Juggernaut: The Meaning of the Title (with Snippet)

Available on Amazon

NEW RELEASE!

My brand new release, Juggernaut, is on sale for .99 for a limited time before it goes to regular price. This is a special opportunity for my blog, newsletter and Facebook fans to get a great deal on a new book in the Inherited Stars series. This is an expanded story from the original release in the Pets in Space 5 collection. 

A little more about it...

Juggernaut is the 4th in the Inherited Stars series (or 8th if you count the serialized books of the Inherit the Stars anchor novel and Farewell Andromeda set in the same universe.) 

It's also the third book that chronicles of influence of the bio-engineered dog-cat-weasel-mongoose critters called StarDogs, joining StarDog and SpyDog in the series in a very cloak-and-dagger flavored space adventure romance that takes place in a mysterious lava tube on planet LaGuardia. (There's another planned release with a StarDog that should arrive later this year.)

What does "Juggernaut" refer to?

It actually has three distinct meanings in the story. The first is a reference to the growing aggression of the Ithian Alliance--generally just called the Alliance--in the known galaxy. 

This story takes place five calendars (years) before Inherit the Stars and SpyDog. In this excerpt, Lieutenant Commander Dek Garr has an exchange with mysterious visitor, Telon, when he informs her about the rising menace of the Alliance:

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“Three days ago,” Telon began, “the capitol of Purmia was invaded by the Alliance—eight battalions of Rathskian forces.”

Eight battalions!

Dek forgot her wristcom feed, and her hand dropped to flatten on the table. “Why? For what purpose?”

“Unknown. Worst case scenario: to gain control of the planet and its resources.”

Dek bit hard into her lower lip and stared a hole in the table’s surface. The implications of such an affront could be catastrophic.

For one, it alarmed her that the Alliance would dare carry out such a bold invasion. Though they were the indisputable heavyweights in the galaxy, they’d always used blockades and economic manipulation to control other governments before—never military might. This signaled a paradigm shift in the level of power they wielded over the rest of the known galaxy. The Alliance was evolving into a juggernaut—an unstoppable force that crushed everyone and everything in its path.

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But 'juggernaut' also has two other meanings, both significant to the story. If I described those references it would mean ***spoilers*** and ruin the story dynamics, so I'll just let you discover those for yourself as the reader.

Juggernaut

Lieutenant Commander Dekessa “Dek” Garr is second-in-command of a security force that protects a discovery buried deep inside an ancient lava tube. The implications of the find are staggering, and the stakes are high if their enemy—the Alliance—ever learns the truth about Site D. When her commander suddenly departs with zero warning and a mysterious visitor arrives, her job becomes a whole new level of complicated.

Sno Telon has an exercise to perform, and he isn’t about to let anyone stop him--including the dedicated acting commander known as Dek. But when his partner, CaSandra, a bioengineered dog-cat-weasel-mongoose, takes an immediate liking to the team leader, Sno realizes there’s much more to the woman than harsh words and hard scowls.

When Dek is attacked by an invisible foe who infiltrates the off-limits excavation, she immediately suspects Telon as the obvious culprit. But her interrogations of the man don’t go as planned and an unlikely bond forms between them as they reach a startling conclusion. Could the invisible perpetrator actually be an Alliance spy who’s about to blow open the secrets of Site D?

Can Dek trust Telon and his StarDog partner to help root out a possible Alliance operative, even if it means breaking every security protocol in the process? If her instincts about Telon are wrong, Site D’s secret could be lost forever…and her life along with it.