Two Terras

Void in Flame

The opening engagement was not eventful, small rocket propelled craft raced ahead of the larger vessels. The EDF's commanders watched with bated breath as the sluggish ravager ships responded, the small rockets hit the ravagers shields and somehow. They flickered. The EDF had spent years attempting to break those shields, and these new arrivals just broke through them. the Ravager ships shuddered from internal fires. Farrah recorded the video, intending to study the rockets in further detail. Then the Ravagers opened fire, their energy weapons rebounded off shimmering blue shields. As the massive vessels neared they began to turn. Then they fired. The space ships had broadsides. Farrah would've laughed at the archaic concept if it wasn't so devastating. The massive cannons belted what looked like small comets at the Ravagers, Farrah then realized they were mass reactive shells. A single volley from the smallest vessel wounded a Ravager ship greatly, the thing lost power and began to plummet. "Warn surface forces of the ships." A commander murmured into an attendants ear. The man paused. "What do I say sir?" The commander paused too, he pondered it for a moment. "Hell son, just tell 'em the aliens are falling from the sky." The moment he concluded his statement the secondary weapons of the vessels opened up. Large lasers spat out of six barreled weapons batteries and impacted the largest Ravager ship. The mothership. It shuddered but suffered no apparent damage. Until the lasers exited out the other side. Orange explosions flashed out for milliseconds before swallowed by the void of space. 

Farrah noted that the new arrivals were hopelessly out numbered though. They had no hope against the Ravager ships now clotting space. Farrah wondered whether these new ships would just crumple under overwhelming numbers. She held this doubt until the two largest ships fired. Both vessels were massive when compared to their smaller bretheren, they bristled with stacks of cannons. Laser weapons flashed out gored a pair of Ravager ships, the main cannons then belted out a volley of plasma fire. Farrah watched with widened eyes as the cannons spat the fury of suns at the Ravagers, the alien ships just...melted. Energy shields were overwhelmed and collapsed while smaller cruisers flanked the dying ships and scored their own scars along the aliens. Finally after a further three volleys from the two flagships, the aliens wilted and tried to run. They did not get far. The larger ships steamed closer to Earth while small squadrons of ships chased the fleeing aliens. Soon the vessels were too close to be accurately picked up by the large telescope. Farrah shut the feed off and faced the command staff. Mixed emotions were on many mixed faces. A German commander was the first to speak. "Salvation? Or Antihalation?" he murmured. A Spanish General laughed, "We have been trying to take those ships down for a century. Besides you saw the outsiders themselves! They are humans! I say dios has called his wrath down." Another commander interrupted him, a short woman with the Japanese flag on her lapel. "Don't be ridiculous, whatever they are they have technology far more advanced than us." She turned to the elephant in the room. Farrah straightened. "Farrah? Right?" Farrah nodded. "You're the most educated in these matters than us, what are we looking at?" 

Farrah connected to the screen, replaying the video of the outsiders. Zooming in on the flagship. It was then the details were clear. The decoration on the ships was open and unusual. The motif of a two headed bird and a single glowing figure of a man was decorated along the prow. The bridge was guarded by two massive statues of angels hoisting shields of gold and swords of engraved silver. Farrah continued to scroll along the squatter vessel to its left. The prow of this vessel was heavily decorated as well, bearing the two headed bird again and an engraving on a stylized scroll. Farrah ran a translation software the software struggled but eventually found a way. "By holy retribution we bring death to our enemies, in His name." Farrah pondered it for a moment. And turned back to the Spanish General. "Perhaps you have more of a point than you think. These new people believe strongly in sacrifice in the name of a God." The Spanish General smiled and kissed the cross necklace on his chest. "Wait, how do we know they are really humans. Why not a worse version of the Ravagers, or maybe what brought them here?" Farrah turned to the man who said it, the Finnish commander looked back. "A couple years ago I might have agreed, but the existence of aliens was confirmed a long time ago. Why might there not be more humans out there?"