Castle Federation

Avalon was the flagship of the Castle Federation in the last war, now twenty years past. The first of the deep space carriers, no other warship in the fleet holds as many honors or has recorded as many kills. No other warship in the fleet is as old. Accepting the inevitable, the Federation Space Navy has decided to refit her and send her on a tour of the frontier, showing the flag to their allies and enemies as a reminder of her glory-and then decommission her for good. But Avalon has been a backwater posting for ten years and has problems a mere refit can't fix. The systems along her planned tour have been seeing pirates for the first time in decades, and there are rumblings of Commonwealth scouting ships all along the border. It may be Avalon's final tour, but it looks to be anything but quiet.

Captain Kyle Roberts delivered one of the Castle Federation's few victories in the early days of the war. Even losing his ship in the process didn't prevent him from being elevated as the hero-the "Stellar Fox"-his country desperately needed. His status with the public demands a worthy command, and he finds himself on the bridge of the Federation's latest supercarrier and headed to the front lines of the war. But the Navy sees his promotion as a public relations stunt. His subordinates and superiors alike question his lack of experience, and enemies at the highest level of his own government maneuver to destroy him. As the war heats up around him, the Commonwealth may not be the greatest threat to Kyle Roberts or Avalon.

The Terran Commonwealth has proved a nigh-unstoppable juggernaut in its war against the smaller Castle Federation and her allies, but an almost accidental victory by Captain Kyle Roberts of the carrier Avalon has opened a chink in its armor. Desperate to change the course of a war they are rapidly losing, the Federation assembles a new forward fleet with orders to retake the systems that have fallen to the enemy. Outnumbered but on the offensive at last, Kyle Roberts must take a hastily assembled battle group back to the worlds the Alliance failed to defend. There he will live or die by the skills of his soldiers and the honor of his enemies.

Captain Kyle Roberts has commanded the carrier Avalon through the most vicious battles of the war against the Terran Commonwealth-but with Avalon in for repair, his political enemies deny him a new ship. Unwilling to accept a desk, he takes command of a covert operation using a captured Commonwealth warship to strike at the very heart of their enemy, drawing away the reinforcements that could destroy the Alliance's recent gains. But the spies who planned the operation have secrets they haven't shared. Their allies have their own agendas-and the Commonwealth has surprises of its own!

A helpless ally calls for aid. A ruthless enemy strikes without mercy. The fate of empires turns on even the smallest actions. When a minor trade partner sends the Castle Federation a desperate call for aid, they have few resources to spare from their all-consuming war against the Terran Commonwealth. Unwilling to be seen failing their allies but able to spare only a tiny force, Castle sends a hero to command the task group: Captain Kyle Roberts, the Stellar Fox. Beyond the Rimward frontier of the Federation and its allies, little is as it seems. The pirates are being armed by an outside force, and the politics of these worlds is made deadlier by their poverty. When the Coraline Imperium-the Federation's oft-difficult ally-sends forces as well, it risks a conflict that could undermine the Alliance protecting them both. There are deeper games afoot as local schemes play the great powers against each other. Captain Roberts is caught in the chaos as fire and blood explode across the region. There is only one certainty: these Rimward Stars must not fall.

A battered but undefeated Alliance A war they cannot win by force A plan to turn the tide of history For two years, the Castle Federation and the Alliance of Free Stars have stood against Marshal James Walkingstick of the Terran Commonwealth and his mission of conquest. Battles have been won and lost, worlds have died, and soldiers like Admiral Kyle Roberts have been forged on the anvil of war. But the Alliance cannot win. The Commonwealth has more worlds, more ships, more soldiers. They claim their victory is inevitable. That history is on their side. Refusing to accept the Commonwealth's future, the Alliance embarks on a do-or-die mission to end the war in one strike. If Kyle Roberts's plan works, the Commonwealth will break. But if it fails, the Alliance will be broken.