You can't keep a good woman down-Kris Longknife returns.Once again Kris finds herself caught in the crosshairs of unknown enemies who want her dead. Factions, both legitimate and underground, vie for control of the planet New Eden. And someone is taking advantage of the chaos to unleash a personal vendetta against Kris.

You knew when Kris asked for a desk job that it wasn't going to be pretty.  Well, here's the bad, the worst and the ugly.  Budgets! This short story started out as the opening chapters to Kris Longknife - Emissary.  But hey, we all know how bad an office job is.  Who wants to start off an action adventure yarn with just another day at the office.  So, I cut it.  But, I know there are some of you out there who must have wondered if a bad Longknife day at the office was as bad as yours.  Who wondered what Kris had bveen doing for the last (mumble, mumble) years.  So, here it is.  Enjoy, you masochists.

The victory parades are over and half the fleet is back in mothballs.  The Navies better start getting them back in Commission!  Rita Longknife, commander of the heavy cruiser Exeter, has proof.  Proof that there is something else out there.  Proof we are not alone in the galaxy.  Aboard her ship is evidence that we have blown up an alien ship, and they have blown up one of ours.  So far, contact with the aliens is being made by pirates, the worst scum humanity has.  How do the right people take over making contact?  Is there already too much bad blood between us?  Have we already bungled first contact?

Kris Longknife killed Vicky Peterwald’s brother. So Vicky will kill Kris Longknife. Or try. Raised in the shadow of her brother Hank, Vicky now finds herself heir to the Peterwald Empire and hell bent on killing Kris Longknife. When that doesn’t work out, she finds herself shipped off to the Greenfeld Navy as a boot ensign. There she learns she can solve problems without taking her clothes off, and really feel good about it! When Kris Longknife crosses Vicky’s path again, Vicky is ready to help her save Vicky’s dad’s life. Kris Longknife’s Assassin is a long novella, just 50 words short of 40,000 words. It tells the story from Vicky’s perspective of her first run ins with Kris Longknife as well as Vicky’s apprenticeship under Admiral Krätz. It will give the reader a good run up to Vicky Peterwald – Target coming from Ace June 24.

Grand Duchess Victoria Peterwald wants her Empire back. If you're the one who's holding any part of it hostage, you really want to be somewhere else. Quick!Vicky has cleared Dresden of the so-called Security Specialists of the Bowlingame crime family. Every Redcoat is dead on that planet … and good riddance. Vicky thought she had killed that family twice: first when the Empress and her dad died at the Battle of Cuzco, then when she captured all the uncles and brothers who'd done their best to keep the government going.Still, the snake of that kleptocracy refuses to die! If Grand Duchess Vicky wants her Empire back, be she an autocrat or a constitutional monarch, she needs to root those snakes out of every hole they've crawled down. The only question is where to go next.While her army prepared for the invasion of Lublin, Vicky figured Oryol would only be a small police action. Yes, the planet had dropped off the net, but all they have are a regiment...