Enceladus 4: The Invasion

It was March first and we hadn’t heard anything about spaceships entering Earth’s atmosphere.

My family and I were all eating space food (excluding me) when Aaric’s small voice rang through the cafeteria. “Everyone! A Rhean ship has just entered the atmosphere. Everybody get ready. Armor and weapons. Then await further instructions.” He ran out.

Šĉôt. It was happening. Earth was about to be invaded.

Everyone scrambled out of the cafeteria warehouse and to the one that held the shuttles. Cassiopeia’s guards handed out our specialized armor.

Talia helped me with my armor. I wore nearly the exact same pieces that I did during the war, minus the cape. I had on a simple black long sleeve and black leggings. Placed on my shoulders were silver pauldrons. To protect my torso, I wore a cuirass. On my wrists were leather vambraces, mostly to protect my wrist from rubbing against my shield’s grips. I put on a belt that held a knife holster for my favorite knife, a zôpånt which resembled a Fairbairn-Sykes of Earth. The belt also had a sheath for my broadsword, my specialty. On each leg, I wore a schynbald which covered the fronts of my shins.

Talia wore nearly the same as me only her shirt and pants were grey and she wore one leather pauldron with straps that laid across her chest. Her specialty weapon was a sword that looked like a Katana. Last year, after the war, she and I had figured out her specialty.

The royal family had weapon specialties because Orion had wanted us to be the perfect family. He even put the guards through that level of training. Alexander’s specialty was a battle axe and it fit him well. John's was a rapier. And finally, Golda’s, who had found hers before the war with Tethys, was a longsword.

Aaric stood on top of a shuttle again. “We have spotted Mimas’ spacecraft as well as Dione’s. They’re here.” That was followed by a round of whispers in five different languages. “We don’t know where their destination is yet but we will soon. They might all split up, they might stay together and go to the largest continent.”

“When will we know?” King Peidax asked.

“I’m not sure. In the next few hours.”

I bit my fingernails and tried to breathe.

The next hour was filled with anxious tension that threatened to suffocate me and everyone else. I felt like someone was sitting on my chest and I couldn’t shake them.

Talia kept planting nervous kisses on me. On my hands, my cheeks, even my armor covered shoulders. I didn’t know who she was trying to make feel better. Me or herself?

After what felt like an entire week, Agent Aaric commanded our attention. “Shuttles from Rhea, Mimas and Dione are on their way to Houston, Texas. The Council has informed me to send one half of Iapetus, Janus and Enceladus to Texas. The rest of Mimas appears to be heading to Anchorage, Alaska. Half of Tarvos will go there. The rest of Rhea is on a course to Asia. Half of Hyperion will follow them. The rest of Dione is coming straight to D.C. The other half of Tarvos will meet them. The rest of Iapetus, Enceladus, Janus and Tarvos will wait here until we hear about Titan.”

That was a lot to dissect. Aaric broke it down even more. My siblings and I were going to Houston with half of Iapetus’ people which included Lord Mel and his sister, and half of Janus’ people which unfortunately meant King Peidax was coming. As soon as it was done, we were in shuttles racing south to Texas.

I was in a shuttle with my family and two Enceladian guards (the shuttles could only carry ten people).

Cassiopeia spoke. “We can do this.” Her voice was a little shaky. She kept toying with her cape. She was scared. We all were. “We are Enceladians. We can do anything. We’re strong and no matter what happens, we’re in this together.”

The second I stepped off the shuttle in Texas, I started sweating. It was uncomfortable. No one on my planet was used to this heat. It had never even got this hot when our planet was heating up.

The second thing I noticed after the sweltering heat was that we had landed in a heavily populated area. That should’ve been the first thing I realized. The shuttle fit in between two buildings, an alley as I had to inform my family. I didn’t know where the other shuttles landed and before I could ask, a homeless man stepped into the alley. We all froze.

“Well, hello,” he greeted.

I hid a smile. We were ten tall, beautiful people in extremely protective armor invading his alley and all he did was say hi. I even held a shield. I stepped forward. “Hi, how are you?”

“Good, thanks.” I smelled the alcohol as we passed him.

“We’ll want to be invisible now,” I said to everyone. They obeyed me and disappeared. “Wait.” Everyone reappeared. “We are meeting at the city hall. It’s about two miles away,” I knew from the shuttle. “You can’t miss it.” I grabbed Talia’s hand and motioned for everybody to go invisible.

I didn’t know when I had assumed the position of leader in our group but nobody argued. I had, after all, lived on Earth for almost a decade unlike anyone else with me.

Talia and I made our way down the sidewalk. Since I was holding her hand, I could still see her. She was looking around in awe. She had never been to Earth. I smiled at her. I wished we were here under better circumstances. I would have loved to take her to Earth for a vacation. Somewhere cold with snow which she’d never seen before.

We passed dozens of Texans loitering the sidewalks. Talia’s eyes were wide with wonder. She had also only seen one human in her entire life, Lainie.

Speaking of Lainie . . . When I'd heard the planets weren’t going to Ohio, I called her and told her she would be safe there. I would go get her if the aliens came anywhere near her.

Some humans were getting coffee, others were shopping. They were likely about to be killed. My chest hurt at that thought. Their world was about to be invaded, turned upside down and they were blissfully unaware. I wished I could warn them all, get them to safety.

We made it to the city square and stopped. There wasn’t a lot of people near the wide field that surrounded a pond. There were benches and shady trees outlining the grass. The building itself was gorgeous. When I got to Earth in 2010, I was taken back by the size of the buildings in each city. Our Planet Hall was small compared. The palace was the only big building we had on Enceladus.

Somebody bumped into me and when I turned, I didn’t see anyone. It must have been one of my siblings. “What now?”

“Jae?”

“Yeah, sorry.”

I had forgot he was coming to Earth with us. “How did you know I was standing here?”

“I could sense you, Amelia.” He made a tsking sound.

I laughed lightly. “Now we wait.”

“Look,” I heard Cassiopeia say. How was I supposed to know what she was pointing to? Then I saw it. King Peidax strode across the green with two dozen of his people.

I rushed up to him and, after looking around, dropped my invisibility. Most of the Enceladians that I had sensed there did the same. “What are you doing?” I asked him.

“We are supposed to meet here.”

I resisted the urge to roll my eyes. “Look at you.” I stepped back. He wore fine armor in hues of silver and bronze that looked otherworldly. “You don’t fit in. Have you ever been to Earth?”

“Like I would ever come to this lowly planet, Princess. Not everyone has invisibility like you and yours,” he said, holding his head high.

I wanted to punch him again. I nervously looked around. I supposed we didn’t look that suspicious. We all resembled humans. Besides, it was only a matter of time before the other planets showed up and started wreaking havoc.

Ten minutes later, more of Peidax’s people showed up with all of Iapetus’ people that were assigned this location.

“Queen Cassiopeia, King John,” Mel bowed at the waist. “Hello, Amelia. How was your flight?”

“It was uneventful. Yours?”

“Uneventful as well. Are you ready?”

I reached back and took Talia’s hand. I nodded. I didn’t trust my voice any longer.

I watched a few humans stop and stare at us. I waved overenthusiastically. They turned their attention back to their phones, probably texting, you will not believe what I just saw in the city square! Freaks.

I silently urged them to get out of here. They would surely die.

Seconds passed. Minutes. Twenty. Thirty. I had a bad feeling.

Just then, I heard a rumbling. I looked straight up and saw a ship. A gigantic, terrifying, alien ship. They were here.