Invasion (John Ringo)

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Invasion (English. The Legacy of the Aldenata ) is a science fiction novel series, written by John Ringo , which belongs to the Military SF .

Novels of the series

The series comprises the following volumes, which are divided into 2 parts:

Posleen War (English Posleen War)

Cally's War

Plot of the novels

The march

Former Sergeant Mike O'Neal is re-drafted into the US armed forces. Mike learns the reason for this from General Horner, his former superior personally: due to an imminent alien invasion, anyone who has ever served in the US armed forces will be reactivated shortly.

Further details will then be revealed to selected military personnel at a top-secret conference: the Galactic Federation has turned to humanity for military assistance in exchange for advanced technology, medicine (e.g. rejuvenation) and scientific knowledge. In addition, the human race has been informed that the invasion of Earth by the Posleen will take place in less than five years.

Mike is assigned by General Horner to the GalTech (Galactic Technology) Infantry Team, which is responsible for the construction of the GKA (Armored Combat Suit). He was promoted to lieutenant after that as a consultant to the American GKA assigned -Bataillon that the earthly expeditionary force on the planet Diess the Posleen to fight.

During the four-month long transport to the planet Diess , he is supposed to advise the GKA battalion on the special functions and operations of the GKA , which is initially strictly forbidden by Lieutenant Colonel Youngman. It was only relatively late that he was able to circumvent this using various tricks in order to at least make parts of the battalion ready for action.

After landing on the planet Diess , bitter battles with the Posleen ensue , which the earthly expeditionary force can win with very heavy losses. Mike is badly wounded but can be completely recovered thanks to GalTech medicine.

The attack

Earth is feverishly preparing for the expected Posleen invasion . Mike O'Neal, promoted to captain, tries to train his company of GKA soldiers as best he can. He spends one final vacation with his wife and daughter Cally in the Florida Keys before his wife returns to the Space Forces, where she is on duty on a frigate.

General Horner's defense plan provides for the abandonment of the flat areas on the coast, the evacuation of the local population and the retreat behind the Appalachians and the Rocky Mountains , which is rejected by the politicians and some generals.

Then the time has come: the invasion begins. The Posleen land in different parts of the world. In the US, their main attack is near Fredericksburg , VA . They overrun the local defenders and march both south and north along I-95 .

A defensive position has been set up in Richmond , VA where the Posleen can be stopped. But since the President is not ready to visit historical sites such as B. to give up Arlington National Cemetery without a fight, it comes to disaster. After the defeat of two army corps by the Posleen to march on Washington to exceed the Potomac and penetrate into the city. The GKA battalion, led by Mike O'Neal, can then stop the Posleen advance on the National Mall and inflict a crushing defeat on them.

When Mike brings the news of the victory to General Horner, he has to tell him that Mike's wife Sharon was killed in a space battle.

The counterstrike

The US has holed up in the Rocky Mountains and the Appalachian Mountains and is trying to repel attacks by the Posleen on these two lines of defense. In the rest of the world, practically all organized, state resistance has collapsed, there is only sparse resistance from isolated groups.

Attempts have been made to accommodate the population of the threatened areas of the USA in underground cities, the SubUrbs , but this has only partially succeeded. Alternatively, an evacuation to Canada was considered, as the Posleen avoid subarctic areas, but this was rejected.

Most of the action takes place on the Appalachian Front, which runs from Rochester , NY to Clarkesville, GE . Major O'Neal and General Horner desperately try to hold the front lines at Rochester, NY and Rabun Gap, GE . Since the President has forbidden them to use nuclear weapons, they have to improvise. Used therefore come Sheva to the landing ships of the Posleen to destroy.

Mike's father, Papa O'Neal , lives on his farm near Rabun Gap, GE with Cally, Mike's 13-year-old daughter. When Sergeant Major Mosovich receives the assignment to get Captain Elgars out of the Franklin, NC SubUrb , he decides to visit his old friend Papa O'Neal. Mosovich casually mentions that US military casualties to date amount to 62 million and that another 40 million US civilians have died.

When the Posleen threaten to break through at Rabun Gap, nuclear weapons are finally used to close the gap. Mike O'Neal and his GKA battalion then step in as a rapid reaction force to rebuild the collapsed defense against the Posleen .

Dramatis personae

  • Michael "Mighty Mite", "Iron Mike" O'Neal : He is the specialist in the use and application of the GKA . That is why he (and his GKA battalion) are always deployed when the situation is very serious. Mike becomes suspicious of the role the Darhel are playing very early on.
  • General John "Jack" Horner : Mike's superior and paternal friend. In The Counter Strike , Mike and Horner clash over a mission, but Mike wins through with his request for the use of nuclear weapons.
  • Gunnery Sergeant Ernie Pappas : The 63-year-old Vietnam veteran undergoes a GalTech rejuvenation in The Deployment and then appointed to train a platoon of new recruits in Mike's GKA battalion. He becomes one of Mike's main subordinates.
  • Sergeant Major Jacob "Jake the Snake" Mosovich : He puts in the parade together a task force to the planet Barwhon V a reconnaissance mission against the Posleen perform. In The Counter Strike , his team is also responsible for reconnaissance missions, but this time on Earth.
  • Staff Sergeant Bob Duncan : Member of Lieutenant Colonel Youngman's GKA Battalion in The Deployment . He showed himself to be open to GKA technology early on, which will benefit him later. He excels in the fight on Diess . In The Attack , he becomes a member of Mike's GKA battalion.
  • Lt. Col. Youngman : Mike is assigned as an advisor to him and his battalion in The Deployment . Since Youngman forbids any interference on the part of Mike, Mike has to use tricks in order to be able to provide the soldiers of the battalion with at least basic knowledge regarding the GKA and its use during the transport to the planet Diess . Youngman dies during the mission on the planet Diess .
  • Captain Anne O. Elgar : In the attack they will be very seriously injured. In The Counter Strike , she was restored by the Tchpth after being in a coma for 5 years due to severe brain injuries. To what extent their personality is still identical with the original person is initially unknown. When the suburb of Franklin, NC by the Posleen is overrun, she fights the way out free. The secret of their recovery is revealed in a secret medical department of the Tchpth .
  • Monsignor O'Reilly : He's working with the Bane Sidhe to thwart the Darhel's plans .

Aliens

There are several alien species that have come together in the Galactic Federation . The Galactic Federation has existed for about 100,000 years. She has been attacked by the Posleen for about 150 years . On the human side, the Federation is compared to an anthill in which each species has specialized in certain tasks.

  • Darhel : The Federation bankers. They control the monetary system and through the credits they also exercise control over the rest of the species in the Federation. Concerning. their intentions are not benevolent to humanity: they want to let the Posleen decimate humanity , but above all they want to break their independence in order to bring them better under control. Therefore, they are sabotaging Earth's defense efforts.
  • Himmit : You resemble a frog with four eyes and two mouths. They have perfect camouflage options.
  • Indowy : The Federation worker ants . Every Indowy is a specialist in a certain activity. In the course of a lifetime, an Indowy can work his way up the hierarchy of workers by learning more and more complex jobs. There is no industrial manufacturing in the Federation as all equipment (and components) are handcrafted. This means that the devices and machines are indeed very durable (the maintenance-free service life is sometimes hundreds to thousands of years), but at the same time the production volume is rather low. An example from Der Aufmarsch : Among the approximately 14 trillion Indowy of the Federation, there are just 200 master shipbuilders who together make hardly more than five spaceships per year. In The Counter-Strike , the Indowy , called Sohon , is produced in an explanation. It relies on nanorobots. There is an underground organization among the Indowy called Bane Sidhe , which is supposed to overthrow the dominance of the Darhel .
  • Tchpth : They resemble large crabs and are described as the philosophers and scientists of the Galactic Federation .
  • Posleen : Four-legged, egg-laying omnivores that resemble centaurs . Their way of life is that billions migrate from planet to planet to "gather" food for their horde. They do not stop at intelligent life forms and their own dead and wounded, which makes them enemies of the Galactic Federation and the humans. But while they also have advanced technology, the most common way they operate is to outgrow any resistance like grasshoppers or ants. Most Posleen are of low intelligence, so each company of 400 Posleen needs an intelligent God-King to lead .

technology

  • AID ( Artificial Intelligence Device ): personal universal computer and assistant of a person who has access to all possible databases. An AID also enables very effective communication within a unit of soldiers.
  • GKA (Armored Combat Suit): A type of knight armor for soldiers, consisting of GalTech . The GKA ensures the soldier a high probability of survival and gives him exceptional skills and firepower.
  • SheVa : Named after the Shenandoah Valley Industrial Planning Commission , it is a gigantic smooth- barreled cannon on a mobile platform, the size of a lignite excavator. They verschießt KE -arrows of uranium having a diameter of 20 cm and a length of 180 cm against the DropShips Posleen .
  • SubUrb : Underground, nuclear-safe, self- sustaining city ​​built for refugees. The top is 30 m below the ground. It resembles a cube that is divided into sectors.

Planets

  • Barwhon V : a planet of Tchpth . Moist-swampy, tropical-like.
  • Diess : a planet of the Indowy . Dry, desert-like.

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