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Publication Details[]
Ceephay Queen, book 8
- Ceephay Queen is the eighth book in the Spiral Wars series by Joel Shepherd
- Published March 29, 2022 digital kindle format, ASIN B09WV5XP2Q
- Cover Illustration by Stephan Martiniere
- The longest book so far, at 713 pages
- audiobook narrated by John Lee, published September 2022
- References to this book are abbreviated CQ
Synopsis[]
Deep within hostile Reeh Empire space, the UFS Phoenix is hunting another AI queen. This one is named Chion, and she has been installed at the heart of Reeh Empire power, enslaved against her will, for the past 8,000 years. Within her vast knowledge lies the most intimate data on Nia, the deepynine queen now threatening humanity's very existence. Freeing Chion could be the key to beating Nia, and saving humanity.
But Phoenix's allied drysine queen Styx, and Chion's AI former sidekick Shali, both want Chion for their own purposes. And Chion, of course, will be defended by the full might of the Reeh Empire. To free her, Phoenix and Styx must win control of an AI fleet known as Raka, derived from Nia's deepynine technology long ago, and used by the Reeh Empire for special missions. But this will mean placing the most powerful AI war fleet in known space into the hands of Styx. Shali insists it's suicide, and every bit the existential threat to humanity that Nia is. But do Captain Debogande and Major Thakur have any other choice? (Amazon synopsis)
Links, more info[]
- Raka Fleet of sentient warships, assault shuttles, battle drones
- Reeh empire
- Machine-race - drysines (Styx), deepynines, ceephay
- Phoenix Crew of spacers and Phoenix Company of Marines
- Erik Debogande and Major Thakur
- Species
- Table of Contents —all infopages
Misc[]
The novel Ceephay Queen illustrates the growing distrust and rivalry among differing machine races.
Quotes[]
"Hello Captain," Styx interrupted them. "Please don't waste time talking to the appliance, I can answer any question that you have." chapter 18
🔸🔹🔹🔹🔸
Sciuto was a world occupied and enslaved by Narsid Reeh for eight thousand years, and asking this particular generation of wild-eyed rebels to go from zero to uprising in the blink of an eye was probably asking too much. chapter 18
SPOILER Recap[]
Entire book 8 CEEPHAY QUEEN is briefly recapped below. SPOILERS!!
SPOILERS!!
Below are spoilers for Book 8 main events. Read on for reminders of main plot advances:
In human space, Fleet gave the vaccine Styx generated to humans. Meanwhile, Alo attacked border worlds. In Reeh empire, Erik gave refuge to Tan, a snotty alo youth from Raka family, with neural links and VR upgrades. Styx made deal with Tan : if he gives her info, she will upgrade his AR implants. Styx reprogrammed deepynine-based Raka fleet of more than one hundred sentient warships, assault shuttles, and warrior drones. Phoenix allied with some rebel groups from Reeh empire who worship Chion as a skygod, and know her through virtual reality experiences she designs. Phoenix shuttle PH-3 crashed on impact, probably on Styx’s order, but Bucket protected Pilot Jersey. So Styx replaced defunct PH-3 with one of the Raka assault shuttles, an AI piloted “arrowhead” dubbed PH-A. This frees Lieutenant Jersey to join the rotation for piloting Phoenix’s other shuttles.
In the final chapters, Bucket gave his life for the mission. Peanut seems upset about that. Ceephay Queen Chion downloaded herself into Shali, her emissary diplomat just before antimatter reactor exploded at Garibachi, destroying Chion and blowing the heart of Narsid Reeh technology / power. Shali then downloaded a large chunk of Chion into and throughout Phoenix ship core systems. So Shali has Chion’s detailed memories of Nia, the deepynine queen the Narsid Reeh captured and studied. Shali may also have gained some of Chion’s other capabilities, but unclear. Styx then tried to kill Shali and take Chion’s memories, until she realized killing Shali would kill entire Phoenix ship crew. Meanwhile, back in Croma space, some insular House Harmony parren tried to assassinate Lisbeth. Hiro and Timoshene died protecting her, aided by several croma including Tere’sai, a mute warrior.
Spiral Wars Series[]
- Renegade, book 1
- Drysine Legacy, book 2
- Kantovan Vault, book 3
- Defiance, book 4
- Croma Venture, book 5
- Rando Splicer, book 6
- Qalea Drop, book 7
- Ceephay Queen book 8
- Homecoming book 9
- more to come