3. The Defending Earth-Weapons and Aliens

Weapons glistened from the racks in front of them.  Longswords, broadswords, claymores, scimitars, spears, axes, war-hammers, and many more hand weapons stood ready.  The aliens were covered in scales which were naturally bullet proof.  Air-borne ordinance was also ineffective.  No one was sure why.  Scientists shrugged and said they were aliens.  Their technology was baffling.

And so war had returned to face to face, handheld combat.  That's not to say the weapons weren't modified.  Each one had wiring and circuitry built in under the blade.  Each blade could surge enough electricity to kill many people with the press of a button on the handle.  Even the war-hammers had a sharpened spike on the handle.  The racks charged the weapons.  Once the blade cut into the alien flesh the surge would stun the alien.  Death was hard to deliver, but sleep was easier.

Helena selected her sword.  It was a longsword, the pommel long molded to her hands. Beside her, Captain Clark raised the newest addition to the armory.  It was his weapon, a great war-hammer.  Other soldiers were selecting their weapons.   As each soldier picked up their weapon, a part of their body was returned to them.

"Sergeant Weaver, your squad and Captain Clark will be positioned here.  Wait to break cover and attack for when the signal is given," the orders barked out.  Heads turned and gaped when they heard the name Captain Clark.  Helena ignored them.  They were in the front line.  They would be the first to engage the enemy.

Jeeps sped the through underground tunnels.  The tunnels twisted and branched, each one ending in a small room.  There the jeep deposited its soldiers and was able to turn around.  The plains were honeycombed with people, ready to attack what was thundering ahead.  They crouched and looked out over the golden fields.

They were coming.  Four legs hitting and pushing off the ground at the same time.  It wasn't a run, it was a hop.  If you didn't see the head, you would assume it was a large, scaled horse coming towards you  this had earned them the name Equitum Magnum Peregrinus, or Peregrinies for the layperson.  The head is where things became different.  It was a mass of tentacles which could twist together and form a long trunk.

Each soldier tensed as they came forward, waiting for the signal.