Kurt felt his blood run cold.  Aliens?  There had been speculation – and no shortage of movies, books and interactive games – about what might happen when humanity finally met another intelligent race.  The aliens might be friendly, they might be so different that communication was next to impossible ... or they might be hostile.  And yet, there was no logical reason for two interstellar powers to go to war.  There was no shortage of resources in space, nothing to fight over.  Unless they were so completely repulsed by humanity ...

He shook his head as the Prime Minister kept speaking, declaring a state of emergency and informing the country that every last military reservist was being called up at once.  Kurt sighed, knowing just how many problems that would cause.  His job wasn't vitally important, but there were Royal Navy reservists working for interstellar transport and colonisation corporations.  Calling them all up to the colours would probably cause economic problems for the entire world.  But there seemed to be no alternative.

“Aliens,” the cabbie said, when the Prime Minister had finally finished speaking.  “Do you believe it?”

Kurt hesitated, then nodded.  “I think so,” he said, reluctantly.  “They wouldn't call up every last reservist if they didn't expect real trouble.”

The cabbie said nothing else until they pulled up outside East Fortune Aerospace Base.  Kurt got out, paid him a sizable tip and then headed towards the gates.  A handful of RAF Regiment soldiers were on guard outside, fingering their weapons nervously.  Kurt eyed them as he joined the queue of reservists waiting to pass through the gates, realising – again – that this was deadly serious.  Inside, he reported in and then waited for orders.  They were a long time in coming.

“Ark Royal?”  He said, when the message finally popped up in his terminal.  “They’re reactivating the Old Lady?”

“So it would seem,” the harassed dispatcher said.  If Kurt had had any doubts about the seriousness of the situation, they would have been pushed aside by how desperately the military was scrambling to get everyone where they were going.  No one seemed to have done any preplanning at all.  “There’s a shuttle for Cochrane Yards leaving in an hour; once you're there, you can join the other reservists for pickup.”

“Understood,” Kurt said.  He cursed inwardly, remembering that he had to call his boss – and Molly.  Would she be concerned about the prospect of him going to war?  “Let me know when the shuttle is boarding.”

***

Major Charles Parnell cursed out loud as the enemy force appeared out of nowhere, advancing towards the handful of Royal Marines with deadly intent.  He’d deployed most of his men forward, leaving him and his officers dangerously exposed – precisely, he realised now, what the exercise designers had intended.  He dived for cover, then lifted his rifle and started firing towards the enemy soldiers.  They ducked themselves, but kept advancing.