The number on the screen felt unreal.
ARRIVAL: 48 HOURS
Adrian stared at it for several seconds.
Then he slowly leaned back in his chair.
"Well," he said quietly, "that escalated."
Elara didn't move.
Her attention was completely focused on the new object approaching Earth.
The alien warship.
HUNTER CLASS
It was far larger than the scouts.
Far more heavily armored.
And moving terrifyingly fast.
"Olympus," she said calmly.
The system responded immediately.
HUNTER VESSEL ANALYSIS ACTIVE
The holographic display expanded.
The alien warship appeared rotating slowly in space.
Its structure looked brutal compared to the sleek scouts.
Layered armor plates.
Heavy energy nodes.
Multiple weapon systems.
Adrian leaned closer.
"That thing looks like it was built for one purpose."
"Yes."
"War."
Olympus finished its initial scan.
The results appeared across the screen.
Adrian read them.
"Length: 1.8 kilometers."
He blinked.
"That's basically a flying city."
Elara studied the weapon arrays.
"It's heavily armed."
"How heavily?"
Olympus answered.
WEAPON SYSTEMS DETECTED: 23
Adrian sighed.
"So humanity's first real opponent is a kilometer-long alien battleship."
The council channel opened instantly.
Secretary-General Kovac appeared again, his expression grim.
"We've received the Olympus alert."
Elara nodded.
"Yes."
A military commander leaned into the camera.
"Is that ship part of the main fleet?"
"No."
"Then why send it ahead?"
Adrian answered.
"Because it's a hunter."
The commander frowned.
"Meaning?"
"It hunts threats before the main fleet arrives."
Elara nodded slowly.
"It's coming to eliminate Olympus."
The room fell silent.
One of the scientists whispered,
"So this ship is basically an assassin."
"Yes."
Adrian folded his arms.
"And it arrives in two days."
The council began arguing again.
Some demanded evacuation of the Olympus facility.
Others wanted immediate nuclear retaliation.
Adrian shook his head.
"Nukes won't work."
The generals looked at him.
"Why not?"
Elara answered.
"Olympus simulations show nuclear weapons have limited effectiveness in space."
Adrian added,
"And alien armor that thick probably laughs at radiation."
Kovac spoke again.
"Then how do we stop it?"
Elara looked at the Helios system.
The orbital laser platform.
Still incomplete.
Still fragile.
But it was their only real weapon.
"Helios," she said quietly.
Adrian nodded.
"Figured."
"But it only has enough power for one shot."
He sighed.
"So we'd better make it count."
Olympus suddenly detected something else.
The hunter warship had transmitted a signal.
Adrian frowned.
"Already?"
The alien language appeared again.
Symbols flowed across the screen.
Then the translation appeared.
Adrian read it slowly.
"Planetary defense center confirmed."
Another line appeared.
"Primary objective: elimination of Olympus network."
Adrian pointed at the screen.
"Yep. Definitely us."
The message continued.
ENGAGEMENT PROTOCOL ACTIVE
Elara whispered,
"It's preparing to fight."
Adrian leaned closer to the holographic ship.
"Does it know about Helios?"
Olympus analyzed the enemy sensor patterns.
Then answered.
PROBABILITY OF DETECTION: 67%
Adrian groaned.
"So they probably already know."
"Yes."
The hunter warship suddenly changed trajectory.
Adrian noticed immediately.
"Wait."
He pointed at the map.
"It's accelerating."
The vessel's engines ignited.
Its speed doubled.
Olympus recalculated the arrival time.
The new number appeared.
Adrian whispered,
"That's impossible."
ARRIVAL: 36 HOURS
The warship had just shaved half a day off its approach.
Elara exhaled slowly.
"They're in a hurry."
Adrian muttered,
"Yeah. To kill us."
Inside Olympus, engineers and technicians moved frantically.
The Helios platform needed to be ready.
Fast.
Elara opened the Helios status display.
Power core: active.
Solar arrays: charging.
Targeting system: incomplete.
Adrian frowned.
"That's a problem."
"Yes."
The targeting computer wasn't finished.
Which meant Helios couldn't automatically track the hunter.
Adrian looked at Elara.
"So we aim it manually."
She nodded.
"Olympus can assist."
He smirked slightly.
"Good. Because I'm not exactly a space sniper."
Hours passed.
Around the world, humanity watched the approaching alien warship on every news broadcast.
Panic spread across cities.
But so did determination.
Factories ran day and night.
Rockets launched every few hours.
Earth was building its defenses as fast as it could.
Inside Olympus, Adrian stared at the warship again.
"You ever think about how crazy this is?"
Elara glanced at him.
"What?"
"Two weeks ago humanity thought we were alone in the universe."
He gestured toward the screen.
"Now we're preparing to shoot down alien battleships."
She answered quietly.
"Survival changes perspective."
Another alert appeared.
The hunter warship had launched something.
Adrian frowned.
"What are those?"
Three small objects separated from the ship.
Elara zoomed in.
"They're drones."
"How many?"
Olympus counted.
DRONES DEPLOYED: 24
Adrian groaned.
"Of course it brought friends."
The drones accelerated ahead of the warship.
Fast.
Very fast.
Elara checked the trajectory.
"They'll reach Earth orbit in twelve hours."
Adrian stared at her.
"Twelve?"
"Yes."
"So the first attack happens tonight."
The drones weren't targeting cities.
They weren't targeting satellites.
They were targeting something else.
Adrian looked at the coordinates.
"Oh no."
"What?"
"They're heading for Helios."
Elara's eyes hardened.
"They want to destroy our weapon before we can fire it."
Adrian cracked his knuckles again.
"Well."
He looked at the incoming drones.
"Guess we're having our first real fight tonight."
Because if the drones destroyed Helios—
Earth would have nothing left to stop the hunter warship.