Cruel Stars Trilogy – serie

With a ruthless sect of humanity intent on wiping out their species, five intrepid heroes must think like their enemies in this epic SF adventure.They thought the Sturm were dead. They were wrong.Centuries after their defeat, the enemy has returned with an overwhelming attack on the fringes of human space. On the brink of annihilation, humankind's only hope is a few brave souls who survived the initial onslaught: Commander Lucinda Hardy, commander of the Royal Armadalen Navy's only surviving warship; Booker3, a soldier of Earth, sentenced to die for treason; Alessia, a young royal forced to flee when her home planet is overrun and her entire family executed; Sephina L'trel, the leader of an outlaw band. And, finally, retired Admiral Frazer McLennan, the infamous hero of the first war with the Sturm, who hopes to rout his old foes once and for all – or die trying. These five flawed, reluctant heroes must band together to prevail against a relentless enemy and near-impossible odds. For if they fail, the future itself is doomed.

Centuries after they were defeated and exiled to dark space, The Sturm have returned.The Sturm, an empire of species purists, have returned from the farthest reaches of Dark Space to wage a war against what they call mutants and borgs: any human being with genetic or neural engineering. In a sneak attack on the galaxy-spinning networks, they overwhelmed almost all of humanity's defenses, blasting dark code that transformed anyone connected to the system into a mindless psychotic killer. The Sturm's victory seemed complete, their final triumph inevitable, until one small band of intrepid, unlikely heroes struck back.Commander Lucinda Hardy and Admiral Frazer McLennan used the Armadalen Navy's final surviving warship to fend off the Sturm, destroying the massed power of an entire Attack Fleet. With brilliant tactics, this ragtag crew sent the Sturm running, managing to save Princess Alessia, the sole surviving heir to the gigantic Montanblanc Corporation and perhaps Earth's only remaining senator.Now left with the remains of a fallen civilization, they must work together to rebuild what was lost and root out the numberless enemies of Earth. The Sturm invaders remain vastly more powerful – and they may not be the only threat lurking in the darkness of space...

With sheer weight of numbers, the Sturm's Combined Fleet of the (self-proclaimed) Human Republic are driving ever deeper into the network of worlds they were exiled from over three centuries ago.At a horrendous cost, Commander Lucinda Hardy, Admiral Fraser McLennan, Sephina L'trel, Booker3 and Princess Alessia lead the only resistance to the Sturm's overwhelming forces. Amid the ruins of a civilisation utterly corrupted by the Sturm's horrific darkcode malware, they must gather allies and weapons where they can. Old enmities must be overcome and unlikely partnerships forged.Surrounded, outnumbered and outgunned, the resistance cannot hold out. By strategy and deception, they must force a decisive confrontation with the Sturm.A final stand that will demand the ultimate sacrifice... and extreme violence.