Steve Gordon - Insectoids 01 - The Insectoid Invasion.pdf - Steve Gordon - widez2

The Insectoid Invasion – Insectoid 01

Steve Gordon

The Insectoid Invasion

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First Forward

From the log of War Admiral Norman North, Commander, 7th

Page 1

fleet:

I always blamed myself for letting it happen.

But in reality, it was society's fault. Society, our

society, which had rotted to the very core.

I had roused them once before, to face the menace which

now threatened to utterly wipe us out as a free society. But

when a chance came for peace, any chance, no matter how

unrealistic, no matter how risky, they grasped it in an

unbreakable bear hug, and there was nothing I or anyone could

do to separate them from it. For our society not only had

lost the will to fight, but even worse, had lost even the

will to enable us, the warrior class, to defend it.

Our advancements in technology had regretfully eliminated the

need for workers. Rohelpers took over what little that still

needed to be done manually, and most citizens became a

passive bunch of consumers, interested only in consumption,

focused on their next vid, their next meal, their next bit of

entertainment. And war was inconvenient for them, not because

they had to fight it (most of them didn't), but the prospect

of conflict threatened to distract them from their all-

important pursuit of pleasure. So when the enemy proposed

their deceitful peace, they didn't have to make much of an

effort to deceive us.

And now we've lost everything, and almost everyone. I

keep thinking there was something I could have done,

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something I should have done. Maybe I could have saved us all

by staging a coup and taking over, before the armistice was

signed and the ambush had taken place. Maybe. And if I had,

maybe I and my sailors would be sitting in some brig, waiting

for the enemy to come and take over from our current

jailors.... Or maybe we would have saved the day.

Now, we'll never know. All we can be concerned with is

saving the tiny group of humanity that's left, keeping our

task force together long enough to regroup and one day

reclaim what's ours. But the memory of what "might have been"

continues to and always will be with me, wherever I go.

Second Forward

Finally, there would be peace.

Humanity had been in conflict with the Insectoids for

nearly 20 years. They had appeared out of nowhere--giant,

seven feet tall intelligent insects bent on conquering the

human race. And, for a time, with their flood of destroyers,

cruisers, and battleships, it appeared they would win. It was

only at the decisive battle of Trajinar, three years earlier,

that the Alliance fleet under the command of War Admiral

Norman North had turned the tide and decisively crushed the

Insectoid fleet.

Page 3

After that, battles became skirmishes, skirmishes

became hit and run raids, and then the Insectoids ceased

their attacks altogether. They had contacted one of the

Alliance's most respected ministers, Lawrence Mitterand, and

sued for peace.

And peace there would be. After a year of slow but

steady negotiation, Mitterand had worked out a peace

agreement that both sides could agree to.

League President Hov Marshall looked out from the

bridge of his mighty flagship the Augustus at the rest of the

fleet. He shielded his eyes from the powerful glare of

Vitalics' brilliant sun as he started at the assembled ships.

Nearly the entire League fleet was here for the armistice

with the Insectoids. The League was the dominant partner in

the Alliance; the junior partner, the June Directorate, had

chosen not to participate in the armistice, but had agreed to

abide by the terms of the ceasefire.

Well, Marshall wasn't going to let the Directorate

spoil things.

"Ze Insectoid fleet is here," said Mitterand, standing

by his side. "Finally, ve will have ze peace," he said in his

old westeuro accent.

"Admiral Peterson, order the fleet to a halt," Marshall said

as he eyed the approaching Insectoid Fleet.

"Fleet command: hold here," said the Admiral over the

central comm.

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The Insectoid fleet maintained a healthy distance from

the League fleet. Only four of their larger ships slowly

moved towards the League Fleet, each moving towards a

different part of the fleet.

"Admiral, I'm getting some weird readings from those

ships," said a bridge crewer. "The scanners seem to say that

they have some kind of unstable cargo."

"Cargo? What kind of cargo?"

At that moment external ports opened on the giant

ships, which rapidly spat out a series of oval objects which

speeded towards the densely packed League fleet. As they

closed on the fleet these spheres started to detonate,

casting a fine mist over the League fleet.

"Power drain!" cried a crewer. "All systems are down!"

cried another.

"What's going on?" said Marshall.

"Ve must continue ze peace process," said Mitterand,

almost mechanically. "Ve need ze peace like ve need ze air."

And it was at that moment that the Insectoids attacked.

Still staying well clear of the League fleet and the

mist that enveloped, the Insectoid ship launched a massive

wave of missiles. The tail section of the missile exhausts

cut out as they entered the misty area, but inertia caused

them to continue moving forward.

Peterson eyed the missiles streaking towards them.

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Steve Gordon - Insectoids 01 - The Insectoid Invasion.pdf

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