Rating:

Down Range

Not exactly sure what the title has to do with this book, but it’s still a very interesting and exciting story. Captain Cameron Alvarez is still leading his band of adventurers that are still trying to get back to the Commonwealth. They have gone further than any human exploration mission has ever gone, but now they are tired of all this exploring and just want to go home. They thought there was something like a “Northwest Passage” that would lead them back to home; a shortcut they desperately needed. Now they were being told, the Northwest Passage had been shutdown.

A guy named Robert Chang had just arrived on the last Predecessor planet which Captain Alvarez’s group was on and he was telling them he had taken his Predecessor ship through the passage and “flipped the switch” that the Predecessors had left to such down that Transit Lane. His ship also contained a crew of cyborgs who were fleeing the Commonwealth because their kind weren’t warmly welcomed. It seems that Chang had been involved in some questionable medical practices including machine to human interfaces and cloning. He himself was a clone but he didn’t know how many times he had cloned himself. Still, he appeared to be sane and was telling the truth.

Cam (Cameron) has been enhanced by the resident AI called “Briggs”. His new powers were enough to destroy the latest attack fight off and destroy Lilandreth when the Ghosts had overtaken her mind. Now, Cam had to be aware that the same condition could affect him. Since he had the same powers given to Lilandreth, he was subjected to these same Ghosts whispering in his ear (mind). And these Ghosts were persistent. Every time he used these powers, they were there to tell him that he could do so much more. They wanted him to take over everything and return to the Commonwealth has a near God and rule the universe. Cam was fighting off their whispering as much as he could, but just like Lilandreth, he knew they would soon drive him crazy. He had told Vicky, his wife and fellow Marine Captain, that if he did become a megalomaniac, that she was to kill him before they ever got close to the Commonwealth.

Cam wanted to get rid of these powers. He didn’t want them and only took them on to ensure Lilandreth didn’t kill every one of the humans remaining in this expedition. Briggs told him there might be another AI capable of removing the powers but that AI occupied another planet. So the expedition boarded the *Orion* once again and went into T-Space heading for this new planet.

This journey was going to take a long time. Being in T-Space as most of the crew had been for some time was causing some moral problems aboard ship. Cam knew that his people needed a break and they needed a break on a planet where everyone could feel the wind in their faces and smell fresh air. They found such a planet and decided to stop and land for a while. This new planet was like an Earth Eden and he decided to call it “Primeval” although he knew they wouldn’t be there long. Cam also figured that if they eventually couldn’t find a way back to the Commonwealth, this planet might just make a good settlement home. That is until Mr. Chang and his Predecessor ship came screaming back from his scouting mission.

Chang had apparently ran into another alien civilization in the form of alien spacecraft that looked very much like elongated skulls! This ships were fast, very fast and hard to destroy. They also carried ground troops and they began to drop them on the planet where Cam and his Marines and scouting party were located. They also began attacking the *Orion* in orbit, but she fled to T-Space and would continue to hop in and out of that space as a means to avoid being destroyed. Now Cameron had to find a means to prevent all his people on the planet from getting destroyed.

Cam eventually has to resort to using his powers again. This results in these new aliens called the Skalex being destroyed and the humans and the Orion surviving to continue on their journey. Cam didn’t know where this new aliens, the Skalex, had come from but he knew they were better equipped than their old enemies the Skrella. They flew the Orion on-ward through T-Space where the Ghosts in Cam’s mind lived. They were constantly badgering him to become a dictator to this group and start commanding them as though he were their God. Cam steadfastly refused and hoped that this next Predecessor planet did in fact have an AI that could rid of these powers before he succumb to their taunting. He was soon to find out that he had a whole lot of disappointment coming, but there was something deep within the planet that might provide some hope.

So, will they ever get back to the Commonwealth? Cam and Vicky certainly hope so, but they don’t see any means to do this. With the Northwest Passage closed, it would take a very, very long time to get back home even if they knew where they were and what direction to go. And they only have this one ship, the * Orion*. What happens if it gets destroyed?

The series will continue in book 16, “Kill Chain”, available as a pre-order on Amazon. It will be available for reading on 12 November 2024 so we have a long time to wait.

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