Starcom: The U.S. Space Force

Emperor Daark releases search and destroy probes to eliminate the research stations which are interfering with his Jupiter studies. Dash's mother, Amanda, and sister, Lianna, are part of the research team. Sighting an incoming missile, Lianna shoots an anchor into an airwhale and the station is off on a "Nantucket sleigh ride," so-called from the past when whaleboats harpooned whales and were dragged for miles.

Slim, Dash, and Crowbar experience a few diversions while trying to deliver a new security computer modem to researchers on Ganymede Colony. Malvanna plants a cyberbug in Crowbar which enables her to see and hear everything Crowbar does. StarCom joins a supply convoy hoping to mask the importance of their mission but things keep going wrong hindering their journey until, oddly enough, the security system shuts down right after Crowbar says how it can be done.

The new defense satellite aides the StarCom vehicles in repulsing an attack by General Vondar, Unfortunately it malfunctions and fires on its own men. Crowbar goes against regulations and shuts down the system for repairs, leaving Saturn Ring Station vulnerable. Before Crowbar can complete the repairs, Vondar, Malvanna, and Torvek attack, crippling the station allowing them to steal the satellite, which continues to malfunction and firing at random.

An archeological dig on Mars is interrupted by a sandstorm and upon returning to base, Slim's niece and nephew and Lt. Bob Anders are reported missing. Caught in the sandstorm, they end up in the ancient city the archeologists were looking for. Dash, Slim, Crowbar, and Consuela discover the city and are lowered into it by mysterious power.

Torvek is massing drones on Io, the volcanic moon, for an all-out surprise attack on StarCom. Suspecting this, StarCom is forced to set up a base on Europa, the frozen moon, where a young scientist has just discovered what he believes to be an intelligent life form. Dash, Crowbar, and Slim decide to hit Io in a surprise attack in order to protect the explorations on Europa, but Torvek's massive forces catch them unaware.

Emperor Daark stumbles across plans for controlling electromagnetic pulses and immediately puts it into use. Slim, testing the new Microfighter, barely escapes a crash when the EMP causes the ship to malfunction. Next, Daark uses the EMP on Mars dooming the domed cities to a dark, airless atmosphere.

Slim gets stuck in charge of a training mission and amongst the six cadets are a couple of pranksters. Hatch sets up a phony Shadowbat and sounds the alarm which infuriates Slim. He puts Hatch under arrest and this distracts his attention long enough for a real Shadowbat to get close. As they are on a training ship they have no real weapons to fight with and are virtually defenseless. Slim fakes a surrender and gives Hatch a chance to prove himself when they turn the tables on Major Klag and Von Rodd, capturing them and their ship.

The Verdugo Commune, a successful and peaceful farming community is besieged over and over again by mercenary raiders who consider these people ripe for the picking since they are passive and do not fight back. Slim, Dash, and Crowbar chase them away for the moment, but are told to leave by the elders who dislike fighting violence with violence. Our guys still try to help, though, but the people, with Dash's lead, defend themselves by using the gigantic mirrors in their valley to blind and confuse the raiders.

General Torvek plants a "bug" on the mining ship Go Placid which causes machinery to malfunction causing little irritating mishaps and some big dangerous accidents. Torvek's plans to cause dissension amongst the men works and the ship looks ripe for picking since Dark needs the ore for fuel. Slim, Dash, and Crowbar with the guidance of Champ O'Ryan, a former worker on a mining ship who wants to forget his past, arrive to help. Champ rejects the miners at first until he sees them accusing each other of sabotage.

Dark's forces shoot down a Starmax, but let the pilot, Rogers, get away in a Starwolf. Sergeant Ramor is after the operation systems computer chip which controls all StarCom vehicles and weapons and he finds this chip in the wreck of the Starmax. StarCom is surprised by unmanned attacks by their own machines. It's hard work avoiding the flying ammunition and the base is taking a beating.

Slim and Crowbar investigate a distress call on Mercury which turns out to be from Emperor Dark's men, Ramor and Slash. Slim and Crowbar rescue them and Ramor offers information in return. A battle with Drones forces them back onto the hot surface of the planet and they are really starting to cook when Ramor helps them find a Shadow Force fuel depot. Dash flies to their rescue but is kept too busy with Drones to help.

Our heroes are officially escorting honored space cadet Flash to Saturn where he will be put on the work-study project. Unofficially, they are transporting the very secret oscillation hyper-thruster. Flash lets the news out directly to Vondar who ruthlessly pursues them all – to steal the hyper-thruster and the boy. Flash's hero-worship of our heroes starts to irritate them.

Trying to escape a sandstorm, four battle cranes fall through a crack in the surface of Mars into an abandoned and dangerously booby-trapped Star Ranger station. Slim, Dash, and Crowbar also fall through and activate a self-destruct mechanism. It's up to Kelsey and Lucas Hull, the last existing Star Ranger, to rescue the group and stop the computer countdown to oblivion.