Nemesis Earth: An Alien Contact Military Sci-Fi Thriller, page 1
Nemesis Earth
Weapons of Choice Book 8
Nick Snape
Copyright © 2024 Nick Snape
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or used in any manner without written permission of the copyright owner except for the use of quotations in a book review. For more information, address: nick@nicksnape.com
First Edition
First eBook edition January 2024
Book design by Miblart
www.nicksnape.com
For All My Friends and Family
Thank you for the belief
Contents
Title Page
Copyright
Dedication
Praise for the Series
Introduction
Part One
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Part Two
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Chapter 38
Chapter 39
Chapter 40
Chapter 41
Chapter 42
Part Three
Chapter 43
Chapter 44
Chapter 45
Chapter 46
Chapter 47
Chapter 48
Chapter 49
Chapter 50
Chapter 51
Chapter 52
Chapter 53
Chapter 54
Chapter 55
Chapter 56
Chapter 57
Chapter 58
Chapter 59
Chapter 60
Chapter 61
Chapter 62
Chapter 63
Chapter 64
Chapter 65
Chapter 66
Chapter 67
Chapter 68
Chapter 69
Chapter 70
Chapter 71
Chapter 72
Chapter 73
Chapter 74
Chapter 75
Chapter 76
Chapter 77
Weapons of Choice
About the Author
Praise For Author
Acknowledgement
Praise for the Series
‘Draws you in, then hits you between the eyes.’
★★★★★ Amazon Customer
‘This is military sci-fi with pace, heart and unafraid to tackle deeper questions of what it means to be human.’ ★★★★★ Amazon Customer
‘Wildly creative'
★★★★½ Self-Publishing Review
‘I haven't enjoyed a series this much in a long time. The twists and turns keep me constantly surprised.’
★★★★★ Amazon Customer
‘For those who like their action hot and heavy... while still retaining the humour, humanity and thoughtfulness that is a hallmark of the series. Thoroughly enjoyable and highly recommended!’
★★★★★ Amazon Customer
‘Stunning series. Very highly recommended.'
★★★★★ Good Reads
‘A truly immersive story.’
★★★★★ Amazon Customer
‘Wow! Here we are at book six and it's still surprising with characters who are still evolving.’
★★★★★ Amazon Customer
"A real "page-turner" of a Sci-Fi romp. Some very clever concepts and plot devices and it's nice to see some respectful nods to the classic Sci-Fi comics and books of the 1980's and 90's'
★★★★★ Good Reads
'This is old fashioned, page turning, sheer escapist Sci fi. Brilliant.'
★★★★★ Amazon Customer
'Hugely entertaining'
★★★★★ Amazon Customer
'Action packed'
★★★★★ Good Reads
'A captivating read for fans of sci-fi and action-packed adventures.' ★★★★★ Amazon Customer
‘This book rocks.’
★★★★★ Good Reads
Introduction
In this book the timelines of the two squads, Delta and Echo, run simultaneously. The events begin immediately after the end of Legion Earth, split into three parts as Delta go in search of weapons to help defeat S'lgarr and Echo remain on Earth to fight side by side with the remaining Stratan Marines.
This is a long book, necessary because splitting it into two separate novels was not going to work.
Enjoy the ride.
Part One
Havenhome
Chapter 1
On Approach to Solar System Exit Node
“No,”
“Come on, Zuri. Imagine it, Cyborg Blue strapped to the top of the ship, miniguns blazing as we fly past Havenhome. Xxar would literally fall into our hands—”
“—laughing. Are you jealous of your bronze brother? Echo’s Smith?”
“Not in the least, I think that’s an unfair comparison. It’s not as if his actions were beneficial to Earth, were they?”
“The cascade will stop the Garrs from transporting themselves around the world using satellites,” said Noah, fiddling with his tablet, examining the 3D map of Havenhome Yasuko had built from their last visit. “And the radio wave systems are likely to only transport small sections of them at a time. It’s the optical cables that’ll be the issue with the mobile phone network in pieces.”
“Oh, there you go. Praising the bronze one while putting down the blue one. Some friend you are. Remember, I’m the one who went to the depths of the ocean and spoke to the biggest alien ever in the history of aliens.”
“I was there,” chipped in Finn, stirring the pot and knowing what comeback would be on the way.
“You slept through it. Literally. It just spoke and you fainted. You didn’t have your mind torn apart and put back together ‒ piece by piece ‒ with alien mind glue.”
“It could have put it back together in a more logical form,” said Yasuko, appearing next to the central control console, which still remained defunct but present, despite months of trying to persuade them it was a waste of space. Their reluctance possibly due to the mind trip she had suffered on Nutu Allpa after discovering her origins and the state of the ship afterwards. “One with a little less sibling rivalry.”
“Sibling?”
“Sounds better than clone jealousy, though that is technically more correct,” replied Yasuko, slumping into Zuri’s sofa next to her captain, trying to hide the smirk. “Besides, I have the plan for the Explorer upgrade that you helped develop. It does not include a mad cyborg strapped to the outside of the ship.”
“If he keeps this up, I’m all for the idea. It’ll be quieter,” Finn said, handing the coffee mug over to Zuri as the wall screen came to life, its blue light signalling it was time to examine Yasuko’s proposals. “Talk us through it, Yasuko.”
“Basically, the ship was originally designed as a flying genetics laboratory for the Scientocracy to cruise through the Nodes and bio develop the worlds capable of maintaining Haven and human life. With your arrival, and my change of status, it has become obvious we have to develop more defensive—”
“—and offensive,” added Smith.
“And offensive capabilities. Adapting the ship for both of these situations in atmosphere, and in space, has been quite a chore, but I think we are nearly there. I have a preset program with the nanobots that will auto change from one battle system to the other, triggered by atmospheric changes or by a specific preset sequence we can initiate.”
“But that comes at a cost,” said Noah. “The ship has a limited resource base, so if we want these systems, then we can’t fully adapt the Explorer to fly more efficiently in atmosphere as you’ve both requested.” Noah glanced at both Zuri and Finn; his look apologetic. “It’ll remain a point and fly machine, where any manoeuvres will cost additional fuel and resources. Imagine it like a battleship. All power but dodging is an issue. It’ll be at its best between worlds and planetary systems where Yasuko’s speed of computation will maximise the flight capabilities way above anything we’ve experienced – she’s the key to avoiding any potential danger.”
“So, how about an aircraft carrier, then?” said Finn, rubbing at his chin and agreeing subconsciously with Zuri that he didn’t suit a beard, even a stubbled one. “The microships? Design them to be combat ready in atmosphere, and as transpo
“We both thought you would want to go that way and it’s what we expect Echo to choose based on the plans we left with them,” said Yasuko. “And we have drawn up options. Smith’s concern is they won’t have additional impact shielding – the mass cloud formed by nanobots ahead of the hull – so they will be vulnerable to kinetic and explosive weapons. You will need to treat them accordingly.”
“And minimise the Garrs’ ability to insinuate their way in as best you can,” said Zuri. “Because when we return to Earth, there’s going to be some payback.”
Chapter 2
Sanctuary City, Havenhome
“Well, Bhkrin?” rumbled Xxar, adjusting his tail within the ridiculous ornamental blue-metal cloak he hated as much as the ceremonial rubbish he was about to attend. Wearing his dead brothers and sisters was one of the first things he wanted to put to an end, but Bhkrin had advised from day one to take things slowly. The Haven would accept positive change. They were desperate for the increase in food production and variety they’d already achieved. But wiping out thousands of years of tradition would not bring the Undercourt with him, and whatever benefit his science offered, Xxar needed the political will of the Undercourt and the people. His radical plans could not be achieved by fear and arrogance. He didn’t have an established political system built on aeons of Scientocracy rule to enable him to make threats and demands idly as he was used to. And to back his view up, Bhkrin, ex-spy and now his advisor, had produced copious notes on food riots and civil dissent that forced Master Phann to form the Corrective Legion’s Police Pack, some of the most vicious of the Legion’s soldiers tasked with keeping the peace by any means. Xxar had to admire their efficiency, though he’d refused the dried skins as an affectation of old times he wanted no part of.
“Do I look like a great leader?”
“Every centimetre, Master. How are the implants?”
“Settling down at last. I don’t remember them taking this long before, but then there were thousands of others to connect and sync with.”
“Have you thought any more about …?”
“Not yet. The ship AIs are busy with the plans we’ve put in action. When there’s a gap, I’ll get them to look into what can be done. It may mean an entirely new body, you know that?” Xxar briefly glanced at his advisor in the mirror, analysing the woman’s gestures and facial expression. Damn, she was good at masking, and the regression in the Haven since his death on the space station had altered much of their nuanced body language. He and his kind had always been able to read it. Intensive studies in the Scientocracy’s past enabled them to use the psychology of control as a key tool in maintaining their power base. That was until they had become supposedly unassailable, and ignored the masses whenever they could, no longer caring what they thought or felt. The constant cycle of rebirth had not helped, each step making them a little less emotionally connected to the people they ruled, and to each other. Though oddly, when they formed bonds within their own caste, they lasted through hundreds of cloning cycles.
On the surface, Xxar had been blustering his way through the political hurdles as the old Scientocracy did – expecting to be heard and demands followed without a thought of the emotional impact. Nor a care for it.
But I am alone in a sea of unreadable regressed Haven, and I need this woman. And she knows it. Currently, our ambitions are aligned … but.
“If that’s the case, then so be it. Though you said the issue would be the transference to the plaques, like you wear and were copied onto?”
“The supply is limited, and these are useless. The bonds can’t be reformed.” Xxar swept the cloak disdainfully, the plaques clicking against each other. “The ghosts of the past still reside in the spaces between the molecules, like echoes of their former selves. I will instruct a ship to begin the growth process, but you will have to be patient.” Xxar strode over to the ornamental door of his nest chamber that led out towards the Sanctum that he despised. Just another hole in the dirt like the rest of Sanctuary. The sooner they were fully on the surface, the sooner he could breathe again, and build a shiny new automated laboratory and office building, with a suitably modern throne room.
But farms and schools first. Hearts and minds, then we can get on with a genetically purer future.
Xxar yanked at the doors, not waiting for his advisor as was etiquette, and strode through to the awaiting Undercourt. A pettier and more selfish group of backbiters than he had ever thought possible.
And this is why I need Bhkrin.
Xxar sent out a thought that drove into his implants, the metallic cubes emitting a pulse that his drone, substituting for the network of his past, relayed on to the Explorer ship he’d designated to mine just outside of the city’s confines. Registering its response, Xxar accepted the inevitable need to raise up someone not of pure bred Scientocracy stock. For now.
Chapter 3
Entering Havenhome System
Yasuko felt the bleakness of the Nodal void in her system. Somehow, the emptiness pained her more than she expected. The Garr were her past and future, and though she understood to the core of her organic centre that they were creatures of excess, knowing that they were her ancestors did not revolt her. Maybe it was the distance of time between her shackles and the revelations, or that her persona had become more akin to the humans that had nurtured her own emotional journey. They were Garr, and she was not.
I am Yasuko. Not defined by my past or my organic structure, but by the environment that has enabled the assimilation of these facts into a whole, rounded … individual? Am I complete?
Yasuko let her system breeze over the data vault where she’d locked away the data image of her as a Garr/human hybrid. It was not a physical restraint – metaphysical? Or metaphorical? For even if she wore the feathers of her past, would that define her, or was the imprisoning an act to prevent the revulsion from her crew – or the rejection she feared?
It feels right. That is all I know – how far have I come from the shackled pseudo-AI I once was? I can now do what is emotionally perceptive. Can I be selfish too?
“Zuri?” she said, appearing in the control room, aware she was disturbing a conversation between her and Noah, but not of the pained silence that bathed the room. “May I?”
Zuri glanced over to Noah, who nodded, rising from the second couch and heading towards the door. “I’ll talk to Finn,” he said on the way out, hands in the black uniform pockets, shoulders hunched.
Yasuko blinked, realising she was delaying while processing. “Did I…?”
“Yes and no,” Zuri leaned forward, hands wrapped around herself. “He’s asking about his death. The Data Storage Facility – I think he would like to return there. I’ve told him it won’t help, well, not in my view. It just feels morbid, another thing to fret over. And a delay.”
“It doesn’t have to be much of a delay,” Yasuko’s words tumbled out. “We have to pass that way to reach the Node transfer, and…” Yasuko looked to the bronzed floor, then back to Zuri’s expectant eyes. Almost as if she knew what was coming. “I would like to go to Havenhome too. More than that – I need to.”
“Need?”
“For closure. I want to try and find Th’lgarr.”
“It’s been thousands and thousands of years, Yasuko. What do you expect to find?”
“Answers. To the Haven, the Scientocracy. The Stratan spoke of Kha’ligarr waking from a recovery hibernation on Earth, and we have no idea how the Haven freed themselves of the subjugation, or even if they actually did so. She may have just left. Or slept.”
“Or they rose up and killed her. Yasuko, my people are dying in droves. Any delay will mean countless deaths. We can’t.”
“But what if her laboratory has information about the Garrs we can use? We are pinning hopes on using a weapon that is dependent on the alien on Stratan. What if it refuses to provide the crystals? Or the price is too high? If it says no…”
