In the days to come, humanity learned that they had the fight of its life on their hands. We foolishly thought that our superior numbers would win this war. We were so wrong. On the first day reports trickled in of 28 giant Ingress on Earth but their numbers increased to over 60 on the third day of the invasion.  Every three days, more would appear at what we thought were random locations. When their destruction rained down on us we saw that they had scanned our defenses and found the linchpins for them. A squad obliterated NORAD with a plasma cannon the size of a space shuttle. Another crushed the Union naval forces at Vladivostok. All over the world, the Ingress wiped out all opposition. Out of desperation, Union forces abandoned their bases and chose to wage the largest guerrilla war humanity had ever seen.

                One week after the first wave of Ingress…

                General Armstrong was looking over the reports of the latest skirmish. The 32nd tank battalion tried to ambush a female Ingress soldier as she was eating. She coolly pulled out her pistol and gunned down every tank. Their shells and laser fire did nothing to her shield. Seeing it was hopeless, one tank crew abandoned their vehicle. The soldier was angry at their attack as she ate. She chased after them and crushed one under her boot. She cruelly twisted her foot relishing the sound of his crunching bones. Seeing the other two gaining ground, she quickly lifted her bloody boot and stomped after them. She caught one that tripped over a tree branch. “So you decided that your fight was more important than my meal huh?” she said ripping off his uniform. The frightened 24 year old man saw her lick her lips and his blood ran cold. “Don’t please don’t eat me. I surrender!” he shouted. “No prisoners. Orders from my empress and besides I’m not skipping a meal because of you puny things” she said dumping the screaming man in her mouth and closing it. She chewed is body cruelly savoring every crunch, every burst of bloody flavor his small body could give her. His cries were dying down and suddenly stopped on an ominously tough chew. She swallowed the mush of the soldier and licked the inside of her mouth clean. In her ecstasy of her meal, she forgot the last soldier. He had out of desperation, pried up a manhole and took refuge in the sewer. He followed the tunnels and saw civilians had taken refuge in them. They looked hungry and tired. A few asked him how the fight was going against the Ingress. He didn’t have the heart to tell him over 200,000 were dead in under a week. He finally found the entrance to the subway. He read the sign “Library of Congress west” and followed the tunnel. The local resistance had set up shop in the protected underground vaults of the Library of Congress.  It was him that told General Armstrong of the disaster.

                “Alright soldier. Report to the 33rd battalion and get some chow” he told the shell shocked soldier. The soldier just nodded and left the room. As he was leaving, a colonel walked into the room. “Looking at the private’s face tells me they screwed the pooch” he said. “Shut the fuck up Longstreet. That man saw his friends vaporized, crushed and eaten. The fact he can still think coherently is fuckin’ impressive in my book. Now did you come here just to be an asshole or you got something useful to say?” the General asked.  “Actually I do. The report from the Union Science and Logistics Department has just come in” he said. “Well what did they find?’ the General asked. “It says that the readings from our drones and survivors confirm that an EM shield surrounds them at all times. It reflects energy based attacks and absorbs various levels of kinetic energy. Their weapons are plasma based which explains how they burn through our toughest armor and there are some other things” he said to the General. “Like what?” he asked. “We have taken audio recordings covertly and found that the Ingress seem to be a matricharical society. The females are in the position of power. This is observed by each enemy squad is run by the female” the Colonel said. “And those rips they come out of?” the General asked. “Dimensional tears in the fabric of space/time. Our scientists theorize that because of the energy requirement to open a rip so big that it takes them at least 3 days to gather enough energy” he answered. “We need to find a way to stop them. At this rate their numbers will be in the thousands by the end of the year” Armstrong said. “We’ve seen that the shield has limits. The Kusanagi railgun nearly killed one of them” Longstreet said. “Yeah but battleship class railgun don’t grow on trees. Not to mention the fact that most of them are many miles away from the sea” Armstrong said. “Wish we had some nukes to use on them” Longstreet said. “I do too but you know we dismantled all of them way back in the 2050’s.” Armstrong said. “Ironic isn’t it? We got rid of nuclear weapons to prevent the world’s destruction and now we need them to save it” the Colonel said.

                The two men chuckled at the cold irony of it all. “We need to implement Order 7 before this war is totally lost” General Armstrong said.  “Roger that. I’ll send word to the colonies and any civilians we come across” the colonel said. The colonel left the bunker and departed the area to spread word of Order 7. He traveled by night so not to be seen. As he traveled, he saw the horrors that the Ingress inflicted on the populace. A passed a farm on his way to point alpha where their dampening field ended. Two Ingress soldiers were busy collecting livestock and food for their troop.  Longstreet watched from a tree a man in his 40’s run out of his house shouting at them. “You can’t take our livestock and food! We’ll starve!” the man shouted. A male soldier turned to the small man. “Not my problem human. Now go before I get mad” he said.  “You heartless monsters!’ the farmer yelled and pulled out his rifle and began shooting at the giants. The Ingress giants just smiled at his stupidity as the tiny bullets just pinged off their shields. Tiring quickly of his actions, the giant raised his boot over him and slammed it down. “AHHHH!” *crunch* was the sound that came from him. His blood oozed from under the boot and shone in the moonlight. A small collective scream was heard from the house. The two giants looked at each other and smiled.  They stomped over to the house and ripped the roof clean off. Inside they saw that it was the farmer’s 34 year old wife and his 14 year old daughter. They held each other and cried seeing the giant who ended a love one’s life like he was a cockroach.  The giant reached down a plucked them from the house. He tossed the wife over to his friend. “You’ve been wondering how these humans taste right?” he asked his friend. “Yeah I have. The stories say they feel really good as you swallow them” his friend answered.  “Oh god don’t eat us! Please spare us! You already killed my husband. Don’t kill us too! At least let my daughter go!” the wife shouted. Their pleas were answered by the giants tearing off their clothes. They were naked in the grasp of the giants. “Hey why do get the young cute one?” his friend asked. “Because I found them that’s why” he answered. “Whatever. They next time I get the young one, deal?” he asked. “Deal” he answered. The woman pleaded desperately for their lives. “Hey at least you won’t starve to death like the male human feared” the giant said cruelly.

                She watched in horror as the giant licked her daughter. “Leave her alone you pervert!” she shouted. As if taunting her, the giant took ahold of her daughter’s ankles and began to lick her feet. She sobbed as he used her body for his own pleasure. His tongue traveled up her legs and licked her cunt. She embarrassingly moaned at the feeling. The mother just cried seeing her daughter raped by his tongue. The giant then shoved her in headfirst into his mouth. The mother watched as he slurped her in like a noodle. Her legs kicking the air until only her feet were visible. The giant sucked on her body for a few seconds until he sucked her all the way in. He rolled her around in his mouth. The girl screams echoed in his mouth as she desperately tried to avoid his throat and teeth. She crawled to the front of his mouth and with all her might, squeezed her head past his lips. “Abbie!” the woman shouted. “MOMMY! HELP M-“she cried before he sucked her back in. Looking dead at her, he titled his head back and let the screaming teen slide down his throat. With a sickening gulp, he took away the woman’s child forever. “You heartless fucks! You killed my family!” she shouted. The giant holding her lowered her into his mouth. She only whimpered as he closed his mouth cutting off the last light she would see. The giant swallowed and felt the lump of the woman slide down his esophagus and land in his stomach.  “Mmm… these humans are good” the giant said to his friend. “Yeah it’s like they were made to be eaten. Is yours still kicking around in your stomach?” he asked. “No mine is just sitting in there. Guess she lost the will to live *burp* excuse me” he said patting his stomach. The giants collected all the food and livestock left and returned to their encampment. Longstreet just stood there and realized how much of a fool he was for mocking that tank soldier. “No one should die like that let alone see it” he whispered. He waited for an hour before he moved from his hiding spot. It took Longstreet 4 days to travel to point alpha. He waited till the satellite was in position and sent a laser telecommunication that bounced to point bravo, Charlie, and delta, and the colonies.

                Meanwhile in January City…

                Aaron and Luke were sitting at their consoles. They had the job of relaying the data from the satellites to various “free zones”.  These free zones were free of Ingress control but they were disappearing quickly. “Incoming transmission from point alpha” Luke said. “Roger that uncle. Relaying it to the C &C” Aaron said. They saw Longstreet’s transmission on their monitors. “Order 7? What’s that?” Aaron asked. “It’s the legal order for drafting. We just became Union soldiers” Luke told his nephew.  They both received official orders 2 days later. “I never thought I would be drafted when I signed that document when I turned 16” Aaron said to his uncle. They sat at the spaceport awaiting their shuttle. “Neither did me. I thought it might happen when the moon was annexed but that was years ago” he said to Aaron. “Attention. Drop shuttle heading to point bravo is departing in 10 minutes” a voice said over the intercom. ‘Well that’s us. Lets’ go” Luke said. Aaron and Luke boarded the shuttle. They felt it clear its moorings and slowly thrust forward past the docking ring. Once clear of the colony, they felt zero g take over. It would have been nice under different circumstances. Looking out his window, Aaron saw the Earth. He could see tiny smoke plumes from where cities would be. “I’m heading into that? Fuck my life” he said quietly. Aaron felt the shuttle throttle up and arc toward the Earth. One hour after launch, they were now in position for descent. The shuttle arched its belly and fell through the atmosphere. Aaron could feel the air in the cabin get hotter.  He looked outside and could only see red. After a minute or two, the superheated air outside cooled and Aaron could see sandy ground and desert. “Please brace for landing” a voice said over the speaker. He felt the shuttle contact the ground and rapidly slow down.  It was Aaron’s first time on Earth. He could barely comprehend the color of the dirt and sand. The sky was foreign to him too. They had a blue sky on the colony but it was artificial. The use of holograms created a blue sky and clouds but these were real.

“All passengers are to report to barracks 1” a voice on the PA shouted. Aaron and Luke followed the crowd to a large building. They entered and saw rows and rows of beds with a footlocker and the end of each one.  Each person chose a bed and dropped their bags on front of it. They began to talk among themselves wondering what kind of life was in store for them. “Welcome to Sacramento Valley or as we now call it Sanctuary 12. My job is to train you noobs and instruct you on how to survive. I don’t know what you heard but these Ingress can’t be killed by ordinary means. Head to head combat isn’t what I will train you to do. You will learn stealth, guerilla tactics, and the art of misdirection. The Ingress usually are a squad of 3 to 5. They are armed with a plasma pistol or rifle. They also usually stay together backing each other up. Their shields can deflect laser fire and conventional weapons but that shield isn’t invincible. Continuous fire can weaken their shield till it collapses. We found that out when one of them strayed away from her base in San Francisco. The 14th infantry ambushed her while she took a shit” the sergeant said until he saw one 19 year old boy snickering.

                “You find that funny noob? You won’t find it funny when an Ingress eats your stupid ass and you become that shit you find so funny. All of you can learn from the 14th. They chose that time because she couldn’t grab her pistol. Continuous fire knocked her down and Lieutenant Calloway pushed himself on the pistol trigger firing her gun. Her own weapon ripped through her shield and killed her.  Unfortunately we couldn’t secure her body for study before her team went looking for her. Seeing that she was killed by a plasma weapon, they ruled it an accident.  Accident my ass we killed that invading bitch!” the sergeant shouted. Smiles spread across the room. “Yeah I thought that was fuckin’ sweet too.  Now settle in and report for orientation in 20” he said before leaving the room.

                Meanwhile in Tokyo…

                The city had been under attack for 13 days now. Two squads of Ingress were systematically wiping out any defenders. Soldiers from Okinawa and Osaka had been dispatched to fill in the depleted ranks but it was proving fruitless. The invaders weapons could kill 20 to 30 soldiers at a time with each shot and any tanks and jets just melted and exploded under their plasma fire. Even though they were losing, they still never gave up. “Keep firing!” a commander ordered. They poured their fire on them and slowly but surely the Ingress pulled back until one of them reached into a huge weapons locker and pulled out a gun with multiple barrels. “oh shit…” one soldier said.  The Ingress soldier pulled the trigger and a barrage of plasma fire spat out of the gun. Hundreds died in seconds. “Keep using the plasma Vulcan until these fools are ash” his female commander ordered. The soldier raked the streets full of Union soldiers not caring if he hit a building full of sheltered civilians.  Their location was too loud for them to hear the sound of screaming jets coming toward them. The soldier smiled as he exterminated the humans with his gun until his head snapped back violently followed by his male friend taking potshots at any fleeing human.  His friends ran over to them with a nano injections. “Now while they’re still down!” a pilot said by gesturing with his finger to his wingman. His wingman took the cue and dropped huge bombs from their Valkyries. A massive explosion rocked the area killing some Union soldiers too close and knocking many others off their feet. The pilots had dropped daisy cutter thermo baric bombs. The biggest conventional weapon in their arsenal. It set the buildings and streets on fire but not the Ingress. Their shield barely protected them. The female officer held the syringe but saw her squad was dead. It was too late for the nanomachines to fix their broken necks and brain stems.

A squad nearby saw the explosion and ran through the city crushing solders and cars in their path. “Commander Anya. Your status?” a female officer asked. “My squad mates are down. Permission to use hunter drones” she responded with a clenched teeth and tears. “Permission granted” her fellow officer said.  Commander Anya pushed her dead soldier on his back and reached into his backpack. She pushed a switch on the cylinder rods she pulled out of it and they unfolded into a shape resembling a model plane. “Awaiting orders” the computer chimed. “Attack mode! Search for any craft not broadcasting an Ingress IFF!” she said to the computer. “Acknowledged. Launching” they said streaking into the air.

                The Union 5th fleet was sitting 31 miles off of Tokyo bay. They figured they were safe from Ingress sniper fire. On board the Akagi II, the crew was readying another sortie. “Sir the 2nd fighter wing reports successful strikes on target and ground troops confirm two kills” the comm officer said to the captain. “Damn straight. We’ll show these Ingress bastards that Earth is our home not theirs. Ready 3rd, 4th, and 5th to standby for launch and signal the Iowa and Kuso to keep up their railgun fire” the captain said. “Sir I got two objects on an intercept course not broadcasting IFF’s” the radar operator said. The captain ran over to the radar screen. “Maybe it’s the 1st coming back” the captain said. “Unless they switched to craft 3 times their size and can fly at Mach 3, I doubt it” the radar operator said. “Shit open up air defenses! All batteries fire!” he ordered. The Akagi II and the destroyers and battleships supporting her opened fire into the air, a total of 13 ships trying to shoot down the drones.

                “Scanning…targets not broadcasting Ingress IFF…terminating” the computers said on the drones. Plasma turrets on the underside of the wings began strafing the ships.  The drones easily cut through their defenses at that speed. The only thing that could hit them accurately was the laser AA. Their shots were absorbed by the onboard shields of the craft. “They got shields too!” the fire control officer said on the bridge. “Captain, the Iowa has been hit! She’s listing!” the radio operator said.  “Spread out! We’re to close!” the Captain ordered. The drones came around for another pass.  Each shot hit a ship. *BATOOM!* the Langston was destroyed. *BATOOM!* the Kuso was blown in half. It only took 5 minutes to cut down the 5th fleet.  The only ship left was the Akagi II and she was taking on water. “Captain we need to abandon ship” his first officer said on the burning bridge.  “I know” he said looking at a few officers that were killed when a close plasma blast rocked the bridge. “We’ll make them pay for this sir” his first officer said touching his soldier. “You bet your ass we will” he said saluting his dead officers.  The survivors climbed into their lifeboats and disembarked from the sinking carrier. They tried to get as far away as possible from the carnage.  “It’s coming back around to finish her off” a crewman said seeing the drones streaking back. The drones fired 4 shots into the Akagi. One of them hit her engineering section rupturing her reactor. The tough ship exploded with the force of a 3 kiloton bomb. That wasn’t what caught their attention though. One drone flying farther back than its partner wobbled in the air and crashed into the sea. “Did you see that? It just crashed!” one crewman said. “Yeah but why?” another asked. “Oh shit I know! We need to tell Union HQ! My god it’s so simple how to bring down their shields!” a surviving engineer said.  As they celebrated their discovery, the surviving drone had returned and scanned their lifeboats. “Negative Ingress IFF. Terminating” it said opening fire on the numerous lifeboats in the water. Their cries were suddenly silenced as the drone’s plasma fire vaporized them and their craft. The drone meticulously killed any survivors in boats. The brave ones picked up on the target parameters and jumped out of the boats. It only delayed the inevitable. The brave crewmen drowned when they ran out of energy to swim. A sparse few survived by clinging to floating debris which floated to Tokyo. Out of 62,457 sailors, only 31 survived.

The next day, people hearing about the defeat of the 5th fleet and the Japanese Union branch, came out of their shelters and sewers and surrendered.  They had no choice by that point. Hope of a military victory was gone, water was low and the sick and injured piled up. “On behalf of the people of the City of Tokyo, we surrender” the mayor said. Commander Anya felt like crushing the man where he stood. She was still pissed about the killing of her subordinates. Secretly, one of them was her lover. It was his death that sent her into a rage. “On behalf of the Ingress Empire, I accept your surrender. Your population is to report back to their homes to await instruction on where and what jobs you will be doing for us. Any civilian caught on the street after dark will be killed. Prepare for further instructions” she told him. The mayor emotionally devastated by the job he was given walked to the crowd and told them to spread the news and to get off the street at dusk or else. That night, the city of Tokyo went dark. Not since WWII has the city seen such a dark time.

Similar scenes took place all over the world. Moscow capitulated when the Kremlin was obliterated by a plasma shock cannon the size of a trident missile.  The seat of Russia’s military might for over 450 years and the HQ of Northern Asia’s Union branch was now a sizzling crater. The loss of such a historic site and the command center essentially cut off the head of the defense forces. Any surviving soldiers fled to regroup at an undisclosed location. London held out until one cruel Ingress commander used her plasma rifle to blast holes into the ground near the Thames. She did it to flood the Underground. The civilians scrambled to the surface to avoid drowning only to be used to make the military surrender. Every major city fell and that’s where the Ingress stopped.

“Empress I’m glad to inform you that the city of San Diego has surrendered” Commander Leila said over her comm link. “Good one more to scratch off the list. Reports such as yours are coming on more frequently” she said. “What are my orders?” Leila asked. “Assign the deconstruction details to the older humans and collection to the younger ones, other than that defend your location for malcontents” the Empress ordered. “What about securing the surrounding areas or expanding our foothold?” Leila asked. “We will in time my ambitious one. The problem is not the resistance of these humans but the manpower to conquer them. We are a dying race after all” the Empress said with disdain. “So our scientists have not found the cure to the infertility spreading among our people?” Leila asked. “None, some say we are a genetic dead end but I will not allow our mighty race to become extinct. Our race was born to conquer all that we perceive!” the Empress said slamming her fist down. “Keep up the good work commander. Signing off” the Empress said before the holo-screen went black. Leila ordered one of her soldiers to open an onmi-comm to the humans who had left the sewers and chose to hunker down in their homes. Their cell phones and TV’s lit up with Leila’s face “To all humans hearing this message. Your defenses are gone and your military is crushed. Your city is now the property of the Ingress Empire. You are to report to your dome shaped structures in the city for registration and job assignments in the morning. Any who disobey will die. To show you we are serious we will now destroy the area called Hillcrest” she said before employing her shock cannon. She imputed the firing coordinates and fired.  The people of Hillcrest only had seconds to say goodbye before a blue light enveloped the city sector. A massive explosion and mushroom cloud wiped Hillcrest off the map. Every man woman and child, 12,978 in all, was blown to smithereens by the cruel giantess.

“The town of Hillcrest is no more. I expect to see you tomorrow. That is all” she said cutting off the comm link.