Vaughn Heppner
LOST STARSHIP SERIES
The Lost Starship (Book 1)
Ten thousand years ago, a single alien super-ship survived a desperate battle. The vessel's dying crew set the AI on automatic to defend the smashed rubble of their planet. Legend has it the faithful ship continues to patrol the empty battlefield, obeying its last order throughout the lonely centuries.
In the here and now, Earth needs a miracle. Out of the Beyond invade the New Men, stronger, faster and smarter than the old. Their superior warships and advanced technology destroy every fleet sent to stop them. Their spies have infiltrated the government and traitors plague Earth’s military.
Captain Maddox of Star Watch Intelligence wonders if the ancient legend could be true. Would such an old starship be able to face the technology of the New Men?
On the run from killers, Maddox searches for a group of talented misfits. He seeks Keith Maker, a drunken ex-strikefighter ace, Doctor Dana Rich the clone thief stuck on a prison planet and Lieutenant Valerie Noonan, the only person to have faced the New Men in battle and survived to tell about it.
Maddox has to find a place hidden in the Beyond and bring back a ship no one can enter. If he fails, the New Men will replace the old. If he succeeds, humanity might just have a fighting chance…
The Lost Command (Book 2)
Starship Victory—a faithful alien spacecraft guarding its shattered system for ten thousand years—agreed to come to Earth. Now, Captain Maddox and his crew have a new assignment. They must find Professor Ludendorff before the New Men do. The New Men need Ludendorff’s help so they can capture the alien starship. Maddox needs the neglected super-weapons repaired so he can rescue a Star Watch fleet trapped deep in enemy territory.
But time is running out for the stranded, battered fleet. They’re low on food, fuel and missiles. Worse for Maddox, Meta is missing, kidnapped by the enemy, while the alien personality in the AI struggles to adjust to this new era. Can Maddox pull everyone together or will the brilliant New Men win yet another stunning victory?
The Lost Destroyer (Book 3)
A silver pyramid in space ten thousand years old…
The secrets of the mysterious New Men…
A war like no other…
Starship Victory—Earth’s ancient, alien spacecraft—has won a smashing victory against the New Men, driving them from “C” Quadrant. On their way home, Captain Maddox and his crew run into a vast machine trapped inside an ion storm. Maddox doesn’t know it yet, but the meeting isn’t an accident. There’s a traitor aboard ship, implementing a secret plan, threatening to destroy everything Star Watch has achieved against the New Men.
Now begins a deadly race as Captain Maddox, the crew and Galyan are pitted against the masters of a centuries-old conspiracy. Human existence lies in the balance.
The Lost Colony (Book 4)
We fought the invading New Men to a standstill and defeated the alien Destroyer sent to obliterate Earth.
The worst should be over, but it’s not.
Perfect android replicas are impersonating high-level officials so trust is failing. Worse, the New Men have found allies with an impenetrable stealth technology.
This time, however, Earth is going on the offensive. Admiral Fletcher is headed to “C” Quadrant with a Grand Fleet. He’s to liberate the captured planets and find the enemy homeworld. What he isn’t supposed to do is die.
The only one who can save humanity has been grounded. Captain Maddox is under suspicion because he’s half New Man. But he’s not going to stop. He’s found something unbelievable. Now, he needs Starship Victory—an ancient, alien spacecraft—the AI Galyan, Meta, Sergeant Riker and the others to help him tear the greatest secret of all from the enemy.
Maddox and his crew must succeed or humanity will drown in a sea of human extinction.
The Lost Patrol (Book 5)
We learned a terrible secret last voyage, the Swarm exists. It has a monstrous imperium, expanding, evolving and receiving incredible Builder tech.
Captain Maddox heads into the Deep Beyond to find the Swarm Imperium. We must know the worst so we can prepare against the deadliest species in the galaxy.
The captain and his crew battle loneliness and the terror of the unknown as they hunt through the stellar darkness. They’re thousands of light-years from home, from any help. What they find threatens their sanity and unity. It’s going to take the best Maddox and the ancient AI Galyan has to offer to pull the crew together. They have to save the starship from what waits in the galactic darkness or the human race will die.