(updated 12-08-2020)

CHAPTER SIXTEEN
Counter-Strike

"Faith was always a private person. You literally had to pry stuff out of her to get to know her. I knew she'd been in a serious relationship before me, but she never really talked about it and I never pushed her on it. I have to admit that I was always curious to know who my competition was. It wasn't until I met Buffy that I got a chance to get answers to my questions. When I asked her about this 'other guy', she got really quiet and reflective. When she finally answered all she said was, 'Faith loves you. Don't compare yourself or even try to be like him.' My confidence was a little shaken by her cryptic response, leaving me wondering even more who this other guy was..."

— Andres Rodriguez

oOoOo

Colonel Weir tried pushing away the shouts and cries of shock filling his command post, focusing on the updates coming in from around the defensive perimeter. He hadn't gone outside to see the mushroom cloud rising high into the sky, but he'd heard the panicked, shocked voices filling the radio net.

The first sign of the attack was the flash of light coming down from the sky, followed by a distant roar and the ground shaking. The lack of radio communications only confirmed the worse... the destruction of his supporting artillery and one of his armored battalions.

Weir pushed aside his shock, trying not to contemplate the disaster they now faced with the destruction of those units. He focused on the reports from his surviving units as they came into contact with the enemy's lead elements. His experience and training helped him appear in control while he issued orders, but on the inside it was as if someone had kicked him in the guts.

So far there had only been the one orbital strike. The aliens were landing forces at points around the town, trying to encircle it. This confirmed these aliens wanted Faith alive. It seemed her presence and proximity was keeping the aliens from launching more orbital strikes.

Yet, despite this bit of good fortune, the alien orbital strike had decimated a good third of his brigade in an instant. They'd suffered horrendous casualties, and the battle was only just beginning. There might be a few scattered survivors, but he couldn't worry about them right now.

Overhead, the air battle was intensifying. Word had gotten around, and other squadrons were joining in, choosing to make their stand with the army. The mix of squadrons and aircraft caused some air support coordination problems, but it was better than nothing.

A flight of F-16s from the Texas Air National Guard had hit one of the alien landing zones, catching them unloading from their transports. Weir appreciated the sacrifice those pilots had made, but what was of more value was the report from the surviving pilot of what he'd seen in the landing zone.

Weir tried suppressing an involuntary shiver at the descriptions of the vehicles the aliens were unloading along with the hordes of their armored infantry. The pilot's description of the vehicles seemed to be something out of a nightmare—a large central mass with legs. It would have been so easy to disregard the report, but other reports were now coming in, noting similar looking vehicles.

To deal with this threat, Weir had vectored an inbound flight of A-10s to hit one of the landing zones. There were also several AC-130 gunships inbound too. The Colonel hoped the firepower from the ground attack planes would be effective against the alien vehicles.

If they aren't, this will be a really quick battle...

Weir glanced around the command post and swore he would make those aliens pay in blood for the sacrifice his people were making.

When he'd taken on this mission, he'd realized that it might turn into a forlorn hope—a last stand. But it's one thing to be talking about fighting a hopeless battle when compared to being in one. He pushed away any doubts or regrets about his decisions. He would deal—if he survived—with them after the battle.

"Please god, don't let them die in vain," Weir whispered, returning his focus on directing the remnants of his brigade.

oOoOo

Technical Sergeant Marie Chen struggled to keep her growing anger and sense of helplessness in check. She tried keeping her focus on her display screen, but the noise and commotion coming from the other stations kept distracting her. Before the alien invasion, her work with the 20th Space Control Squadron was to detect and track all near-earth objects and deep space objects. Since the invasion, her job was now to track and report the positions and movements of the alien ships in orbit.

Chen realized something big was going on in Texas, but beyond a few rumors going around, she didn't know what was happening. Whatever was happening was enough to cause one of the huge alien ships to take up a lower orbital position over Texas. She could only watch helplessly in real-time, and report this to command.

Shock and confusion gripped her as the console display suddenly flared, rendering it unreadable. She stared at the screen, thinking it had malfunctioned, but as the display returned to normal, she belatedly realized the aliens had fired on something or someone on the surface. She whispered a silent pray for those caught in its path, while struggling with her growing sense of helplessness.

Take a deep breath and focus on your job, Chen thought, trying to calm down and block out all the surrounding distractions.

"What the hell?" she muttered, checking her console, suddenly not sure of what she was reading on her display.

She ran a diagnostic program on her console as more unidentified objects continued to appear just beyond the moon's orbit. Shouts from other stations brought home the realization that she wasn't experiencing a system glitch. Someone routed what was happening to the large display screen at the front of the room.

An eerie silence descended upon the room as everyone stared at the screen, watching as unidentified targets materialized out of nowhere beyond the moon's orbit.

The room froze in silent despair as more blips appeared out of nowhere. The size of this new group of arrivals easily outnumbered the alien ships in orbit. Until now, Chen had thought the last arrival of alien ships was a scary moment, but this was different.

Numbness gripped Chen as she stood up from her station, staring at the display, showing the two forces gathering in Earth space. Almost lost in this unfolding situation, Chen noticed the alien ship which had fired on the planet, moving in a hurry to rejoin the rest of the alien fleet.

Her first thoughts were that these new ships were another group of alien reinforcements. Yet there was something different about this new group of ships. The two groups were forming up as if to take up positions to face off against each other.

The situation took another twist when a massive burst of smaller objects blossomed from the two groups. Shouted commands for everyone to get back to work finally restored order to the operations center.

Chen jumped back to work, typing in commands for the systems under her control to track and catalog the massive group of ships filling up space. As she worked, her earlier fear was subsiding, replaced by an intense sense of anticipation. She had no explanation for why she was feeling this way other than she sensed everything was about to change.

oOoOo

Prelate Dejan studied the holographic display showing the disposition of his fleet and the incoming Alliance ships. If his species had facial expressions, his face would have been projecting a frustrated frown as more Alliance ships appeared.

How did they know we were here? Dejan thought.

He continued staring at the Alliance ship icons on the display as they formed up into their battle formation. One of his subordinates coming over to report got his attention.

"Prelate, we have confirmed our initial scans. The arriving Alliance fleet outnumbers us."

"Yes, I can see that. Tell me something I do not know!" Dejan roared, not hiding his frustration.

The rebuke caught the subordinate by surprise, taking a moment to recover before continuing, "Prelate, detailed scans indicate at least half of their fleet are dropships and assault transports."

Dejan considered this information, doing some quick calculations. It became apparent that while the whole Alliance fleet outnumbered him, he maintained a small numerical advantage in combat ships. Those orbital defense platforms already powered up and online only added to the firepower at his disposal.

This knowledge boosted the Prelate's confidence as the situation didn't seem as bleak now, "Anything else from the scans?"

"Yes, Prelate. We have identified many of their warships as older class vessels… ones we know they have removed from frontline service and relegated to planetary defense duties."

This information only emboldened Dejan, knowing that a good portion of the Alliance's combat ships's were older and inferior. He realized that this advantage presented an unprecedented opportunity to defeat and destroy a large Alliance fleet. Another subordinate interrupted to bring him another report.

"Prelate, the organics have launched fighters!"

Dejan didn't hesitate, knowing this was an opportunity he didn't want to squander, "Launch our fighters! Have the defense platforms target the incoming fighters. Our new synchro cannons will be a rude surprise to them. We will destroy their fighters and when the time is right, we will advance and annihilate their fleet!"

oOoOo

"Alright Skull Squadron, form up and check in."

Kennedy listened as her squadron checked in. This was all old hat and automatic for her by now, "Skull-Nine, check," she answered in a voice almost sounding disinterested and bored when it was her turn.

Her voice may have sounded bored, but her stomach was doing back flips. She stared at the blue and white world hanging in space, so tantalizingly close she could almost taste it. The only thing keeping her from home was the large Haydonite fleet between them.

Don't need to get killed this close to home, especially after getting Willow back...

She took a deep breath to calm and focus herself. Her thoughts turned to her family, which surprised her because she hadn't really thought about them in years. Until now, her focus and thoughts were on more important things... like flying, staying alive, and Willow. But at this moment, she wondered how her parents and half-sister were doing, and how they were managing through the Haydonite invasion.

If anyone could profit from an alien invasion, good old Dad would find a way...

She snorted, remembering how her family hadn't approved of her life choices. There had been a time in her life when she yearned for their approval, but that was now long in the past. She was a Slayer, a fighter pilot, and she had a woman that loved her. She'd been places, seen and done things that most people couldn't even imagine.

Get your head back in the game, Kennedy... It sounds as if you're writing your obit, she thought, chuckling.

She shook off those thoughts, refocusing on the mission while checking in with her wingman and the rest of her flight. Her eyes went to the scanner display on her cockpit console. Blips filled the scanner with different colors, showing the different ships and which side they belonged to.

That is one target rich environment, she thought. A predator's grin filled her face as her squadron leader's voice came over the comm channel.

"Heads up, everyone! The drones are going in! We wait until they thin out those bastards first, and then we go in and clean up. Everybody stay frosty, and watch for any leakers trying to get through to the transports!"

General Coulson knew he couldn't match the Haydonite fleet ship-for-ship, so he'd loaded up as many manned and drone fighters as the fleet could carry. His plan was to send the fighters in first to take out the enemy's fighter screen and pound their capital ships with missiles. This would—hopefully—force the enemy to concentrate on the fighter threat. While the enemy focused on dealing with the fighters, Coulson would have the fleet close and engage the enemy, either destroying them or forcing them to retreat.

Once they'd defeated the enemy fleet, the Marines would land on the planet to remove any Haydonite ground forces and bases. Once the Marines kicked some Haydonite ass, everyone would live happily ever after.

Yet, they still had to neutralize the enemy fleet. The drones would go in first to deal with the enemy fighters and attack the enemy's capital ships. Skull squadron along with the Grim Reapers and other manned Veritech squadrons were being held in reserve and also providing fighter cover for the transports and assault ships.

As she studied her scanning display, Kennedy's Slayer instincts tingled as she her worry grew. There were more enemy targets than what they thought they would be facing. She had instinctively known what this feeling was even back when she was still just a Potential. It was only after joining the REF she found there was a quote that best described this growing worry... No battle plan survives contact with the enemy.

Her instincts screamed warnings as the enemy fleet opened fire on the attacking drones. Her polarized helmet visor kept her eyesight from being impaired by the immense energy released from the energy weapons the Haydonites unleashed on the drones.

"What the hell was that?" Kennedy exclaimed as the communication channels erupted with shocked and confused voices.

oOoOo

Even with her previous experiences in space battles, the sheer size and scale of everything overwhelmed Willow. She had followed General Coulson and his command team when they moved to the Arcadia's War Room after arriving in Earth space.

She'd considered staying on the bridge, but they were busy, and it wasn't like Dawn could spare any time with her. Besides, being in the War Room would put her closer to know what was happening as the battle unfolded.

When she entered the War Room, a rush of memories hit her. The room seemed different from the last time she'd been in here.

It's all the people... Last time there weren't many of us here...

Even with a full complement of personnel working and moving between stations, the War Room was spacious compared to the bridge. It seemed as if a member from every species in the Alliance was in the War Room. There were even a few of the demon-looking Perytonians busy working at consoles. Willow noticed Tashe already here, giving the Invid a greeting nod as she tried to find a spot in the room where she wouldn't be in the way.

The blonde woman and camera crew had also followed them down, and now setting up in a corner, staying out of the way. From the way they quickly set up, Willow guessed that this wasn't their first time filming in here. She tried remembering who the blonde was because she looked familiar, but couldn't place her name.

The large table in the middle of the room with the huge holographic image being projected over it drew Willow's attention. Everything was being displayed in real-time... the Earth... the moon... and all the ships from both sides. Again, the scale of what was happening overwhelmed her as she struggled to make sense of what was happening.

"We're assuming battle formation. We've already launched our fighters. They are assuming their attack formations," Captain Tami said, catching Willow by surprise. The Garudan Chief-of-Staff to General Coulson had noted the lost and confused look on the human's face and wanted to assist.

"Does that mean that Kennedy... uh... I mean Skull Squadron will go in?"

Tami read the human's worry and concern. She did her best to allay them the best she could, considering a major space battle was about to take place.

"We have over 1500 drone fighters attached to our fleet. Skull and the rest of the manned Veritech squadrons along with the Invid mecha are being held in reserve. They will also provide combat space patrol for the fleet. The drones will go in first to take out the Haydonite fighter screen and strike their warships. With their fleet weakened, our ships will close and engage with missiles and energy weapons. Our goal is to destroy the Haydonite fleet or force them to withdraw from the system. Once we have removed their fleet, the Marines will land on your planet."

Willow smiled, nodding in appreciation to the Captain for taking the time to explain what was happening. She went back to studying the holographic display, watching each side's ships move and counter-move. As she studied the display, she started to get a sense of what was taking place. A group of stationary enemy targets clustered together close to Earth caught her attention.

"Captain, can you tell me what those ships are doing?" Willow said, pointing at the enemy cluster.

Tami eyed the display for a moment before responding, "Those are orbital defense platforms. It appears the Haydonites started emplacing a planetary defense system to defend the planet. They normally get deployed in orbit to cover all planetary approaches. We're only getting power indications from less than half of them, so it looks like we got here before they could deploy them."

Willow sighed in relief, "Then it's a good thing we got here when we did."

"Yes..." Tami replied, momentarily distracted as the fleet's drone fighters started their attack run.

Yet as Captain Tami watched the drones close in on the enemy fleet, her attention shifted back to the holographic representations of the defense platforms. She got the sense she was missing something. The enemy's fleet dispositions and their fighter launches were leaving the defense platforms uncovered. To leave the platforms unprotected was out of character for the Haydonites.

A sudden rush of concern gripped Tami as she pulled out her tablet and requested more detailed sensor scans of the defense platforms. As the information flashed on her tablet, it sent a chill through her body.

Willow noticed how Tami was studying the tablet. Even though she wasn't that familiar Garudan body language, she picked up enough to read the growing worry, "Anything wrong, Captain?" she said.

"I-I am not sure," Tami said, still pulling up information on her tablet.

"The energy signatures and power levels of those defense platforms differ from what we've seen before. Those platforms should only carry short range energy weapons and missile launchers. This is—"

The Garudan never finished her sentence as the operational Haydonite defense platforms opened fire, cutting into the swarm of attacking Alliance drones.

"My Goddess!" Willow exclaimed.

The War Room erupted into chaos and confusion as large numbers of the attacking drones suddenly vaporized, disappearing from the display.

oOoOo

A tense General Coulson waited for an update on what the enemy had just hit his forces with. His command staff and the Arcadia's bridge crew were efficient and good at their jobs, so it didn't take long for them to report. Commander Hanson, on the bridge, appeared on a large display screen in the War Room to add his analysis and input.

Aaron was on the bridge. It was his responsibility to command the ship during the battle while Coulson commanded the fleet. Coulson had extreme confidence in the young man to perform his duty.

"Sir, the weapon's energy signature indicates it is a particle beam-type weapon, but we've seen nothing like this before at these power levels," Aaron reported.

Coulson glanced at the sensor data streaming on his tablet, causing him to shake his head in disbelief. He was having difficulty coming to grips with the realization that the enemy had pulled a major surprise on him, throwing his attack plans into disarray. Coulson looked over to Commander Savino and Captain Tami.

"Whatever that weapon is, it destroyed over thirty percent of our drones with that first salvo!" Tami said.

Savion shook his head, "Regretfully, it would appear that our intelligence reports about the Haydonites developing a new weapon system are true."

"Those were just rumors!" Tami gasped, turning to watch the main holographic display as the attack continued. She winced as the enemy fired another salvo of their new energy weapons, taking out more drones.

"Well, it would appear that these 'rumors' exist and they can install these weapons on orbital defense platforms," Savino replied.

"I need answers!" Coulson said, grimacing as he saw his attack drones take heavy casualties without having engaged the main enemy fleet yet.

Captain Tami sighed, taking a deep breath, "Sir... We based our attack plan on certain assumptions. Those assumptions are now being proved false. The enemy fleet we are engaging is larger than our intelligence estimates. We are also facing a new weapon system of unprecedented firepower. Our choices are obvious. We can either retreat or we can continue the attack. I must caution that if we continue the attack, there is a greater risk to our forces, and much higher casualties than we projected."

Silence gripped the War Room as all eyes turned to General Coulson. He knew they were waiting on him to decide... retreat or continue the attack.

His gaze turned to the holographic display. The surviving drones were now engaging the enemy fighters while still taking intermittent fire from the defense platforms. He realized by continuing the battle, the older and smaller warships of his fleet would have to close the range, putting themselves at the mercies of this new weapon. They would pay a heavy price. His eyes focused on the holographic representation of the Earth. He closed his eyes, taking a deep breath.

We've waited so long... We're so close to home...

It wasn't a hard decision for him as he opened his eyes, glancing around the War Room. He understood everyone here and in the rest of the fleet would follow and carry out any order he gave. It filled him with pride and a sense of sadness at the same time.

"We will continue the attack..." he said, using a low firm voice.

oOoOo

"Prelate, we have destroyed over seventy percent of the attacking fighter force!"

Dejan's satisfaction and confidence soared as his glowing eyes watched the display while his lead fighters engaged the enemy fighters. His fighters were suffering casualties, but then he was in a better position to accept these casualties compared to the destruction visited upon the organics.

He debated whether he should give the order for his fleet to advance. If he advanced, he would have to move out of range of his defense platforms. While he would lose their firepower support, his fleet still possessed an advantage in combat ships. He became more emboldened towards this plan, but the enemy fleet took the decision out of his hands.

"The enemy fleet is advancing on us! They are closing to engage us!" Dejan exclaimed, gesturing at the holographic icons representing the enemy ships, moving towards his fleet.

The Prelate summoned one of his subordinates, "Order our fighters to break-off engaging the enemy fighters. Our ships can handle the remnants of their attack force. Have our fighters strike at their warships. If we strike hard enough, we can break through and attack their assault transports and dropships. Have the defense platforms target their lead ships as they come into range. Our synchro cannons will tear their fleet to shreds, and then we will advance and eliminate the rest! Today we strike a tremendous blow against those lowly organics!"

The smug satisfaction gripping Dejan took a hit when a large group of Alliance fighters pounced on his fighters, advancing on the enemy fleet. It was apparent the Alliance had held these fighters back to protect their warships and transports. Between those fighters and point defense weapons, they extracted a heavy toll on his fighters. None of his fighters broke through to attack the troopships.

While this attack had costed much of his available fighter force, he could afford those losses. By this time, the lead elements of Alliance warships were within range of the defense platforms.

"Prelate, their lead elements have entered synchro cannon firing range."

It is only a matter of time... I will slaughter them all, Dejan thought, filled with hateful glee.

Dejan studied the holographic display for a quiet moment, "Fire..." he said eagerly.

The platforms unleashed their fury on the leading ships, either destroying or inflicting catastrophic damage. Dejan joyfully noted the annihilation of the leading enemy destroyer squadron. This didn't pause or stop the enemy's advance.

The enemy's refusal to retreat filled the Prelate with an intense satisfaction, knowing the synchro cannons would tear the enemy fleet to shreds. His simmering anticipation grew, knowing he would soon give the order to advance and destroy the enemy fleet.

Another surge of hateful glee flowed through Dejan as the platforms hit a group of light cruisers, destroying or crippling them. One of his subordinates cut short any further pleasurable thoughts.

"Prelate, sensors are detecting another spacefold taking place."

Momentary uncertainty gripped Dejan, worried about the enemy springing a trap, and outflanking his fleet, "Position? Composition and size of the force?" he snapped.

"The fold point is outside synchro cannon range at an oblique angle to us," the subordinate reported.

Why the enemy had waited this long to launch this attack confused Dejan, "How many ships?" he demanded, trying to figure how he would counter this unexpected move.

There was an unusually long pause before the subordinated reported, "Just one ship. Labeled unknown type and class..."