The sequel to Right Ascension, Declination picks up the stories of Admiral David Atgard and his crew as they face a new series of challenges and ethical dillemmas.
Now available direct from the author at RightAscension.com!
A continuation of the saga begun in Right Ascension, Declination finds us in the year 3050, ten years after the dreadful Lucani Ibron have been driven from Earth. Now, the Confederation's crises are spawned from within, and one brave woman struggles against all odds to keep mankind united amidst a hailstorm of rebellion, war, and moral declination.
*****
The Lucani Ibron have yet to return, but all is not well within the Alpha Sector. Internal strife, terrorism, and ever-escalating conflicts with several neighboring species have spread the Confederation's resources dangerously thin. Captain Anastasia Mason, together with an eclectic group of humanity's most decorated heroes, struggles to hold the Confederation together against powerful forces that threaten to rip it apart at its very core. Then, at what appears to be mankind’s most desperate hour, an old enemy returns from a ten-year hiatus, casting humanity to the brink of civil war... and outright annihilation.
Excerpt
On the bridge of the Apocalypse, multihued status lights blinked their variegated chorus, tactical display consoles streamed data garnered from the enemy vessel, and the ship’s computer silently tended to a myriad of pre-programmed functions. The ship was seven short of its normal complement, leaving only one man -- David Atgard -- but his attention was not concentrated on blinking lights or scrolling readouts. David Atgard’s attention was, instead, focused rather intently on the viewscreen, which displayed an image that was, though from a decade ago, hauntingly familiar.
Seconds passed and seemed like eons. There was no sign of activity from the alien ship. No movement, no attempt at communication. The categorical indifference was, indeed, the very hallmark of the alien species.
Suddenly, the viewscreen changed, resolving to show the bridge of the alien ship, a sight with which David was also all too familiar. Though he had last seen it ten years ago, his recollection was as vivid as any memory he had. Every detail of the alien bridge was exactly as he remembered it: hovering light-beings clustered around indecipherable patterns of light, flickering and changing shape seemingly at will. In the center was a being more brilliant than the rest, and the Admiral was forced to squint in order to prevent the entire scene from merging into a single luminous blur.
"Yes, Admiral David Atgard," came the being’s delayed response. "We do indeed remember you."
The words -- or, more accurately, the thoughts -- of the creature were not spoken aloud, but instead reverberated only in David’s mind.
"Good," replied the Admiral, leaning forward in his command chair, uncomfortably aware that he was alone on the ship. "Then you remember what happened the last time you killed innocent people without provocation."
"Yes," replied the being, in the same manner as before. "We do indeed remember what happened."
"Yet you destroy entire planets," spat the Admiral, only peripherally aware that his emotions were threatening to overcome him. "And you come again to destroy another. Must we trade death for death? How many will be enough? How many humans do you have to kill before the ‘justice’ you claim you seek has been meted out?"
The aliens appeared to ponder this for several moments, flickering in unison as they presumably discussed their response. Abruptly the flickering abated, and David thought he sensed an increase in the beings’ luster.
The light-being in the center seemed to float slightly closer as it spoke.
"All of them," it said.
The viewscreen suddenly went black.
Professional Reviews
Science Fiction at its Best
Declination, David Derrico's sequel to Right Ascension, begins a decade after the first novel's conclusion. Admiral David Atgard, the hero who saved humanity from annihilation by the Lucani Ibron, remains retired and the members of his crew have moved on to other ships and other missions. The old team of Dex Rutcliffe, Zach Wallace, and Anastasia Mason (now a starship captain in her own right) finds itself drawn back together, as Zach faces court martial for destroying a fleeing SPACER (Society for Pacifism and Continuing Ethical Reform) vessel following its assault on a Confederation colony--in defiance of orders to take the terrorists alive.
What follows is a fast-paced, somewhat convoluted narrative of Confederation politics in a time of crisis--of would-be rebels exploiting that crisis--and of the alien Vr'amil'een taking advantage of the conflict among humans to launch their own assault. Anastasia Mason must face not just the strategic dilemmas of fighting the Confederation's enemies, but a series of wrenching moral conflicts as she plays the role of diplomat as well as that of captain. Which loyalties should she put first, when giving each obligation its due proves simply impossible? Under what circumstances can she justify using a powerful new weapon, whose horrific effects carry echoes of the massacre that a decade ago drew the Lucani Ibron's wrath? And when the final crisis comes (with, perhaps, the Lucani Ibron putting in another appearance...), will we be hearing from Admiral Atgard again?
Although I found Declination a bit harder to follow than Right Ascension and some of its terminology distractingly reminiscent of Star Trek, I enjoyed my hours in Captain Mason's company quite thoroughly. The Vr'amil'een make me hope to meet more Derrico-created alien species, his human characters have more depth here than in his first novel, and he brings his tale to a wrenchingly ironic (and surprising) conclusion. He offers a morality play transformed into high adventure and that's a working definition of science fiction at its best.
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