The Fall and Rise of Mankind

[Martin70]

The Fall and Rise of Mankind
By Martin70
An Original Science Fiction Novella

Prologue: Bad Days, Worse Days
2011 Washington D.C. 12:25pm
The Whitehouse Oval Office

“It’s confirmed Mr. President. We have multiple ships inbound, sixteen so far. NASA estimates the aliens will arrive in Earth orbit within the next five hours.” Presidential Aid James Thompson said.

The President’s jaw dropped. Aliens were real…and they were coming here. This was no movie like “Independence Day” or “Stargate”, Earth had no real defenses against a space faring armada. The best he could do was a few nukes from the rapidly depleting supply of such weapons. Several new treaties outlawed their use by anyone for any reason. To use them on another country was now considered a war crime and act of terror. The last President who used one was now rotting in Leavenworth, when he authorized the use of nukes against Iran in the later half of 2006, it sparked off WW III. Nearly one billion dead, with more dying everyday, estimators expected to final death toll would reach nearly three billon by the end of the decade.

“James, call in the chief’s of staff. I’ll need their authorization for a nuclear strike in space. I know it’s a gray area of the law, but it may become necessary. Get on it.” he ordered.

“Call for you on line two Mr. President, It’s your wife.” said his secretary.

“Tell her I’m busy, national emergency.” he replied.

“She’ll just love you for that one sir.” quipped Thompson.

“She can stuff it, why I ever married that woman I’ll never know. Her idea of a crisis is choosing what shoes to wear.” muttered David O’Rielly. “Five years in office; you’d think she’d take the hint when I tell her I have to work.”

“She seems nice enough to me.” said Thompson.

“She has to in public, for the good of the country. That’s the only thing I’ve EVER been able to get through to her, and that took three years worth of my first term.”

“Well, let’s get back on track. Norad is reporting they can have a max of twelve nukes ready to fire by the time the ships get here, more if we can stall for time.” Thompson reported.

“Okay, let’s just hope we don’t have to use them.”

They did.

But like any world that had just survived a nuclear war, it just wasn’t enough.

The aliens swept into orbit and began to fire on the planet below. Mass Drivers sending large rocks the size of freight cars down toward the planet at extreme velocities.

When it was all over, only one alien vessel was even damaged. The result of the twelve nukes impacting on shields designed to withstand yields that could shatter small moons. As the nukes came in all but two were destroyed by defensive fire.

Most of the major cities that survived WW III were devastated, Washington D.C. among them. Marie O’Rielly’s last thoughts before an asteroid hit near her beauty salon was I hope David likes my new hair color…

The President and the Joint Chiefs managed to escape on Air Force One.

--------------------------

Aboard the Attack Vessel Gorda

Admiral Martak surveyed the bridge of his ship. He was proud to command it. For centuries his people had been conquerors, ever since their first encounter with another race. The Fahndoa were easy prey for his kind, the Domani. Standing an impressive ten feet tall with broad shoulders, Martak was considered an average specimen of his kind. A thick mane of reddish Orange hair tied intricately in a specific pattern to show his rank, flowed down his back. He was strong and vibrant, just the sort of material his commanders needed to win any war.

“Admiral Martak.” spoke an underling manning the communications console. A deep respect in his voice.

“Speak!” he barked.

“Admiral, the fleet reports, all major cities on the planet below are destroyed. They request permission to move on to secondary targets.” the underling replied.

“Permission granted. Begin bombardment of all known military installations and ‘Airports’. We WILL have full air superiority before launching the ground attack.”

“As you command, Admiral!” said Sub-Commander Vrell. “Gorda to attack fleet, commence attack on secondary targets!”

The fleet acknowledged the orders and began to realign itself for the new attack vectors.

---------------------------

TBC

[spacewolflord]

Ok, I like to see how Earth gets out of this one. If it gets out that is you can just never tell some times.

[avatar11792]

Looks like Earth's gonna lose, for once.

Nice writing style, but the President and his wife thing seemed a bit forced. But the bit about the asteroid and the beauty salon was funny.

Keep it up. Another item I have to keep an eye on.

[Somebody]

Earth seems really screwed this time.

I look forward to the next installment.

[ajw]

Nice story.

Earth looks like its in very deep trouble this time. It makes a change, usually even a modern day Earth manages to get out of every alien invasion scenario. This time though it looks like Earth is going to end up being conquered and occupied.

Though I very much doubt that would be the end of it. A resistance movement is bound to be formed.

[Martin70]

This story has many far-reaching consequences. I'm breaking it up into 3 parts making it into a trilogy. The first part deals with the fall of Earth, the Resistance, etc. I can't say more without giving away some spoilers. /grins evilly.

Let's just say it's going to be a LONG time before Earth is free.

[Martin70]

Chapter One is coming along slowly, RL is a real drag right now.

[Martin70]

Concentrating in The Doorway atm. Chapter One is still coming tho.

[Martin70]

Almost done on Chapter One of this fic. I'll post it sometime next week.

Martin70

[avatar11792]

Originally Posted by Martin70

Almost done on Chapter One of this fic. I'll post it sometime next week.

Martin70

THANK you!!!

Awesome, I can't wait!

[Teal_Thanatos]

*waits impatiently*

[Martin70]

Sorry to disappoint you guys, but the first chapter just isn't ready yet.

I'm having troubles with my muse.

I'll try to get at least a part of it done before the end of next week though. I promise!

[Martin70]

A/N: Sorry this took so long to post, but I’ve been working on two other stories as well pretty heavily. I will have to put this one on a back burner though since I want to concentrate on the other two stories. I will add to this one as I go, but it will be sporadic at best till one of the others is finished.


Chapter One: Death Comes A-knocking


President O’Rielly sighed. The death toll of this invasion was staggering. Of the surviving estimated four billion souls left on Earth after WW III, only two billion were projected to still be alive after the devastating alien bombardment and now it looked like the aliens were about to land ground troops as well. Things were getting worse for mankind by the minute.

“Mr. President, I have General Bates for you on the Satcom.” said Thompson.

“Thank you James, put him through here.” replied the President as he turned to his computer screen onboard Air Force One.

“Mr. President, I regret to report that I only have about two regiments left out of our entire army to defend the United States. Of those men, most are scattered far too thin to be of any real strategic value. I’ve ordered those units that are too far away or are cut off to begin guerilla tactics against the enemy once they land on our soil. The rest are gathering around Denver near what’s left of NORAD.” reported Bates.

“If that’s the best you can do for us General then I wish you luck. Air Force One is going to be abandoned in a few minutes. We can’t stay in the air for much longer and we’ve been lucky so far that they haven’t shot us down. It must be due to that knew stealth plating we put on. It’s only a matter of time before they find us.” said O’Rielly.

As if his words were Prophetic, the plane suddenly nose-dived to avoid incoming fire from an alien fighter. As it continued to dodge and bank, Air Force One rumbled and its wings creaked under the stressful maneuvers the pilot was putting it through. Sadly, it was not enough, as incoming fire sheared the right engine from its wing and caused the wing itself to burst into flames. Flame retardant shot out of nozzles deployed along the wing and doused the flames just in time to save it from an explosion. Part of the retardant flew back into the alien fighter’s path and landed across the pilot canopy, blocking the Domani’s view of the plane.

The Domani cursed and sent a maintenance bot out to clean the canopy while he flew by sensors alone. The stealth of the Earther plane was familiar to the Domani. It screamed one word out to the pilot as he continued to futilely try and get a positive lock on the plane. Balori!

***


Earth Orbit: Attack Vessel Gorda

“Admiral! One of our strike fighters is reporting contact with an Earther plane that is using Balori stealth technology!” reported Sub-Commander Vrell.

“Confirm that report immediately!” screamed Admiral Martak.

“Report confirmed, the pilot has relayed his sensor data. Balori stealth tech is actively being used!” responded Vrell with a touch of fear in his voice.

“Send another squad to assist that Strike Fighter, I want that vessel destroyed!” Martak ordered vehemently.

“As you command Admiral!” replied Vrell. He turned back to his monitors and issued the orders. Balori! He thought.

The Balori were blood enemies to the Domani Imperium. A race of bipeds that stood no more than a meter high, with grey skin and huge black eyes, the Balori had fought the Domani since first contact almost a century ago. That these Earthers had Balori tech at their disposal spoke volumes to the Domani Admiral. How had the Earthers obtained it? The Balori Republic had refused to give any of their technology to the Domani Imperium at first contact and the Domani had tried to get it by force… and failed miserably.

If they could take down this PLANE, the Domani might be able to finally get a handle on SOME of the elusive technology the Balori Republic was so covetous about.

Vrell glanced at the long range sensor display as it suddenly blinked for his attention. What he saw there made him want to vomit. “Admiral, now reading TWENTY Balori Battle Cruisers on an intercept vector!”

“WHAT!?!” screamed Martak with great disbelief. “Call in the reserve fleet! Have them hit the Balori dogs from the rear!”

“As you command!” replied Vrell. The reserve fleet consisted of another sixteen Attack Vessels, all of them of the same class as the first sixteen Marauder Class Attack ships. The Marauder Class was large, fifty decks formed into a huge triangular wedge over three kilometers long. The Bridge of each ship was firmly nestled on the twenty-fourth deck, deep inside the ship and protected by armored walled over two hundred centimeters thick. The only thing capable of even cutting that deeply into a ship of this class was a Balori Battle Cruiser. For weapons the Marauder Class carried two heavy Ion blasters, six Neutron Canons, four particle Disrupters and two mass drivers, along with fifty point defense blast canons scattered over the hull. It was a ship of destruction.

On the other side Twenty Balori Battle cruisers packed quite a punch of their own. Each vessel was four kilometers in diameter and was a perfect sphere, bristling with weapons. Ten Matter Disruption cannons and ten Neutron Dissipaters made up the bulk of the offensive weaponry. For point defense, twenty particle disrupters were aligned along the hull at geometric intervals. At any given time the ship could fire seventy percent of it’s arsenal at a particular target. To say the least, the Domani were intimidated by that many ships approaching their position in orbit of Earth.

“Order the immediate launch of our ground attack forces. We have enough time to do that much before the Balori dogs arrive.” commanded Martak, his mane shaking with his fury.

“At once!” complied Vrell.

***

Balori Battlecruiser Victory

Fleet Admiral Torva was startled to see the Domani attack fleet His people had observed mankind for over ten thousand years, manipulating the population of the planet Earth for a special purpose, to fight the Domani. The moment of First Contact was not meant for another one hundred years, but the Earthlings had almost destroyed themselves and so the deadline for FC was moved up. Unfortunately the Domani were apparently watching for a weak race to conquer and were now here and it looked as though they meant to stay.

“Commander Teeva, deploy the fleet; launch fighter squadrons.” ordered the small grey humanoid Admiral.

“Admiral, is this a wise course of action? We are detecting a second fleet moving to our rear flank. We will be trapped between them if we attack.” Teeva answered in a nervous tone.

Torva sighed, “We must stop this attack. If the Humans fall to the Domani now, all of our work to prepare them will be lost.”

“Of course Admiral, I just wanted to be sure that you knew the full implications of launching an attack now. I will order the deployment.” Replied Teeva coolly.

Torva shivered, Teeva may only be a Commander in rank, but he was also a political officer. As such, he could override Torva’s orders if he saw fit to do so. The political arm of the Balori Republic was not one to be trifled with. Whole families had disappeared in recent years. Maybe if he was lucky Teeva would be killed in the ensuing skirmish to come, but he wasn’t holding his breath.

***

Admiral Martak became more furious with each passing second. The Balori were continuing to advance on his position around Earth and showed no signs of backing down, in fact they had launched all of their fighters.

“Our ground forces are landing now Admiral. The Earther plane is down as well. A search team is being dispatched to look for viable Balori wreckage so we may reverse engineer the technology.” reported an underling female.

“Excellent, once our ground forces are entrenched, we can hold this planet forever! The Balori will have no chance of dislodging us then and will be forced to withdrawal.” Martak said coldly.

No one had ever beaten the Domani once they were on the ground; they were the perfect ground pounder and bred for just this purpose long, long ago.

***

Commander Teeva groaned, “They’ve sent in ground troops already. We’ll never get them out of the system now!”

“The planet may be lost to us, but we still have technology we must recover before the Domani can get their hands on it. You know what will happen if that occurs.” said Torva.

The galaxy itself could be lost.

At that moment the fighters of each fleet began to clash…

***

TBC in Chapter Two: First Battle for Earth

[Flying J]

A very interesting premise for the story, is remeniscent of the 'Hymn Before Battle' Universe. Im curious also how well a ground force can hold if the Balori hold orbital supremacy. Id say youll have several fortress cities if and only IF human forces can hold till the Balori take orbit.

[Kikaider01]

Very original. It's caught my attention. BTW, are the Balori the UFO greys?

[Chuut-Riit]

Me likes.

[achhiev]

So far, so good.

[Martin70]

Originally Posted by Flying J

A very interesting premise for the story, is remeniscent of the 'Hymn Before Battle' Universe. Im curious also how well a ground force can hold if the Balori hold orbital supremacy. Id say youll have several fortress cities if and only IF human forces can hold till the Balori take orbit.

Unfortunately the Balori don't have any ground troops of their own available. The Humans of Earth were meant for this task later on in their war against the Domani and another Race I have only hinted at once so far. (It's very subtle.) As to what the Balori can do, sure they can eliminate the ground troops from orbit, but it would be at the expense of the remaining humans on the planet. (Something they desperately want to avoid.)

[Martin70]

Originally Posted by Kikaider01

Very original. It's caught my attention. BTW, are the Balori the UFO greys?

Yes they are. I think you'll like some of the twists I put forward later in the story about the Balori.

[Dracowar]

Humans becomes the superior race in ground combat?

[Kikaider01]

Originally Posted by Martin70

Yes they are. I think you'll like some of the twists I put forward later in the story about the Balori.

Great! Looking forward to seeing more of your story.

[AceRaptor]

so the Domani are like the Dilgar right? utterly ruthless? (but not exactly genocidal) and are the Balori just another race trying to defend itself from the Domani? but couldnt beat them on the ground except with orbital bombardment right? so they need Humans to fight for them... hm very much like the 'Hymn Before Battle' universe (hope the Balori are not assholes like that race that controls the alien Federation in that universe)

[nemo1986]

Originally Posted by AceRaptor

so the Domani are like the Dilgar right? utterly ruthless? (but not exactly genocidal) and are the Balori just another race trying to defend itself from the Domani? but couldnt beat them on the ground except with orbital bombardment right? so they need Humans to fight for them... hm very much like the 'Hymn Before Battle' universe (hope the Balori are not assholes like that race that controls the alien Federation in that universe)

I beleive the author called it the aldenata(spell?) universe in one of his books.

[Dracowar]

John Ringo is the author. Humans are the only race capable of fighting, everyone else is civilized.

[AceRaptor]

Originally Posted by DRACOWAR

John Ringo is the author. Humans are the only race capable of fighting, everyone else is civilized.

civillized as in manipulated and brainwashed so that they are incapable of violence