Showing results by author "Mike Shepherd" in All Categories

Lieutenant Commander Kris Longknife leads a reconnaissance mission of the vast uncharted regions of space. No one, least of all Kris, expects to find a hostile alien starship. Now, she must determine the extent of the alien threat - and whether to start an interstellar war.

Kris Longknife has been ordered back to human space. Sandy Santiago is a woman with a whole lot of problems. She's ordered to replace Kris Longknife, but can any mere mortal fill the shoes of a Longknife...and Kris Longknife most of all?Follow Sandy as she's introduced to the mess on Canopus Station. Watch her as she meets cats (with nuclear weapons!) and birds and vicious alien raiders. Oh, and she has to share Alwa Station with Rita Nuu Longknife. How does a gal get so lucky?

Grand Duchess Vicky Peterwald's father could have showed up to walk her down the aisle, but she's not really bothered about that. Then, suddenly, she is. It turns out he didn't make the wedding because he's broke and living nearly homeless in an abandoned, half-built palace. How'd that happen? News isn't coming out of Dad's side of the empire, so it looks like Vicky may need a battle fleet to go pay Daddy dear a visit. Oh, and four or six brigades of infantry and tanks.

Vicky Peterwald is no longer just the heir apparent to an imperial dynasty. She survived naval training and proved her mettle in combat to help the starving people of the ravaged world of St. Petersburg. Now she is truly a grand duchess, leading a growing battle fleet in a rebellion against the tyranny of her stepmother, the empress.

Seeking revenge for her brother's death, Grand Duchess Vicky Peterwald underwent an unlikely transformation - from pampered heir to naval lieutenant. Now a new challenge looms: Vicky will need to use both her military and political ranks to rebuild war-torn planets, planets ruined both by the Peterwald Empire and by Kris Longknife's revolutionary quests.

Lieutenant Commander Kris Longknife has precise orders: seek out, engage, and destroy pirates, slavers, and drug lords operating beyond the rim of human space - without interfering in Peterwald family affairs. But when slavers kidnap a 12-year-old girl, Kris's mission becomes personal. And if destroying the pirate compound flattens some Peterwald interests - well, to hell with politics.

Vicky has cleared Dresden of the so-called Security Specialists of the Bowlingame crime family. Every Redcoat is dead on that planet...and good riddance. Vicky thought she had killed that family twice: first when the Empress and her dad died at the Battle of Cuzco, then when she captured all the uncles and brothers who'd done their best to keep the government going.

Secrets, which are revealed in this unique collection of extraordinary stories. Written like a historical thriller, Slains Castle’s Secret History is a work of incredible historical fiction—everything within is set around real events.

Raised in the shadow of her brother Hank, Vicky now finds herself heir to the Peterwald Empire and hell bent on killing Kris Longknife. When that doesn't work out, she finds herself shipped off to the Greenfeld Navy as a boot ensign. There she learns she can solve problems without taking her clothes off, and really feel good about it! When Kris Longknife crosses Vicky's path again, Vicky is ready to help her save Vicky's dad's life.

Grand Admiral Santiago has all the challenges for which a gal could ask. Granny Rita is on the rampage, and the cats have gone on strike. Leaving the Colonials to deal with Granny Rita, Sandy heads off to work with the cats, only to discover she is not the only one who has a bone to pick with them - alien monsters have a vendetta as well!

Asteroid miner Mary Rodrigo and freighter owner Mattim Abeeb are green draftees of the Society of Humanity, forced to fight for Earth - a planet they’ve never even seen. Major Ray Longknife and his lover, Senior Pilot Rita Nuu, are career soldiers, invested with the cause of the Unity Party - and its ambitious new president. These four soldiers on opposing sides of the battle are about to discover the true nature of this terrible war: a quest for profit - from the high command of both sides. What they will risk is nothing less than their lives. For although truth may be the first casualty of war, it’s not going to be the last….

An original novella in the "fast-paced, exciting military SF series" featuring Kris Longknife. Kris Longknife is back home from her galactic adventures, but her entire Fleet of Discovery has been annihilated. Now, humanity finds itself at war with an alien race more monstrous than anyone could have possibly imagined. General Terrance "Trouble" Tordon, Kris’s great-grandfather, is given the task of calming the panicked politicians, some of whom blame Kris for the disaster and would like to eliminate the ever-bothersome Commander Longknife.

Sandy Santiago has problems coming out her ears. Granny Rita is out of control. The workers are out on strike. Worse, the murderous alien raiders are testing Alwa's defense perimeter. Once she has her house in order, Sandy is strongly thinking of getting her own good look at what appears to be the alien home world. Last time Kris Longknife visited the place, she threw some serious shade on the aliens. Dare Sandy return? Might the aliens be waiting for her? What could a serious, organized scientific look at this world tell Sandy?

Grand Admiral Kris Longknife is rampaging across the stars, kicking butt and taking planets away from the Iteeche rebels. She asks her grandparents, Gramma and Grampa Trouble, to came out to spend time with Kris' kids while she is gone. Meanwhile, back on the Iteeche Imperial Capitol planet, intrigue and power plays continue. Within 50 kilometers of the Imperial Palace are a dozen clan factions that dream of seizing the purple from the hand of the young emperor.

It's dangerous to get too close to one of those damn Longknife. So Senior Chief Agent in Charge Foile volunteers to get too damn close to the whole family of Longknifes. It seemed like a good idea at the time. Kris Longknife feared the survival of the entire human race might hang on what her Grampa Al did next – but she couldn’t figure out what he was up to. After a career in the Wardhaven Bureau of Investigations, Foile was good at finding out what others wanted to keep hidden.

Retired Colonel Ray Longknife and Marine Captain Terrence “Trouble” Tordon come to Savannah via different routes, but what they find is the same. One bully strongman is intent on keeping power no matter what the new rules are for peace. He’s got the population cowered by thugs, and tanks at the ready. He expects to win the coming elections handily. He doesn’t expect Mrs. Trouble - aka Ruth Tordon - a Marine wife on a mission to find the drug lords that almost killed her and her husband and put them out of business - and she’s not about to be stopped.

Izzy Umboto is a hero of the conflict between the Society of Humanity and the Unity Party. Instead of retiring and living out her days quietly, she's wrangled command of her very own warship. Unfortunately, that ship is the less-than-state-of-the-art Patton. Lieutenant Terrence Tordon, called "Trouble" by both his enemies and his friends, and even himself, is a career marine. The word "quit" isn't in his vocabulary. Now Lieutenant Trouble and his troops have signed on with Commander Umboto, trading a higher paycheck for the promise of action.

The victory parades are over and half the fleet is back in mothballs. The Navies better start getting them back in Commission! Rita Longknife, commander of the heavy cruiser Exeter, has proof. Proof that there is something else out there. Proof we are not alone in the galaxy. Aboard her ship is evidence that we have blown up an alien ship, and they have blown up one of ours. So far, contact with the aliens is being made by pirates, the worst scum humanity has. How do the right people take over making contact?

The war is over. Hurray! Half the fleet is back in mothballs. But out on the rim of human space, ships are disappearing. Some are merchant ships going about their business. Others are exploration ships on deep space probes. What's happening to them? Captain Rita Nuu Longknife is ready to take the heavy cruiser Exeter to space and see what's out there. She may have a nursery next to the captain's cabin and a two-month-old baby on her hip, but she's taking a warship out there, and nobody better get in her way.

Colonel Ray Longknife and Marine Captain Mary Rodrigo were once enemies in an interstellar war. Now they're working together to keep the peace. But can they protect themselves from an enemy they can't even see? When a bad space jump flings their starship thousands of light-years away from home, Longknife and Rodrigo make an amazing discovery: a planet inhabited by the descendants of a ship's crew - lost three hundred years earlier.