Five short novels by five masters of armed forces science fiction. It’s a battle out there. In these pulse-pounding stories, the very best (or most severe) troops in the galaxy are pitted against effective aliens on faraway battlefields. Never before published stories about monsters, fatal combat tech, treachery, and honor: Big Plush by Aaron Allston (a novella from your Action Statistics series) – The Dollgangers, artificial people manufactured in mankind’s picture, take up hands in a eager bid to earn their freedom..Read More about Five by Five Comrades in Hands by Kevin J. Anderson-A broken cyborg soldier and an foe alien fighter turn their backs for the battle and make an effort to escape. But the human and alien governments can’t tolerate both deserters working together, so they get together to hunt them down. Shores from the Infinite by Loren L. Coleman (a novella in the ICAS File series) – Separated from control & control, Combat Assault Fit troopers drive a beachhead to liberate a new planet through the cyborg threat. The Black Ship by B.V. Larson (a mech novella from your Imperium Series) – A human being settlement for the deadliest planet ever colonized clings to life… but today new invaders are coming down from the celebrities. Out There by Michael A. Stackpole – The Qian have discovered mankind and welcomed them into their star-spanning empire. The huge benefits they offer mankind are many, and they don’t desire much in exchange: just the very best individual pilots available to disassemble a most diabolical foe.