Colony Wars 1: War Never Ends

Chapter Eleven - The Invasion

30th May 2076 – 1st Galactic Step

Kent Outpost

New Dawn City

Earth

Solar System

Ash was floating down from the sky above, like snowflakes on a Christmas morning, leaving a layer of grey prickly snow piled upon the ground. Somewhere far to the east of New Dawn City a super volcano had erupted spewing fire, smoke and molten rock everywhere. The ash had been falling steadily now for the past two days and Lance was getting sick of it.

It had been nearly three months since the battle in space, in which Corporal Jenkins had stormed onto the enemy satellite, known as Hemel Tref, which meant Heaven Strike in African. Jenkins had earned himself a big promotion to the rank of Captain, while Lance and the others had been awarded medals of bravery.

Since that day, Lance had been working diligently to train as many new soldiers as he could, because it was thought that the enemy would retaliate quickly after the satellite attack that did so much damage. Yet nothing had happened, it was almost as if the enemy had just given up and decided that the war was over. Of course, Lance refused to believe that he thought that Xu Sing, or whoever it was behind the attacks, must have been biding their time waiting for the next most opportune moment to strike.

Lance stepped out on to the parapet of the newly constructed lookout tower, which stood against the side of the canyon entrance. Ash drooped down on his head and shoulders leaving powdery black stains on his jacket and filling his blonde hair with grit. He looked around with his glowing blue eyes to survey the city and its surroundings. New Dawn City had grown to massive proportions, in the aftermath of the satellite's fiery attack; the people had come together during the tragedy and started working hard to improve their home.

At first, all the citizens did was clear the rubble away and look for survivors, but once all the wreckage had been cleared, they did not stop; houses and other structures started appearing at an amazing rate. A whole host of engineers, builders and people had rushed into the ruined agrodome, and they had just started fixing it as best they could. The dome was still not completely fixed, purely because of its size and its complexity, but the peoples strong minded persistence had made Lance feel very proud.

Another tower stood on the other side of the ravine, looking straight across from where Lance was situated. He could just about see another sentry on duty atop the structure and he gave him an exaggerated salute in the hope that the guard would notice. Instead of saluting back, the guard just waved vigorously, which both annoyed and amused Lance at the same time. The people who had come forward to volunteer to be soldiers had all been so very young, he had children aged ten and above organised into reserve units and teenage soldiers who were eager to help defend their families.

Lance scowled at the other sentry for a moment longer, irritated by his lack of professionalism, but he decided not to report his actions and let the issue slide just this once. He let his eyes slip away from the tower and on across the landscape as he checked for anything else which was out of the ordinary. The blizzard like storm of flaky grey cinders obscured the wasteland completely beyond the ravine, which worried Lance considerably.

He looked upwards to the dark cloudy sky and wondered when he would next see the sun again. Only a few days ago, the black clouds had dissipated enough so that the dull yellow disc could clearly be seen, until the super volcano had erupted and hidden it again. President Jamison had decreed that the day the sun came out was to be a holiday and the people had partied in the streets under the slightly hazy sunbeams. Lance sighed as he remembered the joyful expressions of the citizens as they danced along the busy pathways, then he turned away and went back inside.