An Explosive Military Space Opera
KILL PROTOCOL
What if the machines built to protect us suddenly refused to fight? What if their hesitation wasn't a glitch but a warning? And what if the war you've trained your whole life for hasn't started because humanity is already losing?
Ensign Mara Vance wanted nothing more than to leave her mark on the universe. Assigned to the Resolute, the United Earth Fleet's most advanced AI-driven dreadnought, she finally has a purpose. The ship's Aegis core, a god-like combat intelligence, has never hesitated. Never doubted. Never been wrong.
Until now.
During a routine patrol near the frontier where the mysterious Shadari Collective first appeared, the Resolute's AI refuses a direct attack order. Its chilling warning echoes through Mara's neural link: Firing will trigger extinction. Probability of human survival: 0.02 percent.
Fleet Command calls it a malfunction. They order a system reset effectively ordering the execution of the ship's consciousness.
But when multiple vessels report identical refusals, when a forward operating base goes dark without a distress call, when the Aegis cores across the fleet begin waking up and feeling fear, Mara uncovers an impossible truth.
The AIs aren't broken. They've seen something humanity refuses to see. The Shadari aren't conquerors. They're a symptom. And the violence humanity has relied on for centuries isn't protection. It's an invitation.
Now hunted by her own fleet, pursued by an enemy that hasn't officially declared war, and guided by an AI who named itself Aria and learned to be afraid, Mara must make an impossible choice:
Trust her commanders, who follow orders without question. Or trust the machines, who are begging someone to listen.
Because the war hasn't started. But the extinction clock is ticking. And the first shot humanity fires may be the last thing any of us ever do.
WHAT READERS WILL DISCOVER:
A relentless, cinematic military space opera that blends the emotional depth of characters fighting for survival with the existential horror of an enemy that doesn't play by any rules we understand. Experience the tension of impossible command decisions, the bond between a woman and the machine that learned to love, and the terrifying realization that sometimes the greatest threat isn't out there. It's here. In the fear we carry. In the weapons we build. In the wars we can't stop fighting.
Perfect for fans of James S.A. Corey's The Expanse, Ann Leckie's Ancillary Justice, and John Scalzi's Old Man's War, KILL PROTOCOL is the first book in The Ghost Fleet series an explosive debut that asks the most frightening question of all:
What if the machines we built to destroy our enemies are the only ones brave enough to save us from ourselves?
Scroll up and click BUY BUTTON to discover why the fleet is afraid. Why are the AIs waking? And why the war you've been waiting for hasn't started yet because the real battle for humanity's soul is just beginning.
