Time-travelling scientists must defend medieval Paris from Vikings, an A.I. platoon fights for the promise of freedom, and a teen soldier livestreams her battles in this week’s roundup of the newest releases in science fiction.

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An Airless Storm (Cochrane’s Company #2) – Peter Grant

The secret is out – the Mycenae system is the hottest new mineral find in the spiral arm. Now it’s about to become ground zero in a gold rush by every crooked company and asteroid thief in the galaxy.

Andrew Cochrane and his mercenaries have warded off a deadly onslaught by asteroid thieves. Now they’re riding high, buying more ships and looking for more contracts.

However, the criminal Brotherhood isn’t about to accept defeat – not after Cochrane’s Company killed their Patriarch. They’re out to rebuild, rearm, and get revenge.

What started as a simple patrol job in a deserted binary star system explodes into a multi-planetary arms race, with survival on the line!

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The Dawn of the Iron Dragon (Saga of the Iron Dragon #2) – Robert Kroese

A new beginning, 1300 years in the past…

In medieval Europe, three explorers from the distant future begin an ambitious project: build a craft capable of reaching the stars. While their leader oversees the construction of a secret underground base in Iceland, the other two travel thousands of miles to negotiate with the rulers of Europe and recruit the most brilliant minds of the age. When the Iceland base comes under attack, the travelers try to return to defend their home, but they are trapped in Paris just as an army of 20,000 Vikings lays siege to the city. To survive, they must defend Paris from the hordes of Norsemen and fight their way back to Iceland to save their new home–and keep the dream of the Iron Dragon alive.

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Earth Fleet (Rebel Fleet #4) – B. V. Larson

At long last Earth has a handful of starships. Surrounded by Rebel Kher, Imperials and the mysterious Nomads, Humanity dares to assert our right to independence.

The interstellar community reacts harshly. In the eyes of our neighbors, we’re upstarts, dangerous beings that don’t know our place.

For the Kher, freedom can only be won through battle. War fleets arrive to instruct us, and Captain Leo Blake is again sent out to voyage among hostile stars.

We’re far from ready, but the time has come. It’s game-on.

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Image Hand (Silent Order #8) – Jonathan Moeller

The galaxy is at war, but wars are won and lost in the shadows.

To the galaxy at large, Jack March is a privateer of the interstellar Kingdom of Calaskar and a former Iron Hand commando of the malevolent Final Consciousness. In truth, he is an alpha operative of the Silent Order, the most efficient and feared intelligence organization in human space. When there is a crisis, Jack March is the man to call.

When Jack March finds the crew of a space station killed by mysterious radiation, he soon finds himself on the trail of a deadly superweapon.

And unless he finds the weapon, he will be its next victim…

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Rebooted (AI Reborn #3) – Isaac Hooke

Eric and the Bolt Eaters only just finished saving the world when the aliens decided to return. Now the otherworldly mothership lingers in orbit, watching, waiting.

The people of Earth aren’t going to let those bastards strike first this time: the military has hatched a plan to destroy the alien vessel.  It probably won’t work. In fact, it’s a suicide mission.

Which is exactly why they’re sending in the Bolt Eaters: human minds implanted into the most powerful war machines ever created. If the platoon fails, they can simply be restored from backups and sent again. And again.

As an added incentive to their success, the military has dangled the carrot of freedom: if the Bolt Eaters triumph, their psyches will be installed into civilian robots and given ownership of their mind backups.

It’s a carrot Eric doesn’t need: someone’s gotta save humanity.

It might as well be him.

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Sudden Danger (Suddenverse #2) – Jon Mollison

E. Z. Sudden and Karenina return to action in their first mission as part of the Star King’s intelligence service. Sudden knows every simple job has the potential to get real complicated real quick, especially when a guy has to show his naïve and adventurous new wife the ropes. To his chagrin, a simple intelligence gathering mission goes south when they uncover a hidden conspiracy on the fringes of the Ragged Edge of space – a plot by the local megacorp to steal the land out from under a few humble farmers. Their investigation leads the roguish smuggler and his princess bride into a web of evil larger than either could have imagined.

With all of the thrilling fights and chases and escapes from certain doom you’ve come to expect from the humble and hardworking tramp space freighter captain E. Z. Sudden, and all of his princess’s charms, this novel touches on the deeper meaning of heroism, handled with a light touch that will leave you smiling and ready for more.

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Viral – Piers Platt

“In my first battle, I made fourteen thousand dollars in five minutes.”

On a remote planet, an autonomous scout makes first contact with extraterrestrial life. Without warning, the alien attacks, ripping the drone to shreds. Humanity is at war.

Back on Earth, Sam is just another jobless graduate, drifting aimlessly while she lives off of the government’s monthly stipend. When war breaks out with the aliens, she sees a way out of her life of boredom: she signs up to be a “deathstreamer,” a new breed of mercenary chasing fame and fortune by streaming combat footage from the front lines. If she can go viral, wealth and celebrity are within Sam’s grasp. But she’ll need to survive long enough to enjoy it.

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Zero Zero Tango (Quantum Mortis: A Man Divided #2) – written by Vox Day and Steve Rzasa, illustrated by Matvei Daniilovich

Chief Warrant Officer Graven Tower is a ruggedly handsome military policeman who hates aliens. Fortunately, as a member of His Grace’s Military Crimes Investigation Division – Xenocriminology and Alien Relations, he gets to arrest a lot of them. Sometimes he even gets to shoot them.

Chief Tower and Detector Derin Hildreth of the Trans Paradis Police Department are investigating the murder of the Crown Prince of Morchard on the shadowed streets of Trans Paradis City, but the alien government-in-exile is less than entirely helpful. The royal house of Morchard appears to be considerably more interested in seeking revenge than seeing justice done. But there is no way that Tower or MCID are going to let any vengeful xenos start another war in their house!