Nemesis Games

James SA Corey

James S. A. Corey is the pen name of fantasy author Daniel Abraham and Ty Franck, George R. R. Martin’s assistant. They both live in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Find out more about this series at www.the-expanse.com.

Find out more about James S. A. Corey and other Orbit authors by registering for the free monthly newsletter at www.orbitbooks.net.

COPYRIGHT

Published by Orbit

978-0-3565-0424-7

All characters and events in this publication, other than those clearly in the public domain, are fictitious and any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

The moral right of the author has been asserted.

The publisher is not responsible for websites (or their content) that are not owned by the publisher.

ORBIT

Little, Brown Book Group

Carmelite House

50 Victoria Embankment

London EC4Y 0DZ

www.littlebrown.co.uk

www.hachette.co.uk

Nemesis Games

Table of Contents

About the Author
COPYRIGHT
Dedication
Prologue: Filip
Chapter One: Holden
Chapter Two: Alex
Chapter Three: Naomi
Chapter Four: Amos
Chapter Five: Holden
Chapter Six: Alex
Chapter Seven: Amos
Chapter Eight: Holden
Chapter Nine: Naomi
Chapter Ten: Amos
Chapter Eleven: Alex
Chapter Twelve: Amos
Chapter Thirteen: Holden
Chapter Fourteen: Naomi
Chapter Fifteen: Alex
Chapter Sixteen: Holden
Chapter Seventeen: Alex
Chapter Eighteen: Holden
Chapter Nineteen: Naomi
Chapter Twenty: Alex
Chapter Twenty-one: Naomi
Chapter Twenty-two: Amos
Chapter Twenty-three: Holden
Chapter Twenty-four: Amos
Chapter Twenty-five: Naomi
Chapter Twenty-six: Amos
Chapter Twenty-seven: Alex
Chapter Twenty-eight: Holden
Chapter Twenty-nine: Naomi
Chapter Thirty: Amos
Chapter Thirty-one: Alex
Chapter Thirty-two: Naomi
Chapter Thirty-three: Holden
Chapter Thirty-five: Naomi
Chapter Thirty-six: Holden
Chapter Thirty-seven: Alex
Chapter Thirty-eight: Amos
Chapter Thirty-nine: Naomi
Chapter Forty: Amos
Chapter Forty-one: Naomi
Chapter Forty-two: Holden
Chapter Forty-three: Alex
Chapter Forty-four: Naomi
Chapter Forty-five: Amos
Chapter Forty-six: Alex
Chapter Forty-seven: Naomi
Chapter Forty-eight: Holden
Chapter Forty-nine: Amos
Chapter Fifty: Alex
Chapter Fifty-one: Naomi
Epilogue: Sauveterre
Acknowledgments

To Ben Cook, without whom

Prologue: Filip

The twin shipyards of Callisto stood side by side on the hemisphere of the moon that faced permanently away from Jupiter. The sun was only the brightest star in the endless night, the wide smear of the Milky Way brighter by far. All along the ridges of the craters, harsh white work lights glared down onto buildings, loaders, scaffolds. The ribs of half-built ships arced up over the regolith of stone dust and ice. Two shipyards, one civilian and one military, one Earth-based and one owned by Mars. Both protected by the same anti-meteor rail-gun defenses, both dedicated to building and repairing the vessels that would take humanity out to the new worlds beyond the rings when and if the fight on Ilus got worked out.

Both in a lot more trouble than they guessed.

Filip slid forward, the rest of his team close behind him. The suit LEDs had been gouged out, the ceramic plating scoured until nothing was smooth enough to cast a reflection. Even the heads-up display was dimmed almost to the point of invisibility. The voices in Filip’s ears – ship traffic, security feeds, civilian chatter – were picked up on passive. He listened while transmitting nothing in return. The targeting laser strapped to his back was powered down. He and his team were shadows among shadows. The faint countdown timer in the left of his visual field passed the fifteen-minute mark. Filip patted air barely thicker than vacuum with an open palm, the Belters’ physical idiom to move forward slowly. Around him, his team followed.