At the dawn of the twenty-fourth century, with colonies spanning fifty star systems, mankind has created the Confederation of Allied Worlds. When trouble erupts, the Confed’s solution is swift, savage, and supremely effective: dispatch small teams of elite warriors. Deadly fighters like Tex... As one of the most decorated soldiers in the Confederation’s arsenal, Tex has survived covert operations in every steaming hellhole. As a result, he knows more than enough about the Confed’s most brutal and amoral activities, which makes him wonder: Is it mere coincidence that all missions assigned to veteran teams seem to be suicide missions? Fortunately, the new assignment doesn’t have the markings of a lethal affair. Tex is dispatched to the Ulysses star system, a backwater group of inconsequential planets populated with misfits and malcontents. What he doesn’t know is that this lowly cluster secretly harbors perhaps the greatest threat ever faced by the Confederation. Worse yet, the shadowy Protectorate behind the mission intends to make certain Tex does not survive. But Tex hasn’t earned his reputation as a well-honed killing machine for nothing... Brute Force, Xbox, and the Xbox Logos are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and/or other countries. Used under license. Copyright © 2002 Microsoft Corporation. All Rights Reserved.
Author
Pen Names Edward Taft Dee W. Schofield D.W. Smith Sandy Schofield Kathryn Wesley Dean Wesley Smith is the bestselling author of over ninety novels under many names and well over 100 published short stories. He has over eight million copies of his books in print and has books published in nine different countries. He has written many original novels in science fiction, fantasy, mystery, thriller, and romance as well as books for television, movies, games, and comics. He is also known for writing quality work very quickly and has written a large number of novels as a ghost writer or under house names. With Kristine Kathryn Rusch, he is the coauthor of The Tenth Planet trilogy and The 10th Kingdom. The following is a list of novels under the Dean Wesley Smith name, plus a number of pen names that are open knowledge. Many ghost and pen name books are not on this list because he is under contractual obligations not to disclose that he wrote them. Many of Dean’s original novels are also under hidden pen names for marketing reasons. Dean has also written books and comics for all three major comic book companies, Marvel, DC, and Dark Horse, and has done scripts for Hollywood. One movie was actually made. Over his career he has also been an editor and publisher, first at Pulphouse Publishing, then for VB Tech Journal, then for Pocket Books. Currently, he is writing thrillers and mystery novels under another name.
