Company Wars

The Beyond started with the Stations orbiting the stars nearest Earth. The Great Circle the interstellar freighters traveled was long, but not unmanageable, and the early Stations were emotionally and politically dependent on Mother Earth. The Earth Company which ran this immense operation reaped incalculable profits and influenced the affairs of nations. Then came Pell, the first station centered around a newly discovered living planet. The discovery of Pell's World forever altered the power balance of the Beyond. Earth was no longer the anchor which kept this vast empire from coming adrift, the one living mote in a sterile universe. But Pell was just the first living planet. Then came Cyteen, and later others, and a new and frighteningly different society grew in the farther reaches of space. The importance of Earth faded and the Company reaped ever smaller profits as the economic focus of space turned outward. But the powerful Earth Fleet was sitll a presence in the Beyond, and Pell Station was to become the last stronghold in a titanic struggle between the vast, dynamic forces of the rebel Union and those who defended Earth's last, desperate grasp for the stars.

Louis Sacchetti is a poet and pacifist imprisoned for refusing to enlist in the war against Third World guerillas. After he and the other inmates are used in perverse scientific experiments, Sacchetti is infected with a germ that raises intelligence to incredible heights while causing decay and death.

RIMRUNNERS In space the line between patriot and pirate is as thin as a laser. And a lethal battle for power can be as near as your starship's next deck... THE SPOOK Loki - mercenary spy ship and bounty hunter. It's the legal arm of the Merchanters' Alliance; but once enlisted, no crew member leaves Loki alive... THE SOLDIER Bet Yeager - a killer elite Earth Company Marine whose side lost. Now she's forced to escape aboard Loki, surrounded by enemies and hunting her old comrades. Yeager has nowhere to run, nowhere to hide. A single wrong word can give her away. And the fighting skills she must use to survive may be her death warrant...

Discovered alone and without his memory on his drifting ship, pilot Paul Dekker is accused of the murder of his crew members and he must rely on the help of renegade miner Morris Bird to learn the truth. Reprint.

A futuristic tale of governmental coverups, betrayal, and murder follows the belter Pollard as he tries to determine if his partner's space flight training accident was a mishap or attempted murder.

Merchanter Cargo Chief Marie Hawkins has never forgiven the crime, nor sought justice. Only vengeance. And, for 23 years, the Hawkins's clan ship, Sprite, has lived with her vendetta - and with her son, Tom, the boy sired in the violent assault. Marie's attacker, Austin Bowe, is captain of the Corinthian. When both ships dock at Mariner Station, Marie vanishes and Tom searches for his mother...only to find himself trapped on Austin's ship with a half-brother he never knew he had and a crew fanatically loyal to Bowe. Now as the Corinthian flees the pursuing Sprite and a raider guns after both, the lives on board the two Merchanter ships are in the hands of Tom Hawkins. To save them all, Tom must trust his sworn enemy... His father.

Finity's End is the oldest Merchanter ship in the universe. In an era of spies, pirate traders, and uneasy alliances, the Company Wears are now over, the hunt for the fleet is winding down, and the ship is coming home to reclaim her trade routes. Having lost an entire generation, the youngest crew members, bred and trained for war, must face their most critical battle of all--survival in a time of lasting peace.