A Glimmer of Hope
Imported from SF2 with no description.
This was something I wrote long ago with hopes of turning into an anthology series. I gave up but recently I have felt that maybe it should be go up on the site regardless.
Mankind is no longer the dominant species on Earth. He has been reduced to the status of refugees, scavengers...and slaves.
Twenty years ago, one of our greatest fears, behind global warming and nuclear annihilation, became reality. We made first contact with extra-terrestrial life. In their insect-shaped ships, they landed in the USA, Brazil, Germany, China and Uganda. Sovereign states with borders conveniently placed within the centre of their own continents that made territorial expansion accessible enough with the added benefit of serving as staging grounds to ferry additional troops and supplies. The UN functioned for as long as it could with the many problems it already faced such as yanking NATO's chain at resisting increasing Russian agitation in East-Central Europe; evacuation of survivors from flooded coastlines along the Sub-Asian coasts as well as sending humanitarian aid to Africa in order to maintain the rising number of dead by diseases. Of course, fear and desperation spurred on from public desire for separation led to the quick dissolving of alliances and agreements as singular states believed they were better off fighting for their own people rather than sticking their necks out to "far away foreigners on the news" Panic rose in the streets while people turned on each other looking for ways to survive beyond the apocalypse. The combined pressure of maintaining defence against the aliens and protecting civilians from looter hordes resulted in mass desertion. Military defeat was quick to follow. Within weeks, whole armies and whole governments fell.
The aliens were fast in their setting up of administrations within the capital cities. Marshall law was declared and surviving humans stuck caught within the alien lands were speedily deported to internment camps. Small bands of humans that were lucky or fast enough to escape the fighting now roam the wilderness. Many within the imprisoned and the fugitives feel there is no hope left. They feel their enemy has broken them; that their only purpose in life is to appease their masters or always dodge countryside patrols. Yet there are some who continue to have faith. They have faith that their oppressors can be overthrown and their species freed. They have based their hope on the few success stories from thousands of years of insurgent strategy.
Perhaps their insurgency will add another to the success story list. Or perhaps it will add another to the even larger list of failure stories.
North-East Scotland, April 2035