Phoenix Odyssey Book 1 (Battle Beyond Earth)

by Thomas, Nick S.

  Battle BEYOND EARTH: PHOENIX ODYSSEY

  By Nick S. Thomas

  SMASHWORDS EDITION

  Copyright © 2016 by Nick S. Thomas

  Published by Swordworks Books

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  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, brands, media, and incidents are either the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. The author acknowledges the trademarked status and trademark owners of various products referenced in this work of fiction, which have been used without permission. The publication/use of these trademarks is not authorized, associated with, or sponsored by the trademark owners.

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  Prologue

  In the year 2134 first contact was made. The thought of encountering alien life seemed to be the dawn of a new age. It was, but not in the way mankind would have hoped. The Krycenaeans were a highly advanced, but cruel and violent people led by feudal Lords.

  Krycenaeans (Krys). A psychically powerful race, Humanoid in form, but with deep blue skin. Most stand half a metre taller than a Human, and further more when in armour. To the Humans of the 22nd century, the Krys were a ruthless and unrelenting foe that knew no fear, and existed for no other reason than to fight and to vanquish other species. For them, Earth was a paradise worth sacrificing everything in order to conquer.

  But in the face of extinction, one man rose up and led Humanity to not just survive, but to seize victory. That man was a United States Marine Corps officer, Colonel Mitch Taylor. Taylor was a larger than life character who defeated a number of prominent Krys leaders in personal combat. He became more than just a hero for Humanity, but a legend in their history books.

  The year is now 2512. Four races have lived with one another for hundreds of years, but an ancient enemy, long forgotten by most has returned. Queen Bolormaa of the Morohtans. Bolormaa and her sons swept across the Alliance of nations like a plague. Her vast armies overran whole worlds, and there seemed no stopping her reign of terror.

  Desperate times called for desperate measures, and an old hero was called upon to once more fight for the survival of mankind and her allies. Mitch Taylor, mortally wounded and placed into suspended animation almost four hundred years ago at the very end of the last war, was patched up and brought back at this greatest time of need. Taylor made a difference in the war from the moment he was awaken into this new life.

  The success of Taylor's resurrection did not go unnoticed by world leaders on Earth, and they soon began calling for more like him to be brought back to life to fight Bolormaa and her vast armies. None of the great warriors of old had been preserved as Taylor had, but the remains of the next best thing did, a clone of Taylor's best friend; created by the Krys to infiltrate his unit and destroy them from within.

  A clone of a great man who had been at Taylor's side through some of the most bitter fighting, and most successful victories; he bore all the resemblance to that great officer, Captain Charlie Jones, a British officer in the Parachute Regiment. He had all the physical attributes, but little else. Jones' clone had caused the deaths of many fine men and women when he had been released into the world. Now he was being brought back to follow in Taylor's footsteps.

  The universe is a very different place to when that clone was created, but Humanity is desperate, and Taylor alone cannot hold back the tide of the enemy. Can this clone be the hero the Alliance and the people of Earth need him to be? Or will he continue his bloodthirsty killing spree as the psychopathic murderer that Taylor knew him to be?

  Chapter 1

  "Drain fluids and release final seals."

  The voice was faint and muffled. He could not remember how or why he had got here, but he had just regained consciousness. He lay in a chamber and dared not make a move or sound for fear of alerting his captors.

  What is my name? What am I doing here?

  He couldn't open his eyes yet. He couldn't give himself away. He could feel that he was stark naked, and it was cold. Metal restraints held him firmly in place, but he could hear motors moving as whatever he was contained inside began to move. It was tilting and disorientating, but he must maintain the illusion that he is not yet conscious.

  One chance, that's all I'll get, he thought to himself.

  The first memory that came back to him was the sight of bars as he sat inside a cell. He wasn't here of his own volition, that much was certain. He had a duty to escape, and this was his opportunity. The container in which he was sealed came to a halt, and he heard the hissing sound as gasses were released.

  Are they finally going to kill me?

  Two voices rang out from nearby as a conversation went on just beside him.

  "If he's anything like Taylor, he might do some good yet," said one.

  Taylor?

  The name hit a nerve, and he didn't know why. Whoever and whatever Taylor was, he hated him, and he couldn't wait to wrap his hands around his throat and squeeze the life out of him. But first things first, he had to get out of there. He felt some material wrap over his skin and then shrink onto his body like a wetsuit. It felt as though he was being shrink-wrapped. He'd never seen or heard of anything like it before. Another flash of memory came to him from when he was once before in a similar situation. He remembered feeling metal depressed onto his arm, and he looked down to see an inked stencil that read 'CJ00026.' He quickly came back to reality as he realised he would have to work things out when he had more time.

  Where the hell am I?

  The seal around him prised open, and the warmth of the room swept over his face, hands, and feet. They were the only parts still exposed to the elements. He wanted nothing more than to leap off the table. There was nothing more holding him down, but he had to choose his moment carefully.

  "Well, well, Captain Charlie Jones, I remember this guy from history lessons thirty years ago," said someone at the end of his bed.

  Charlie? Is that my name? Charlie Jones...CJ

  "But this isn't him. Who knows how much really is him?" said the other who was much closer beside him.

  "It sure looks like him to me."

  "You know what this thing did? We should never have brought him back."

  A flash of memory came back to him as he remembered fighting his way through a number of soldiers. He didn't know why, but he knew he hated them, and they were Human. He remembered being detained and his head smashed into the bars of his cell.

  He snapped back into reality and realised the danger he might be in. Last time he was conscious there were people trying to kill him.

  What have they done to me?

  His heart began to beat faster, and he could not contain himself anymore. These people were keeping him against his will and doing god knows what to him. His eyes shot open to find a man in a medical coat standing over him with a large syrin
ge in one hand. Charlie leapt up and grabbed the needle. The man was stunned, like a rabbit before a spotlight. He ripped the needle from the man's hand, thrust it deep into his neck, and ripped it out. Blood spurted out from the wound as he collapsed with his hands covering the wound and trying to stop the bleeding.

  "Wait!" yelled the other.

  Charlie spun around to see the other man's hands were up as if to beg for mercy, but he wasn't going to give it. He saw a scalpel on a tray beside him. He picked it up and marvelled at the razor sharp blade for a moment as though he was immersing himself in the enjoyment of the situation.

  "No, wait, we aren't trying to hurt you!" pleaded the man.

  He could see the murderous look in Charlie's eyes, and he turned to run for the door. Charlie threw the knife with pinpoint precision, and it hit the doctor in the back of the neck. He crashed dead into the door before slumping to the floor. Finally, he had a few moments to look at his surroundings. He was in a small room, no more than five metres wide, and there was only one door where the body was now slumped. The other man writhed in pain and gurgled as he died, but Charlie didn't even bother to look.

  Light flashed off to his right side as one of the wall sections faded into transparent glass, and a man and woman stepped into the room that looked onto his. They stopped in surprise at seeing him on his feet before stepping closer and seeing the bodies on the floor. The woman gasped as she covered her mouth in horror, and the man reached for an alarm button.

  Charlie rushed to the door and yanked the body out of the way. He was shocked by his own strength as the body flew across the room and crashed into the side wall. To his surprise, the door wasn't locked, and as he pressed the switch on the wall, it slid open. He had expected to find himself in some sort of prison or detainment centre, but it looked more like a hospital. That only reinforced his suspicions that he had been a lab rat.

  A siren began to ring out, and that made his pulse race higher as he knew he was against the clock. He looked each way down the long halls of the ward and tried to make sense of where he was and how he could get out of there, but it all looked the same. He chose to go left, purely as a random decision as he needed to move, and move fast. He was up to a jogging pace quickly. Fast enough to cover ground, but still with some caution.

  As he passed a few other cells, he noticed other Humans in sealed containers just as he had been in. Not one of them seemed awake or conscious.

  This isn't a hospital. It’s a storage facility.

  He passed room after room looking for some way out. The floor was freezing cold on his feet and everything around him bare metal. It sent a chill down his spine even looking at the clinical architecture. He heard a door open up ahead, and a security guard stepped out with a handgun. Charlie upped his pace, but the man got his gun on target and pulled the trigger.

  The muzzle flashed, and a pulse of light rushed towards him. He didn't have time to evade it and took the impact on the right side of his chest next to his shoulder. His right side jolted back, and he slowed a little, but looked down in surprise to see that there was no injury at all. His pectoral muscle was spasming as though hit by a bolt of electricity, but it did nothing to inhibit him, and only enraged him further.

  Charlie rushed forward as the man froze in horror at the sight of his determined attack, so much so he didn't even fire a second shot. He grabbed the man's gun hand and snapped his wrist with ease. He stopped for a moment, once again surprised by his own strength. The man was squirming in pain, but he could hear footsteps of others coming to his aid. Charlie spun the man around to hold him forward as a Human shield and took up the gun he had dropped.

  A man and a woman rushed into the hallway up ahead; both armed with the same pistol that he was now carrying.

  "Stop right there!" Charlie yelled, as he turned the gun towards his prisoner’s head.

  They drew to a halt, but kept their guns trained on him.

  "It's okay. We aren't here to hurt you. Do you know where you are?"

  "I don't give a damn. How do I get out of here?"

  They looked confused, and Charlie wasn't willing to waste any more time negotiating with them. He began moving forward and pushing his prisoner with him.

  "Back off!"

  They did as he asked until finally he reached the turn from which they had come from. He snapped his prisoner’s neck and fired at the two ahead of him, as he rushed off down the turn. His fire hit the woman and threw her back to the floor unconscious, and the other shots forced the man to duck for cover. Charlie had upped his pace to almost a sprint. He didn't feel any muscle fatigue from having been incapacitated for any length of time, and yet he had no sense of time at all.

  How long have I been out?

  He looked down at the pistol and didn't recognise its design and construction at all. It fired like a Krys pulse weapon, and yet seemed to be non-lethal. Though he remembered how it had hit the woman so hard, but he had brushed it off.

  None of it makes any sense. Do they want me alive to keep on with their experiments?

  Light flashed close by his head, and he looked back to see the guard firing at him. Three others had now joined him. He fired back and jumped through the nearest doorway, hitting the door close switch and firing two shots into the pad until it was burnt out and sealed. He breathed a sigh of relief before turning to see what he had leapt into. Fifteen men and women were lined up in PT gear. They were practicing martial arts with shock sticks and shields in place of the Assegais and shields he was so familiar with. The shields were not solid, but made of some type of transparent energy. It was a gymnasium, and the only other way out was a door on the far side.

  "What are you doing here?" questioned one who was clearly their instructor.

  He was older than the rest and wore sergeant’s stripes. Charlie raised his pistol and fired a single shot into the man's head. He was thrown back unconscious into two of his students. Charlie didn't give them any time to react. He rushed forward and shot three more down before the pistol was empty. He then reversed it and smashed another in the mouth. Blood spurted out, and the man collapsed to the ground in pain. He turned to the next; one of the electrified batons was coming towards him. He leapt aside with precision and speed, smashing the grip of his pistol down on the man's hand. He let out a cry of pain as he dropped his weapon, but his agony was not over. Charlie brutally kicked into his knee. There was an almighty crunch as his leg gave way, and he collapsed in agony.

  Charlie reached down and picked up the man's training weapon. The rest of them had encircled him, but appeared reluctant to close any distance. Every last one of them looked in fear for their lives, and he couldn't help but feel untouchable. He felt stronger, faster, and better than he ever had. Another came at him with their shield presented forward. He rolled off the shield as the man fell clumsily past and was struck by Charlie's truncheon in the back of the leg, and then across the head.

  One more came at him with a fast thrust towards his face. He ducked aside and narrowly missed it, taking hold of the woman's arm and snapping it at the joint. He backed off towards the door as they cautiously bunched together and stood their ground over the wounded.

  "What, what!" he yelled.

  He smiled as he marvelled at his handiwork. He didn't know who they were or why he was being held, but as far as he was concerned, they were the enemy. He was being held against his will, and that was all he needed to know to cut a bloody path on his way to freedom. He ran on through the open doorway, and nobody gave pursuit. He burst out onto a corridor on the far side to find unarmed personnel going about their daily business. He didn't recognise their uniforms or insignia, but he noticed the word 'Alliance' on their clothing.

  "You, stop right there!"

  Four men armoured up in what looked like riot equipment were pushing past several of the personnel to get to him. He turned and ran.

  "Where the hell am I?" he asked himself.

  He rushed onwards, pushing people aside when he found
himself at a crossroads. More busy corridors led off in two different directions, and the entrance to what looked like a park through another doorway. It had to be artificial, but it looked like the perfect place to lose his tail. He threw a passing man into the side wall. He landed nose first and collapsed down from the impact as Charlie rushed into the park area.

  For a moment he could almost believe he was out in the open air and freedom that nature would bring, but as he took a deep breath, the artificial smells burned slightly in his nostrils. He carried on down a path with tall bushes on either side until it opened out into a small field and pond. Two figures stood at the edge in discussion, one looked Human, and the other a child. As he closed the distance, they turned to gaze upon him, and he could see that neither was Human. They were Aranui and Cholan, but he didn't know that yet.

  "What the fuck?" he asked.

  They didn't seem surprised or threatened by him. He could hear the footsteps of the guards hot on his tail, so he kept on running. He soon came to an exit and saw a gun as someone was taking the bend. He took hold of it and yanked the man into the park, striking him in the head so hard he was knocked out and bleeding from the skull. Charlie leapt through the doorway and ran on in the hope of finding some way out. Some personnel leapt aside in a panic, but others he barged aside. It was as though they perceived no threat at all from him. He ran on until he came to a sign for a docking bay and took the turn to find himself head-to-head with another guard.

  He thrust towards him with an electrified baton, but he leapt aside and up and over, taking the man's neck in a solid hold and snapping it sharply. He collapsed dead to the floor. He ran onwards for what seemed like an age and was now running beside a vast window gallery looking out into space. He stopped in shock to look out.