Thank you for reading my story, I hope that you enjoy it. Mica xx Yorkshire England
We were ready. After the invasion we had spent years building in space. We had constructed a staging station to the moon, and on the moon, we had a huge facility that could house over 100 space soldiers and another 50 staff and scientists, and we were building more. I don't understand the process, but they do something to the moon rock which extracts water and oxygen. With recycling wastewater, the moon was self-sufficient in water. They took liquified earth air to supplement the oxygen, apparently a pure oxygen air is very dangerous. Power was stored solar using Sodium Ion battery technology, whatever that is, all I knew was that it stored charge for days, whereas the old sort of battery could only store power for hours., and that is good when the night is fourteen days long
We had Surface-to-Space missiles on the moon, we had long range scanning satellites in Earth orbit that constantly looked for new or unexpected movement, we learned so much about our solar system and the objects within it, all data stored in massive supercomputers built deep underground, anything out of the usual was diagnosed within milliseconds.
On Earth we had re-surfaced virtually all roofs with a metal mesh that resisted the death rays that the aliens had used before, but somehow was resistant to lightening storms. Underground spaces were converted to safe bunkers, able to offer refuge should another attack occur.
Finally, the last cog in the defence machine, was a 'Space Army'. Hundreds of us drawn from all over the world, average age thirty, trained in movement in space, how to use the handheld weapons that we would need. Spacesuits were no longer the great bulky things of years gone by, they were skintight giving much more movement, required less air, and less debilitating if punctured.
I was on my first moon rotation, blasting off from Space City in Northumberland, England, I had spent two days in Earth Orbit acclimatising to low gravity, and then two days as one of ten on a shuttle to Moon base. It was impressive, well to me anyway. The shuttle landed a little way from the base, and we all donned our helmets, plugged in our air pack, grabbed our gear and walked. It was very weird walking on the moon, each stride was about twice as long as you expected in both length and time. Very weird, but, by the time we were half way to the base, we were all walking like seasoned pros.
We all huddled into the airlock, and then slowly we realised that we could hear things again, as air filled the lock then noises became apparent once more. The walk from the shuttle to the base had been in complete silence, only your own heartbeat to keep you company.
The inner door opened and we removed our helmets and were almost overwhelmed with sound and smells. We could hear people talking, machines thumping, fans rotating, wow, it takes some getting used to after complete silence.
Two of the passengers weren't Army, no idea what they were, but as soon as the airlock opened, they were off. I presumed they knew where to go, for me, not a clue, so I just stood easy with my seven Army colleagues. We were soon addressed, given billet details and told to make sure we were on Zulu time as that is the local time zone in use. I was already on Zulu, as I guessed most of us were. We were told to go and find our billet and then assemble in the mess at 1900.
In the small pack we were given was a map of Base, and I used that to find my way to my billet, mine was a two bunk billet on the East side of Base. The bottom bunk was already taken, I guess that meant I was on top. There was standard gear stowage, so my stuff went in that, my helmet on the helmet hook by the door. The other hook was empty, I guessed that its owner was out and about and wearing it.
I used the facilities, in one corner behind a small modesty screen, and tried my bunk. I have had worse. I dozed for about an hour and then annoyed with myself for not using the time to acclimate myself with Base, I clambered off the bunk and headed off to explore, helmet on but open, as I looked around, that tended to be the norm, although some people just wore shorts and bra if needed, after all every door was an airtight door. Temperature inside base was kept at 20˚C and so for many it seemed simple decency covering clothes were all that they felt they needed. I was still enjoying wearing the spacesuit and reluctant to remove it. Obviously as Army, I needed to keep myself in readiness.
I pretty soon got my bearings around base and was in the mess just before 1900. I grabbed a fluid and sat to one side waiting for the others to arrive. When we were all present, we were escorted to a room just down the corridor, and inside with the door closed, we were addressed.
"Another spacecraft has been detected. It appears larger than the first. We are going to assume hostile intent. You are now on duty, you will take four hours rest every eight, your rest rota will be given to you as you leave here. On rest you go to your bunk, on duty you go to your assigned post."
He paused, giving us chance to take on board what we had all trained for. This was it. I was excited and shit scared all at the same time.
"At current rate of approach, they will be with us in four days, but we presume that they will decelerate. We have no idea if there are life forms on board. The smart thinking is that due to their speed of travel, life forms are unlikely, but we cannot be certain."
Another pause, was this going to be an epic space battle so beloved by the Hollywood film makers, or another anticlimax like their first visit.
"You will be ready at all times, even if on bunk duty, we have no idea when the next phase will start, but we are not going to get caught napping, this time we will be hostile to them, expect interaction. Some of you have been assigned the flyers. You will spend from now until they arrive learning how to move around in space, you will be our first line when the aliens arrive. Your practice means our survival and their demise. Dismissed."
Wow, okay, well, that was a lot to take in. My assignment was flyers, good, that meant I would be taking the fight to them. I headed off to the airlock.
The next few days were all about acclimatising to the flyers. They used thrusters to keep themselves aloft. It was just a different tool to learn. Weaponry were basic projectiles, depleted uranium so would pierce most enemy craft, we hoped. Each plane also had four air to air or air to surface missiles.
The time dragged as we waited, and then they were here, in very low orbit above the moon. Our instructions were clear, we flew up and sent video footage back to the scientists and they determined where to aim our missiles to effectively down the craft. Missiles duly dispatched the space craft fell slowly to the moon surface for a soft landing. The land-based space army swarmed all over it and there was a huge shock in store for us all.
I was stood down but kept active. That meant I was not flying but had to be available at a moment's notice. I went back to my bunk and opened the door to meet my bunk mate.
"Gerry, what the fuck bro, I thought you were dead."
"Geri, no, I had memory loss and then when I finally remembered who I was, they said all my family had perished in the attack. I was lucky apparently; I just had a brush with their beam. What about you?"
Gerald is my twin brother, I am Geraldine, yeah, thanks mum and dad for the innovative naming. I had been told that he was dead. I guess someone knew not otherwise we wouldn't have been twin bunked.
"Mum and dad died in the attack, I was lucky, the beam missed me, and then we brought the fuckers down into the Atlantic. I just sort of hung around for a while, listless, and then eventually signed up for Space Army and this is my first posting."
"It is so good to see you, I mean really, I was a bit lost when I found out all my family were dead. As I was a pilot before all this nonsense, I joined Space Army as a flight specialist. I have been up and about a few times in various spaces, I wanted to go to Mars, but that is such a long way away."
