“Shields up!” I shouted as the laser fire came from the approaching ships. They were small, but together they formed a strong fighting force. Jessie continued to steer the ship as I went and got in the chair and prepared to shoot lasers and guided missiles at the fighting ships.

One by one, the lasers bounced off the surface of our ship, but the strength of our shields was beginning to drain.

“I can’t keep the shields up for too much longer. You have to take some of them out!” Jessie shouted at me.

"I will do the best I can!" I shouted back. I began to track the Sarceastian fighters and missed my target with the first several shots I took. However, I soon began to make hits with the guided missiles, which took out four nearby ships. A triangular Langmilian fighter came into view and shot the rest of the fighters that had been attacking us.

"Alright! Now the shield can regain some of its strength!" Jessie called out. "It's time to take aim on the cruiser!" Jessie brought our ship down for an attack on the large space cruiser. As she swept down over the surface of the cruiser, I shot several laser blasts and missiles. Unfortunately, the Sarceastian cruiser had seen us coming and had its shields up. None of the blasts created any damage. Then, I remembered what I had learned long ago on Karkast about Sarceastian cruisers. The underside of the cruisers had the main reactor. If we could get a guided missile to hit the main reactor, I knew that we could destroy the ship.

“Jessie, I need you to try a somewhat risky maneuver!” I shouted. “ I need you to try and make a pass underneath the cruiser!”

“That would be really dangerous!” she insisted.

“Yes, but I have to get a shot at the main reactor on the underside. It’s the only way!” I answered.

“Alright, here it goes!” Our ship took a sudden dip as we got underneath the cruiser. Several small fighters were shooting at us, and Jessie was doing a great job of turning, twisting, and dipping to avoid as much of it as she could. The shields seemed to be holding up. As we passed underneath the ship, I took a shot, but the missile did not land where I intended it to.

“Darn! Jessie, take us around again. I missed!”

"Ok," She said, reluctantly. We passed underneath again, this time, there was twice as much laser fire coming from the Sarceastian ships all around us. They knew what we were trying to do now. I shot three missiles and watched with delight as one of them went straight into the opening which led to the main reactor.

"I did it! Quickly, we have to get as far from the cruiser as possible!" I yelled. Jessie flew straight up into the air and away from the cruiser as fast as she could. We looked back as the cruiser blew into a million pieces. Several pieces of the doomed cruiser smashed into the neighboring cruiser, setting it on fire. A second later, it too blew up. Several smaller ships were destroyed in the blast and several others were thrown off their course.

“Great job, Yahn!” Jessie shouted.

“Thank you, baby!” There was no time to celebrate. Jessie brought the ship over towards the Langmilian ships that were taking aim on the middle cruiser.

“Commander Kelron and Captain Joransen- take aim on the ducts connected to the main reactor on the underside of the cruisers. That is the weak spot that will destroy the vessel,” I shared with the other leaders.

“Thank you,” they both answered. Soon, they were sending several ships to complete the same maneuver that Jessie had done. A few of the Langmilian ships were taken out by the Sarceastians who by this time were onto our strategy. However, soon the middle cruiser was also taken out. Now, all that remained was the last cruiser that the Reflominan army was trying to destroy. Jessie drove our ship over towards this last cruiser to help battle the smaller fighters that were trying to stop Captain Joransen’s attack on the last cruiser. As Jessie brought us closer to the fighters, I shot and took out four more ships.

“Great shooting, again, Yahn!” she congratulated me.

“We make a great team!” I shouted back and continued to offer the Reflominans the cover that they needed. Within minutes, the last cruiser had burst into flame. A small fighter launched itself from the larger ship a second later. After another second, it was blown apart.

"Yes, we've done it! All of the cruisers have been destroyed!" I shouted. We could hear the other ships celebrating as well. Although we had defeated the main cruisers, there were still an untold number of smaller fighters that had already been released from them. The fighting was far from over. We had no idea how any Sarceastian troops had already been sent to attack the surface of the Earth.

The smaller ship that had escaped destruction from the last cruiser, began to gather several small Sarceastian ships around it. They were preparing for a counter-attack. The smaller ships had to be add up in hundreds.

"Oh no!" Jessie said. "Captain Joransen, Commander Kelron- prepare to do battle with the smaller fighters, they are about to attack!" Sure enough, the fighters began to surround the Langmilian, human, and Reflominan ships. Several ships were destroyed in the ensuing counterattack. We zoomed in and tried to take out as many of the smaller fighters as we could, but soon they were beginning to take their toll on our ships.

“They are taking out too many of our ships!” Jessie stated.

“We must not stop trying now!” I answered as I took out two more Sarceastian ships. Soon an ominous voice came over our communication speaker.

“Surrender your ships! This is Captain Demarin Goldarn, leader of the Sarceastian army. If you do not surrender now, we will destroy all of your enemy ships!” the voice said.

“Forget it!” Jessie answered as I took out two more ships. The Langmilians had suffered heavy losses, but the remaining human ships soon began to destroy more and more of the Sarceastians, and we began to get the upper hand. The Reflominan ships came to the Langmilian ships’ rescue, and soon there were only a few Sarceastian fighters left. The ship containing Sarceastian Captain Goldarn began to retreat towards the surface of the Earth as did the rest of the Sarceastian fighters.

“Quickly, go after their leader. We can’t allow him to escape!” I shouted to Jessie. She began to fly our ship towards the surface. The main battles in the atmosphere were now over. It was time to join the fighting on the ground and help out in any way that we could.

Jessie brought us over New York, and we could already see that there was substantial damage that had been done. Hover towers lay in rubble and there were people everywhere running for safety. Every now and then, a Sarceastian fighter would fly over the city and drop a missile, causing more destruction. We chased down and shot a few ships until there were no more of them in sight. It was time to land our ship. Jessie tracked their leader, Demarin Goldarn’s ship. It landed near a burning high rise building. I tried my best to shoot lasers at the Sarceastians as they got out of the ship, but they got away.

Jessie landed our ship close to the Sarceastian ship that had just landed. Above us, our allies continued to fight against the Sarceastian fighters the best they could. They appeared to have the upper hand, but the situation looked more bleak on the ground. We went out of the ship just as a Sarceastian ship came over and destroyed it. We were thrown several feet in the air as a result of the blast, but weren’t hurt.

“Come on, let’s get their captain. I saw him go into that building right over there. If we take out one of their main leaders, it will help us throw their forces into disarray,” I insisted.

"I agree, let's get him!" Jessie answered. We ran inside the building, chasing the Sarceastians. There were human fighting forces that began to shoot back and soon the air was filled with lasers being shot back and forth. We took cover behind a large dumpster and began to fire at the Sarceastians with our laser cannons. I managed to hit two of them. That was when I noticed Demarin Goldarn take out a weapon I had never used before. It was called an energy harnessor. Once it was charged, it could send a beam of high-energy particles at people. It was similar to a laser, but it was a hand-held weapon. Demarin began to move the weapon back and forth like it was a sword, taking out Earth soldiers as he came to them. We fired more shots at him and his men, but they managed to escape the warehouse we were in.

Before exiting the warehouse, we noticed some military gear in one corner of the building. Quickly, Jessie spotted an energy pack, similar to the one that Demarin had.

“Two can play at this energy harnessing game!” she said.

“Come on, they’re getting away!” I yelled as I pulled her by the hand out of the door. We ran through the street as laser fire continued to shoot over our heads. We managed to keep from being hit until we came to a building. We hid behind this building and fired several shots at Demarin and his men. I managed to take out another Sarceastian, but Demarin continued to run amok, using his energy beam to kill more Earth soldiers.

"General Watkins come in!" Jessie spoke into her portable communicator that was strapped to her wrist.

“This is General Watkins.”

"Yes, general, it's me, Private Jessie, again. The cruisers have been taken out and now we have joined the ground defense. The Sarceastian captain is making his way north with a sizeable number of soldiers. We are tracking him and requesting some assistance," Jessie asked.

“I will send more troops your way. Things are looking good. We are holding them off to the south and have been defeated in Washington,” he shared.

“General, how bad is the damage in Washington?” Jessie asked. I could tell by her expression that she was ready for the worst news.

“Not too terrible. They managed to take out some military targets, but there are barely any civilian casualties there as I’m happy to report. I wish I could say the same for New York and Los Angeles, which have both been hit rather hard.”

Jessie took a deep breath and I went over to her and put my arm on her shoulder.

“Thank God. Hopefully, mom and dad are alright,” She said to me.

We came out from behind the building and I started exchanging laser fire with the Sarceastians ahead of us. We saw more allied troops coming in to help us. Now it seemed that the allied forces were finally outnumbering the enemy forces. The tide of the battle was beginning to turn. We still pursued Captain Goldarn, whose fighting force was beginning to diminish in number. Soon, Goldarn's force was much closer and only a few of his followers were left standing beside him. Captain Goldarn seemed untouchable, however killing everyone he came into contact with using his deadly energy beam. Finally, we got close enough to get a good look at him. His hood was silver, unlike the gray hoods worn by the Sarceastian fighters. He had a gold belt and an armored vest that he wore. His eyes glowed with a sinister red glare. He looked two feet taller than any of the other Sarceastian fighters nearby.

After some more exchange of laser fire, only Captain Demarin had remained alive.