Biofab War Series by Stephen Ames Berry

Earth’s been invaded, but nobody knows it. Invaded by biofabs—the Scotar—a diabolically crafted life form dedicated to turning mankind into either supper or shuffling brainwipes.Cold and miserable on old Cape Cod, ex-CIA officer John Harrison and his lovely, handle-with-care Israeli partner Zahava stumble upon a Scotar nest. Going down before a wave of alien warriors, the pair is saved, flitted to the deck of the battle cruiser Implacable... moreEarth’s been invaded, but nobody knows it. Invaded by biofabs—the Scotar—a diabolically crafted life form dedicated to turning mankind into either supper or shuffling brainwipes.Cold and miserable on old Cape Cod, ex-CIA officer John Harrison and his lovely, handle-with-care Israeli partner Zahava stumble upon a Scotar nest. Going down before a wave of alien warriors, the pair is saved, flitted to the deck of the battle cruiser Implacable. But even with that ancient, mighty starship at its side, Earth’s survival hangs in the balance as Scotar reinforcements pour in and the fighting rages.And then there are the mindslaves. About the AuthorStephen Ames Berry’s novels have been published by Ace/Berkley and Tor/Macmillan. His latest novel is the technothriller The Eldridge Conspiracy. The Biofab War is the first of four novels that begin with a covert alien attempt to control Earth and end with the battered forces of galactic humanity battling hopeless odds as an AI armada sweeps in. (AIs--Artificial Intelligences--cyborgs evolved over vast time from simple machines to complex beings driven by the simple need to kill us all.) The books follow the crew of the Kronarin Fleet battleship Implacable and their Terran allies, from the discovery of biofabs on Earth through ever-growing confrontations and nefarious alien machinations to the final battle. The plot line’s akin to a nesting doll, each crisis revealing an even deadlier one. The blaster fire never stops--save for the occasional soothing cup of t'ata from Implacable's dodgy beveragers. (Implacable's a resurrected Imperial warship that sometimes chaffs at having been roused and pressed into the service of such rude hands.) To be bested along the way are space pirates, mindslavers, various machine intelligences, a vile alternate Earth, the undying hand of the dead Kronarin Empire, a ubiquitous insectoid-blonde and, of course, biofabs. All stirred into a rich bouillabaisse of an adventure that takes the reader on a far flung quest into the fantastic, but where in the end the old verities of valor and friendship trump all. less

Earth is saved, the insectoid biofabs defeated by the arrival of the Kronarin fleet. But renegade biofabs have fled to an alternate Earth, where they’re breeding back to strength, readying a counterstrike. Biofab War hero John Harrison is sent to destroy their nest before a new generation hatches. It won’t be easy—on this twisted Earth he’s a rebel, on the run from the Fourth Reich.

Defeated at the Battle for Terra Two, the cyborg AIs regroup to destroy mankind. Commodore Detrelna and the battle cruiser Implacable are sent into Quadrant Blue 9 for the only weapon that can stop them. Implacable's crew aren't optimistic--it's been 3,000 years since a ship came home from Blue 9. Then they meet what's been waiting for them.  (2011 revision of 1987 Tor Books edition. 64,800 words.)The Battle for Terra Two could have marked mankind's end. It still could... moreDefeated at the Battle for Terra Two, the cyborg AIs regroup to destroy mankind. Commodore Detrelna and the battle cruiser Implacable are sent into Quadrant Blue 9 for the only weapon that can stop them. Implacable's crew aren't optimistic--it's been 3,000 years since a ship came home from Blue 9. Then they meet what's been waiting for them.  (2011 revision of 1987 Tor Books edition. 64,800 words.)The Battle for Terra Two could have marked mankind's end. It still could. The Kronarins and their Terran allies almost went down under the onslaught of the biofabs' new allies: AIs--Artificial Intelligences--fearsome cyborgs from humanity's dawn come at last to kill us all. Barely defeating AIs and biofabs, the Kronarin battle cruiser Implacable returned to Terra and its home universe, warning of an AI invasion so vast not even the dead Kronarin Empire at its height could have stopped it.Mankind's only hope lies in a mythic weapon somewhere out in Blue 9--Quadrant Blue 9--an abandoned cube of space from which no ship's returned since the Empire's long ago Fall. Ordered into Blue 9 after the weapon, Implacable's crew must first master a horror out of their nightmares, an ancient evil that feeds off the undead it makes of the living.His command stalked by corsairs and himself by assassins, Implacable's Commodore Jaquel Detrelna finds the jump into Blue 9 almost a relief--until Battle Stations sounds and he sees what's been patiently waiting for them, a spider long tending her toils. From The AI War:"But now my friends," he said, looking from face to face as comprehension came, "the old portal's opening. The Fleet of the One is coming. They've forgotten nothing, forgiven nothing, learned nothing. They're coming to kill us, slaves and rebels all."I must be crazy, he thought: a corsair-listed officer, commanding a crippled cruiser, in league with a flotilla manned by disembodied brains, transmutes and AIs, out to beat the vanguard of man's invincible foe. "Gunnery, lock onto center ship, ignore the rest. Lakan, transmit the Fleet Rally on all channels." "Sir, there's no one to hear it." "The AIs don't know that," Detrelna said, watching the tacscan. "Confusion to our enemies. What's our intercept point, Tolei?" "Epsilon Red 47, that asteroid belt." "Forward best speed. Gunnery, engage at will." less

Triumphing over the Ghost Quadrant’s ancient horrors, the Kronarin battlecruiser Implacable jumps home to root out a conspiracy hidden within the heart of Kronar. Implacable’s Commodore Detrelna and his crew are arrested and Implacable impounded, as a foe far deadlier than mindslavers or biofabs sweeps down on a war-weary galactic humanity, its day of vengeance come round at last.