“The vast vessel which has been approaching us is now just out of Earth’s orbit. It has however, not stopped. All sensors suggest that this country-sized ship is going to break into our atmosphere within the next hour, which we have now designated UFO1.”
He sighed and looked around the room as everyone stared at him.
“As of this time, we still have no idea of the enemy’s tactics or intentions. However, what we have seen so far would suggest a hostile intent. This unknown force is technologically advanced and highly capable, we need to avoid war if at all possible. For now we focus on defensive measures only. I want all ground troops ready to move at a moment’s notice.
Air cover will be in effect at all times for the foreseeable future.”
The General looked down at the datapad in his hands. It was clear that he was surveying what little information he had and feeling helpless to act.
“For now we can do nothing but wait and watch. We are as ready as we can be. ROE are to not fire unless fired upon. Let’s not start a war over a misunderstanding. That’ll be all!”
The officers shuffled out of the room in remarkable silence. Nobody had anything left to say. Many were left speechless at the very idea of an alien invasion, others were letting their imaginations run wild with the possibilities.
* * *
Forty-five minutes had passed and Taylor’s company had been posted half a mile outside the perimeter of the base. They had parked up the three trucks and two jeeps they’d been able to wrangle from the motor pool. It was a tight fit for the entire company to be carried in just five vehicles, with marines hanging off the sides as they drove. However, they were lucky, many units were entirely on foot, patrolling in the soaring heat.
The Major had ordered them to a halt a few moments before on the top of a small ridge overlooking the base and a small town in the distance the other side. He was sat on the bonnet of one of the jeeps, looking up at the sky and waiting to see the dreaded vessel. The piercing rays of the sun were putting him to sleep, until the radio of the vehicle rang out.
“Base to all units, UFO1 will be entering the atmosphere in approximately one minute!”
Taylor shrugged off his sleepiness and slipped off the vehicle’s bonnet onto his feet. None of his men said a word. Most had already witnessed the savage and ugly enemy, but they were still intrigued to see the vast phenomenon.
The company could only watch in awe as the vast vessel burst through the clouds to the west. It must have been hundreds or even thousands of miles away, but was clear for everyone to see. The ship was a dark charcoal, almost black. It did not have the smooth lines that a human vessel would use for entering the atmosphere, but the harsh outline of a city’s silhouette. They could make out little detail from the distance, except its vast engines. It was continuing east and well away from their base, a stark relief for all.
Taylor heard chatter coming from the vehicle, he walked back to his jeep to see that Suarez had got the news channel feeds on its display screen. He watched silently as cameras from all over the eastern seaboard tracking the behemoth as it soared easterly towards the Atlantic. The marines circled around the vehicle, as many of them as possible watching the screen, the rest listening quietly to the news anchor’s dialogue.
The news channel was electric in its excitement over the situation. The idea of extraterrestrial life was a dream come true for reporters. The marines of D Company knew better, in that nothing good would come of a hostile force landing on Earth.
Taylor and the rest of his unit were fixated on the screen. An hour had passed as they watched the continued video feeds. The press kept repeating the same things, not having any real information to give beyond the actual footage of the immense craft. It was covering ground at an immense speed and heading right across the Atlantic. It was not long before the news agencies lost all trace of it and went back to repeating the footage they had.
As the team watched open mouthed, the radio cut in and Taylor was suddenly brought back to reality. He was being called back to base, while his men were ordered to continue a sweep of the area for the next two hours before returning to base.
“What do you think they want you for, Major?” Silva asked.
“Probably to ask me yet more questions that I cannot answer. Price, Kwori, you’re with me. The rest of you, I know there doesn’t appear to be an immediate threat, but we don’t yet truly understand what we are dealing with. From now on you act as if under wartime conditions, be very vigilant!”
He jumped into the driver’s seat as the other two men climbed aboard. He knew that he could no longer go anywhere alone. Not only could he not risk it as a company commander, but he was more than a little fearful of what could happen if he did. His experience on the Moon had shown that they needed substantial firepower to take down one of the heavily armoured enemy, but at least three guns were better than one.
* * *
Major Taylor found himself in yet another meeting of high-ranking officers. However, this time was different. They had some information to discuss, rather than just grilling him about the same matters again and again. The General had a map of the world up on the large screen at the end of the briefing table.
“It appears that UFO1 has come to a halt in the mid Atlantic. Unconfirmed reports are coming in that it has landed on the surface of the ocean. Now, let’s just consider what this means. To call this a ship is a joke. Aerial shots have shown that since stopping, the vessel is expanding outwards. They have just created an eighth continent on our planet,” said White.
“Has anyone made any attempt at contact?” asked General Smith.
“Communications in every way have been sent to the vessel. Every government has ordered its military to show no signs of hostility. So far we have heard no reports of any successful contact.”
“General, this is a prelim to invasion, it’s just a larger scale version of what we saw on the Moon,” said Taylor.
“I am well aware of that, Major. But at his stage military action is not our decision to make. We follow the chain of command just as you do.”
“Sir, the more time we give them to get established, the harder a time we are gonna have at holding them back. We should be preparing for full-scale war. We need to be equipping our troops with heavier guns and getting air strikes organised, nuclear if necessary!”
“Major! That’s enough. I do not disagree with your assessment, but until we are given orders to do so, we will maintain our current alert level and be ready to respond to whatever orders are received.”
A Lieutenant walked into the room and quickly went up to the General, passing him a datapad. The General studied it then looked up.
“The USS Doyle is just a few miles out from the landing zone of UFO1 and is attempting to make contact as we speak. We have video feeds from the deck.”
The General pressed a few buttons and the map in front of him turned to a live feed from the bridge of the frigate. They could not contact the crew as they were in direct communication with the Pentagon, but they could see everything that the Navy crew could see. They gasped at the sheer vastness of what was there. The enemy vessel dominated the view ahead of them. Several parts of the ship were moving and expanding. It held still in the water like a landmass. The tall metal-like superstructure was a hundred metres above the surface. To those watching, it appeared as if a huge iron wall had just divided the Atlantic in half.
The entire room watched in awe and fear. For five whole minutes they watched the muted feed, seeing nothing more than the vast artificial island and occasionally the crew of the Doyle shuffling about.
“What the hell is that?” asked General White.
The officers squinted to look at small objects above UFO1.
“Fighter craft, the Doyle needs to engage its air defences immediately!” shouted Taylor.
“We cannot risk war!” Smith shouted.
“We are already at war, General!”
They turned back to the monitor just in time to see the two craft approaching and then light erupt from them. Seconds later the video feed cut off. They had no means to contact the Doyle to check its status, but they already knew what the answer would be. General White turned back to the table of officers with a grim expression on his face.
“It has begun, the Battle for Earth.”
Commander Kelly stepped back through the bunker doors where Colonel Visser was still hiding with his few guards. They’d managed to regain contact with some of the major buildings on the Moon colony through hard lines and were now able to watch the destruction on the security feeds. Kelly’s head was cut and bleeding and sweat dripped from his face.
“Colonel! What the hell are you doing?” he shouted.
“The, the, people, we’re lost!”
“Get your fucking head on your shoulders! I will not let these alien bastards take our homes without a fight!”
“Commander, we are finished here!”
Kelly slapped the UEN Colonel with the backhand of his glove, the hard platting striking his cheek and cutting the flesh.
“You were stationed here for a reason, Colonel! We are soldiers, now act like one!”
The Colonel looked up at the video screens. The great metal clad monsters still stomped through the colony with their energy weapons blazing. The soldiers of the UEN and MDF were putting up a valiant fight but were being driven back in most sectors.
“What can we do? What can we do against such monsters?” cried Visser.
“We do whatever we have to do, Colonel! We are fighting for our very homes and lives!”
“I am sorry, Commander, but I have no choice but to surrender. I will not sit by and watch our people butchered. They are killing civilians and soldiers alike.”
“You do whatever you have to do, Colonel, but my men will never lay down our arms!”
He stormed out of the room with eight of the MDF soldiers at his side. The cowardice of the UEN Colonel almost brought him to tears.
“Get a message out to all forces, amass around this building, we make our stand here!”
Kelly turned back, he had utter disdain for the Colonel and he would not let him surrender from the Prime Minister’s own bunker. Let alone the fact that it was the strongest defensive location they had to hand. He rushed back into the room where Visser sat with his head in his hands. The Commander shook the man by his shoulders until he looked up at him.
“Colonel Visser, I am assuming command of all UEN forces on the colony, as you are unfit to command. You may surrender to the enemy, but you will do it alone, and not from this building. Now get out of my sight!”
* * *
“Hey, Charlie, what’s the situation there?” asked Taylor.
The Major had just made contact with the British officer via live video feed. The Captain was in full armour with his rifle slung over his body.
“It’s chaos here, I’m at the base in Rennes, France. We have lost contact with two EUA ships in the Atlantic. Everyone here is preparing for war, but officially we are still just on a high alert level, how is it there?”
“Same shit here. Everybody knows we’re in for a fight but the bloody politicians are still pussy footing about. Keep in touch, Captain, we’re going to need everything we’ve got over the coming days and weeks.”
“Will do, good luck, Major.”
The intercom cut off and Captain Jones turned and quickly strolled out of the field office into the open air of the Rennes base. The area was electric, alive like it had never been before. Armoured vehicles rolled around and aircraft flew overhead. The loudspeakers rang out and the huge viewing screens beside them fired into life. Brigadier Dupont addressed the base, something that had never happened before during his posting to Rennes.
“Attention all base personnel. As of 1500 hours, the unidentified vessel has landed in the Atlantic and appears to have expanded and established itself into a self-contained continent. We have lost contact with a number of naval vessels and there are reports of them being destroyed. Our scanners are at present showing that smaller vessels are approaching the French and Spanish coast lines in substantial numbers, with further airborne vehicles incoming.”
The Brigadier took a deep breath as he sighed in disbelief about what he was having to read.
“At this stage, we must assume that we are in a state of war. You will shortly be receiving your orders through the chain of command. Two divisions from Rennes are being dispatched to the coast in preparation of any necessary defence. For those men and women who are being sent to defend our shores, know that you have the support of the world behind you. Good luck to you all, and Godspeed!”