Alliance

  “Our personnel losses have been minimal, although I regret each one of them dearly. I speak of the fifteen security forces who we lost at Sylia. We’ve to thank Captain Jess Cinders, who’s operated as our assault commander, for saving our people from greater losses. I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention that our alien troopers have been severely decimated. They lost forty percent of their forces in taking their home world, Norsitchia, but they’re still with us.

  “Jess Cinders is a personable individual, Alex. I think you’d like him. Lucia Bellardo does. He’s melted her heart. There are many of us who thought that might never happen.

  “My greatest worry, Alex, is that we’ll receive word from the Tsargit of the federacy battleship fleet’s attack on a new system. I’ll face the extremely difficult decision of whether to send our four Tridents after that powerful fleet. Commodore Bellardo could only harass those enormous ships. Her forces stand no chance of defeating them.

  “Alex, I hope this message finds you and the fleet well. Let me close by saying, this woefully unprepared professor could use your help.”

  Orbit appended the star coordinates again. As before, he tight-beamed the signal toward Sol. The Omnian-built comms network would forward the message toward the human colonies. If Alex wasn’t there, the SADEs would send it on to him.

  Olawale sat quietly in his chair and thought of Alex.

  Decades ago, Olawale had launched a shuttle from a United Earth explorer ship in a desperate bid for freedom for his fellow scientists and himself. It had been an enormous gamble, and he’d fled into the arms of the Harakens, Alex’s people, at that time.

  As Omnians, Alex and his followers had ended centuries of fighting between the Dischnya and Swei Swee. The Dischnya had bestowed the name, Dassata, meaning peacemaker, on Alex.

  It had always been that way, wherever Alex sailed. Whether it was SADEs, Dischnya, Swei Swee, Ollassa, or Toralians, peaceful sentients found protectors in Alex and the Omnians.

  Olawale thought it would be no different for the alliance races. Alex would come. He fervently believed that.

  — Alex and company will return in SADEs. —

  Glossary

  Crocians

  Bortoth of the Logar – Dome administrator

  Daktora of the Logar – Senior console operator

  Denthra of the Methra – Norloth member, leader

  Hangar of the Gortha – Norloth member

  Hangor of the Logar – Statue resides in the Triton dome

  Mantoth of the Hagetha – Norloth member

  Nostara of the Borthar – Crocian who’d become a Dorgatha

  Dischnya – Sentient species in Omnian system

  Earthers/Sol – Humans

  Jade Kendris – Security

  Oleg Tenard – Trident captain promoted to senior captain

  Patrice Morris – Sol Enclave envoy

  Sharon Reems – Traveler pilot, lieutenant

  Gasnarians (gaz-nar-ians) – Previous alien race who occupied Pyre

  Hyronzy (her-on-zee) – Burly alien race hosting the Tsargit

  Fistonia (fis-tone-ia) – Hyronzy station director

  Jatouche – Pyreans’ closest allies

  Kroctic (croc-tik) – Rissness dome administrator

  Tacnock (tac-nock) – Jatouche captain of packet ship five, friend of Jess Cinders

  Tacticnok – Her Excellency, Jatouche ruler

  Loopah – Simian race, inventors of the gas-projectile launcher of the same name

  Norsitchians – Alien race that has a dome overtaken by the Colony

  Jarmonin (jar-mon-in) – Tsargit lead councilor

  Menous (men-ous) – Commander of the brassards

  Nemanous (nē-man-ous) – Minister of Planetary Defense

  Ollassa/Vinians – Sentient alien lifeform resembling a symbiotic collection of plant parts

  Omnians – Humans/SADEs

  Alex Racine – Omnian leader, partner of Renée de Guirnon

  Cordelia – SADE

  Edmas – Senior engineer, partner to Jodlyne

  Esteban – SADE

  Francis Lumley – Captain of the Rêveur

  Jodlyne – Senior engineer, partner to Edmas

  Julien – SADE leader, Alex’s close friend

  Juliette – SADE

  Lucia Bellardo – Trident senior captain, promoted to commodore

  Mickey Brandon – Engineer for Alex Racine

  Miranda – SADE, partner of Z

  Olawale Wombo – Expedition leader, ex-Earther

  Orbit – SADE, originally called Lambert

  Renée de Guirnon – Omnian co-leader, partner of Alex Racine

  Sam Fleetfoot – Security lieutenant aboard the Rêveur

  Tatia Tachenko – Fleet admiral

  Yousef Dakar – Security sergeant on Judgment

  Z – SADE, partner of Miranda

  Packeoes (pack-ē-ōs) – Federacy aliens

  Daminich (dom-i-nich) – Fleet commander

  Gregich (greg-ich) – Lead ship captain

  Stasnich (stas-nich) – Expedition leader

  Pimborians – Small burrowing aliens

  Pyreans – Humans in alliance territory

  Aputi Tulafono (too-la-fōnō) – Security lieutenant

  Aurelia Garmenti – Early explorer, partner of Devon, empath, mother of Sabrina

  Devon Higgins – Early explorer, partner of Aurelia, father of Sabrina

  Dillon Shaver – One of first explorers who were killed

  Harbour – First explorer, partner of Jessie Cinders, leader of Resistance

  Imian Tuttle – Great-grandparent of Ophelia Tuttle

  Jess Cinders – Captain of packet ship two, fraternal twin of Kasie

  Jessie Cinders – First explorer, partner of Harbour, empath leader

  Kasie Cinders – Fraternal twin of Jess, empath

  Leslie Finian – President

  Lizzie – Elizabeth, Omnian paired Jess

  Ophelia Tuttle – Security commandant

  Paul Lindstrom – Security major

  Sabrina – Aurelia and Devon’s daughter

  Sasha Garmenti – Great-grandparent of Ophelia Tuttle, powerful empath

  Tracy Shaver – One of first explorers who were killed

  Sylians – Cat-like sentient race

  Salsinona (sal-si-nō-na) – Leader of relief team

  Solseena (sol-see-na) – Tsargit lead councilor, revered ancestor

  Soshona (so-shona) – Fleet commander

  Talsoma (tall-so-ma) – Young ruler

  Tzeena (tseen-a) – Packet squadron commander

  Velsana (vel-sa-na) – Scientist

  Swei Swee – Sentient alien lifeform inhabiting the oceans of several worlds

  Wave Skimmer – First (leader) of the hive

  Veklocks – Winged sentient race, mates in triumvirates

  Pardus – Archivist on Hyronzy Station

  Other Items

  Aigre – Preferred Méridien fruit drink

  Dorgatha (dōr-gatha) – Monstrous reptiles of the Crocian wetlands

  House Brixton – Méridien organization that creates SADEs

  Messinants – Ancient race, dome creators

  Norloth – Crocian Supreme Council

  Omnia Ships – OS, business owned by Alex Racine and others

  Radistor – Norsitchian armored herbivore

  SADE – Self-aware digital entity, artificial intelligence being

  Sol Enclave – New government body ruling the Sol system

  Sotter (sō-ter) – Nocturnal Norsitchian raptor

  Terran Security Forces – New Terra’s systemwide police

  Tsargit – Alliance ruling body

  Ulgart – Former Tsargit lead councilor

  United Earth – Previous government body ruling the Sol system

  Planets, Colonies, Moons, and Stars

  Confederation – Collection of Méridien worlds

  Crimsa – Star of Pyre

  Federacy –
Races previously ruled by Artifice

  Libre – Penal colony for Independents set up by the Confederation

  Méridien – Primary world of the Confederation

  Na-Tikkook – Jatouche home world

  New Terra – New Terrans’ home world

  Norsitchia – Norsitchians’ home world

  Omnia – World settled by the Dischnya, Swei Swee, SADEs, and humans

  Packeo – Packeoes’ home world

  Pimbor – Pimborians’ home world

  Pyre – Pyreans’ home world

  Rissness – Jatouche moon, location of dome

  Sol – Earth’s star

  Sylia – Sylians’ home world

  Talseseena – Sylian moon

  Ships and Stations

  Dantagar Station – Crocian station near the dome’s moon

  Hyronzy Station – Tsargit convene here

  Honora Belle – Colony ship that left Earth, transport of the Pyreans

  Jenkels Orbital Station – Previously anchored El car to downside, called the JOS, pronounced “joss”

  New Terra – Earth colony ship

  OS Judgment – Omnia Ships’ Trident under Lucia Bellardo command

  Packet ships – Sylian ships preventing further construction by the Colony

  Rêveur – Alex Racine’s passenger liner

  Talseseena Station – Sylian station near the dome’s moon

  Travelers – Shuttles and fighters

  Trident – Omnian tri-hulled, beam-armed warship

  Triton Medical Station – Jatouche-run station in the Pyrean system

  Triton – Pyre’s third moon

  Yellen-Inglehart Processing Station – Mineral and gas-processing platform, called the YIPS, pronounced “yips”

  My Books

  Alliance, the fourteenth novel in the Silver Ships series, is available in e-book, softcover, and audiobook versions. Please visit my website, http://scottjucha.com, for publication dates and locations. You may register at my website to receive e-mail updates on the progress of my upcoming novels.

  The Silver Ships Series

  The Silver Ships

  Libre

  Méridien

  Haraken

  Sol

  Espero

  Allora

  Celus-5

  Omnia

  Vinium

  Nua’ll

  Artifice

  Sojourn

  Alliance

  SADEs (forthcoming)

  Pyreans Series

  Empaths

  Messinants

  Jatouche

  Veklocks

  The Author

  From my early years to the present, books have been a refuge. They’ve fueled my imagination. I’ve traveled to faraway places and met aliens with Asimov, Heinlein, Clarke, Herbert, and Le Guin. I’ve explored historical events with Michener and Clavell, and I played spy with Ludlum and Fleming.

  There’s no doubt that the early sci-fi masters influenced the writing of my first two series, The Silver Ships and Pyreans. I crafted my stories to give readers intimate views of my characters, who wrestle with the challenges of living in space and inhabiting alien worlds.

  Life is rarely easy for these characters, who encounter aliens and calamities, but they persist and flourish. I revel in examining humankind’s will to survive. Not everyone plays fair or exhibits concern for other beings, but that’s another aspect of humans and aliens that I investigate.

  My stories offer hope for humans today about what they might accomplish tomorrow far from our home world. Throughout my books, humans exhibit a will to persevere, without detriment to the vast majority of others.

  Readers have been generous with their comments, which they’ve left on Amazon and Goodreads for others to review. I truly enjoy what I do, and I’m pleased to read how my stories have positively affected many readers’ lives.

  If you’ve read my books, please consider posting a review on Amazon and Goodreads for every book, even a short one. Reviews attract other readers and are a great help to indie authors, such as me.

  The Silver Ships novels have reached Amazon’s coveted #1 and #2 Best-Selling Sci-Fi book, multiple times, in the science fiction categories of first contact, space flight, space opera, and alien invasion.