While the Earth is overrun by swarms of ancient robots built by the not-so-extinct Klikiss race, King Peter breaks away from the resistance-crushing forces of the Hansa's brutal Chairman in order to forge independent colonies.

Humans have colonized the worlds of the Spiral Arm and the rest of the galaxy seems to be theirs for the taking. The Klikiss Torch is a device capable of transforming gas giants into new suns, however, the Jovian worlds are home to an alien species. The victims of unintentional genocide, the advanced hydogues aren't looking for an apology or reparations when they launch their warships on a single mission to annihilate every last human in the universe....

Early in the 25th century, humans ignited a fierce war with the hydrogues. Now the gas-giant planets, once a major source of fuel for Earth, are off limits, and the fearsome hydrogues scour the solar system, incinerating humans and the trees of the world forest. As political unrest spreads throughout Earth's space colonies, a possible ally is discovered: an ancient race of water-based creatures.

"Twenty years after the elemental conflict that nearly tore apart the cosmos in The Saga of Seven Suns, a new threat emerges from the darkness. The human race must set aside its own inner conflicts to rebuild their alliance with the Ildiran Empire for the survival of the galaxy. In Kevin J. Anderson's The Dark Between the Stars, galactic empires clash, elemental beings devastate whole planetary systems, and factions of humanity are pitted against...

Two decades after the devastating Elemental War, which nearly destroyed the cosmos, the new Confederation restored peace and profitable commerce among the peoples and worlds of the Spiral Arm. The ambitious, innovative Roamers went back to their traditional business of harvesting the vital stardrive fuel ekti from the clouds of gas giant planets, and the telepathic green priests of Theroc provided instantaneous galaxy-wide communication via their...