Invasion Day: An Oral History of the Veech War Read online

  INVASION DAY

  AN ORAL HISTORY OF THE VEECH WAR

  BY

  Micah Gurley

  Table of Contents

  Copyright

  Introduction

  War

  Bao Nguyen

  Colonel Nathan Kratz

  Kate Winston

  Tim “Jackknife” Butler

  Jackson Thompson

  Tim Barone

  Zoltan Albo

  Ken Miller

  Civilian Life

  Reginald Kennedy

  Jeb Tanes

  Joseph Sutton and Carol Sutton

  Poke Johnson

  Tyer Lopez

  Thomas Kincade and Jeremy Kincade

  Momma Keets

  Aftermath

  Rosa Velez

  Governor Terry Aycock

  Keith Oakley

  James Minchew

  Joshua Wright

  Jonathon Meeks

  Jonathon Howell

  Richard Osborne

  Phoenix Station

  Anna Lim

  Dr. Orly Attia

  Jim Turner

  Kee Mpi

  Oliver Lee

  From the Author

  Copyright © 2021 by Micah A. Gurley

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or used in any manner without written permission of the copyright owner except for the use of quotations in a book review. For more information, address: [email protected]

  FIRST EDITION

  INTRODUCTION

  No event in Human history has had such a monumental impact as Earth's first contact with extraterrestrials. Every nation, culture, and race on Earth was changed forever on September 18, 2031. Three billion humans died on that infamous day and in the war that followed. The elusive question that has piqued so many throughout history was finally answered.

  Are we alone? We now know the answer.

  Twelve years have passed since the Veech showed up in our orbitals, yet the impact of that day reverberates through every fabric of human society.

  Why am I writing this?

  Before Invasion Day, I was a teacher. Specifically, I taught history. I loved the job. This collection of interviews came from an idea I had when I received news about a famous pilot who served in the Veech War. The man died from a heart attack. The man was a hero in the war, almost universally loved and admired, and he died from a mundane heart attack. I was taken back by the story. I began to wonder about the man. What was his story? What had September 18th been like for him? Had he lost family? I had so many questions that I was hoping to find answers to, but after checking to see if the man had written anything about the war, I realized I never would. The story, sad though it was, fell victim to more important news. It was forgotten. I remember thinking that it was such a waste. It reminded me of a class I took in university.

  A university professor once told me that there are no records from slaves in the thousand-year history of the empire. Rome ruled the known world, with millions of slaves under its heel, and we'll never know their voices, their story. We don't know their thoughts, their fears or their experiences. They're simply lost to time.

  It was then that I decided to talk to as many people that I could about the war. Of course, there are billions of people with billions of stories, and I couldn't get everyone's, but unlike those Roman texts that were passed down, I tried to get the stories from everyday survivors, not just the power brokers.

  This collection of interviews is not a comprehensive study of the war, military tactics, or decisions made by Key figures. Invasion Day will be the most written-about event in Human history, bar none. From every country and historian, volumes will pour forth, containing the decisions and heroism of those who fought.

  But I wanted more. I wanted to record the common man, who is anything but common. What happened to them? What did they see or hear? How did they survive? What was their perspective on those days of calamity? I wanted their stories. The stories that you read, with a few exceptions, will be from everyday people who lived in extraordinary times.

  These are their words...

  War

  Bao Nguyen

  Danang, Vietnam

  It's a hot, sunny day in Danang, Vietnam, and I'm sitting near the beach that American soldiers famously called "China Beach" during the Vietnam War. Its real name is My Khe. The beach's white sand almost seems to reflect the sun like a mirror and is only enjoyed by a few locals, whose heads are covered by large straw hats. Bao Nguyen agrees to meet me underneath a large sun umbrella in front of one of the resorts. Bao is slim with black eyes, short brown hair, and an infectious smile. He sighs as he sits next to me in a reclining beach chair, then starts his story.

  It was in September, I remember, because my friends and I had a break from school, which allowed us to visit the beach for a few days. We didn't come here – too far away – but went to a beach closer to Ho Chi Minh City. A group of us, twelve, I think, were sitting underneath a large umbrella, much like this one. We enjoyed the day, doing what most university kids do: eating, drinking, and just having a good time. The beach was very crowded, with very little room to walk between the groups. It seemed like everyone from Ho Chi Minh had the same idea we did and swarmed the beach. I remember a lot of beautiful girls. (Smiles.)

  He waves over a fruit seller, buys some small green apples, offers me some, then returns to the story.

  Many of my friends couldn't swim, and others didn't want to be in the sun, but I liked the sun and wanted to swim, so I went by myself. During the low tide, you're able to walk about thirty meters before you even need to swim, so I walked all that way, then swam ever farther, getting a long way from the beach. I swam up to a sand bar where I could stand up without my head being underwater. I was looking out on the horizon, watching the large tankers sitting out there, when I saw a silver speck fall from the sky. It was gone before I could even get my phone out, and I doubted if I even saw it.

  You had your phone in the ocean?

  (He laughs.) We took our phones everywhere back then. How else could we take selfies? We kept them in a waterproof plastic pouch that we put around our necks. Anyway, I saw a silver speck fall and disappear. I had my phone out, and I just stood there, hoping I could see another one. I thought it was a falling comet or something.

  That's when I saw the water move like a shark was coming at me. Like when the water surges on both sides, with something big in the middle. I started to get scared at this point, but it all happened so fast. Then, suddenly, it stopped. I stood there for a few more minutes, my heart racing when it came out of the water. I didn't know what I was seeing at first.

  It looked like a man, well, kind of. It looked like a weird-shaped man with an enormous head and glowing skin. I couldn't see details well because it was sparkly, like, umm, well, you know. It looked like it was covered in shiny plastic. I know now that it was a personal shield of some type. But at the time, all I could do was stare at it as it stopped about ten meters away from me. I couldn't move. I was scared.

  We both stood like that, the alien moving his head from side to side, looking at the beach. It didn't say anything, not a sound, just kept looking. Then it looked at me again, turned and walked back into the water. I already had my smartphone out, with the camera open, so I took a quick picture, then it was gone.

  I turned around, swam back, and hoped the thing wasn't following me. When I reached my friends, I told them about what had happened. Some of them laughed even after I showed them the picture! They didn't believe me or thought I might have seen a diver or something. Others thought it was a ghost, and that scared them much
more than an alien.

  Did you call the police?

  He laughs again.

  Nobody calls the police unless you have money to give them. They were more likely to take me to a crazy hospital than help me. No, I sat on the beach, next to my friends, and then put it on social media as any good Vietnamese youth would. (laughs.) Most people said the photo was faked or that I was trying to get likes. Nobody took it seriously. Now, I just feel lucky I survived. It still scares me to think about it. I still wonder what it was doing. It wasn't until later that I realized it was the first picture of the Veech. Of course, the whole world found out three days later.

  Colonel Nathan Kratz

  The Pentagon, Washington D.C.

  Colonel Nathan Kratz's office is in a large room with unadorned walls. Bare fluorescent bulbs hang from the ceiling, filling the room with light. Clutter fills the office, with manuals lining the walls, chairs, and an old wooden desk. Behind the desk sits Colonel Kratz. He's a small man who doesn't fill out his Air Force uniform. Thin with short black hair and wire-rimmed glasses, he leans back in a leather chair, with a knee resting on his gunmetal desk.

  You want to know what everyone else wants to know, right? Why didn't we know about the aliens? I don't have all the answers; you need to talk to someone higher – if you can find one left alive. Look, I'm a colonel, and I'm only thirty-eight, and that's because high command was gutted.

  We lost thousands of admirals, generals, commanders, and colonels at the Pentagon. In short, they cut off our head. We had contingencies, but it left us reeling.

  Most of the military people who knew earlier than the populace – and there weren't many of them – were here or in Houston, so they're dead. Shouldn't have placed all our brass in big cities I quess. I was based in NORAD at the time, so I got lucky, but our ranks were thin out there. I can tell you what I know, but others have pieced it together a lot better than me. I think most of it is unclassified now, so anyone can see it.

  I'll give you the same answers I've given everybody else. We didn't see them. We didn't even know where they transitioned in at. Hell, we didn't realize you could transition because we didn't have the technology back then. We know now that you can only transition beyond the heliosphere, which is nine billion miles from Earth. Nine billion!

  They could have hit a Lagrange point to transition into, which would have been a lot closer, but we've learned that most species won't use a Lagrange point without doing some very fine science to make sure it won't rip their ships apart. And to be honest, they didn't need to. All they had to do was transition far enough away that the chances of us seeing them were low, and even if we did see them, so what? We couldn't do anything about it.

  We had telescopes that could see that far, of course, but space is enormous, and we weren't looking for visiting aliens. Anyway, the Veech transitioned in, then used good, old-fashioned propulsion to get here. Based on the information we've gotten from other space-faring races, the Veech might have been observing us for a while though, checking us out or laughing at us. Who knows? We know they launched a few stealth shuttles at us before launching their invasion, but we don't know much more than that.

  I know I've said it before but the science was theoretical to us. We just didn't have the knowledge to understand it, much less expect it. The Planetary Defense Coordination Office finally picked them up at seven million miles, and it was reported immediately but got snagged at almost every office on the way up. People would see the report about an alien ship, think it was a joke, and either ignore it or ream out a subordinate for playing a stupid joke. Well, It finally made it up the chain but by that time the Veech were sitting in orbit.

  They parked fifty miles beyond the Kármán line, which is what NASA considers the edge of space. That's sixty-two miles from Earth. Well, you can imagine what happened when it was confirmed. Chaos. Hysteria. Even after seeing it for themselves, a lot of guys just didn't believe it. I have to admit, I was one of them initially. I thought it was a trick from China or Russia. Maybe a software attack to make us look like fools. Sadly, it was real.

  There were fifty-one ships in their little flotilla, and they surrounded the Earth. There were two types of ships. The large vessels, their transport ships, were over five hundred meters long and seventy-five meters wide. There were thirty-eight of those. Spaced between the transport ships were a leaner, shorter ship that didn't park in orbit but patroled between them. These were their battlecruisers, and they brought twelve of them to protect the fleet. Bit of overkill, really.

  After we spotted them, they sat there for five hours. Five hours for everyone down here to scramble frantically about what to do. I heard there were planned responses for things like this, but none of those plans could be dusted off and reviewed quickly enough. I mean, who stays up to date on the response to extraterrestrial visitors. We got no calls, no greetings, no threats, no communication of any kind from the aliens.

  The President and his science team were discussing attempts to communicate with the aliens using various means. Blinking lights, satellite, radio, even pictures, but they didn't have enough time to implement anything. Politicians don't work like that. They have to discuss everything, have panels, meetings, maybe even a poll. (He pauses, takes a sip of coffee.) Five hours was just enough time to cause a panic.

  Word leaked quickly. You can't keep something like that secret. We had reporters from every magazine, news channel, and vlog that existed. They had shots of the ships in orbit, some of them with pretty good quality. Who knows where they got them from, but there are some excellent civilian telescopes, and the ships weren't that hard to see.

  The reporters were to be ignored until someone had an answer for them, some information to share, but nobody had any, so officials were told not to accept questions. That didn't stop the press from their usual doom-and-gloom broadcast, only this time it was true. That's when the panic in the cities started. Fortunately, the panic wasn't that bad because everything happened too fast. If the Veech had sat there for days, the whole planet would probably have erupted in riots or something. But most people didn't even hear about it until it was too late do anything. A lot of people never even heard about it. I have to hand it to the media – they're quick. They got that story out much faster than the government could have. Still, it was too late.

  After those five hours, we picked up activity from the battlecruisers, deadly looking things that moved lower into the atmosphere. They launched missiles at us. Well, they weren't exactly missiles, but it was undoubtedly a launch. Our missile defense systems failed against them. Miserably! There were just too fast, and our systems weren't designed for those speeds. Not even close. It was like a raptor flying against a World War 1 bi-wing.

  If it hadn't been so terrible, it would have been laughable. We even had some of our pilots try to ram the things, but they were too slow to even intercept them. Then they hit. Every city in the world with over one million people got hit, with only a few exceptions. San Antonio was one of the lucky ones for some reason. Of course, D.C. got hit.

  For a heartbeat, we thought maybe something went wrong with the weapons. We didn't see explosions or fire. Some even cheered when they saw our great cities standing. It didn't take us long to get images from our satellites. Sonic weapons. That's what they used. It still boggles the mind. I mean, I don't think anyone had ever thought of using sound weapons like that, and certainly on such a scale. There's no doubt about how effective they were. Everyone within a ten-mile radius was killed instantly, with those further out becoming deaf or having a host of other medical issues. Twenty-five million gone in a minute! That's not counting the old or young that died shortly after from their wounds or those that died in rioting, crime, or accidents from people freaking out in the following hours and days.

  Of course, China got hit the hardest as they had sixty-five cities with more than a million people. Estimates are that they lost over three hundred million in the initial attacks. We don't know for sure because th
ey've never given us any information.

  After the attacks, a lot of communication was spotty. Some people believe it was the Veech who did that, but I think it was just unmanned networks going haywire. Those people who still had landlines got lucky because those worked just fine.

  The President and a few of his advisors survived because they were well below ground, but the older ones died from the impact despite being ten stories underground. After the first round of strikes, the Veech just sat there. There was no second round of strikes. They didn't hit military bases or infrastructure – only our big cities.

  The prevailing thought is that the Veech ran out of missiles. We were later told the Veech can't make the missiles and had to buy them from another race. They're expensive and the Veech wanted the most impact for their money. Hence the cities. They were probably going to clean up the rest of humanity through conventional means since they didn't consider our military a threat. The Jhi told us they’d used this method before and it worked quite well.

  Anyway, immediately following the strikes on the cities, those thirty-eight transports ships deployed shuttles, thousands of them, crammed full of ground troops. We call them shuttles, but they weren't like any shuttles we were used to. They were big. About the size of a river ferry you might load cars on.

  They weren't alone. Dropping along with the shuttles were fighters. They were much smaller and sleeker, not too different from the size of our fighters. They flew around the shuttles, but like the battlecruisers in space, they never landed on Earth.

  Whenever a Veech shuttle landed, hundreds of Veech would pour out in long, well-formed lines until the ship was empty. Then it would take off again and head back to its mothership. Each shuttle carried about a thousand troops. They landed roughly three million soldiers in America, with tens of millions of others dropped around the world.

  In America, they deployed in Washington, D.C., Los Angeles, and Houston, all cities that had been hit. Those cities were empty of living people, making it the perfect beachhead.