[ WP ] Humans who left the Earth 80 000 years ago are now returning .

`` Well, I ca n't say it has n't been an honor and a privilege to serve with you all''. 
 
 The words were startlingly normal in volume, and the only reason we heard them at all was that the K! thic'sin forces had stopped their incessant shelling in order to transmit the surrender demand. 
 
 General Taylor stood by the window slot, the narrow line that was our only view out on the wasted battlefield that had once been Chicago. Arrayed across the scarred horizon was ten thousand dull gleams of enemy armor. 
 
 It was over. Hopeless. We'd put up a valiant fight, but with the final remnants of the Guard force detonating the suicide charges along the fifth line, it was over. The final act of defiance had wounded the beast, but it now stood with a thousand diamond-hard horns to our throats. Our best effort - had simply not been *enough*. 
 
 The K! thic'sin had come, demanded Earth, and we'd failed in our defense of our homes. 
 
 The general turned to me - the sole communications lieutenant left in the bunker. My board was red - a hundred commands having died, their desperate cries having come through my earpeice, time and time again. 
 
 `` Mister Stevens, if you please. Transmit our complete and uncond-'' 
 
 The board changed. One second, it glowed red, and then incredibly, a single green light blinked on. Silent though it was, that green light washed over the entire bunker. *Open comm line. * 
 
 `` X-Ray Five to Command. Come in Command!'' 
 
 For the first time in my short, decidedly irregular career, I disobeyed a General's order. We'd lost all contact with the X-Ray outposts somewhere in western China nearly three weeks ago. 
 
 `` Command to X-Ray Five. Report.'' 
 
 `` Multiple friendly units inbound. Repeat, multiple friendlies inbound. We're closing from Point 114 at about'' - there was a pause and muffled conversation - `` Mach Fifteen.'' 
 
 *Mach Fifteen?! The fastest thing we had in our inventory was the modified* Blackbird, *capable of mach five and that was in a flaming wreck inside a shattered hangar! * 
 
 `` Command copies, X-Ray Five. Be advised, multiple hostiles on our location.'' 
 
 Thunder started outside the bunker. Shelling had begun again - I could tell by the way the ground began shuddering. But....this time it was different. Duller, with a longer roll than the ongoing bombardment. 
 
 `` X-Ray Five to Command. Relief forces have commenced bombardment. Hang tight there. We're descending to combat range.'' 
 
 I stood and turned towards the General - and so was able to see out the narrow slot as fire bloomed out in the wasteland. Dark dots swept downward, and enemy armor detonated in response. 
 
 The command staff in the bunker did n't know how to react. The quartermaster slumped over and began sobbing in relief. The ratings manning the war table began cheering. But General Tayler stood and watched the destruction unflinchingly. I could n't see his face, but his posture was one I knew well - until proven otherwise, this new twist was a threat. 
 
 -- -- 
 
 I returned to the bar and grabbed the beer, slamming it back as my thoughts raged. Our new saviours? They called themselves the `` Novans''. Or that was the closest approximation. `` New Ones'' would be a more appropriate translation. The kicker? They were Humans. 
 
 Man. Terrans. Earthlings. Originating from right here on Earth, but from a long, long time ago - a time when *Homo Sapiens* and *Homo Neanderthal* were bashing each others heads in with clubs. 
 
 And just to top it off - they had *no clue that Earth was in danger*. The Novans had a mighty interstellar empire - one that was at war with the K! thic'sin. So when the K! thic'sin found Earth, they thought it was a Novan outpost, and invaded. 
 
 The Novans had dispatched an investigative force to see where a fleet of their enemy had got to, and then sent for a battle force. Not because it was Earth, but simply because they wanted to *inconvenience* their enemy! 
 
 But that had all changed now. Some things may develop differently over 80,000 years, but politicians were not included in that set. The minute the commander of the Novan fleet realized precisely where they were, he'd sent the joyous news back home. 
 
 And their leadership, wanting to placate their peoples, had immediately declared to all the Empire that they had located the long-lost Homeworld. It was n't *just* PR, there was a whole damned *mythology* around it. It would have been like the old United States declaring they'd found the Ark of the Covenant, the Holy Grail, the Promised Land *and* the real Shroud of Turin. 
 
 And the result had been utterly predictable. Here was Earth, ruined and despoiled, her cities smoking rubble, her farms, orchard and forests splintered, her seas poisoned and her skies smogged over. And *there* was the first shipload of damned-. 
 
 I stopped my mental rant long enough to point forcefully at my glass until the bartender filled it up again. 
 
 *Tourists! * 
 
 -- -- - 
 
 The new blue-and-silver uniform chafed. That was all I could think about as I ran towards the cries, bulldozing through the crowd, not bothering to check if Martins was following me. He was *green* as nothing else - a refugee like everyone else, crammed together into Liberty City, the new capital of North America. 
 
 My'communications experience' in the bunker on Liberation Day had transmuted into a stint as a glorified Space Traffic Control officer, parking Novan tourist liners. I'd quit in disgust and been snapped up by the LIberty Peacekeepers, desperate for anyone with military or law enforcement knowledge. 
 
 I had my reservations about putting PTSD-prone soldiers into crowds with guns, but a paycheck was a paycheck. 
 
 I arrived at the scene of the commotion. Five people in garish pink with flared cuffs were leaning over a storekeeper - one of the many trinket-sellers that lined the roads in this district, hoping for a quick buck. 
 
 `` Officer of the Peace! Officer of the Peace here. What seems to be the problem?'' 
 
 One of the pink flares turned to me. *Novan*. The shopkeep also turned. He wore roughly patched, dull grey and tan clothing, The contrast was staggering. 
 
 `` Ah, ah! This miscreant attempted to illegally remove items from us! I demand you remove him at once!'' 
 
 `` Nah, noway man! They were stealing from me! An' I a'int moving for no ponces!'' 
 
 *Shit. Shitshitshit*. I'd been waiting for something like this to happen. There was a *LOT* of cultural differences between Nova and Earth. Some things that we took as granted - like say, personal possession of property - had n't developed in the same way. 
 
 The story was simple enough, once I got past the mutual demands of both sides. I got Martins to talk to the shopowner while I handled the Novans. 
 
 Basically, the junior third-wife of the Novan *telma* - roughly,'senior chaperone/husband' had seen a necklace on the table, and taken it. Under Novan law, on most Novan planets, she was completely entitled to do so. The *telma* had taken note of the store name,'Eddies Earth Exquisites' and had logged a possession request onto the Novan'Net. 
 
 To him, that was all that was required. They'd electronically said `` bags'', and the merchant would have gotten them as a patron. Which on a Novan world, was apparently enough to get you fed. 
 
 Here on Earth, however, it was n't. The shopkeep had seen his necklace being stolen, and grabbed it back - which the *Novans* now saw as theft. So when `` Eddie'' had'assaulted' the junior third-wife,'stolen' the necklace and then began demanding additional items ( cash ), they'd seen it as a robbery and began screaming for help. 
 
 It took most of an hour to sort it out, placate'Eddie' - who was growing steadily more'Earth-ist' by the minute as I explained - educate the Novans as to the differences to their home and way of life, and move the crowd that was obstructing passage along the street. 
 
 I was just finishing up when Dispatch radioed in. Senior Peacekeeper needed at the Liberty Spaceport *now*. Possible kidnapping underway. Three Novans had apparently grabbed a young woman and were attempting to drag her aboard a luxury liner. 
 
 Martins and I departed at a dead run. The Peacekeepers could n't afford cars just yet. 
 
 -- -- 
 
 *Char Limit break*
