Operation Manual
The I.S.V. HANS FALLADA flew through the
void blasting out the fire of the gods like a
cosmic blowtorch. Its fusion engines hurled out
incandescent plasma a million times brighter than a
welding arc, with an exhaust plume twenty miles long.
Their sensors picked up the massive outline long before
they saw it. That was to be expected. What baffled Major Alexus
Bennings was that, even though they were ten thousand miles away, and the braking
motors were cutting their speed, it was still visible.
Then Shantana, peering through a blister dome, saw it outlined against the stars. Some
of the others left their places to stare at it.
“Another asteroid. What’ll we name this calf?”
Major Bennings looked out through the dome, her eyes narrowed against the blinding
glare of the stars. When she touched the analyser control, symmetrical green lines
flowed across a screen. She said:
“It’s not an asteroid. It’s metal. Alien.”
They moved back to their places, and watched as the expanding shape blocked the stars.
At three hundred miles, the outline was clear enough to leave no doubt. Shantana
breathed, “It’s a bloody star ship.”
“Christ, it’s a big bastard.”
Alexus touched a control. Outside, the arc-light ceased abruptly. The entire drive
module glowed cherry red with radiant heat, and the exhaust nozzles were almost white.
The ship creaked and groaned as it began to cool.
“I’m going to request permission to investigate.” Alexus shifted in her gyroscopic
harness, working her heads-up holo display. “Waypoint One, this is I.S.V HANS FALLADA.
Requesting approach and search protocol - we’ve found the most amazing----”
Waypoint One didn’t hear the rest of the message. Death fell out of the stars and
exploded the HANS FALLADA’s flight deck, swallowing the ship in a ball of fire.
First Contact: October 25, 2126.
Destruction of I.S.V HANS FALLADA – crew: 9.
Second Contact: November 4, 2126.
Destruction of Waypoint One – crew: 63.
Third Contact: December 6, 2126.
Arrival in Sol System. All comms ignored.
December 7, 2126.
War with unyielding alien foe begins.
March 15, 2127.
First seeding cruisers start to pollinate
Earth. Immigrant lifeforms proliferate.
December 8, 2127.
TODAY.
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