Just a Little Further - Galactic Empire Space Opera

Self-Published

Community Rating

Description

When you accidentally become the Empress of a galactic empire you take all the help you can get, even if that help is in the form of nanotech aliens that give you powerful abilities with an unknown cost...

Fans of space opera likeThe Collapsing Empire,Ancillary Justice, andThe Mercy of Godswill love Just a Little Further

Melody Mullen, a newly commissioned Electronic Warfare officer, volunteered to join the long-distance exploration ship Far Reach. Little did she know that their journey would take them all the way across the galaxy. Upon touching a mysterious artifact, Melody was empowered by alien nanotechnology.

Now the Empress of a galactic empire, Melody possesses an unsettling ability to issue unbreakable commands as well as other powers. To everyone’s relief, the empire is no longer a threat. However, the alien nanomachines, known as the Nanites, harbor a desire to restore the past and employ every means necessary to convince Melody that conquering the Galaxy is the most optimal course of action.

Melody must rely on her intelligence, the support of her friends, and her caffeine-fueled knowledge to navigate a world she doesn’t know. All the while, she must ensure that she doesn’t inadvertently become a tyrant. Although, things would be much simpler if she were a tyrant…

Information

Status: Completed
Year: 2024
Author: jpitha

Royal Road Stats

Rating: 4.1/ 5.0
Followers: 497
Views: 74,836

Reviews

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Community Reviews(5)

CyberSorceressRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
This space opera offers an engaging blend of galactic intrigue and personal struggle. Melody Mullen, an accidental Empress endowed with alien nanotechnology, balances immense power and moral challenges. While unfinished so far, the story is excellent. Fans of The Collapsing Empire will appreciate the narrative's focus on politics, and the consequences of wielding unchecked power. Hell- what do you even do when you have nanites that make you stronger, and allow you to control people?
StarKinRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
There is no way this is the work of a novice writer, the Grammer and prose are impeccable!
The story reminds me strongly of both Discword and Hitchhiker's Guide with its comedic storytelling of a potentially horrifying situation. So far at least the Protagonist has been able to keep a firm grip on both her sanity and her humanity.
The "many alien worlds" setting feels both unique to the reader and casually familiar to the characters. I'm already dreaming about seeing it realized on film someday!
CatStalksNightRoyal Road
★★★★ 4.0
This was a fun read! Not too dense or crunchy, nothing too groundbreaking, but a solid take on existing scifi building blocks with the fun twist of telling a horror story as if it isn't one.
This bears repeating. This is a horror story, and the only reason it doesn't read like one is because the MC is an unreliable narrator. The author seems to want you to pause at the end of the chapter, realize what events looked like from the other guy's perspective, and go "wow that was kinda f'd up". MC is a civvie with no leadership training thrust into a leadership role where people literally can't tell her no. Sure, she makes stupid mistakes and goes a little power-mad at the start, but really, who wouldn't? What matters is that she learns from her mistakes, chooses to be a kinder despot than the ones who came before, and by her actions proves to the ancient shoulder-devil nanite-swarm whispering in her ear that a benevolent dictatorship will always outlive a nation of shoddily-mind-controlled yes-men (though the mind control certainly helps).
It's an interesting little exploration of whether benevolent dictatorship can be truly benevolent, how lashing out at potential threats makes them into definite threats, and whether the ends justify the means, especially when the end is good and the means are working.
If you like fix-it fics, empire building, and cool alien technology, then you'll probably have a good time. If you like psychological fridge horror, exploration of grey ethics, and a dash of interstellar politics, you'll probably also have a good time.
For me, this was a fun, casual read that gave me some interesting food for thought. I enjoyed it, and you might too, so why not give it a shot?
Sammy614Royal Road
★★★★ 4.0
If you have ever watched SG1, and know of the plot lines of the Ascended Ancients and their data banks, I have a feeling you'll see where the inspiration for the first couple of chapters came from. Mixed with some Star Trek Voyager-esque devices and you are in for a good time. If you like either of those shows, you may be interested in reading this story.
At times the wording is lacking, but it is well-more than cohesive enough to be read (and enjoyed). Nevertheless, the story does develop more than the tropes provided in those first two examples, and indeed gets more interesting past chapter 9. It shines as a comedy-soap opera more than anything serious, but it seems to switch tones pretty quickly, which can be offsetting but overall entertaining. I was, and still am, quite invested to see where this story goes, and I will definitely check back in when more is posted.
Also, I hope the Holy Ones have ascended and that there are no Ori in the story.
Edit:
She IS the Ori
TaravangiumRoyal Road
★★★ 2.5
The summary of this story attracted me - I love the idea and am a fan of Ancillary Justice and some of the other titles mentioned as similar novels, but so far I feel disappointed because some issues get in the way of a work I'd otherwise enjoy.
My main struggle is with the poor grammar and punctuation. I know those are usually second class citizens on Royal Road, with many (or most) readers not caring as long as they can understand the story, but the mistakes are blatant and frequent enough to drive me away. I'd estimate that just about every paragraph has some problem, most commonly: missing quotation marks, missing periods, missing commas, and mismatched present and past tenses.
The tone is more subjective, but it isn't for me. It feels focused on being quirky. A few chapters in and I don't know much besides that the main character loves coffee and sleeping in, to be honest. (And that the ship is heading out into the unknown, which for vague reasons no one has done before.)
Technology-wise, I usually don't care either way between "hard" and "soft" science fiction, but I have a hard time suspending disbelief with some of the descriptions. The thousands of years old AI is worried it might get too distracted to drive, so anyone can step in to learn to drive if they want? If anything the strength of computers is usually the ability to multitask. It seems more like "vibes-based" technology than anything else.
I might check back in the future and see if some editing has fixed the obvious issues, as I really like the idea of what the summary promised.