--Archaeus-- To the Ground Below [i]Chapter 2 -[/i] The First of its Kind \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ "Alert! Scans detect multiple unknown aircraft entering this airspace. Targets are closing in fast, weapon systems registered as active and online. Recommend immediate defensive action." I was awoken from my sleep by the alarm system going off, signaling unknown enemy aircraft have entered the nearby airspace. I stood up as quickly as I could and sent out the Tier 1 call to our Air Force. Afterwards, I put on my cap laying on the rack beside the front door, then left my station and looked over the balcony to the air strip below. I knew this time it wasn't a false warning. The alert was too long and descriptive to be false, as the false warnings were usually short and vague. Now was the time we broke our silence. It wasn't but five minutes and I already saw our new VF-11's pulling out onto the runway, readying to take off and intercept the aircraft. It was then I heard another alert go off from my computer "Alert! Unknown aircraft increasing in velocity. T-minus one minute before reaching Hadenburg Airfield." And another alert afterwards "WARNING: Intruders within the designated safety radius of the airport. Recommend immediate action. Multiple bogies. Count: 378." Within a second, I reared my head into my door again, and activated the emergency defense system by a push of a button on the wall. The anti-air guns then rose from their placements along the sides of the runway, and on top of the hangers. They weren't the best defenses; we had to put them together from essentially nothing, but they worked. I pulled out my binoculars and looked to the horizon where the intruders were detected and saw an entire fleet of Beta ships closing in fast. The Beta ships were evil looking, yet simple. Their base form was a single sphere, the pilot sitting in the center in an enclosed capsule. But once they decide to fight, the pilot activates the ships defenses and the walls of it expand to form giant shields while a very powerful plasma weapon with an explosive launcher is revealed in its front below the capsule, allowing it to fire. When closed, the spheres are impenetrable, but once open, they can be destroyed by shooting the pilot capsule and killing its pilot, so it works out. I ran out of my station, down the ladder, and over to the manual AA gun as fast as possible. I quickly pulled a blue flare from my utility belt, sparked it, and waved it around in the air as I was running. This signaled that enemy ships are within firing range of the base. Afterwards, an alarm went out all over the base, and everybody got weaponized and ready to fight. The VF-11'a already took off, and the AA guns were still prepping. Our aircraft engaged with theirs over top of the base, while a few straggling Beta ships made it down to lay some suppressive fire on us. Once I activated my AA gun, I reared it upwards and started to open fire on the incoming ships. I heard the sharp whistles as the ships flew overhead, missing me by merely feet. I knocked at least 30 of them out of the sky. The automated defense was already activated and taking down more of these ships, but ours were falling faster. Those ships were tough. We had launched over 300 VF-11's to combat those things and over half were already destroyed. But we kept the pressure on them. They weren't about to win the fight this easy. About two hours into the battle, something miraculous happened. Four fleets of Alpha ships flew overhead, sending down a fleet to deal with the Beta ships. The Alphas didn't bother killing us. This wasn't our fight, and they knew it. It was the first, short-termed alliance made in the war. The humans and the Alphas. They came down with their pyramidal ships and destroyed our adversary with the greatest of might. They fought ruthlessly, efficiently, but not recklessly. Within minutes, the Beta's ships were annihilated, and the Alpha ships flew off back to join the other fleets. After the battle, the VF-11's came back down and landed on the runway. We never expected to get help from the Alphas. We were glad they came though. Our numbers were dwindling fast. The alliance made was a swift, yet effective one. After that day, I was certain we haven't seen the last of that alliance. I was certain of it.