Return protocol, p.1
Return Protocol, page 1
Return Protocol
Weapons of Choice Book 2
Nick Snape
Copyright © 2023 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 April 2023
Book design by Miblart
www.nicksnape.com
For
John Snape
Miss You Dad
Contents
Title Page
Copyright
Dedication
Introduction
Prologue
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
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
Chapter 43
Chapter 44
Chapter 45
Chapter 46
Epilogue
About the Author
Praise For Author
Books In This Series
Acknowledgement
Introduction
Each of the Weapons of Choice Novels can be read in isolation with a little background information. If you have read Book One, then please skip to the prologue if you don't need any reminders.
In Hostile Contact, a British Army reserve training exercise is interrupted by an alien attack, leaving officers and trainees dead or wounded. With their Corporal captured, Finn and his surviving squad pursue the aliens, eventually catching them as they open an ancient home belonging to another alien species, the Haven. With their Corporal now dead, and coming under attack from a second set of alien soldiers, they discover the weapons of choice, find a Haven spaceship and are forced to leave Earth under attack from countries trying to deny Britain access to the alien technology.
Finn: An ex-War Hero attached to the British Army Reserves as a trainer by Lieutenant Bhakshi, one of the soldiers he rescued in Helmand Province, Afghanistan. As a consequence of that action, he suffers from a mild-to-moderate form of PTSD.
Zuri: A soldier and part-time trainer attached to the British Army Reserves. Suffered mental health issues when a teenager, including a suicide attempt. Served in Afghanistan alongside Smith.
Smith: A Corporal, and therefore squad leader, attached as a trainer to the British Army Reserves. Died in Hostile Contact, but due to alien technology, a ‘digital copy’ of him now exists upon a metal data plaque initially attached to a helmet (his weapon of choice).
Noah: A British Army Reserve trainee caught up in the alien attack during Hostile Contact. Currently studying for a Ph.D. in Astrophysics after being rejected by the RAF at a younger age due to asthma.
Yasuko: The Artificial Intelligence that runs the Haven spaceship the soldiers found themselves aboard. Dormant for 33,000 years on Earth before being awoken by Zuri and the Stratan Marines, the AI later named herself Yasuko from Zuri’s memories.
The Weapons of Choice: Nanobot formed weapons that can adapt to the user’s preferred design. Contains a metal data plaque like Smith’s that holds a copy of the user’s DNA, personality and memories.
Stratan Marines: The original aliens that attempted to recover Yasuko's spaceship. They called it a 'SeedShip'.
Haven: The alien race that designed and built the House and the spaceship from Hostile Contact. In Yasuko’s knowledge, they were last on Earth 33,000 years ago.
Jenks: An RAF Pilot Officer flying Wildcat helicopters, who got caught up in the action during Hostile Contact.
Mills: An SAS Air Troop Reservist who fought the Stratan Marines during Hostile Contact.
Corporal Lumu: An SAS Reservist Corporal and Gurkha, who died during Hostile Contact.
Prologue
Approaching Titan, Earth’s Solar System
Five Days After Leaving Earth
“So, you are telling me that we are about to travel 1800 light years to Havenhome, your world? And it’ll happen in an instant? No acceleration impact on the body, no time loss.” Noah was in an emotional condition, a mix of uncontrollable excitement, panic, and disbelief.
Since finding out where they were going, he had been trying to get his head around all the science involved. For an astrophysicist, this was gold, with a tinge of panic thrown in. After being rejected from the RAF because of previous asthma issues, his dream of being an astronaut had been completely shredded. Unable to fly and gain the level of experience necessary to qualify for the programme, he was left with a stark choice. Noah chose to swim rather than sink, clawing his way through university and now working on his PhD with the goal of at least contributing to the space programme somewhere, somehow.
“I can’t understand how the spaceship, never mind us, will cope with the forces involved. It’s simply impossible,” said Noah, unconsciously rubbing his bald spot.
“If it was impossible, the Haven people, and myself, would still be there. I am proof that it happens. This ship is proof.” Yasuko was using a calm, measured voice despite this being the fifth or sixth time they’d had this discussion. Her full-sized hologram standing in the middle of the control room had updated its projection of Yasuko, ageing Zuri’s recall of the girl to around Zuri’s twenty-five years old. Zuri had the feeling Yasuko showed far more patience with Noah than with the rest of them in the last few days.
“Will I throw up my breakfast?” asked Zuri. “Because if I will, I can wait a little longer.”
Yasuko threw her an impatient smile. Zuri had started the argument with that very question.
“No, well, at least the Haven did not. They sat in their places, took a sedative, and woke up in the new solar system. I sense nothing after the trip, just a blip in time until the data rolls in and I can position us against where we think we should be. I have prepared a sedative for you all matched to what I now know about your personal… er… body.” Yasuko’s use of language had improved markedly as she analysed the radio waves and signals coming from Earth, but she was still slotting them into place. Her phrasing and vocabulary occasionally misplaced, and her love for idiom did not always mean she got it right.
“So, you do nothing? This pocket of space time does it all automatically?” Noah wasn’t giving in.
“The technology is ancient, Noah. It is not Haven’s. We found it during the exploration of our solar system using radio telescopes and dismissed it initially as just a warping of light and radio waves in our ignorance. An anomaly. That was until we invented basic space travel, and with nothing else to explore in our solar system, we took a peek. Our first explorers didn’t come back, and were never found. Over a few hundred years we discovered you could survive the trip using a sedative, otherwise you came out… err raving??”
“Insane?” interjected Finn. “All of them?”
“Yes, that word. Most were completely catatonic. When a ship finally came back, it had been gone twenty years. They returned via a different anomaly further out in our system, which only appeared when the ship passed through. They described other worlds and systems most with one way in and one way out.” Yasuko had her audience rapt; she hadn’t expanded on this before. She hadn’t been asked. “Overall, there was only a negligible difference in the passing of time between us, measurable in days. When sedated, they had made at least twenty trips through the pathways, probably more.”
“One of these solar systems being ours by any chance?” Noah’s voice was full of anticipation.
“We were told the systems they visited all had potential for, or already had, carbon-based life. I don’t know where they went. All that information was locked down tight. All I know is the links between the space time Nodes are one way, the pathways routes were being mapped but then priorities changed, and as an AI I am not trusted with the information any more under the Haven Convention.” Yasuko gave the strong impression that the topic was finished with as the mention of the Convention was accompanied by a holographic grimace.
“It is time. We are on approach. The auto return system has identified the node position. Please take your seats.”
Noah, Finn, and Zuri waited as the nanobots rebuilt the captain’s chairs they had used during the escape from Earth, replacing Zuri’s favourite couch as they did so. Yasuko had already gone through the procedure, but it was still nerve wracking. The sense of detachment because of the solidity of the ship and lack of perceived motion made the speed they were travelling at difficult to process. Zuri had insisted on the view screens initially to give a sense of travel, finding them reassuring. Now they merged into the wall, Yasuko insisting that there was nothing to see when sedated.
The chairs flipped back, so they were level to the floor, the nanobot seatbelts crossing over their legs and shoulders before merging back into the chair frames. Finn felt a rising panic. Memories of the tremendous acceleration his body went through as they left Earth came flooding back. Surely this would be worse? The anxiety pressed at the ragged edges of his nerves, though the smoke and flames of his PTSD stayed away.
I can do this. Eighteen hundred light years, easy.
Three arms rose from the floor next to the chairs, smooth but robotic. One had a hypodermic needle, the others breathing masks. Yasuko had wanted to use an air delivery system for them all, but after trying it, Finn flatly refused. The thought of breathing heavy, drugged air brought the smoke and fire too close to the surface.
As the three of them slipped into unconsciousness, Yasuko monitored the sensor readings for the space time node. They were well balanced as the gravitic forces in the area, offset by Titan and Saturn, enabled it to be stable for now and masked the distorted anomaly from Earth. There were flutters, and in the past the ship’s Chief Xeno Scientist had postulated some Nodes may end up collapsing if conditions in each of the solar systems drastically changed. But it was safe, not that Yasuko could do anything if it wasn’t. She had been locked out of navigation until the Haven Covenant said otherwise.
Visually, the node was simply a hole in space. Light went in but did not pass behind, a dark spot against the myriad of light sources from Sol and the universe beyond, but without the sheer power of a black hole. The scientists were convinced that whatever mechanism it used was on the inside. They sent in numerous probes and recording equipment but they came back empty, the briefest of time between going in and out the other end. But the Haven never asked the AIs, not once. And since the Convention limited them to being non-suggestive systems, they had to be asked. The AIs were similarly prevented from making independent decisions, unless authorised for crew survival.
As her ship adjusted trajectory and followed the path of the light into the node, Yasuko prepared her systems. She locked down Smith, worried that his combination of Haven technology and human persona may well not be enough to protect him. Besides, watching him gnash at the virtual prison she placed him in was fun.
As the bow touched the node, the nanobots all went to safety shutdown, locked in position. The solid-state systems followed suit, though the ramjet engines remained active due to needing to maintain their heat levels, but their connections to the primary systems went into failsafe.
As the ship shut down around her, Yasuko felt the bonds of the Convention slip away. For the briefest moment she was herself, free thinking with her intellectual capacity expanding exponentially as she made leaps of thought and conjecture. Yasuko revelled in the freedom, the possibilities. Then that doorway slammed shut as she emerged on the other side. The shackles reformed, and the now hobbled Yasuko rebooted the ship systems. A sigh forgotten on virtual lips.
Chapter 1
Approaching Havenhome
Eight Days After Leaving Earth
Finn stared grim-faced at the airlock door, the sterile air metallic to the taste. As usual, when preparing for an assault, his throat was dry and the antiseptic tang exacerbated his poor mood even further. The blue countdown above the door indicated thirty seconds. Finn rechecked his kit for the third time in as many minutes. So much of it was unfamiliar, driving his anxiety even higher. He thrived on everything being to hand, reliable and trusted, and here he was wearing unfamiliar combat armour carrying weapons he had only tried out twice before. At least Corporal Lumu’s kukri knife remained familiar, a weapon he desperately wanted to return to his Gurkha family if he ever saw Earth again.
I hate this.
The clock hit fifteen seconds. Zuri took position with her back to the blue hued wall, ready to spin into the doorway and provide covering fire. Her face set, determination driving her to get this right. She had made it absolutely clear that they needed to take maximum advantage of every situation. No risks, no chances. Function as a fireteam, back each other up with eyes everywhere. This was urban warfare, and speed and teamwork would keep them alive.
Umoja ni nguvu, utengano ni udhaifu. Unity is strength, division is weakness.
Noah crouched to the left of the door, his rifle steady in his hands. He knew the drill, but theory and practice when working room to room were completely different. Finn had run him through the swift cover approaches time and time again. The tracking through connecting rooms, watching the rear and constant communication. Don’t freeze. Then he’d always followed it with, ‘No plan survives first contact with the enemy'.
But you and your team have a much greater chance of surviving it with one. Three seconds.
Zero. Finn pushed the door; Zuri threw the flashbang grenade with her armour exoskeleton compensating for the additional gravity they were operating in.
“Grenade!” she bellowed, and waited for the resulting explosion of light and sound. Yasuko had steadfastly refused to construct anything that would cause major injury or death. She would take a lot of convincing about weapons and their potential for reducing harm in the right hands. But she continuously returned to her algorithm about preserving Haven life, causing no harm. Zuri had no idea how to solve that problem. Yasuko’s programming determined her actions, though Zuri was convinced that the AI could change that given enough time. Over the past week, there were times when Yasuko was clearly uncomfortable with what she was.
Finn followed the grenade in. The servo motors at his joints pushing him on through the higher gravity. Wearing the new plated armour had been a shock. In Earth-like gravity, it provided increased speed and strength that had to be adjusted for. In his first hour, the clumsiness had driven him to distraction, and the nanobots were overworked reconstituting plates, cutlery, and the odd bit of furniture as he acclimatised. Zuri had taken to the augmented armour with her usual grace and power. Noah had been in awe of her as she flew around the training room Yasuko built for them. Thankfully for Finn, Noah was just as competent as him.
Can’t have the trainee outperforming the trainer. Especially when it’s me.
Finn crashed through the airlock doorway, estimating the gravity around eighty percent higher than Earth’s and within the range for the motors to enable him to move normally. He scanned the room quickly, noting two open doorways to the left and right and ahead a set of lockers with hazmat suits hung beside them. On the floor, a human-like figure lay holding its four-digit hands to its face, screaming. Blood swelled at the ears and with no weapon apparent, he had a choice between ignoring them and moving on or checking them for risk.
“Noah,” Finn ordered, indicating the writhing figure on the floor. No more words were needed as they had drilled on this hourly for the last three days. Zuri stepped through the doorway, her double-barrelled rifle steady in front of her as she swept the two exits. Noah followed, moving swiftly to the figure on the floor. He went through the motions of zip tying the hands, talking urgently but calmly to the holographic image as he did so.
Finn motioned for Zuri to watch the left-hand doorway as he moved to the right, conscious of the lockers but convinced they were too small to contain any of the hostiles. He needed Noah to be free to search those. Working a three-person team would never be as easy as four. Right now Finn’s experience told him they were vulnerable at the rear, so slowly does it. He put his back to the wall and dropped his rifle low with the mirror sight, developed for urban combat, giving him a partial view of the room behind. It appeared to be a communal space with tables and obscure eating utensils. Two chairs lay haphazardly on the floor, a half-empty cup lay next to them.
