Invasion
The troopship streaked through the atmosphere, visible to those watching below from the contrail produced by the rapidly heated surfaces of the oblique nose of the vehicle. Before that point the radio scopes at the Southern Observatory had picked up the armada of interstellar vessels that had slowly fallen into the local system. Months had passed since that time as the ships had deployed a series of massive atomic explosions to slow down before using chemical rockets to place themselves into an orbit over the planet, where they had hung like a menacing constellation.
The sound of the rapidly cooling metal screeched and creaked in the water as the vessel pitched and rolled like a drunk about to lose their footing. It wasn’t the only one but it was one of the few that had landed in water, apparently accidentally. The Southern Observatory had long been aware of them and had been picking up radio broadcasts from the small, yellow star that they had inhabited for known history.
Naval vessels had been scrambled to the water-bound lander which had shown no signs of opening since it had come under observation, though it seemed to slowly drift towards the shore despite no obvious motor powering it. The reason ships were sent was that the broadcasts had shown the warlike nature of these beings. Decades of militarism had presaged their arrival from the stars, and the newest reports showed that a great project had been embarked upon, which had taken the last resources of their sick, dying world.
The entire landing force, the four or five of these huge blocky starships that had screamed across the daytime skies and carved smoking furrows in the soil of the planet had so far remained inactive. It was hypothesised in the media that they were waiting for something, perhaps for the last ship that floated toward the shore at a snail’s pace. The nations of the planet were well aware of the nature of the beings that waited within each ship; their freakish exoskeletal extrusions that helped them eat other living creatures, but none were sure of how they would harness explosions and electrical fields to wreck terror.
---
Brigadier Colonel Oosthuizen chewed on his cigar as he moved his Armoured Assault Suit slightly with a whine of servos and braced as the dropship finally washed up on the shore. He de-magged his feet and then turned to look at the mustered troops. A number of wolfish grins and shifting shoulders indicated despite the rough ride in they were ready, hungry for it.
“Alright listen up you sons of bitches, we’re aware that they’ve got sea assets covering us but so far they haven’t fired on us. You’re going to go out there and get inland. Understood? Anything gets in our way...”
He paused and exhaled a thick cloud of blueish smoke.
“Frag it.”
---
The door opened with a screech and the guard around the landing site raised their firearms. A gout of smoke blew out the hatch, followed by a hail of solid slugs and explosives.
The Humans had arrived.
--
Zayei Junaid, Epsilon Eridani, 912 C.R. (2465 A.D.)