Showing results by author "Daniel Arenson" in All Categories

We hide in shadows. Our planet is lost. We are the last humans, and we must go home. Two thousand years ago, aliens destroyed Earth. Our fleets shattered. Billions died. The last humans fled a burning planet, heading to the stars. Today we are still refugees. Hungry. Afraid. Our enemies hunt us everywhere. So we hide. On distant asteroids. In rundown space stations. In deep caves on frozen worlds. And we dream. Of green hills. Blue skies. Golden fields. We dream of Earth. And for the first time, we have hope. 

The basilisks, cruel alien serpents, attacked our world. They bombed us. Hunted us. Butchered us without pity. But now we will be the hunters. We will assemble a fleet. We will cross the vastness of space. And for the first time, we will strike the enemy on his own soil. It's a time for courage. A time for heroes. We will no longer hide in bunkers. We will no longer die like sheep. Freedom will be won with blood and fire. Freedom will be the legacy of Earth. We are the last humans. And we will win!

Aelar, a mighty nation, spreads its tentacles. Its oared galleys storm the seas, and the waters run red with blood. Its legionaries swarm desert ruins, smiting barbarian hordes. Its crosses line the roadsides, displaying the dying flesh of heroes. The powerful Sela family has avoided the empire until now. The family has carved out an idyllic life between sea and desert, ruling a bustling port, a thriving city, and lush vineyards.

The starship Freedom was once a mighty warship. Today, she's a tourist attraction. The space wars ended long ago. The Freedom is now a flying museum; the tourists love it. The Changing of the Guard, the starfighter aerobatics, the starboard cannon salute...it's the best show in the galaxy. James King commands the starship Freedom. He hates his job. He was a real soldier once, back when the Freedom was a real warship. He never imagined himself running a tourist trap. Right after Christmas, he plans to retire. Then, on Christmas day, the aliens attack.

They came from deep space. They came to destroy us. Fifty years ago bloodthirsty aliens devastated the Earth. Most of humanity perished. We fell into darkness. But now we rise from the ashes. Now we fight back. Marco Emery was born into the war. After his mother is killed, he joins the Human Defense Force, Earth's ragtag army. Emery must survive basic training, become a soldier, and finally face the aliens in battle. Against the alien onslaught, Earth stands alone. But we will fight. We will rise. We will win.

Earth burns. After generations in exile, we returned to our long-lost planet. Scarred. Haunted. Survivors. We - the last humans - are finally home. But our enemies still crave our blood. Seven alien species unite. Seven fleets bombard our planet. Seven armies invade our beautiful world. They have one goal: To kill us all. We refuse to lose Earth again. We will resist. We will fight for every hill, every valley, every stone, and blade of grass. We will defend our planet. At any cost. Together, we will raise our voices. We will sing the song of Earth. We will tell the enemy: Earth is ours!

War flares between man and monster...between Earth and the terror from the stars. We did not choose this war. The spiders attacked us. They trapped us in their webs. They devoured millions. No, we did not want this war. But we will win it! The starship Freedom rises. A legendary ship. A beacon of hope. A pillar of flame in the darkness. The fleet rallies behind her. All eyes gaze up at her light.

Not long ago, the starship Freedom was a museum ship. A relic of a bygone era. A rusty old warship converted into a tourist trap. Then the aliens attacked. Now, once more, the legendary Freedom flies to war. The war is brutal. The enemy is merciless. The rahs, vicious arachnids from deep space, crave only one thing. Human flesh. Before this terror, Earth’s fleet crumbles. Starships burn. Millions die. But the Freedom still flies. James King, her gruff old commander, still fights.

Under the leadership of James “Bulldog” King, the Freedom won battle after battle. Yet now Freedom faces her most terrifying foe. Not an alien fleet. Not a charging armada. But one ship. Nobody knows where the Tyranny came from. Nobody knows who pilots this mechanical terror. She emerged from the darkness like a demon from hell. And she craves the blood of men. She is larger than the Freedom. Faster. Deadlier. Marooned in deep space, the Freedom must face her alone. A great duel begins. Two starships. Two captains. Two iron wills.

The galaxy burns. The enemy, a race of alien scorpions, storms from star to star. Planets smolder in their wake. Across the galaxy, they hunt humans. Long ago, we humans had a planet of our own. Long ago, we could have resisted the scorpions. But today we are refugees. We are lost in darkness. We haven't seen Earth in 2,000 years. We, the last humans, must band together. We must resist. We must fight the scorpions. And we must find Earth! Only Earth can unite us. Only Earth can kindle our hope. Only on Earth can we defend our species.

Earth burns. We call them the scum. They came from deep space. Creatures of claws and endless malice, they ravage the world. As the war flares, as cities crumble, Private Marco Emery and his platoon blast into space. They won one battle on Earth. Their next battle must be fought in the darkness. The scum will not rest until the last human is dead. Marco and his friends must defeat them. They must win. Or Earth will fall.

Machines. They fly our starships. Mine our asteroids. Connect us to one another. They serve us without question. But what if the machines rebelled? We call it the Singularity. The day the machines wake up. A day that can destroy humanity. Marco and Addy are heroes, veterans of the Alien Wars. Today they are civilians, married, and peacefully raising a family. That peace will soon shatter. For years, Marco and Addy fought aliens, terrors from deep space. But how can they fight Earth's machines, an enemy humanity itself created?

For years, they stalked us. Kidnapped us. Dissected us. For years, we feared them. Some call them "gray aliens". Some claim they crashed in Roswell. Others say they're just a myth. But legends often spring from terrifying truths. There are monsters in the dark. And their evil knows no bounds. We've faced aliens before. But nothing like this. This enemy is stronger, smarter, and crueler by far. And they want to kill us all. But we refuse to fall. We will muster all our courage. All our strength. We will tell the enemy: "Earth will rise!"

The final battle is here. The final stand of the starship Freedom. The final hope for Earth. Two galactic civilizations face off. On one side—the rahs. Arachnid predators from deep space. On the other side—humanity. Us. We have been fighting for years. Millions sacrificed their lives to bring us this far. Cities fell. Starships burned. Nations shattered. But we are still standing. Still fighting. It ends now.

The Aeolians. The galaxy's most mysterious aliens. For a million years, they've been hiding. No human has ever seen them. Until now. James King, commander of the starship Freedom, travels to their secluded world. He seeks to forge an alliance. To learn from the Aeolians their ways of war. According to myth, the Aeolians once defeated the rahs, alien spiders who are plaguing Earth. Aeolia's secrets can save humanity. But King soon learns that Aeolia harbors more secrets than he ever imagined. Something terrible happened to these aliens. Something they will not speak of.

In the shadows, evil stirs. A race woven from arachnid and human DNA. They hunt like spiders. They think like men. They are the perfect killers. Like a virus, they invade the Freedom. James “Bulldog” King, commander of the Freedom, has fought alien fleets. This is different. This is worse. The infestation swarms through Freedom’s labyrinthine halls. Destroying. Eating up the Freedom from the inside. King must muster all his courage. All his strength. He must reclaim his ship. Or not only Freedom will fall—but Earth itself.

The basilisks. Giant serpents from deep space. Their true name is unknown. Their homeworld is cloaked in shadow. But one thing is certain: They're killers. And they vow to kill us all.   

It begins. The final battle between man and machine. Earth burns. The Dreamer, a cruel artificial intelligence, brutalizes our world. His robots reduce our cities to ash. His cyborgs march by the millions. Humanity is now an endangered species. But we still fight! A band of heroes undertakes a dangerous quest. Some call it a suicide mission. They fly to a computerized world, deep in space, where the Dreamer dwells.

We are the last humans. We are hunted. We are refugees. We must return to Earth. The alien scorpions attack us across the galaxy. They butcher millions. Humans are now an endangered species. But we have not given up. We still have a few starships. We still have some hope. And we have a map home. On Earth, we can be free again. On Earth, we can stand tall. On Earth, we can rebuild what we have lost. Earth is but an echo, calling from beyond the darkness. We will answer her call. We will find our lost world. We will defeat our enemies. We will rise again!

In this anthology, you'll find 17 tales of conflict and heroism, exploration and discovery, endurance and triumph. Flee the apocalypse of modern-day Earth, fly a fighter in the cold emptiness of deep space, and find new life on the distant shores of an alien world. You might even discover something about yourself as each author opens a window on the soul of mankind.