Book picks similar to
Cybership by Vaughn Heppner


sci-fi
science-fiction
space-opera
artificial-intelligence

Sentinel


Anthony J. Melchiorri - 2021
    He chooses the military. For the first time, he thinks he has a shot at a better life. But survival is not guaranteed. Leading an elite team of mech operators, he is deployed to a frozen planet called Ferrous where dangerous relics of a past war lurk beneath the ice and savage creatures prowl the barren wastelands. Scientists on Ferrous are chasing rumors of godlike technologies buried in the ruins of a long-extinct civilization. When Shaw and his team are assigned to protect the researchers, they face an unexpected, merciless new enemy desperate to stop them. An ancient secret has been awakened on Ferrous. The deadly race to claim this terrifying power has only just begun.

The Silver Ships


S.H. Jucha - 2015
    Recognizing a once in a lifetime opportunity to make first contact, Alex pulls off a daring maneuver to latch on to the derelict.Alex discovers the ship was attacked by an unknown craft, the first of its kind ever encountered. The mysterious silver ship's attack was both instant and deadly.What enfolds is a story of the descendants of two Earth colony ships, with very different histories, meeting 700 years after their founding and uniting to defend humanity from the silver ships.

Fear the Sky


Stephen Moss - 2014
    Years before they enter orbit, their approach will be announced by the flare of a thousand flames in the sky, their ships’ huge engines burning hard to slow them from the vast speeds needed to cross interstellar space. These foreboding lights will shine in our night sky like new stars, getting ever brighter until they outshine even the sun, casting ominous shadows and banishing the night until they suddenly blink out. Their technology is vastly superior to ours, and they know they cannot possibly lose the coming conflict. But they, like us, have found no answer to the destructive force of the atom, and they have no intention of facing the onslaught of our primitive nuclear arsenal, or the devastation it would wreak on the planet they crave. So they have flung out an advanced party in front of them, hidden within one of the countless asteroids randomly roaming the void. They do not want us, they want our planet. Their Agents are arriving.

The Last Reaper


J.N. Chaney - 2019
    A veteran amputee-turned-cyborg, he has a history of violence and a talent for killing that is unmatched by any soldier.With the promise of freedom as his only incentive, he'll stop at nothing to earn back his life from the people who made him, imprisoned him, and were too afraid to let him die. Experience this exciting beginning to a brand new series set in the Renegade Star universe.

Terms of Enlistment


Marko Kloos - 2013
    For welfare rats like Andrew Grayson, there are only two ways out of the crime-ridden and filthy welfare tenements, where you're restricted to two thousand calories of badly flavored soy every day:You can hope to win the lottery and draw a ticket on a colony ship settling off-world, or you can join the service.With the colony lottery a pipe dream, Andrew chooses to enlist in the armed forces for a shot at real food, a retirement bonus, and maybe a ticket off Earth. But as he starts a career of supposed privilege, he soon learns that the good food and decent health care come at a steep price…and that the settled galaxy holds far greater dangers than military bureaucrats or the gangs that rule the slums.

The Alpha Protocol


Duncan M. Hamilton - 2021
    He couldn’t have been more wrong.A routine inspection of a small merchant vessel leads to devastating loss and the discovery of strange, fascinating objects.As astonishing discoveries unfold, a mysterious and hostile ship proves that Samson has a competitor in unlocking the secrets of an ancient alien civilisation, and that humanity might not be alone in the galaxy after all.

Earth Alone


Daniel Arenson - 2016
    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.

Supercarrier


Scott Bartlett - 2017
    He captains the UHS Providence, an aging supercarrier and the last human ship not dependent on dark tech - technology humanity has used to rule over the galaxy since barely defeating the Ixa in the First Galactic War.Dominance has come at a cost. Over the decades, old allies have grown resentful, and when dark tech itself fails, Captain Keyes’s predictions start coming true: those old allies are now enemies.But Keyes is not the only one proven right. As the galaxy plunges into war, the Ixan Prophecies are being fulfilled, one by one. Humanity’s oldest enemy is on the rise, with weaponry never seen before.The fate of the galaxy now depends on Captain Keyes, his tired ship, and his oddball crew. It doesn’t pay to be right.

Forerunner


Isaac Hooke - 2018
    An unknown enemy lurking in the dark of space. The one man who hopes to conquer them both. Jain was the lieutenant commander of an elite SEAL team. He was accustomed to order and discipline, which he used to give the men under his command that particular brand of killer instinct his unit was known for. But one day that semi-comfortable, ordered life ended when he opened his eyes to find his body replaced by a starship. His mind had become its AI core. He is somewhere in deep space. Most of his systems are badly damaged. He has no memory of how he got here, or what his mission is. Evidence points to an attack by an unknown entity. He finds other damaged vessels in the vicinity and reactivates them. They, too, have no memory of the events leading up to their current situation. Jain, thrust into a leadership role, soon learns that commanding a fleet of starships isn't all that different from leading a platoon of SEALs. It helps that his database is chock-full of tactics and military strategies gleaned from every space battle humanity has ever fought. As he and his fleet explore their surroundings and slowly piece together what happened to them, they realize their attacker is not from any human system. And that any misstep means not only the loss of his fleet, but potentially the destruction of humanity itself.

Genesis


Ken Lozito - 2017
    Innocent lives have been lost. Escaping wrongful imprisonment wasn’t something Connor had in mind, but being put into stasis aboard Earth’s first interstellar colony ship was something he couldn’t have prepared for. For three hundred thousand colonists, the new colony brings the promise of a fresh start…a second chance. Connor might be the wrong man for the colony, but he’s the right man to see that it survives what’s coming. A new world with new challenges, but the mission has changed. If you loved Old Man’s War and Ender’s Game, you’ll love Genesis - First Colony , a new military science fiction series. Take advantage of the special discount price for a limited time!

Lost Contact


Nathan Hystad - 2021
    Now Rex is the same age his father was when he disappeared without a trace. While teaching anthropology at a Boston college, Rex attempts to bury the past, until he discovers a hidden clue he can’t ignore.With the help of his sidekick Marcus, a former student turned protégé, he teams up with an alien-obsessed billionaire, and they search for the fabled Bridge. As an unidentified object nears Pluto, speculation surges. The Believers, a fanatical cult, hail it as the homecoming of a distant alien race.Will Rex solve the puzzle before it’s too late?

Aurora: CV-01


Ryk Brown - 2011
    And this is only the beginning… "Aurora: CV-01" is 77,000 word novel, and is Episode 1 of The Frontiers Saga. Episode 2, "The Rings of Haven"is available now!

First Light


Linda Nagata - 2013
    They hunt insurgents each night on a harrowing patrol, guided by three simple goals: protect civilians, kill the enemy, and stay alive—because in a for-profit war manufactured by the defense industry there can be no cause worth dying for. To keep his soldiers safe, Shelley uses every high-tech asset available to him—but his best weapon is a flawless sense of imminent danger...as if God is with him, whispering warnings in his ear. (Hazard Notice: contains military grade profanity.)

Dark Space


Jasper T. Scott - 2013
    He owes crime lord Alec Brondi 10,000 sols, and his ship is badly damaged. When Brondi catches up with him, he makes an offer Ethan can't refuse. Ethan must infiltrate and sabotage the Valiant, the Imperial Star Systems Fleet carrier which stands guarding the entrance of Dark Space, and then his debt will be cleared. While Ethan is still undecided about what he will do, he realizes that the Imperium has been lying and putting all of Dark Space at risk. Now Brondi's plan is starting to look like a necessary evil, but before Ethan can act on it, he discovers that the real plan was much more sinister than what he was told, and he will be lucky to escape the Valiant alive. . . .

Star Nomad


Lindsay Buroker - 2016
    It should be a time for celebration, but not for fighter pilot Captain Alisa Marchenko. After barely surviving a crash in the final battle for freedom, she's stranded on a dustball of a planet, billions of miles from her young daughter. She has no money or resources, and there are no transports heading to Perun, her former home and the last imperial stronghold.But she has a plan.Steal a dilapidated and malfunctioning freighter from a junkyard full of lawless savages. Slightly suicidal, but she believes she can do it. Her plan, however, does not account for the elite cyborg soldier squatting in the freighter, intending to use it for his own purposes. As an imperial soldier, he has no love for Alliance pilots. In fact, he's quite fond of killing them.Alisa has more problems than she can count, but she can't let cyborgs, savages, or ancient malfunctioning ships stand in her way. If she does, she’ll never see her daughter again.