All the entries in one master entry

Judging a book by its cover

Everyone says not to judge a book by its cover; however, Everyone subconsciously judges.

After doing much-needed research to find a book to read for the 4th quarter independent reading, I decided to read Armada by Ernest Cline.

I have started one of his other books, Ready Player One; however, I never finished it. Some of the previous books that I read semi-enjoyed are mostly sci-fi books like A Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams.

It was also hard to find a book at the High School Junior reading level. The Lexile score of Armada is 1110L, which is 11th grade.

Amazon describes the book as:

Zack Lightman has never much cared for reality. He vastly prefers the countless science-fiction movies,books, and videogames he's spent his life-consuming. And too often, he catches himself wishing thatsome fantastic, impossible, world-altering event could arrive to whisk him off on a grand spacefaring
adventure. 

So when he sees the flying saucer, he's sure his years of escapism have finally tipped over into 
madness. 

Especially because the alien ship he's staring at is straight out of his favorite videogame, a flight simulator called Armada—in which gamers just happen to be protecting Earth from alien invaders. 

As impossible as it seems, what Zack's seeing is all too real. And it's just the first in a blur of revelationsthat will force him to question everything he thought he knew about Earth's history, its future, even hisown life--and to play the hero for real, with humanity's life in the balance. 

But even though the terror and exhilaration, he can't help thinking: Doesn't something about this 
scenario feel a little bit like ... well ... fiction? 

At once reinventing and paying homage to science-fiction classics, Armada is a rollicking, surprising thriller, a coming-of-age adventure, and an alien invasion tale like nothing you've
ever read before.

Math Class - Chapter 1

Math is boring, right?

Zack lives in Beaverton, Oregon, which is a real city. I didn’t believe it because so many stories make up cities. He is in the middle of his Integrated Math II class. His teacher is Mr. Sayles, a soon-to-be retiree who doesn’t care about what happens in the class. Luckily he has his two best friends in that class, Cruz and Diehl, both of which have the first name, Michael. However, he also has some enemies in the class. Douglas Knotcher is the class bully. There was an “Incident” in junior high that involved both of them. His ex-girlfriend is also in the same class, Ellen Adams.

In class, he sees a Sobrukia Glavie flying outside. It’s one of the fighter ships on the bad guy team in his favorite video game, Armada. His father also started to see things like this. He was an 80s Geek but passed away. Zach drives his car, a white 1989 Dodge Omni.

After seeing the spaceship, he decided that he had to find it again. He started to pick with Knotcher. Knotcher was spitting spitballs at one of the nerds. So Zach decided to grab all the spitballs from his desk to make one big ball and drop it on his head. This got the whole class attention because of the previously unknown “Incident”. Zach did admit to having anger-management issues and related history of physical violence.

He walked out of the class because of the situation and anger. The teacher assumed that it was to the office, however, he ran to his car and drove home. He was acting recklessly by he stared up looking in the sky for space ship he saw earlier.

The PHAËTON Journal - Chapter 2

Is it just wild theories or the truth?

When Zach comes home he goes through his father’s old stuff. His father’s name was Xavier Ulysses Lightman. His mom kept all of his father’s belongings in cardboard boxes in the attic. It includes a collection of old video games, VCR, VHS tapes, old clothes, old cards and letters, and old role-playing game materials.

Mixed in the role-playing game was a particular notebook with the title, PHAËTON. It contained a global conspiracy that Zach’s father believed in. It involved top-secret projects involving video games and the US Military. In the front of the book, it had a timeline it’s posted below. It seems like Star Wars was the main focal point for the timeline.

CHRONOLOGY

1962 — Spacewar! — First videogame (after OXO and Tennis for Two)
1966 — Star Trek premieres on NBC TV (airs from 9/8/66–6/3/69)
1968 — 2001: A Space Odyssey
1971 — Computer Space — First coin-op arcade game — port of Spacewar!
1972 — Star Trek Text Game — BASIC program for early home computers
1975 — Interceptor — Taito — combat flight sim with 1st person perspective
1975 — Panther — First tank sim? PLATO network
1976 — Starship 1 — earliest FPS space combat videogame — Trek inspired
1977 — Star Wars is released on 5/25/77. Highest grossing movie in history. First wave of brainwashing in prep for invaders arrival?
1977 — Close Encounters released. Used to program the populace not to fear their impending arrival?
1977 — Atari 2600 video computer system released, placing a combat training simulator in millions of homes! Ships with the game COMBAT!
1977 — Starhawk. First of many videogames inspired by Star Wars
1977 — Ender’s Game short story. First instance of videogames as training simulators in SF? Published same year as Star Wars — coincidence?
1978 — Space Invaders — inspired by Star Wars — first blockbuster game
1979 — Tail Gunner, Asteroids, Galaxian, and Starfire all released.
1979 — Star Raiders — released for Atari 400/800 — ported to other systems.
1980 — Empire Strikes Back released in movie theaters.
1980 — Battlezone by Atari — first realistic tank simulator game
1981 — March — US Army contracts Atari to convert Battlezone into “Bradley Trainer,” a tank training simulator. Army claims only one prototype was ever made, but control yoke design used in many future games including Star Wars and PHAËTON!
1981 — July — First Polybius sightings at MGP in Beaverton. Mid-July.
1982 — E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial — out-grosses Star Wars.
1982 — The Thing, Star Trek II: Wrath of Khan
1983 — Return of the Jedi!
1983 — Starmaster — space combat simulator for the Atari 2600
1983 — Star Wars: The Arcade Game by Atari & Star Trek: Strategic Operations Simulator by Sega — cabinets simulate cockpit
1984 — Elite — released on 9/20/84
1984 — 2010: The Year We Make Contact — sequel to 2001
1984 — The Last Starfighter released on 7/13! Videogame tie-in canceled?
1985 — Explorers, Enemy Mine
1985 — Ender’s Game (novel) published — same premise as ’77 short story
1986 — Iron Eagle, Aliens, Flight of the Navigator, Invaders from Mars
1987 — The Hidden, Predator
1988 — Alien Nation, They Live
1989 — The Abyss!
1989 — PHAËTON cabinet sighted at MGP on 8/8/89. Never seen again.
1989 — MechWarrior released — another training sim for military use?
1990 — Wing Commander — released by Origin Systems — training sim?
1991 — Wing Commander II
1993 — Star Wars Rebel Assault, X-Wing, Privateer, Doom
1993 — The X-Files — fictional alien cover-up created to conceal real one?
1994 — Star Wars: TIE Fighter, Wing Commander III, Doom II
1994 — The Puppet Masters, Stargate
1995 — Absolute Zero, Shockwave, Wing Commander IV
1996 — Marine Doom — Doom II modified for use by the USMC
1996 — Star Trek: First Contact, Independence Day
1997 — Men in Black, Starship Troopers, Contact
1997 — Independence Day videogame tie-in released — Playstation and PC
1997 — X-Wing vs. TIE Fighter
1998 — Dark City, The Faculty, Lost in Space
1998 — Wing Commander Secret Ops, Star Wars Trilogy Arcade
1999 — Star Wars: Episode I
1999 — Galaxy Quest

He then goes in detail of the fictional name POLYBIUS. It was an urban legend that had been debunked many times. Its origin takes place in Malibu Grand Prix, which is the local arcade in his town. It’s an actual urban legend and is not just made up for the story. His father’s notes were:

- No copyright or manufacturer info anywhere on game cabinet.
- Reportedly only seen for 1–2 weeks in July 1981 at MGP.
- Gameplay was similar to Tempest. Vector graphics. Ten levels?
- Higher levels caused players to have seizures, hallucinations, and nightmares. In some cases, subject committed murder and/or suicide.
- “Men in Black” would download scores from the game each night.
- Possible early military prototype created to train gamers for war?
- Created by same covert op behind Bradley Trainer?

His father then believes that he saw PHAËTON. It similar to POLYBIUS. An arcade machine that only existed for a day. It had a cockpit-like interior completed with all the switches that an plane would have. His father’s notes were:

- Only seen at MGP on 8-9-1989 — removed and never seen again.
- No copyright or manufacturer information anywhere. Plain black game cabinet — just like the eyewitness descriptions of Polybius.
- First-person space combat simulator — gameplay similar to Battlezone and Tail Gunner 2. Color vector graphics.
- “Men in Black” arrived at closing time and took game away in a black cargo van — also very similar to Polybius stories.
- Link between Bradley Trainer and Polybius and Phaëton? All prototypes created to train/test gamers for military recruitment?

The reader finds out that Zach’s username is IronBeagle. He then decided to take a break from the game. However, he has to play one more game since it is an annual event. After reading the Journal he realizes that he late for work.

Starbase Ace - Chapter 3

“Choose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life,” (Confucius).

Zach works in a half-deserted strip mall. One interesting place was Thai place that he likes to call, “Thai Fighter”. The store is called Starbase Ace. It game store, so it sells consoles, controllers, and hardware but with a twist, zero mark up. The owner of the store, Ray, says he runs it “for kicks” since he made a lot of money in the dot-com boom.

Ray’s nickname for Zack is Zack attack. He was an alien believer and thought that everything in the world was related to Roswell. Ray plays video games during work hours and allows Zach to play as well. This leads to the checkout line is long sometimes because they can’t pause an online game.

Chaos Terrain is the creator of Armada, Zach’s favorite game. They also made a game called Terra Firma, which is part of the same universe. The story in the game takes place in an alien invasion world. The aliens are called the “Sobrukia”. They appear to be squid-like creatures. They want to take over the world so they can remove all humans. They both fight with drones remotely, so the species has zero actual casualties. They use aerospace fighters, mechs, tanks, subs, and other robotic ground troops. Armada is the first-person cockpit game that takes place in the Atmosphere while Terra Firma is the first-person shooter. They are vastly different but go hand in hand. They charged a low monthly subscription fee to play the game. However, they would wave it if you are a high rank. They also don’t use microtransactions as games do now and days.

Ray is playing the Terra Firma game when Zach walks in late. A new shipment had just arrived. It had the new Armada Interceptor Flight Control System (IFCS), which is a VR system with a flight controller that can be used in each game. Ray lets him keep it as “early graduation gift”. Ray plays with a mouse and keyboard with a 2D monitor, which is considered odd at this time.

Zach started to load the game but never join. He realized that the plotline of the Chaos Terrain’s games and the conspiracy theory outlined in his father’s journals might be linked. The government may be training the average citizen to operate the drones in combat.

The chapter ends with Consumers walking in. “Welcome to Starbase Ace where the game is never over.”

Mom - Chapter 4

“A mother knows what her child gone through, even if she didn’t see it herself,” - Pramoedya Ananta Toer.

Zach goes home after work, and it surprised to see his mother’s car in the drive. Her name is Pamela Lightman. She is a nurse who takes care of cancer patients, many of them are also terminally ill. She is a bit of a workaholic. Although she is very beautiful, she is a hardcore gamer. She would kill cyborgs, zombies, anything to protect her offspring. She had tried dating since her husband died, but it never lasts. She is still in love with him.

Zach finally explains the “the Incident”. In seventh grade, Knotcher picked a fight with Zach. “Hey, Lightman! Is it true your old man was dumb enough to die in a s***-factory explosion?”

From there, Zach started to beat up Knotcher. Knotcher had to be hospitalized with a concussion, fractured jaw, and large amount of blood loss. Zach only got a two-week suspension with anger management classes.

The school counselor called his mom today saying that he missed a couple of career counseling meetings. Like most parents, she started to ask him a lot of questions about his future. Since his father’s death, they were able to receive a lot of money for new housing and schooling for both of them. She thought he was going to college to learn to make video games. Zach just doesn’t know what he wants to be.

He phone blew up with messages stating that the game starts in a few mminutes. She lets him go since she knows the important of video games. As he went to his room, his mother made a comment that she says every day. “I know the future is scary at times, sweetheart. But there’s just no escaping it.”

Debriefing - Chapter 5

“War, war never changes.” ― Ron Perlman

Zach setups his new controller. It reminded him of a time where he made a spaceship cockpit with couch pillows when he was playing Star Fox on Nintendo 64 to feel realistic.

Zach is in the 10 ten players in the game, Armada. The top five are able to paint their drones while everyone else uses gray drones. The leaderboard is:

01. RedJive
02. MaxJenius
03. Withnailed
04. Viper
05. Rostam
06. IronBeagle
07. Whoadie
08. CrazyJi
09. AtomicMom
10. Kushmaster5000

RedJive (The best player in the game) always sends a message when he kills you, “Your welcome”.

Cruz’s call sign is Kvothe and he is the 6791st place. Diehl’s call sign is Dealio in 7445th place. All three of them are stationed at Moon Based Alpha.

They both said that they would not play if it has a Disrupter in it. It’s the most powerful weapon that Sobrukia had that would shutdown all the Human Drones.

The Humans had reverse Engineer an Interstellar Drone Carrier. So they decided to attack the home planet of Sobrukia. All other missions had been defensive, so it was a big deal that it is the first offensive mission. The Humans also made a weapon of planet destruction. Using warheads, they plan to destroy the enemy’s underwater lair on their ocean floor.

The plan showed a diagram that “Sobrukai Central was obliterated, and the force of the subsequent thermonuclear explosions rocked the planet so violently that cracks spread across the entire circumference of its icy surface”.

The fate of humanity depends on the Icebreaker reaching the target. Zach feels like he is going to war. Hinting at his father’s conspiracy theory from before.

Attack on Sobrukai - Chapter 6

You Can’t Avoid The Inevitable.

Each drone has a virtual co-pilot that the user can be customized. In Armada, it is called TAC, Tactical Avionics Computer. It manages navigation, weapons, communications, etc.

Each Interceptor (the ship that Zach flies) has thrusters, weapons, and shields. To make it realistic, they include power cells, which are efficient batteries. They can recharge at a very slow rate by themselves. The battery decreases when shields are hit, everything you move, and each time you fire a weapon. This requires the user to use power sparingly.

All the drones are equipped with a self-destruct mechanism that kills everything around it. It takes seven seconds to activate though.

When a drone is down the player has to wait to control another drone from the hangar. It also includes a launch queue which can take a while depending on the damage.

Zach listens to his father’s old mix called Raid the Arcade. Since the bad guys are computer-generated they follow a pattern. The music in the mix is rock, so it also follows a pattern. Music is key for Zach to win.

As the battle progress, the Icebreaker laser barely ran for a minute, and over half of the drones are destroyed. Zach tried to distract them by doing crazy maneuvers. The mothership, Doolittle, was shortly destroyed. Zach and the Icebreaker exploded and the mission failed.

Zach tries on one of his dad’s old leather jackets. It was covered in patches from the Activision high-score-awards. Apparently, it didn’t fit before, and now it does. Shortly thereafter, he decided to go to bed. So far, the entire story has been just one day. Zach still vowed to stop playing Armada for at least two weeks.

The Truth - Chapter 7

“The call to adventure signifies that destiny has summoned the hero.” — Joseph Campbell

Zach wakes up to find that his car had been keyed by Knotcher. When Zach goes to school, Knotcher made fun of his father’s old jacket. Zach pushes just enough to make him tripped on the curb.

Shortly after, a strange aircraft started to approach the school. As it got near, Zach realizes the ship. It was ATS-31 Aerospace Troop Shuttle, from his favorite video game Armada. He knew that he was not imagining things since everyone else around him was in awe.

When the ship landed, three guys in black suits walked out of the ship. One of them was Ray Wierzbowski, his boss at Starbase Ace. They publicly yelled for Zach Lightman and took him inside. He notices that the pilot is wearing a uniform from the game Armada.

Zach lost his mind after the ship left. So it turns out that Ray isn’t who he says he is. He explains that Earth Defense Alliance (EDA) is real. Their base in Nebraska, and that is where they are heading. The Sobrukai are not real; However, the alien ships are. The word sobriquet means nickname. He is a low-ranking officer to watch over Zach. The details of why is classified. The book explains it like he is Obi-Wan and Zach is Luke Skywalker. Ray had been watching over him for six years. The point of Starbase Ace was to train Zach.

Ray then goes on to explain a short storyline. Like Star Wars was financed by EDA without George Lucas ever knowing. How Space Invaders were created to make humans feel like fighting aliens was a good thing.

Zach slowly relaxes and understands what is going. With all the crazy theories that Ray use to give, it was like he was preparing him without him even knowing. Zach questions if his father was part of it because of the notebook he found. All that Ray know is that there is a classified file in the database but he is too low level to access it.

Ray says that Zach is going to be given the opportunity to enlist in the Earth Defense Alliance. If he takes it, he would be a flight officer and might have access to his father’s file. Ray ended the conversation with wise words, “EDA wasn’t created to murder people. It was formed to save them.”

Crossing the threshold - Chapter 8

“The Force will be with you. Always.” – Obi-Wan Kenobi

They started to land on what appeared to a farm. It has a large white ranch house, silos, outbuildings, etc. They started to land in the middle of the field, and it split into two massive elevator doors. Then it showed a enormous circular shaft that lead underground.

Zach slowly leaves the shuttle. He then checks his phone to see the time and signal strength. It took 20 mins to get from Oregon to Nasbaka. The phone had no signal.

Ray introduces the place as “Crystal Place”. Looking around he sees many people being escorted by multiple EDA agents. Zach is explained that he is not been draft, but told that would be ashamed if it didn’t help.

They go though a processing line. They made IDs with his full name, social security number, and the words Elite Recruit Candidate. Shortly after, he receives a small handheld device that looked like a really thick phone. They explain that is called a QComm or Quantum Communicator. It allows him to call anywhere including space. It has faster than public available Internet access, Bluetooth, tricorder, small laster pistol, portable drone-control platform, weirding module, etc. It’s a very over power device that appears to do everything. Since he is just a candidate they disable some of the features like the Internet and pistol.

He then talks with Captain Dagh. He is the player above him on the leaderboard. He requested an autograph, and Zach obliged. He explains that he was recruited at 15. When Zach asks this question, Ray explains that Zach’s psych profile indicated that he wasn’t ready for early recruitment. Basically, all the fights he did prevent him from joining early.

Ray has to depart before the debriefing. He took Zach’s jacket and put it in his backpack saying that it’s not going to help him in there. Ray fighting on the ground, and Zach’s is fighting in the sky. They plan to meet at Starbase Ace if make it.

The Girl - Chapter 9

“Real girls are never perfect and perfect girls are never girl” - Anonymous

Zach gets into a elevator with fifteen other people. Then procedes to walk into a IMAX size theather filled with people. They are from all different walks of life. Some wore normal clothes, winter coats, summer wear, business suits, fast food uniforms, surgical scrubs, etc. One person was even in their wedding dress. Everyone was drastically different in age, gender, and ethnicity.

Zach scans the room finding a place to seat. He see a girl who dresses in a goth-ish style. Black combat boots, black jeans, and black tank top. Her hair was half shaved. She had muscle tattoes. When Zach spotted her she was drinking from a R2-D2 flask. As he approaches he notice that she took apart and reassemble the QComm to try to bypass the restictions.

After flitting with her, he learns that her name is Alexis Larkin. She is from Texas and is in the Thirty Dozen in Terra Firma. Zach gave her his father’s jacket since she was cold.

First Contact - Chapter 10

“I believe alien life is quite common in the universe, although intelligent life is less so. Some say it has yet to appear on planet Earth.” — Stephen Hawking

The video started with splashing the EDA logo on the screen. It played the music from the game Armada. Then EDA Latin Logo flashed, Si Vis Pacem Para Bellum. The book never said what it meant. So I googled it, “If you want peace, prepare for war”. Which was interesting because it contradicts what Ray said.

The narrator was Carl Sagan. I didn’t know who he was, so I googled it. He was an American astronomer, planetary scientist, cosmologist, astrophysicist, astrobiologist, author, and science communicator. He has been dead since the 90s, so it was sock to everyone in the room.

When the satellite orbited Europa, a Jupiter Moon, it was covered in a giant swastika. Sagan then explains that the symbol of the swastika was used as peace and good luck charm before Hitler. They figure that the aliens somehow found the broadcast of Hitler from the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin. Nasa used it as evidence of extraterrestrial intelligence.

It gave Zach a déjà vu since it was known that Europa had a vast ocean of water beneath its surface. So it was a popular setting for science fiction writers.

So Nasa chose to send a secret spacecraft called the Envoy I. It drills a hole in the swastika to learn more about the ice. They also attached a golden disc with information of humanity like the Voyager spacecraft. After a few seconds of drilling, Nasa lost contact with the spacecraft. They had another probe that was going near, so they used to take pictures. The Envoy I and the swastika were gone.

Forty-two hours later, they received a message on the top-secret frequency. It was in plain English with the voice of a human girl:

“You have desecrated our most sacred temple, for this there can be no forgiveness. We are coming to kill you all.”

It was later determined that the voice came from the gold record from the lander. Nasa has not been able to determine their motivations, but it appears that it was an act of war. They try to make contact again they crafts just get lost. So they send cameras on other Jupiter’s moon to learn what they are doing. After years of studying, they found drones building other drones and drilling other asteroids for materials. So Nasa doesn’t even know what they look like. However, they refer to them as Europans since.

They kept this secret to the public because they fought if they knew then the world would go into chaos. In the 80s, they have been able to catch some of their scout drones. They were able to reverse engineer their technology. Since then, the earth has been building a drone and preparing for war.

Zach is pretty sure that they are hiding more information than what they were telling him. A lot more. The chapter ends with, “When the lights came up a few seconds later, they hit us with the really bad news.”

The True Debriefing - Chapter 11

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.

The Battle of Crystal Palace - Chapter 12

“Say what you will, but you’re never prepared for the surprise attack.” - Sarah Dessen

The Tactical Avionics Computer (TCA) was real too. Zach in order it to fly to allow him to shoot.

He was able to crazy maneuvers to make their ships to be caught in their own crossfire for a few seconds. They had a system where it would prevent a friendly fire if they knew it.

Zach was very confused about how Chaos Terrain was able to code the alien’s predictions with such a high level of precision and accuracy. He figure that they must be controlled with artificial intelligence and not pilot by aliens like in the game. Zach was able to predict how the Glaive Fighters flew, and it feels so natural/familiar.

In just seventy-three seconds, he was able to kill seventeen fighters. As the battle progressed, the fighters got harder and harder. At one point, Zach was hit behind too many times where his shields failed completely. Luckily he able to get backup from the EDA surface-to-air cannons. One of the displays shows a two-dimensional view, which reminds him about Missile Command.

The main door started to turn red and began to buckle. Some of them started to do kamikaze dives. Then five of Glaives Fighters combined to create a single giant humanoid robot, which was about the same size of Sentinels. This never happened in the either game before. Zach guesses that the game developers didn’t know that this was possible. After a few attacks, the five-Glaive exploded.

Then there were five Glavies. They each started heading to Silos, where tunnels where the drones come out. Zach was able to get all of them but one. Zach was ordered to come back to base and ignore it. In the video games, it rewarded obedience, but Zach thought it wasn’t a game, it was war. He follows it down the tunnels, which leads to the hanger of drones. The Glaive did a self-destruct sequence. Time seem to stop, and then the screen went black. He felt the atomic boom of the power core. The whole hangar with all the new drones was destroyed.

After that, he left the cockpit. His QComm was flashing red to report to Admiral Vance in the command center. It was then ordered over the intercoms. Lex was waiting outside his cockpit and said, “You’re in trouble,” in a childish tone.

New Orders - Chapter 13

“There is no dark side of the Moon. It’s all dark, really.” - Pink Floyd

Zach made it to Admiral Vance’s office. Zach had a glimpse of the computer screen where it showed Zach’s entire life story.

The Admiral proceeded to Lecture Zack about all the drones that were destroyed. It took years and millions of dollars. He was even treated to be court-martialed in less than an hour from enlisting. Zach looked at the clock, seven hours, two minutes, and eleven seconds remaining. The entire battle of Crystal Palace had all occurred in less than an hour.

Admiral Vance gave him a warning. He also hinted that he was Viper, which is the fourth place player in Armada. He called Zach son when he asked for confirmation. Zach reply that his is not the Amdiral’s son. The Admiral was just speaking with Zach’s father right before he came in.

It turns out that Zach’s dad was alive. The EDA had to fake his death when he was recruited. He had to cut out all contact with thier family. EDA would still support the families fanacially. Zach’s dad did it to protect him. Vance explained that Zach’s father’s call sign was RedJive. The number one player in all of Armada.

Vance gives Zach his new orders. His new location is Moon Base Alpha (MBA-LUNAR DCS). His command officer is his father, General Lightman. Vance made sure to tell Zach to tell his father that they are now even.

Zach started to head to the New Recruit Induction Center. He was handed a new EDA flight officer’s uniform. It was dark blue and had his name and rank on the left side pocket right below the EDA symbol. Interesting enough, that is how Scouting BSA has their uniforms too. He was also given black tennis shoes that were Velcro with no logos.

After getting his new gear he heads towards the shuttle. He proceeds into run to Lex. She is going to Sapphire Station in Montana. The tap QComms to share phone information. She jailbroke her QComms and proceeded to do his. She is a programmer and understood how it work. They can now pull any private data stored on another device by touching it. It included Contacts, text messages, emails, music, everything. She kissed him goodbye.

Zach wonders how long it takes to get to the Moon.

The Flying Aces - Chapter 14

“We don’t meet people by accident. They are meant to cross our path for a reason.” - Anonymous

When Zach started to head towards the shuttle, he heard them fighting over who the RedJive was. Zach, just learning that RedJive is his father, keeps quiet about knowing the person behind RedJive. They are not in the top five, so they made fun of the top five. Zach slowly learns everyone’s name.

There is Debbie Winn. She is a school librarian. She has three teenagers. Her husband had died for years. So no one is watching her children right now. She portrays herself as a very religious person. She corrected a lot of cursing. Her call sign is AtomicMom. She is from Minnesota. During the flight, she was praying and worrying a lot.

Milo is a big guy. He works a boring job and lives in a bad apartment. To him this a dream come true. He also explains that he has ADD. His call sign is Kushmaster5000 or KM5K since it was so long.

There is also Lila, but she goes by Whoadie, which happens to also be her call sign. She instantly recognizes Zach when he says his call sign. She explain that Whoadie is the local name for wardie since she lives in Ward.

Jiang Chén is a Chinese player, so he doesn’t know much English. He has to use his QComm to talk with them. His call sign is CrazyJi.

They are told that their flight is going to take 40 minutes to reach the moon. Before taking off, they are stopped by one of the co-founds of Chaos Terrain, Finn Arbogast. He calls out Zach, saying that he hopes that the Admiral wasn’t too harsh. Now everyone knew that Zach was the one to follow the glaive and blow up a large of amount of their drones. The others ask Finn if they know who RedJive is. He answers with General Lightman. So everyone looked at Zach. Then he explains the whole thing to them.

They all talk about their problems and start to form as a group. They did the hands in the middle thing. Chén yelled Sheng-lee, which appears to me victory in the context, but Google wasn’t able to determine what it means in English.

As they travel around the moon, everyone is amazed. There are three craters that look like a pocket watch: Daedalus, Daedalus B, and Daedalus C. When they landed, Whoadie started to jump to see if there was less gravity, however, it appeared that they had some sort of gravity stabilizers. As Zach was leaving the ship, an officer told Zach that the general wanted to talk to him in private. Then right there, his father was waiting for him.

Reunion - Chapter 15

“The Sweetness of reunion is the joy of heaven” - Richard Paul Evans

When Zach first saw his father, they were both smiling. According to Zach, he looked just like his father. He could convince Zach that is was a future version of himself. He is thirty-seven now but appeared to be decided older. His father slowly inches towards him. His father then hugged him.

“I’m so happy to see you, Zack,” he whispered, with a slight tremor in his voice. “And I’m sorry—so sorry for leaving you and your mother. I never imagined that I would be gone for so long.”

Zach was too overwhelmed to respond. His father was scared that he has might have screwed it up. Zach quickly reassured him that he did not screw it up. His father mention his anger issues and said that Zach has the right to be mad at him. Even just mentioning the anger issue made Zach mad. Zach told him that his anger management issues came from his father’s fake death.

Shortly after, his father handed him a flash drive. It contained letters from everyday that he wrote to Zach.

The new estimated time of the alien arrival is five and a half hours from the current moment from hugging his dad.

As they were walking by, Zach saw the hanger with thousands of drones around him. This makes him question his father about how badly they are outnumbered. His father responded by explain that they are so outnumbered it’s not even worth thinking about it. If you are not scared then you are an idiot. He does promise that they are not as hopeless as they seem.

Walking around the base, Zach asks if the base on design around pop culture. His father explains that the engineer “borrowed” some designs since they were in rush. Zach called it sci-fi design theft. I like the part where the cake is a lie is spray-painted on a wall because it from one my favorite games, portal.

All the base systems are automated and the maintenance is done via drones. Even the doctor was controlled by a drone.

Zach is showed the crew quarters. He has room A7, while his father’s room is A1. Zach questions the need of quarters if they are all doing to die soon. His father replied that he would be able to call his mom. Zach convince his father that he now call his wife. Zach pressured his dad into showing his room. It had one wall with images of Zach and His mom that he probably got from the internet. The other walls are bare. They abruptly leave saying that every second counts.

Another Debriefing - Chapter 16

“Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.” - Arthur C. Clarke

Zach is taken to the Drone Operations Center, or otherwise known as the Thunderdome. It is filled with control stations. They were different from the ones in Crystal Palace since they looked like they were designed for the Interceptors exclusively. The rest of the group have been practicing when Zach walked in.

Zach was introduced to his father’s best friends, Major Shin Hashimoto and Major Graham Fogg. Major Shin had a Japanese flag instead of the United States of America one. His call sign is MaxJenius. Major Fogg had a thick British accent. He also a union flag instead of the United States of America one, and the defense was misspelled. His call sign is officially Withnailed, but they call him Limes.

Zach’s father and his friends play dungeons and dragons about five days a week to pass the time. The leaderboard had them in the top three, with Shin and Graham Alternating between the second and third place with RedJive always being in first. They also created a band called, “The Bishop of Battle”.

When they came with the shipment, it also includes all of their favorite foods. EDA keeps track of eating habits, pulse rate, blood pressure, sweat content, etc. When they were playing their favorite games.

No one else on the Moon Base Alpha, after they created the QComm network. Now everything is done remotely, but they still need people just in case something happens to Earth that shut down the drones because the moon ones would still be operational.

They were debriefed that the icebreaker was real and was destroyed. They were also told that there is a second hidden one. It should be operational after the second wave. The moon is always attacked every 390 days (almost annual) because it when Europa is at the point closest to Earth. They have been attacking since September 1988, when the Moon Base was built. Each attack is bigger than the last.

The Disrupter was used in the latest attack. That is the thing from the Armada game that everyone hated because there was no way of destroying it. It latches on a celestial body (like the Moon or Earth) then uses the magnetic field to create a spherical field that disrupts all quantum communications inside. It only works when both the transmitter and receiver are inside. If it is outside it is completely unaffected. It allows the Europan to keep attacking, leaving the Earth without defense. So it they use it on the Moon, Earth drones can be sent and used, and vice versa. Drones can still work inside the field if they are tether by cables. It only gives a 3-second shield regeneration, so it goes from 0% to 100% in three minutes. The Disrupter is nearly Indestructible. It is estimated that each wave will have a Disrupter.

Only very one Disrupter was ever destroyed, and they showed it to the group. Admiral Viper was the commander of the Moon Base Alpha at the time. He climbed into a mech and was going to self-destructed. Zach’s father climbed into a mech and connected it to another mech. He was controlling two mechs at once. He was able to rip out the Viper the self-destruction started without stopping the sequence. He then proceeded to run the Viper towards the base. He throws also throws the self-destruction mech into the Disrupter. He started the sequence on the other mech, detached it, and threw it at the Disrupter. He did this in the three-second window. They both rushed inside at the end of the video clip.

They nicked name the Disrupter “A Black Betty” because that was the song that Zach’s father was listing to while saving everyone’s life. A Disrupter also looks like a ten-sided dice, so it is also called “ten-sider”.

Shortly after the debriefing, they start to head towards a five-gourmet meal dinner. Zach, however, doesn’t want it to be his last dinner. Instead, he wants his mom’s homecooked meal to be his lasted.

The Flash Drive - Chapter 17

“Letters are expectation packaged in an envelope.” - Shana Alexander

Zach walks to the dining hall. He was the last one to arrive, so the only open seat was between his father and Milo. It appears that Graham and Debbie have a crush on one another. Chén and Whoadie also had a crush. Zach still isn’t hungry when he sees the food.

They are informed that their QComms will active the call feature when it one hour until vanguard. That is when everyone in the World will learn about the alien invasion.

Shin starts to talk up Zach’s father to him.

“Did you know that your old man has shot down over three hundred enemy ships? … Your father has also been awarded the Medal of Honor three times, by three different presidents”

Graham started to talk about his wild conspiracy theories that Zach also had. Questioning why they gave humans enough time to develop their technology to match the alien’s technology. Why didn’t they just kill off the human race? etc. This starts up many arguments within the squad.

Zach had enough and started to walk away to cool down. He Eventually gets lost. So he uses his QComm to find his room. Once inside of his room he looks around. There are two loft beds that each had their own privacy. Each had a dresser, closet, and computer. He found his pack and made sure that his father’s jacket was still in there.

He logons on to the computer, and plugins in the flash drive he had received eariler. There were thousands of files, both text, and video. They all follow the same title format.

DearZach(six-digit numerical date)

For example:
DearZach100900.txt (October 9, 2000)

He read the first letter. From there he kept on reading letter after letter. Describe in detail more about PHAËTON. Explaining that he wasn’t recruited earlier because he had “troubling results” just like Zach. As more time passed, his father called it Imprisonment. Only once month, EDA would send updates about Zach and his mom.

They gave him antidepressants, tranquilizers, etc., and none of it work. They kept giving him metals, but they mean nothing to him. He just wanted to be home with his wife and kid. Zach realized, how hard life was for him was twice as hard for his father.

So Zach walked into his father’s dorm. He is just seating there is a home version of Armada with his friends. Zach held up the flash drive. His father said, “I know a place we can talk in private.”

Daedalus Observatory - Chapter 18

“Where there is an observatory and a telescope, we expect that any eyes will see new worlds at once” - Henry David Thoreau

Zach’s father takes him through many series of Corridors. A lot of the hallways needed a long pin to enter. Once they finally made it to the Daedalus Observatory, the General explains that the place has been shut down for over two decades and is marked off-limits. He was able to figure out how to open it for himself without alerting EDA.

One side of the room was covered in notes, diagrams, drawings, computer printouts, etc. Then Zach’s father started to explain his wild conspiracy theory about Europans.

Zach’s father was the primary military consultant for the Chaos Terrain Team. The CEO of Chaos Terrain linked his computer network with his so they can test builds. When doing so, Zach’s father was able to get classified information of Chaos Terrain’s computers that his higher-ups gave them.

The Aliens have been intercepting all broadcasts. They were able to clip together showing a human conflict. They stop sending them back after the first Jovian Opposition. In the clips, it appears that the Europans couldn’t tell the difference between real life and science fiction. All of them included a hostile alien invasion, nothing from a friendly alien.

Zach’s father explains, it like them trying to hold up a mirror. This is how we see you. He believes that they have been studying humans long before the first contact. They realized our worst species’ fear, so they set out to make it a reality.

He argues that the Europans are manipulating us into this entire conflict that they created themselves, as a test. They made us mad by using a swastika, to get our attention. It’s like a weird arms race. They gradually let us catch up in the technological gap. He explains like the Aliens are putting the humans on trial. To see how humans would react if it encounters intelligent species.

“Life imitates art, … Does any of this feel like something that could happen in real life to you? Or do events seem to be unfolding the way they would in a story, or a movie? Perfectly timed for dramatic effect?”

He then shows a picture of the Death Star and a sketch of Disrupter. He explains that the Disrupter is their version of the death star.

“Why is it so difficult to destroy, when we have no problem plowing through their other drones? Why not make all of their drones that hard to destroy? Because the Disrupter is a level boss, that’s why!”

He proceeds to make the correlation to everything that they only have been doing is exactly what it would be like in a video game. The test could be to see if we behave in the way we portray ourselves in our culture. He also brings up the point that QComm tech came from the aliens and could be used now to spy on us.

His point was, if we attempt to destroy them we are ensuring that they are going to destroy us, or we could show our moral reasoning and try to stop the Icebreaker. If they wanted to exterminate us for real, they would have done it already.

Zach points out that his father was not part of the Icebreaker when he played. Zach didn’t believe his father at first. He realizes that he was right in his journals that basically describe the EDA all those years ago. It seems crazy then too, but it was right.

The Final Cut Down - Chapter 19

“In the final analysis, we count for something only because of the essential that we embody. If we do not embody that, life is wasted.” - Carl Jung

Zach goes back into the main room to find it to smell like burning cannabis and Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon blasting. Shin and Milo were laying down, smoking, and listening side by side. Milo tries to convince Zach that EDA made it to help improve the performance of gamers. In this timeline, it is passed in every state. When Zach asks where is everyone else, Shin implies that they are in coitus with one another. The two squad members were also giving each other looks. Zach implies that they might be gay.

01H33M43S REMAINING. The whole leaders appeared on every screen in the world. In this timeline, the United States president is a girl. They play the same film that Zach saw just hours ago.

After few minutes, the news reported that people are handling it well. The majority of gamers were enlisting online. PSA was also playing to encourage people to join. By the time all the leaders announce the news and few PSA having been going on, the phone feature was unlocked on their phones.

01H00M00s REMAINING. Everyone in the squad when into their cockpits for their private phone calls. Zach went to his father. He was recording a message to send to his wife. Zach just took his dad’s QComm and call his mom on the equivalent of facetime. When Zach said that is in on the moon and had been enlisted, she yelled in anger and order him to go home. He explains that he is not alone. Then just the phone to his dad and hid behind him. She didn’t believe it was him. Both of his parents started to cry, so he left to give them privacy.

As he walking toward his pod, he sees Whoadie and Chén making out in one of the pods. Then Zach goes into his pod and calls Lex. She had been promoted to Major and hacked the system to point out which drone is his and which one is her’s. They proceeded to transfer playlists before the fight. They agree, if they are still alive then they are going on a date.

0H14M49S REMAINING. Zach gives his father the jacket that originally belonged to him. They decide that his father should keep it since it still fits and he earn the patches.

0H05M00S REMAINING. Zach slowly gets in his pod. Start the playlist. The Squad started to quote many movies like, “May the force be with you”, etc.

The Fall of Moon Base Alpha - Chapter 20

“All good things must come to an end.” — Geoffrey Chaucer

The Europan vanguard was near Mars. On the HUD, dark green triangles represent the enemy, while the white triangles represent EDA. There were a lot more green triangles than white ones. The Disrupter is in Dreadnaught, which has not been yet deployed, each has one billion drones and the ability to lose communication towards ours.

Zach’s father tried to whistle the notes from the video from earlier. Nothing happened, then they opened fire on them.

After the initial shock of opening fire, Zach felt invincible, unstoppable. All the doubt he had disappeared. All his fear has left him. His purpose was:

“Kill or be killed. Conquer or be conquered. Survive or go extinct.”

Zach started to slip into the zone, the aliens acted just like the video game. The number of ships remaining was dwindling quickly. Zach was able to take out seven enemy fighters before his ship was shot down. Shortly after, the vanguard split up into two groups. One is heading for the Moon Base, and another is heading for Earth. The Disrupter is heading to Earth.

Once they made it to the Moon, they landed some of their fighters, which lead to Spider Fighters crawling out. One of them breached the hangar and self-destructed. They lost all their drone and left with only one defense, base sentry turrets. They were able to shoot some down, but they had no luck, and they too were destroyed. With only a few ATHID left and shortly destroyed, they started to evacuate.

Shin and Milo were still defending. Zach’s father allows them to remain behind based on some unspoken rule among them. Zach’s father opens a secret hatch. After going into the hatch, they all put on visored space helmets. They are like normal helmets, but they shrink to fit your head, right under the jawline. Each helmet had a very small amount of air.

The remaining people got into the capsule. They are shot through the Moon. As they leave, they hear Shin and Milo say their final words. Then they heard the Thunderdome be depressurized, allowing everything to be sucked out into the black abyss.

Escaping Moon Base Alpha - Chapter 21

“Just like in the eye of the storm there is always comfort within the chaos. Becoming aware of this however, is your responsibility.” - Gary Hopkins

Everyone was watching the Moon Base Alpha get destroyed on their QComm. The Europans are still attacking the base even though it is completely destroyed.

As they are going down the tunnel, a Basilisk, a giant metal praying mantis, cuts into the tunnel and jumps in. It kept trying to attack the capsule. It was able to smash the capsule’s rear window and Graham. When the Basilisk pulls back, it stops the capsule and rips out Graham. He had died before he was even able to scream.

The Basilisk tried to attack the other passengers, however, a Sentinel tackled the Basilisk. The pilot who was controlling the Sentinel was Lex. She was able to destroy the Basilisk without anyone else getting hurt. She explained that Shanghai is getting an attack on Earth, which is where Lex was heading next.

Zach’s father was outside, crouching next to Graham’s dead body. This was the only time that Zach had ever seen him cry. Debbie went from grief into pure rage shortly after.

They fix the capsule and continue on this original path. It leads to an EDA emergency bunker. It has eight drones with actual cockpits, so they had to be piloted by real people. There are called AI-89s. Zach’s father explained that the bunker was locked just in case anyone went AWOL, and they were lucky it was unlocked. Zach’s father had to do some setup to get them up and running. He programed the other ones to do in the opposite direction that they were heading. These ships are supposed to have injected seats and airbags; However, they don’t know it works because they are just prototypes. When they enter the ship, it felt oddly normal, like just playing the game at home.

The vanguard was split again: One half targeting China and the other half targeting the Antarctic Penisula with the Disrupter. Chén’s family lives in Shanghai, but they are ordered to go to the Antarctic Penisula. As they head towards Earth, the Disrupter had already made landfall. It wasn’t activated until they showed up.

There are so many ships that TAC can figure out how many there were. When the Disrupter activated, all EDA drones are designed to land on land until systems were back online. The ships that the squad is using, are unaffected because they are flying them within.

One of Debbie’s engines erupted in flames, so she used her escape pod. Whoadie was quick enough to take her pod before the aliens did. They are ordered to go to a safe location. The only ones left are Zach, his father, and Chén.

Chén started to lose his mind. He decided to sacrifice himself because his sister died in the attack of Shanghai. He kamikazes taking the shields down. Zach’s father saw what Chén was doing and decided to complete the job. The shields took longer to respond, this made Zach wonder if his father’s theory was true. Are they testing us? This is the heroic gambit that Zach’s father wanted. His father’s reactor core detonated but he saw a pod drop from the sky.

Zach was blind briefly from the explosion. He took his ship at hit the water with it, looking for his father. He knows in the chaos that all EDA is going online. The world might have a fighting chance. Zach’s hull starts to leak. He wants to tell his father that he was right. He just met him for the first time, and he lost him on the same day. They should have been dead a hundred times already, but yet Zach is still alive. It appears he is alone.

Break Time - Chapter 22

“Sometimes when we take a break, we may find that solutions then present themselves.” - Catherine Pulsifer

Zach started to think about Lex. Then he remembers that he had his father’s QComm number as a contact. He uses a couple of hacks from Lex to use the GPS to find his father. His father was just below. Ignoring all the warnings from TAC, he dashes down and grabs his father’s pod.

He was able to read the vitals. His father was still alive; however, he was just unconscious. He was given painkillers in the pod. TAC planned a route towards the nearest EDA medical center, but Zach ignores it and flew home.

On his way home, Zach turns on the News. All the stations had the same war propaganda stating victory and readiness for the second wave.

Zach found a safe place to land, his high school. He blew up the roof of the gym and landed in there. No one would be able to see it unless they are looking from above. The burn marks from earlier were still there from just earlier that morning.

He carried his dad to his car. Consequently, it’s the same car that his father drove. When he put him in the car, he regains some of his conscience. Zach notices that some of the patches had blood, so he took the jacket off his dad and lets him use it as a pillow. The streets were crowded with empty vehicles.

They finally made it home. His mom pulls in shortly after him. They had a small reunion, him, Mom, Dad, and their dog. Zach drops off his dad and starts to head to Diehl’s house.

Diehl’s house is surrounded by ATHIDS. Zach tapped at his windows and scared the life out of Diehl. Diehl was a video call with Cruz. Diehl drags Zach into his house. Zach questions how they were able to control the drones. Diehl explains that they have no security, and people had been posting “How-Tos” all day.

They ask where Zach has been all day. Zach explains how he was on the far side of the moon with Dad. He also explains his father’s conspiracy theory. Diehl agrees with Zach, while Cruz thinks that Zach is crazy.

Zach decided to call Finn Arbogast, Chaos Terrain CEO, to try to convince him about his father’s theory. It admits to knowing the theory but pushes it off as delusional. With the hack from Lex, Zach was able to get all the contacts from Arbogast.

Zach chooses to call the Armistice Council Members - Conference contact. It has Dr. Niel deGrasse Tyson, Dr. Stephen Hawking, Dr. Michio Kaku, Dr. Seth Shostak, and Dr. Jill Tarter. Zach froze up when they ask who are you and what do you need. Zach proceeded to explain everything. He was quite shocked that they didn’t hang upon him. The Council explained that they did not have access to that data due to military bureaucracy. They then put Zach on hold. With just a few minutes until the second wave.

The Council’s Fate - Chapter 23

“Peace is not made at the council table or by treaties, but in the hearts of men.” - Herbert Hoover

Zach’s QComm ringed while he was awaiting a response from the Council. He added his father to the group call.

The Council agrees with the General’s theory. They also included information about Envoy Probe. Nixon orders Nasa to nuke them first before they can nuke us. This proves that we started the war. The whole time it was us and not them. It’s too late to convince EDA to change course. They also didn’t have any access to its leader, Admiral Viper.

Then everyone in the Council was kicked from the calls and their QComms locked. Admiral Viper joined the call. Zach and his father both announce they are done fighting for this cause. Zach’s father tried to explain that they are giving humanity a second chance, to re-think this, and to reconsider. Admiral Viper refuses and left the call.

The backup plan was the stop the Icebreaker themselves. Lex, Whoadie, and Debbie all joined the call. They all agree to help. Diehl and Cruz also want to be part of it too.

Preparations - Chapter 24

“To be prepared is half the victory.” - Miguel De Cervantes

The part of the Squad in Beaverton met at Starbase Ace. Zach introduced his friends to his father. When they enter the store, Zach’s father lit up when he saw the flight controller for sale.

Zach called Ray and explained everything. He proceeds to tell Zach where the hardwire EDA internet is so they can hook up the Battlestations.

They came up with a plan, and it unknown to the reader. Zach’s father climbs in Zach’s damaged Interceptor and sets course for Raven Rock Command Center. That is where Admiral Viper is currently station.

The Attack - Chapter 25

“Attack is the proof that your enemy anticipates your success” - Mike Murdock

The second wave started shortly after. Zach’s father explained how the EDA’s hardline intranet network worked:

“It was an underground fiber-optic cable network directly linking all of its drone controller outposts together, creating a Disrupter-proof communications system that the Alliance had prepared in anticipation of the invasion. It would allow the EDA to keep communications open between its command outposts, and allow drone operators to help defend other installations remotely while the Disrupter was active, via hardwired defense turrets and tethered drones.”

Cruz and Diehl use ATHIDS to protect Starbase Ace on the ground. Zach’s mom, Debbie, and Whoadie use WASP drones to protect Starbase Ace in the sky. Whoadie is controlling from her console in New Orleans, while Debbie was at her home in Duluth playing with her kids.

The Aliens picked a new target for their Disrupter, the national monument at Devils Tower, Wyoming. It is apparently a location of alien visitors in an 80s movie. When the Disrupter activated all drones were disabled. Diehl and Cruz went to go hardwire the ATHIDS to an Xbox controller to keep protecting the base. Whoadie flew her prototype to Starbase Ace to help protect it. Zach gives his mom his QComm to protect her.

Like father, like son, Zach’s dad flew into the drone hangar to infiltrate the base. With help from Ray and Lex, he navigated the halls without any issues. Until a bunch of ATHIDS team upon him. He got shot with a paralyzing bolt. He was able to crawl to an ATHIDS charge dock. It took all four ATHIDS to create a walking spider tank. He started to play Raid the Arcada playlist and start marching towards the Drone Operations Command Center.

The Admiral orders fire on Zach’s dad, but no one obeys. He starts to shot Zach’s dad himself. They started to evacuate the base. Zach’s dad had the drones set up to explode. The Admiral rushes out, and then all four bombs go off, killing Zach’s dad.

This bought some time for Zach to kill half the Icebreaker’s fighter escort. Only two of the fighter remained when the came back online. It was Viper and Rostam. Rostam was the guy who asks for Zach’s autograph earlier that day. It appears that he made it easy for Zach on purpose. Then there was two fighter left: Zach and Viper. Zach used all three ships that his father set aside to kill Viper’s drone. Disobeying Viper’s command, for the second time that day, he blew up the Icebreaker.

The Emissary - Chapter 26

“Unbeknownst to most of its dormant and otherwise distracted inhabitants, one beautiful tiny blue sphere, spinning through the dark cloak of galactic space, was clearly under siege.” - Patricia Cori

After the Icebreaker was destroyed, all the enemy drones stopped working. All of Europa cracked with a ship flying out. It was icosahedron (“twenty-sider”) named, the Emissary.

It is a machine created by the Sodality with the purpose of giving species’ a test to determine if they can co-exist with the Sodality. It made and controlled all the bots. He used our own conflict against us. Humanity passed the test. Humanity is the ninth species to join the Sodality. The benefits are:

“The sharing of knowledge, medicine, and technology, among other things. Your species’ longevity and individual quality of life will increase drastically”

The third wave of drones appeared. They did not attack humans but instead help rebuild civilization.

Epilogue

“There is no real ending. It’s just the place where you stop the story.” - Frank Herbert

Zach and his friends all received a Medal of Honor from the president. They rename the gym that Zach destroyed after him. He went on that date with Lex they promised one another. Zach continues to work at Starbase Ace.

They built a statue in Zach’s father’s memory. When Admiral Vance gave the closing address it admitted to being wrong and what he did was a mistake. His father’s tombstone reads:

HERE LIES
XAVIER ULYSSES LIGHTMAN
1980–2018
BELOVED HUSBAND, FATHER, AND SON
HE SAVED HUMANITY FROM TOTAL ANNIHILATION
“YOU’RE WELCOME.”

Zach found Knotcher asking for an autograph. He was almost unrecognizable with the robotics updates. The kid that he bullied in math class had died in the first wave. They both had grown since then, and they never saw each other again.

Zach has a baby brother, Xavier Ulysses Lightman. Zach decided that when JR grows up that he should have the jacket. His mom has to find a new job since they found the cure for all cancers.

To Zach, the “test” seems more a trap. They still haven’t released any details about the other species. Zach realizes that he has to move on from Starbase Ace and decide to be one of the Earth’s ambassadors for Sodality. Zach no longers finds himself daydreaming of adventure.