Vortex

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Orson Scott Card and Aaron Johnston

Orson Scott Card and Aaron Johnston return to their Ender's Game prequel series with this first volume of an all-new trilogy about the Second Formic War in The Swarm. The first invasion of Earth was beaten back by a coalition of corporate and international military forces, and the Chinese army. China has been devastated by the Formic's initial efforts to eradicate Earth life forms and prepare the ground for their own settlement. The Scouring of China struck fear into the other nations of the planet; that fear blossomed into drastic action when scientists determined that the single ship that wreaked such damage was merely a scout ship. There is a mothership out beyond the Solar System's Kuiper Belt, and it's heading into the system, unstoppable by any weapons that Earth can muster. Earth has been reorganized for defense. There is now a Hegemon, a planetary official responsible for keeping all the formerly warring nations in line. There's a Polemarch, responsible for organizing all the military forces of the planet into the new International Fleet. But there is an enemy within, an enemy as old as human warfare: ambition and politics. Greed and self-interest. Will Bingwen, Mazer Rackam, Victor Delgado and Lem Juke be able to divert those very human enemies in time to create a weapon that can effectively defend humanity in the inexorable Second Formic War?

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Larry Niven and Edward M. Lerner

A tale set ten years after the events in "Juggler of Worlds" traces the reluctant efforts of the Puppeteers to counter onrushing alien refugees who are ransacking the planets they pass on their way toward the Fleet of Worlds.

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Diane Carey

Revealed at last! The lost years between Star Trek: Generations and Star Trek: First Contact. The Starship Enterprise 1701-D has been destroyed, and Captain Jean-Luc Picard finds himself without a command. While waiting for his new ship, Captain Picard has gone with Lieutenant Commander Worf on a delicate diplomatic mission to the Cardassian Empire. As Picard conducts high-level negotiations for the return of Federation prisoners of war, the Starship Enterprise 1701-E is being constructed under the supervision of Captain Morgan Bateson, a veteran of the twenty-third century who spent nearly ninety years in a pocket universe. Commanding this new Enterprise on what was supposed to be a short shakedown cruise, Captain Bateson has an idea of his own. In defiance of Starfleet Command, he will take Starfleet's newest, strongest ship and strike at the heart of the newly aggressive Klingon Empire. Captain Picard's negotiations proceed smoothly -- until he discovers that a hate-crazed Klingon commander -- Captain Bateson's archenemy from ninety years ago -- has taken the Enterprise from Bateson and launched a vicious attack on Cardassia Prime. To save the ship and preserve intergalactic peace, Picard must ally himself with his former Cardassian torturer, rely on the legendary skills of one Montgomery Scott, and draw new strength and inspiration from the memory of James T. Kirk... Ship of the Line reveals an unforgettable lost chapter in the ongoing saga of Star Trek that will thrill readers of every generation.

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Larry Niven

The Patchwork Girl is a science fiction novel by American writer Larry Niven. Part of his Known Space series, it is the fourth of five Gil Hamilton detective stories and the first to be published as a stand-alone novel in 1980. It was later included in the Gil Hamilton anthology Flatlander. In a break from his usual ARM duties, Hamilton is an acting U.N. Delegate on the moon, attending a conference on Lunar Law. The Belt Delegate, Chris Penzler, is shot by a laser in an apparent murder attempt. The shot came from outside of the window of his personal quarters, which looks out onto the lunar surface. The only person known to be outside on the lunar surface at the time of the attempt is Naomi Mitchison, a tourist and old flame of Gil's. Gil believes Naomi to be innocent of shooting Penzler, but suspects that she may be lying in order to hide an equally serious crime. The legal process on Luna acts quickly, and Naomi is condemned to be "broken up" for spare parts, a process which involves her being put in a coma and used as a source of organs for transplant. In stories set in this era, the need for spare parts is so great that even minor crimes carry this sentence. Gil uses his ARM authority to investigate, taking advantage of his "phantom arm", his ability to sense things remotely that he gained after losing one arm in an accident when he lived among the Belters. Although the sense is limited by his perception of his arm's reach, he discovers it can be amplified by a 3-D projection of the lunar surface. Feeling around the projection, he is able to detect a clue left out on the surface by the actual criminal. When he finally solves the mystery, Naomi is revived, but with her beauty destroyed by having body parts removed and then replaced. Her real crime is revealed as one that violates the strict population laws of Earth, and she has to leave and live elsewhere in the Solar System.