by S. H. Jucha
ALLIANCE
A Silver Ships Novel
S. H. JUCHA
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
Copyright © 2019 by S. H. Jucha
All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any form whatsoever. Please do not participate in or encourage piracy of copyrighted materials in violation of the author’s rights. Purchase only authorized editions.
Published by Hannon Books, Inc.
www.scottjucha.com
ISBN: 978-0-9600459-4-5 (e-book)
ISBN: 978-0-9600459-5-2 (softcover)
First Edition: October 2019
Cover Design: Damon Za
Acknowledgments
Alliance is the fourteenth book in the Silver Ships series. I wish to extend a special thanks to my independent editor, Joni Wilson, whose efforts enabled the finished product. To my proofreaders, Abiola Streete, Dr. Jan Hamilton, David Melvin, Ron Critchfield, Pat Bailey, Tiffany Crutchfield, and Jeff Penver. I offer my sincere thanks for their support.
Despite the assistance I’ve received from others, all errors are mine.
Glossary
A glossary is located at the end of the book.
CONTENTS
Acknowledgments
Author’s Note
Chapter 1: Rebuffed
Chapter 2: The Enemy
Chapter 3: Face to Face
Chapter 4: Talsoma
Chapter 5: Research
Chapter 6: What Happened?
Chapter 7: Friends
Chapter 8: Kasie
Chapter 9: Apology
Chapter 10: Launch the Assault
Chapter 11: Team Two
Chapter 12: Tunnel Five
Chapter 13: Juliette
Chapter 14: Hold the Dome
Chapter 15: Where’s Pyre?
Chapter 16: Breakthrough
Chapter 17: Pyre’s Story
Chapter 18: Protect Rissness
Chapter 19: Hall of Delegates
Chapter 20: Madam President
Chapter 21: Packeoes
Chapter 22: Secrets
Chapter 23: Hyronzy Station
Chapter 24: Dorgatha
Chapter 25: Archivist
Chapter 26: Norsitchia
Chapter 27: Bait and Pounce
Chapter 28: The Hunt
Chapter 29: The Way In
Chapter 30: The Assault
Chapter 31: Find Them
Chapter 32: Recovery
Chapter 33: Pimbor
Chapter 34: New Strategy
Glossary
My Books
The Author
Author’s Note
My first novels created the Silver Ships series, which detail the stories of humans and their allies a millennium in the future. Later, I added the Pyreans series, relating the history of another group of humans.
Each of three worlds — New Terra, Méridien, and Pyre — were established by colonists who launched aboard massive exploration ships from Earth within the same century. While these two series are set in the same universe, the timelines of the Silver Ships and the Pyreans are separated by about four hundred years.
I recommend to individuals who enjoy the Silver Ships series but have not yet read or listened to the Pyreans series that they should take the opportunity to partake of the Pyreans series before this novel. You’ll discover the Pyreans series is similar to the Silver Ships books. They possess strong characters who challenge the status quo, despite the obstacles they face, and they create profound and lasting changes in their worlds.
The four-book, well-reviewed, Pyreans series includes Empaths, Messinants, Jatouche, and Veklocks. However, the story of the Pyreans doesn’t end with Veklocks. The two series merge and reveal a future that includes descendants of Pyrean characters, who readers and listeners enjoy, and our adventuresome present-day Omnians.
In this Silver Ships novel, Alliance, which follows Sojourn, ex-Earther Olawale Wombo and a small band of Omnians have supported the technological uplift of the inhabitants of Sol, the Earth’s star. There exists a strong desire among Earthers to know the fates of their colony ships, which launched to claim new worlds. The Omnians and Earthers set sail to explore the fate of one of these colony ships, the Honora Belle, the transport of the Pyreans.
I want to thank my readers and listeners for your ongoing interest in the novels I write. I hope to continue to entertain you with exciting and thought-provoking stories of the possibilities that, one day, our galaxy might hold for humankind.
S. H. Jucha
October 2019
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Rebuffed
“Engage,” the Sylian commander, Tzeena, ordered.
In response, the captains of a squadron of Sylian packet ships directed their weapons officers to energize their vessels’ enormous signal generators, which constituted a sizeable portion of their ships’ interiors. The generators produced powerful electromagnetic fields (EMF), which were focused through dish antennas mounted on the bows of each packet ship.
The Colony, a species of insidiously destructive insectoids, had launched two shuttles from the Sylian moon, Talseseena, in an effort to add another section to the ring under construction above the dome.
The Sylian packet ships dove toward the Colony shuttles, broadcasting their powerful signals. They hounded the shuttles, pressing dangerously close.
Eventually, the insectoids’ shuttles faltered and fell away from their intended courses. In an erratic manner, while the packet ships pursued them, the Colony shuttles returned to the moon’s launch tubes.
“Pull back,” Tzeena ordered the squadron.
Captains ordered the signal generators shut down, and the packet squadron returned to a station high above Talseseena’s dome. They would remain on duty for another twenty-eight cycles of their fifty-cycle stint before they were relieved.
The packet squadron’s single purpose was to prevent the Colony from completing the ring. The Sylians didn’t know the purpose of the ring, but considering the nature of the deadly insectoids, anything the Colony intended to create could only spell disaster for the Sylian home world.
“Commander, non-Sylian ships have appeared beyond Talseseena,” the navigation officer exclaimed.
“How’s that possible?” Tzeena retorted angrily. He regretted his lack of decorum, but his nerves were frayed. The Colony never ceased its efforts. His squadron rebuffed the shuttle launches four times a cycle, every cycle. The insectoids were relentless.
“Get me the fleet commander,” Tzeena ordered.
“Online, Commander,” the comms operator replied.
“Fleet Commander Soshona, this is Talseseena Squadron Commander Tzeena. Navigation informs me that ships are seen beyond Talseseena’s orbit.”
“Whose ships? Where are they coming from?” Soshona demanded in rapid fire.
“Unknown,” Tzeena stated. “I’m examining imagery of the ships now. There are five of them. Four are similar in appearance and have spliced three hulls together. The fifth vessel is in the shape of a long tube.”
“I’m sorry, Tzeena, if I snarled at you,” Soshona said. Her nerves weren’t any better than Tzeena’s. If the Colony had managed to deliver ships to the system, her inadequate fleet became the Sylian home world’s last line of defense.
“Where are the ships headed?” Soshona asked. “I’ll need an intercept course after I assemble my forces.”
“They’re not sailing anywhere, Fleet Commander. They’re stationary,” Tzeena reported.
“Could they be Resistance ships?” So
shona inquired.
“But how did they get here?” Tzeena asked. He knew it was a question without an answer, but he wanted to ensure that his logic and Soshona’s were in lockstep.
“When did you last repel the Colony?” Soshona asked.
“Only moments ago,” Tzeena replied. “We’ve another quarter cycle to wait before they launch again.”
“Send two packets toward those five ships, Tzeena. We need to determine their intentions,” Soshona ordered.
“We can’t engage them, not with just EMF projectors,” Tzeena protested.
“I don’t want you to challenge them militarily,” Soshona stated firmly. “Their appearance is an anomaly. Attempt to communicate with them.”
“Yes, Commander,” Tzeena replied and ended the call. His small bridge crew members stared at him expectantly, wondering who he would select for the mission. “Get me packets two and five,” he requested.
When the comms operator signaled with a white-furred digit toward Tzeena, the commander said, “Captains, the fleet commander requires we investigate those mysterious ships.”
“We’ve been watching them,” said Jess Cinders, the human captain of packet two.
“As have we,” said Tacnock, the Jatouche captain of packet five.
“What are our orders?” Jess requested.
“In a word, contact,” Tzeena replied.
“Contact, as in communicate?” Tacnock queried.
“Those are Fleet Commander Soshona’s orders,” Tzeena affirmed, stressing from where the directive originated.
“The reason I ask, Commander, is that those tri-hulled ships have a sleek appearance about them,” Tacnock said respectfully. “Obviously, they’re not meant to carry cargo, and the shape isn’t efficient for carrying passengers.”
“What my friend Tacnock is trying to say, Commander, is that those ships appear to be built for conquest,” Jess remarked.
“Whatever they are, you two are assigned to go talk to them. Get to it, and be polite,” Tzeena ordered sternly. When the call ended, he muttered quietly, “And may the spirit of Solseena guide you.”
The Sylians often called on revered ancestors for guidance. It was Solseena who ensured the explorers, the individuals who discovered the Colony’s expansion, were brought to the Tsargit council’s attention. Without that initial interaction, Envoy Harbour of the Pyreans might never have formed an amalgam of races to fight the Colony’s advance.
The Pyrean Resistance, or simply the Resistance, comprised younger alliance races who took steps to blunt the Colony’s onslaught. They slowed the insectoids’ spread, but they fought a losing battle. The Colony had a massive head start. By the time the Resistance was organized, the enemy occupied over a hundred non-alliance domes and multiple planets.
“Well, Captain Cinders, how many languages do you have aboard your ship?” Tacnock asked.
“We’re counting languages, are we?” Jess asked, tongue-in-cheek. “If they’re not an alliance race, they won’t have ear wigs. So, it probably won’t matter what languages we speak.”
“This is probably conjecture on my part,” Tacnock mused. “We’re armed with EMF broadcasters. What do you think they possess?”
“I think we’ll soon find out. I’m breaking station,” Jess said.
“I’ll be on your starboard side,” Tacnock acknowledged.
* * * * *
“EMF waves, Olawale,” Esteban the SADE identified. He stood next to the expedition leader on the Rêveur’s bridge.
“That’s all?” Olawale Wombo asked incredulously.
“Apparently it was sufficient to force those two shuttles to return to the moon,” Edmas, a senior engineer, replied. He’d been monitoring the signal data through the Rêveur’s controller.
“There’s a powerful energy signature emanating from that hemisphere construct on the moon,” Jodlyne added. She was the fleet’s other senior engineer and Edmas’s partner.
“Why is the blue light pulsing?” Patrice Morris, the Sol Enclave envoy, asked. As an Earther, Patrice was without an implant. She’d watched the action that took place over the moon on the bridge holo-vid.
Esteban constantly chose images for the holo-vid to keep Patrice abreast of the actions that Omnians witnessed through their implant connections to the ship’s controller. She did possess a Méridien ear comm, and her experience at its introduction mirrored that of a New Terran captain many decades ago. Despite being warned by a SADE, she’d involuntarily shuddered when the nanites sealed the ear comm in place. The challenge for Patrice was that Omnians moved data at a tremendous rate. Without the SADEs’ help, she’d have been quickly left behind.
Every Earther aboard the three Sol Enclave Tridents had received an ear comm, which was charged through their body’s heat, to facilitate communications. Access to the ships’ controllers via an ear comm allowed ship-to-ship communications. However, unlike the Omnian implants, the ear comms limited Earthers to speech to communicate.
“Magnification of telemetry indicates that a structure on the deck intermittently connects with the projected hemisphere,” Esteban explained.
“Conjecture?” Patrice requested. Due to repeated exposure to the Harakens, who were now the Omnians, she’d learned the shorthand manner of speaking to SADEs, who were the human colonies’ self-aware digital entities.
“No consensus,” Esteban replied. “The energy signature is unknown.”
Patrice and the bridge audience eyed Esteban. In his brief reply to Patrice, he’d informed her that he’d contacted the fleet’s other SADEs, Orbit and Juliette, aboard the Trident OS Judgment. Furthermore, the combined experiences and analytic capabilities of three SADEs had failed to identify the form of energy emitted by the hemisphere.
Alex Racine, the Omnian leader, had requested Esteban accompany Olawale. He was an associate of Edmas and Jodlyne, whom he also asked to join the expedition. The addition of two more SADEs was due to Lucia Bellardo’s preference. As the Trident captain, who was responsible for the Omnians’ safety, she was determined to have SADE backup before they left for Sol. She’d requested Orbit and Juliette join her crew.
Originally called Lambert, Orbit managed ship arrivals and departures over the Méridien home world before he was freed from his box.
All SADEs could calculate astronomical data faster than a human could add one and one, but Orbit carried unique applications to direct numerous ship vectors and shifting velocities. It was Lucia’s opinion that if her ship encountered problems, Orbit was the asset that could make the difference between success and failure.
Whereas Orbit was quiet and calculating, spare in his communications, Juliette was another personality entirely.
Lucia explained the reason for her request for Juliette’s presence to her comms officer when she said, “Long transits and extended shipboard life can be mind-numbingly boring. Juliette will ensure that won’t happen to us.”
“Can’t argue with that concept,” the officer replied, “and she is a SADE.”
“Goes without saying,” Lucia replied. “I’ve this feeling that Olawale is going to need all the help he can get. In that regard, you can never have too many SADEs.”
Aboard the Rêveur, Esteban said, “Olawale, two of the EMF broadcasters are headed our way.”
“Arrival time?” Olawale requested.
“Arrival in ninety-six hours, but I would estimate they’ll be within contact range of their EMF weapons at seventy-five hours,” Esteban replied.
“Could those broadcasts harm our ships?” Patrice asked.
“Rest assured, Patrice, that our ships can withstand the bombardment,” Esteban replied. “The SADEs can too,” he added, grinning. His facial movements appeared to make his synth skin flow. It was decorated in blues, greens, and white, which imitated ocean waves.
Patrice frowned at Esteban, and Jodlyne smothered her chuckle.
“We won’t let them get that close, Patrice,” Olawale assured her.
“That’s not
what concerns me,” Patrice retorted. “We’ve visited forty-one systems without sighting a single civilization. Now, we discover one, but it’s in turmoil.”
“What I’d like to know is why the fight is centered on that moon,” Edmas said. “Is this a civil war for dominance of the moon and that hemisphere?”
“We’ll know when we speak to those aboard the two ships on approach,” Olawale said confidently.
“Shades of Alex,” Jodlyne murmured appreciatively.
“What if they don’t hail us?” Patrice asked.
“Then we’ll entice them to talk to us,” Olawale replied.
“Jodlyne’s remark is on target,” Esteban added. “Alex has demonstrated many examples of how to establish first contact.”
“Any sighting of the Earther colony ship?” Jodlyne asked. She directed her question to Esteban, who would query the other SADEs. The Tridents, the Omnian warships, had the more advanced telemetry systems. In addition, the lead Trident, the OS Judgment, had Orbit.
“Orbit and Juliette have completed their analysis of their ship’s system scans,” Esteban replied. “There’s no sign of the Honora Belle.”
“Let’s hope these individuals,” Olawale said, pointing at the small ships displayed in the bridge holo-vid, “can identify the location of a human civilization.”
* * * * *
Jess listened to the broadcast from Tacnock’s vessel. The message was the same from every voice, whether spoken by a Jatouche, a Sylian, a Norsitchian, a Loopah, or others.
When Tacnock’s vessel was finished, Jess lined up his crew members. An individual from each race took their turn hailing the five strange ships.
“That’s everyone,” Jess announced over the comms to Tacnock.
“Not quite, my friend, you’ve yet to try,” Tacnock noted to Jess.
“Before the Sylian dome fell, I received a lengthy cube message from Pyre,” Jess said. “My home world wasn’t building anything like these ships.”