Plantilla:Infobox Book Alien vs. Predator: Armageddon is a 2016 novel written by Tim Lebbon and published by Titan Books. A sequel to Alien: Invasion, it sees the war between humanity and the Rage reach its climax, with the Rage launching a direct assault on the Solar System. In the face of total annihilation of mankind's home, Isa Palant and Liliya come up with a final, desperate plan to try and end the slaughter. It was released on September 28, 2016.
Armageddon was the first Alien vs. Predator novel to be published by Titan, taking over from Bantam Books. As well as the standard print edition, the novel was released simultaneously in audiobook format, read by John Chancer and published by Audible Studios.
Alien vs. Predator: Armageddon is the final novel in the Rage War trilogy, preceded by Predator: Incursion and Alien: Invasion.
Synopsis[]
The Rage launch the ultimate assault on the Human Sphere. Their greatest weapons are the most fearsome creatures in the galaxy — the Plantilla:Xenos.
TARGET EARTH
Having fled centuries before, the Rage return to take revenge and claim the planet for their own. Now, through a deal struck with the unlikeliest of allies, the human race may rely on the Predators to ensure mankind's ultimate freedom. Yet even the combined might of the two races may not be enough. The fate of the Earth may rest with a single android — Liliya of the Rage.
Plot[]
Despite escaping their pursuers and taking refuge on the space station known as Hell, Liliya and Hashori are stunned to find General Alexander and his army are still on their trail. The two fugitives narrowly escape Hell with resident scientists Jiango and Yvette Tann aboard the Satan's Savior, a mercenary vessel captained by Ware, fleeing as Alexander launches an assault on the station; after putting his Xenomorphs aboard to slaughter the inhabitants, his command ship continues its pursuit. Realizing that Alexander will never stop hunting them, Liliya and Hashori have Ware use her vessel as bait to lure the general into a Plantilla:Pred ambush, which succeeds in destroying Alexander's ship. Now safe in the knowledge they will be pursued no more, Liliya and her compatriots resume their journey towards Earth. However, unknown to them, Alexander has survived the destruction of his vessel, and after repairing his damaged body by grafting pieces of dead Xenomorph soldiers to himself, he hijacks a Yautja ship and continues the chase.
Elsewhere, General Mashima arrives at the human colony planet of Weaver's World and begins his assault, unleashing his entire army of 16,000 Xenomorph soldiers on the populace. The planet's defense is led by experienced Colonial Marine commander General Sergei Budanov, but as so many times before, human forces find themselves ill-matched against the highly advanced weaponry and Xenomorph army wielded by the Rage — within hours, the major cities on Weaver's World become war zones, while the inhabitants of outlying settlements are systematically massacred with little opposition. Even when reinforcements arrive in the form of a large group of Yatuja, the fighting remains brutal and the situation seems dire.
News of the devastation on Weaver's World reaches Major Halley at the secret Yautja installation where Isa Palant is researching a captured Rage general, whom she has christened "Oscar". Working alongside a Yautja scientist named Yaquita, Palant begins to unlock the secrets of the Rage's control over the Xenomorphs. Discussing her findings with the Elder Kalakta, Palant learns that the advanced biomechanical technology the Rage employ originated from a long-departed race of ancient aliens called the Drukathi, whom even the Yautja fear. Kalakta suggests the Drukathi, however unlikely it may seem, may be influencing current events from afar, having orchestrated the war as a means to prevent mankind from becoming too advanced. Palant and Yaquita return to their work, but their research is cut short when Oscar attempts to self destruct; although Palant averts a devastating nuclear explosion, the general's body is destroyed. In Oscar's final moments, Yaquita is able to extract from the android the probable location of the Rage's command ship, the Macbeth.
Aboard the Satan's Savior, the Tanns conduct their own experiments on Liliya, accessing and studying the Xenomorph control tech she carries in her synthetic bloodstream. Through Hashori, they learn of Palant's work at the secret Yautja base, and elect to rendezvous with her so that they can share information. However, the journey there requires them to use a drophole that has been commandeered by the Rage. Reaching the drophole, the Satan's Savior engages the Rage forces guarding it, employing unorthodox combat manoeuvres to successfully destroy two of the enemy ships. However, the third cripples Ware's vessel and puts several Xenomorphs aboard; Ware and her crew are forced to engage the creatures in close combat, assisted by Hashori. Although the confrontation is brutal, the crew manage to kill the creatures, leading the surviving Rage ship to launch a much larger group of Xenomorphs at the stricken vessel. Alexander also arrives in his stolen Yautja ship and docks, seeking to board the Satan's Savior himself. Just as the situation seems lost, two Yautja attack craft arrive, destroying the remaining Rage vessel and its incoming soldiers, before remotely activating the stasis systems on Alexander's stolen ship and capturing him.
At the Yautja science installation, Palant begins formulating a plan to destroy the Rage's android generals by remotely triggering their self destruct systems, her hope being that by removing the Xenomorphs' tactical commanders, humanity may have a chance of defeating the creatures. However, in order to affect every android across the Human Sphere, she realizes she will need to be aboard the Macbeth. Thus the small band of humans sets off in Halley's ship, the Pixie, using a secret Yautja drophole located within the heart of the asteroid that contains the base. On the other side of the drop, the Pixie meets up with the Yautja vessels that saved Liliya and her compatriots, and the two groups meet and confer. Testing the validity of their plan, they jettison Alexander's body into space, whereupon Liliya succeeds in remotely destroying him. Satisfied, they make for the Macbeth, but upon arrival at its last known location find no trace of the ship, only a drophole that has been extensively and radically modified by the Rage; using this upgraded drophole, the Macbeth has already performed an almost inconceivable jump across hundreds of light years to reach the very heart of the Human Sphere — the Sol System.
The Macbeth, now split into a dozen smaller vessels, immediately begins its final assault. Among its targets is the USCM control hub at Charon Station, which is attacked by two of the separated ships. The heavily defended station puts up a valiant fight, employing all of the defensive weaponry, countermeasures and combat personnel at its disposal, but even this is not enough, and it is gradually overwhelmed and obliterated by the Rage; General Bassett is able to send a final message reporting the fall of the USCM's command before he is slain by one of the Rage's Xenomorphs.
Shortly before Charon's destruction, Weyland-Yutani executive Gerard Marshall escapes the station with two Marine personnel on a secret mission — in a last-ditch effort to stall the Rage's advance across human space, the Weyland-Yutani executive board has elected to deactivate the entire drophole network throughout the Human Sphere. While this will essentially shatter human space as it is currently known, stranding countless billions in deep space with little hope of ever reaching another colonised system, the company also hopes it will forestall the Rage's advance by preventing them from travelling rapidly between populated areas. Reaching the control center for the process, concealed aboard an apparently derelict ship called the Phoenix that drifts lifeless in space, Marshall settles down to wait for a sign that the war in Sol has been lost.
Meanwhile, the leader of the Rage, Beatrix Maloney, presses on towards her ultimate target — Earth. However, before she can reach it, her command ship is attacked by the Pixie. Relaizing Liliya is aboard, having followed the Macbeth through the modified drophole, Maloney has the ship disabled and brought aboard, planning to dispose of the traitorous synthetic herself. As this happens, a small Yatuja craft, hidden by its cloak, also sneaks aboard the Macbeth, bringing with it Palant, Halley and her Marines, who duly storm the ship. Fighting erupts in the vessel's corridors as it is simultaneously assaulted from outside by more Yautja craft. Meanwhile, the Tanns, Ware and her crew also manage to slip aboard, along with a newly arrived Kalakta and a party of Yautja, creating a distraction to try and draw some of the innumerable defending Xenomorphs away from Halley and Palant. Through almost incredible odds, Palant reaches the control center for the android generals and uploads the modified nanotech she has prepared. Just as Maloney prepares to have Liliya killed by feeding her to the Xenomorph Queen contained in the Macbeth's hold, the android receives word from Palant that they are ready, and she duly activates the self destruct systems of every Rage android across the galaxy, destroying them and their ships and releasing their command over the Xenomorph soldiers; Liliya's own modified heart also detonates, killing her and Maloney and destroying the Macbeth. The survivors — Palant, Marines Halley and Huyck, mercenaries Ware and Robo, the Tanns, Kalakta and Hashori — are jettisoned from the ship in its drive section.
Aboard the Phoenix, Marshall detects the enormous nuclear detonations throughout Sol, correctly identifying them as having come from the Rage. After the blasts, the entire system falls silent, and he and the others with him conclude that the war is lost. Despite knowing they may be condemning themselves to a lonely death in deep space as much as the billions of others scattered throughout the Human Sphere, Marshall and the two USCM personnel agree that the doomsday protocol must be initiated. Reluctantly, Marshall permanently shuts down the drophole network.
In the aftermath, the survivors of the attack on the Macbeth regroup and take stock. The Human Sphere is no more, fragmented into countless human communities spread throughout the galaxy and separated by insurmountable distances. With the Rage destroyed and their former Xenomorph troops now leaderless creatures once more, Palant and the others consider how mankind's ongoing battles with them, such as the one on Weaver's World, may be progressing, especially now that the participants are truly cut off. Concerned at the thought of the surviving section of the Macbeth falling into Weyland-Yutani's hands, Halley suggests destroying it, but Hashori insists the Yautja will take it with them; unable to argue and in no mood for another war, Halley relents. Finally, the survivors consider their futures in an uncertain universe — Palant and the Tanns graciously accept an invitation from Hashori to join her on a pilgrimage to the Yautja home world, while Halley and Huyck consider an offer from Ware to join her mercenary crew.
Audiobook[]
Alien vs. Predator: Armageddon audiobook.
Simultaneous with the physical release, Audible Studios produced an unabridged audiobook of Alien vs. Predator: Armageddon, read by John Chancer. The audiobook runs for 10 hours and 54 minutes.
Trivia[]
- Alien vs. Predator: Armageddon was the first Alien vs. Predator novel in some 17 years (not counting the novelization of the film Plantilla:AVP1) and only the second Alien vs. Predator book written that is an original story.
- Major Halley identifies one of the specimens at the Yautja asteroid installation as a fire spite, and she and her men inform Palant that they have fought them before. Tim Lebbon would later write about this encounter in the short story prequel Spite, included in the anthology Aliens: Bug Hunt.
- The ship Aaron-Percival that appears in the novel was named after AVPGalaxy administrator Corporal Hicks.
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Plantilla:Navbox Novels