The Battle for Humanity (Part One)

"Their alternative to that is what has occurred in the last day and a half...A full military assault on Earth. The Egaji know about this weapon, and more important, they have traced it to it’s source..." The Admiral looks behind him, the screen now shows a large detailed map of Africa. "This weapon my friends is in Africa." He looks at Lieutenant Swift. "And I’ll be damned if they get to it first."

***

It was ten years ago, almost to the day. By that time Earth had colonies on six other worlds. Forget the terraforming that was once considered for Mars. We had found six relatively close worlds, with Earthlike atmospheres for us to settle on. No hostile life on these, just the organisms and animals that would grow for each ecosystem. It was kind of as if someone knew we would venture out of Earth one day, it seemed as if these worlds were there just for us. We had a modest interstellar Empire, never meeting other intelligences; some even wondered if we humans were truly alone in the Universe. Sadly no. It came without warning; the first planet to fall was Sian, the farthest away. The settlers there didn’t have a prayer. They had no Armada, no chance to defend themselves; I mean how do you defend yourself from such a foe.

The Egaji are soulless creatures. They’re divided up into three mayor subclasses of warriors. The Alpha Drones, which resemble giant half humanoid, half horses. They stand at about 12 feet tall, the have a scorpion like tail. These are the fastest of the bunch. Next we have The Delta Drones. These guys can fly. They have wings, and are the smallest at about 3 feet tall, but still very deadly. And finally we have the Omega Drones. These are the humanoid and most horrific of them all. They look like the demons from the old Christian religion. These are the fiercest and hardest to kill. They wear an armor that is almost on the same level as the Elect’s. These are also the one’s that operate the heavy machinery. Ever since Sian fell, mankind as a whole united. What pity that this peace among us had to come at such a high price. The Earth had sustained itself after the first mayor blow. Ten years, had given us sufficient time to understand how the Egaji think, and how to counter them long enough for an effective retaliation.

***

"In exactly seven hours," The admiral told us, "we will be initiating our response." By this time a good number of us were centered around a conference table inside the Chamber. He looked over at the senior Elect. "Commander Val, this is where you and your men come in." The holographic mapping system (HMS) created an image. The image was of an island off the coast of southern Africa.

"This is Europa." Said one of the Admiral’s subordinates. "It’s a small volcanic island off the coast of Mozambique and Madagascar Island." More detailed images surfaced of the island landscape. It was a muddy, rocky formation with hot steams and ash. "As you can see, nothing that special."

After this the (HMS) produced a more detailed picture of the underground. "But now after a thorough scan we find this." We were all confused at what we were seeing. It looked like a honeycomb maze.

"Is that an underground network?" I asked.

"Yes." Answered the Admiral. "This is believed to be the location of the weapon."

"But, how could it exist underneath a volcanic Island?"

I said. "With lava around it, how does it hold?"

"Analyses indicate that this network has existed here for at least a hundred thousand years." The subordinate said.