
Fred Hughes Publishing
Military Science Fiction

It's been twenty-five years since the United States and its European Allies won WWIII. There are now only two superpowers, and China is determined to reduce that to one. As part of a 1st strike, China launched an attack against the small allied fleet guarding Titan's hydrogen processing facility. Unless reinforcements can make it to Saturn's moon, that force will be destroyed, and the valuable fuel supply will be lost.
Vicki Buckner is a girl with an attitude. She only cares about two things, sex and flying. America's first space ace, Vicki, has to reinvent herself, both physically and mentally, after a test flight leaves her crippled.
When the call comes, Vicki and the pilots she's trained strap on their space fighters and head toward Saturn. The Chinese will never know what hit them because the Cripples are on their way.

Victoria Buckner found herself both a hero and an outcast after the brief conflict the United States and its allies fought against China. She'd nearly destroyed the Chinese fleet headed to capture the Saturn hydrogen station, but only after being ordered to stand down by the President of the United States.
Vicki leaves the Space Force and works as a test pilot. While testing new drive technology in the asteroid belt she confronts a pirate ship attempting to hijack an American tanker. A Russian commando is killed during the attempt and Russia and China label Vicki as the true pirate.
Vicki is sure there are events happening in the asteroid belt that pose a threat to the United States and the other free countries of Earth. It's up to her to figure out what's going on. That is if she can stay out of jail.

Vicki managed to survive the Second Battle of Chaser's Rock, though as she'd predicted, she almost turned into a strawberry popsicle as Manta raced toward the outer galaxy. Rescued by her husband, Norman Stecker, and Robbie Metzger, she once again finds herself on wanted person. Chinese and Russian agents shadow her every move and Vicki quickly decides Earth is no longer safe for her, or anyone else close to her.
Making matters worse, she'd risked her life to trick the Russians into prematurely attacking her, only to have the opportunity wasted The American carrier force confronting the approaching Chinese and Russians quickly eliminated the Russian missile ships but Washington denied permission to destroy the vulnerable Chinese ships.
But Vicki wasn't without friends. Most of the military understood the risks she'd taken and were beginning to believe their leaders weren't truly interested in defending America. That belief was filtering down to the voters of the United States. It was unlikely the current president would be re-elected, but Vicki doubted the change would happen in time.
Vicki decided it was time to take matters into her own hands again and stop the Chinese. It would be one last roll of the dice, and she decided to call in a group of friends to help. Once again, the Cripples were going into battle.