by Acusiont
Stariek has slumbered under two centuries of peace. No enemies. No flags but its own. Its children have grown old never fearing invasion. Their illusion of peace is shattered when Dwarven corsairs begin pillaging in iron hulks, snatching hundreds of civilians from passenger liners. Then the Hyperion Empire arrives, its dreadnoughts ready to strip the planet of its resources. First Lieutenant Ethan Fischer enlisted for the stipend—three years of paper pushing to pay off a half-finished engineering degree that grew more and more useless by the day. But when his fiancée is killed in one of the Druthagar pirates’ attacks, he abandons his books and straps into the cockpit. Live or die, he’ll kill until they kill him. Provost Hayden Reid has never ordered his people to die. He signs trade pacts, kisses babies, and cuts ribbons at new starports. Now, with his people vanishing and Hyperion generals offering “protection” at the barrel of a magnetic cannon, he must decide how much of Stariek’s soul he can sell to keep its people from tearing each other apart. General Augusta Zorn has spent twelve years orbiting dead-end posts in training facilities while his rivals in Imperial Command raise toasts to his grave before he occupies it. Finally, he smells blood and the promotion he has always sought. All he has to do is deliver Stariek and pacify the pirates. And he’ll torch the planet if he must. But lurking in the shadows is something older than empire or pirate. Something that is hungry enough to make petty conquerors look like nothing more than children chucking rocks at hurricanes. If they can’t sheathe their knives long enough to face it, Stariek won’t be the only thing that burns.
