The Ghost Ship Chronicles

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An unsold/uncontracted series ready for publication 
 
 
 
 
Sigil by Tanna Borrell
   
   
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In the family trading vessel Twilight Lamb, Den Protania is a failure.  Not just any failure, although his father is the captain, Den was already kicked out of both command and astrogation, and now he isn’t doing too well in shuttle section.  Den has no desire to work to achieve anything, yet he envies everyone who is more successful than he.  He especially resents Natana Kern, the Twilight Lamb’s youngest master astrogator and a journeyman in psyonics.  Natana succeeds in every area Den cannot, and he hates her because of it.  When the Twilight Lamb detects a derelict courier vessel, Athelstan Cying along their flight path, Natana mans pilotage and Den is part of the salvage team.  Both of their lives are about to change forever…      

Aboard the Athelstan Cying, a being has lingered a millennia—long dead, yet aware and extant.  The Athelstan Cying houses the spirit of an Imperial commander, a psyonic master.  When the Twilight Lamb comes within range of the Athelstan Cying, the Cying begins a preprogrammed attack plan.  The spirit can barely stop the attack, and Twilight Lamb’s salvage crew boards her—including Den.  Den, of course, doesn’t follow protocol.  He explores the vessel without waiting for his partner, the shuttle master.  The Athelstan Cying fought in a space battle long ago and one of the cabins was breached.  Although the being tries to warn Den, Den opens the cabin door and is impaled on the structure of the ship.  The spirit attempts to save Den, and when Den’s soul departs the body, it is locked inside.  The being uses its knowledge to stabilize the body and saves it from certain death.  Now, for better or worse, he has become Den Protania.

The new Den Protania is very aware of his precarious position on the Twilight Lamb.  His life depends on the truth of Den’s change remaining a secret.  His problems are aggravated when the ship’s council rightly blames him for the accident, and charges him a debt that will take decades to reduce even for a master.  Still worse, Natana Kern, as a psyionic journeyman, is assigned to help Den’s recovery.

During Den’s first session with Natana, he experiences a flashback to his ancient life that she is drawn into.  She realizes he is not the Den Protania she once knew, but what can she do?  Would anyone believe her?  Can such a thing really be true?  When she was inside his mind, Natana realized the new Den’s power, compassion, and honor.  They mutually call a truce and in exchange for training in psyonics, Natana agrees to help Den redeem his life in the eyes of the Twilight Lamb’s family.

Den and Natana maintain an uncomfortable peace as he integrates into the ship’s family, works to reduce his enormous debt, and tries to determine who from the past he really was.  Whatever the future brings the world for Den and Natana has radically changed. 

 

 

 

 

Den and Natana Protania are blessed and cursed. Both are psyonic masters and experts in the operation and management of Family Trader spacecraft. They are newly and happily married with a stellar future on the Family Trading Ship, Twilight Lamb. But both share horrible secrets, and a potentially deadly future.


A standard year ago, the Twilight Lamb salvaged an ancient Imperial courier ship, the Athelstan Cying. Onboard, Den Protania broke protocol and mortally injured himself. As he died, Den encountered a spirit who tried to save him. The being could not save Den’s spirit, but he stabilized his body and was trapped as Den Protania. Natana Kern shared Den’s secret and helped the new Den reclaim his place in the Twilight Lamb. They wove a friendship that soon became something more.


In his ancient past, Den had been a psyonic master. Natana learned everything she could from him. On the planet, Neuterra, Natana and Den stumbled on a group, the Athenian Charter that used psyonic tools for political and criminal activity. The group kidnapped and experimented on Den and Natana. While Den and Natana were captives, the Athenian Charter introduced a super computer symbiot into Natana’s brain. The Athenian Charter hoped to use the device to control Natana. Instead, coupled with Natana’s intellect, it became a powerful tool that Den and Natana used to escape their captors. Den and Natana share a second secret: Natana’s computational capabilities and their source.             
Den and Natana discovered a worthy enemy—the Athenian Charter is accumulating the power to enslave millions. They have raided ancient archeological sites for psyonic equipment from the Human Galactic Empire and the Reps. To have any hope of countering the Athenian Charter, Den and Natana must recover as much information as possible about them. While still on Neuterra, they execute a foray on the Athenian Charter and the Neuterran archeological sites. Den is injured, but fortunately, the security of the Twilight Lamb recovers them. Their actions are seen as revenge for their kidnapping and luckily little comes of it.


Den has gained more trust from the ship’s council and is made the leader of an Emergency Procedures and Special Capabilities team. Den trains his team well, and when the Twilight Lamb receives a distress call from the new space liner, Regia Anglorum, his team is sent to stabilize the reactors and get the ship back under control. While Den’s team works, the passengers are shuttled over to the Twilight Lamb. Unfortunately, the Regia Anglorum is a pirated ship. The Athenian Charter is using the Regia Anglorum as a decoy to take over the Twilight Lamb. In this age, the key to control of the Confederation of Human Space is the Family Trading Ships. Some of the passengers are pirates who use modern weapons and ancient military psyonic control devices to take over the Twilight Lamb. Now, Den, Natana, and their team must use every resource they have to recapture the Twilight Lamb—before their families are slaughtered.

 

 

 

 

Den and Natana Protania are installed as the Captain and First Officer of the newest Family Trader Vessel, the Regia Anglorum. The ship receives its official negotiated trading schedule that takes them to planets Family Traders have not visited in years, including El Rashad.
 

Nikita lives on garbage in the streets on El Rashad and collects every piece of reading material she can. Her only consolation is the church, her doll, Alice, and the minds of the spacers Nikita reads when they land at the spaceport. Nikita, like Den and Natana is a high level psyonic.
 

Nikita detects the most beautiful mind she has ever seen. It is Natana’s, and Natana determines to find and bring the girl back to the ship. It isn’t as easy as Natana thought. Nikita has issues: she is distrustful of anyone, and she is malnourished and sick.
 

Nikita’s integration into the ship is not easy, but she makes friends. Four girls invite her to be a member of their “special” girl’s club. Nikita also makes some unintentional enemies. Alex the class bully is just one. He taunts Nikita almost every day. Finally, Alex gets his hands on Alice and tosses her over a fence in the ship’s wilderness area. Nikita snaps. She attacks Alex and climbs the fence. When she falls on the other side, she breaks her arm and sprains her leg. Natana and Den recover Nikita, but life has changed for her.
 

Because of her injuries, Nikita can’t work, train, or do her school work, and it is all Alex’s fault. Alex now tries to make amends for his treatment to Nikita. Nikita has more problems: injured crewmembers can’t make planetfall, and her parents, Den and Natana have planed a trip to the surface of Acier. Plus, Nikita’s class is going on a fieldtrip to Acier, and she can’t go.
 

Nikita discovered; Alex is a special because he is an engineering design genius—he can invent and build almost anything. When her class returns from Acier, Nikita has something she needs Alex to build for her. Nichol, one of the members of her girl’s club is cutting—it became worse when she returned to the ship. Nikita confronts her and discovers the Family Traders don’t need writers, musicians, entertainers, or inventors. Nichol is a singer, musician, and writer—that’s her special. Since she can’t produce a skill the ship needs, she knows one day she will be kicked off, and the thought terrifies her.
 

Nikita knows how to help Nichol. She brings in her friends and Alex to solve the problem. In the process, they learn the Captain and First Officer, Den and Natana are missing on Acier. Nikita is devastated. She must go to the surface of Acier to help Nichol and rescue her parents, but the ship is on a lock down until security finds the Captain and First Officer. Nikita and her friends make a plan to do it all—the question is can they pull it off?

 

 

 

 
Shadowed Vale

Work in progress: continues the adventures of Den, Natana, and Nikita.

 

 

 

  Novels by this Author
   
       The Second Mission (Available now)
       Centurion   (Available now published by OakTara)
       Aegypt            (Available now published by OakTara)
 

  

The Dragon and the Fox

 

                     (Available now published by OakTara)

 

                                                         

The End of Honor                The Fox’s Honor                A Season of Honor 

 

 

 

  L.D. Alford is the author of 41 technical papers published in international journals on flight test, military policy, flight safety, space, and cyberwar.  Technical Writing
   
  L.D. Alford has been a professional aviator for 28 years.  Aviation Writing

L.D. Alford Aviation Writing Technical Writing Unpublished Novels Writing Links Engineer

 

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