Keplarian Invasion of Earth

Military action

London and Paris put under siege by a Keplarian Recon Picket looking for Christopher Archer. Keplarian Defeat, Human Victory, but with heavy loses.

In the early morning of 16^th November 2045, a global transmission was put out to every television, phone and radio from a Keplarian Recon Picket in orbit above Earth, consisting of 2 Indomitable-class Cruisers and 4 K-U8 Escort Destroyers. They spoke English, with a heavy accent that was not recognisable to any Human, yet still intelligible. They informed the people of Earth they were looking for one of their own, and wanted to avoid confrontation. This lulled the world into a false sense of security, and when the Recon Picket laid siege to London and Paris at 11:00 the militaries and governments of the world were stunned. 1 million died in the first hour, 5 million in the first week. The RAF was not able to launch a counter attack as many of it's aircraft were in the Middle East fighting the GLI incursion, the French had a similar situation. UNAF and UNCPW forces that were stationed in UNAB Stockholm were able to evacuate about 50% of the population in London before the Keplarian forces flattened the city with long range bombardments, while Paris did not recieve the air cover required for an evacuation due to the presence of Keplarian Heavy Fighters which made short work of the evacuation transports and French air force   Christopher Archer and his family were found and captured by the Keplarian forces on the 25th in London at 09:00. They were held aboard one of the K-U8 Destroyers. The details of what happened to them during their time in the Brig of the Destroyer is unclear, but psych reports done after the liberation of the Destroyer of the Archer family indicate that some level of torture was used on all of them. Whether any information was extracted by the Keplarians during the torture was unknown.   At 16:00 November UNAF received reinforcements from the Centurion Squadrons. These Squadrons were outfitted with the cutting edge XF-45 Lightning III Multi Role Fighter , a super advanced Generation 6 Fighter, featuring highly advanced technology such as a Dark Matter Field Drive and ventral mounted Railguns. 4 Squadrons of these fighters arrived at RAF Benson, and within 30 minutes were equipped and ready to launch for a counter attack against the Keplarian Ships. RAF forces had also been bolstered by the arrival of 5 Squadrons of USAF F-35s and 3 Flights of USAF Osprey II VTOL Transports. The British Army was holding the line against Keplarian ground forces but the lack of Air Superiority was causing heavy loses. In France, the French Air Force was able to maintain some level of presence in the skies over Paris, harassing enemy transports and bombers, while also attacking ground forces in conjunction with Paris based resistance cells.   At 17:00 on the same day, the UNAF, RAF and USAF launched a coordinated strike against the Keplarian ships over London. RAF L-107s fired XDF-09 EMP missiles developed by Centurion Research and Development to disable the Shields of the KNS Goliath, the leading cruiser of the Keplarian Recon Picket. Although the missiles impacted the Cruiser's shields, they did not completely disable the shields as expected. UNAF XF-45s and USAF F-35s focused fire on individual "Shield Hexes", in order to punch ship sized holes in the shields. This was a success but came at the cost of 5 F-35s and 3 XF-45s. Eagle Squadron, part of the UNAF Centurion Wing, was able to break through the shield of the KNS Goliath and deliver a payload of 9 JDAM and JZAM 2 Ton bombs, as well as disabling key tracking and communication hardpoints on the surface of the cruiser. The bombs fully disabled the shields, allowing the second squadron of L-107s to fire 6 Cruise Missiles into the engines of the Goliath. The engines erupted in a blinding blaze and within 30 minutes of the initial strike the Goliath was utterly obliterated by the chain reaction of its reactor exploding. The remaining 2 Keplarian Destroyers retreated to Paris, abandoning the Keplarian Ground forces to their fate. At 13:00 on the 26^th November the Keplarian ground forces had surrendered. Some resistance forces sprung up in defiance of their commanding officers, which took a few more days for British Army elements to snuff out.   With the forces of the UNAF, RAF and USAF regrouped and rearmed, a final push was made to Paris on the 27^th. French ground forces had suffered heavy losses and so had the air force. Using the same tactics as used over London, the Coalition forces were able to disable 2 of the 4 Destoryers, Destroy 1 Destroyer and knock out the engines of the Cruiser, the KNS Covenant. The last Destroyer surrendered when the KNS Covenant crashed into the remains of the Eiffel Tower. Keplarian Ground forces also surrendered shortly after. However, some defiant Keplarian troops clung onto their weapons. Marines aboard the last K-U8 Destroyer captured the Bridge and threatened to self destruct the ship if they were not allowed to leave the planet. The Archer family was still on-board. Thomas Challenger, the lead pilot of Eagle squadron was a life long friend of Joseph Archer, and against all orders he landed his XF-45 in the ventral bay of the Destroyer. After eliminating the Keplarian Marines, he was able to pilot the destroyer down to the surface with help from Emily Archer, who had been taught the basics of starship piloting by Christopher Archer.   Thomas Challenger was to face a Court Martial for reckless disregard for orders only 1 day after the invasion was over, however a public outcry headed by Joseph Archer stopped the procedure before it was even authorised. Thomas Challenger, known to the public as Eagle 1, became a symbol of hope, courage and defiance against the Keplarian threat.   Civilian loses were totalled at over 15 Million, with over $1 Trillion worth of damage to both cities, some of it irreversible due to the destabilisation of the local rivers. Military loses totalled to about 1.5 Million across all branches of the forces involved including support staff lost in the field. 100s of French Mirage F-7s and British L-107 Hurricanes had been destroyed in the counter-offensives and a similar amount of Tanks and Armoured Fighting Vehicles had been disabled or destroyed. The USAF had faired slightly better due to the stealth designed of the F-35, but still suffered over 50 losses. The UNAF lost two thirds of the Centurion Squadrons, with Raven Squadron being totally wiped out in Paris, Falcon Squadron losing 5 of its 6 members in London, Eagle Squadron losing 2 members and the Leader of Hawk Squadron lost his life sacrificing himself and his crippled craft to destroy one of the K-U8 Destroyers. A memorial was erected at the UN HQ in Switzerland in honour of all of the service men and women who died in the Keplarian Invasion, with billions paying respects over the internet or in person.   Centurion Research and Development would lead the recovery effort of all Keplarian technology, and attempt to reverse engineer it, in order to prepare the Earth and her colonies for the probability of Keplarian return. The company saw a massive increase in shares and potential employees flocked to the CRAD training centres to offer their services in advancing Human Civilisation and technology.       Statistics
Human Losses

 
• 1,234,176 Ground troops
• 246,986 Support Personnel
• 2,567 Pilots and Transport Crew
• 157 L-107 Hurricane Fighters
• 204 Mirage F-7 Fighters
• 57 Lockheed F-35 Lightning II
• 14 XF-45 Lightning III Multi Role Fighter
• 232 T-190 Vulture VTOL Transports
• 45 Osprey II VTOL Transports
• 90 A-7a Buzzard Gunships
• 11,546 Tank/Armoured Fighting Vehicle Crew
• 535 FV-4142 Challenger 3 Tanks
• 467 Leclerc III Tanks
• 140 CRAD Crusader APC
• 194 FV-4135 Longbow Self-Propelled Guns
• 57 M3A2 Guardian Self-Propelled Anti-Aircraft Vehicles
• 15 Million Civilians