Not A GameInvasion 
C.K. Chandra 
      The heavy smoke not only obscured the sight of the battlefield, it was so 
      chokingly dense that it made it hard for Jessup to breathe. The Lieutenant 
      stopped his half crawl to lean against a burned out car while another fit 
      of coughing racked his chest. When it finished he continued his slow 
      progress, dragging his injured leg behind him. The last he had heard there 
      had still been a group of holdouts defending the power station at the 
      harbor. He hoped they had some kind of medic available to them. If not, he 
      was sure he'd lose his leg. 
      A random gust of wind blew the worst of the smoke away for a few moments 
      giving him a view of what lay ahead, and his breath froze in his throat. 
      One of the huge enemy weapons platforms lifted above the burned out shell 
      of a building. It was festooned with gun turrets which were all tracking 
      back and forth, searching for targets. One stopped, it's muzzle pointed 
      directly at him. Within moment all the wepons were trained on him. In a 
      futile display of resistance, Jessup lifted his handgun and emptied it at 
      the mammoth machine. The bullets bounced off without leaving a single 
      mark. 
      The weapons platform drifted slowly towards the injured man, then settled 
      to the ground, crushing a small office building and several burned out 
      cars in the process. Then a gangway slammed down from it's towering side. 
      Jessup cursed himself for wasting his last ammo. If he'd waited, he 
      berated himself, maybe he would have been able to get a few of the 
      bastards before they got him. He tried to stand and run, but his leg 
      buckled and he fell. 
      He turned, expecting to see the lizard faces of the aliens approaching. 
      Instead he was greeted by a smiling, blonde-haired, teenage boy. 
      "Come on, there are enemy infantry on the ground in the area." The boy 
      slid an arm around Jessup's shoulders and he found himself spirited into 
      the bowels of the huge enemy ship. He was turned over to a medic who, from 
      the numerous bandages in evidence, was more severely injured than he was 
      himself. He tried to question the man who simply pointed at a heavy 
      bandage across his throat and made hand signs. So the Lieutenant lay back 
      and let the man work on his leg. 
      The medic finished and stepped away just as a uniformed figured hobbled 
      up. Jessup tried to stand but the man waved him back. 
      "At ease, Lieutenant. They tell me that you were just picked up. What news 
      do you have?" 
      Jessup swallowed, noting the bronze eagles on the man's shoulders. 
      "Well, Colonel. My name is Jessup, I'm from the air combat group off of 
      the carrier Enterprise. We engaged an advancing enemy column in Long Beach 
      yesterday morning, but we might as well have been using water balloons for 
      all the good our ordinance did. They knocked us out of the air like a 
      broom sweeping down cobwebs. I ditched somewhere north of the heaviest 
      action and have been on the ground for a day and a half. I was trying to 
      reach the power station at the harbor. I heard there was still some 
      resistance there." 
      The colonel shook his head. "There is no power station any longer. Just 
      one hell of a big hole where it was. How many others from your group made 
      it through the attack?" 
      Jessup let his eyes drop. "I think I'm the only one, sir. I saw at least 
      six other strikes against the enemy by Naval and Marine attack forces. 
      Even one that looked like Air Force fighter bombers. They burned them all 
      right down to dust. My getting down must have been a fluke." 
      The colonel looked grim but unsurprised. He nodded. "Good enough, 
      Lieutenant. If you're up to it, I'd like you to join me in the strategy 
      room." He turned and began to hobble away. Jessup noticed that both of the 
      man's legs were completely wrapped in bandages. 
      "Colonel. Please," the man turned back. Jessup gestured at the ship around 
      him. "How did you get your hands on this?" 
      The colonel smiled grimly. "I didn't. I was picked up the same way you 
      were. They managed it." He pointed. Two kids were dashing past. One was 
      the blonde who had helped Jessup aboard. They neither one looked to be 
      over sixteen. Jessup turned back to the colonel with disbelief on his 
      face, but the man was already limping from the room. 
      Jessup followed the injured officer. They ended up in a room with a broad 
      table. There were a number of teenagers and younger looking children 
      gathered around it, studying the map displayed on it. As he entered, the 
      display changed and a redheaded boy stabbed a finger at a glowing symbol. 
      "That's got to be a transport of some kind It was in the water off of Long 
      Beach this morning, and now it's on shore smack in the middle of the 
      shipyards. See the symbols that mark the weapons platforms? They all come 
      from that one. It's got to be some kind of mobile headquarters ship or 
      troop and weapons transport." 
      A girl with short-cropped brown hair manipulated some controls, then 
      pointed. "I think this is a display showing things in orbit. That blue 
      thing is a one-of-a-kind. From the scale I'd say it's the biggest thing 
      they've got. Rick's 'transport' symbols come from it and drop towards the 
      ground. And one or two have gone back up and merged with it. That's got to 
      be the mother ship." 
      Young heads around the table nodded. The redhead, Rick, slapped the table. 
      "The mother ship. That's our goal. I say we take one of the transports, or 
      more if we can, and then attack the mother ship in orbit. We storm and 
      board, or ram and destroy her." Cheers broke out all around. 
      Jessup stared at the boy incredulously. He turned towards the Colonel and 
      was astonished to see the man nodding. When the Colonel noticed Jessup 
      gaping with disbelief, he grasped Jessup's arm, steering him from the 
      room. 
      "Colonel," Jessup started, "these kids are..." 
      "Crazy?" The colonel interrupted, shaking his head. "No, they're not. You 
      haven't seen them in action. I have." He walked Jessup towards a bench and 
      sat heavily. Jessup joined him, glad to get off of his injured leg. 
      "Lieutenant, I was with a strategic group in El Segundo. We had no 
      weapons, just communications, so we weren't a prime target for the first 
      day of the assault. But we were able to see what the enemy did. They took 
      out every major and minor military installation with weapons capabilities, 
      and they did it virtually unopposed. Nothing we have can touch these guys. 
      They must have had superb intelligence data, they zeroed in on every 
      single military base that had any kind of weaponry. Zeroed in and blasted 
      it right out of existence. You were lucky, your ship was moving, a harder 
      target. I'm sorry to tell you, but the Enterprise, and every other ship we 
      could contact, went down before noon on the first day of the invasion. 
      There is no more US Navy, son. Not really, not any more. As far as we 
      could tell it's the same for all the armed services. And not just ours, 
      the invader went for everybody on the globe with any military force at 
      all." 
      Jessup felt an icy hand grip his gut. He'd figured as much, but hearing 
      the words brought it home in a deadly-cold fashion. The Colonel gave him a 
      few quiet minutes to absorb the news before he went on. 
      "The second day they started assaulting the major civilian centers, 
      smashing anything that looks like a strategic target. Airports, power 
      stations, even water supplies were all smashed. The enemy is out to 
      obliterate our entire civilization, by the numbers." 
      Jessup felt himself slump. "That's pretty much how it looks, sir." 
      "That's how it IS, Lieutenant. They just wiped Washington clean off the 
      map. The same for most national capitols around the world, from what we 
      saw and heard. New York is gone, too. Probably because of the UN, or maybe 
      just because of it's size, I don't know. I was surprised they didn't just 
      smear Los Angeles as well. 
      "The only effective resistance I've seen, or even heard of, is this group 
      right here. And from what I've seen, they should be encouraged to try 
      whatever they think they can do against the enemy. They may be the only 
      hope Earth has." 
      Jessup stared at the Colonel disbelievingly. "But Colonel, they're only 
      kids." 
      The Colonel nodded. "I know. But wait until you see these 'kids' in 
      action. They are the most efficient and effective fighting group I've ever 
      seen. I wish we had a hundred thousand more just like them. The enemy 
      would be mopped up in a day." 
      Trying to keep his features neutral, Jessup began to wonder if the Colonel 
      was completely well. The alien invasion and total defeat of all military 
      efforts to defend against them could have loosened the man's grip on 
      reality. Then he glanced up as a line of teenagers carrying oddly shaped 
      weapons marched by. He watched them pass then turned back to the Colonel. 
      "Okay. Exactly who are these kids, and how did they get this weapons 
      platform?" 
      The Colonel grinned. "This ship was part of a column that attacked LAX on 
      the second morning of the invasion." He stopped for a moment. "Gods, that 
      was just this morning." The colonel wiped a hand across his face, looking 
      suddenly tired and old. He went on, "Anyway, at the convention complex by 
      the airport, when the invasion first began, there were several big 
      conventions underway. The Annual International Star Trek Convention, the 
      North American Mock Warfare Society, and the Fantasy Role Playing Combat 
      Olympics, just to name a few. It's the event of the year for anyone into 
      that sort of thing. And there were people there, mostly younger people, 
      from all over the world. 
      "When the invasion began, the conventioneers were just as shocked as the 
      rest of the world. Most of them just huddled down at the hotel complex 
      watching what news they could get and praying for some kind of miracle. It 
      was like that everywhere: complete shock and disbelief. 
      "But when the enemy began assaulting LAX this morning, they went wild. I 
      was with a group retreating... Hell, we were totally panicked and running 
      scared! We were running from an assault on the El Segundo complex and were 
      trapped between that and the assault on LAX. I saw three ships like this 
      ground and drop their sally ports open. Enemy combat troops poured out 
      like a black flood! 
      "Then these kids came charging out of the convention complex. At first it 
      was horrible! Unarmed kids attacking armed and armored soldiers with their 
      bare hands. The first wave were cut to ribbons." The look on the Colonel's 
      face was ghastly. Then his features grew firm. "But a few of the kids 
      managed to get weapons away from some of the soldiers and started firing 
      back. That was the turning point. The invaders started milling around, 
      they didn't seem to know how to react. More kids got ahold of more 
      weapons. It turned into a route. Within minutes the kids were pouring into 
      the sally ports on the ships, doing a cover / fire / advance drill like 
      battle hardened marine assault troops. 
      "It was bloody, but it was beautiful, Lieutenant. Two of the enemy ships 
      went up in devastating explosions, but they captured this one intact. 
      Scouts from that group found me and the medic when they went out looking 
      for recruits to assist them. My group had been hit by debris from one of 
      the exploding ships. We were partially pinned when we were found. They 
      emptied the convention complex. Everyone who was still alive came on 
      board, after stripping the dead enemy soldiers of their weapons. 
      "That's pretty much it, so far. It took the kids about an hour to figure 
      out how to operate this ship, and they've been cruising slowly south all 
      day. They think they've got the communications gear figured out, and they 
      turned off what appeared to be an ID beacon. At least this unit no longer 
      shows up on the combat table in the strategy room. Frankly, after what 
      I've seen today, I wouldn't put anything past these kids."

      Jessup shook his head. It was like he had fallen into some kind of 
      gigantic role-playing game. He looked up as two teen-agers walked past. 
      They were discussing the pro's and con's of a night assault on the Long 
      Beach enemy beachhead. One of the kids was a girl with green spiked hair 
      and a butterfly covering her whole face, painted in vividly hued makeup. 
      The other was a boy with a crew cut and buck teeth, and believe it or not, 
      a plastic pocket protector full of pens and pencils. Jessup shook his head 
      again. Then he felt a lurch, and a swaying motion. The Colonel put out an 
      arm to steady himself. 
      "It feels like we're under way. Let's go up to the bridge. I'll have Rick, 
      he's the nominal commander here, show you what's going on." 
      They walked through several oddly lit hallways, and up a ladder that had 
      obviously been designed for an anatomy other than human, and finally 
      entered a brightly lit room. It was filled with large viewscreens and 
      intensely quiet teenagers sitting at equipment consoles. The Colonel led 
      Jessup to the center station. 
      "Rick, this is Lieutenant Jessup, US Naval Aviator. Lt. Jessup, Rick 
      Ayers, the operation commander." 
      The redhead nodded without taking his eyes off the screen. "I'll be with 
      you in a minute, Colonel. We've got two enemy platforms bearing down on us 
      from the south. I want to take them out before they get a good look at us. 
      I don't think the enemy knows we have this platform, and I'd like it to 
      stay that way." His voice shifted up in volume and dropped it's 
      conversational tone. "Okay, they are just beyond the hill in front of us. 
      We're going to rush the hilltop under full power. We'll probably go 
      airborne right over their heads, and we'll do a one-eighty in the air. I 
      want every weapon firing on full as soon as we clear the hilltop. Blast 
      'em. And keep an eye out for ground troops, too. I don't want any one of 
      them to survive." He lifted an object to his mouth and when he spoke his 
      voice reverberated throughout the ship. "Red Alert! I repeat, Red Alert! 
      Everyone to battle stations and prepare for combat!" He set the object 
      down and turned, grinning. "I've always wanted to say that." To Jessup the 
      redhead looked like a high school kid who belonged at a school dance, not 
      a soldier leading a force into combat. 
      The Lieutenant turned his attention to the huge display screens and was 
      surprised to realize that he knew the area they displayed. It was 
      Sepulveda Boulevard, not far from Palos Verdes peninsula. He had lived not 
      far from here as a kid. He realized with a wrench in his gut that he had 
      probably been the same age at that time as Rick Ayers, the redhead, was 
      right now. 
      He felt the gigantic ship surge forward, and the scenes in the viewscreens 
      shifted abruptly. He lost track of the action as he grabbed for handholds 
      to keep from losing his balance. He heard roaring and stuttering coming 
      from all around and the screens were filled with flame and smoke. Over the 
      commotion he heard Rick Ayers' calm voice. 
      "One of the ships is on the ground with sally ports open. Assault troops, 
      prepare to storm and board." There was a wrenching boom and Jessup felt a 
      shudder through his legs. The big ship had apparently dropped and settled 
      to the ground. 
      "Ports are open, assault troops away!" On the screens Jessup could see low 
      hunched figures dodging forward through the smoke and flames. There was 
      resistance from alien troops on the ground, but the motley looking crew of 
      teenagers flooded forward like a wave hitting the beach. Stunned, Jessup 
      realized that only seconds had passed and he was seeing the fighters 
      streaming up into the grounded enemy ship. Then the world rocked 
      violently. A female voice reported unemotionally. 
      "The second enemy platform has been destroyed." 
      Just then several human faces appeared at one of the sally ports on the 
      ship under assault. One made a thumbs up sign and then they vanished back 
      inside. Rick Ayers announced with obvious pleasure in his voice. 
      "We've captured the other platform. Lisa, take half our troops and assume 
      command of that ship. Our plan will stay unchanged, you follow us and take 
      whatever action you feel necessary." 
      The short haired girl stood away from a console. "Aye, aye, sir! Micki, 
      Sean, get your people and come on!" About a third of the people in the 
      room stood and headed for the exit. Their positions were immediately taken 
      over by others. When the screens showed a crowd entering the other ship, 
      Rick pulled and twisted a control yoke and the huge vehicle lurched. They 
      were under way again. 
      The sun was setting and the screens grew dim. Someone fiddled with a 
      control and the screens brightened, tinged now with green. A voice stated 
      in a bored tone, "Night vision enhancers activated." Rick Ayers grunted a 
      response. The screens showed mostly burning buildings and signs of violent 
      combat. Most things were obscured by smoke. Rick steered a weaving course 
      through the waterfront, following some route he had apparently decided on 
      previously. After several hours he settled the huge vehicle on the ground 
      in the midst of several tall, burning structures. He lifted the hand mike 
      from the console and spoke into it. 
      "Now hear this, all hands listen up. Assault troops, your job is to 
      infiltrate the enemy held area. We'll give you 'til oh-five-hundred to get 
      into position. Then these two platforms are going to come in blazing with 
      all weapons. The goal is to blast as many of their weapons platforms as 
      possible, and to storm and board that transport. We don't have any idea 
      how much resistance they'll put up, but we have GOT to take that ship. 
      Mary-Angela Thomas will lead the assault team on the transport. As soon as 
      you're inside you load as many troops as possible and launch. Try to board 
      that ship in orbit. If you can't, then ram it." He hesitated for a brief 
      moment before continuing. "Remember, people, those aren't paint-balls 
      those guys are firing. This game's for keeps. As Patton said, don't go out 
      there to die for your country, make the enemy die for his!" 
      Ayers twisted a control and there was the sound of motors straining. 
      "Assault troops away." He laid the microphone back on the console and 
      turned to face Jessup and the Colonel. "Now we wait." 
      Jessup looked at his own watch. The assault would begin in half an hour. 
      He felt a cold chill climb his back. He stepped over to the redhead and 
      spoke softly but with intensity. 
      "You can't be serious. Even if by some miracle those kids get on board 
      that alien ship, how the hell are they going to get it off the ground? 
      Much less get into orbit and attack another ship. It's crazy." 
      Ayers seemed to consider Jessup's comments for a few moments, then replied 
      in a conversational tone of voice. "Sure, it's crazy. But if any person on 
      this planet, any human person, can get that ship operational, then it's 
      Mary-Angela. She's not only a top rated flight simulator specialist, she's 
      the best there is at sizing up a new situation and making the correct 
      moves. Last year at the Space Combat Con she beat the Id-Sciences game in 
      fifteen minutes. She's a whiz at this sort of thing, got a natural talent 
      for it. And the troops she has with her are some of the top paint-ball 
      pro's in the world. Those guys practice combat maneuvers of all kinds 
      almost every day of their lives. They're virtually unbeatable." 
      Jessup felt his face flush. "But you're talking about games! This isn't a 
      game!" The redhead's face went suddenly devoid of emotion. When he spoke 
      his voice was soft. 
      "I know it's not a game, Lieutenant. My mother, father, brother, and my 
      girlfriend all died in the assault on this ship. So did an awful lot of 
      other good people. Thousands, probably millions have died around the world 
      in the invasion attempt by those aliens. I don't know who they are, but 
      they are going to pay, and pay dearly for trying to invade this planet." 
      Jessup felt the intensity flooding from the boy who was seated in front of 
      him. The boy's eyes narrowed and he leaned forward. 
      "You see, Lieutenant, we found out something really important when we took 
      this ship. The enemy has equipment that beats what our people had all to 
      hell and gone. But their soldiers, the guys using the equipment, they 
      aren't very good. They are relying on their equipment to beat us. They 
      have a well developed battle plan, and when they follow the plan and we 
      react according to their expectations, they kick the tar out of us. But it 
      looks like they don't know what to do when the plan goes wrong. I'm sure 
      if they had time to think it over, they could adapt and stop us, but we're 
      not going to give them time. We are going right for their throat with 
      everything we've got and we're doing it right now." He glanced at his 
      watch, then turned towards a young boy sitting at a console. 
      "Rico, go over to Lisa's ship and make sure she doesn't have any last 
      minute questions. Then get back here. I want you on those big guns for the 
      assault." The kid stood, saluted, and left. Ayers continued, giving brief 
      instructions to several others, coordinating and encouraging the fighters. 
      After awhile, Jessup glanced at his own watch. Ten more minutes. He heard 
      a female voice speaking softly behind him. 
      "The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want." Other voices joined in, 
      softly. Jessup joined in with "Yea though I walk through the valley of the 
      shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me." By the time 
      they finished, it seemed as if every voice in the ship had joined them. It 
      had been a long time since Jessup had been in a church, but the familiar 
      words filled him with a feeling of peace and purpose unlike anything he 
      had ever felt before. For the briefest moment he began to believe that 
      there might be a chance for this insane plan to work. 
      Rick Ayers picked up the hand mike. "Okay, people. On my mark. 3... 2..." 
      On 1 the huge ship surged upwards and the figures at the consoles bent to 
      work with intense concentration. The sounds of weapons fire was deafening. 
      The viewscreens lit with flame and explosions, and the battle for Long 
      Beach harbor began. 
      Afterwards, to Jessup, much of the next few hours was unclear. At one 
      point the ship was blasted by some powerful explosion, and many of the 
      figures at the consoles were pitched about like rag dolls. Jessup found 
      himself seated at a console, handling unfamiliar controls while a young 
      black girl with a bleeding face and burned hands sat on the floor beside 
      him, calmly directing his actions. He cheered with the others when they 
      saw through the smoke that the assault teams were managing to board the 
      towering shape of the transport ship. 
      The fighting continued like a science fiction version of a nightmare. 
      Jessup felt an intensely personal loss when the second weapons platform 
      was destroyed, but by that time four others had been captured and were 
      forming a cordon around the disputed transport. Another point that he 
      remembered clearly was Rick Ayers' voice announcing that the symbol for 
      the transport had vanished from the strategy screen. Then a few minutes 
      later came the rush of thrill and fear as they watched the mountainous 
      transport vessel lift off the ground on a cushion of violent flame. The 
      fighting seemed to pause as the ship rose on a lengthening column of 
      brilliance. 
      This action seemed to throw the enemy into total confusion. The captured 
      vehicles formed a column and waded into the enemy, wreaking havoc among 
      the disorder. The combat seemed to rage endlessly. Jessup was blasting 
      away at a pair of enemy ships when a voice yelled out behind him. 
      "We've got voice contact with the transport. We've got Mary-Angela!" There 
      was a crackling, then a girl's voice came across clearly. 
      "... what's happening. About two thirds of our force were lost in taking 
      the transport and holding it until I figured out the controls. Right now I 
      can see the orbiting ship on the main viewscreen. It's enormous. Even if 
      we could dock with it, and I haven't figured that out yet, there's no way 
      a few dozen of us could take and hold it. It's as big as a city. So we've 
      decided to ram. We're going in with all weapons firing, and at the top 
      speed I can get out of this tub. Hope it's enough. So far it doesn't look 
      like they even know we're here. 
      "Repeating. I don't know if anyone can hear me, but if you can, this is 
      what's happening. About two thirds of our force were lost in taking the 
      transport..." Jessup felt his heart try to climb into his throat. From the 
      sound of her voice, he guessed that the girl who was speaking could not be 
      over age fifteen. He wrenched at the controls in his hands and felt some 
      small satisfaction as first one, then the other of his targets erupted in 
      violent explosions. Mary-Angela's voice broke it's narration. 
      "This is it, we're going in! If anyone can hear me, tell my mom I love 
      her, and dad, and my sister, and..." There was a burst of static cutting 
      off the voice, then nothing. Seconds later Rick Ayers' voice calmly 
      announced, "the symbol for the orbiting mother ship made a violent change 
      of orbit a few moments ago, and just now it vanished from the screen. I 
      believe the mother ship has been destroyed." Cheering broke out on the 
      bridge. Jessup, however, couldn't cheer. His throat was too tight. He felt 
      hot tears on his face. Instead of cheering he leaned into his controls, 
      seeking out more targets on which to vent his emotion. 
      The fighting continued, but with the loss of the orbiting ship the enemy 
      seemed to lose all organization and coordination. Within days the 
      immediate area of Long Beach was free of invaders. The Colonel, Lieutenant 
      Jessup, and several hundred battle weary young veterans stood on a beach 
      near where the heaviest fighting had taken place. The Colonel held a 
      wreath that had been salvaged from a half destroyed florist shop. On a 
      ribbon tied to it were over a hundred names, and at the top of the list 
      was one in larger script than the others: Mary-Angela Thomas. The Colonel 
      cleared his throat. 
      "Greater love hath no man, than that displayed by those who give their own 
      lives that others may live. This war is not yet over, but thanks to the 
      sacrifices made by these brave souls we now have the chance to throw the 
      enemy from our home. We shall remember these names, and hold that memory 
      dear to us. I commit this wreath to the eternal seas of our great world, 
      as a token of our regard for them." He turned and waited until a wave 
      washed close, then lay the wreath on the water, watching as it was pulled 
      back by the sea. Then he turned and lowered his head. Jessup dropped his 
      own eyes, remembering the combat of the past few days. He wished he had 
      had the chance to know some of the fallen fighters better. After several 
      minutes of silence, he heard the calm voice of Rick Ayers. 
      "Okay, people. You have half an hour. Then please return to your posts, we 
      still have a war to fight. We have reports that the enemy is beginning to 
      reorganize down at the old Camp Pendleton Marine complex. There's supposed 
      to be a dozen weapons platforms and another transport. I want to take that 
      transport intact. We did it before, we can do it again." 
      Jessup saw heads nodding, and could see looks of determination on the 
      faces. He, too, felt that same determination. He glanced back at the 
      wreath on the water just in time to see it vanish beneath a breaking wave. 
      Then he joined the Colonel and Ayers as they started walking back towards 
      the huge weapons platform that was resting a short distance away. 
      "Okay, Rick. What's the plan this time?" The Colonel asked quietly. 
      The redhead shrugged. "Don't know, yet. Let's get some intelligence on the 
      situation, then we'll figure it out." 
      Jessup glanced up at the tall wall of the ship as they limped up the sally 
      port ramp. Someone had painted in ten foot tall white letters the name 
      Mary-Angela. He felt a warm feeling fill his chest. It was a fitting 
      tribute. 




