CHAPTER 3

THE TYPICAL INVASION: PART TWO: THE WAIT

Let’s leave the Gorgonians alone for now. The Sondrak Imperials used the same strategy during their attack in the Earth year 1953. Where are they? Ah…

(That this point the Sondrak shuffle into the auditorium. Their trisected eyes have trouble adjusting to the gloom so they bump into a few of the other guests.)

There they are. Come in. Find a seat. Watch the slime trail. Got to be careful when you follow the Gorgonians. Speaking of which…

You were the next large scale invasion of Earth. Like the Gorgonians, you launched your pods from a base on Mars. This time, you primarily landed in an area called California. Then you sat in those pods and waited.

And waited.

And waited.

I have to ask, this has been killing me since I started this project. What were you doing in there that was so damn important? In the name of all that’s military, didn’t you travel light years to invade the planet? Then why didn’t you start invading the second you landed?

SONDRAK: We were trying to catch the Earthlings off guard?

WAR HAWK: What the hell!

Off guard? A few days ago, they didn’t even know you were even in their solar system. You can’t get much more “off guard” than that.

fought numerous campaigns, and when the time came to break orbit and land on enemy territory I was always running all over the place. I was rushing from LZ to LZ, from battle to battle. I was working really hard. I’m not the only one. Sardonus Jek ran around during the Altarian invasion. The Black Band rushed across half a planet during the invasion of Centaur 7.

But maybe we were the ones who were wrong. Maybe we could have sat nice and snug, buttoned up inside our landing vehicles, and waited. Maybe that’s the key to victory. Except you guys didn’t win, did you?

The word “wait” should not be in a soldier’s vocabulary. There is no point in not attacking as soon as you make contact with the enemy.

If you’re waiting to try and catch the Earthlings off guard, that’s just not going to happen. They’re been through this now several times before. The Earthlings will be a lot things; afraid, paranoid, on edge, pissed off. The one thing they won’t be is off guard. You’re not gaining the element of surprise, you’re losing it.

Yet another vital element is being sacrificed before the invasion has even begun. I would argue it’s even more important than the high ground.

So many times, you can do everything wrong in a battle. Every part of your plan can be one hundred percent crap but, if you have the element of surprise, you can still carry the day. It’s happened to me several times. It’s happened to Jek just as many. One time, we were fighting the Meglons off Kellsworld. We were out gunned, out manned and in a lousy position. But we hit them when they least expected it and from a direction they didn’t foresee. And we routed them.

Let’s flip this around. The Droto attacked the planet Miir with a flawless plan. They had their targets picked out. They had the right troops, the right weapons. Nothing could go wrong. Except the Miiri had advanced warning. Even though they had a fraction of the firepower of the Droto, they annihilated the invasion force to the last ship.

What were the Earthlings doing while you guys were locked up in your pods of death? Taking precautions. Initiating emergency protocols. And anyone in the area who had the good sense to get out of there, got out of there. This is exactly what happens when you give up the element of surprise. Vital targets move or fortify. Forces are on alert. Weapons are made ready.

Even though the first strikes by the Sondrak were brutal, they were not as successful as they could have been. Forces were destroyed and lives were lost. But it was by no means a crippling blow. And when you did come out of your pods you were dealing with a military that was on high alert.

So you can see the mistakes are mounting up, and the first shots haven’t even been fired yet. Not a good sign.