Colonel Bill Booly earned a promotion and well-deserved hero treatment for his troops after they stopped a mutiny against Earth's government. But now they face the ultimate challenge...A DIFFERENT RACEA "new" alien race, the Hudathans, has appeared, asking permission to settle in Confederacy space. Politics makes it happen, but with the arrangement comes...A DIFFERENT DANGERThe Hudathans have been pursued for centuries, and through galaxies, by a fleet of bloodthirsty machines programmed to destroy them. And now a fanatical human has reprogrammed the killer technology -- to eliminate all sentient beings. The Confederacy and every one of its reluctant allies must unite to face the invasion, with a leader who is...A DIFFERENT KIND OF HEROGeneral Bill Booly is leading the fight of his life. A battle for the future of every living being in the universe...