Showing results by author "Terry Maggert" in All Categories

Cullen Bright no longer wears the uniform, but his capacity for violence is unchanged. The Unity Alliance has declared an end to the Hardshell War, but the true threat remains hidden in plain sight. The Haiksos continue to build their genetically modified armies, intent on consuming human systems to feed their hideous plans. With the Unity Marine Corps caught in a political stranglehold, who will stand in their way? Cullen Bright thinks he has the answer. Bright Applied Technologies.

High in Earth's orbit, the Fist of Orion has been busy. With new Shrike attack craft, Van decides it's time to go on the offensive. Despite bringing peace to many of the stars, the war has turned—and come home, bringing with it a new kind fight that Van knows all to well. Politics. With that...

When Van Tudor returns to his childhood home, he inherits more than the family farm. His grandfather used to tell him fantastic stories of spacemen and monsters, princesses and galactic knights. Little did Van realize, the old man's tales were more than fiction; they were real. Hidden beneath the old barn, Van’s legacy is waiting: a starship, not of this world. With his combat AI, an android bird named Perry, Van takes his first steps into the wider galaxy. He soon finds that space is far busier and more dangerous than he could have ever conceived.

Money and power. Van knows it makes the stars go around, but in the wrong hands, it can lead to disaster. Armed with new ships, new fighters, and an iron will, he'll lead the Fist of Orion to one last fight against an ancient enemy—the Stillness. For three generations, the Tudors have battled an organization dedicated to power at any cost, but as the war heats up, the Stillness have partnered with a race who regard humanity as more than an enemy. Humans are... an opportunity. It's going to take more than ships and guns to beat the Stillness—the job requires money. Lots and lots of money.

After two decades of learning at the Nexus, the children of Van and his crew are ready to take their first steps out in the big black. Aboard their new ship, the AnaDarko, the young officers begin unraveling a mystery that goes beyond the depths of time—where did Gabby's people come from, and why does life, scattered across the gas giants, all sound so familiar to her? Under the capable guidance of Rab, a seasoned Peacemaker, the young crew pursues science and knowledge—even as Van and Torina push back against a threat that originates on earth itself.

The Afterfall was just the beginning. The Sorcerers struck their killing blow. The galaxy has collapsed. With communications and logistics crippled, trillions of souls are left adrift in the dark—isolated, abandoned, and desperate. This isn't just a blackout, it's a catastrophic reset...

Alexander Hawkes built the Galactic Knights Uniformed to be different. Not mercenaries. Not enforcers. Peacekeepers. But ideals don't pay the bills. Now the Charter Directorate speaks a new language—one of revenue targets and moral flexibility. While Alexander patrols shopping malls, the galaxy's ugliest truths fester in the shadows. The Nacendo are being herded onto transports like cattle. Planets are harvested for profit. And entire ecosystems are poisoned for mineral rights.

He'd been a Guild Peacemaker, once. But he lost his badge, his family, even his home, to a few bad decisions. Now he works as muscle for one of the planet's more wretched crime lords. Even at rock bottom, Gaelin still believes in honor and protecting the innocent. But in those low circles, being a man of integrity just means absorbing more lumps than he dishes out. A mysterious figure from his past appears out of the shadows. The Peacemaker Guild that once cast him down now needs his help. But help with what?

In a single act of courage, the young American grunt saves an interstellar soldier from certain death at the hands of a vicious killer. Afterward, she promises to show him the stars. Mark will begin his new life far away from Earth—a life not so different from that of a humble soldier. Out among the asteroids, he learns of swords and honor, starships and empires. He learns what it means to be a Peacemaker. Along the way, he's joined by Perry, his combat AI companion who helps Mark learn how to survive—and earn a living—among the stars.

Cullen Bright is the greatest athlete in human history. With over fifty victories in the Enhanced Pentathlon, no one can fight, shoot, or run like him—but it's not enough. Adrift and bored with wealth and fame, he finds his cause when an alien enemy launches a savage war of extermination against The Ten human star systems under Unity control. In a flash of anger, he enlists in the Unity Marines, determined to bring his limitless talent to a cause that is spiraling into chaos and madness. But Cullen will learn that being a Marine isn't a solo sport, and respect isn't given—it's earned.

Van is a veteran now, and the lessons are getting tougher. But so is he. When a ghost ship arrives in port, filled with the victims of a crime beyond imagination, Van and his crew will be drawn into a chase that goes beyond any star system the Peacemakers know.

Calamity, the digital plague, is spreading, and where it strikes is both ruthless and random. Fearful of the Earth being ravaged, Van and the crew go on high alert to keep his homeworld free of galactic influence. That vision is shattered when Tony Burgess captures an alien ship... in Wisconsin. The ship isn't just a stray workboat. It's the opening ploy of a group that sees humanity as a business opportunity too big to pass up. Advancing in rank, Van is torn between two duties—to his crew and to his home.

The revelations Mark Tudor unearthed on Tactus Ares were profound. The Piraxians fell victim to the aggressive, expansionist Eridani Federation. That same confederacy funded and facilitated the Lyrae. They made Stillness. And the Guild was complicit. How does one bring exposure to something the galaxy at large would rather forget? And how does an honorable man remove corruption when its gravity consumes all? A plan is hatched in secret.

Van's next mission has begun, and at the heart of it is the power to save lives. Meanwhile, a hungry galaxy looks to a brilliant young scientist for answers, making her the most wanted person in known space. After years of research, Adayluh Creel perfects a resource to feed sixteen races—or...

When Van gains rank as a Peacemaker, he becomes a bigger target for the criminals scattered among the stars. And he wouldn’t have it any other way. On a distant world under an alien sun, hunters and their companions—the Rovan—bond in a ritual as old as their civilization. But one of the hunters is missing, and Van, along with his growing crew, knows where to look. Climbing up into the rarified air of the super-rich, Van uncovers a new enemy: The Fade. And they are as cruel as the stars are many.

Van and his crew suspect there's more to the Equal Grasp than just a band of thieves, and they begin their campaign at Bopul Station, a lonely outpost where corruption rules and Peacemakers are feared. To continue the fight and the case, the crew and friends need more than just contacts. They need money. To that end, Van begins exploring an old mystery about his grandfather, which leads to the shocking discovery—the Earth is being stripped of its history, one object at a time, but that's not the main purpose of the criminals.

When the Fafnir responds to a desperate distress call, their act of kindness is turned against them, making Van the most wanted man in the known universe. Targeted by a vicious, charismatic politician and his shadowy partner, Van and his friends are faced with a decision that carries long term consequences—deliver justice...or run and hide. The choice is easy. The Fafnir will attack, and criminals will pay regardless of the bounty chasing them across the stars.

A good Gajur gave his life. Will that sacrifice help bring the galaxy back to balance? Or topple known space into a war to end all wars? Armagost wasn't the only light snuffed prematurely. The attack destroyed an irreplaceable piece of Valint's life, as well. Now, Mark must toe the delicate line between lawman and friend, partner and lover. With those in power divided, the work has only begun. The galaxy no longer needs a maker of peace, but a lobbyist and negotiator. In order to deconstruct the entombed and corrupt system, Mark and the gang must stack the deck in their favor.

On the run and out of chances, he guides his ship and crew into the heart of a relic older than the galaxy itself—and find himself on the edge of an eternal war he never knew existed. The relic is a mech, lost to history and forgotten by all who remain. Built by an ancient race to be the ultimate weapon, the machine is capable of unspeakable destruction, and its discovery could unhinge the balance of power throughout known space.

Get ready to experience two more origin stories in the Backyard Starship universe.