Nemesis (The MechaVerse Trilogy Book 2)

by Jeremy Cunkle

  The black Mech armor all had their shields engaged and their weapons out, ready for use if needed, but pointed to the sides in a non-threatening gesture.

  A unit directly in front of him sheathed its weapons and then raised its hands showing that it was unarmed before taking a few steps forward, automatically drawing his attention. The unit stopped and then its cockpit slowly lumbered open, the armored doors taking nearly thirty seconds to unlock before ponderously swinging open.

  Just below the cockpit was a small ledge on which the pilot stepped forward in order to address him more personally. The pilot wore a featureless black atmospheric suit and helmet and could have been anyone, male or female.

  “We know you pilot of Nemesis. We know where you came from and why you are here on our planet. If I may be so bold, we know more about your mission then you do yourself. My people have been waiting for this moment for a very long time. Your Mech armor is killing you, the possessed AI driving you mad, and it will soon win without our help. We will help you find yourself again, and in return, you will do something for us that only you can do. We have common enemies and common goals, and that makes us allies of sorts.”

  “Welcome to your new home Mikkhael Dreyfus.”

  Glossary

  · Mars – Named after the Roman god of war, second smallest planet in our galaxy. Has a pre-existing thin atmosphere composed mostly of Co2 argon and nitrogen. Red because of the amount of iron prevalent within the soil. Length of the day and seasons are nearly identical to Earth’s, and the tilt of Mars axis is also similar to Earth’s, allowing for those similarities. Water is believed to be frozen underneath the surface. Possesses evidence of past polar ice caps and accompanying magnetic fields that are no longer in place. Gravity is 1/3rd of the Earth, similar to the moon. Temperature is also cold like the moon, but believed will be around 140 degrees once fully terraformed. The core of Mars no longer spins like Earth’s, meaning that volcanic activity and the associated magnetic cycles have since failed, leading to the vast majority of Mars atmosphere bleeding off into space.

  · Mars has a North and South Pole, and an equator. Also has all four seasons because the tilt of the planet is similar to Earth. If the core of the planet is able to spin again, volcanic activity can be restored (necessary for nature’s way of revitalizing the atmosphere) as well as the magnetic field, also then allowing the formation of an atmosphere.

  · Martian Atmosphere – Mars actually possesses a limited atmosphere of mostly CO2. In fact, the concentration of CO2 on Mars is incredibly high. Scientists increasingly believe that this will make future terraforming easier as plant life will thrive. The limited atmosphere and small, dead (believed) planet mean that there is no air pressure, making it hard or impossible for airplanes to fly. Without drag on a plane’s wings, there can be no drag. This is why the novel mainly features ground combat.

  · Mars has two moons. Believed to have many micro moons, but for the sake of simplicity, two. From the planet’s surface, Phobos would be somewhat equivalently visible to our own moon. Deimos is believed to require a form of simple telescope to see.

  · Larger Martian Moon – Phobos (Latin for panic/fear,) 11 hour cycle.

  · Smaller Martian Moon – Deimos (Latin for terror/dread,) 2.7 days.

  · Olympus Mons - Factual (dormant) volcano, translated name Mount Olympus, believed to be the largest volcano on a planet in the solar system. StormCrow brigade base of operations.

  · Tharsis Bulge - Factual Plateau north of the Martian equator. Olympus Mons is northwest, Valles Marineris canyon is SW.

  · Valles Marineris - Factual set of canyons that cover over 1/4 of Mars surface. Name translates to "Martian Canyon." Many features on Mars are familiar to those we already know on Earth, they are just bigger. The Avalles Marineris formation is an epic sized Grand Canyon.

  · Cerberus Province - Factual group of nine volcanos’, south of Elysium Mons in the Cerberus Planitia region.

  · HMD – Head Mounted Display, goggles that combine with algorithms created by the artificial intelligence allowing a pilot to better track and acquire flying targets.

  · Lidar - This is a term which militaries have adopted as the name for a sensor utilized for the purposes of the detection, identification, and the precision measurement of the range of a target. Frequently used in civilian uses such as surveying.

  · FOB – Forward Operating Base – a usually temporary military outpost that is not permanent, but has some or most common base facilities.

  · SIG-INT – Signals intelligence - Intelligence-gathering by interception of signals, whether communications between people (communications intelligence— abbreviated to COMINT) or from electronic signals not directly used in communication (electronic intelligence— abbreviated to ELINT)

  · RATO – Rocket Assisted Take Off, supplementary, self-contained, expendable, engine attached via hard point to provide extra thrust, especially on takeoff.

  · StormCrow Brigade – Rebel faction that Mikkhael teams up with in order to overthrow the corrupt Martian government.

  · German PPF and Russian rebel factions – Operate south of the Valles Marineris, participated in an allied rebel action during the Tegra campaign to save Mikkhael at the very end.

  · Lazarus Faction – Currently the strongest Rebel faction along the Tharsis Bulge, mainly use tanks and mechanized vehicles, foregoing the maneuverability of Mecha for brute force.

  · WintersSong Faction – Chinese and pan-asian faction of rebels that initiated the Reckoning, the beginning of the Rebellion, currently the planet’s most powerful rebel faction.

  · Tegra campaign – The final battle pitting Mikkhael against the division sized forces General Akari assembled in order to finally destroy Starkindler.

  · Mechanized Armor Robotic Suits – MARS units, Mech armor used by the rebel factions.

  · Furies – StormCrow medium Mech armor, all round capability, unshielded

  · Justices – StormCrow heavy Mech armor, unshielded

  · Salvatore – StormCrow new generation Mech armor, extremely powerful, shielded, still prototype

  · Nemesis – Mikkhael’s Mech armor, excels in close quarters combat, flight capable.

  · Starkindler – rebuilt, piloted by Eve. Powerful all-rounder with incredible shields, flight capable.

  · DawnsLight – Starkindler’s twin, piloted by Alyona, shares the AI Athena, flight capable

  · Intrepid – Physically largest Mech armor piloted by Kiryl, strongest armor, four main cannons and powerful shields, also equipped with Eclipse class missiles, and shares the AI Athena, unable to fly.

  · Atalanta – Sniper class, able to utilize a variety of weapons, piloted by Vera, shares the AI Athena, gliding capability.

  · NightHawk – Intelligence gathering class, smallest Omnos squad unit, piloted by Kurtis, uses an independent AI Argos which was created to replace a corrupted Aurora, flight capable.

  · Eclipse missiles – Powerful Land-to-Land missiles carried only by Intrepid.

  · Stalker - PDF Reconnaissance Mech armor, lightly armored, no shields, lightly armed

  · Slayer - PDF medium Battle Mech armor, make up the bulk of PDF armies, no shields, armed with energy based laser rifles, medium armor, underpowered reactors, unable to fly

  · Strident - PDF Battle Mech armor, heavy armor, energy based laser rifle, unshielded, not flight capable.

  · Steyr - PDF Marine Mech armor, heavy updated armor, strong weapons, fast and capable, no shields, not flight capable.

  · HellCat - PDF Special Forces Mech armor – Excellent armor, excellent weapons with multiple loadouts including projectile based weapons and energy based laser weapons, capable sensors, fast, energy shields, not flight capable.

  · Chimera - PDF Mech Armor Transport Drop ship, primary means of travel for PDF Mech armor.

  · Reaper - PDF flight capable drone, Mech-killer, banned by a treaty with Titan.

  · SkyHunter – PDF Renamed Reaper drones, minima
lly updated in order to get around treaty ban.

  · Wasp – PDF Flight capable drone equipped with missiles, bombs

  · Marauder - PDF Heavy anti-grav tank, shielded

  · Hunter – PDF drone based tank, unshielded

  · MOAB – Massive Ordinance Air Blast, most powerful PDF non-nuclear bomb

  · The Reckoning – Beginning of the Rebellion, when the first factions formed and attacked with a swarm of Mech armor. Cities burned, millions died. Bad stuff

  · Hellas – PDF capital of Mars, headquarters for Mars Industries and PDF High Command nicknamed The Mountain.

  · Repentance - PDF regional air force base, headquarters of Special Operations Command

  · Abadon - PDF controlled mining outpost that the StormCrows raided for a large amount of supplies.

  · SAPO – PDF Space Administration Patrol and Observation

  · Jump Gate – Wormhole like tear in space that are manmade using the most powerful fusion reactors ever created to power them. One is stationed outside Lunar orbit, while its linked mate is located near Mars. Freighters and space ships are able to use the gates to travel nearly instantaneously between Mars and Earth.

  · Wide-band radar – A simplified description of a radar system used to search a wide area for a number of targets. This type of radar is often depicted in movies.

  · Narrow beam radar – A focused beam of radar that would be directional, used to home in missiles or weapons, or identify and prioritize a single target.

  · Soteria – Mysterious rebel city, only known about through rumors.

  · Kerrak – A new, additional outpost for the Lazarus faction, named after the crusader fortress of Krak De Chaveliers.

  Dramatis Persona’s

  · Mikkhael Dreyfus – Nemesis Pilot, formerly Starkindler Pilot

  · Aurora – Starkindler’s artificial intelligence

  · Athena – artificial intelligence shared by Alyona, Vera, and Kiryl

  · Argos – artificial intelligence for Kurtis

  · Commander Ultor - StormCrow Commander

  · Colonel Jansen – Commander Ultor’s second in command

  · Eve Ultor - StormCrow Commander’s Daughter

  · Sir Henry Thorsten - StormCrow Chief Engineer and Division Head

  · Lisa Hesken - StormCrow Medical Division Chief

  · Jack Lu - StormCrow Internal Security Division Chief

  · Colonel Mathias - StormCrow Mech armor Division Commander

  · Captain Leon Cartwright - StormCrow Mech armor field Commander

  · Soren – Salvatore Company Commander

  · Eirk – Salvatore Company Commander

  · Drogdyn - StormCrow Intelligence Division Commander

  · PDF General Akari – PDF Commander Cerberus Province, Commander Field Army

  · SGM Anderson – General Akari's trusted aide

  · General Baknon – High Commander of PDF command structure

  · General Hafnos – Commander Special Operations

  · Alyona – Captain of the Omnos squad – pilot of DawnsLight, shares the AI Athena

  · Vera – Omnos squad medical officer – pilot of Atalanta, shares the AI Athena

  · Kiryl – Omnos squad engineer – pilot of Intrepid, shares the AI Athena

  · Kurtis – Omnos squad technician – pilot of NightHawk – Argos AI

  · Commander Kjell – Mercenary commander of Centurion Mech armor

  THANK YOU!!

  I would like to express my sincerest thanks to you, for reading Nemesis, book two of the MechaVerse series. You can only ever truly guess how much I hope you have enjoyed reading this novel. Look forward to book three, Ascendant, fall of 2018!

  Thank you again for reading!!

  For updates on new releases, please interact with the author via the online blog and subscribe to the newsletter found at:

  http://www.jbeverhart.com

  J. B. Everhart is proud to have finished this second novel in the MechaVerse Series. The current vision for the MechaVerse envisions a trilogy, as well as a series of supporting novella’s, with the hopes of eventually turning this story into a video game or animated series/movie. The MechaVerse is an open universe for other authors to build, destroy, and live in, and J.B. Everhart is proud to invite others to partake in its many adventures.

  J.B. Everhart currently resides in Oklahoma while finishing a Master's degree in Entrepreneurship. Although he is thoroughly sick of tornados, droughts, floods, hailstorms, grass fires, and now earthquakes, he has not quite found a way to move out of state just yet. He hopes to teach English and writing at both the high school and college level, while simultaneously continuing to write and publish new stories throughout the years as a hobby.

  He has two young children who fill up his days, while spending the weekends playing indoor soccer.

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