Crystal of SoulsAn ancient artifact with religious significance and perhaps even mysterious power. Religious leaders want it to unite the planet. Military leaders want it to stop a war. Their enemies want it to prevent both.QuarryTen-ton spiders already call the planet home. The incoming colonists discover the arachnids, with deadly consequences. Can the humans communicate before the natives eat all of them?The Letter of the LawIndividuality versus the common good, an eternal struggle. But what of love of family when the "common good" claims the right to tear a child from his parents?Hunter and PreyA nursery full of cute little babies. Cute little vacuum-dwelling metal-eating babies, ravenous and eager to devour the starship that discovered them among the asteroids they call home.A Time of Joy and SorrowYuwellan: living jewels, beautiful beings comprising every shade of blue. As tiny as a few centimeters to as huge as thirty meters in diameter. They invite a human colleague to share in their people's most sacred ceremony.StarburstOne young commander on a remote interstellar base stands between Earth and all-out invasion. She fights to keep the aliens at bay, even if it costs her her life.Rescue MissionSacrifice. A stealth ship on a mission deep in enemy space. Their assignment: knock out the planetary defenses of a vital munitions factory so Earth's fleet can swoop in and destroy it. But at what price? And who pays?