Breakdown!!

Day 1, 0400 hours

The information gatherers in the command center were uneasy. The signals they had been picking up over the last hour or so were not very encouraging. They had seen the signals before, and they knew what they meant. These information gatherers were used to working non-stop, taking no rest, no food and no drink, using only the nutritional supplements supplied to them individually through personal tubes. The invaders had already crossed the Shield zone, and were rapidly drawing near to the Aero-Acoustic Fields, their primary target. The gatherers relayed the information to the high command, which, as is common with high commands all over the World, chose to ignore the warning.

Day 1, 1000 hours

The invaders were a band of fierce, courageous warriors led by their fearsome chief, the Bogie-Man. They had parachuted onto the outer periphery of Ydob and had then entered through the aero-bridge. Some of their troops immediately headed for the Sound Room, while some more set to work laying charges in the aero-bridge. A third troop, led by Bogey-Man himself, headed for the Command Center, pillaging and destroying everything in their path.

Day 1, 1900 hours

“The Sound Room has been captured. Voice transmission is no longer possible,” said the message relayed by the information gatherers to the High Command. Soon the High Command was receiving distress signals from all over Ydob, complaining of the brutality of the invaders. The aero-bridge had already been blocked, reducing the oxygen supply to Ydob, and the subjects were weak. The Command Center was now being attacked, causing disruption in communication and threatening the whole of Ydob itself. Finally, the High Command woke up and realized it had to take action.

Day 1, 2315 hours

“Summon the mercenaries,” said the speaker of the High Command into his megaphone. The command would be relayed into each of the millions of tubes, alerting the entire system to the presence of intruders. The decision to call the mercenaries into action was a hard one. Ruthless and invincible, they were the result of centuries of evolutionary control. Clad all in white, they carried no weapons, for their main weapon was terror. Enemies fled at the mere sight of them, and with ample reason, for the mercenaries killed by eating their enemies. Of course, they also killed and ate everyone else they came across; hence they had to be kept on a tight leash. They were kept in suspension in times of peace, and spawned in large numbers when invasions occurred. They had never failed Ydob yet.

Day 2, 0600 hours

The battle raged fiercely all over Ydob. The invaders lay dead in their hundreds, but they had already initiated their mating mechanism, thus creating millions more of their own to fight the mercenaries. The battle was even, owing to the advantage enjoyed by the invaders of their sheer weight of numbers. Ydob reeled under the carnage of both sides. The Sound Room and aero-bridge lay in ruins.

Day 3, 0700 hours

The battle was still being fought evenly, but the invaders were still growing in numbers, courtesy some really amazing mating speeds (luckily the human race has been unable to replicate this, though not for lack of trying). The High Command decided to deploy the Heat Shield. This involved raising the temperature of Ydob to a higher level, which would cause only discomfort to the subjects, but would wipe out the invaders. This was done promptly, and the invaders were soon wiped out. The war was over.

Day 5, 1200 hours

The work of repair and reconstruction was still on. The charges laid by the invaders in the aero-bridge were still detonating at regular intervals, and this caused some discomfort. I held my kerchief up to my nose, and helped Ydob clear some of the debris from the aero-bridge. The common cold had been cleared out from my body, but some weakness from the fever still remained.