Star Crusader

Nate has a talent for space combat after hundreds of victories in the Star Crusader videogame simulation. His skills are unique, enough to gain him a rare privilege: the chance to join five other Alliance cadets and escape the dull routine of the classroom. They will enter a fierce competition light-years away in the ancient Byotai Empire. Yet days after their arrival a rebellious faction begins a bloody mutiny that spreads like wildfire. The time for competition has ended; the time of war has begun.

Nate and his friends are expert gamers and now veteran combat pilots. They have proven their skills by inflicting defeat on the enemy and saving their ship in the process. The passengers and crew regard them as heroes, yet after their violent escape, they are to be sent home to a life of study and boredom. Their ship, ANS Relentless, sets off to join the fleet to embark on a secret operation. A new battle is about to begin, and Nate and his gamers are unwilling to be pushed aside so easily.

Nate had never expected to see a real war, but that was a month ago. Back when he'd been a video gamer with dreams of space combat. Now he was a pilot in Knighthawk Squadron and in the middle of a violent warzone. The Star Empire and its vast legions are utterly committed to the elimination of the shattered Byotai Empire. They are ruthless and ambitious beyond measure.

Nate faces his greatest challenge when his squadron embarks on a near impossible mission. Of the hundreds of pilots in the fleet, only they have experience operating alongside the alien pilots of the Byotai Imperial Fleet. Even if this experience was gained only in simulation. Over the past weeks, the videogame pilots have proven their mettle in battle. Now they will face the ultimate test and join the elite Byotai pilots aboard the battleship Furiosa. Ahead of them lies the most critical phase of the conflict.

Nate and his friends undertake their greatest adventure yet, when their squadron joins Battle Fleet Victorious on a top-secret mission. The elite group of powerful ships makes up the fastest and deadliest battle fleet in the entire Alliance. They are heading deep behind enemy lines, to where the Star Empire has located an ancient and deadly weapon - one that would give them the means to defeat the Alliance in a single overwhelming battle.

Nate and his friends in Ironclad Squadron are returning to the fleet when they detect a mysterious signal. Sensing a trap, Colonel Gun sends Nate out alone in his captured fighter to scout the source. The signal is emitting from inside the heart of the abandoned Kalar Anchorage. This massive facility was once the Byotai Empire's greatest shipyard, but now it lies cold and lifeless. Or does it? Upon arrival Nate runs headlong into the center of a fierce battle.

It is a dark time for the Alliance, with their forces scattered before the advancing legions of the unstoppable Star Empire. Further disastrous news arrives that General Makos and his loyal Byotai warriors have been utterly routed in battle, leaving the Alliance no option but to fall back to Helios.

Nate and his video gamer friends are given the chance of a lifetime, a six-month tour aboard the Alliance’s newest battleship, ANS Dreadnought. Two years at the Academy has tested Nate’s flying, combat, and technical skills to the limit. But nothing will come close to his greatest test. Captain Gaunt, one of the Alliance’s most decorated officers plans to use Dreadnought to start a war, one that will engulf the region and cost many lives.

The Alliance Navy's renowned assault carrier ANS Relentless is sent into action for the first time in more than a year. She’s been significantly enlarged, upgraded, and improved with Byotai armor and heavy weaponry. But most significant of all, Relentless is the first carrier to embark a squadron of the alliance’s newest fighters, the deadly F26 Firehawks. Nate and Billy have completed their Academy training and are thrilled to find they’re to be returned to their old home, the Alliance assault carrier Relentless.

The invasion of the Centauri Rim has begun, and Knighthawk Squadron leads the way. They fight in both the real and virtual worlds, where they use their unique skills to throw the enemy off balance. This last battle will be fought against the mighty stronghold of the separatists, an impregnable fortress hidden inside the Rim known simply as The Rock. And in their path lies a vast array of warships, pirate vessels, thousands of soldiers, and a secretive leader who promises a future freed of alien influence.

Nate and his fellow pilots have become renegades in a galaxy turned upside down. Part of a scattered band of rebels being hunted down whenever they’re found. The Alliance is broken, and the new and powerful Terran Union rises from its ashes. Offering a future of prosperity and conquest that will make the Union the dominant power in the galaxy. But first it needs to crush the last vestiges of the old regime. Rumours soon reach the renegade forces of something terrible taking place in the Prometheus system, and they must respond before it is too late.