Heaven's Angels

Copyrighted Material Heaven’s Angels Copyright © 2023 by Variant Publications Book design and layout copyright © 2023 by JN Chaney This novel is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either products of the author’s imagination or used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living, dead, or undead, is entirely coincidental. All rights reserved No part of this publication can be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, without permission in writing. 1st Edition CONTENTS Don’t Miss OutPreviously in Uplink SquadronPrologueChapter 1Chapter 2Chapter 3Chapter 4Chapter 5Chapter 6Chapter 7Chapter 8Chapter 9Chapter 10Chapter 11Chapter 12Chapter 13Chapter 14Chapter 15Chapter 16Chapter 17Chapter 18Chapter 19Chapter 20Chapter 21Chapter 22Chapter 23Chapter 24Chapter 25Chapter 26Chapter 27Chapter 28EpilogueJoin the ConversationConnect with J.N. ChaneyConnect with Chris KennedyAbout the Authors Don’t miss out on these exclusive perks: Instant access to free short stories from series like Backyard Starship, Sentenced to War, and more.Receive email updates for new releases and other news.Get notified when we run special deals on books and audiobooks. So, what are you waiting for? Enter your email address at the link below to stay in the loop. Click Here PREVIOUSLY IN UPLINK SQUADRON With Space Command a reality, the U.S. established its first major base in space. In addition to providing defense for the nation, the permanent crew onboard also had time to explore their surroundings. One of the first things they found was the alien spacecraft orbiting Jupiter’s moon Callisto. Hoping the aliens had come in peace, the U.S. sent emissaries to make contact. When that didn’t go so well, they sent everything they had. They were all destroyed. Faced with a foe beyond their abilities, the nations of Earth united to combat the Overlords, and they developed the uplink technology necessary for pilots to merge with their fighters, giving them a synergy that helped them outfight the aliens. Some pilots took it too far, though, and uploaded everything they were into the systems of their fighters, becoming synthetic intelligences—functioning AIs that used to be people. With the aid of the SIs, the Terrans seemed to be holding their own… until they found out the aliens weren’t trying; it had all been a test to gauge the Terrans’ ability to fight. Having been found worthy, they were given an offer to fight alongside the Overlords. As the unstated alternative was their eradication, the Terrans joined the Galactic War on the Overlords’ side. But something wasn’t right. It seemed that the nations they were fighting—the Kardons and Sontags—were their natural allies, and that the Overlords weren’t telling them the whole truth. When Terran Lance Baker was shot down on an alien planet, he found out the truth—the Overlords were in fact AIs, bent on the subjugation of every biological life form… including the Terrans. Finally seeing the big picture, the Terrans joined their former enemies against the Overlords, and won several battles, appearing to drive the AIs back. But when the Terrans—along with their new allies—sent a fleet behind enemy lines to destroy the Overlords’ infrastructure, the force was cut off and nearly destroyed. A few ships managed to fight their way clear, only to be chased by a vastly superior Overlord force. They are now on the run, and one thing is certain—the next time they stop, it will be for their final stand. For if the Overlord force breaks through, there is nothing to stop it from driving all the way to Earth and the other home planets… and wiping out the alliance for good. PROLOGUEBLASTER THREE OH THREE, DEEP SPACE, UNKNOWN SYSTEM “Damn, that sucked.” Lieutenant Commander Billy Porter blinked his eyes a couple of times. His head hurt, his body hurt, and it took a minute to figure out where he was. Well, he knew where he was—he was in the cockpit of his fighter. But why he was waking up in the dark fighter was beyond him. Everything was dead. The instrument panel had a hole through it, so he didn’t expect it to come back anytime soon. Looking at it for a second made him pause. The angle of the hole meant that the rail gun round—it couldn’t have been from anything else—must have come from… He looked over his left shoulder and saw the hole through the canopy. The round couldn’t have missed his shoulder by more than a centimeter or two on its way through the cockpit. Who’d wanna shoot little ol’ me? It slowly came back to him. The Blasters, along with the fleet of Terrans, Sontags, and Kardons, had been trapped in the system. While they’d been trying to figure out what they were going to do when the Overlords got there, the Overlords had transitioned into the system, ending the discussion. A big battle had ensued. Well, that wasn’t true; it hadn’t been much of a fight. The Overlords had them vastly outnumbered, and Porter had quickly found himself the target of four enemy fighters. Two, he could have handled. Maybe even three. It’d been the fourth that had gotten him. His SI, Keith, had called the fighter and had jerked Three Oh Three—probably saving his life—but the round had hit the computer. Keith had kicked him out and everything had gone black. Porter had no idea if Keith was salvageable. He’d need power to find out if the synthetic intelligence—the product of a human uploading himself into the computer system via the fighter’s uplink technology—still lived. The computer looked like a loss, though, and judging by the hole, it wasn’t coming back. Perhaps he could recover the memory module and the SI… but as he looked around and recovered his senses, he realized he had bigger problems. He wasn’t going anywhere, much less completing his plans to resurrect Keith. The fighter was dead. He had no pressurization—or air—in the cockpit beyond what he had in the fighter’s systems and his suit. He looked at the O2 gauge to see how much he had left,