Showing results by narrator "Todd McLaren" in All Categories

After a stunning victory at the Merc Guild shipyard of Golara, the leaders of the Four Horsemen mercenary units of Earth have decided it’s time to take back the colonies the Merc Guild has captured, and the Horsemen split up to liberate them. While the Merc Guild still has humanity outnumbered, Alexis Cromwell, the leader of the Winged Hussars, has incorporated the ships captured in Golara into her fleet, and she hopes the Humans can achieve local superiority across four systems with her new battleships and her Egleesius cruisers.

When Todd’s critically damaged ship dropped out of hyperspace near the human colony world of Azure, he had no memory of his past. He didn’t know who he was, or even what he was, and the humans didn’t either. That didn’t stop the colonists of Azure - they took him in, anyway...even though they didn’t understand how he could do some of the things he could do. Todd and his descendants consider themselves human - eight-armed and water-breathing - but human, nonetheless. After 70 years living among humans, Todd’s descendants are going back out into the Union to make their mark.

Bjorn Tovesson III, the owner of Bjorn’s Berserkers, is a man tied to the past but who’s not afraid to innovate. Whether it is new tactics or new equipment, Bjorn is willing to try anything once, in an effort to grow his company into the status of the fabled Four Horsemen. Looking to the future with his eyes open, though, he has seen a series of unfortunate occurrences running through the ranks of Earth’s mercenaries. Companies in financial troubles, some taking huge losses on contracts...and others not returning from their contracts at all.

The Omega War is in full swing. Earth has fallen to General Peepo’s army, and the surviving human mercenaries have taken refuge at the hidden Winged Hussars’ base in New Warsaw. As humanity begins to think about how to recover the planet, one thing is obvious - more powerful weapons of war will be needed in the effort. One of the keys to recapturing Earth will be the Raknar of Cartwright’s Cavaliers, but the power sources of many of the giant mecha have become unusable over the course of history.

Someone is spying on American author Helen Hancock. While in Paris to conduct research and teach a small class of writers, she discovers a spy camera hidden in her room at the Sorbonne Hotel. She notifies the US Embassy, and former FBI profiler Hugo Marston is dispatched to investigate. Almost immediately, the stakes are raised from surveillance to murder when the hotel employee who appears to be responsible for bugging Hancock's suite is found dead.

Peacemakers. The Galactic Union’s most capable enforcers and resolute negotiators, their name alone elicits fear and awe among the Union’s citizenry. When necessary, the Peacemaker Guild deputizes citizens to carry out special missions of great difficulty and danger. The only person ever to land a Combat Assault System, Personal (CASPer) from high-altitude free fall without a parachute, Tara Mason’s career as a mercenary showed promise, but it crumbled under poor choices and even worse leadership

Ever since DEA agent Alexander Cobb gave Jodie Clayburn a Texas-size brush-off, they've been sworn enemies. When he pushed Jodie out of his life, he told himself he was doing the right thing. But eight years later, this cynical Texan can't believe the baby-faced schoolgirl has turned into such a beauty. Or that he'd have to beg her to help him crack a drug-smuggling case that threatens Jacobsville. Tantalized to the core, Alexander would risk everything to protect her. In a hot pursuit, the two are drawn closer together.

When Ward Jessup and Mari Raymond meet after being brought together by Mari's wily matchmaking aunt, neither is what the other expected. The handsome oilman is anything but old and unwell, and Mari is hardly a helpless girl. A vacation at her grandmother's ranch would have been the perfect place for Maggie Turner to escape her ex-husband's threats. Perfect, that is, if it hadn't been for Gabe Coleman. The sexy rancher was just as direct—and undeniably handsome—as he'd been ten years ago. Could this rugged Texas cowboy give Maggie a new lease on love?

Former FBI profiler Hugo Marston has just become head of security at the US Embassy in London. He's asked to protect a famous movie-star couple, Dayton Harper and Ginny Ferro, who, while filming a movie in rural England, killed a local man in a hit-and-run. The task turns from routine to disastrous almost immediately. Before Hugo even meets them, he finds out that Ferro has disappeared, and her body has been found hanging from an oak tree in a London cemetery. Hours later a distraught Harper gives Hugo the slip, and Hugo has no idea where he's run off to.

Mercenary by name and by nature, Carson is a Lakota Sioux who stays to himself and never keeps women around long enough for anything emotional to develop. But working with his friend Cash Grier on a complex murder investigation provides Carson with another kind of fun - shocking Cash's sweet-but-traditional secretary, Carlie Blair, with tales of his latest conquests.

After getting her heart broken seven years ago, Keena Whitman fled town. Now she’s back, and a successful designer at last. But when she sees Nicholas Coleman again, all the feelings she’s tried so hard to forget come rushing back. Letting Keena go was the biggest mistake Nicholas has ever made. This time he’s ready to prove he’s her perfect match - in love and business.

The Dusman have accepted the Humans as allies but have given no indications as to what their long-term intentions are. Their goals have to be large, though, as they continue to spread their influence across the Human colonies…and beyond. Fighting continues to rage between the guilds, both in the shadows and out in the open for all to see. Although one of the Synthetic Intelligences has been killed, the others are now restive, acting from the shadows to affect events galaxy-wide. As the end of The Guild Wars draws near, one thing is certain—the tempest will rage until the very end.

A young American woman is attacked at a historic Paris chateau and four paintings are stolen the same night, drawing Hugo Marston into a case where everyone seems like a suspect. To solve this mystery Hugo must crack the secrets of the icy and arrogant Lambourd family, who seem more interested in protecting their good name than future victims. Just as Hugo thinks he's close, some of the paintings mysteriously reappear, at the very same time that one of his suspects goes missing.

The planet of Azure is nearly idyllic: There is a high standard of living, industry is booming, and the two races — Human and Wrogul — get along well with each other most days. But underneath it all, there is tension between the races. Despite having no reason for it, the Humans don’t always trust the Wrogul, and there is a faction within the Wrogul community that doesn’t want its young growing up “Human.”

Will Stark has been sent on a mission to save the life of a young woman named Elizabeth. He does not know who is threatening her or why. He knows only that failure is not an option, for it will mean three of the most important people in his life will cease to exist. Will finds himself in a unique medieval village constructed deep in a forest, its residents prosperous and healthy to an unnatural degree. Their leader, a man named Arthur, weaves an alluring tale....

The Eurasia fleet has entered the Darg star system. The unsuspecting players look forward to the adventure of their lifetimes. Zander alone is now facing a harsh and unpredictable "alternative storyline". The girl he loved is gone. His nervous system is impregnated with artificial neurons that contain fragments of ancient AIs and their identities. Zander's body is implanted with alien artifacts that allow him to survive in the deadly cyberspace of Phantom Server.

The Time of Troubles had almost passed. The chaos of spilled blood, lawless strife, monsters unleashed, and avatars roaming Faern was reaching an end. However, not so Those Who Walk in Shadow. The dreaded and insidious Shadowmasters realize that they have one last chance to seize control while chaos wrecks havoc on all of the Realms, and in doing so seal the fate of not just their archenemy Elminster, but all of Mystra's minions as well.Darkness threatens to envelop all Faern.The shadows loom.

At 20, Coreen Tarleton had fallen hard for sexy millionaire cowboy Ted Regan. But his rejection had sent her running into the arms of another man, a decision she'd always regretted and an action Ted could never forgive. But now Ted had a second chance with the widowed Coreen. And though she was far from the naive girl she'd been, her heart still belonged to Ted.

Kerym was my dark elf overseer. I gave into his charms. But when I found out I was pregnant, I knew I had to leave and go far away. He needed to grow up without fear. And Kerym? He didn't love me. Dark elves are monsters who view humans as animals. Who knew what he'd do when he found out I was pregnant. Three years have passed and I've raised my son, Jasper, without worry. Until the day my new overseer takes over the town I live in. It's Kerym. He sees me. He sees Jasper. And I know this is not a coincidence. He's been searching for us. Does he love me? Did he ever?

With the Merc Guild opening up contracts again, it’s Zuul eat Zuul to get one, as there are far more companies looking for work than there are contracts to be had. So when Taylor Van Zant gets an inside line on a 30-million-credit contract for Swamp Eagle Security, he races to Karma to throw his hat in the ring. Unfortunately, Taylor arrives to find that the other North Florida mercenary company - the River Hawk Defense Group - is also bidding, and Taylor is forced to watch as they steal the contract out from under the Eagles.