Tokyo, Japan, June 2017, Unknown Alien Craft arrival site.

Blackhawk and Osprey helicopters flew around the alien craft at a good distance. EDF soldiers dressed in urban fatigues just watched ready in case the aliens decided to attack. They did have the radio on, trying to keep an ear on the situation on the ground. Every EDF Contact Corps were deployed to the major cities where the aliens had arrived. London, Washington, Berlin, Paris, Moscow, Beijing and more.

The EDF had trained for years, organised for years. They were as prepared as they could be.

"What's the order?" one of the privates asked.

"Still hold back," the Sargent yelled.

But that didn't calm anyone down. Tensions were high as they readied themselves. On the ground Tanaka Hiromi brushed herself down as she prepared for one of the biggest stories of her life. She swallowed as her camera man gave her the thumbs up.

"This is Tanaka Hiromi of Japan national news," she said. "Today is a historic day for the whole world, not just Japan. As you can see, aliens have found our world," she pointed up towards the giant space craft above. "They haven't responded, but attempts are being made by the United Nations,"

Just then the bottom opened showing an inner orange/ red light that pulsed. A moment latter giant ants began to descend from the bottom. As soon as they landed, they began to move towards the on lookers. Hiromi didn't make it far as an ant pinned her down and ripped her apart before eating those parts.

EDF didn't need authorisation from the UN to be deployed. By the time the order came in, EDF soldiers were already on the ground fighting.

January 29th, 2045 EDF Special region.

It didn't take long after the 'first wave' of asteroids to hit to get the EDF moving. Reports of bug like creatures taking out villages met their ears, and as soon as they did that's when they began to mobilise. Tanks, mechs, transports and helicopters made their move towards into neighbouring nations towards the major cities.

Emperor Molt, Princess Pina and the senators watched as an EDF defence corps made their way into the city and wasted no time in setting up. Both the royals and senate witness the EDF fortify the city. Large metal towers painted greens with quad barrelled guns on the top. Artillery pieces were set behind the walls and armed with depleted uranium rounds. Metal panels were placed up against the stone walls and locked into place with a bio binder fortifying it in more ways than one.

Underground bunkers were set up in key locations, and 3D fabrication factories were built in the EDF districts. The base was also expanded into a full command and control centre. Similar bases were being set up in the other nations capitals. Train tracks were also laid down by automated drones in preparation for bulk haulers to bring supplies in. It was a lesson learned from the war, by having multiple options for supplies to be brought in meant that if one was down, then they could use another to supply their forces.

Molt, Duran, Zorzal and several Senators, mostly from the Greys and Doves watched as the EDF moved around like ants in their proud city. The Eagles didn't like it, but they had no choice especially with the emperor and 66% of the senate siding with the EDF. By this time, all had been handed information about the Aggressors, but the Eagles were still under the delusion that they could win. Pride and Ego ran deep within the group.

As they watched as one the EDF pulled up three towers Zorzal looked to his father. "Why are you allowing this?" he asked. "They are walking all over you; we might as well be a vassal kingdom for the EDF!"

Molt said nothing for a moment but turned to Duran and looked at his new bionics. "King Duran, outside of slavery, are the EDF forcing you to make any laws that benefit them?"

Duran shook his head. "No. All they asked to do is reinforce the cities and garrison with them until they understand the significance of the threat," he stroked his beard with his mechanical hand. "The other kings have done the same except for King Gustaph. From what I hear, he's already lost several cities due to food riots,"

Molt nodded. "You see my son; I have not been forced to do anything. I have only been asked to help the people of my Empire. What is an Emperor without subjects to rule?"

"Then why not ask to let me get my slaves back?" Zorzal asked.

"Because they would stop me," Molt said. "They let me rule for the abolition of slavery and defence of my Empire,"

"But slavery provides us with free workers, people we don't need to pay,"

Duran sighed. "I have had the same thought, but before the war one of my financiers showed me the problems that slavery was bringing. As it turns out, that while people are getting free labour, where do you think the money is going? To the slavers. They are the ones making the most money. Not only that but there are millions of workers who aren't skilled for the work that they are being bought for. How many of them could be used for building? How many are trained doctors? Not only that but they aren't motivated. When someone works for a wage, say a soldier, then he has something to fight for. But when all he has to look for is the whip, then how hard is he going to fight? I ended the slave trade for the benefit of the economy, as well better prosperity for my people,"

Zorzal just shot a death glare at Duran but the King had been stared down by others more powerful than the crown prince. He turned and walked off, he had other ways to oppose this.

Itami could only smile with a sigh. He didn't want another war, none of the EDF did, but here he was coordinating the EDF in Imperial Capital. He selected his old recon team as his operational staff to help him in coordinating the forces here. Pina, Chuka, Rory and Leiei were also members of said staff, but more as local advisors. They knew little about how the EDF waged war, so all they could do was lease with the locals.

But there was one matter that Itami had to do. He loaded himself up onto one of the half-tracks with Pina, Chuka, Rory and Leiei. A small group of engineers were also going to accompany him to Rondel.

"So, what should we expect?" Itami asked as he climbed into the driver seat.

"I'm not sure," Leiei admitted. "Mages tend to listen to evidence, but all of this technology is new to them. So, I cannot guarantee their reaction. Having the Oracle and Princess attend will help our case,"

"Good to hear," a new voice shocking the others but not Itami who just turned to see Risa sitting on one of the seats.

"How did you get there?"

His ex-wife just smiled and shrugged. Itami just rolled his eyes and set off with the convoy.

OOOOO Thunderbird Squad, Contaminated zone.

Orca squad make sure that their Hazard gear was fully sealed and secured as they prepared to drop and deploy. Their main task was recon, who are the enemy? What was their numbers, where was the location of their home-base? While the EDF would have done this already, the UN needed more information and wanted to reinforce their allied cities before any recon op. With the majority of their forces in the cities, they could free up units for recon.

Satellites and drones were good, the same was with drones. But both of those lacked the human instinct for discovery. Human instinct was more powerful than machines, millions of years honed humans into lethal hunters. Not as keen as other animals, but keen enough that they can use it to find what machines couldn't.

With their suits locked and sealed, the pilot opened up the underside of the dropship and the Thunderbirds dropped out one by one. Recon squads were organised into teams of 8 split up between 4 teams of 2. This allowed greater manoeuvrability across their area of operation and find what they needed to. While not standard, the majority of recon groups were jet troopers. The reasoning behind this being that jet troopers have a greater freedom of movement allowing them to jump and hide.

It also allowed them to fly out of the area if their dropship goes down. The downside was that they couldn't carry heavy equipment, that was for the standard and heavy PA gear to deal with. It was all in line with EDF doctrine. Overwhelming firepower followed by surrounding and cutting the enemy off. It worked for them so many times during the Aggressor war that a change of doctrine wasn't even talked about.

Kyon and her partner Juon landed at a small village with a piece of tumbleweed rolling past. The two glanced at each other with a 'really' expression before moving on.

"I'm picking up tracks," Juon said as he looked at the ground.

Kyon followed his eyes and saw prints in the grounds that were a good inch or two deep. Bites in the walls and clear evidence of people being dragged away form their food. Men women and children. As Kyon listened, it was clear that the situation was repeated with the other locations. But no signs about what could have done this. Aggressors, however were ruled out.

That was both good and bad. Good in terms that it means that they didn't have to face that nightmare again. Bad in that they didn't know what could do this and that was more terrifying than not facing the Aggressors. Better the devil you know than the devil you don't, because while the devil you know is terrifying at least you know what you are getting into. The two began to retrace the tracks over to a set of hills not too far in the distance.

They used their jet's sparingly as they used their HUDs to pick out and follow the markings. It didn't take long to arrive and they entered a cave. With night vision on it was easy to see where the tracks led. Soon enough they entered a large cave filled with a fleshy mass that covered the walls. It pulsed with something inside, but what that was wasn't clear. On the 'floor' of the cave were a few dozen eggs surrounded by a central bulb that had a tube connecting to each of the eggs.

All of a sudden one of the eggs opened and a giant creature emerged. It wasn't a giant ant, but it was the same size. It had four legs on a lower section which was connected to a large spider like body. It had a pair of pincers on the front that were wicked sharp. It turned to them and roared. Kyon and Juon just turned and fled. While it did chase after them it wasn't fast enough and the two exited the cave.

They now had a look at the enemy.

OOOOO

General Takuma Yagmi read the report in front of him. It didn't take him long, but it felt like an eternity for him as he placed it down and pinched the bridge on his nose. He looked over to his landline phone, an ancient relic from before the war. He began to reach over, but passed before fulling reaching over and picking it up. A finger then hovered over the red button, but after a moment he pressed it and placed the phone to his ear.

"This is General Takuma Yagmi. In accordance with Article 3 of the Earth Defence treaty, I hereby order the full mobilisation of the EDF to the Special region. Codeword: Keter," with that he placed the phone down.

In a matter of seconds, phones began to ring across the world. Not matter what time it was, both active and reserve members woke and picked up their phones. In minutes people left their houses making their way to the nearest EDF base. In hours dropships began to move fully equipped soldiers to Japan. Within 2 weeks the majority of the EDF military would be in the Special region ready for war.

A/N

Hi guys, this is just a side bit for what the alien looks like as I don't think I described it well. Think of the lower half of the arachnids from starship troopers with the top part being a cross between a crab and ant and you have a good idea of what I'm talking about.