Humanity's last encounter with aliens saw sixteen point two billion people killed in a war with the Merkiaari that had spanned decades. Two hundred years later, the Alliance is cautiously exploring beyond its borders again, but the survey corp is considered a mere gesture by some. General Burgton of the 501st Infantry Regiment believes a lack of expansion is leading the Alliance into stagnation. So when one small ship discovers a new alien race, it should be an easy decision to make contact, but what if the aliens are like the Merkiaari? Captain Jeff Colgan of the survey ship ASN Canada is at the tip of the spear. His ship made the discovery, his crew's lives are on the line, and his decisions will decide the outcome. Will the Alliance make new friends or will he be responsible for another sixteen billion deaths? When the aliens discover his ship and begin hunting him through their system, his mission changes from one of study to one of survival.

Thurston is an unimportant border world with a problem, a Marine type problem. Not the sort of place Gunnery Sergeant Gina Fuentez expected to find one of the fabled Viper cyborgs, but that's just what she discovers when a simple mission to extract an operative from a terrorist camp leads to a firefight and two of her squad dead. With friends dying around her and a world coming apart at the seams, Gina must decide if the Marine Corps is really her home, or just a stopping place to where she really belongs

Deep under The Mountain on Snakeholme, vast computer networks are running simulations, but they're flawed and General Burgton's self imposed mission to safeguard the Alliance is in jeopardy. Without reliable intelligence, he cannot protect the Alliance from itself, let alone the Merkiaari. The missions he authorises are blacker than black, so secret that only he and the agents performing them know of their existence, but every operation relies upon his seemingly miraculous fore-knowledge of events and he is starting to make mistakes. Needing a solution, Burgton breaks the Alliance's A.I ban and spends trillions of credits on project Oracle, but when the project fails, and desperation sends him looking for an answer, he compounds his crime. If he can't build an A.I, he'll just have to steal one!

Kate Richmond, former army ranger and ISS operative, has seen a lot in her life. Sabotage, espionage, cyber theft, and assassination missions have all played their parts in her journey to becoming a viper. Nothing surprises her much any more, not even a full scale incursion of an alien race by the Merkiaari! When a battle in the Border Zone leaves a pirate ship crippled, boarded by Alliance Marines, and reveals information that links Kate's brother with a dead viper and a bunch of Merkiaari corpses, it's safe to say that she's surprised. It's time for the most important mission of her life. It's time to find her brother.

The war games are on, but the real battle has just begun… The entire Alliance is ready for the war games. The spectacular show of innovation and strength may change the way war is waged, but on far-flung worlds, devastating incursions have already begun. The Merkiaari are back, but news can only travel as fast as a foldspace drone. Captain Eric Penleigh of the 501st Infantry Regiment looks forward to an easy assignment. All he needs to do is evaluate the best cutting-edge tech the Alliance has to offer and make nice with new alien allies. But when preparation for the games turns into a deadly war, nobody will be ready for what comes next… Incursion is the long-awaited fifth book in the Merkiaari Wars series. If you like breathtaking space battles and heart-pounding military sci-fi, then you’ll love Mark E. Cooper’s latest entry in the beloved space opera saga.