Operation Darkness: Chapter One
By Brad Corletti

I remember where I was when the Vong came to Earth.

I was in the remnants of the _Admonitor_, Terra Group's ramshackle 
headquarters. Destroyed last year, pieces of the _Admonitor_ were 
towed to the moon to prevent them falling to Earth. The ship's 
atmosphere was compromised, but there were some talented engineers 
among the Fleet and we managed to restore some of the ship's 
functions. It wasn't going anywhere in a hurry, but it had an 
excellent sensor system and, importantly, communications equipment 
that could transmit through the mass of the planet.

Unfortunately, it was also the first thing the Vong attacked.

We picked them up on arrival, of course. I spilled my iced coffee on 
the floor in alarm when I saw the incoming traces. Massive 
gravitational anomalies. Not just a few - a lot. That alone was 
enough for me to call an all-hands alert. As you could imagine, 
hyperspace traffic to Earth was a rarity before the days of the Vong.

I stood there for precious seconds, attempting to rationalise the 
situation. So many traces - this couldn't be anything other than an 
invasion. But who would want to invade Earth? There's no weapons-
grade exotic gases, the planet's mostly water, there was only one 
galactic-level manufacturing facility, and that was secret. Any ship 
worth stationing here wouldn't even be able to resupply without 
landing in a desert somewhere.

Sci was on the comm in a heartbeat, demanding a sitrep. I gave it to 
him, stating in no uncertain terms that I wasn't going to be able to 
answer any further questions - the hangar bay was a good minute or 
two's flatout run!

I'm sure that at the same time, across the base, other members of 
Terra Group were abandoning whatever tasks they were in the middle of 
and rushing to evac. But as I ran out the sensor center's door, the 
thought never crossed my mind. I was thinking only of myself, and I 
make no apology.

Sci's voice filled my ears, an insistent buzzing from the comm unit 
over my right ear. He was confused, I could tell, but he was hiding 
it, like a good officer should. "Terra Lead to Terra Group. I'm 
pulling the sensor traces from the computers and sending them to NRI 
as a distress call. If any of you have illusions about staying to 
fight, forget it. Get planetside, then we'll talk strategy. Lead out."

I drifted out the door - we'd never bothered with artificial gravity, 
the moon has some of its own - grabbed the right frame, and hauled 
myself around the corner. I pushed my feet back against the ground 
and leapt.

No doubt the invaders had taken one look at our partly-restored 
destroyer and started pummeling it. They'd recognise it for what it 
was, a listening post and command centre. Even if it wasn't rising 
towards them with weapons blazing, it was still a threat.

The only question was whether they intended to seize and capture the 
place or just blast it to scrap.

As I made my way to the hangar bay in that peculiar leaping run most 
efficient in low-grav situations, I did not hear any detonations. I 
took this to mean that the invaders did not intend to destroy the 
base.

I was wrong, but it made little difference in the end. The Vong 
didn't want to invade the base, they just wanted the pleasure of 
killing its inhabitants for themselves.

Sci's voice buzzed in my ear again. "I've identified the invaders, 
people. It's bad. They're the Vong. They've got past the NR Fleet 
somehow - "

The radio fell dead. I didn't know if that meant Sci had been the 
first casualty, or just our radio network, but either way it wasn't 
good. I might be the only member of the group to escape. Never for a 
moment did I consider my own mortality. I was sure that whoever these 
Vong were, they were no match for someone as... gifted as myself. I 
tore the useless radio off my head and dropped it as I fled.