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Lost Starship
Series · 17
books · 2014-2022

Books in series

The Lost Starship book cover
#1

The Lost Starship

2014

Ten thousand years ago, a single alien super-ship survived a desperate battle. The vessel's dying crew set the AI on automatic to defend the smashed rubble of their planet. Legend has it the faithful ship continues to patrol the empty battlefield, obeying its last order throughout the lonely centuries. In the here and now, Earth needs a miracle. Out of the Beyond invade the New Men, stronger, faster and smarter than the old. Their superior warships and advanced technology destroy every fleet sent to stop them. Their spies have infiltrated the government and traitors plague Earth’s military. Captain Maddox of Star Watch Intelligence wonders if the ancient legend could be true. Would such an old starship be able to face the technology of the New Men? On the run from killers, Maddox searches for a group of talented misfits. He seeks Keith Maker, a drunken ex-strikefighter ace, Doctor Dana Rich the clone thief stuck on a prison planet and Lieutenant Valerie Noonan, the only person to have faced the New Men in battle and survived to tell about it. Maddox has to find a place hidden in the Beyond and bring back a ship no one can enter. If he fails, the New Men will replace the old. If he succeeds, humanity might just have a fighting chance…
The Lost Command book cover
#2

The Lost Command

2015

One hundred and fifty years ago, Earth colonists hoping to found a utopia emigrated deep into the Beyond. Now, the New Men are invading, a race of humans stronger, faster and smarter than the old. Star Watch sends Admiral Fletcher to stop them. His command barely escapes annihilation by heading into the dreaded void. His battered ships are quickly running out of food, fuel and missiles, and they don’t dare go back again to face the New Men. Star Watch frantically searches for a way to rescue the vessels. An ancient alien starship is parked in the Solar System, with an irritable AI refusing to cooperate. The vessel has powerful weapons—if anyone could figure out how to make them work after ten thousand years. Star Watch summons Captain Maddox, the only person to have successfully worked with the ancient computer. The captain must convince his old acquaintance the AI—who has become smarter and even more belligerent than before—to help him rescue Fletcher. But what does the ten-thousand-year-old AI have to gain by helping Star Watch’s cockiest Intelligence officer? The answer just might help solve the threat of the New Men. THE LOST COMMAND is the second book in the LOST STARSHIP SERIES.
The Lost Destroyer book cover
#3

The Lost Destroyer

2015

A silver pyramid in space ten thousand years old… The secrets of the mysterious New Men… A war like no other… Starship Victory—Earth’s ancient, alien spacecraft—has won a smashing victory against the New Men, driving them from “C” Quadrant. On their way home, Captain Maddox and his crew run into a vast machine trapped inside an ion storm. Maddox doesn’t know it yet, but the meeting isn’t an accident. There’s a traitor aboard ship, implementing a secret plan, threatening to destroy everything Star Watch has achieved against the New Men. Now begins a deadly race as Captain Maddox, the crew and Galyan are pitted against the masters of a centuries-old conspiracy. Human existence lies in the balance. THE LOST DESTROYER is the third book in the LOST STARSHIP SERIES.
The Lost Colony book cover
#4

The Lost Colony

2015

We fought the invading New Men to a standstill and defeated the alien Destroyer sent to obliterate Earth. The worst should be over, but it’s not. Perfect android replicas are impersonating high-level officials so trust is failing. Worse, the New Men have found allies with an impenetrable stealth technology. This time, however, Earth is going on the offensive. Admiral Fletcher is headed to “C” Quadrant with a Grand Fleet. He’s to liberate the captured planets and find the enemy homeworld. What he isn’t supposed to do is die. The only one who can save humanity has been grounded. Captain Maddox is under suspicion because he’s half New Man. But he’s not going to stop. He’s found something unbelievable. Now, he needs Starship Victory—an ancient, alien spacecraft—the AI Galyan, Meta, Sergeant Riker and the others to help him tear the greatest secret of all from the enemy. Maddox and his crew must succeed or humanity will drown in a sea of human extinction.
The Lost Patrol book cover
#5

The Lost Patrol

2016

We learned a terrible secret last voyage, the Swarm exists. It has a monstrous imperium, expanding, evolving and receiving incredible Builder tech. Captain Maddox heads into the Deep Beyond to find the Swarm Imperium. We must know the worst so we can prepare against the deadliest species in the galaxy. The captain and his crew battle loneliness and the terror of the unknown as they hunt through the stellar darkness. They’re thousands of light-years from home, from any help. What they find threatens their sanity and unity. It’s going to take the best Maddox and the ancient AI Galyan has to offer to pull the crew together. They have to save the starship from what waits in the galactic darkness or the human race will die.
The Lost Planet book cover
#6

The Lost Planet

2016

Last voyage, Captain Maddox entered a distant star system with a Swarm fleet. The sheer numbers were staggering, a 100-1 advantage against all human spacecraft. If the highly aggressive, racist insects gained hyper-spatial tube technology—allowing them to cross a thousand light-years in seconds—it would mean Armageddon for Earth. Star Watch desperately needs something powerful to offset the annihilating Swarm numbers. As if on cue, Professor Ludendorff declares he has discovered the whereabouts of ancient Builder technology, a tech so potent it could defeat the Swarm. Star Watch takes the bait, ordering Captain Maddox to find the lost planet holding the ancient technology. Ludendorff has a plan involving androids to lure his arch rival—Methuselah Man Strand—to his doom. The crew of Starship Victory knows nothing of this and thus blindly enters a web of intrigue and danger. The captain will need the AI Galyan, Valerie and Riker like never before. Humanity’s hope against the coming Swarm holocaust rests on the outcome.
The Lost Earth book cover
#7

The Lost Earth

2017

It finally happened. Commander Thrax Ti Ix created a hyper-spatial tube for the Swarm Imperium. Across thousands of light-years, a vast armada of warships is heading for Earth to burn the homeworld down to its bedrock as the Swarm begins its genocidal campaign against the human race. No one—not the New Men, the Spacers, the Wahhabi Caliphate or Star Watch—has faced such staggering odds. Alone or united, it makes no difference. Captain Maddox has a last-ditch plan. He’s returning to the null region of last voyage to grab the ancient Destroyers hidden there. But an immortal entity of evil cunning haunts the vessels. If it escapes its prison…Maddox will have made things infinitely worse. This time, mankind needs a miracle.
The Lost Artifact book cover
#8

The Lost Artifact

2018

Star Watch defeated the Swarm Invasion Fleet, but at a terrible cost in destroyed star systems, smashed battleships and billions of dead. In the aftermath of the costly victory, chaos threatens as worlds leave the Commonwealth of Planets, face mass starvation or succumb to increased piracy. The war against the Swarm Imperium has just begun. Humanity needs unity or each planet will fall alone. Brigadier O’Hara of Star Watch Intelligence stumbles onto a secret conspiracy. Someone is trying to destroy the Commonwealth from within, and they have an alien artifact of incredible power. O’Hara summons Captain Maddox. Although she fears to lose him, she knows that Maddox and his crew have the best chance of finding the hidden enemy. If the captain fails, the Commonwealth will be powerless to stop its destruction. What O’Hara doesn’t know—it would probably break her heart if she did—is that she has just sent Maddox into the most harrowing battle of his career.
The Lost Star Gate book cover
#9

The Lost Star Gate

2018

The Swarm is coming! This time, enemy science vessels study us as Hive Masters gather hundreds of thousands of starships for an avalanche invasion. Instead of facing massed bug fleets in hopeless battle, we have a desperate plan: use a Builder nexus, create a hyper-spatial tube and send suicide-ships thousands of light-years into Swarm territory. There, our ships must find and destroy the nexuses that are the only way back home, all in order to stop the bugs from using the nexuses to reach Human Space. Despite the grim mission, Captain Maddox is determined to bring his people back. But deep in the Sagittarius Spiral Arm, disaster strikes. All alone in the stellar night, the crew must face a primordial alien that even the Builders feared and the Swarm avoids. Now begins a deadly battle as Maddox, the crew and Galyan are pitted against a horror of legendary evil as a Swarm battle fleet waits to annihilate the victor.
The Lost Supernova book cover
#10

The Lost Supernova

2019

Androids used to mingle among us, pretending to be human. Then an alien puppet-master altered their programming. Unknown to us, androids began leaving human society, burning their clothes and peeling off their skin to reveal the chrome-colored bodies underneath. They gathered in a system were a star had exploded, blowing away the atmosphere of a Jupiter-like planet. The supernova had hurled heavy metals against the remaining core. The androids are mining supermetals that can turn ordinary ship weapons and shields into invincible armaments. The altered programming includes human genocide, which will start with a murderous attack on Earth. Luckily, Captain Maddox finds the enemy system. But during a space battle, something happens to hurl Victory thousands of light-years away into the Scutum-Centaurus Spiral Arm. The crippled starship will take years to reach home again. Long before that, Earth will be a radioactive ruin. Now begins a desperate journey in hostile space that will stretch everyone as Maddox strains to reach the Lord High Admiral in time with knowledge about the coming android attack. THE LOST SUPERNOVA is the tenth book in the LOST STARSHIP SERIES.
The Lost Swarm book cover
#11

The Lost Swarm

2019

Star Watch is reeling. The service has beaten New Men, massed bug fleets and hideous android attackers, but at a grim cost in men, starships and radioactive planets. The human worlds face starvation, increased space piracy and insurrections. Star Watch needs a break. It needs time to regroup, rebuild and reunite star systems. But Lord Drakos—the perfect soldier—knows this is the time to strike. With a fleet of renegade New Men and hybrid Swarm creatures, and a unique Builder weapon, he will smash Star Watch and rule the premen as emperor supreme. Plan A has Captain Maddox capturing Drakos before the New Man can find the Swarm splinter colony world. Plan B means Star Watch will have to risk sending its last fleet into the Beyond. For Maddox this is also a troubled time, as he closes in on the identities of his mother and father. THE LOST SWARM is the eleventh book in the LOST STARSHIP SERIES.
The Lost Intelligence book cover
#12

The Lost Intelligence

2020

His code name is Nostradamus, and he’s an ancient alien super-intelligence awakened by pesky humans crawling upon his planet. He decides to use these low-grade morons, testing some, making the special ones his agents and sending them into Star Watch to make the military organization his own.It’s an insidious assault from within, run by a creature with fantastic predictive powers against what he considers an infantile species.Captain Maddox and the crew of Victory catch a glimpse of the secret menace in the Tau Ceti System. They race back to Earth to report. But Nostradamus’s web is already closing in. It may already be too late.Except…Maddox, Galyan, Valerie and Professor Ludendorff refuse to give up on those they love. The secret war against humanity has a new set of champions, hardened veterans willing to challenge an alien that can predict their every move.Do Maddox and his crew stand a chance against the super-alien and the full weight of Star Watch turned against them? Find out in THE LOST INTELLIGENCE, the twelfth book in the Lost Starship Series.
The Lost Tech book cover
#13

The Lost Tech

2021

In the stillness of space, several asteroids disappear in the 82 G. Eridani System. Time passes and space wavers, and the missing asteroids reappear. They’re traveling at near-light-speed for the single populated planet. Nuclear-tipped missiles from the lone battleship fail to stop the asteroids, which crash against the planet, turning it into rubble and killing the 650 million inhabitants. Someone has found and now tested the perfect planet killer, an ancient device that turns asteroids and icy planetesimals into world-destroying projectiles. Earth is a mere twenty light-years away. But who’s to say the hidden weapon will head there next? It can go anywhere in the Commonwealth and destroy any world. Star Watch is desperate, employing every ship, every scientist and everyone, including the crew of Victory, to defend the planets. Captain Maddox, Professor Ludendorff and others must put aside every difference and concentrate on finding a weakness in the ultimate weapon, one they can exploit. Otherwise—the alternative is too stark to contemplate. It is time to pull together and think and fight like never before. THE LOST TECH is the thirteenth book in the Lost Starship Series.
The Lost Secret book cover
#14

The Lost Secret

2021

Long ago, the Builders ruled the stars, using a unique super-science to create marvels and wonders. But the Builders vanished—no one knows why—leaving many of their treasures hidden throughout the galaxy. Now, Captain Maddox and arrogant New Men learn about the fabled Library Planet. Legend holds it’s an ancient repository of Builder knowledge. The side that plunders the planetary vaults first will surely become the premier power in the Orion Spiral Arm. The race is on, but with many unforeseen dangers including deadly ghost-ships, possible time-travelers and cunning spies—others desire what lies inside the Library Planet. This will prove a desperate struggle as puny humans led by Captain Maddox try to wrench an advantage for Star Watch, and as a grim menace of unparalleled horror slowly unfolds before them.
The Lost Barrier book cover
#15

The Lost Barrier

2021

At Omicron 9, Professor Ludendorff unearthed artifacts of the fabled Old Ones. During a meeting in a subterranean chamber, a portal appeared and aliens attacked, perhaps to kidnap the professor or grab the artifacts. Maddox’s new intuitive sense gave him just enough warning. He saved Ludendorff and rushed into the portal to forestall any more assaults—and thus began his lonely odyssey from one strange place to another. Maddox eventually found a Builder potential unit, and they resolved to work together. But the unit betrayed him and then Victory, taking them to a system where Maddox had already been, one behind an impenetrable barrier and possessing an ancient power. Maddox and Victory were outmatched and outgunned, facing aliens wielding super-science weapons. But if the captain ever wanted to see his wife and daughter again, and stop Lisa Meyers from her ongoing genocidal plans against humanity, he was going to have to solve an eon-old mystery and defeat every extraterrestrial bastard that got in his way. THE LOST BARRIER is the fifteenth book in the Lost Starship Series.
The Lost Nebula book cover
#16

The Lost Nebula

2022

This may be Victory’s eeriest voyage yet as the starship plunges into a bizarre nebula of weird compacted gases. They’re hunting for Valerie Noonan, last seen at the destroyed Adok homeworld searching for survivors. The nebula holds dark secrets, ones that fight back with mass hypnosis and heavy lasers, seeking the crew’s enslavement and worse. Maddox desperately needs his new intuitive sense and fighting skills as he negotiates the treacherous space reefs, alien deceit and sinister technology. And he risks everything for what his AI companion Galyan desires most. THE LOST NEBULA is book 16 in the Lost Starship series, a star-spanning saga of deadly space war and planetary battles as told by millions-bestselling author Vaughn Heppner.
The Lost Relic book cover
#17

The Lost Relic

2022

Captain Maddox is marooned on a harsh alien planet 6000 light years from Earth. He struggles alone, desperate to survive, knowing that failure will forever cost him his wife and daughter. But there’s more at stake than Maddox’s life. In the planet is a relic of unimaginable power and the secret to the Builders’ demise. The Mastermind has sent Iris, his human lover, and a team of intelligent canine killers, to retrieve the relic for his greatness. Here, in a strangely dampened star system, the crew of Victory faces its cruelest challenge, battling entities thousands of years old to end a war begun long ago. THE LOST RELIC is book 17 in the Lost Starship series, a star-spanning saga of deadly space war and planetary struggles as told by millions-bestselling author Vaughn Heppner.

Author

Vaughn Heppner
Vaughn Heppner
Author · 83 books

You can visit Vaughn at www.vaughnheppner.com I was born in Canada and remember as a small boy crawling in my snow-fort. I closed my eyes, and when I tried to open them, they were frozen shut. I didn't panic, but wiped away the ice crystals, unglued my eyes and kept on building my tunnel. Those were great days! I moved to Central California before seventh grade and couldn't believe I lived in a land where oranges grew on trees and you could pick grapes from the vine. I used to wonder what I wanted to do with my life, what kind of work specifically. I was miserable not knowing and bordering on desperate. Then one day a friend gave me his typewriter. I began working on a novel. A different person told me it was much easier on a computer, so I bought one and began getting up at 4:30 A.M. each morning before work, writing for three hours. My eyes were unglued once again as the pang of misery left my gut. I knew exactly what I wanted to do: write. So now that's what I do, I write, and write, and write, and I love it.

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