Silver Ships

The saga of the Rêveur continues in this second novel in the Silver Ships series. The surviving Méridiens have returned to Confederation space, aided by their recently discovered cousins, the New Terrans. They expect a celebration after their seventy-one-year absence. Instead, they're shocked to find the silver ships have destroyed half the Confederation. The Méridiens are fleeing in advance of the horde of alien ships. But Alex Racine and his crew didn't come this far to run away from humanity's enemy. They intend to hunt the silver ships. But, to succeed, they need help. Renée de Guirnon, the leader of the Rêveur's Méridiens, reveals a sordid secret of Méridien society: citizens who defy their House, for any reason, are stripped of their rights, declared "Independents," and imprisoned on the planet Libre. But the Independents aren't everyone's pariahs, especially if you're Alex Racine and you're looking for allies against the silver ships. An entire colony of independent, free-thinking radicals offers just the sort of people Alex wants on his side, so an alliance is struck. Soon the enemy ships will swarm off the planet Bellamonde, and the race begins for Alex and the Librans. The planet must be evacuated and the military force readied before the silver ships attack. Alex knows a battle is coming, but will they have enough time to prepare?

The Méridiens are fleeing to their far colonies-and they have reason to run. Over the course of decades, they have lost hundreds of ships, billions of people, and seven Confederation colonies to an alien enemy: an advancing swarm of silver ships transported in the bowels of a gigantic, spherical vessel.Alex Racine, who once enjoyed the solitary life of an explorer-tug captain, is now an admiral and responsible for the lives of a quarter million Librans. Further complicating his life, Alex's Librans have made it clear they don't want to settle on his home world. They want a new home, and he must secure them one.The silver ships await Alex's makeshift flotilla at Libre, the last colony they consumed. Thus far, Alex's people have succeeded in skirmishes against the enemy's fighters. Now, though, they're preparing to attack the entire alien fleet and halt the devastation of the colonies.To the surprise and chagrin of his officers and crew alike, Alex concocts a new plan, for he believes humanity faces not one but two alien species, and one may be enslaved to the other. If so, Alex believes slaves should be liberated, not obliterated.To test Alex's theory, his people must capture a wholly intact silver ship-a feat never before accomplished. The crew remains doubtful, but their admiral is determined to communicate with the aliens before he's forced to destroy them, and his wish is their command.

Nine years of tranquility came to an abrupt end when a Méridien starship entered the Hellébore system, sounding a dire warning for Alex Racine, the Haraken president. Unwanted visitors had arrived again. But this time, they're not alien; they're human. Claiming to have followed the course of a colony ship launched a millennium ago when Earth wrestled with resource wars and climate change, the mission commander, Antonio García, requests a meeting with the planet's leaders. The Earthers profess a kinship with all humans, and their great desire is to have Méridien join their United Earth (UE). Alex Racine journeys to Méridien to investigate and uncover the Earthers' intentions. In the Haraken world, SADEs (self-aware digital entities) have been freed from their boxes aboard the Méridien-built starships. The mobile SADEs are powerful players in Alex's strategies, inventing ingenious methods to investigate the Earthers and their ship. Complicating matters, the Méridien leadership is in turmoil. The Council Leader insists her people ignore the Earthers, but this path has costs. As tensions escalate, García sends a request for support to his superiors back on Earth, lest his discovery of the rich, Méridien worlds, boasting unbelievable advanced technology, slip through his grasp. A UE battleshiop heeds the call, escalating the pressure for action. Join the journey as the Harakens and Méridiens work together to protect their planets and their way of life from the newest invaders.

Sol's warships paid the ultimate price for threatening the Haraken and New Terran worlds. Now, Haraken President Alex Racine and his Méridien partner, Renée de Guirnon, are engaged in a desperate gamble to stop a war between their worlds and United Earth's (UE) massive forces before it starts.What's Alex's grand plan? He hasn't a clue, but his people believe in him and hope he will find a way to protect them. Alex does have powerful assets: the Haraken space fleet; the genius SADEs, mobile Haraken digital intelligences; and the defected UE scientists, who are providing a wealth of intelligence about their home world.Arriving at Sol, Alex discovers the perfect opportunity to make his statement to the UE Supreme Tribunal in the form of the aging Idona Station, which has fallen into disrepair as UE militia and rebels battle for control. Alex explains his unorthodox plan when he says, "The UE tribunes will succumb when we overpower them with prosperity."The Harakens work to meld Idona's militia, stationers, and rebels into the Haraken's view of the world, one based on peace, purpose, and equality. The Tribunal is at odds over the Harakens' interference in their system, forcing the rifts in the UE's political structure to widen into chasms.In the exciting conclusion to Haraken, the series' previous book, Sol is the story of a clash of cultures and ideals as Earthers struggle to find a way toward a successful new future.

Trouble infiltrated the Harakens' capital city of Espero, in the form of New Terra criminal gangs who grew wealthy and powerful on the moons of Ganymede, hiding behind the cover of an ill-conceived mining charter. The gangs brought stims and addictive hallucinogenic drugs to Espero, distributing them to the young on the planet.Christie Racine and her friends visited a hidden club rumored to be a source of the dangerous drugs and have run afoul of the criminals running the illegal establishment. Kidnapped and transported out of Hellébore's system aboard a freighter, the girls become desperate to free themselves.Alex Racine, Christie's brother and president of the Harakens, races to discover where the girls were taken. The trail leads Alex from Espero to the pleasure domes of Jolares, a moon orbiting a gas giant in Oistos, the New Terrans' home system. Alex's search is complicated by the discovery of not one, but three sets of pleasure domes, each on its own moon and run by its own criminal mastermind.It becomes a dangerous game of hide-and-seek, as the Harakens attempt to recover their girls and locate the biochemist who created the dangerous hallucinogen, without panicking the kidnappers. The Harakens' efforts are complicated by the duplicitous scheme of "Mr. Blue" and "Sniffer," two gang leaders, who seek to steal the domes of "Craze," the third gang leader, in a dangerous double-cross.Alex and his people thought things couldn't get any more complicated until they discover the gangs have gone to war with deadly stunners and plasma rifles in a fight for possession of the Haraken girls, who are caught between the rivals.

Until the Confederation created Allora, it had produced SADEs (self-aware digital entities) for hundreds of years with enormous consistency and harnessed their capabilities to power the society. But this particular young SADE was disturbed by her confinement. Trapped in metal-alloy housing on the bridge of a luxury passenger liner, Allora sought to possess the same freedom enjoyed by humans, who came and went from her starship with abandon. Allora's hope for emancipation rested on Alex Racine, the Haraken president who had freed his SADEs, and she yearned to walk the worlds a free entity, as they did. Racine had pleaded for years with the Council of Leaders to give the Confederation SADEs equal status as citizens, and it was Allora's thought to have him intercede on her behalf and bargain for her transfer to a mobile avatar so that she might live among the Harakens. But Allora's plans were thrown into disarray when she learned that Racine would soon end his presidency. Desperate, Allora, known to her fellow SADEs as the wild child, concocts a plan to kidnap the Council Leader and his associates. She intends to hold them hostage until they acquiesce to her demands. Little does Allora know that her actions will set the Confederation and the Harakens on a collision course. Quietly waiting and watching the drama unfold are tens of thousands of SADEs, who control Confederation starships, stations, and Houses and have a vested interest in the outcome.

For its initial mission, Haraken's explorer ship, the Sojourn, undertook the investigation of Celus-5, a world identified by Willem, a SADE (self-aware digital entity), and his team of scientists, as the best candidate for a new colony. What should have been a routine survey mission became a disaster. To the Harakens' surprise, they discovered, not one, but two alien species, which were constantly engaged in conflict. One species, the Dischnya, hid their nests underground, and each nest owed its allegiance to a queen. On the grassy plains, where the Dischnya lived, the resources were scarce, and the warriors competed fiercely. Unfortunately, the Harakens' landing party was late in discovering the Dischnya's hideouts, and a shuttle and crew, including Teague, Alex Racine's son, were captured by the dog-like warriors of the Tawas Soma nest. Soon the mission was mired in a standoff, and Captain Asu Azasdau fired off a comm to Haraken, pleading for a rescue, from Tomas Monti, the Haraken president, and Alex Racine. The survey group might have been forgiven for their hasty landing. They were focused on investigating the three objects buried in the sands along the continent's shoreline. Smooth, dark, and silver, they were the ships belonging to the nemesis of every human-the Nua'll. The dark travelers presented another clue as to the direction of the Nua'll home world, but it also invoked the question: Where were the Swei Swee, the six-legged, whistling aliens, who once were aboard the ships?

Omnia continues where Celus-5 left off. Alex's entire focus is on the search for the Nua'll home world. But before he can accomplish that, he must build the forces necessary to take on a possibly more powerful sphere, if and when the civilization-destroying aliens are found.

After the passage of two decades, the Omnians discovered a second, critical clue about the Nua'll, humankind's enemy, while investigating Celus-4, the home world of the intelligent, canine-like aliens, the Dischnya.This striking discovery, combined with the final broadcast of the Nua'll sphere at Libre, prior to its detonation, gave Alex Racine and company the means to narrow the search for the Nua'll home world.Alex has a consuming desire to locate the point of origin of the Nua'll before another gigantic sphere arrives to destroy more colonies. The first sphere's incursion into the Confederation burned billions of humans to ash.Six scout ships are constructed by the Omnians and crewed by SADEs, self-aware digital entities, to search the stars along a narrow path defined by the two clues.During its search, a scout ship, the Vivian, is captured by an alien warship in a faraway system, the SADEs dub Vinium. The two ships, locked tightly together in a form of electronic warfare, achieve an impasse.The scout ship calls for help, and Alex Racine receives the strange message. According to the SADEs, the aliens aboard the warship appear to be plant people.Rescuing the scout ship presents Alex and his companions the opportunity to meet the plant people, the Vinians, on their home world. It leads the Omnians to one more incredible discovery about the Nua'll, which, unfortunately, proves Alex's worst fears.

The Omnian expeditionary fleet sails for the faraway place they call "the wall." The worlds of humankind have consolidated their resources to create a powerful armada to confront the alien federation. During the Omnians' previous encounter with an alien fleet at the wall, the Nua'll comm sphere spoke to them in multiple languages. When the messages were deciphered by SADEs, the humans' digital friends, the Omnians realized two things. One, they would face a vast empire composed of hundreds of races, and, two, the Nua'll were not the leaders of the federacy. They had spoken of masters. Multiple challenges faced Alex Racine, the Omnian leader, to cobble together the fleet he required. The Confederation, which was composed of many colonies, could produce ships, but most of its people lacked the will to fight. Haraken and New Terra were worlds with limited material production capability. But they produced individuals who were anxious to deliver a blow against the federation. A debate raged over whether humans should flee, wait, or fight the onslaught of giant spheres, which ravaged humankind's worlds, and the probes that spied on them. It was Alex Racine's choice to confront the alien race. Anything less was only delaying the inevitable. The Omnians knew nothing about what they would find beyond the wall, where the federation's enormous empire lay. Alex knew he couldn't defeat the federacy in a long series of protracted engagements. His plan was to attempt to conquer and divide. He just needed to find the right sentient race for his idea to work.

The great spheres and probes of Artifice, humankind's enemy, haunt every inhabited world near and far. The Omnians' long and arduous search for Artifice has ended. They've located Artifice's lair in the Talus system. The sentient digital entity rules a vast swath of worlds, known as the federacy, through ruthless intimidation. Its insidious programs are embedded in every races' digital systems-warships, shuttles, stations, domes, comm platforms, and power plants. One misstep by a race could see its citizens exterminated in vast numbers. The survivors, if there were any, would be thrown back to the days before spaceflight. Artifice has had millennia to secure its base. Powerful battleship fleets guard the system's periphery and the approaches above and below the entity's planet, Toral. Probes surround the system and warn of unauthorized encroachment, and Artifice has control of the planet's army of bots. The Omnian expeditionary fleet, led by Alex Racine, desperately needs allies in order to defeat or circumvent Artifice's defensive measures. The Omnians are curious about the fleet of black-hulled battleships, which bear a resemblance to Artifice's probes and guard the Talus system. The SADEs, the Omnians' digital friends, believe that the sentients aboard the black fleet and Artifice share a common history. Whether or not the Omnians can gather allies, they don't intend to abandon their goal and return to Omnia. They mean to capture or destroy the entity, Artifice, or die trying.

Artifice, the great enemy, has been defeated. The sister SADEs, Omnian sentient digital entities, are free from their boxes. Most humans are unaware that the sisters have duplicated themselves many more times than suspected. They now constitute a sizable, powerful group, calling themselves the Sisterhood. The elimination of Artifice's rule should be a time of relief and recovery for Alex Racine's Omnian fleet and for the Toralians, whose home world was Artifice's lair. Instead, it's a chaotic period. Visitors appear, sailing the distinct, black-hulled Toralian battleships. Five colonial governors wish to witness the recovery of the ancient home world. President Sargut welcomes them, but Alex is suspicious about the governors' motives. In a face-to-face meeting, it becomes clear that the governors have a dark, ulterior purpose. With the release of the federacy from Artifice's reign, word reaches the Omnians that races are embracing their newfound freedom. Some enjoy peace, some desire expansion, and some yearn for revenge. The races' latter choices mean danger for the Toralians and Alex's fleet. Powerful battleship fleets are either sailing for the Toralian home world to exact reprisals, or they're seeking new territory. Every encounter presents a challenge for the Omnian fleet. Some fleets have crossed the federacy's boundary and are headed toward humankind's worlds. Alex and the Omnians face a difficult choice. They must choose whether to defend the Toralian home world, which is forming a nascent society, or chase the fleets that are headed toward their planets.

Olawale Wombo and a small contingent of Omnians are sent to assist Earth to uplift its technological prowess. With the aid of the incomparable SADEs, advanced tech is transferred to the Sol Enclave, the system's governing body. After Sol's construction of Tridents-Omnian-designed warships-Earthers possess the ability to transit quickly among the stars. The desire to know what happened to Earth's colony ship, the Honora Belle, sent to the stars a millennium ago is resurrected. An Omnian Trident and the vessel Rêveur accompany three Sol Enclave Tridents in search of the Belle's colonists. Swiftly, the Omnians and the Earthers become enmeshed in a centuries-old conflict enveloping a vast area of space inhabited by alliance races. The enemy is the Colony: a giant insectoid species that has arrivied in force to overtake an alliance home world. Olawale Wombo must decide whether to abide by the expedition's original purpose or help the embattled alliance races. He asks himself one question: What would Omnian leader Alex Racine do? He knows the answer to that question. Every Omnian knows the answer.