Objective: Earth - The Vulpreen Encounter

"Find Kate Stewart, and kill the defender of Earth!"

Writer: Andrew Smith

Format: Audio

Released: November 2022

Series: UNIT: Nemesis 3.01

Featuring: Kate, Osgood

Synopsis

When a forty-mile long asteroid drifts into the solar system, Osgood and new UNIT recruit Lt Jimmy Tan are sent to investigate on board the newly-built UK spaceship Starseeker. 

Kate Stewart visits a UNIT safe house in Norway where Jacqui McGee is recovering from the trauma of her experiences at the hands of the Vulpreen. She needs Jacqui's help against the Vulpreen threat – but can she be trusted?

Verdict

The Vulpreen Encounter was a great start to the Objective: Earth third series of UNIT: Nemesis! This felt like a little bit of a reset for the series as we take stock of roughly where we are after an eventful first two boxsets in the range! This did have a feeling of more like setting things up whilst sticking to the continuity already established, but it's clear that some time has passed since the events of Ten Minutes in Hell. It's understandable to jump ahead a little and that's no more evident than the situation Jacqui McGee finds herself in. Having her essentially imprisoned at a safe house in Norway is certainly a unique kind of seclusion but to be fair to Kate, it was at her request that she was isolated. So it was no surprise when Kate wasn't exactly welcomed with open arms as she arrived! The mission for Osgood and Jimmy was intriguing as they utilised Starseeker to investigate a pretty substantial asteroid. Trying to picture a forty-mile long asteroid in space was a little difficult to put a scale to because that just sounds enormous! Jimmy recalling the warning of the Vulpreen last time out and how an invasion force was coming was good but I didn't agree with his comment about there only being one asteroid as if it wasn't many. If it's forty miles long that's a lot of room for Vulpreen! I thought their threat continuing mostly from afar was good and it keeps things building for the series to come, but I do have fears that they may run out of steam if they don't do something big in this boxset. Having Jacqui on their side remains a really interesting subplot but it also feels like repeating potential with her being the weapon UNIT can use against the Vulpreen because of her connection to them. Hearing her converse with Varliss was good and I liked how Kate didn't hide her presence. Referring to her as the defender of Earth was a nice title too that I think ought to catch on! Commander Krillen was another good character within the Vulpreen arsenal and Jimmy was quick to stand up to him with force and aggression. Perhaps a little too boisterous and on the front foot? He was a new recruit after all and it was good to have Osgood alongside him. She's much more experienced and when he was subjected to the Vulpreen torture efforts she brought him back to reality really nicely by getting him to think about and call out his family. She learned a lot about him which was good as the listener to get some of his backstory and Osgood could also relate with him as well. Kate and Jacqui almost playing a game of cat and mouse within the safe house was amusing but things really did get serious between them. Jacqui was actually calling the Vulpreen with her mind and the demonic sounding chant which was disturbing. Even after all of this time, she was still in the entrails of the Vulpreen and couldn't do much to prevent it. She was aware and yet kept on going. Varliss needed proof of her loyalty beyond just words and that meant Kate needed to die. Jacqui giving her a warning to run off before she set the chase going was excellent and Krillen also commanding that the defender of Earth be killed sets us up very nicely moving forward. A strong cliffhanger and premise to move forward with! A great listen to kick-start the series. 

Rating: 8/10