Book picks similar to
Hide the Lightning (The Coalition Book 1) by Kevin Steverson


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Spartan's Specialists


Alex Rath - 2019
    His experimental Hoplite scout CASPer aided significantly in thwarting an attempt by a Besquith general to wipe out the Golden Horde. Now, while most of the Golden Horde goes out on a major contract, Spartan has been given a small team of less than 30 mercenaries—specialists, all—to teach a race that has just joined the Galactic Union how to defend itself. And, in his spare time, Spartan is to spy on the Merchant Guild. After arriving in the new system on a ship from the Intergalactic Haulers Mercenary Company, Spartan’s group of specialists begin completing their mission, but things rapidly go downhill when they find out the Omega Wars have begun and Human mercenary companies are being hunted. Unable to contact his company’s leader, Colonel Sansar Enkh, Spartan is on his own to put the pieces together and figure out a new plan to deal with the changing situation. Can Spartan’s small team of Golden Horde specialists complete their mission and find a way to survive the Omega Wars on their own, or is this Spartan’s last ride?

The Fae Wars: The Fall


Lucas Marcum - 2021
    

Warrior: Integration (The Singularity War Book 1)


David Hallquist - 2020
    Before being dumped, a shadowy organization called “Singularity” implanted an alien parasite in him which is now devouring him from the inside out.In searching for Singularity, he inadvertently alerts them to his condition—he didn’t die like he was supposed to—and now Singularity wants him back. At all costs. They will do whatever it takes to capture Brandt, including going to war with Luna if it’s required, and if they can’t recover him, they will kill him rather than let him get away with the alien symbiont.But the Singularity doesn’t know that the symbiont is able to mold and adapt Brandt’s body into something better than he was before and, as a prior member of the Special Security forces of Terra, he was already a lethal weapon.With a wise-cracking cyber ghost of a former friend and lover, Brandt will have to find out the secrets of Singularity and the alien symbiont before the monster kills him. Singularity’s secrets could mean the death of everyone on Luna…or worse.

Acheron Rising: A Federation Chronicles Novella


Ken Lozito - 2020
    Commander Elias Browning's military career was over, or so he thought.When a secret research colony is discovered by a ruthless enemy, Elias must take command of a small battlegroup.Outclassed and outgunned, Elias must find a way to stop a superior enemy fleet from enslaving his people, but how can he succeed where every other star union in the galaxy has failed?Acheron Rising is a military science fiction novella that introduces the Federation Chronicles universe by Ken Lozito.

First Strike


Scott Moon - 2020
    It's a choice.The United Galactic Government is mired in a decade-long war for control of a key planet. Weakened by overextension and political intrigue, they could lose everything.When a child of privilege gives up everything to enlist and fight for what is right, he learns what it means to become part of a team. He encounters refugees, aliens he never expected to empathize with, and the loss of comrades. In the end he must develop the courage to stand up, not only to aliens and governments, but his own family.

Gunboat Diplomacy


Jason Córdova - 2020
    Granted, he was a particularly unusual candidate—only six Oogar had ever successfully graduated from the Peacemaker Academy on Ocono, and Hr’ent would be the seventh. Every candidate must pass a commissioning mission in order to graduate, though, and Hr’ent’s is unsolvable. The Pushtal of Vorrhurna were once one of the Mercenary Guild’s 37 races. After a series of disastrous contracts, the tiger-like aliens lost their status as mercenaries, and the MinSha seized their home world for defaulting on their debt. Eighty years later, the seven Great Clans are but a shadow of their former selves and have resorted to piracy to survive. For his commissioning mission, Hr’ent and a small team of bounty hunters must find a way to put a stop to their predations. No one in the Union has figured out how to herd cats to this point, but Hr’ent is a particularly unusual Peacemaker candidate, who isn’t afraid to resort to a bit of gunboat diplomacy to get the Pushtal to listen to what he says, once and for all.

Devil Calls the Tune


Chris Maddox - 2020
    When his father was called to duty and his mother made an invalid by a plague, Niko learned to survive by his wits. He stole what he needed to stay alive and fought to keep what he stole. Until he got arrested. On the eve of his majority birthday, Niko got laid off from his job and found out the son of the local crime lord had been selling his mom drugs and forcing her to “entertain” his friends. Facing jail time—and almost certain death—for beating the crime lord’s son nearly to death, Niko is forced to join the military to get off world. The terms of his enlistment are such that he can’t quit, so he hopes to fly under the radar and serve his time in a do-nothing job. That’s his plan, anyway. But plans have a way of getting disrupted, and when the Devil is calling the tune, sometimes all you can do is sing along.

We Knew They Were Coming


Ira Tabankin - 2016
     Mankind's oldest question is, 'Are we alone' has been answered. A typing error changes the area of space NASA's Kepler probe searches for Earth-like planets. It records a very bright light, an anomaly that doesn't match anything in NASA's files. It records something heading towards Earth at a speed so high as to be unbelievable. Earth has just over four years to prepare. The outgoing US President spends months before he believes there really is something heading to Earth. NASA's code word for the object is unicorn. The mythical horned horse is coming. The President forms a committee to figure out what to do, he hands the hot potato to his successor who takes the leaders of only six other countries into his. confidence. The unicorn committee begins preparations, they decide to build shelters and arm the military with the most advanced weapons they can design and build in four years. Supply shortages ripple through the economy, rumors spread across the web. The government decides to take a drastic act in order to control the flow of information. As the unicorn speeds towards Earth, the government tries a unique way to spread what they hope is lifesaving information to the population, they hire survivalists, without telling them why, to spread information that something is coming and everyone needs to prepare.An amateur stargazer captures the bright light heading towards the planet. As the object draws closer, it begins to slow down, the bright light becomes additional lights, more than a single ship is coming. Panic spreads across the world. Everyone with a grievance attacks their enemies. When the objects arrive at Jupiter to refuel, their first act is to clear everything orbiting the planet, increasing the stress when GPS, communications, intelligence and debris is destroyed, leaving everyone on Earth without a lot of their toys. Their second act is to turn the world’s grid off.The United States President decides to attack the aliens with ground-based rail guns, striking a couple of the ships orbiting the planet, the alien’s respond by shutting off all electrical energy, including batteries. Earth is slapped back two hundred years. A small group of survivalists tries to apply their knowledge to build a new life. This is book 1 of a new series. It tells the story of the unicorn sighting, arrival, attack and the beginning of the rebuilding.

Earth Bound


Michael Anderle - 2021
    Psychopaths who might, or might not, be human.Intergalactic lawman Terry Victor is betrayed by fellow officers and sent to a backwater planet on the interstellar arm of the universe.In short, he was sent to the planet called Earth.Fed up, he quits in a fit of disgust and seeks a peaceful retirement among the humans.Unfortunately, trouble has a way of finding Terry Victor.Keep his head down and away from Earth’s authorities, or help a woman about to be attacked by a gang?Can Terry Victor resist the siren call that could ruin his future on this planet?Is he willing to give up his forced retirement to take on Earth’s troubles?Finally, what happens when a string of deaths points to something even he fears?Will Terry Victor survive? If he survives, will the authorities realize there is an alien living among them?

Ship's Log


Lawrence P. White - 2019
     The Harbok: a star-faring civilization that shoots on sight and refuses to communicate with anyone. Scouts from both civilizations encounter each other in the skies over Earth. Greg Hamilton, a retired special operations soldier who is minding his own business, stumbles into the detritus of that meeting: She struggled for each word. “No . . . hospital.” He reached a hand out and caressed her cheek. “Of course you’re going to a hospital. I’ll be as easy on you as I can, but we can’t delay.” Visibly gathering strength from somewhere, she lifted blue eyes to look directly into his own. She spoke slowly and clearly, “I . . . am . . . not . . . of . . . this . . . Earth.” Though he knows nothing about aliens nor space travel, Greg knows first-hand the ugliness of war. Rather than fight a war, he chooses to end a war. To begin the process, he has to keep an injured An’Atee pilot, the sole survivor of the encounter, alive long enough to get her back to her own doctors. If he plays his cards right though, saving her might include a ride into space.

A Rain of Fire (The Great War Book 1)


Ralph Kern - 2020
     The dark forces of the Neo Hegemony strike, sweeping across the worlds of the Arcadian sector and crushing all in their path. One system stands against the onslaught, the Kingdom of New Avalon. But the men and women of their expeditionary forces are trapped behind enemy lines on a besieged planet. Losing those troops will lose the war. Their only hope? A last-ditch rescue mission led by Captain Hal Cutter and his battleship, Achilles. Beset on all sides by lethal enemy warships, he must lead a rag-tag fleet of naval and civilian vessels across Hegemony-held space to save the beleaguered Kingdom soldiers. In the skies and orbit, Lieutenant Jason ‘Rick’ Richards and the untested pilots of Viper squadron clash in a furious battle for supremacy against elite enemy fighters. And on the ground, Private Patrick ‘Wink’ Goble and his platoon must hold the line against a ruthless commander and her overwhelming force of battle-tested mechs until salvation arrives. All will play their part in this desperate struggle for survival against impossible odds. The Great War has begun… Read the epic new military science fiction series from Ralph Kern, the best-selling author of the Locus series.

Stars Dark: Marooned


Joshua James - 2021
    If you're interested in hard science fiction look elsewhere. But if you're looking for action-packed adventures on strange worlds with even stranger aliens, this series is for you!

Invasion


David Ryker - 2018
    The last remnant of some long-lost race, it might have been lost forever. We might have been saved. But we were not alone, after all. The universe teemed with life. And the intelligence was found. Studied. Awoken. And the stars burned. Civilization after civilization fell to its irresistible, bloodthirsty might. Others ran, and it followed relentlessly into the abyss. Toward fresh prey. Now it's our turn. Our ships are old, politicians corrupt, citizens divided. And yet we must succeed where no other race ever has. We will stand. We will fight. And we will never surrender. Invasion is the first book in the Contact saga. The first three books will be released by September 25th!

Scout Ship


D.L. Harrison - 2017
    Due to heroism and long distinguished service, he’s elevated to the rank of Lt. Commander when most of his peers have just attained senior lieutenant. His career appears to be going very well.The year is 2263, and the UEDF is in several star systems in a twenty-light year radius from earth, but are expanding even further. He’s assigned to a one year exploratory mission to become accustomed to his new rank, one that will finally culminate in reaching a new star system, 61-Virginis, which is just short of twenty-eight light years away from the Sol system, and he’s excited to be one of the first humans in a new solar system as they finish the race across the void between stars in the scout ship Columbus.There will be challenges he never imagined though, especially not on a simple survey mission. The death of his best friend to a senseless accident is the least of his troubles. Because mankind always thought they were alone in the stars. They’re about to find out they’re wrong, very wrong…Author’s Note: This series will be told in the first person, the reader will discover things as Michael does, there will be no other points of view excepting the prologue. This is also the start of a series, I will avoid cliffhangers as best I can, and believe it can stand as a series of mostly complete stories with overarching plots.

We Are Not Prey


Taki Drake - 2016
    This science fiction adventure blends magic and technology with the adventures of Ruth, a normal human, pushed into extraordinary situations. Ruth’s transformation takes her from Earth to worlds and situations of which she never dreamed.