Terra Nova

Two hands hold a semi-broken heart shaped silver locket. To anyone else, the locket was a piece of junk but to John Wilder, it was the last remaining memento of his recently deceased wife. Alone in the darkness and illuminated by candlelight, John stares at the locket as he opens and closes it with methodical timing reminiscent of a man on the brink of losing his mind. Inside, is a scratched up photograph of his wife and son smiling and hugging. He is now a man lost to his mind, lost to his memories and lost to his hatred. He keeps replaying the events that brought them to where they were today; living in fear, living under total surveillance and complete control by an alien race that took the world by surprise.

The year is 2197 and 13 years ago the world as Humanity knew it changed forever. It happened gradually. A race of people known as the A’naa made their arrival at the edges of Earth’s Space Territory in a ship so immense it resembled a floating city. It was visible in the sky day and night. Until this point, the Human race had only theorized of other worldly beings. The people had conspiracy theories, the governmental agencies had their secrets and this encounter upended everything. Chaos and panic ran in the streets, people turned on one another; some were curious others had deep fear and hatred.

The A’naa leader, Vekarsa Ra’an, made her way to the ground via a small shuttle with her second in command, Tersak Vol, and they found themselves amidst the panic in a small Connecticut town just outside New York City. She was a friendly yet serious woman who outwardly expressed interest in meeting new lands, new people and finding a new home for the refugees they have on board their vessel. They were harmless and simply curious. Standing a towering seven feet tall on average, having sickly green, leathery textured skin tone with a very sturdy build initially came across as very intimidating. In the distance, a military jet landed and within moments the military came rushing out surrounding the visitors who were far from intimidated. The circle around them parted with a distinguished looking man looking to make contact.

“Good evening. I am Admiral Chao. Who are you and what do you want?” the stoic Admiral demanded.

“I am Vekarsa Ra’an and this is my second Tersak Vol. We are A’naa traveling the stars in search of new life, new friends and a new start. We have no interest in violence. If you will give me some of your time, I would be happy to explain our situation.”

Admiral Chao took a moment to decide and made an offer, “Very well. Come with me. We can discuss along the way.”

Upon their arrival at the capital, they are greeted with armed guards and endless array of doors that required codes and cards that allowed entry. A strong sense of fear and hostility filled the air. Admiral Chao offered the two aliens a seat but it was clear that due to their size and physiology, finding comfort would be somewhat of a challenge. Female A’naa are generally larger in stature than their male counterparts but in this case, both Vekarsa and Tersak were fairly equal and they were able to fill out most of the rooms they entered into in the American capital. No time was wasted in getting started. Vekarsa explained the wars going on at her home planet of Seraan and the neighboring planet Moross, the decimation of the Morossian population and the reason for the mass exodus of the A’naa people. Admiral Chao discussed the current problems with agriculture, fuel, wars and more. Much to Chao’s surprise, their stories aren’t too dissimilar and Tersak explained how they overcame their agriculture, energy resource and medicinal issues. Chao took a quick liking to the towering aliens and they decided to work together to help planet Earth.

The A’naa slowly began to integrate with Humanity and Humans often made trips up to their vessel. However, not all Humans were satisfied with the comforts of this outside race who casually made themselves at home. A resistance group led by James Cohen, Jill Wilder and Casey Jackson began a plan to find out more about these people, where they say they came from, are the stories true, who really is Vekarsa Ra’an and much more but they realized quickly, finding anything out would take time and be a challenge. Majority of Humanity saw them as a complete benefit to the resources, to the people, to the land itself and it was proving difficult to find anyone willing to join them on this self-appointed mission.

The more the A’naa did to help the Humans, the more power and freedoms were so willingly handed over; their dependency on this alien race began to grow. Not many even stopped to notice the changes happening over the days, months and years because it was so gradual. Vekarsa held several meetings with the Human leaders along with her tactical officer, Seranna Thal, Lead Science Operations, Gorrik Ter’Khas, and Tersak to discuss how best to “help” Humanity by reorganizing areas by continents. The areas marked as Canada and The United States were classified as Zone 1 . Zone 2 was made up of Central and South America. Zone 3 was the entire continent of Africa. Zone 4 was made up of the entirety of Europe and Russia. Zone 4 Asia including island countries. Zone 5 Australia and New Zealand. The previous identities of the old ways of life, the old country names, their history, rules, financial ways of life were abolished. A dual cast partnership made up of one Human and one A’naa laid out the rules and regulations of each zone with a majority of the rules favoring the A’naa. Over the course of 375 days, A’naa secured all but complete totalitarian rule over the humans.

The resistance group spent the better part of 3 years trying to find any information about Vekarsa and uncovered secrets that would change everything. The group gathered an audience with Admiral Chao and explained everything they uncovered.

“Vekarsa is not who she says she is. She is not in search of peace! Look at what she’s done here. Look!,” Wilder says sharply as she slams down a tablet of documents. “Vekarsa didn’t try to help save Moross, she is the reason it was destroyed! The A’naa have medically devised a way to live unnecessarily long lives and when they outgrew their home planet, they went out in search of a new one. When it’s inhabitants didn’t comply with her lies, she would poison the waters, kill the vegetation and in turn kill the people. She’s not here for peace Admiral… she’s here to take over Earth and we just let them walk right in” Wilder exclaimed.

“I can’t believe that. Look at what they’ve done to help us…” Admiral Chao says before getting cut off by Jackson.

“And look at what changes they’ve made since. The rules favor them not us. The Human leaders have all but relinquished control to these people. And for what? What’s next? People are losing freedoms, crops are being sent to their ship. The “undesireable zones” as they call it have people dying daily and they are covering it up!”

“If you won’t help, I’ll take this to the people” Wilder says.

“If you do, humanity will end as we know it” Snapped Chao.

“I’d rather die trying to save humanity than roll over and die like a puppet” Wilder glares back.

Word spread like wildfire in the winds of Vekarsa’s past, her plans and civil unrest began. Humanity fought back against a losing battle; people died by the tens of thousands and soon it became clear what the real plans were. The A’naa were brutal warriors and many saw humanity as infantile pests that needed to be killed. Humanity never stood a chance. The families of the resistance saw this coming years prior and found ways to hide out often in remove areas, caves and underground.

“I need to do this John. Please. I love you so much but I can’t sit back and let these people die while I do nothing. Take this locket and so long as you have this, we will be with you.” Jill says.

“I need you. Our son needed you. I can’t lose you too” John pleaded.

Jill shook her head sadly holding back tears. “I can’t let you do that. I started this war and I need to try to end it.”

Earth began to resemble Moross. Waterways were beginning to be poisoned, animals slaughtered with their meat sent to the mothership, the remaining humans were under strict rules and their every move was monitored. Food was provided twice a day to the homes. Less than 100 million people remained across the planet. Many were hungry, scared with some just angry and wanting to fight back. Others mourned their losses with some being the last members of their families alive. The air reeked of death and decomposing bodies.

Vekarsa addressed the leaders of the 5 zones, who by now are only led by A’naa, “My people. It has come to my attention that a resistance group is assembling to riot back against our leadership. After all we have done for these pests, all we have helped them achieve, all we have helped them become and their ungratefulness continues. Do not allow them to succeed. The final plan is underway. You have your orders. Do not fail me.”

The Humans fought with everything they had from ammunition, bombs, poisons, arrows, swords; whatever they had access to, they used. The fighting continued on for two days and it was the longest and most grueling two days of their lives. Many Humans were lost by the hands of the A’naa as they were ruthless, brutal well-trained warriors. Tersak Vol descended into Zone 1 demanding the ceasefire with a presence he hasn’t carried before until now.

“Humanity. You have fought well but look at you. You are exhausted, you have lost so many lives and many are injured. There is no shame in admitting defeat. You have no crops left, your waters are dead. If you submit, we can help you. Let us help you. We have food on board, fresh water in abundance. Come up with us.”

Jill Wilder took one last shot and as fast as she drew her gun, her head was removed from her body. Tersak looked down at the face staring at him, picked up the head and mounted it on his blade. It became the symbol of defeat and a time to give in for the Human race. Thousands of shuttles descended upon the surface of the planet and rounded up all the remaining Humans and all were escorted off back to the mother ship looming like a dark prison above. For years it was seen as a beacon of hope, of a new partnership and now it is dark and a symbol of death and a prison. All the humans were greeted by Vekarsa and shown into cabins and rooms but for each shuttle that unloaded a human, it reloaded with A’naa. When the last breathing body was switched, Vekarsa made one final coldly stated comment, “Victory was always ours.” Her shuttle undocked, the mother ship’s engines turned on and humanity found itself in search of a home amongst the stars never to see home again.

Vekarsa’s plans had succeeded from the beginning. The waterways were poisoned for the humans but were the perfect chemical makeup for A’naa. Her plan to settle another new planet had succeeded just like she did on Moross. John Wilder and the families of the resistance remained holed up but how long until they were discovered and what happens when they are? That’s a different story for a different day.