Descent into Hellios

Nexus House #2

by Rick Campbell

From beyond her grave, a hero’s final transmission could turn the tide of a galactic war.

Three years after humanity's Final Stand against the Korilian Empire, the Colonial Defense Forces have largely reclaimed the lost colonies. However, as the tide of war shifts against the Colonies again, Admiral Jon McCarthy and Lara Anderson discover a message from a long-dead prescient Nexus Ten amid the ruins of Darian 3. This startling discovery creates the potential to alter the course of the war with the Korilians, tilting the outcome toward humanity’s favor.

Admiral McCarthy and Lara accompany 2nd Fleet and a Marine Expeditionary Force on a mission deep inside Korilian territory. Their target is Hellios, a dark planet hosting a Korilian facility shrouded in mystery. The mission to penetrate and neutralize the complex is perilous, and as a handpicked Marine platoon descends through each level, the stakes escalate. But when they reach a dark chamber in the heart of the enemy stronghold, no one is prepared for what they find.

268 pages, Paperback

First published July 15, 2025

About the author

RICK CAMPBELL, a retired Navy Commander, served on four nuclear-powered submarines, finishing his career with tours in the Pentagon and the Washington Navy Yard. On his last submarine, he was one of the two men whose permission is required to launch the submarine's nuclear-warhead-armed missiles.

Upon retirement from the Navy, Rick was offered a two-book deal by Macmillan / St. Martin's Press for his novel The Trident Deception, which was hailed by Booklist as "The best submarine novel written in the last thirty years, since Tom Clancy's classic - The Hunt for Red October". His first six books were Barnes & Noble Top-10 and Amazon #1 bestsellers, and the 7th and 8th books in the series are scheduled for release in April 2024 and spring 2025.

To learn more, visit Rick Campbell's website and his "Submarine 101" page at www.rickcampbellauthor.com.

Reviews

[Jerry · Rating 5 out of 5]

The 2nd of a 6 book series, I am enjoying his jump into Sci-Fi. I have read his Dad's "Lost Fleet" series, and have read Rick's military (submarine) thrillers. I like that the space battles are a little more practical. No hyper-space, instead it takes time to move from place to place. Weapons and shields must re-charge. Characters are interesting and engaging. I'm looking forward to the next 4 books over the next few months.

[Jim · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a very interesting story that uses some very questionable abilities by its main characters. Those abilities are called prescient which is in layman’s terms the ability to predict the future. There is an entire sect of this society that has grown up with the sole purpose of developing latent talent in those who seem to have prescient.

Nexus House now stands as the only major house with their leader, Nexus One, as a top their level Ten. There is one other Ten but he is currently on loan to the Colonial Defense Force (CDF) Navy. It is most likely that Admiral Jon McCarthy will stay with the Navy since humanity is in a long-term war with the Korilians. He played a significant role in the first book, “Final Stand”, where he in command of the Earth’s forces, defeated a major Korilian armada bent on capturing Earth and enslaving all humanity.

Admiral McCarthy used his considerable prescient abilities to predict where and when his enemy would attack and where they were most weakest. This is why he proved so successful and he’s now considered a vital asset to the war effort. Along with most Fleet Commanders will be a Nexus House representative known as a Nexus Guide. Lara Anderson, has been Admiral McCarthy’s Nexus Guide during Final Stand and while she isn’t fully trained and only Level Eight, she did provide him with some insightful help during the battle. As a Level Eight, she also could see glimpses of the future, but could not expand her view beyond the prime timeline. A Ten could follow the prime timeline and even explore alternate branches to that prime line influencing decision so the best one would eventually be followed.

Lara had recently received a vision involving an Army Major Elena Kapadia. In this vision, the Major was apparently sending a last desperate message to CDF HQ telling them to do something. Lara could only listen to part of the message as the rest seemed to be garbled. Lara wasn’t sure about who the person sending the message was, where it had come from or its significance. Fortunately, she told of her vision to Admiral McCarthy who was able to fill her in on who this person was.

Admiral McCarthy stated that the Elena was a Nexus House Ten some eighteen years ago when she had sent that message from a planet called Darian 3. That planet had been overrun by the Korilians and Major Kapadia killed. CDF HQ didn’t have a record of the message since it was part of the Army archives and even when going through the archives, the message was still garbled. In it, the Major said the CDF must destroy a Korilian facility on the fourth planet.., but it didn’t specify what facility, the planet or even what star system it might be in. Yet, Admiral McCarthy knew this message was critical to the war effort.

He asked and was granted permission by the CDF Fleet Admiral to go back to Darian 3 and find Major Kapadia’s hidden command bunker to see if the complete message was stored in that device which it should have been although this was eighteen years ago. He was allowed to take Lara Anderson with him. McCarthy and Lara were developing a relationship beyond just professional. He also told Lara that at one time he and Elena were lovers and he felt very deeply about going back to find this message.

So, they take a fairly large contingent of Naval forces and a special platoon of Marines to safe guard both Admiral McCarthy and Lara. They do recover the full message, but it points to a planet far inside Korilian borders that might be impossible to even get to. For some strange reason, Admiral McCarthy cannot foresee the future of this new mission to that planet. All he can see is his landing on the planet, but then his vision stops. Lara also cannot see anything about this mission even though she is brought along.

The book is very interesting, but no one at Nexus House nor McCarthy or Lara have a premonition about this mission. Their abilities seem to be blocked. But, Lara does have a vision at a critical time during the mission, but for some stupid and idiotic, reason she says nothing to McCarthy or the Marines desperately guarding her. If she had said something, that mission would have stopped and a lot of Marines would have lived, but she didn’t and that’s just a really dumb part of the book. If you have a vision involving those around you, wouldn’t you say something?

Additionally, I don’t know why Lara is even along on this mission. She hasn’t contributed anything to anyone and kind of just stands around. She’s not a trained combatant, doesn’t have a weapon, nor does she know how to even defend herself yet she’s given to a bunch of highly skilled Marines who have to babysit her all the way through a very difficult mission! Not very realistic.

Ok, so the book was interesting, but really dumb in parts. The Korilian War hasn’t ended so this series will continue in book 3, “The End of Time”, now available on Amazon.

==[Note: As of 12/03/2023, this will not be published on Amazon since I have been banned from posting reviews for some unknown reason. Once the ban is lifted, assuming it does get lifted, I’ll go back and post this to Amazon.]==

[Jen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Not as good as the first book, but still a fantastic read. This one delves into warring factions in the government and a big secret. That plot twist was a good one - probably a lot of people saw it coming but I sure didn't.

This is the best scifi I've read in awhile. It has its own flavor, more hard scifi/military than I usually read. The strategy of war, ships being sent into battle knowing they'll be lost, it's a very interesting look at the way our military decides what to do in a war. The reality of ground troops being lost and sacrifices having to be made are jarring.

And of course Greg Tremblay was spectactular on audio.

[Dick Montgomery · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another good read in the fight to save humanity, but the fight doesn’t end here. A good read start to finish.

[charlie brown · Rating 5 out of 5]

And the story continues

Wow.
Really enjoying this story line.
Rick is keeping it intense, and the line clearly drawn for the reader to ride.
Can't wait for book three.