“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.