TARGETS ARE LOCKED! Five short novels by five masters of military SF capture the excitement, and hell, of fantastic future war-on and off the battlefield. Stories of terrifying monsters, dangerous aliens and staggering cosmic dreadnaughts march alongside far-flung courtroom dramas and cautionary tales involving man and his devices. Michael A. Stackpole-The Star Tigers are commandeered by a powerful alien overseer on a covert mission to a world long...

After the vicious, insect-like aliens called the Saurons invaded Earth and killed billions, they enslaved the survivors, forcing them to build mysterious temples under brutal conditions. In an effort to control their human slaves, the Saurons install a puppet president to keep them under control. But President Alexander Franklin and Chief of Security Jack Manning aren't about to play along. Rebellion is in the air, and the fight for freedom is spreading...

Rex Corvan is the World's Greatest Reporter. It's not the video camera implanted in his right eye. It's not his popularity with news audiences everywhere. What makes him a great reporter is his determination to run toward the story. With a killer on his tail, hopefully Rex can run fast enough. With his video technician Kim, Rex unravels the mystery of Matrix Man, a dangerous program controlled by a secret group looking to subvert the government. They've...

Max Maxon is an ex-marine who makes his living with a gun. Sasha Casad is a rich teenager trying to catch the next spaceship home. Max's job is to get her there alive. Somebody's trying to stop them--somebody with plenty of money and firepower. That doesn't bother Max. A contract is a contract. Against all odds, he's going to fulfill this one. And then he's going to make somebody pay!

On a lonely planet in the distant future, Earth is a fading memory and technology is falling into ruin. As a "runner," Jak Rebo delivers valuable pacakges from planet-to-planet. When he takes an assignment to deliver a young boy believed to be a reincarnated religious leader to another planet, Jak finds himself at the center of a violent religious conflict, dodging assassins around every corner. The risk doubles after he teams p with Lani Norr, a...

A fragile peace between the Il Ronnian Empire and humankind is about to crumble--because space pirates have made off with one of the aliens' holiest relics. Only one man can hunt down the sacred object. A man with a score to settle with the pirates: bounty hunter supreme Sam McCade.

EVEN SMUGGLING HAS RULES. THE THIRD IS: DEATH IS NOT AN OPTION. Meet Pik Lando, a con artist and a ladies' man, a total professional who'll chase across the galaxies for his clients--and he'll usually find plenty of action and danger too. In DRIFTER'S WAR, Lando's latest scheme could set him up for life--or for a particularly painful death. Chased by bounty hunters, Lando finds himself dropped down in the middle of a planet-smashing holy war. Big...

Aboard the Outward Bound, there are thousands of colonists headed towards Mars. But, one person on the ship is different. Inside that crew member's head, there are a half-dozen voices, a half-dozen personalities normally bickering and disagreeing. Today, though, just as the ship is about to leave Earth's orbit, they all agree on one thing-they have to kill to keep their secret safe. That's dangerous for Rex Corvan, because secrets are the thing he...