The Spiral Wars Series, by Joel Shepherd Wiki

Data Core[]

A machine-age thumb drive, larger than a basketball, about the size of a beach ball or medicine ball. It contains all the scientific inventions, doscoveries, histories, navigational, anthropological and geopolitical info the drysine knew at the time, 25000 years ago. It was created by the dying drysine race and hidden by Drakhil and some drysines in hopes that it would be recovered in a more peaceful time. Erik Debogande, as captain of Starship Phoenix, wants the data to save humans from the alo-deepynine threat. Styx wants the data core for her people, the drysines, but queen Nia wants it for her people, the deepynines. See Machine-race

High Tech[]

Styx explains the insane technology stored in a data core, in Drysine Legacy:

  • “Not all parren betrayed us. The Tahrae continued to fight at our side, against their own kind. This unit’s memories are of the exchange, to the Tahrae of the parren. The Tahrae swore to keep it hidden, and safe, until one day, a drysine command would return to claim it.” (DL-37)
  • "“The data is parren. There are locations, dates and names. I believe that they record the exchange of a very old data core, at the very end of the Drysine Empire. The final stand of the drysines against the organic betrayers took place very near this space.” (DL-37)
“The Drysine Empire,” Styx repeated. “All of it. A full recording, all of our secrets, our technology, our history. All lost now, save for this. A final glimpse of light before the dark.…It could teach us everything we need to learn about what happened to the deepynines, and how to defeat them. It could be the salvation of the human race from certain doom.” (DL-37)
  • crazy tech:

“Romki says some of the technical data from the core is ridiculous,” Trace told him. “His word. He says Fleet could build new warships from it. Warships that could beat what we just faced. Rooke’s glanced at it and he agrees...” (D-32)


The Hunt[]

Phoenix hunted for the data core across books 3-4, in Kantovan Vault in Tavalai space and in Parren space, on Cephilae, a moon where toulies / toulemlek live underwater.

searching for the data core

SPOILER Data Core bks 3-9[]

The core was first mentioned in book 3, Kantovan Vault, and recovered by Phoenix in book 4 Defiance. A copy of the core was then stored at Defiance base in Parren space, and the core was sent home to Human Fleet in book 5, Croma Venture. It is studied by Alpha Tech on the moon Welcome, deep underground in The Burrows. In book 9 Homecoming, there is a battle at Heuron to protect it from Nia (the deepynine queen).