31-07-2001 03:00									#1
	Post Planet: A Short Story Inflate your Upload Space

post planet
part one of two

And so the aliens ravaged across Planet, leaving towns and bustling cities as rubble. Millions of lives, united and separated, allied and warring, were surrendered to the Guardian Caretakers. Leader Marr had been executed, Svensgaard jailed, Santiago likewise. Chairman Yang and his resistance forces, totaling around four to five hundred, set up camp in Earth's Hand, a remote outpost only miles from the brunt of alien forces. His civilization, communist and all, represented the slim hope for the planet's survival.

"Chairman, Ogres. They're coming right for us, ETA four minutes."
"Time, dammit! Not enough time!"

And so the outpost and its inhabitants were slaughtered without mercy. Chairman Yang stood trial before a mock court, was beaten, and taken away for amusement. The Caretakers now controlled the strong majority of Planet, with only leaderless citizens to imprision.

Civil War raged across man's last frontier. Riots continued despite the grave requirement for peace and unity. Brother Lal, founder of the New UN of the Unkown, had been shot by a stray. Soon the Caretakers would assault yet another major, yet undefended city: Reliance Hold, originally under the now defunct government of the Spartans.

"Citizens! As much as we fight, war over petty credits, the time has come to repel the menace that are the Guardians! Fight now, and forever remember Reliance!" A battle cry went out, and the people went to arms.

Hours later, 9.2.3 Rovers met with the 2.1.2 Defence grid of the city. Needless to report, the millions that lived and had homes in the area were without hope.

"No. Oh, God, please. No." Provost Zakharov, leader of the Scientific Movement, was being held in a Caretaker facility. Probes were driven into his mind, and hot, flashing lights shone upon him. Six days later, the head of Planetary research had not only unwillingly given up top secret data into the hands of the enemy, he had also given himself to them. Standing, Zakharov left and rejoined the Citizen's Defence Force, the last remaining army on the Planet.

	31-07-2001 05:03									#2
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post planet
part two of two

"Damn, Zak. They've taken Reliance, Earth's Hand, Planetary Trust..."
"What's the soldier estimate?"
"Fifty thousand are still free, twenty thousand of them are potential troops, and four thousand are."
"Max it out." Zakharov was fitting in perfectly.

The Caretakers had now taken the Seas. They forced their way into the Great Mesa and from there shelled and obliterated the city of Refuge. The humans had only one week, at the most, to repel the threat that was the invasion of their homeland. The effort had to be made, immediatly.

Back at the Defence Force - now totalling twenty two thousand troops - Zakharov spoke to the only remaining general on Planet, Jim S. Yro. He recieved the battle plans of the resistance and reported them to the Caretakers. The troops were slaughtered with barely a chance to return fire.

The next morning the lead Commander of the Defence Force was found killed in his quarters. Bombs went off around the mobile military camps, killing hundreds of troops and destroying last line defence grids. Then the trump card: a planet buster, locked on to the exact coordinates of the hidden Defence Force's HQ, was launched. It smashed into the last remaining hope for planet. In one sweeping, aqua shining shockwave, thousands of citizens, troops no less, were killed instantly.

---

Then, as the Caretakers celebrated, two dozen more planet busters, once operated by the Defence Force, exploded on their launch pads. At first, the Gaurdians were pleased by the 'malfunction'...after all, it had turned arid, humanoid land into a resource rich ocean. Then they saw it.

Thousands, millions of them. Mind worms. Planet. Try as they may, the Caretaker troops were no match for the ground they stood on. As their minds were shredded within their skulls, the Guardians saw grey matter came from their fallen comrades' heads. Flashes.

Zakarhov was killed in the worm raid. His memory restored, his unkown treachery haunted him seconds before he died. The pain was unbearable. He had worked all his life for Planet. It killed him in the end, for something he could not control.

---

Chrion was devastated. Mind worms liberated what was once theirs, driven by the last line defence grid, set off by the Citizen's Defence Force. No species, alien or human, would again set up civilization on Planet for the many years to come. Although some three to four hundred representatives of each species existed, their efforts to unite were futile. Human life continued... but history now truely can begin again on Alpha Centauri.