In the aftermath of Lael'in's arrival, and her warning
about the Devastators, humanity began preparing for the invasion that was to
come. The world's militaries pooled their strength to form the Planetary
Defence Force (PDF), a military organization dedicated to protecting the world
from the Devastators; its headquarters was based in Arwing City, close to
Lael'in's landing site.
The Alien Technology Research Center, or ATRAC, was set
up further east in St. Leonard, with the aim of researching alien technology,
such as that used by the Devastators and Lael'in, and attempting to reverse-engineer
it for human use. With the impending invasion weighing heavily on the world's
mind, the bulk of these applications were military in nature; however, Lael'in
had not brought any weapons that they could reverse-engineer. She had, after
all, been on a diplomatic mission.
Lael'in herself was taken to a special government
facility, where she was cared for but also closely studied. The entirely
facility was thoroughly sterilized and she was given numerous inoculations to
protect her from the plethora of Earth diseases, to which her body would have
built up no immunity. She also began learning English, and tried to teach her
hosts Dae'loran in return, although the differences in syntax between the two languages
made it rather difficult to translate coherently between them.
The Devastators did not come for almost six months. In
that time, the PDF had learned to harness a mystical force that the Dae'lora
possessed, allowing them to manifest all manner of supernatural powers such as
fire, ice, lightning, healing abilities, and numerous others. It was found that
cocoa was able to act as a weak fuel source for this power, allowing humans who
consumed it to harness it, and so the price of cocoa went up considerably. Lael'in
also introduced the PDF to a lightweight metal called "Bor'ael",
which was native to Dae'lora and which could block the effects of this force.
Though it was physically weak, ATRAC engineers were able to produce an alloy of
Bor'ael and iron dubbed "Bor'en", which combined their defensive
properties.
In the meantime, a religious cult known as "Steel
Heaven" had begun to form around the Devastators. The Steel Heaven
cultists believed that the Devastators would purge the Earth of the wicked and
bring about a new age of humanity. At the same time, the wait caused a few
people to start doubting that the Devastators would ever arrive at all, and questioning
whether the whole thing was merely an elaborate hoax. They would, however, find
out in time that the invasion was all too horribly real.
One day the PDF detected a metallic sphere heading
towards Earth at extremely high speed. It was undoubtedly sent by the
Devastators - it bore a distinct radio signature that Lael'in had warned them
to look out for - but a single sphere by itself did not constitute an invasion,
and in any case the object was too small and too fast for them to try and
destroy. The sphere thus posed a quandary for the PDF, and ultimately it was
decided to simply allow the object to land and then attempt to destroy it once
it had done so. When the landing site was calculated to be a town near the Aurora
coast, northwest of Arwing, the town was abruptly evacuated.
Less than three days after its initial detection, the
sphere struck the town and completely obliterated it, killing the few remaining
people who had not abandoned. Shortly after landing, the radio signals from the
sphere began to grow even stronger, and several hours later, the first
Devastators began to appear, warping through space-time and manifesting themselves
near the sphere. The sphere turned out to be a homing beacon, launched by the
Devastators in order to allow them to warp from the Devastator homeworld
straight onto Earth. The invasion had now begun.
Before long, the city of Barriston to the south was
attacked and almost completely destroyed. The Route 101 highway that ran
through Barriston was over-run by Devastators and became a no-go area.
Strategic blockages prevented the Devastators from reaching the key coastal
port of Bridgestone, to the west of Barriston, but instead they made their way northwards,
and towards Carston to the south-west. The PDF have thus far managed to hold
the Devastators off at Carston, but the town has suffered significant damage,
and the fighting there continues.
The Steel Heaven
cultists, meanwhile, constructed their own gated community to the east of the
Devastator landing site. Known as "Heaven's Gate", the walled-off
city has so far been safe from Devastator attacks, with some theorizing that
the Devastators are capable of discerning that Steel Heaven see them as allies.
During the conflict, other Dae'lora have followed Lael'in
to Earth, seeking to help the PDF in their battle against the Devastators.
Inspired by the tenacity of mankind, they have given humanity the native name
"Dae'in", meaning "strong, admirable warriors". Many
Dae'lora have joined Aurora's beleaguered hospitals, using their powerful
healing spells to help them cope with the massive influx of patients wounded by
the Devastators. Others have forsaken their race's peaceful nature and taken up
arms, joining the PDF's ranks and taking the fight directly to the Devastators,
determined not to let another planet fall victim to the machines.
Shortly after the Devastators' arrival, a third race of
aliens arrived: the Reavers. This race, who appeared to speak English already, responded
to PDF communications with a message stating that they were not intending to
participate in the war, but simply to take advantage of it to plunder Earth's riches.
The PDF, who already had their hands full taking care of the Devastators, decided
to permit the Reavers' activities for now, but have also begun a propaganda
campaign aiming to convince some of the Reavers to join the PDF. Steel Heaven
have also begun a similar campaign, aiming to recruit some of the Reavers.
ATRAC, meanwhile, are attempting to recover the remains
of defeated Devastators, hoping to either discern the machines' weaknesses and
build weapons that can exploit them, or even build their own Devastators that would
work for the PDF and could combat the machines on a more even footing. Those
days are still some way off, but the PDF sincerely hope that the technology
gleaned from the Dae'lora, Devastators, and even the Reavers, will be the key
to ending the conflict and destroying the Devastators.
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