The Wreck of the Valiant Is Here
The most infamous warship in history was destroyed eight years ago. Elara Voss has just found it, and someone is still alive inside.
I am excited to announce the release of my new science-fiction novel, The Wreck of the Valiant, Book One of The Iron Finch Voyages.
This full-length space opera combines a mysterious derelict warship, a powerful interstellar conspiracy, a capable female captain, found family, artificial intelligence, military action, and a slow-burn, closed-door romance.
A Warship That Should Not Exist
Elara Voss was once a promising Union Fleet engineer. After refusing an order that would have sacrificed civilians, she lost her commission and rebuilt her life as captain of the Iron Finch, a battered salvage tug held together by determination, ingenuity, and a crew that has become her family.
Now the Iron Finch is one failed salvage claim away from being repossessed.
While searching the Nadir debris field for anything valuable enough to save her ship, Elara’s crew detects an object hidden in the gravitic shadow of a dormant transit gate. It is enormous, silent, and missing from every modern navigation record.
Then an ancient identification signal begins repeating a single word:
Valiant.
The Valiant was a legendary League dreadnought supposedly destroyed eight years earlier. It was blamed for the Lysander massacre, the atrocity that ignited the Meridian War and killed Elara’s older brother, Jalen.
Every history book says the ship was destroyed.
Every military record says its crew died with it.
Every memorial says its commander was a monster.
The records are wrong.
Thousands of Empty Beds
Inside the Valiant, Elara discovers a ship that is damaged but strangely intact. Its corridors remain pressurized. Personal belongings have been left behind. Internal systems begin awakening as she moves deeper into the wreck.
Then she finds the stasis decks.
Thousands of pods stand open and empty. There are no bodies, no signs of panic, and no explanation for what happened to the people who once occupied them.
A hidden passenger manifest reveals that the Valiant rescued 3,118 civilians from Lysander before it disappeared. Someone later transferred those survivors to unmarked ships and erased them from the historical record.
Only one stasis pod remains occupied.
Inside is Commander Cassian Rook, the Ghost of Nadir, the man blamed for ordering the massacre and the man Elara has hated for eight years.
Cassian awakens believing only hours have passed since a mutiny aboard his ship. He insists he never ordered the attack. He claims the Valiant rescued the survivors and was carrying them toward safety when his own officers turned against him.
Then he says the one thing Elara cannot ignore.
Her brother survived the initial attack.
Jalen was aboard the Valiant.
The War Ended, but the Lie Survived
Before Cassian can prove his story, the Gatewright Consortium arrives with orders to destroy the dreadnought, erase its records, and kill everyone aboard.
Gatewright controls the transit gates connecting humanity’s settled systems. It controls the routes ships travel, the information moving between worlds, and the records people accept as historical truth.
The Valiant contains evidence that could destroy that control.
Forced to flee aboard a dreadnought that is barely holding together, Elara and her crew must restore the ship’s damaged systems, awaken its fragmented artificial intelligence, and follow a trail of missing witnesses across the stars.
Every answer pulls them deeper into a conspiracy spanning both sides of the former war.
Someone manufactured the Lysander massacre.
Someone forged Cassian’s orders.
Someone erased thousands of survivors.
Now the architects of the first atrocity are preparing to create another.
“The Valiant isn’t just salvage, Elara. It’s evidence.”
A Romance Built on Earned Trust
At the beginning of the story, Elara sees Cassian as the living face of her grief. Cassian sees Elara as the sister of a man he tried and failed to save.
Their relationship does not begin with instant trust or easy forgiveness.
It develops through shared danger, professional respect, difficult honesty, and the experience of keeping a dying ship and its small crew alive. Elara must decide whether believing Cassian would betray her brother’s memory. Cassian must stop treating himself as expendable and learn that partnership means allowing other people to share the choices as well as the risks.
Their relationship progresses from adversaries, to reluctant allies, to equal partners.
The romance is slow-burn and closed-door, with no explicit sexual content. It remains closely connected to the central mystery and the choices Elara and Cassian must make.
What You Will Find in The Wreck of the Valiant
The Wreck of the Valiant includes:
A capable adult female captain and engineer
A colossal derelict dreadnought hiding a wartime secret
A loyal found-family salvage crew
A damaged military artificial intelligence
Fleet battles, boarding actions, and dangerous transit gates
A conspiracy controlling interstellar travel and information
An enemies-to-allies-to-lovers relationship
A slow-burn, closed-door romance
Dry humor, practical problem-solving, and high-stakes action
A complete central story with the beginning of a larger series
Welcome Aboard the Iron Finch
I wrote The Wreck of the Valiant for readers who enjoy character-driven space opera, battered ships, competent crews, artificial intelligence, military mysteries, corporate conspiracies, and romances built on trust rather than instant attraction.
The novel tells a complete story while beginning The Iron Finch Voyages, a series following Elara, Cassian, and the Iron Finch crew as they search for missing survivors, forgotten ships, unauthorized transit routes, and the secrets still buried in the wreckage of the Meridian War.
The first voyage begins with a ship that should be dead.
It begins with thousands of people erased from history.
It begins with a salvage captain discovering that the monster she has hated for eight years may be the only person who can help her uncover the truth.
Thank you for supporting my work. After reading, please consider leaving an honest review on Amazon. Reviews help independent books reach new readers, particularly readers searching for science fiction with strong characters, found family, and a meaningful romantic storyline.
The Valiant has awakened.
The truth is still aboard.
And the war is not as over as everyone believes.
