Chapter II. Visitors From Home
Mining stations and colonies on the frontier mysteriously began dropping offline. Stations and ships towards the system's core began receiving sporadic distress calls. The Republic, unsure of what was happening on the frontier, dispatched a small naval task force to investigate. The brief, garbled report received by Fleet Headquarters from the task force commander was disturbing to say the least.
"...They're unstoppable! We're throwing everything at them and they keep coming. Sweet Sally Jehozevah! They just took out the POTEMPKIN...Holy shit! That thing's a freakin' monster...harvest..."
They showed no mercy. They systematically destroyed every settlement and ship in their path. Massive mining colonies simply ceased to exist. Nothing was spared the onslaught. Even the Republic's Fleet proved to be nothing more than speed bump in the path of the monsters' march toward the system's core planets. Even more disturbing was there were almost no survivors to give the Fleet intelligence and science staff critical information on ways to fight the enemy.
The entire system would have fallen if it weren't for the desperate actions and dumb luck of one lieutenant and his crew. Fleet carrier RSS INVINCIBLE's task force engaged the enemy's fleet near the system's fifth planet, Flagler. The enemy forces pummeled the warships without remorse. Fighters and frigates alike were swept from the stars. Even the larger destroyers and heavy cruisers quickly succumbed to merciless enemy fire. Eventually there was nothing left except the INVINCIBLE's hulk drifting lifelessly among the other detritus of the task force. The enemy seemingly unconcerned with the pitiful few survivors on the carrier continued its march towards the system's core. Knowing his crew would not survive long with the ship's failing life support, the ranking bridge officer ordered the remaining engineering crew to reroute all remaining power to the ship's engines. He was determined to ram the monster son of bitch as it passed the carrier and take a chunk of it with him.
As the old saying goes, the best laid plans never survive contact with the enemy. The enemy's flagship noticed the sudden surge in acceleration from the carrier. Although the carrier was deemed an insignificant threat to the flagship, enemy ships were dispatched to destroy what was left of the warship before it could collide with the flagship. The ship was ultimately destroyed, but not before a stray energy blast caused the carrier's fusion drive to overload. The resulting explosion was accompanied by a massive electromagnetic pulse that fried every circuit with one hundred kilometers, bringing the monster to a stop.
Unaware of the INVINCIBLE's sacrifice, the citizens of the Republic waited in terror for an attack that never came. For some unknown reason, the enemy's march stopped. Every ship in the enemy's armada went dead at the same instant.
A series of high speed sensor probes scanned the monster's hulk revealing no signs of activity. The Republic dispatched a survey ship to investigate the enemy's origins and the purpose behind all the mindless destruction.
For months, the Republic's scientists and intelligence specialists studied the hulk of the enemy's flagship trying to glean as much information from the wreckage as they could. The reports they sent back to the capital read like bad science fiction that evolved into a bona fide horror story.
Upon landing entering the hulk, the scientists discovered the ships of the enemy fleet were completely automated. There was no sign of living quarters, work spaces, not even a water cooler. The entire fleet was nothing more than massive, automated killing machine working on someone's behalf, but whose?
Computer hackers and engineers spent months pouring through data cubes and computer cores that may have survived the massive electro-magnetic pulse from the INVINCIBLE's death. Whatever they found must have been big, because the report was sent back to the capital via high security courier. The Republic's president felt the need to get drunk immediately after reading the scientist's findings. The next day, he addressed the citizens of the Republic.
"My fellow citizens, we all suffered a terrible loss six months ago. Twelve million of our friends, families, and loved ones were lost to that seemingly unstoppable invasion. They gave no warning, showed no remorse, and were bent on destroying us all. For the past six months, we all asked one question. WHY? For the past six months, our best scientists have been trying to answer that question, and they have finally come up with one that is far more horrible than anyone, even the conspiracy theorists, could have imagined. From what we have been able to piece together from the enemy's data cores, they are called "Harvesters." It would seem their creators have designs on you, me, and everyone else in this system. The Harvesters have come for something we all take for granted; they have come to harvest our bodies for our musculature. Even more disturbing is the origins of these Harvesters. They were sent from Earth..."
The Harvesters came from a world that only existed in stories and history books. Terror and panic swept the Republic. The Republic almost fell with the news of Earth's Harvests. Gradually, order was restored throughout the Republic due in no small part to the overwhelming sense of horror that permeated the system turning to rage. As one voice, the citizens of Republic of Terra Nova swore vengeance for the losses wreaked by the Harvesters. Overnight, Terra Nova's armed forces saw a surge in applicants for the Fleet and Ground Forces. The citizens of the Republic wanted war...even if they were sorely outgunned and outnumbered.
New ships had to be built and weapons had to be developed, almost overnight. The enemy fleet was dismantled for raw materials and technologies. Learning from brutal lessons taught during the invasion, the Republic's engineers and scientists adapted once peaceful technologies were for the coming war. Shipyards throughout the system began producing warships of all sizes at unprecedented numbers. Massive defense stations began popping up throughout the system. Weapons of unimaginable destructive were secretly tested in the vast wastelands on the Bracken moon. Millions of recruits flowed out of the numerous training depots throughout the Terran system. For five years, the Republic's factories labored to meet the needs of a system terrified of a follow up invasion.
There was on glimmer of hope. Among the data culled from the Harvester flagship's memory core was the knowledge other humans existed throughout the galaxy. They, too, were being viciously harvested for spare parts for Earth. Some were even fighting back to varying degrees of success. The Republic's leadership vowed to seek out the other human colonies. They would need allies for the coming battles for they intended to return to their home world and...destroy it.