Five Minutes from Midnight

Introduction to The Deep Dark Beyond

The pulsar known as Orion’s Sentinel holds a secret, the very reason why the alien T’kar began a war with the humans ten bitter years ago. A war we are losing. For Lieutenant Helen Ann Barker, everything that held meaning in her life is gone: her husband, her daughter, the very world she was born on. For years she has suffered from that loss, the need for revenge eclipsing all else. And then she was assigned to the UDS Ranger. The Ranger is the latest, most modern of Earth Fleet warships. Her classified mission: investigate Orion’s Sentinel in order to determine what the aliens were protecting. For Helen Barker it is a new start, a chance to regain some of what she has lost. For humanity it might be our one opportunity to understand and ultimately defeat a cunning and treacherous enemy…