The Empire is a political entity that encompasses hundreds of colonized worlds united by a common language (Esperanto) and under a single individual, the Emperor. But the Empire is getting old and creaky. Its government is riddled with corruption and is choking on red tape. The Space Force is bloated with the incompetent who have risen to high rank due to nepotism and patronage. The Emperor has been assassinated, and the Empire is surrounded by alien races that are becoming more hostile and more powerful as time goes on.
When an exploration fleet in the rift between sections of the spiral arm are attacked by an unknown race, the dead Emperor’s clone-son, now on the throne, recognizes that the Empire is standing at the edge of an abyss and must find a way to not only win this new war against the alien aggressors but also overcome the inertia of the arrogant Space Force officers who are more ready to overthrow their Emperor than fight the war.
High intensity We start with a prologue that sets the stage and explains the subsequent actions. We then join an exploration group that is mapping a series of wormholes when they are set upon by an unlucky 13 ships of slightly superior capability. One explorer ship escapes to warn the Empire of a hostile race. The following is a description of actions taken by an emperor to combat incompetence, nepotism, revolt, and a deadly enemy. The action is very fast and compelling, but as with this kind of story,…
So goes an empire . . . A lovely tale of an old space-based empire beset with in-fighting and political maneuverings. Unfortunately, other species are also vying for control of adjacent space whom the old empire tries to keep at bay with its technological advantages. Then a new species is encountered that has considerable technological power of their own and the old empire is in crisis. Like many crises, old ways and established people must be displaced and new ways and people must advance or the empire will lose…
A new series from a space opera master Dietmar Wehr has written another very enjoyable space opera in Empire in Crisis. This story starts with the ascension of most of an alien race which allows a more primitive race to capture suddenly crewless starships. They then meet the human empire which is on the verge of another alien race invasion and a possible civil war. A new conflict starts between humanity and the aggressive aliens. The story continues to become more intense as humanity tries to survive this attack and defend itself…