Bright Horizons

Chapter 10

27 January 2043

“The attack on Earth did not go as the Iltia’cor planned. Exactly four minutes after their fleet established Earth orbit, the Iltia’cor fleet around earth started their bombardment of all major military installations on earth. The time of the start of the assault was 1821 Greenwich Mean Time on January 12th. By 1838 the bombardment had stopped and the Iltia’cor assault vessels started their decent towards approximately fifty three hundred urban areas around the planet.”

Kyle never took his eyes off the screen as he once again narrated the sequence of events. He was in his Marine uniform, but a star sat where his bird had so proudly perched for years. The promotion ceremony was short and hastily arranged, and had ended just about an hour before.

“Individual landing pods separated approximately two minutes later, and by 1843 Iltia’cor soldiers started moving out of the pods and assaulting Human cities, towns, villages and settlements. We estimate approximately one point four million Iltia’cor soldiers left the pods. We believe that they were not expecting the type of resistance that many places around the world demonstrated. In some countries, they were successful in pacifying the local population for a short while, but in most places around the world, especially those in areas where the populace is well armed, they met disaster. By our estimation 97% of Iltia’cor soldiers in Switzerland and Israel never made it back to their landing pod. In a suburb of Tel Aviv, we have seen verified reports that some Israelis boarded and captured one of the landing pods. We are in negotiations with their government to get a peek inside.”

Images of destruction from around the world punctuated the calm demeanor and voice of Kyle and the charts and graphs that made up the bulk of the presentation.

“In the major American cities, Iltia’cor casualties reached close to 80%, and in some rural communities in the U.S. their losses were much higher. As an example, Coffeyville, Kansas reported forty eight dead bodies of the attackers. This is a town of around fourteen thousand people and we estimate that the Ilita’cor sent a single pod of fifty soldiers to pacify it.”

“Overall, we estimate that close to six hundred thousand Iltia’cor died on their assault in Earth. Our estimates are that close to one million humans were killed in the bombardment and attack. The Iltia’cor fleet left orbit at 1927, an hour and six minutes after they started their bombardment.”

As he turned around to the six people in the room, he wondered how many small groups he would have to present this information to over the next week. With four communication satellites in the sky, there was some information getting out to the general population. Those he was briefing had more sources of information than most, but even their understanding of events was tied loosely together by their knowledge of what to expect before the attack.

Martin had been among those who insisted that satellites be stored in rural areas for storage during the attack.  He knew of forty six more satellites that were being moved to various launch points, but the Iltia’cor targeted and destroyed almost all rockets that were capable of orbital launch. Thankfully most of the U.S., Russian, and Chinese shuttles were all able to be put into space and moved by the Torpedo far enough away that the Iltia’cor ignored them.

“General, thank you for the rundown,” General Davies said with a relieved sigh. “It’s good to know that many of the rumors are true.”

“You’re welcome General Davies. Glad we could give you some good news. Thank your wife, again, for sacrificing her rose bushes for the effort. I’m sure that satellite sitting in your backyard wasn’t what she wanted to see in the attack.”

“I did have to promise to replant them when this is over,” Davies laughed. “But we were glad to be of help.”

“Thanks General, we’ll be in touch,” Kyle said as he turned to head towards Sergeant Major Williams who was waiting by the door.