The Starbusters

The battered starship Cleopatra, nicknamed Old Lover-Girl, carries a crew of young officers who meet danger with swagger, jokes, and stubborn loyalty. When Commander David Farragut Strykalski and his executive officer, Cob Whitley, are diverted from routine patrol to Tethys, they find the ship dragged into Ivy Hendricks's secret Project Warp: an experimental drive meant to turn the old warship into a hyper-ship capable of piercing another co-existent space. Before the refit is complete, the Eridans launch a massive invasion, forcing Strike to take command and send the crew into war. Ordered on a diversionary mission to 40 Eridani C II, Cleopatra is drawn into a deadly trap by the hostile, group-minded aliens. Stranded in a strange negative cosmos, the crew discovers a realm where matter behaves like explosive contraterrene substance and even the stars feel alien. As the ship struggles through this eerie space, Strike, Ivy, and Cob realize they may have found the ultimate weapon—and the power to change the war, if they can survive long enough to use it. This edition has been fully restored with modern typesetting, custom cover design.