Spacer Series

The first book of an epic series following the career of a Space Fleet crewperson from "crewper" to Captain of a starship. It is 2173, one hundred sixty years in the future, and humans using faster than light travel have colonized nearly a dozen nearby star systems. No alien intelligence has been discovered yet, and humans are now comfortable enough to start fighting each other instead of the unknown. Science survey ship JOHN A. WHEELER is about to encounter a range of hostiles from human mercenaries to the first aliens any humans have ever met. Of the ten humans at that meeting, only two survive. One of them is Ensign Xiu-Li Chen. Not all aliens are from outer space: the story of the Niv at Tau Ceti and why they used DNA nanotechnology to become Homo neosapiens is also illuminated.

Darkeyes (2178) Book 03: Lieutenant Commander Chen. After crashing into a river during a rescue on Jade, Xiu-Li nearly drowns. “Jool” is rescued by Cara Delaridel (a Niv who has run away to join the IWG to fight the O.P.P.) who is coaxed into it by two Tau Ceti Cats. Cara is a specialist in reconaissance, and this is enemy territory – for an operation against the many missile sites like the one that shot Xiu-Li down. The two escape enemy pursuit and are soon on the Thucydides, where Captain Barbara Garney discusses burn-out with Xiu-Li, who is being transferred to the John A. Wheeler to assist with a Hensridge Drives group project at Cape of Velvet. Cara is swept along with Xiu-Li. They are impressed with Wheeler’s science officer Harmony Speeter, and Xiu-Li nervous about seeing her first-ever love, Nathan Hensridge, as well as seeing Chief Engineer Wolfredo Lobo again. Hensridge announces he is getting married to Harmony, but seems to have completely fallen for Cara! The technology being tested exists, but the first test is a sham devised by Hensridge on his own, to break the hold a privateer who wants to sell the drive for money has over him. Before it is over, Xiu-Li’s friend Elsa Hatven has had to do her tactical job, and Cara earns a Bronze star in a firefight, but Xiu-Li is mortally injured and the Niv who arrive medevac her as they offer to treat her. No one actually knows if she is still alive. July 2178. Lieutenant Commander Ecurba and TQ Osprey join the Wheeler (under Captain Takaguchi now) against an illegal mining operation. He and his small crew of 11 (including new Chief Engineer Winsome Weyrik) are all tested alongside Wheeler and no one emerges unscathed. The end result is a lot of evidence, clues, and statements that lead to the operational mastermind, and once the operation is finally over, an unexpected passenger for Ecurba to transport to Hawaii Platform.

VICTORY Saved (2179) Book 04: Commander Chen. In July 2178 as John A. Wheeler continues evaluating the survey planet it first visited in 2173, Wolfredo Lobo and Cara Delaridel explore an old alien structure on Deepstrike. It is an encounter of the unusual kind, one that throws them close together. March 2179: At a dockside interrogation even as their dead comrades are being removed from IWG Victory, Xiu-Li finds herself accused of abandoning her post because she survived a debris strike that killed everyone on the bridge. She tells of five mini-computers rigged to fly the shattered ship to safety, with Lieutenant U.K.MacBritish as co-pilot/Chief Engineer. Only later is the O.P.P. Truce revealed: Peace at last! In April 2179 Lieutenant Commander Ecurba saves Dr.Sara Catsmile during a gang attack and is kept out of the way as his Fleet career fate in “The Peace” is debated. He travels to Niv on assignment and has an adventure, including saving a family of Tau Ceti Cats from being eaten by a predator, resolving the hitherto unresolved “mad passion” with Priti Fareyes, hearing the story of Hellhole’s deep space survivor. While returning to Earth, Xiu-Li must handle attempted mutiny when her mixed group of war-weary crew riding the roughly repaired Victory encounters a frozen gas cloud that might have something in it. She fights off her attackers to find a damaged Niv ship in need of rescue, with unexpected information about Victory’s collision. In September 2179, Commander Ecurba has a Niv social encounter on board a ship in Earth StarYards he and U.K.McBritish are helping Admiral Matisou complete. June 2180. Priti Fareyes nearly killed in shuttle accident, then figures out how to save self and several others. She later “meets” one: Samuel Millet, child math prodigy.

Conflict (2176) Book 02: Lieutenant Chen Xiu-Li is nearly killed in a science experiment, but Wolf Lobo is along and he resets the fuse delay: she survives the test blast. It was sabotage, so staying on IWG-SS JOHN A. WHEELER is now dangerous for Xiu-Li. On a sector inspection tour, Admiral Custer Beria himself promotes her. May 2175: Conflict duty on blockade ship IWG-SS/B ISAAC NEWTON; “Jool’s” 25th birthday. Friend Priti Fareyes almost dies in an intercept attempt, (as told by Ensign Ecurba himself). Priti has a crush on the ensign yet she doesn’t even know his name as she talks about events. Life at the “desert” of Van Maanen’s star has certain ups: Xiu-Li meets Taceo Lacerna and they have a whirlwind affair. Training duty takes a deadly turn on 29 Feb 2176 when the first major deep space battle humans have ever fought occurs as the O.P.P. attacks the IWG training fleet at the posting known as Hellhole. Small scale “intercepts” of one or two ships against one have been the norm, but at Hellhole, giant tractical cruisers oppose each other at ultra high velocities that can shatter targets – and ships. Xiu-Li must first rescue injured on a trainer ship she is docked to, then she must enter NEWTON, which has been targeted by an O.P.P. strike team for “coring” of data units. Xiu-Li must lead a team she has never worked with into her badly hit platform ship and attack the O.P.P. strike team, then rescue Taceo (he had similar orders but entered seperately). She gets her team clear before being cut off from them. As she makes her own way clear, her vac-suit signal fails, indicating her death. Xiu-Li still takes a P.O.W., and gets free of NEWTON before it’s destroyed. December, 2176. Dr.Sara Catsmile and her daughter Ania rescue a survivor from the Battle of Hellhole. Young Ania risks her life, entering an unstable – and boobytrapped – spacehulk to coax “Lucis Nusquam” back to civilization after 8 months in deep space.

Greatstar Lost (2181): Captain Xiu-Li Chen would never have dreamt an assassination attempt at a Memorium Ceremony six months earlier was planned by the Qet leader herself. Despite later tactical analysis that concluded it must have been, the motive is still unknown, and humans cannot easily imagine one. Now the Qet-Qeta is back at Deepstrike for meetings on PORTAL Plat, and JAGUAR is on site as well. Xiu-Li seeks a meeting with Qet-Lia Pathfinder, hoping to get some clarification of events. A trade meeting is interrupted by an alert. Admiral Matisou invites the Qet-Qeta to the ops center, Commander Ecurba offers to escort her, and Captain Chen makes sure she goes with them. After the GREATSTAR Class SAS FRANCIS BACON is rather graphically lost to an unknown alien fleet/force, the decision is made to undertake a “rescue recovery” mission. There are ways survivors could last for months if undetected by the enemy in undamaged areas. The newly reconstructed COURIER Class SAS VICTORY arrives at Deepstrike and is given to the newly promoted Captain Ecurba for an assignment to “bring home the BACON.” Captain Ecurba has a “test bed ship” to learn, a new crew to command, and then the appearance of a dark black Tau Ceti Cat, one that can “talk” to him at certain moments. It is a “watch Cat,’ as the Niv call it. Ecurba wonders if things are bad enough that he needs one. Then his wife Qet-Sia Pathfinder appears, to join him on a permanent basis as a Qet Liasion. This is to protect her life from ambitious Qet politicals, and she has missed Ecurba as much or more than he has missed her. He didn’t expect to see her, so it is quite a shock, albeit pleasant. Then he learns Qet-Qua Pactmaker is going along as well, as a Qet delegation of sorts to assist in this crisis. Before he knows it, his wrist has been broken during a Defense of Qet Name he has been tricked into, and his powerful Qeti opponent is slowly choking Ecurba to death. VICTORY meets FORT VALOR, a tactical shadow ship for SIR FRANCIS BACON. The actual events leading to BACON’s loss are reviewed, and the plan revealed is for VICTORY to serve as a first emergence target, so FORT VALOR will see any attackers the instant it emerges ten seconds later from realspace, and can counterattack. After emerging into realspace the next morning, VICTORY is damaged by ordnance fired from a city-sized “Seamer Platform.” Escape from the target zone is because of Commander Pathfinder, who trained as a pilot of combat spacecraft (a Qet fighterpilot). Her actions save VICTORY from instant destruction, while FORT VALOR is attacked as it emerges into realspace and is quickly destroyed. Then Niv shadow tactical ship NSS SHADOWCLAW appears, reports damage, and acts as a “fireship” to disrupt the city sized platform’s ability to attack. Its impact into the vast structure saves VICTORY from further immediate attack, and as VICTORY continues to exit the area it recovers E-mer Pods with Niv crew from SHADOWCLAW. A stand-off occurs as VICTORY continues its exit vector and makes repairs. Ecurba is trying to figure out how to handle these alien “Seamers” – who were shocked by the “fireship” Captain Leonidas flew into them. It requires further tactical sacrifice and more damage to the Seamer city platform to stop their next attempt to destroy the fleeing VICTORY. Ecurba has just arranged safe passage when the Assembly Of Sentients intervenes to punish this Seamer Platform, the device used for punishment so large that size of the damaged area in realspace is measured in light hours. That explosion will consume VICTORY as well – unfortunate, really. The device arrives. Its blast wave will affect an area of space twenty light hours in area. Just when it seems VICTORY will be destroyed, the Tau Ceti Cats have a say.

Qet Contact (2180): On PORTAL Platform diplomatic duty, Captain Xiu-Li Chen and her first officer, Commander Ecurba, foil an assassination attempt against the Qet-Qeta, the leader of seventy eight billion Qet, then escape back to SAS JAGUAR with a wounded Ecurba. This is merely the first action of a complicated Qet political process, going on in parallel to the Assembly Of Sentients negotiations about the planet below them, now known as Deepstrike. On the human side, Assemblyspeaker Braxton Thurgoode and PORTAL Plat Chief of Security, Commander Yasmin Sinclaro, quietly cover up the corridor left awash in Qet blood (and some of Ecurba’s). What part did Thurgoode play in the attempt? The process will include further intrigues, and the forging of bonds between Humans and Qet, including those of marriage ("political") between Commander Ecurba and Qet-Sia Pathfinder, the daughter of the Qet-Qeta.

Phase Change (2180): Commander Xiu-Li Chen, after mulling over her situation en route to a metting with Admiral Matisou, is made a captain in Space Aliance Systems Space Fleet at last. Captain Xiu-Li Chen is given command of a new COURIER Class ship, SAS JAGUAR, and an operational mission to act as a ferry captain (“a well armed ferry captain, sir!” she tells Admiral Matisou.) After taking the Admiral to Sol NORCLIP Plat, her first deep space assignment is to bring Braxton Thurgoode, Assemblyspeaker for the Human Sphere, out to PORTAL Platform, for an Assembly of Sentients diplomatic meeting over a Qet Sphere challenge to the planet now called Deepstrike, where Qet and Human met in 2173. She was one of two survivors of that Qet Encounter and now is Xiu-Li must return to the planet where it happened, to be diplomatic with the species that killed eight of her fellow crewpers, two of them very close friends. She is also now “the Captain,” and must adapt to that singular life niche on board a starship, helped along by Commander Ecurba, Doctor Daria Ki, and veterans like Bugs Kimonetti. At the edge of the Deepstrike system, JAGUAR responds to a ship alert beacon indicating ship problems related to either alien life or hazmat conditions and finds a ship of raiders/“salvagers” frantically departing an airless, lifeless SAS starship. JAGUAR must salvage SAS ROSALIND FRANKLIN after first seizing the raiding ship GRANDE REGENCY, which seems torn by a mutiny. Commander Ecurba boards GRANDE REGENCY and is wounded by a deranged Niv female, whose psychic storm knocks out Lieutenant Priti Fareyes. Once the effects of a drug she was given wear off, Sibella Dirge reveals she is an undercover operative for Niv Intelligence Division, and that she is also “a Niv assassin.” During first entry to ROSALIND FRANKLIN an unconscious survivor on board is rescued by a team Xiu-Li is part of. She returns to JAGUAR with the survivor, but soon Xiu-Li is back living on FRANKLIN as it is explored and repaired by her crew. Besides the mysterious Sibella Dirge, Xiu-Li also has some of her best junior crew on JAGUAR with her, all trying to solve the mysteries on board. Where is ROSALIND FRANKLIN’s crew, and the ship’s commander, an old friend of Xiu-Li’s? What killed GRANDE REGENCY’s boarding raiders, etching their shadows into hull metal, turning them into ash? The realspace emergence of cargo ship SAS LA GAZZA LADRA complicates things. It is owned and operated by Captain Bartolo Catsmile, and older brother Antonin. They are “Niv businessmen,” although Ecurba and Priti Fareyes determine their ship is rigged for smuggling; Lieutenant Fareyes is their niece (her mother was their sister). Xiu-Li is very aware of Bartolo’s piratic charms. Very soon after the Catsmiles emerge near Deepstrike Beacon, eight moderate sized ships emerge, soon determined to be friends of the raider ship GRANDE REGENCY, and taking an approach for hostile actions against the small group of ships around it (LA GAZZA LADRA, JAGUAR, and ROSALIND FRANKLIN). Xiu-Li loses three crew to the anomaly they discover on ROSALIND FRANKLIN and must somehow neutralize it while they are under attack, in an unarmed science ship. As Ensign Sam Millet devises a risky plan for wrangling up an alien hazmat, Ecurba takes JAGUAR into battle on an audacious plan; while Xiu-Li watches helplessly (“commands from FRANKLIN,” is what outsiders will say later), her crew now on GRANDE REGENCY takes a critical liberty with her orders. Great risks taken, great success gained. Soon after, a huge Niv repair ship shows up to assist with repairs and provide crew watch relief and stand down. At the Ship Dinner aboard NSS THOMAS A. EDISON, Commander Ecurba discovers Major Sibella Dirge (who slashed him during the taking of GRANDE REGENCY) is actively seeking to make peace for past actions; and Xiu-Li finds that Captain Bartolo Catsmile proves charming in person as well.

Captain Ecurba is nearly killed by an enraged Niv bodyguard whose apparent death starts an investigation into a plan to imprision Ceti Cats to harness their unique abilities to cross objects across interstellar space distances. While Ecurba continues his search on planet Deepstrike for the Cat Penning facilities, fifty light years away on Cape Of Velvet Captain Xiu-Li Chen starts on the trail of the Niv mastermind responsible. What they discover is an atypical weapon capbable of killing all seventy eight billion Qet living in the Qet Sphere, with nothing available to counter its effects if launched. Not only must Ecurba save the Ceti Cats again, he must destroy the weapon and save the Qet – starting with his wife, Qet-Sia Pathfinder. Meanwhile, Xiu-Li Chen must figure out how to infiltrate an armed compound full of hostile Niv mercenaries and confront the malevolent Dr.Lugubrious Dirge before he can launch his attack on the Qet Sphere. Book 8 of the Spacer Series.

"Interstitial short stories" include Ecurba’s rescue of 31 kids during Operation NESTKNOCK (2176), his meeting of a daughter he did not know he had (2194), the full closing of the circle between Admiral Xiu-Li Chen and Captain Priti Fareyes (2192), and Admiral Chen’s meeting with “Katsavr’s Qitten” (2194).

Captain Ecurba is almost killed by an unusual alien assassin, just the prelude to the hunt for a Qet artifact rumored to be on Deepstrike. The object offers legitimacy to anyone seeking to lead the seventy eight billion Qet within the Qet Sphere, and has attracted the attention of the Qet-Qeti, also known as The Secret Navigator, a shadowy male Qet wielding power behind the scenes. He wants to seize power, and believes the artifact will help. While their Qet-Qeti leader looks for the artifact rumored to be on Deepstrike (human population 20,000), two million Qet Simple Believer warriors start assembling nearby. Can Captains Ecurba and Chen get the Human Sphere out of this?

In 2183 a starship capable of traveling 10 million light years a day is sent to explore the Supervoid, an empty space over a billion light years in area which is 3 billion light years away toward the constellation Eridanus. First conjectured in 2007 (to explain a “cold spot” within data from the Cosmic Microwave Background), confirmed in 2015, the Supervoid has prompted speculations among physicists running a gamut: Is it an observational error? Is it merely empty, but huge - one of the two or three largest voids within this universe? Is it from a collision with another Universe? Or is it from a rip in space, a rip which will destroy this universe? This odyssey is set within the framework of B. B. Irvine’s Spacer Series but goes far beyond it...