The War
by
Domino
Part
one
2008, August 21st
The battlefield was littered. All around were bodies, some dead
some injured beyond movement. Both human and alien. It wasn't
much to say that the humans laying on the ground outnumbered the
aliens, not when alien bodies disintegrated into dust upon death.
Still the fighting continued. Humans were all born with one thing
that made them totally unique - the will to survive despite all
odds. And more importantly the will to fight to survive. It was
it their history, repeated over and over - the fight for freedom
from oppression.
Yet this time the odds were great. Besides the aliens being
infinitely more powerful, they now after hours of fighting a
losing battle contained a greater number of warriors and infantry.
This battle was a lost cause. It was time for a retreat. Michael
exchanged a look with Maria. She nodded to the question in his
eyes.
"Retreat. Retreat. Everyone move back," Michael yelled.
Maria moved away from him and began to yell to the other side. In
one massive wave, the army fighting followed orders and began to
move back, including Tess, Kyle, Max, Liz, Alex and Isabel.
Shooting right till the end, Michael and Maria were the last to
leave. They raced to the armoured trucks and jumped in seconds
before they moved away. All around them explosions were heard as
the area the battle took place blew up. Whether it was the
fleeing humans throwing grenades behind them as they escaped or
the aliens using explosives in one last ditch effort to destroy
them - all of that was irrelevant in the aftermath of the battle.
What once was a thriving city now lay in ruins - the result of
battle fought long and hard - a result of a battle lost. It
wasn't the first battle they had fought against their alien
enemies or the first that the humans had lost and it probably
wouldn't be the last. Just like it wasn't the first war that had
been fought for freedom and independence.
The first war fought in America had been to gain independence
from the British. The second one was for freedom and equality.
This one was for all three. It was more important than any of the
others. It was for Earth's independence. It was a long war, 2
years and ongoing. Guns, lasers, knives and anything they could
get their hands on served as weapons. The only thing that
prevented the use of nuclear bombs was that this war was fought
on American soil.
Two years in, after Kivar's first attack on Earth, over half the
North American continent belonged to the skins and was in their
control, including Washington DC. The remainder was land fought
for, and reclaimed as human territory under the control of the
Royal Four and their partners. There was no president left. He
was killed at the end of Year One when he finally wised up and
refused for the first time to follow and give into Kivar's
demands. He along with the Capital Building, the White House were
blown up taking with it the former most powerful government in
the world and leaving what was left of America and its people in
a state of a losing war.
The rest of the world watched , not daring to interfere. Not
after seeing the UK and France being bombed by nuclear weapons
formally belonging to the United States, that had fallen into the
hands of Kivar. The UK and France were still recovering from the
blow and the result was a once powerfully allied nation left to
fight a war for Earth alone, and in the hands of 8 young adults,
just kids who didn't and shouldn't have any experience leading a
war.
End part one
Part two
It was hard to believe that the leaders of the resistance, the
ones that they called Humanities Hope, the Royal Four that became
the Royal Eight were all only in their mid-twenties. The men and
women who followed their orders had a difficult time initially
adjusting to obeying what to them were only kids, especially
since they were a nation ruled by those who were older, more
experienced. But these were difficult times. And age was
irrelevant. What was relevant was winning the war and the Royal
Eight were the only ones that stood a chance of doing that.
It had only taken one battle to convince them that the Royal Ones
were the ones that they should follow. The 8 of them, years of
fighting skins worked together like a well oiled machine. They
were a unit and the first reclamation of human territory gave
those that doubted their abilities a new faith and hope,
resulting in the nickname - Humanities Hope.
There were a number of factors that made them both an excellent
military and strategic unit as well as crisis management team.
First an foremost they were friends who trusted each other
implicitly. This was essential for any team - whatever the
situation you needed to trust your partner with your life. The
second essential rule was that each person in the group had a
fully defined role, the role they played in the group, a role
that together made the group successful.
In the war, like in life they led together, worked together and
each controlled what was necessary to win. It was a democracy,
one where they made decisions together but at the same time
followed decisions. Max was the figure head of the group and the
one that dealt with strategy. He also organised the medical
resources of their troops and the humans they protected. Liz was
in charge of science, alien technology and weaponry. She
researched and worked on ways to counteract the alien powers.
Tess ran the intelligence department, her initial introduction
into their lives over 8 years ago made her well suited to this
job. Kyle's college and school life, his jock career made him the
perfect person to run the training and recruitment section. On
the other side was Isabel. She represented the Royal Eight and
the humans they led as the ambassador and was the person who
dealt with the political side of a war. Her other half led the
Technology and Research department, his computer and surveillance
expertise holding him in good stead. Alex often worked in
conjunction with Liz's Science Department.
Lastly the most important arm in their war against the skins -
the military, the infantry was placed in the capable hands of
Michael and Maria. They dealt with the everyday running of
troops, daily skirmishes, and led the large battles that were
fought to defend and reclaim land that once belonged to the
humans. The two of them worked as a team and you rarely saw one
far from the other, the belief that their presence protected the
other.
It was a far step from their college years, but at the same time
whatever they learned always played a huge part in whatever they
did. It was more evident in some of them than others of course
but it was always there. Just two years ago the 8 of them had
their lives as college students and young working adults cut
short with the attack. Studies were forced to be discarded as
their destiny finally came through - they had to save their
world, only this time it was earth that they were required to
save.
Max's medical degree was interrupted as was Liz's dream of
molecular biology. Today he repaired injured soldiers and healed
the hurt and she used her science to develop methods to kill the
enemy. It wasn't what they wanted but it was necessary. Tess
degree in psychology also while incomplete also proved useful in
the line of intelligence as did Kyle's degree in the combined
majors of law and psychology for recruitment and training. Isabel
and Alex also made good use of their studies, Isabel having based
her degree on political science and the law and Alex not totally
unexpectedly spending his college life studying Information
Technology.
Michael and Maria didn't use their degrees as much. Michael had
been studying architecture, painting on the side. He didn't have
time to paint anymore and the only time he used his architecture
was his knowledge of the engineering of a building to blow it up
or read the blueprints to enter a skin lair. Maria used hers even
less. Her studies involved a combined geology, jewellery design
and business major. There wasn't much use for that in the middle
of the war although she was the only one of the lot that could
read a budget.
In two years there lives had changed immensely. From being
carefree college students they went to living underground in a
military compound, the leaders of thousands who fought for them,
died for them and would follow their orders without a question.
End part two
Part three
2003, June
It was the second week of their first summer vacation as college
students. One year of college had passed. A difficult year where
for the first time since the secret had been revealed, the 8 of
them had been separated. The first experience with the skins in
high school had made them all but joined at the hip for the two
years. They did everything together until that final moment after
their graduation when they all spread their college wings in
different directions. The couples fought to at the very least
stay together but living in 4 different cities made it difficult
to keep up. They hated it.
Liz and Maria missed each other like crazy and Max and Michael,
although they would never admit it missed each other. Max missed
his sister and Maria who he had grown really close with. Kyle,
Maria and Tess had a hard time being separate especially after
living together for a year when the Sheriff and Amy finally tied
the knot. By the time it happened everyone was for it. Kyle
already treated Maria as a sister and Tess and Maria had such
similar temperaments they got along really well. Alex hated being
away from Maria and Liz and they weren't too happy about it
either. Isabel missed her brothers and having girls to talk to.
From a support system of 7 people they all dropped to 1 person.
They were all miserable.
What made it worst was the occasional small skirmish with skins,
so named because of their peeling skins. Nothing huge and
organised like their first experience but every once in a while a
small group of skins would try their luck. They never succeeded
but they were not always easy wins not when they were only two
people to fight them of. Being separate was probably a factor in
the size of the attacks. The vacation was looked forward to by
all.
The first week was slightly awkward while everyone readjusted to
being back together but they were all so happy to see each other
again it didn't last long. It was an attack by a group of 6 skins
their first weekend home that got them talking. Maybe it was an
excuse to remain together but the 8 of them decided it would be
safer for them to remain together. Huge arguments and discussions
than erupted on which one of the four cities they all lived in
would be the best for all of them.
Eventually they chose Boston, the city Max and Liz attended an
Ivy League College. It didn't take much to transfer to Boston
Colleges, just some paperwork. The parents seemed happy with the
change - keeping the kids together was a good move in their eyes.
Everyone managed to pull of the transfers and keep their
respective degrees. Once that had occurred the kids took off
together and drove up to Boston. They were beginning a search for
a home for all of them.
They stayed in a motel for three days as they saw house after
house. Because all of them had to agree - basically meaning the
girls had to agree they had to see quite a few options. The irony
was that when the girls finally chose a house it wasn't a perfect
house. In fact little about the house was perfect except for the
size and the price. It was a complete fixer upper. While the
neighbourhood was ideal for their needs, the house required a lot
of work before it would be totally liveable.
It was a big house with four bedrooms, as kitchen in a really bad
state, a dining room and two living rooms. Attached to the house
was a double garage and a little studio apartment with two rooms.
The kids all contributed towards the house with a little help
from their parents. Michael and Maria used the money they had
been saving for a place of their own while working part time for
the past year. Still most of the money they eventually used came
from the bank account Nacedo left for them upon his death. It was
to be used for living expenses while on earth. Although the 8 of
them were loathe to use up some of the money, after a vote they
decided a house would be a good investment for their futures and
as base of operations. They didn't know how right they would be.
The kids all packed up their sleeping bags and moved in. The
summer was spent fixing up the place. By the end of that summer
the house was almost new. The 8 of them did almost all of the
work themselves. Walls were torn down, carpets added. The floor
were sanded. Electricity was rewired and phone lines added. Huge
paint fights erupted during the painting of the house but
eventually the house was complete. The end result was a
beautifully restored home with a practically state of the art
kitchen. One living room had been converted into an entertainment
centre with all the necessary requirements for one. It was the
guys pride and joy. The other living room they turned into a mass
study. It contained bookshelves filled with textbooks, study
tables, lamps. One of the computers was in the study and the
other in the living room - for more recreational purposes.
They all moved into the rooms after the beds had been added.
Furniture was shipped from Roswell and what they didn't have they
built or bought. Every room had two people. Initially Maria and
Liz took one with Tess and Isabel in another. The boys split
their bedrooms between Michael and Max sharing and Kyle and Alex
in the last one. That plan was eventually shelved with Liz
permanently in Max's bedroom, Michael practically living in Maria
and Liz's room. Alex spent all his time in Isabel's room and Tess
had more stuff in Kyle's room then in hers.
The rooms above the garage were , after many conversations
discussing what they should do with them, changed into studios.
One became an art room for Michael (Maria's idea) and the other,
Isabel finally decided, was to be a music/band room for Alex and
Maria's band, the Whits which they were reviving now that they
were back together. It was a plan everyone was happy with.
All in all the house was a pretty normal home except for the
basement. The basement was special. Because of its total privacy
it was the room that they chose as their practise room/gym. Even
though by the end of the summer Michael starting referring to it
as the "Danger Room." He was an X-Men fan. It was
filled with gym equipment on one side and space for the aliens to
practise in on the other.
When the summer ended and their second year of college began, for
the first time ever in their lives all 8 of them felt secure and
in control of their lives. They had created a home out of their
very own hands (and a few alien powers) and just this once their
lives were moving along uneventfully. It was a good time, a happy
time. They had one rule they all followed. Every morning all of
them had to eat breakfast together. The teens studied hard,
worked hard and played together.
Their lives were surprisingly simple. All chores were divided
into couples. Every couple took turns to cook, wash up, do
laundry, etc. it was a well known fact that Michael's meals were
the best since he was the only one among them that could cook a
complete and actual meal. Maria couldn't boil water but she made
a mean dessert. Liz was a perfectionist. When she and Max did the
laundry, everything came back with perfect folds. Isabel
surprisingly in the one year away had learnt to make simple meals.
On Sundays they had take out and watched movies together.
Every morning someone had to wake Michael and Maria up. Maria was
not a morning person and hated getting up, and Michael rarely saw
the point of rising early although he could easily if he wanted
to. Isabel generally made Alex do her turn. She never had the
heart to make them get up.
If you ever walked into their room in the morning, except when
Maria was mad at Michael and made him sleep on the couch, you
would find the two of them curled up around each other with
Michael's arm tightly fastened around Maria. It was always a
little bit of a shock seeing them like that so sweet and tender
but the thing that was most surprising of all was the serenity on
their faces. The energy that always cackled around Maria was a
light one and Michael's face was open and trusting, the
expression of a little boy. Innocent.
Tess and Kyle had no problems waking them up having lived with
Maria before. A few months after the incident in high school,
Sheriff Valenti and Amy Deluca got back together and within a
month the sheriff proposed and they tied the knot. Tess and Maria
found themselves sharing a room. It was the first time that the
three of them had a proper and complete family complete with a
dog and they took their new sibling relationships very seriously,
Kyle going as far as to refuse Michael entry once after he and
Maria had a fight and Kyle saw Maria crying in her room. It
didn't work. Michael sneaked in through Maria's window and half
an hour later the two of them were back on, all forgiven.
Separating for college was difficult for all. The attack had
repaired all damaged relationships and made them extremely strong
as a group. Continuous run-ins with skins over the previous two
years had allowed them to improve their fighting skills and
gather information on the evil aliens, particularly that
regarding their weaknesses. Once they had even discovered a husk
factory where the skins maintained and stored their human skins,
the life span of one being about five years.
The main thing they had picked up over the last couple of years
was that two things could destroy a skin - the first one was
fire, and the second was to shoot or hit a skin in a particular
place, the base of a skin's neck. Shooting a skin there would
cause the husk to fall or disintegrate resulting in immediate
death for the skin who couldn't survive on earth without a husk.
The only problem with that was the extreme complexity involved in
hitting a skin in that exact place, particularly if you took into
account the skins alien powers. To combat that, under Maria's and
the sheriff's tutelage all of them took shooting lessons. Their
shooting skills after much practise had improved tremendously and
almost all of them could hit a target from pretty far. It made
defeating skins a little easier, especially since they had even
practised using other weapons besides guns. A stick worked just
as well for them even if it required close combat for the humans.
Through all of this, the one thing that had eluded them for a
long time until just before college, was the granolith. It was
Isabel who found it, purely by accident of course. She went to
the pod cave to make some decisions about college, her life, her
future. The cave was where she felt safest, where she could talk
to her mother, where she could think.
She was leaning against the wall when she felt the cave wall
behind her shift. Building up power, in readiness for anything,
she waited for what would happen next. Nothing did except the
cave now had a gaping hole in the wall wide enough for a large
person to fit through. Although overcome with curiosity Isabel
knew better than to explore by herself. Pulling out her cell
phone she dialled Alex, Max, Maria and Tess and ordered them to
all come to the cave, without revealing why.
Isabel then stood waiting impatiently until her friends arrived.
Michael and Maria showed up first, not surprisingly, pushing the
Jetta to new heights on the race to get there. Michael wasn't too
impressed when he saw Isabel was fine and even less so when she
made him and Maria wait until everyone got there before they
could go through the hole in the wall.
When all the others arrived Michael and Maria led the way into
the cave, overriding Isabel insistence that since she found it
she got to go first. The hole led into a small passage before
opening up into a big cavern. In the centre of the cavern stood a
large black upside pyramid-type shaped structure. It was made of
some sort of metal none of them recognised. At the bottom was
another pyramid-shaped smaller white construction that met the
black shape at a point. In the black structure were four small
hollows one on each side. The granolith. The 8 of them stood
staring in awe at this alien device - the reason for everything.
The power they were sworn to protect.
It was after the discovery of the granolith, they hadn't figured
out how to use it yet, that they left Roswell for new lives, away
from their birth to new places. The places changed but they
didn't. underneath it all was the security that they could always
come back, that they would be together again soon. Now a year
later they were together again, not in Roswell but in their own
home. And as always the strength that decided defeat or victory
came from the unity they had together.
End part three.
Part Four
2008 The Present.
It was a bedraggled lot that arrived at the camp. As the army
trucks pulled into the base, the soldiers jumped out falling into
the routine of many a battle. First up, under the orders of Kyle
all the injured were carried of the trucks. Max, Isabel and Tess
headed for the first aid/sickbay tent to help heal the injured.
While they were only three of them and many who were hurt, the
system developed by Max and the other medics had only the most
badly hurt healed. If they had any energy after, they would try
to heal the other casualties. They usually healed until they were
exhausted leading to their other halves insisting on limits. Kyle
made sure they followed them.
Jumping of the truck Liz immediately had all the alien weaponry
offloaded and following her instruction 5 men took the weaponry
to the makeshift lab. After the weaponry was identified and they
figured out how to use it, Liz ran lessons for some of the
soldiers she handpicked on how to use them. Fighting a war
against more a powerful enemy meant having to adjust and
sometimes human weaponry was not enough.
The entire camp sprang into life when they arrived. Alex moved to
deal with the men and woman under his command. He headed to the
surveillance vans where they had their equipment set up. He
demanded reports from the two in charge and checked the status of
the rest of the country now under their protection as well as the
security of the camp.
On the other end of the camp, Michael and Maria were ensuring the
safety of all the soldiers in their care. Michael headed for the
perimeter of the base and Maria went to check on the patrols
constantly moving around the camp to protect from any surprise
attacks.
The entire camp was mobile. They soldiers were ready to leave at
any second. It was a temporary headquarters as they made a stand
to defend the state of Oregon from the skins latest attack. Here
everyone moved with purpose, the lives of thousands of innocent
civilians in their hands. Medics healed. Nursed cared. Soldiers
on kitchen duty fed the hungry masses. Others patrolled and
guarded. People slept in shifts. It was a military operation with
all the discipline that involved.
Before the night was over, all the information for the battle
would have been collected and analysed. It had been a long day, a
bad day. Lives had been lost. Battles lost. And territory lost.
It would be an even longer night as the eight met their immediate
seconds to discuss strategy. Decisions had to be made on whether
or not to continue this battle or if the loss of life was too
high to risk. While the decisions as big as this were made in
group discussion and strategy calculated by all 8, with input
from the commanders under them, ultimately all decisions made
that involved the war, military had to have final approval by
Michael and Maria.
The discussions went on late into the night. A plan of action, a
battle plan was finally decided. The plan was finalised by the
former head of armed forces, Max and Michael with input from Alex
on the skins latest statistics - their weakness and
vulnerabilities. Kyle was preparing a new regiment of soldiers,
18 year olds , babies compared to all that they had been through
despite the little age difference. The soldiers readiness was
dependant for the battle plan as numbers were required and Royal
Eight never sent in soldiers unprepared if they could help it.
One of the key elements of the new strategy to prevent Oregon
from falling into the hands of the Enemy like so many lands
before had, was to distract the skins. Liz, Maria, Isabel and
Tess were planning the misdirection of the plan. If anything, the
distraction was more important than the actual plan. If that
didn't go successfully the plan would fail and all would be lost.
The girls were using a combination of Liz's men with their alien
weapons and Maria top two regiments to start a battle on one
front, resulting in most of the skins fighting them and leaving
the skin headquarters for the Oregon take-over open to attack.
After every possible contingency had been accounted and decided
for, the meeting broke up, leaving the 8 of them and their top
commanders only 4 hours to catch some sleep before the action for
tomorrow. Because this was a military camp, it never really slept
or rested. There was always people up on sentry duty, patrolling
the area, watching surveillance. Surprise attacks were extremely
difficult to pull of and Maria and Alex in particular made sure
that it was almost impossible to try one on them.
A couple of tents had been set up on one side for the commanders
usage and on the other for the Royal Eight. No one changed, not
even Isabel. After two years of living in a state of war,
sleeping with their clothes - fatigues was the only way to be
fully prepared for anything. Sleeping was not even the correct
word to describe what they did. Closing their eyes - yes, but it
was not actual sleep since part of them always remained alert.
Still it was rest, and it did qualify as quality time with their
soulmates which they all needed if just to keep up their hope
alive.
Max after medical school figured out how to fall of to sleep the
second his head hit the pillow. It didn't take the others too
long to learn that technique and fifteen minutes after the
meeting broke up, 8 bodies were dead (almost) to the world.
Michael and Maria were wrapped up in each others arms. Kyle and
Tess spooned in the next bed and across from them Max had his arm
wrapped around Liz and Isabel lay with her head on Alex's
shoulder. They slept. Tomorrow was a new day.
End part four
Part Five
2008, August 22
Somewhere in Oregon
The morning was clear and the sun shone brightly, shouting out
its irony to the lives that would be lost today. No one wasted
any time and preparations were almost complete. Kyle and his
troop of fresh faced soldiers were leaving first. They were
taking care of evacuations. Just to be safe all civilians were
being evacuated to three underground special bomb shelters built
in the 1960's. The head of the FBI, in the most interesting of
paradoxes now followed the Royal Eight's orders and the location
of all bomb shelters were a large part of the information and
manpower that they provided.
As usual in missions that were carried out by the 8 of them, from
their high school days, Alex was home base. There were two
reasons why Alex was remaining at their temporary headquarters -
the first was simple, he was to co-ordinate the two parts of the
plan. They had already lost one battle and no one was prepared to
lose another. The second reason was also necessary. Someone had
to stay behind and make sure what they planned for the skins did
not in turn happen to them, that is protect home base. Alex made
sure that everything went according to the strategy. His men
reported to him and he in turn reported to Michael and Maria. The
mobile surveillance room was working at maximum levels watching
all skin activities in the area
There was only one last minute change. Tess received new
information from her agents that the skins were holding some
humans prisoner at their camp, both influential personalities and
some as servants/slaves for the skins. This was unacceptable to
all of them. The plan was adjusted to include a rescue for all
prisoners of war. Tess therefore was switched to alpha team and
Max replaced her place on the beta team.
The statistics that had come from one of the security agencies
now in their command, under Alex's directions were based on a
model and were being used to calculate the skins next move. That
in addition to the expertise provided by experienced war veterans
had been a large part of the plan. Fortunately for them the skins
were predictable and the their estimations on the front for beta
team to fight on were accurate.
Maria was leading the beta team for the fight while Michael led
the attack on base camp - alpha team. Beta team was much larger
that alpha. In addition to two regiments, Liz's special alien-weaponry
trained troop were accompanying Maria, Liz, Isabel and Max.
Michael's team was smaller for necessity. They needed to get in
and out without being seen. Plus they had the element of surprise
on their side. Two teams of 6 Special Forces men and women each
were going. Michael led the attack with one team and the other
team followed Tess's orders in the search and recovery part of
the mission.
It was time to leave. Kyle had just sent word that 75% of the
evacuation was complete and the bomb shelters were almost full.
The soldiers were ready, humvees and army trucks all loaded up.
The seven in the middle separated and moved in different
directions. They didn't get far before Michael and Maria turned
around and headed back to each other in quick steps. Without
pausing their lips met in a hard passionate kiss.
It may have been a surprise to some but there were no catcalls or
whistles from the watching soldiers. They were too well trained
to disrespect the love that was tradition, good luck charm and
the reason for fighting. At the same time Alex grabbed Isabel's
hand in a goodbye, be careful hold which she returned while Max
and Liz exchanged one of their searching looks. Michael and Maria
finally released each other and both turned in unison, without
looking back walked to their humvees in purposeful strides and
gave the order to move out.
Today, they were going to save Oregon.
End part 5
To next part
To Index
To Home