The first alien ships broke through the clouds over a hundred cities at once.
By the time they descended over New York, they were already falling over Lagos, Mumbai, Beijing, Berlin, São Paulo, Johannesburg, Moscow, Mexico City, Tokyo, Cairo, Sydney.
The world did not have time to breathe.
United States — NORAD Command, Colorado
Deep under a mountain, screens burned with data.
"Tracking confirmed: unknown craft over eighty-three major population centers," a radar officer shouted.
"No IFF, no comms, no response to hails. They're ignoring our airspace protocols."
General Reyes stared at the tactical screen, jaw clenched so hard it hurt.
"How many?" he asked.
"First wave, estimated… three thousand dropships, sir. At least."
A quiet curse drifted through the command center.
"Any orbital signatures? Mothership? Fleet?" Reyes pushed.
"Negative, sir. No direct visual. We're getting interference in LEO. It's like something's jamming our satellites above a certain altitude."
"So they blind us and drop troops." Reyes exhaled slowly. "No kinetic strikes, no nukes… Why the hell aren't they just raining fire from orbit?"
No one answered.
Behind him, a communications tech raised her voice over the noise.
"Global Defense Network is requesting coordinated response, sir. NATO, SCO, African Union, Pan-Lat Coalition, Indian Command...they're all online."
Reyes nodded. "Patch them through."
Dozens of faces appeared on the central wall screen..generals, admirals, defense ministers from every corner of the globe.
Uniform colors clashed, but their expressions were the same.
Tired, afraid, determined.
A British officer spoke first. "We've confirmed ground incursions in London, Birmingham, Manchester. They're deploying troops, drones, armored units. Non-explosive, high kinetic discharge weapons."
An Indian general cut in, voice clipped. "Same in Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata. They aren't targeting infrastructure first...just crowds. Herding us, scattering us."
A Chinese admiral leaned forward. "They're taking ground. They're acting like this is a conventional conquest, not an extermination."
Reyes swallowed. "So they want the planet without destroying it."
An African Union commander from Nigeria spoke, face lit with flashing red lights. "They don't bomb our cities, they walk into them. These bastards think we're so weak they can just plant their flag."
The room buzzed.
"Enough," Reyes snapped. "We don't have time to argue. We need a unified response. Air support, evac corridors, counteroffensives."
"You want unified?" the Nigerian commander said. "Say it clearly, General Reyes. Is this now a global war? No borders...just us and them?"
Reyes looked up at the wall of faces.
For a heartbeat, no one spoke.
Then a woman with gray hair and dark, sharp eyes appeared...the Secretary-General of the United Nations.
"The answer," she said quietly, "was decided the moment they fired on civilians."
Her gaze hardened.
"This is no longer about nations. This is about our species."
She straightened.
"On this day, by emergency resolution, the United Nations, NATO, SCO, African Union, Pan-Lat Coalition, the League of Arab States, ASEAN, and all signatories of the Global Defense Accord designate this event as an Extinction-Level Invasion. All military forces are hereby authorized for full joint operations."
A European general muttered, "We're actually doing it…"
The Secretary-General continued, voice gaining strength.
"From this moment on, we are not Russian or American, Indian or Chinese, Nigerian or Brazilian. We are human. And we will not go quietly."
Her words cut through the static.
Reyes nodded once. "Then let's give them the warmest welcome Earth can offer."
Orders began to flow.
India — Mumbai.
Smoke curled into the humid air, clinging to the densely packed buildings.
Alarms wailed over the honking traffic that no longer moved.
"Get down! GET DOWN!" a police officer shouted, waving his arms as another alien dropship thundered overhead.
Nisha ducked behind an overturned rickshaw with her younger brother clutching her arm.
"Didi, what's happening?" he asked, voice high and shaking.
She wanted to say a power outage, a drill, a movie shoot.
Anything.
Instead, she watched as the black, beetle-like ship unfolded in the middle of a busy intersection.
The pavement cracked under its weight.
People scattered in every direction.
Armored figures emerged, tall and inhuman, moving with chilling precision.
The first shot hit a parked bus.
It did not explode.
It simply… crumpled.
Metal screamed, glass shattered.
People inside slammed into the walls with horrible force.
Her brother flinched. "They're killing us…"
Nisha grabbed his face, forcing him to look at her instead of the chaos. "Listen to me. We run when I say run. Not before. Not after. Got it?"
He nodded, tears streaming down his cheeks.
Across the street, a group of men restaurant workers still in their aprons ducked behind a cart.
One of them, a heavyset cook, gritted his teeth. "We can't just hide."
"Do you want to die?" another hissed.
"People are trapped in that bus."
"And what are you going to do about it? Hit aliens with a spatula?"
The cook glared at the advancing soldiers.
They moved methodically, firing controlled bursts, knocking people down like bowling pins.
"We've fought worse than this," he muttered.
"Have we?" his friend asked, incredulous.
He glanced up at the burning sky. "Maybe not. But I'll be damned if I let someone else's kid die when I can move my ass."
Before anyone could stop him, he sprinted out from cover, heading straight for the bus wreck.
Nisha's eyes widened. "Idiot..."
The aliens turned toward the movement.
"Run," she hissed to her brother. "Now."
They bolted in the opposite direction as the cook reached the bus door and began hauling dazed passengers out one by one.
An alien soldier raised its weapon.
A police jeep screeched into the intersection, two officers hanging out the side with old-model assault rifles.
"OPEN FIRE!" one shouted.
Bullets tore through the air, pinging off alien armor.
Not all bounced.
One alien staggered, its shoulder plate cracked.
They regrouped instantly, returning fire with terrifying precision.
The jeep flipped as a concussive blast hit it, rolling like a toy.
One officer crawled out of the wreck, coughing blood.
The other didn't move at all.
But their distraction did something.
The rescued bus passengers ran.
The cook dragged another person out, shaking, face pale.
He stumbled, dropping to his knees just as an alien aimed at him.
Nisha grabbed a broken brick and hurled it as hard as she could.
It struck the alien's helmet, barely making it flinch but it looked her way instead of the cook.
Her stomach dropped. "Shit."
The alien raised its weapon toward her.
Before it could fire, a sharp burst of automatic fire cut across its flank from an apartment balcony above.
A Indian soilder leaned over the railing, rifle blazing.
"INSIDE!" he shouted down to anyone who could hear. "Get into the buildings! Up, not out!"
People listened.
Nisha dragged her brother through a shattered shop, heart thundering.
Behind her, more troops appeared, not just from India patches showed flags from different nations.
One woman carried a radio, shouting orders. "Teams Alpha and Bravo, secure civilians and pull back to the rail line! Air support ETA six minutes!"
"Whose air support?" another soldier demanded.
She smirked. "Everyone's."