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Chapters (44)
  1. The Crimson Worlds Series
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  3. Chapter One
  4. Chapter Two
  5. Chapter Three
  6. Chapter Four
  7. Chapter Five
  8. Chapter Six
  9. Chapter Seven
  10. Chapter Eight
  11. Chapter Nine
  12. Chapter Ten
  13. Chapter Eleven
  14. Chapter Twelve
  15. Chapter Thirteen
  16. Chapter Fourteen
  17. Chapter Fifteen
  18. Chapter Sixteen
  19. Chapter Seventeen
  20. Chapter Eighteen
  21. Chapter Nineteen
  22. Chapter Twenty
  23. Chapter Twenty-One
  24. Chapter Twenty-Two
  25. Chapter Twenty-Three
  26. Chapter Twenty-Four
  27. Chapter Twenty-Five
  28. Chapter Twenty-Six
  29. Chapter Twenty-Seven
  30. Chapter Twenty-Eight
  31. Chapter Twenty-Nine
  32. Chapter Thirty
  33. Chapter Thirty-One
  34. Chapter Thirty-Two
  35. Chapter Thirty-Three
  36. Chapter Thirty-Four
  37. Chapter Thirty-Five
  38. Chapter Thirty-Six
  39. Chapter Thirty-Seven
  40. Chapter Thirty-Eight
  41. Chapter Thirty-Nine
  42. Chapter Forty
  43. Chapter Forty-One
  44. Epilogue

But Barron knew the worst wasn’t over. Not yet. The last fighter was five seconds behind the first, a brief snippet of time, but for Tyler Barron it seemed to stretch to a small eternity. He knew his guns weren’t going to get this one.

He felt the impact—Dauntless vibrated hard, and then tumbled end over end from the force of impact. He could hear a series of sickening shrieks as his ship’s innards groaned under the stress, and terrible cracks as structural supports snapped. He slammed forward into his harness, and barely held back a shout from the pain. The stabilizers were out, at least temporarily, his vessel’s simulated gravity out of control. The lights on the bridge blinked twice and then went out, leaving nothing but the soft glow of the battery powered emergency lamps…and the sounds of alarm bells from deep within the ship.

Chapter Thirty-Four

Chapter Thirty-Four

CFS Dauntless

Krillus Asteroid Belt

39, 000,000 kilometers from Santis, Krillus IV

Year 58 (307 AC)

“Full thrust Optiomagis. Directly toward the enemy.” Kat’s words came from the training, from the relentless automaton a life as the scion one of the Alliance’s premier Patrician families had made her. But inside, in the part of her mind where the essence of Katrine Rigellus clung to it tenuous existence, she was troubled.

“Full thrust, Commander.” Wentus’s response was sharp, crisp. It was clear the officer knew Invictus had the advantage in the fight, that it was time to deliver the final blow. Victory, the mantra of the Alliance. Her people had been somber, watching as the last of Invictus’s fighters were destroyed in the relentless assault on the enemy ship. They had been subdued as their ship had careened away from the enemy, trapped on a vector their disabled engines couldn’t reverse. But now they were on the verge of destroying their foe. Years of education, of propaganda had taught them what to think.

Victory. In the Alliance it was the highest of all things. It made any sacrifice worth the cost. Kat saw seventy dead pilots, faces of respected subordinates…even a few she might have called friends if they hadn’t been serving under her. But she knew her people saw heroes, men and women who had achieved the highest honor, death in the cause of victory.

Junus…gone…