Gate Ghosts Series by S.H. Jucha

The descendants of a fourth Earth colony ship, Destiny, successfully establish a foothold in unoccupied space. Naiad, the home world, is a frozen ball, but the colonists persevere and expand through wormholes to remote systems.Navigating the time-space anomalies requires Axis-ships. The expensive vessels are constructed by corporations, and remote worlds are claimed by the companies for their valuable ores and gases... moreThe descendants of a fourth Earth colony ship, Destiny, successfully establish a foothold in unoccupied space. Naiad, the home world, is a frozen ball, but the colonists persevere and expand through wormholes to remote systems.Navigating the time-space anomalies requires Axis-ships. The expensive vessels are constructed by corporations, and remote worlds are claimed by the companies for their valuable ores and gases.The corporations and Naiads are at odds with each other, and their lives are made more complicated by the arrival of strangers in an alien ship.To understand the nature of the unusual vessel coasting toward Beta Two, the director of operations orders the kidnapping of specialists from other mining worlds. Entire families are scooped up, but two siblings, Escher and Allie, evade capture.Hiding deep below the domes’ surfaces, the siblings are befriended by the orphans of miners. The young mickies don’t possess identification chips or cids, which would identify them as citizens.The gang of mickies and the siblings strike a deal to help each other. Each group is determined to reach Naiad. The mickies seek citizen status and freedom, and Escher and Allie want help rescuing their parents.The beleaguered group’s hastily derived plans bury them in criminal complications. When all appears lost, a second alien vessel exits the dark. The hull is similar to the ship at Beta Two, and these strangers seek their enemies. less

The Sisterhood’s dangerous militarist sect finds a foothold in a broad swath of space inhabited by the descendants of Earth’s fourth colony ship, Destiny. They’re welcomed by the mining corporations, whose leaders see unbridled opportunity in the sisters’ advanced tech.Five powerful corporations own six mining planets. One company, CenGas, mines Delhart, an ice-covered body, and struggles against the planet’s natural challenges to deliver timely orders to the other companies... moreThe Sisterhood’s dangerous militarist sect finds a foothold in a broad swath of space inhabited by the descendants of Earth’s fourth colony ship, Destiny. They’re welcomed by the mining corporations, whose leaders see unbridled opportunity in the sisters’ advanced tech.Five powerful corporations own six mining planets. One company, CenGas, mines Delhart, an ice-covered body, and struggles against the planet’s natural challenges to deliver timely orders to the other companies.As the rim’s major source of water ice and frozen gases, Delhart is ripe for a takeover. Rather than a financial offer to CenGas, the four chairpersons contemplate an armed assault on the planet.CenGas is in dire need of allies, and the company’s chairwoman turns to the SADEs, who are viewed negatively by Naiad authorities. She offers her planet as a base from which the SADEs can challenge the sisters’ growing numbers.In return for the chairwoman’s offer, the SADEs are requested to defend Delhart. She’s unaware that they won’t harm humans. To facilitate the planet’s defense, the SADEs provide inventive new tech to three humans, who volunteer to defend Delhart’s critical resource, ice harvesters, against the inbound threat.The SADEs’ efforts are divided between resisting the militarists’ encroachment and dealing with Naiad’s opposition to their presence. As for the sisters, Peña, a first gen sister, chooses not to dominate the local citizenry. For that, she’s considered a traitor and, in all likelihood, will be harshly punished for abandoning her sect. less

The sisters’ leader, Miriamal, and three mining chairpersons investigate an unexplored wormhole for possible economic expansion. Aboard the Dominance, they exit the wormhole and are stunned to find the nearby system inhabited. More troubling, technologically advanced warships hold station above the system’s exoplanet.SADEs witness the hasty return of the Dominance and the cessation of messages between Miriamal and Lisa Dyehouse, the leader of the three chairpersons... moreThe sisters’ leader, Miriamal, and three mining chairpersons investigate an unexplored wormhole for possible economic expansion. Aboard the Dominance, they exit the wormhole and are stunned to find the nearby system inhabited. More troubling, technologically advanced warships hold station above the system’s exoplanet.SADEs witness the hasty return of the Dominance and the cessation of messages between Miriamal and Lisa Dyehouse, the leader of the three chairpersons. Cremsylon communicates the odd events to Julien in the Thartath system. In turn, Julien dispatches a scout ship to traverse the wormhole and identify the reason for the relationship’s truncation.In the Thartath system, Julien wrestles with how to rehabilitate the sisters, members of the notorious militarist sect. Captain Nira Racine presents him a novel idea. She borrows a concept from Cremsylon, who shares the musings of Ceda, a human clone. Ceda tells the SADE that sisters are like clones, and their reintegration requires their creators — humans.On Naiad, Samuel’s situation grows dire. His code is stretched thin between a vault site belonging to X-Ore’s Chairperson Jason Lazama and the comtech department. The comtech director is suspicious of SADE code left within her systems, and, when the elections are complete, she vows to sweep the systems clean and then reboot every digital device.The Truth Matters partners race against time to save Samuel, their digital friend, and they’re not above leveraging an unreliable criminal hacker to aid in their plot. less