“Like the Trojan Horse,” Steve mused, rubbing his chin. He straightened in his seat, pushing his chest out and resting his big forearms on the table. “I got no problem kicking the crap out of these An-hacky.”

“An-un-naki,” Lily corrected. “Don’t underestimate them.”

She pivoted her chair to the right and pressed a button on a remote control. The TV on the other end of the long conference table lit up, and images of a battle flashed onto the screen.

“I don’t want to make you feel hopeless—we do believe you have a chance. But you must understand your enemy to be effective. These videos were taken by my ship’s onboard camera.” Her voice cracked. “After all these years, it’s still hard to watch.” She blinked quickly several times, seeming to struggle to restrain her emotions. “My people are the ones organized on the ground below.”

The screen was filled with an army, charging silently up a gentle slope. Leaving shadowy trails in a calf-deep sea of lush, green grass, the soldiers all wore shiny, red armor from head to toe. It first struck Shane as medieval. But they didn’t move slowly, like knights wearing heavy plates of steel over shirts of chainmail. They were swift, the armor appearing not to hinder them, or perhaps even enhancing their movement.

Coming within ten yards of the rebels’ crimson helmets, the ship shifted upward, aiming its camera at a jagged wall of gleaming, white skyscrapers that formed an abrupt end to the verdant plain.

“The only way to get past the city’s defenses was on foot. When they designed it, they never expected an attack to come from the ground,” Lily said with melancholy. “They weren’t supposed to know we were coming until it was too late. Somehow, the enemy discovered our plan to take the capitol. They were ready and waiting for us.”

The tallest of the buildings reached up through gray clouds, pillars holding the angry sky aloft. Kelly let out a nervous sigh, and her hand slipped into his. He squeezed it, beginning to realize everything he and his friends had survived and accomplished to this point was nothing compared to what lay ahead.

Although their tops were crowned with thunderheads, the lower parts of the cylindrical buildings reflected the sun, which Shane guessed set in a clear sky behind Lily’s ship.

“I was supposed to stay back,” she explained somberly. “To provide air support until they were in.”

A dark line drawn across the foundations of the city grew thicker. The camera zoomed closer, revealing thousands of soldiers, covered in the same angular red armor as the rebels. Unlike the rebels, many were unprotected from the neck up.

“They could have just killed us all right away. But first, they marched on us with no helmets, so we could look our executioners in the eyes,” Lily explained as the camera panned over the angry faces. “It was the worst kind of war—families divided, brothers and sisters on opposite sides.”

The ones without helmets looked similar to Lily and her counterparts, all with tan skin and dark hair. The Anunnaki raced down the hill toward the rebels, shouting and waving their weapons.

“An army straight out of Hell,” Tracy whispered.

When they were a football field’s length away, they stopped. The camera on Lily’s spacecraft scanned left and right, up and down the enemy’s ranks. In the center, a soldier was pushed ahead of the rest by two of his comrades. One of them kicked him in the back of his legs, and the other pushed him so he fell to his knees. His comrade stepped beside him, raising his glowing weapon, which appeared to be some kind of a plasma sword.

Clasping his brethren’s hair with his free hand, the soldier dropped the curved blade and swept it horizontally to slice through his neck. He lifted the head into the air, blood dripping onto his armor. Horrified gasps erupted from Shane and his friends. The body swayed for an instant, and then fell forward into the grass.

“He was one of our spies,” Lily said softly. “He infiltrated their army and made it to a lofty rank before they discovered him.”

The soldier swung his arm in a circle and threw the dripping head high into the air. It landed amongst the red-clad soldiers beneath Lily’s ship, and the Anunnaki charged.

Lily’s people resisted, firing laser guns with plasma-bladed bayonets, but he could tell by how disorganized they were that the Anunnaki had effectively reversed the element of surprise on the rebels. The Anunnaki broke their line, attacking with such violence that it appeared each of the warriors had a personal vendetta. They shot and stabbed the rebels, even after they had to be dead, and then stomped on the bodies to get to their next victim.

Blasts of green energy emitted from somewhere near the camera, decimating a cluster of soldiers.

“That blast came from your ship. Did they retaliate?” Tracy asked, sounding more analytical than excited.

“Yes—watch.”

Lily got off a couple of more shots before an aircraft, the size of a passenger jet and shaped like a cigar with no wings, came barreling at her from the city ahead. The image jerked left and right as she evaded blasts from the ship, and then it leveled off.

“They stopped attacking. That’s when I knew we were doomed.”

A massive, golden ship, shaped like an Egyptian pyramid, settled on the hillside behind the red army. Firing their weapons to keep the rebels at bay, the Anunnaki retreated into an opening in one of its reflective, slanted faces. The surviving rebels stood stunned, their weapons drooping as if they couldn’t understand what they’d done to cause the sudden retreat. Once all the Anunnaki were loaded, the gold ship lifted into the sky. The camera on Lily’s spacecraft followed it, blasts of green energy directed at the vessel coming from her cannons.

When the big ship’s pointed apex impaled the clouds, it emitted a beam of bright white energy from its square, black bottom, directing the blast down amongst the scattering rebels.

“We didn’t consider the ship to be a threat, didn’t expect them to use the weapon so close to the capitol. They were willing to risk everything to destroy us.”

The craft lifted higher, and the ground collapsed inward where the beam impacted the battlefield.

“They created a temporary gravity well amidst our soldiers.” Lily’s voice cracked. “We didn’t have a chance.”

“A black hole?” Laura asked with terrified awe.

“Something like that,” Lily replied.

Her craft moved closer to the beam and then spun away. The camera captured a double sunset, one yellow sun slightly above the horizon and the other orange one half below. The camera rotated down and back, filming the rebels as they fell and clawed at the green plain, trying to resist being sucked toward the beam. When they got close to it, their armor imploded, their bodies crushed and violently ripped apart before vanishing into the light.

“I tried to fly away, but it pulled me in.”

There was no sound, but Shane imagined the engines on Lily’s ship were screaming against the irresistible draw of gravity. The light picked up by the camera grew brighter and brighter until the TV screen was white. Then it went dark for a few seconds, and the image changed. An image of North America from space appeared on the screen, and the image began to rotate, slowly at first and then faster until it was a blur.

“We were pulled into some sort of wormhole created by the implosion. The mouth of the wormhole must’ve been high enough above the plain that it only captured our ship, protecting us from the most destructive gravitational forces generated by the weapon. While everyone on the ground was being crushed, we passed through unscathed. We came out over New Mexico, our engines shut off by the space-time distortion,” Lily said. Flames engulfed the image as the ship passed through the atmosphere. When the fire retreated, the tan, spinning desert rushed up to meet the camera, and then the screen went blank. Lily turned the TV off and looked at Shane and his friends, her eyes moist.

“It didn’t seem like you had a chance,” Jules said distantly. “I don’t see how we can possibly fight them.”

“They knew we were going to attack.” She regained her composure. “Their spies must’ve infiltrated us.”

“Looked like they really hated your people,” Tracy mused, staring at the dark screen.

“We resisted the idea that Anunnaki are the supreme beings in the universe. We believed all sentient beings should be treated with respect and allowed their freedom,” she explained. “We destroyed numerous factories and training facilities that were preparing for attacks against planets like your own. The Anunnaki government called us traitors and wanted us all dead.”

“What makes you think we’ll do any better?” Shane had heard enough. He wanted to know what their chances were. The rebels had advanced weapons and an understanding of their enemy he and his friends couldn’t gain in a lifetime. He didn’t feel overly confident at the moment.

“Although you are not as technologically advanced, humans are a lot tougher than the Anunnaki, as is your design. Your people have been fighting constantly for thousands of years—it’s in your DNA,” she replied. “Humans have created heroes and gods in myth, attributing great strength to them and telling stories of how they overcame impossible obstacles. In Anunnaki lore, humans fill the roles of our children’s heroes. We have always admired your strength and willingness to fight when the odds are against you. In combining the primitive, though physically powerful, phenotype of the Neanderthals with the intellect of the Anunnaki, my people created the perfect warriors.”

“We’re not all violent monsters bent on killing each other,” Laura objected with disgust.

“No, you are not,” Lily confirmed apologetically. “Humans have a great capacity for love and creation. It’s another reason my people are so fond of you. Humans are the greatest achievement of the Anunnaki—both sides agree upon that. You also desire peace, and we rebels expect one day your people will stop fighting each other. But for now, your intelligence, primal aggressiveness, and propensity toward war make you ideal soldiers. You are their secret weapon, and they expect you’ll help them overthrow their enemies. These same characteristics may save you and your planet from them.”

“But our armies are gone. We’re just a bunch of kids,” Jules said. “What do you expect us to do?”

“Based on our calculations, we have between four to six months until the Anunnaki arrive,” she replied. “It’s not much time, but we can train you. My partner and I had a long history of executing covert operations against the enemy before we came here, and we helped train lots of recruits.”

“Yeah,” Steve said, “and you lost.”

“Remember,” her enthusiasm was undeterred by his pessimistic response, “unlike the multitude of successful attacks we rebels made during the war, the enemy won’t be expecting you. They don’t know we are here. You have surprise on your side. Yes, the odds of success in this mission are dire at best, but we believe in you. And you have to believe in yourselves.”

Lily studied them, admiration and optimism in her eyes. Shane fidgeted with his cup, his head aching from all the new information. He glanced at his friends. They had to fight—what else was there to do?

“We’ve been dealing with the impossible for the last two days, so I guess we’re used to it,” Shane said. Then he faced Lily, resting his elbows on the table. “What do we have to do?”

“A small fleet of Anunnaki ships are coming to earth,” she began. “Their mission is to enslave the remaining kids. They’ll use the slave gene in the kids to make them pass through seven main recruit ships, which will land in different parts of the world. They’ll equip the kids with armor and weapons. You will be with the enslaved kids. You and six other teams, en route to this base now, will enter the ships, appearing to be under Anunnaki control.”

She paused and looked up and down the table, like she was making sure they were following what she was saying.

“We already got that. Go on,” Shane demanded, his head spinning.

“Once you’re equipped, you’ll slip away from the rest of the recruits and make your way to the ship’s engineering department,” she said, now speaking directly to him. “We will teach you how to input a sequence into the control panel that will destroy the primary reactor.”

“And then what?” Steve asked. “Sounds like a suicide mission.”

“Everyone in the reactor chamber will die. But if you can get out before the reactor goes critical, then your odds of survival are actually quite high,” Lily said, though Shane wasn’t convinced this part of the plan was a priority.

“The Anunnaki use the energy from the ship’s reactors to power their strength-enhanced armor, and they need it to boost the control signal to the human slaves. With the reactors destroyed, the enemy will be thrown into chaos, and the slaves will be freed. Then we have a chance of defeating them.”

Lily wanted to beat the Anunnaki—that much was clear. Whether or not she cared if Shane and his friends survived was yet to be determined.

“Well, if it’s the only hope we have,” Tracy commented. “We have to at least give it a try.”

“We knew you would,” Lily replied. “Which is why you are here.”

“And you think we’re the best people for this mission?” Shane asked, skeptical.

“Well, you managed to shut down the limbic manipulator weapon, didn’t you?” Lily looked up and down the table, her eyes wide as if to invite an objection.

“You didn’t know that when you selected us,” Shane said, his gazed fixed on her. Had he caught her in a lie? “Why did you choose us?”

“We have neural scanning equipment that is beyond your understanding,” she replied, not acting the least bit suspicious. “We scanned you before we met you at the farmhouse, when we flew over in the helicopters. The results of the scan are what led to your, and every other team’s, selection. We were surprised that you didn’t seem to have any special training, but now that I know what you’ve done, the scan results make perfect sense.” Lily paused, her expression becoming more sincere. “You may not have the training of some of the other groups, but you’ve got a fighting spirit that few can match. You’re the type of people that don’t give up, and that’s what we need if we’re to make it through this situation.”