Margaret Atwood once said “War is what happens when language fails.”

Admiral Archibald Vance, the EDA commander that gave the players the mission briefings (in both games, Terra Firma and Armada), is a real person. He has been working in EDA for the last decade.

The Admiral explained that video was created in the early 1900s, and only the computer graphics had been updated. It was planned to be released when the world was ready, which is soon. He then explains to the recruits that the games were simulators. Preparing them for the war against the Europans.

They showed a new picture of Europa. It had the mark from the game that Zach played the night before. The mission was real.

The Admiral proceeds to show the path that they suspect that the Europans would take. There are going to be three waves that gradually get bigger with each wave. The first one is called the vanguard. It only has one Dreadnaught Spheres and its fighter escort. The second wave has two Dreadnaught Spheres with twice the Glavie Fighters escort. The third wave has three Dreadnaught Spheres and tripled the escort.

There are about one billion individual drones in each Dreadnaught Sphere. They are planning on sending six billion alien drones to wipe out the human race. The estimated time of arrival is less than eight hours to the lunar perimeter. All the QComms had the clocks synced to the time of arrival. Each wave is estimated to be three hours long.

The Admiral then proceed to show all the drones. He explains that scout ships have been founded in the atmosphere. They have no way of tracking the European scout ships.

Then a muffled boom shock the entire building. Then the intercoms went off.

Red alert. This installation is under attack. All personnel report to your battle stations immediately. This is not a drill”

The projector then shows the outside all in flames. Everyone QComms updated to show a map to a Battlestations. Zach takes his dad’s jack from Lex. Lex runs in front of everyone to her hub. She is in hub 3, and Zach is in hub 5. As they get near Lex’s hub they said goodbye, and Lex kisses Zach. They both leave running. Once Zach gets near the door his QCom shows a door number. He dashes towards the door. The door automatically scans his QComm, and he made it inside.

Once inside the cockpit, Zach felt a little less panic. He sat down in the comfortable leather gaming chair. The screen wrap around him and showed the Earth Defense Alliance insigina. It had the controller exactly like one that Ray gave him yesterday. They had every type of controller: battle gauntlets, keyboard and mouse, Xbox, Nintendo, and PlayStation.

The computer scanned his eye. A warning came up:

DRONE CONTROLLER ACCESS NOT AUTHORIZED

The computer said,

“Only Earth Defense Alliance personnel are authorized to operate drones or engage in combat. Do you wish to enlist in the Earth Defense Alliance at this time?”

After fighting with the computer. He agreed to enlist. They force him to say the oath:

“I, Zackary Ulysses Lightman, having been appointed an officer in the Earth Defense Alliance, do solemnly swear that I will support and defend my home planet and its citizens against all enemies, that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; that I will obey the orders of the officers appointed over me; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office upon which I am about to enter. So help me God.”

The last was optional, but he said it anyway. The computer to precede to graduate him.

“You are now a flight officer in the Earth Defense Alliance with the rank of lieutenant. Your EDA skill profile and Armada pilot ranking have both been verified. Flight status—authorized. Combat status—authorized. Drone controller station access granted. User preferences imported. Interceptor synchronization engaged. Good luck, Lieutenant Lightman!”

As the computer was loading, it started to play to Raid the Arcade playlist automatically. Zach was the first out since he ran with Lex. He was flying ADI-88 Aerospace Drone Interceptor. Since it was just him so far, he became the main target. According to HUD, there are hundred Glaive Fighters. As he flyes around, ATHIDs and Sentinel mech started to leave the bunker.

Most of the fighters were fighting to break down the door. He shot down a fighter. That was the first enemy kill of the war. Zach believes that things are going to go downhill from here.