The Benign Incursion is Published

Battered by administrative headaches, facing criminal indictment, newly appointed Supreme Commander Laurie Lachrer further compromises herself when she falls in love with a brilliant young engineer. Yet ninety-two light-years away, charismatic dog-aliens are preparing the Mysteries of the Dream.

The Benign Incursion, Book Two of the Supreme Commander Laurie series, is now available.

paperback:
Amazon

eBook:
Amazon
Barnes and Noble
Books2Read (which offers numerous distributors)
Smashwords

Synopsis

Supreme Commander Laurie Lachrer finds herself overwhelmed by galling administrative headaches in her first six months as supreme commander. In addition to resistance throughout the United System bureaucracy, she’s being sued by Cassie Wolfduy, mother of the corrupt USSF Airman Encar Wolfduy whom Laurie was forced to kill in self-defense the previous May. Laurie is also politically stigmatized as an inept Commerist, subservient to former supreme commander Jack Commer. But all these troubles pale in comparison to her guilty attraction to subordinate Rod Morgan, the brilliant young physician/engineer on spaceship Pegasus I.

Meanwhile, Laurie’s protégé Mavis Wheeler captains Pegasus II to a planet 92.5 light-years away to initiate first contact with an alien race called the Counselors, who offer to introduce humanity to what they call the Dream Culture. But the Counselors, who’ve taken the form of six-foot Beagle-human hybrids to interface with Sol, also turn out to be eager and influential spectators at Laurie’s murder trial.

Excerpt (Chapters 1-3 in PDF format)

Main Characters

I’m refreshing the character illustrations; those shown below are from 2025.

Supreme Commander Laurie Lachrer
Laurie takes up the responsibilities of Supreme Commander of the United System Space Force in May 2076, but by November she’s exhausted by the endless administrative hassles and the growing disrespect shown to her.

Lt. Commander Cadagasgar Wirlmann
Sandy-haired, ruggedly handsome, graduating top of his class at the USSF Academy, Cad was unjustly demoted to a Detention Services goon, but was determined to win back his piloting credentials. He’s now Laurie’s copilot aboard Pegasus I and decides to show far more initiative than anyone thought him capable of.

Lt. Commander Rod Morgan
Brilliant and upcoming physician/engineer at thirty-five, assigned to saucer Pegasus II, Morgan is tall and slender, with well-defined pectorals, prematurely gray hair, intense deep-set gray-blue eyes, and is seemingly irresistible to women.

Cardecu
Chairman of the Dream’s Committee of Six, which formed on the planet Umbrae when the Counselors came into contact with Jack Commer’s son and dog Trotter. Like his fellow committee members, Cardecu has adopted a permanent Beagle-human shape to better interface with Sol.

Carla Posttner
This sociopath was jailed for her attempt to overthrow the United System in April 2076, but President Robert Easterling freed her a month later and reappointed her director of USSF Detention Services. But in league with Easterling, she repeated the power grab the very next month and was jailed a second time. Then she’s appointed ambassador to the Dream.

Captain Mavis Wheeler
Stunningly beautiful at six-foot-one, the author of On the Use of Xon Technology as Electromagnetic Pulse Disruptor in Space Combat is appointed captain of USSF saucer Pegasus II, but soon finds herself disturbingly at odds with her mentor Laurie.

Commander John Perkins
Director of Detention Services and Laurie’s bête noire, Perkins sports a gray tunic, a thin black Sam Browne belt across his chest, and a huge black shattergun holster at his hip. He’s constantly in service to Carla Posttner.

Forces Clamoring for Book Three

The character situations by the end of TBI are getting me thinking about what would happen with these people in a third novel. That’s a good feeling. I can’t just ignore what happened with Rod and Laurie and expect a normal third book.

The disarray of the United System, left hanging at the end of TBI? Laurie left in exile? Still on the run?

Is Laurie actually pregnant from her single encounter with Rod? This is only mentioned as a fear in TBI, and maybe this can be used in Book Three.

Where does Laurie and Rod’s relationship go from here? Do they remain estranged, yet still deeply connected? Does this feeling of connection continue to grow?

How can she recover from the scandal image she now has? Marriage to “the adulterer Morgan” may make things look better to society, but she might feel guilty to be exploiting the marriage for PR purposes.

How does Laurie go about asserting her leadership? Since most civilians think of her as a scandal at this point? Or does she blow it all off? Maybe she offers her services to a distant star empire?

Maybe she goes to a Buddhist retreat and becomes the supreme commander of her Inner True Self.

Cad Wirlmann and Carla Posttner are slated for major roles in Book Three. Likewise Mavis Wheeler, promoted to even more responsibility at the end of The Benign Incursion.

I’m definitely continuing to phase out old Jack Commer series characters. Joe, Jack, Ranna, Amav, or Dar don’t need to constantly be mentioned, or return. Nor does exposition from the older books need to figure in.

Does Rod really retire from the USSF? What would be meaningful for him at this point? Maybe he joins a mercenary space outfit, or joins with the rebellious Maroxins at Groombridge 1618 who have developed their own space force.

Rod demonstrates cleverness and insight near the end of TBI. But he’s an adolescent. Is he worthless after all? He’ll have to grow a lot to deserve Laurie. Maybe by a Book Ten …

Does he vie for being a Supreme Telepathic Leader of Sol? A side effect of the Counselors is that he learns how to amplify telepathic powers. He seeks power to win Laurie back, or to at least equal her. They remain at odds throughout Book Three. Though the two travel back to Mars at the end of Book Two, wouldn’t they remain distant and awkward? Maybe they discuss his new telepathic powers and his ambitions upon leaving the USSF.

Laurie would need to renew her ties to the Fools of the Fire.

Does Rod decide to substitute a robot version of himself?

The Rather Existential Question Remains

I’m enjoying starting a new series featuring Laurie Morgan, and The Benign Incursion was a fun and high-energy project, but … what sort of writing do I really want to be doing? Could it be that I need to write some long experimental stuff, however disordered and strange it turns out, returning to the SCL universe from time to time to explore this sort of series SF?

This segues into musing that it’s true that we readers like series, like to see our favorite characters come back in fresh installments, and like the expected tropes of the genre we prefer. So … that’s familiarity. Ease of engagement.

But consider that, from the author’s perspective, it’s also familiar and easy. Do we end up writing our own fan faction about the initial world we built long ago? Where’s the experimentation? Where is asking the reader to think and feel their way forward into this difficult investigation, in order to learn and grow? Yes, I know that may be too much to ask; usually one reads for enjoyment and dislikes straining through something that probably looks like a calculus test. And if the reader is in fact inclined to search out new understanding, why would he or she take the risk of engaging with an unknown author’s long experiment?

So … much to muse on here after completing this novel.

The Supreme Commander Laurie Series
The Jack Commer, Supreme Commander Series
Published by Sortmind Press