Hi there. My next book in the Series is Star Strike. I'm planning on having it completed within the next four or five weeks. I thought it would be good to post the first chapter here to see what people think. Next week I'll post the second and the then the third the week after that.
You can give me an idea of what you think. I haven't completed the final edit yet so there may be a couple of rough bits. Now, the first Chapter of Star Strike, and the last Chapter of Star Rise overlap a little. The story is told from a different point of view and there is more detail about some events and less about others. So, here is the first chapter of Star Strike, I hope you enjoy it.

Star Strike
Chapter 1
Cambridge Burning
Colin sat in Theseus' CCC watching the sensors as the remaining Pirate ships ran for one the Jump-Point. He was tired, they all were. The Cambridge System Defence ships, not to mention the two Destroyers Colin brought from Cotoni had nothing left to give. No Missiles, or Rail-Gun ammunition remained, and all were damaged to one degree or another. The Federation Reserve Fleet under the personal command of Admiral Soolak Dalkasan arrived in the nick of time though not before Cambridge's Cruisers, Cobras, and Taipans extracted a heavy toll on the invading Pirates. When the reinforcements arrived all the local forces had left, was to physically ram the Pirates with their remaining ships. That was no longer necessary.
Colin watched FNS Samurai begin the long loop that would return her to Cambridge Station. Commodore Nicholson and Captain Lister were both critically injured and in Stasis-Pods till they reached a proper hospital. The situation on the ground was still fluid, with roving bands of Pirate ground troops still causing havoc. Many Pirates on the ground seemed to lose interest in fighting after the Pirate ships left orbit, so the Troopers made significant headway rounding them up. Some even shot their commanders and surrendered when it became apparent their masters no longer held the orbitals. The Comms Panel lit up with a call from Admiral Dalkasan. Colin accepted the call and found himself looking at the Admiral in near real time.
Dalkasan asked, "What's your fleet status Commander?"
"We're out of ammunition and don't have a single undamaged vessel left, Sir. Some of our ships look like they're still in one piece, but they seem to be dead in space, following a ballistic course. We're unable to contact them, and they're traveling too fast for our Station Tugs to catch, we'll have to try to slow them down first so we can bring them back. I hope, the crews are okay."
"Perhaps we can help you there. We have Tugs that are configured to dock at a standard docking port. You should be able to dock them to a couple of your faster ships, then use the Tugs to catch the runaways and bring them under control. You'll need to drop your shuttles though so you can take the Tugs on."
"Thank you, Sir, I'll detail two of our remaining Taipans for that job, almost all the Cobras are barely holding together now."
"Good, we're inbound to Cambridge Station. There is no way we can catch those fleeing Pirates, so I've ordered two Destroyers to guard each of the Jump-Points for now. I’ll need to talk to Commodore Fraser and Commodore Nicholson when I'm close enough."
"Commodore Nicholson is in a Stasis-Pod Sir, but I'll see if I can raise Commodore Fraser for you. Communications with the surface have been spotty at best."
"What about your shipyard and Cambridge Station, are they badly damaged?"
"No Sir, they're intact. I think the Pirates were busy trying to pacify the planet itself first and couldn't board either of the facilities because we'd mounted obscenely powerful shields on them. They only fired a few weapons at them, mainly to test the strength of the defenses I think."