Heliotrope was never meant to be a battlefield.
A quiet frontier agri-world, it should have been invisible—too small to matter, too far from the core to draw attention. Then the Skiaphori came. Without warning or demands, they seized Heliotrope Prime and began processing the population through a repurposed agricultural complex, leaving silence where a city once stood.
The Adamantine Guard are sent when there are no good options left.
D. Kent Framo writes military science fiction focused on small-unit action, high-stakes missions, and the human cost of impossible orders. His work explores the intersection of advanced technology and personal sacrifice, where elite soldiers are forced to make decisions that statistics say should never work.
A longtime reader of classic and modern science fiction, Framo draws inspiration from stories that emphasize competence under pressure, tightly bonded teams, and worlds that feel lived-in long before the first shot is fired. His fiction favors grounded tactics, clear stakes, and characters shaped as much by responsibility as by firepower.View all by D. Kent Framo
