Shadow Raptors Series

Year 2017. Skuns' ship appears in the solar system for the first time. Humanity gives it the name Oumuamua. Two years later, the object disappears in a mysterious anomaly located between Mars and Jupiter. More alien ships arrive soon. Earth research probes sent on their trail discover a passage in this area, leading to the Epsilon Eridani star system ten light years away, inhabited by the Skun race.   Year 2045. The first Earth colony ships enter the Epsilon Eridani system.   Year 2205. Skuns' Dominion is just a memory. The decimated aliens hide in the asteroid belt on the outskirts of the system, from where they launch an attack on the colonists. A giant Skun warship sets off towards the only planet in the system and its moon. The human fleet guarding the planet is dispersed, with only a small strike team consisting of a cruiser and a few escort ships in the system.   Can a single ship stop an overwhelming enemy force? Will humanity be able to save the new domain from extinction? How much are people willing to sacrifice to do this?

In the Epsilon Eridani system, the damage assessment for the Oumuamua attack begins. Much to the annoyance of Commander Lupos, the surviving fragment of the Skun ship continues to exhibit dangerous activity, and what's worse, it drifts towards the Fold, thus posing a real threat to the installations located around the anomaly. The cruiser's commander decides to immobilize the wreck and tow it to the orbital shipyard. People want to obtain raw materials and new technologies from it. Meanwhile, the situation in the system gets complicated again. The Skun form a new fold, this time near the moon of Sigil, from where they attack the Autonomous orbital infrastructure and a Medical Corps hospital station. The group under the command of Admiral Kravchenko, which after many vicissitudes has finally returned to its home system, receives information about the disappearance of a mining convoy, a large expedition sent towards the asteroid field, rich in raw materials, located far beyond the outer limits of the system. Black clouds gather over the inhabitants of the Epsilon Eridani system. As the Skuns destroy subsequent elements of the technical infrastructure, the specter of the destruction of the young colony becomes more and more real. This can only be prevented - as has happened many times in the past - only by the ships of the fleet.

Allied Organizations of Epsilon Eridani System are beginning to falter. The Orbital Union unexpectedly announces its secession, the Sigil Autonomy starts a complicated political game aimed at strengthening its position in the system.   The specter of overpopulation hangs over the only viable piece of planet AEgir - thousands of residents residing in rehabilitation enclaves, coming from habitats destroyed by the Skun ship, do not have a place to go back to. In the interplanetary space, things are not going well either. Weakened by skirmishes in the solar system, including the loss of its largest cruiser, Admiral   Kravchenko's fleet is hastily replenished with men and equipment. Sent to the collision-damaged Oumuamua, mining crews are suddenly attacked by alien forces. It soon turns out that somewhere in the bowels of the wreck there is still a spark of alien consciousness, hostile and determined. From the outlying asteroid field, assisted by dozens of stone warships, the legendary combat habitat, the Nest, emerges, and along with its murderous escort sets off towards human dwellings.

They say that life is never so bad that it can't get worse. The inhabitants of the Epsilon Eridani system are once again convinced of the truth of these words. The Nest, a large Skun battle habitat, and its accompanying fleet of stone ships easily reach the planet AEgir and its moon, where they take up a position to attack the orbital fortifications. However, the threat comes not only from high orbit. The wreck of Oumuamua is still drifting towards the planet, in whose destroyed control room two beings, an organic and a virtual, are jointly developing a cruel plan to exterminate their oppressors. A politically destabilized human colony, cut off from main sources of supply and increasingly weaker militarily, with grim determination prepares for the decisive confrontation.

The battle in the Epsilon Eridani system is entering its decisive phase. Skun ships are attacking the orbital fortifications with great force, but the battle-hardened colonists are not going to give up the ground easily. Although small in number, quarrelling and divided, they put up fierce resistance to the enemy, one by one destroying the stone cruisers and decimating their support.   Amidst the turmoil of war, the fates of scouts sent to search for the missing convoy; the trawler "Arrowhead", whose captain desperately wants to destroy the wreck of Oumuamua, the crews of the cruisers "Frontier" and "Pandemonium", and Commander Tsugawa, are all rushing to the rescue in a captured bulk carrier converted into a warship, intertwine.   The alien mother captured by Colonel Dressler and Oli, as well as the inhabitants of the planet AEgir, anxiously looking at the sky above their heads, illuminated by the glow of countless explosions.

To get rid of the intruders, the Skuns use their ultimate weapon: they open a new, gigantic portal, intended to swallow not only the planet and its moon, but also most of the in-system space infrastructure. The attempt at negotiations ends in failure, the heroic effort of Admiral Kravchenko's fleet, which reaches the battlefield at the last moment, is ineffective, and the daring charge of the cruiser "Frontier" against the overwhelming enemy forces turns out to be similarly ineffective. Only a miracle can save the colony. And such a miracle happens. What's more, he even has a name. And serial number.