Earth Protection Force

Day three is here, and Hyperthean communications tells us the Morian ships should be entering our first outer zone in about three hours. I have the communication center relay this information to all commands. One hour before they enter the first zone, we send commands to the video drones to send images constantly. For the twenty drones we have deployed, we now have a continuous feed on twenty displays around the command center, and all are being monitored. The video drones will also send us a signal when they detect any movement in the areas they are monitoring. If things work correctly, this should coincide with a signal that we should get from our detection buoys. Our protection barrier is still active, but the Morian ships will have to pass through two of our monitored sectors before they arrive at the barrier. I ask the command center officer to bring up the protection barrier on our display, and indicate each of the buoys as a green “X”. He does so, and I see all the buoys now coming up on the display. They are all green, except for one which is flashing yellow. It is in a sector that is over three hours away from where the Morian ships are approaching. I get the attention of the commend center officer, and as I point to the flashing buoy I ask, “Mister Skinner, what is the story with this buoy?” He looks surprised and is immediately talking to someone on his headset. “That buoy went yellow yesterday, and we have a repair drone on its way there now to fix it, sir. The barrier is still working, but it is a weakness. Since the barrier was still working and this sector was not a concern, we did not feel it was necessary to report it.” “Mr. Skinner, when we are at condition one, we report everything. Nothing is insignificant.” “Yes sir.” “Let’s speed up the process. I want a video drone there, to make sure we do not have any problems. I want both of those drones there within the hour, understood.” “Yes sir.” “Inform Admiral Coats of the situation, and ask him to look into it. This buoy is in his zone of protection.” As the first enemy ship enters our first outer detection zone, the detection buoy sends us a signal of movement within that zone. The zone cube turns a bold blue, and our first signal location of the Morian ship is pinpointed within the cube. The ship continues to move, as if it did not know that it had been detected. From our training, we also know that the Morians do not care if they are detected, since their ships are on suicide missions. For them it is an honor to die this way, and their only purpose is to gather information for their fleet. Now the buoy has detected movement, the video drone does the same. The video drone is now moving towards the Morian ship, and the buoy sends out a second alarm when it detected the video drone. As the video drone moves towards the Morian ship, the second Morian ship has entered another grid. The grid is on the other side of the defective buoy, and it now lights up on our display. This cube now goes bold blue, showing where this Morian ship is. The second video drone is deployed to where this Morian ship is moving. We are now noticing a pattern in their approach and know that the defective buoy appears to be key in their approach. I bring Admiral Coats’ fleet to full alert. He now orders his fleet to take appropriate action and sends fighters to the defective buoy, and orders four destroyers to move closer to the buoy. It takes about thirty minutes before the video drone is close enough for us to see an image of the Morian ship. As the display of the image becomes clearer on our display, we identify it as an unmanned scout, but well-armed. The video drone stays far enough back, but the enemy scout is aware of its presence. It remains curious of its intentions, but does not take any hostile action against our drone. I remain cautious as we monitor this scout, and wonder why the video drone has not been destroyed. I believe their intention is to draw our attention away from something else. As the second video drone approaches the second Morian ship, we also quickly identify it as another unmanned enemy scout. Again, the video drone approaches this second ship, but remains far enough back to be out of harm’s way. We also realize that this scout is aware of the other drones’ presence. Again, the hairs on the back of my neck are telling me to be cautious. Even though the enemy scouts are still a couple of hours away from the barrier, I am still concerned about the buoy that has malfunctioned. This is too much of a coincidence for me. Meanwhile, the enemy scouts continue to move at their steady pace, as they move from the first zone, into the second. The next buoy has come to life, indicating that they are in this zone now, as the first zone goes quiet. On our display, the cubes change their lights to reflect this movement. The video drones continue to monitor the enemy scouts without any incidences.