Invasion

In a near‑future world where the United Nations fields a planetary defense fleet, Thorn Hard serves as a high‑level pilot for the Pacific Watch, tasked with spotting any unauthorized traffic that might threaten the fragile truce with the Com‑Pubs. On a quiet evening atop the Rockies, Thorn and his companion Sylva West share a tranquil sunset, their brief escape from duty colored by the fading light and a sense of intimacy that feels both ordinary and uncanny.

Their peace shatters when the Watch’s general‑communication line crackles with an urgent report: an object of unprecedented size and design is barreling toward Earth at astonishing speed. Thorn scrambles to his detector screens, describing a monstrous, glittering craft that rockets and glides in a way no human technology can explain. The sudden, deafening roar and the sight of the alien vessel disappearing behind the mountains thrust him—and the listeners—into a high‑stakes chase that could redefine humanity’s place in the cosmos.