Crimson Worlds Successors
MERCS
Crimson Worlds Successors I
Earth has been a scarred ruin for three decades, its scattered people struggling to endure amid the poisoned and radioactive wreckage of the final war between its despotic Superpowers. While the people of Earth fight to survive, out on the frontier, on a thousand worlds, mankind thrives and grows, building new civilizations and looking boldly to the future. But man has never been able to live in peace, and even Earth’s sad fate has failed to slow the call to war.
Most of the colonies lack the industry and economic power to sustain their own armies and navies, and they look to the mercenaries of the Great Companies for aid in time of war. These futuristic condottiere contract themselves to the highest bidder, and the mightiest strike fear into the hearts of all who oppose them.
Darius Cain is the leader of the Black Eagles, the most renowned of all the Companies. A military genius, he has led his undefeated warriors from victory to victory. The Eagles command the highest rates of any of the Companies, and leaders bankrupt worlds to pay their price.
But amid the ruins of Earth and on planets all across occupied space there are signs of a greater darkness, a force working in the shadows, waiting for the right moment to strike, to launch a final war to reduce all mankind to slavery.
As Cain slowly uncovers the truth, he must forge an alliance among old enemies, the other Companies his men have fought for years…and the twin brother he hasn’t seen in a decade.
The Crimson Worlds are about to explode into a war that may be mankind’s last.
The Prisoner of Eldaron
Crimson Worlds Successors II
The Superpowers of Earth have fought their final war, leaving Earth a devastated ruin, populated only by scattered groups of survivors living in primitive squalor. Out in space, however, humanity moves forward, and the former colonies of Earth’s dead nations are now free from the yoke of the despotic governments that had long ruled over them. For many, it is their first taste of liberty. But a thousand free worlds, varying enormously in wealth and power, cannot long exist in peace, and soon they begin to fight, to seek to bend their neighbors to their wills.
Darius Cain is the commander of the Black Eagles, the most feared and renowned of all the mercenary companies that fight the colonies’ wars. His veteran warriors have fought dozens of battles, and they have never met their equals. The wealthiest colonies compete to hire the Eagles, for contracting with Cain’s warriors is the surest guarantee of victory in any dispute.
But there is another power, one whose very existence has been the most closely-guarded secret in human history. The Triumvirate. For decades, it has operated in the shadows, interfering secretly in the affairs of the former colonies while steadily building an invincible war machine. But the Triumvirate has come to fear the Black Eagles, and the decision has been made. Darius Cain’s private army must be destroyed utterly before the final invasion of human space can begin.
A message reaches the Black Eagles’ base, with evidence that the father he’d thought long dead might still be alive, a captive of the shadowy enemy, held on a planet called Eldaron. Darius Cain is skeptical, a man slow to believe what he is told without incontrovertible proof. But Cain didn’t build the greatest military force in human space by being cautious or timid…and even the slightest chance his father was alive compelled his course of action. The evidence points to a world on the edge of human space, a highly-developed planet called Eldaron, an insular world, ruled by a dictator who calls himself the Tyrant.
Darius knows he is walking into a trap, but he has no choice. He will free the prisoner of Eldaron…or he will extract a vengeance beyond anything the Eldari can imagine in their worst nightmares.
The Black Flag
Crimson Worlds Successors III
The Triumvirate. Three clones of Gavin Stark who survived their evil master’s destruction. Now they have cheated death again, downloading their minds into an alien intelligence, a relic of the First Imperium. For three decades they have worked, silently, diligently, preparing their forces for the day that would launch the final assault.
Vali, a secret planet, home of the Triumvirate. A hidden and haunted world covered entirely with factories and fortifications, worked by legions of slaves, the kidnapped and forgotten of a thousand worlds.
Erik Cain, the legendary hero of the Marines Corps, the man who killed the real Stark. For years he was a prisoner of the triumvirate’s minions, held in brutal captivity on a dark world. Now he is free, battered by his long nightmare but never bowed, ready for the final struggle.
Darius Cain, Erik’s son, dread warrior and commander of the feared Black Eagles, the greatest of the mercenary Companies. Darius and his forces freed Erik Cain, and together with his father and his long-estranged twin brother, he is ready to rally the free forces of human space.
Augustus Garret. A legendary admiral, the victor of more battles than are easily counted. Garret is long retired. But within him still beats the same heart of old, and he will stand with Erik Cain and his sons, fight alongside his old ally one last time.
From the barren ruins of shattered Earth to the farthest reaches of human habitation in the galaxy, the final battle has begun. The Cains and their comrades are outnumbered, but the blood of warriors flows in their veins, and they will never stop, no matter what the cost…not until the battle is won.
Massive fleets are on the move, armies fight great battles. Worlds burn, and the cataclysmic struggle for the future of mankind reaches its terrifying climax.