Table of Contents
Summary
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Chapter One: Entering the Infested World
Chapter Two: To the Spike
Chapter Three: To the Rescue
Chapter Four: Spiking the Spike
Chapter Five: Aftermath of the Rescue
Chapter Six: Return to Paradise Plains
Chapter Seven: I am Being Detained
Chapter Eight: Escaping the Sheriff's Station
Chapter Nine: Meeting Theoden
Chapter Ten: In Theoden's Realm
Chapter Eleven: Resupply and Prep for the Trip North
Chapter Twelve: Telling Theo and Playing with the GN-75
Chapter Thirteen: Our New Ride
Chapter Fourteen: Headed North to the Border
Chapter Fifteen: Driving in Saskatchewan
Chapter Sixteen: At Carly's Diner
Chapter Seventeen: North Saskatchewan Here we Come
Chapter Eighteen: Into the Wilderness
Chapter Nineteen: Howling and Ice
Chapter Twenty: Over the River and Through the Woods
Chapter Twenty-One: The Northern Outpost
Chapter Twenty-Two: Sol Has Got Some Issues
Chapter Twenty-Three: Flying Back to Paradise Plains
Chapter Twenty-Four: Searching for a Solution
Chapter Twenty-Five: Found our Lead
Chapter Twenty-Six: Scouting the Base
Chapter Twenty-Seven: The Distraction
Chapter Twenty-Eight: Priming the Distraction
Chapter Twenty-Nine: Storming the Base
Chapter Thirty: Flight in the Dark
Chapter Thirty-One: Finishing the Redemption
Chapter Thirty-Two: Defending the Base
Chapter Thirty-Three: Flying to Mercury
Chapter Thirty-Four: Arrived at Mercury
Chapter Thirty-Five: Breaching the Base Defenses
Chapter Thirty-Six: Riding the Potato
Chapter Thirty-Seven: Finding a Way In
Chapter Thirty-Eight: In Connahr Base Mercury
Chapter Thirty-Nine: Repairing the Solar Tap
Chapter Forty: I've got Aliens in my DMs
Chapter Forty-One: An Unexpected Find
Chapter Forty-Two: Time to Spend it All
Chapter Forty-Three: On our Way to Pluto
Chapter Forty-Four: Throwing Rocks
Chapter Forty-Five: Battle in the Orbit of Pluto
Chapter Forty-Six: The Signal and a Quest
Chapter Forty-Seven: Solar System Tourism
Epilogue
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Summary
HORDES OF ALIEN MONSTERS are breeding on Pluto. The shield protecting Sol is failing. Can Jake save Earth from infestation and annihilation?
After his triumph on Pax, Jake returns home to Earth. In far northern Canada his grandfather hid an outpost that may have the solution.
The town sheriff thinks he's an imposter, unnamed government agencies would love to vivisect him, and powerful forces lurk in the shadows.
Even with his grandfather's powerful legacy, will Jake have what it takes to stop the threat to Earth?
If you're a fan of space opera, visceral science-fiction combat, and powerful heroes fighting to save civilization, then you'll love this LitRPG book from Shadow Alley Press.
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Chapter One: Entering the Infested World
WE'D RECEIVED A DISTRESS call—a recorded message being broadcast over the gate connection. It had been meant for my grandfather, Mattias, but he wasn't with us anymore. The message was three months old, playing on repeat.
The message played, and a short, wide-shouldered figure in heavy red armor appeared in front of the desk on a clear section of floor. The thick overlapping metal plates of his armor were in rough shape, with deep scratches and burn marks breaking up the shiny red finish. He was standing in a familiar space, the obvious signs of Union modular construction visible all around him. His helmet was retracted, revealing a broad, friendly looking face under a shining, bare scalp. A thick black mustache and what looked like an epic beard disappeared into the chest of his armor. Tired black eyes looked directly into mine.
"Mattias, we haven't seen you here for years, but I hope you're still alive brother, because we need your help. Everything's gone to shit. Something's happening in the Union, none of the gate addresses we have are connecting. The Infestation has flared up and the outpost is getting hit hard. We're not even having to venture into the city any more to farm; they're coming to us. Threat levels are trending up and we need an evac. There's eight of us left here and we're having real trouble with the Ferals. Help us out. We've got a ton of Nanite Clusters to trade.
"I'm sending a message like this to every gate address we have, on repeat. There are hundreds of them in memory, so we've got to limit the amount of time we wait for an acceptance. Hope to see your ugly face soon, brother."
With less than two minutes left until the connection closed, I'd made the call to open the gate. I'd suited up in the newly upgraded Assault Armor, grabbed my gun and Excalibur—my lovely custom-made wrecking bar—and rushed to the gate room.
"Thirty seconds," Brick announced.
I slid to a halt in front of the closed gate and raised my Gazer. On either side were Metra's dogs, the heavy assault drones that had been her contributions to the fight in the Refinery node. They had been repaired and upgraded. Their weapons were trained on the gate and they were poised and ready. With our combined firepower we could seriously screw up just about anything on the other side.
"Open it, Brick," I yelled.
The panel flickered and then snapped into place, revealing a mirror image of the gate room we were standing in, but on the world of Hephaseta 2. It was well lit, a bit dirty, but completely empty.
"The room is clear. Brick, you getting anything?"
"There is no central control system for me to connect to on the other side. The restrictions on AI usage are absolute on Infested world outposts. All systems will be manually operated or simple automatic systems without networking. Nothing is connected through the gate interfaces as part of the same set of restrictions."
"So I'm going to need to go in and look around?" I asked.
"Yes, it appears so. I would like to install a short-range communications relay as well. I will require permission to take control of one of the Manufactors briefly to build one."
"You can pause number three, Brick," Metra supplied. Even though we'd spent a bunch of our resources to get all four Manufactors in the Light Manufactory, they were generally all busy all the time.
"Thank you, Metra," Brick replied.
I had no idea what was on the other side of that gate. Whoever that guy in