THE INDUS INCURSION

A battle-damaged spaceship belonging to much-feared alien warriors accidentally trespasses near a human outpost in this continuation of Lallier’s Solar Commonwealth SF series.

This military space adventure is set 20 years after the previous series installment, The Eridani Incident(2019). Jason Ngene is a high-ranking officer in Earth’s spacefaring forces, returning with his imposing Regent for a ceremonial visit to an inhabited planet where humans fought and won a skirmish with aggressive, catlike aliens called the Feorae. It was a rare alien interaction for Homo sapiens, who are merely junior members of a loose Solar Commonwealth of inhabited worlds, most of which are far more advanced than Earth. Still, many in the commonwealth still grieve the hundreds of lives lost in the battle. Meanwhile, an odd failure of life-support systems aboard patrol ships has left the distant human colony of Tellus vulnerable, and a battle-crippled Feorin ship, requiring repairs, unknowingly comes too close to the outpost. Alerts go off throughout the fleet, with some Feorae-hating officers spoiling for a revenge fight and others fighting to avert what could touch off a cataclysmic war. Lallier appears to acknowledge his clear debt to the Star Trek franchise with his dedication (“For James T.”) and a minor medical character with the surname Chapel. One can easily hear the voice of actor Patrick Stewart whenever the Jean-Luc Picard–like Regent speaks. However, this is no carbon copy of other people’s works. Unlike Gene Roddenberry’s smoothly functioning Federation and its ideal of enlightened starship troopers cooperating in military and scientific harmony, Lallier depicts a restive, divided mankind, with commanders and bureaucrats jostling for rank and power while harboring personal grudges. The author also generates some sympathy for the Feorae, whose captain is wise enough to run his ship of clawed minions with Klingon-like honor rather than arbitrary cruelty. Ultimately, this is a solid follow-up that bodes well for future installments in the series.

A well-told tale of galactic problem-solving and command-chair decision-making.