never wanted to rule the Republic, or fight a desperate siege for its survival. As a man of considerable intelligence, he knows that he has a role to play - and little choice but to accept it.

The machine has been built. All that remains is to set it in motion.

In the turbulent age of the human Confederation empire, a forgotten branch of the Army patrols the farthest reaches of civilisation. And as the volatile confederation begins to implode, they become humanity s last hope for the future - the men and women of the Last Legion.

A vast and hostile force is attacking prosperous trade centres, destroying their space fleets then moving on, leaving death and chaos in their wake. Admiral Ky Vatta’s family was decimated by one such attack and Turek, the pirate force’s leader, will not escape her vengeance.

Ky has a loyal taskforce, but the enemy have three times the ships and the firepower to match. She must offset these advantages with her knowledge of military strategy and her ace: superior ansible technology, facilitating fast and accurate in-space intelligence.

The alternative to victory is unthinkable - devastation of interplanetary trading networks on a galaxy-wide scale - and the end of a way of life.

In the years since the last Slug War, Jason s command style hasn t made him any friends in the Army. Now, in an effort to keep him out of trouble, the Army has sent Jason to the vast, Earth-orbiting resort called New Moon. At the core of this enormous space station is a starship, a relic from the last war.

When a test run of the ship goes wrong, Jason, along with a handful of others, will be torn from orbit and thrust into space. Now, stranded on an alien planet, Jason realizes that not only are his friends are looking to him for rescue, but an entire planet sees him as their only hope.

Jason Wander is ready to lead the final charge into battle.

After forty years of fighting the Slugs, mankind s reunited planets control the vital crossroad that secures their uneasy union. The doomsday weapon that can end the war, and the mighty fleet that will carry it to the Slug homeworld, lie within humanity s grasp.

Since the Slug Blitz orphaned Jason Wander, he has risen from infantry recruit to commander of Earth s garrisons on the emerging allied planets. But four decades of service have cost Jason not just his friends and family, but his innocence.

When an enemy counter stroke threatens to reverse the war and destroy mankind, Jason must finally confront not only his lifelong alien enemy, but the reality of what a lifetime as a soldier has made him.

An omnibus edition of the first three books in this fast-paced military SF series, full of action, adventure and intrigue, from the undisputed masters of military SF.
Vulcan is a factory planet, centuries old, Company run, ugly as sin, and unfeeling as death. Vulcan breeds just two types of native - complacent or tough. Sten is tough.
When his family is killed in a mysterious accident, Sten rebels, harassing the Company from the metal world s endless mazelike warrens. It s a fool s errand, of course - no man can stand against the might of the Company and expect to live. But Sten isn t just any man.
From the corrupt and brutal factories of Vulcan to the plots and intrigues of the Imperial Court, the galaxy is about to come face-to-face with the ultimate warrior. Sten s already learned how to survive - now he wants more, he wants control of his own destiny. And he ll do whatever it takes to get it.
No compromise, no retreat, no surrender. Only Sten.

Germline (n.) the genetic material contained in a cellular lineage which can be passed to the next generation. Also: secret military program to develop genetically engineered super-soldiers (slang).

War is Oscar Wendell s ticket to greatness. A reporter for The Stars and Stripes, he has the only one way pass to the front lines of a brutal war over natural resources buried underneath the icy, mineral rich mountains of Kazakhstan.

But war is nothing like he expected. Heavily armored soldiers battle genetically engineered troops hundreds of meters below the surface. The genetics-the germline soldiers-are the key to winning this war, but some inventions can t be un-done. Some technologies can t be put back in the box.

Kaz will change everything, not least Oscar himself. Hooked on a dangerous cocktail of adrenaline and drugs, Oscar doesn t find the war, the war finds him.

Escaped Germline soldiers need to be cleaned up, and Stan Resnick is the best man for the job. A job that takes him to every dark spot and every rat hole he can find.

Operatives from China and Unified Korea are gathering escaped or stolen Russian and American genetics, and there are reports of new biological nightmares: half-human things, bred to live their entire lives encased in powered armor suits.

Stan fights to keep himself alive and out of prison while he attempts to capture a genetic, one who will be able to tell him everything he needs to know about an newer threat, the one called "Project Sunshine."

Chimera is the third and final volume of The Subterrene War Trilogy, which tells the story of a single war from the perspective of three different combatants. The first two volumes, GERMLINE and EXOGENE, are available now.

Exogene (n.): factor or agent (as a disease-producing organism) from outside the organism or system. Also: classified Russian program to merge proto-humanoids with powered armor systems (slang).

Catherine is a soldier. Fast, strong, lethal, she is the ultimate in military technology. She s a monster in the body of an eighteen year old girl. Bred by scientists, grown in vats, indoctrinated by the government, she and her sisters will win this war, no matter the cost.

And the costs are high. Their life span is short, as they age they become unstable and they undergo a process called the spoiling. On their eighteenth birthday they are discharged. Lined up and shot like cattle.

But the truth is, Catherine and her sisters may not be strictly human, but they re not animals. They can twist their genomes and indoctrinate them to follow the principles of Faith and Death, but they can t shut off the part of them that wants more than war. Catherine may have only known death, but she dreams of life and she will get it at any cost.