Jack Commer: Supreme Commander

A series of inexplicable solar system disasters in the near future of the 2020’s, including exploding gas giants and asteroids hurled into the sun, forces a panicky acceleration of space technology, including the discovery of Star Drive which accidentally sparks a war between the remnants of Sol and the fascist, insane Alpha Centaurian Empire. After the destruction of the Earth in 2033, humanity evacuated to Mars and fought against native Martian terrorists until Captain Jack Commer and his new bride, planetary engineer Amav Frankston, found a way to reach an understanding with them. Jack, just promoted to Supreme Commander of the United System Space Force, now leads a peace mission in his flagship Typhoon II to end the war with the Alpha Centaurians. But his marriage begins unraveling under the pressures of his new command and Amav’s discomforting presence aboard his ship. After an engine explosion strands the Typhoon four months from its destination, the crew encounters a derelict spaceship. Its insolent, uncooperative human refugees proceed to brainwash most of the crew, including Dar, Emperor of the Martians, into worship of the Alpha Centaurian Emperor. A month and a half later, all but three have been Converted: Jack and Amav, now estranged, and the emotionally damaged twelve year-old refugee Bobby. These three, along with recently Converted ship’s engineer Phil Sperry, write their final, brutally honest diary entries just as the ship is captured by Centaurian stormtroopers and Jack and Amav are sent to be tortured on a barren planet.