The Great Fathers Awaken

Cellier Raphaël is a miner of precious metals, with nothing to mine. The Earth has been tapped out. But, when Professor Henre' Tutu announces her invention of a faster than light engine, Raphaël sees his chance. He sells his company and all of its assets, liquidates his investments and buys all the stock in Tutu's company he can afford. When Tutu's engine proves successful, his stock is worth a fortune.
The moment a star liner becomes available in his price range, Raphaël sells his stock, buys a star liner, hires a crew and goes prospecting through the galaxy. They score an incredible amount of gold and platinum and become rich. On their second trip out to mine the silver and copper, they come across a planet being bombarded by alien ships with vastly superior firepower and stealth technologies.
Raphaël visits another planet that has been destroyed, then another Earth colony has been destroyed, but the aliens, who come to be known as the HHaakk, have built a base on that planet with three of their war ships parked on the ground. Raphaël makes a plan and he and his people kill the aliens, steal those ships and take them to Vega colony. An Earth admiralty is formed.
Raphaël takes one of the hijacked alien ships out and, after being stuck a null zone for thirty-four days, discovers another aliens race being annihilated by the HHaakk, then recruits a total of nine other alien races into an Alliance with Earth and a ship building program begins.
Raphaël falls in love with Jullie Matisse, a doctor at the colony infirmary.
Raphaël is given the first Earth Alliance battleship and is sucked through a worm hole and discovers another benevolent race with superior technologies, just as the HHaakk attack them. He manages to get back to their side of the galaxy to warn the Alliance.
Will they believe him? Can the Alliance build enough ships to protect themselves?
The HHaakk attack.
As the war rages, Raphaël and his crew discover that the HHaakk are sending missiles into Alliance space loaded with a plague designed to wipe out all carbon-based life.
Can the Alliance win a protracted war? Can Raphaël and his crew stop the plague?

The Great Fathers Awaken ~ 94 k words.
The first of three Captain Cellier Raphaël novels.