Location: Above Paris.
Time: Invasion Day +10 min.
The huge ship was smaller than the Mothership which remained lurking out in the gulf between Earth and Venus, was some two kilometres across and diamond shaped. It had come down above Paris.
After hovering over the city for several minutes they simply attacked, the massive ship that seemed to be supporting the assault was enigmatic for the average human, but I could see clearly it was jamming communications and deploying troops, possibly by teleportation from the brief, intense flashes I sensed.
This was the least of my concern, as the sky was filled with smaller vessels. Aerodynamic needle shapes, with stubby wings that carried various payloads of advanced weapons. They didn't even seem to be focusing on military targets, as few of these actually existed inside Paris. Anything seemed to be a valid target as the assault craft barrelled down firing from maximum range and not stopping until they had to manoeuvre to avoid collision with the planet.
Beams, bright white carved into buildings. Globes of yellow splashed around like a machine gun. Worst of all a brief flashes of black which simply erased pieces of the target. Fucking disintegration rays!
I quickly became a target as my magnetic field must be obvious to their sensors. The globes were fired at me from a nearby craft and were just as quickly returned: they were plasma bombs encased in magnetic fields. Which I bounced back with the opposite polarity magnetic field.
I grinned as the fighter in question hit by its own weapon showed energy shields that flared briefly before being punctured, the fighter erupting into flames and wreckage. I probably couldn't repeat that trick very often before they learned, but damn was it effective.
But I was now engaged by all nearby craft, including the massive troopship which rotated turrets and began to bombard my position with more of the beams, incessant and blinding. I could sense them as they tracked me by the melting iron dust I had spread across my range but at this point I was moving at supersonic speeds, shielded as much as I could by barriers. Changing course randomly and pulling off moves which should have crushed me with the gees I was pulling, if I wasn't mitigating them with my limited gravity manipulation ability. I still felt the sharper ones, as I was pressed hard.
They were trying to corner me with beam attacks from multiple directions, so I moved toward the Troopship, using it's bulky side as a partial shield to limit the angles of attack. As I moved I wasn't simply evading.
Several smaller vessels had strayed into my range. Coming in closer to better hit the moving target.
They were alien internally as externally, but what I sensed included components that were metallic and magnetic including the hull. Clustered about one larger section in the rear of the ship was a particularly powerful magnetic field. I was betting it was part of the engine as I ripped the components of that section free from the vessels.
Better, it seemed they were the power plant regulators. Because the ships suddenly became erratic as the pilots panicked before igniting into a conflagration of blue fire after several moments.
I reached the Troopship in this time, forming a spiral of iron dust into a drill against the shields. But it was unnecessary. It seemed these were the kind that allowed slow moving objects through and resisted high speed objects I noted as dust around me passed through. I slid through just as easily, grateful as a particle beam played over the shield where I had been moments before.
Now inside the shields I was under attack from turrets of the vessel, but these were smaller versions of the plasma globe thrower and thus inconsequential. They merely bounced back despite the fact they were randomising the magnetic field polarity with each globe. I have enough fine control for this much at least.
The hull it seemed was armoured, far beyond the fighter craft. It was also constructed of steel alloys and a few new alloys I took note of as I ripped it wide open. Inside bald blue people screamed at the sight. A hail of nails silenced them before they used the guns they were carrying. I continued to pepper them before they ever got the chance to use those guns with any degree of accuracy.
I ventured deeper, idly noting I could detect the aliens by their brainwaves, an odd pattern made them significantly different to human. Or I suppose the blue skin could be used as a guide. It was more of an afterthought, to avoid infiltrators getting the drop on me later. It also made targeting a vital part of their anatomy easier. Boom, headshot.
Meanwhile operation Rip and Tear was in effect as I burrowed into the heart of the vessel. Finally I must have reached a critical component because the vessel began to retreat. Reaching the stratosphere did nothing to dissuade me as I continued to core them like an apple.
Around low orbit I hit something even more vital as fire burst out into the atmosphere venting from the vessel. I retreated as the vessel began to meltdown, literally. As it died like it somehow drank from the wrong Holy Grail I shoved it away from Earth orbit. Barely enough to get it moving, but better than tidal waves or surface impact from a two kilometre long hunk of junk falling from orbit.
I turned, to face several fighters which had been pursuing the vessel and were now taking aim at me. I replied in kind with railguns as powerful as I could create from the cloud of metal around me.
Compressed electromagnetic coils and the fact I was no longer limited by the forces of friction means they reached speeds of near light speed. The screws and rods striking the fighters even as their beams slashed out, the black energy weapon was detonated early by my debris cloud; I was most concerned with the white beams that carved through everything I was using.
Their shield technology resisted the kinetic impacts well, unfortunately. The ships being rattled by the impact slightly off course and nothing else. However I had noticed that the fighters were using a different system of propulsion from the gravity manipulation of the bigger ship; perhaps a plasma engine? Regardless, it means that I had an edge in an atmosphere.
I fled back down into the gravity well of the planet, luring them in after me before completely reversing direction, punching into the heart of their formation. With a chuckle I brought them into violent collision with each other, by taking control of their hull of alien metals. They were rattled and three tumbled out of control. I followed up by shearing their vessels in half, just behind what I thought was the cockpit.
Their vessels sent out rapid fire bursts of radio signals and higher band emissions, mayday perhaps?
Regardless, there was nothing to save them as they reached the surface and became part of the landscape.
I had little time to observe the pretty explosions as I descended on Paris once more.
Right into the heart of the swarm.
I spread chaos among the fighters, using my superior three dimensional movement to ambush them as they tried to line me up or evade and occasionally using the range extension technique I learned to reach out and pull the plug on the safety mechanisms of their vessels outside my typical range.
Over the following ten minutes I scrambled to beat the horde back, before finally becoming too tired mentally to continue this exercise in futility.
Fighting the foot soldiers and the cannon fodder would get me nowhere.
I moved to regroup, to reach the others in America. A united front is what we all need and I need backup.
A new vessel came down, smaller than the troopship, some form of corvette perhaps? A hundred metres long at most. It moved like a slower fighter but it was covered in hard points bristling with weapons of all three kinds I knew they used and more.
The fighter craft rallied at the arrival of the support craft, increasing the aggression of their attacks on me and devoting more fighters to the mission. A commander must be here.
I moved to engage but a wall of beam weapons cornered me. I moved to use the environment but I was herded by them into the heart of the city. This was looking bad. For every one I took down three replaced it. They were moving me into range of the Command vessel; to finish me off.
As it began it's strafe I was struck by concussion weapons, some kind of projector that fired explosions without chemicals or projectiles being involved. My shields buckling under the wide scale attack.
Then as I began to taste despair…
A flash of golden light and the howl of a wolf was all the warning I was given before a graceful and lithe female form flashed down from the skies with a spear onto the Command vessel. Her impact rocked the ship like it had been punched by a giant, piercing the shields. Then she raised the spear overhead.
"Never fear, Gunnr has arrived! Know my name villains, as I strike you down in the name of Odin! Taste Gungnir!" She roared. Then plunged the spear down into the hull of the vessel. Time seemed to stop in the moment of impact and then the vessel twisted and shattered around the spear strike as the hull was slammed down, falling like a stone.
Gunnr herself leapt high, reaching out to grab the saddle of a massive wolf that was running on air.
Clad in golden chain and with long, plaited blonde hair the same colour she descended, bearing a round shield decorated with a pair of ravens and the legendary weapon of Odin himself. A vision of beauty and equally of violence.
A beam came towards her, with a faint smile her shield redirected it back towards the attacker, burning him from the sky.
"Greetings my Lord! Gunnr, your loyal shield maiden has come at last! Come let us dance with them until they falter! I shall follow your lead."
I couldn't help the smile that spread across my face in relief.
Valkyries were well known for protecting people on the battlefield they admired, I guess being one of the few remaining Norse Pagans has perks.
For the Valkyrie named War was with me. Something akin to a goddess.
"Welcome, truly your timing is magnificent." I replied.
"Naturally. This is what I know above all things!" She answered, cheerfully.