Alliances

In the 24th century, on the small planet of Fossy, justice hangs in the balance as Federal police battle local cops and local customs to determine whose rules of justice will prevail. Can a small world peopled by the descendants of African Muslims retain their unique culture and clan-based identity, against the inroads of a bitter Federal cop beset by career and marital woes? And then a greater evil threatens them both. Will they forge new alliances - or fail both their peoples? Born...
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In the 24th century, on the small planet of Fossy, justice hangs in the balance as Federal police battle local cops and local customs to determine whose rules of justice will prevail. Can a small world peopled by the descendants of African Muslims retain their unique culture and clan-based identity, against the inroads of a bitter Federal cop beset by career and marital woes? And then a greater evil threatens them both. Will they forge new alliances - or fail both their peoples? Born on Earth and proudly Welsh, Inspector Ione Rhys-Powys can't stand Fossy. The air is too spicy, the people, derived from East African ancestors, are too tall and too focused on their clan-identity. The technology is backward, most of the people are involved in animal-based businesses and - because they are all Muslims - there isn't a decent pub to be had on the whole planet! He is stuck in this backwater, he hates his alien Sergeant, his career is at a standstill and his wife is constantly carping at him, all because of the machinations of the Jiang Li criminal cartel, which he is determined to revenge himself on. But how can he, stuck in this hellish place?Fossy Police Chief Aster Majok wants her culture's justice system to be respected. She wants to be the go-to top-cop on her world. She doesn't want the Feds sneaking into her crime scenes and stealing evidence, trying to prove how smart they are and how "backward" Fossy is. Doctor Addi Kip wants to trank them both. Will she have to fall back on divine intervention to get the two cops to stop fighting each other long enough to focus on Fossy's urgent needs? Crimes get solved, life goes on, Ione is still miserable - until an unimaginable horror comes stalking little insignificant Fossy. Horrifying betrayal, torture, failure, days of extreme-exertion cat-and-mouse, and looming death. Will any of them survive? And will Fossy's unique African-Muslim culture survive what has to be done?Crafted in exciting first-person narrative, the novel subdivides into three Who Dunnits: the murder of a child, in which we meet Dr. Kip, Inspector Rhys-Powys and Chief Majok and the two justice systems are explored from Dr. Kip's perspective; a death in space, where jurisdiction is muddied and the Inspector's home life is the secondary plot thread, from Inspector Rhys-Powys' perspective; the final story, in which the galactic threat unfolds, treachery is revealed and new alliances are forged, through multiple pairs of eyes. The components are a short story (Physical Evidence), and two novellas (A Lowly Job and Clans & Kings). The first work in a planned four-book exploration of the 24th century Pan-Galactic Planetary Confederation. The next three (Heroes, Home & Enemies) form a story arc in the same universe, but involving other planets of the PGPC - and the Adharan and Kaziertahmil Empires.