From ships lost to accidents in warp, space pirates and plague, to colonies facing unexpected rivals, and new lifeforms on the ground, this collection draws on some of the what-ifs and maybes surrounding humanity’s future among the stars. From flash fiction to novelette-length short stories to verse, the speculation runs from the idea of corporate takeovers of colony worlds, to unusual critter incursions, to the simplicity of plague, and how our future selves might cope when facing the gamut of human emotion on an extra-terrestrial stage.

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...

A science-fiction short story incorporating: A downed ship. An AI sentience in jeopardy. A hostile take-over in action. When Peony sneaks out to make sure the crashed ship’s AI is okay, she has no idea of what she, and her charge, are going up against. Can they survive the coming confrontation? And will they be forgiven for the measures they have to take?

A science-fiction short story involving: an alien autumn, an unseen predator, deadly burrowers and an oncoming winter, and bugs big enough to ride. Joaquin only wants to warn his daughter of a new danger, to keep her safe, to make her understand her mother isn’t coming back, while keeping her alive. But what if he’s wrong? What if Mariam really did survive? What if, when everything looks like it’s going wrong, it’s really going right?

Sera leads a simple life. A little smuggling, some drinking contests, and captaining her star freighter, Sabrina. But when she picks up a mysterious shipping container on Coburn Station, things begin to go wrong. She finds herself at odds with The Mark, a dangerous pirate organization that wants the cargo on her ship. Inside the container she not only finds a woman, but a secret thought lost millennia ago. The woman is Tanis Richards, and she knows the location of the Intrepid, a missing colony ship from humanity's golden age. Sera knows how to help Tanis and the Intrepid. But to do that, she will need to reveal a secret that will pull her back into a life she left long ago. A life from which she was exiled in shame and disgrace. Tanis doesn't trust Sera; and Sabrina's rag-tag crew is nothing like what she's used to, but she's going to have to rely on them to avoid capture and get back to the Intrepid. As Tanis and Sera battle pirates and interstellar governments, the two women forge a friendship that will forever shape the destiny of humanity.

The creation myth of the United States begins with the plucky English puritans of the Mayflower--but what about the story of its sister ship, the Seaflower. Few people today know the story of the passengers aboard the Seaflower, who in 1630 founded a rival puritan colony on an isolated Caribbean island called Providence. They were convinced that England’s empire would rise not in barren New England, but rather in tropical Central America. However, Providence became a colony in constant crisis: crops failed, slaves revolted . . . and then there were the pirates. And, as Tom Feiling discovers in this surprising history, the same drama was played out by the men and women who re-settled the island one hundred years later. The Island That Disappeared presents Providence as a fascinating microcosm of colonialism--even today. At first glance it is an island of devout churchgoers - but look a little closer, and you see that it is still dependent on its smugglers. At once intimate and global, this story of puritans and pirates goes to the heart of the contradictory nature of the Caribbean and how the Western World took shape.

A fantasy short story A city under siege. A dragon under cover. Five kings lost to time. And two orphans running for their lives. Hunted by invaders, Valan races to find his sister before those seeking them. What is it about their past that has an entire army wanting them dead? And who sent it? Can Valan find the only family he has, and escape before the sins of their unknown fathers come to rest upon their shoulders?