Dr. Travis S. Taylor has worked on various programs for the Department of Defense and NASA for the past twenty years. His expertise includes advanced propulsion concepts, very large space telescopes, space-based beamed-energy systems, future combat technologies, and next-generation space launch concepts. Taylor is also the author of pulse-pounding, cutting-edge science fiction novels, including the highly-popular One Day on Mars, Tau Ceti Agenda, and his ground-breaking Warp Speed series, and a regular on the History Channel's Life After People and The Universe series. Timothy Zahn is a Hugo Award-winner and author of the New York Times #1 bestseller Heir to the Empire, as well as the best-selling Star Wars: Thrawn series of novels. Born in Chicago, he earned a B.S. in physics from Michigan State University and an M.S. in physics from the University of Illinois. He sold his first story to Analog in 1978, and immediately attracted attention as a new writer of science fiction based on real, cutting-edge science. Baen published his popular Cobra trilogy in one volume. His other popular series include the Conqueror and Dragonback novels. With David Weber and Thomas Pope, he is the author novel A Call to Duty and A Call to Vengeance. Zahn has written over fifty novels, including the recent works Corbra Rebellion series entries Cobra Outlaw and Cobra Traitor. Michael Z. Williamson is retired military, having served twenty-five years in the U.S. Army and the U.S. Air Force. He was deployed for Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Desert Fox. Williamson is a state-ranked competitive shooter in combat rifle and combat pistol. He has consulted on military matters, weapons and disaster preparedness for Discovery Channel and Outdoor Channel productions and is Editor-at-Large for Survivalblog, with 300,000 weekly readers. In addition, Williamson tests and reviews firearms and gear for manufacturers. Williamson's books set in his Freehold Universe include Freehold, The Weapon, The Rogue, Better to Beg Forgiveness . . ., Do Unto Others . . ., and When Diplomacy Fails . . .. He is also the author of time travel novel A Long Time Until Now, as well as The Hero--the latter written in collaboration with New York Times best-selling author John Ringo. Williamson was born in England, raised in Liverpool and Toronto, Canada, and now resides in Indianapolis with his children.