Notes
Alien Death Fleet, a novel by Robert E. Vardeman writing as Edward S. Hudson.

The first part of the Star Frontier Trilogy.

Later reissued under Vardeman's own name.

Publisher’s Blurb – Lower Cover
ON PENUM IV –
no one suspected that death was about to beam down from their skies. But as black ships orbited the planet, rainbow-colored rays of death raked the lands, incinerating all life-forms, leaving only a dead globe for the plundering. . . .

ON MURGATROYD —
a world ruled by rebels and pirates, word of the alien menace was met with scorn. Surely this was only another Empire trap. And then rumor became horrifying reality. . . .

ON THE STARSHIP PRECEPTOR —
an understaffed crew of human fighters prepared to challenge the invulnerable might of their unknown enemy, with the fate of the Empire resting on their desperate gamble. . . .