Martial Law, sabotaged water supplies, and assassins. Oh my.

The threat of Martial Law looms heavy on Drewdonia, and the Zero Point device, turned weapon, is still missing.

AWOL, Jack is wanted for questioning back on T3. Ally is still at risk from being remotely deactivated. Meanwhile, Jack and his team track the conspiracy to levels they could only have imagined.

As they wrangle with the mysteries of increased violence on Drewdonia the unlikely team find themselves hard up against the clock to find the unstable device.

Please note: a version of this novel was previously published under Ell’s pen name “Oscar Andrews” and was titled: Empire Rising: Defiant Fugitive. It has undergone some rewrites.

They thought he was dead, but he was only getting started.

With the Zero Point Energy device still under enemy control, Jack is forced to put recent betrayals aside to save humanity.

In an uncomfortable alliance, the team heads out to the Gaia settlement, tracking the device that could end the world. Complications abound, bringing waves of violence and death to the settlement.

All hope is lost and the fate of the system is left on the shoulders of one man. Armageddon has arrived, and it must be stopped.

Please note: a version of this novel was previously published under Ell’s pen name “Oscar Andrews” and was titled: Empire Rising: Liberty Quest. It has undergone some rewrites.

War is looming. Flight Sergeant Jack Klingerman gets the call.

Teamed up with Ally, a human consciousness in a concierge bot-body, he heads out to New Atlantia in the Federation's boondocks where he finds two sides ready to blow each other apart.

Resolution can only come when he can retrieve a kidnapped scientist and a Zero-Point Energy generator: a piece of tech capable of accidentally ripping a hole in the universe.

Jack's only chance at saving the space-time continuum is to track the kidnappers, and the device by taking down a stream of black ops teams. All while maintaining a tenuous cease-fire back at New Atlantia.

If you liked Firefly, The Ascension Myth, Deadlands Drifter, The Expanse, or Farscape, you will love this sci-fi adventure from USA Today Bestseller, Ell Leigh Clarke.

Please note: a version of this novel was previously published under Ell’s pen name “Oscar Andrews” and was titled: Empire Rising: Renegade Patriot. It has undergone some rewrites.

Some truths set you free. Others show you just how trapped you really are.

Uncovering the brutal reality of the arena has been a game changer. But unlike most truths, it hasn’t set them free. Not yet. Armed only with their collective ability and desire for vengeance they hatch a plan to take down the corporation responsible for their untold weeks of hell.

This final showdown is going to challenge not just their metal and their identities, but their entire view of the world as they know it.

As terrifying as the prospect of facing down an entire corporation the size of a military empire may seem, they’re not just fighting for their own survival. The way of life for all humans, and the collective character of the whole race, now hangs precariously in the balance.

They are humanity's last chance.

Frying pan to fire…

Having discovered they are trapped within an arena, their only hope of survival lies in escape: beyond the arena boundary.

The powers that be that are keeping them ‘occupied', trapped, and are hot on their tail, tracking their every movement. Between injuries and a traitor in their midst the enormity of what they’re up against seems to grow with every hour that passes.

The odds of survival keep weighing against them, yet somehow they’re still alive, and that in itself is perhaps a clue to their liberation.

Waking up in a hostile environment… not the usual start to the day.

Not knowing who you are? Priceless.

A group of strangers awake with their lungs full of stasis goo. What they don’t immediately realize is that they’re going to have to work fast if they’re going to survive a concatenation of organic and mechanical beasts, traps and deadly encounters.

It’s going to take all their collective wit, guile and any innate abilities they can uncover because survival is far from guaranteed.

More than that, they’re going to have to work together.

If you liked Maze Runner, Aliens, The Hunger Games, Lost or Firefly, you’re going to love this psychological sci-fi mystery.

The possibility of a war being started weighs heavy on Karma as she uncovers more intel on a plot that she's inadvertently been a part of.

Still stranded light years from League space, with no way of contacting the authorities to warn them, she's left holding the secret.

Fuel and chart data are the only thing standing between the crew and home, yet both those things are guarded by a long-forgotten race, the old arch enemy of the humans.

Time and chance aren't on her side.

It's going to take some poker-level bluffing to get them back on the road, and she still has to figure out who she can trust.

Stranded in uncharted space, Karma is finding it harder to keep information from the crew.

But what she knows will affect their chances of survival.

At least with the crew knowing about the device it means that she can work with them to get it back online and find a way home.

That would be the plan, but for a pesky distress call.

A distress call they have to answer.

The problem with responding to distress signals in unknown space, with untold threats all around, is that you also run the risk of needing to send out your own distress call.

Which presupposes that there are friendly folks somewhere around. And that you’re not going to attract the attention of any lurking hostiles.

Not only that, but their side quest could very well result in losing crew members.

And we’re not just talking about red shirts.

The year on the human home world calendar is 2220.

Life is a bit like the sci-fi shows of the 20th Century in some ways.

In others? Not so much.

I'm on a League of Civilizations star ship. Yep. Star Ship. In space.

Currently trying to physically, and emotionally, recover from a crash where I lost my partner. All would be going fine except we also have to survive an encounter with the deadliest lifeform in the universe.

A lifeform we were starting to think was just legend.

No big deal.

If it were just about the lives on board that would be one thing. But it’s not. What we do next will impact everyone, in all the League civilizations. That’s hundreds of billions of sentients. They could all be wiped out.

I’m running out of options.

And time.

Oh yeah, and as if dealing with trying to save everyone in the universe wasn’t enough, I also have to contend with a crush on the ship’s first officer who also happens to be… yes, you guessed it, a synthetic life form.

Fuck my life.

Surviving either of these things intact is going to be a challenge.

+++

“If you like Star Trek and devastatingly handsome androids, you'll love this series!”

Similar to: Star Trek: The Next Generation, Star Trek: Voyager, and Firefly

With the Hand dead and the Ring mostly dismantled, Burner's team turn their attention to loose ends.

The thing about loose ends is if you tug at them there is always a chance that you'll pull something else loose. And sometimes that thing is much bigger than anything you are equipped to deal with.

Against a background of clandestine operations it soon becomes apparent that the Hand's operation is being supported by someone within the government and a second powerful person within the Union.

Tracking the scent of corruption the team discover that the key players already know who they are and are coming for them. It's a case of strike or be taken out.

But taking out high ranking officials is generally frowned on in Union space. Their actions will come at a cost: Burner and his team will become fugitives. If they escape with their lives.

Either way, their life on Dobulla is essentially over.