CHAPTER 11

THE TYPICAL INVASION: PART SIX: THE SLOW MARCH

Here’s another mistake that the big invasions have in common.

To recap, these operations have all threw away the high ground, wasted the element of surprise, made no attempt to gain vital ground or capture prisoners, fired indiscriminately and left the Earth no choice but to fight back, and because of poor weapon choice were unable to attack anything except what was directly in front of their lead elements.

Despite all of that, they could have turned things around by moving quickly and decisively. Is that what happened, Dronn? Let’s look.

(War Hawk’s podium projects an image of Dronn’s warship hovering about the smoldering ruins of the Earth metropolis Manhattan. A title informs the audience that this is “One Hour After Initial Attack.” Another image is projected, this one of the same warship, now hovering a few miles to the west of the ruins. The title declares this is “One Week After Initial Attack.”)

No. You moved slowly. Agonizingly slowly. You crossed interstellar distances in the blink of an eye to get there. But once you arrived, you crawled along the Earth’s surface like an Ordian Tortoise.

There was no reason to inch across the landscape. You gave the humans enough time to fall back, regroup, and examine your ships for possible weak points.

It would have been one thing had you bothered to secure the area behind you and set up security forces, administration, logistics. You know; getting an actual base of operations established. You never attempted this. You just continued to blast away at whatever was in front of you. As bad as that strategy was, if you had been quick about it you still might have won. But you were not quick.

Speed! Speed! Speed! That’s another one of those qualities that can win a battle even if everything else goes wrong. And on the opposite side, even if you do everything right and you hesitate, you can lose.

This I can’t get at all. This isn’t just a principal of warfare it’s a principal of combat! Here let me demonstrate. First I’ll need some assistance. Thank you.

(At this point War Hawk helps up a volunteer to the stage. It is the Scythian Bloodlord, Vareg who looks a little pale and nervous. But then again maybe he just skipped his noon plasma feeding.)

WAR HAWK: Now if I’m going to fight this guy -

(At that exact moment War Hawk spun around and punched Vareg right across the jaw, knocking the Scythian to the floor and producing a very ominous squishy sound.)

WAR HAWK: - I want to do it as fast as possible. But if I am slow in my attack. Go ahead, attack me.

(War Hawk is addressing Lord Vareg who somehow managed to get back to his feet. The Bloodlord does appear to throw a weak roundhouse punch, though he might have been stumbling forward at this stage. In any event, War Hawk easily ducked the blow.)

WAR HAWK: I’ve got no chance of hitting. And every chance of being caught by a counter move.

(Now War Hawk shoots inside the Bloodlord’s reach and wraps his arms around his lower body. This is followed by a massive heave and Lord Vareg of the Scythians is sent flying back into the seats with a mighty crash right next to a Movalan Colonel.)

WAR HAWK: This is as true for large scale warfare as it is for personal combat. Thanks for your help.

MOVALAN COLONEL: I think you broke his neck.

(It should be noted that Lord Vareg does not move after this point and remains crumpled up and upside down in his seat until the end of the lecture. Not that anyone seemed to mind.)

WAR HAWK: Getting back to our discussion. What’s happening in these Earth invasions goes beyond hesitation. This borders on loafing. We are warriors. Our job is to fight, and fight well. That means fighting with speed. Fighting as fast as you can. This shouldn’t be an issue. You should have units capable of circling the planet several times in a heartbeat. You should be able to almost instantly bring substantial force to any area on this planet.

Once you start an attack, you move as fast as you can, for as long as you can. To do otherwise is to invite defeat. Which is exactly what happened.