by S. H. Jucha
“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.