Apocalypse Earth: After World

By J. T. Skye

Alien war, apocalyptic romance and survival adventure at its best... The third and final story of the Apocalypse Earth Series brings full closure to this alien first contact Sci Fi thriller.

What would you do if an alien kidnapped your son? What would you do if an alien kidnapped your brother? You hunt him down...

And, you have to find him before he grabs one of the last star ships off of Earth, paying for passage with the human he stole.

Stunning, fast paced, high action sci fi sizzler you can’t put down.

The siege of Terra ends with the collapse of the alien armada... but that is just the beginning of the terror and the journey our human heroes face when one of their own is taken as a wild-caught slave to be bartered for passage off Terra.

And with the new aliens closing down orbital access, the evil alien is desperate to escape before he is caught and killed. That is especially true for the Brinlo Orbital Overlord, when his escape ship is holed by a particle beam cannon and crashes on Earth.

He is desperate to find another ship before his time runs out. He grabs a human to take as a slave for barter and the urgent journey begins. And, time is running out!

Bring your hunting bow and fastest travel pack to stay up with Bill, Maria, Ben and the others as they track down the alien and work to figure out how to get inside his impenetrable personal defense screen and survive the blasts from his Warrior Assault Rifle.

It is the ultimate battle of alien technology against the basic HUMAN will to succeed.

The alien has everything to lose and the humans will not be denied.

In this epic adventure, not all humans are good and not all aliens are bad. The difficult journey is to tell them apart.

Everything comes to an intense focal point at the end, just as the evil alien finds a ship to help him escape.

Read the stunning conclusion to this Sci Fi book set and series set in the rich science fiction & fantasy alternative history of the Trigellian Universe.

• Language: English
• Publisher: J. T. Skye
• Release date: Feb 24, 2024
• ISBN: 9798215395875

J. T. Skye

Hi there. I'm Jon Thomas Skye, better known to my friends as JT.I've loved to read and write science fiction and action adventure stories for many years. I wrote my first story in the early-2000's on an IBM Selectric typewriter of all things - you remember those days when you pressed hard on the character key, it swung up and smacked a carbon ribbon onto the paper leaving a visible character on the page, one letter at a time. Wow, have things changed!I am passionate about mainstream SciFi Opera and Action Adventure, but always with a twist. I always want to throw a curve to make it interesting and unusual while staying true to the genre and readers - my goal is to have readers think and smile, exhausted from the adventure.I also strive to weave in my personal experiences into the story when I can, whether from travels, climbing, making stuff or creative exploits. Every day, I get up early to write. It is an amazing and wonderful journey.If you'd like to receive an email update whenever I release a new title, join my special Readers' Group. I'll occasionally send you short notes to keep you up to date on up-coming releases, special eBook promotions only available to the Readers' Group, new fan art and author recommendations I think you'll enjoy reading.

Book preview

Apocalypse Earth

After World

J. T. Skye

Skye Publishing LLC

Copyright © 2021 by Skye Publishing LLC

No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

Cover Design by Steven J. Catizone

Disclaimer

This is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to actual historical events or people is unintentional coincidence. Really. Despite what you may have heard or read in the tabloids, this story isn’t true. Please, enjoy it as it unfolds.

Contents

Chapter

Chapter

1.Chapter 1

2.Chapter 2

3.Chapter 3

4.Chapter 4

5.Chapter 5

6.Chapter 6

7.Chapter 7

8.Chapter 8

9.Chapter 9

10.Chapter 10

11.Chapter 11

12.Chapter 12

13.Chapter 13

14.Chapter 14

15.Chapter 15

16.Chapter 16

17.Chapter 17

18.Chapter 18

19.Chapter 19

20.Chapter 20

21.Chapter 21

22.Chapter 22

23.Chapter 23

24.Chapter 24

25.Chapter 25

26.Chapter 26

27.Chapter 27

28.Chapter 28

29.Chapter 29

30.Chapter 30

31.Chapter 31

32.Chapter 32

Introduction

Thank you for taking your time to read the third and final book in this series - Apocalypse Earth: After World.

This has been quite the ride as you can see by the Amazon reviews - some people like it and some don’t. Passionately. And, that is a good thing.

I really appreciate ALL the reviews. but realized after I got the one stars that some of my readers didn’t understand what I was trying to accomplish. They thought I was bashing white males. Nope.

I was trying to create a very big character arc in Book 1 and selected that way to show it. I just wish those reviewers would have had a chance to read the other Sci Fi stories I’ve written that show ALL Earth humans as persecuted in the alien hegemony of the Trigellian Universe. Sort of the opposite problem.

Anyway, any review is a good review if it helps other readers determine if the story is right for them.

So… this story will wrap a lot of stuff up. I do suggest you get out the tissues, though. There will be thrilling times and some tragic times… ‘just so you know.

And, for William Theodore Benson, it brings him full circle.

I have really enjoyed bringing this story to life and hope you enjoy it as much as I did as I wrote it.

Here you go…

Prologue

Brinlo Colonel Brot Zen tapped a small icon on his wrist comm to shock the neck collar of the small, teddy bear-like Grimp slave who’d strayed too far from sitting next to his command couch.

He grinned thinly with the act, his sharp, ivory yellow teeth showing from his dark olive green skin and watched out of the corner of his very dark brown eyes as the Grimp grimaced at the painful shock and slowly moved back at his side.

The Grimp, barely two thirds of a meter tall, was like a small, Terran Teddy Bear, soft, fine fur, dark tan with splotches of cream and brown. The forward looking golden eyes glared at the giant view screen as she sat down next to Zen’s command couch… again. She didn’t say a thing as she had no vocal chords to speak with. Her kind used a form of communal telepathy that worked for short distances on their home world of Delphus 3.

Because she could not speak and her kind did not travel the stars, the Brinlo High Command deemed her race not sentient.

They were very, very wrong.

Colonel Zen stared out the large viewscreen at the dawn horizon arc of Terra. He contentedly gloated with his feeling of power, of ownership and control… the God-like feeling of omnipotence.

He and his eleven other cruisers made up the orbital blockade, parked in geo-synchronous orbits as Terran Overlords managing access to and the harvesting of human slaves for trade on Cren Siblis and the other slave planets that had active auction markets.

He frowned for a moment in disgust at the obvious insult that his younger brother, Jorad, would be promoted to the high rank of Brinlo Armada Fleet Commander… over him. He gently shook his head in disgust at the loss of privilege and being relegated to a simple Brinlo Overlord. He gently shook his head, again, in anger and resentment focusing deeply on that and not paying attention to the viewscreen.

Lieutenant Tor Winn turned to him carefully, his dark, olive green skin and black hair covered in his usual thin glistening coat of sweat, Colonel, sir. We have intermittent contacts from our peripheral battle drones.

Colonel Zen frowned at the interruption that forced him to refocus, What? What now?

Lieutenant Winn chose his words carefully from long experience, Sorry to interrupt you, sir, just providing an initial report for your brief awareness of initial contact. We are quietly pursuing the information to determine if the contacts are our ships, traders or the Hogantha. I won’t interrupt again, unless it is important.

Zen pulled his eyes away from the view screen to look at the Lieutenant with a withering, blistering glare, See that you do, Lieutenant. I didn’t give you this promotion for idle banter. Do not interrupt me again with useless, ill formed input, or I will find someone more competent as Bridge Chief. He turned back to the viewscreen to look deeply out across his vast lands.

Lieutenant Winn smiled thinly, understanding the painful rebuke and personal risk he’d just dodged. He looked calmly at his tab screen and then the console of his Chief Weapons and Interrogation Officer, Lieutenant Lan Prat.

CWIO Prat looked up with anger, a deep frown and began to turn toward the Commander to speak.

Winn gently put his hand on her shoulder to cause her to stop.

She instantly glared at him, looked at the personal intrusion of his hand on her shoulder and then up at his face, about to continue.

He very gently shook his head and then knelt down next to her console to point at the distant drone images.

He looked at her and spoke just above a whisper, Lieutenant, your contact report is proper. I appreciate it and want you to continue to monitor the data. If you interrogate the contacts and feel they shape up as warcraft, alert me immediately.

He looked hard into her angry eyes and her deep frown, Only me.

He paused for a moment to look out at the viewscreen, I’ll pass that on to our leader with suitable recognition for your hard work and to shield you from any… inappropriate energy or consternation that may ensue. Do you understand that?

She glared with a thin lipped expression and nodded, adding quietly and angrily, Thank you, sir.

Her console screen suddenly flared bright, incandescent red all around them with enemy contacts less than a hundred thousand kilometers away and inbound at a very fast rate, still slowing to attack speeds.

She started to tap her console for more data. Lieutenant Winn didn’t hesitate. He stood up and turned, Commander! We have multiple Hoganthan war ships inbound NOW.

The Commander turned with anger, again diverted from his mental daydream. The Grimp smiled with her head looking away from the Commander.

What? Say again. I thought you said they were not defined contacts, you imbecile. Can’t you even get the data and sensor contact right? You are fired. I’ll…

Lieutenant Winn interrupted his leader, Fire me later. We are under attack and need you to authorize a response. Remember Commander, you are the only one who can initiate an attack response, per your order last month.

Commander Zen reddened under his dark olive skin at the rebuke and would seek his revenge later on the impudent Lieutenant, Of course attack. Raise shields now. Bring all weapons online with immediate response and initiate target lock. Fire at any enemy you can, Lieutenant. Is that clear enough for you?

He waited a moment as the Lieutenant was tapping icons on his tab. The ship-wide alert began to blare across the ship, Alert, alert, this is not a drill, battle stations now. Initiate instant weapons energy, acquisition and target as you see them. Alert, alert, this is not a drill…

Over the red blinking ceiling lights in the Bridge zone, the Lieutenant was still tapping out orders to the two flights of alert-status fighters they had on board. He was already tapping icons and using his neural network to initiate group-wide responses that spanned the broad, orbital security network surrounding Terra.

The viewscreen shifted to show their right quadrant and a dozen small, pin-points of light in the far distance that were clearly moving at high speed. Some were moving at an angle, but his main concern was for the growing bits of light coming straight at them.

Lieutenant, is that all? Just a handful of little ships? What are they? Fighters or frigates? Is that what this fuss is about?

Winn frowned and tried not to show anger in his voice, The twelve contacts you see on the view screen are Hoganthan cruisers including the Qualoo, Destiny and Imperator. Behind them is at least one battleship and a dreadnought, likely General Lim’s fleet command ship. More contacts forming up, Commander.

He paused to check the console data, The ships you don’t see on the viewscreen, Commander, are the one hundred and fifty three destroyers, two hundred and ninety frigates and patrol ships coming into firing range. I have no count yet on how many fighters are out there. We are vastly outnumbered.

Commander Zen leaned hard forward toward the screen and frowned, And what of my dear brother? Is his command ship still here or did he go out on another sightseeing adventure across the galaxy abandoning us?

Winn visibly shook his head in disgust, Fleet Commander Jorad Zen is already engaged, to the planet’s Western side. His command ship has already taken enormous damage according to our infeed…

He was harshly rocked and grabbed the console to prevent falling over as the entire ship was slammed by a high energy particle weapon from two distant cruisers.

The shudder began to subside. Bridge crew that weren’t strapped in began to climb up off of the floor plate in a daze and get back into their couches, struggling to get their safety webs snapped across their bodies to hold them in place.

Commander Zen screamed at Winn, I told you to get the defensive screens up. Do it now, you idiot.

Lieutenant Winn turned harshly and then caught himself, Commander, the screens ARE up and those particle shots cut directly through them anyway… We are holed in seven places.

Don’t you yell at me, Lieutenant, this is your fault. You and your CWIO found the contacts and should have responded correctly. You will be held accountable at a…

Winn yelled, Save it Commander, the original contacts were not specific. These ships Jumped directly into nearby space…

He looked down at the weapons console and his tab for data, The engines are holed. We are not going anywhere. I suggest you consider creating a strategy to move us out of here and secure other cover for us.

That’s your job, Lieutenant… or, was. Get us out of here. Jump us somewhere, now.

As I said, sir, the engines are dead. The Jump engine is dead, we are holed and losing air fast. We can maneuver at not more than five hundred kilometers per hour… sir. What are your orders?

Commander Zen paled inside his deep, olive green skin, Have the Chief Engineer prepare a Jump shuttle in the landing bay. I will personally see my brother about this.

Lieutenant Winn scowled, You assigned all of the Jump shuttles to your brother’s Command ship a month ago. We have none left, just escape pods and the two flights of fighters already engaged. What are your orders?

Continue to defend. Gather your resources around…

The big ship shuddered again as an enormous blast deafened them and almost knocking the Lieutenant out of his couch even with the safety web on. The alarm bells screamed again, the emergency lights blipped on and there was a quick puff of negative atmospheric pressure as the inside air began escaping through the large, devastating holes in the ship’s hull.

Everyone turned to look at the Commander for guidance. They had been taught over the many months that only he can give emergency ship orders. The Lieutenant began to tap furiously at the console with Lieutenant Prat following his lead and directions, for weapons fire, missile fire and everything else she had to try and defend their dying ship.

Brinlo Overlord Commander Zen jumped out of his couch, grabbed his wrist pad with one hand and the harness of the Grimp with the other, heading for the bridge hatch, Continue to defend, Lieutenant. I will go to my staff office and discuss tactics with my esteemed brother.

Zen jerked the Grimp along and staggered like a drunken Brinlo leper as he headed out the door. Once past the hall, he raced down a second hall, bouncing from one side to the other as his ship was being torn apart by the Hoganthan cruisers and battleship. He worked his way to an emergency vertical shaft, still bouncing back and forth, hitting the sides of the walls as the ship continued to be bombarded with high energy weapons fire from the big Hoganthan cruisers surrounding them.

He jumped into the shaft and descended directly to his executive hangar, shoving the vertical shaft hatch open to race to his personal escape pod. He smiled grimly at the highly modified escape pod and ran, then staggered, then ran over to it. It was more like an atmospheric fighter than just an escape pod. He stole the idea from his brother and made similar changes. He opened the hatch door with his neural link and threw the Grimp into the back storage cubby.

He used his neural link to initialize the main engine and systems as he quickly strapped the Grimp in and then himself. He wrapped her in a thin stranded cargo net to the back wall.