Authors note: Phew, the end is in sight.  This chapter has a little less sex then average, not to mention it's a little smaller then average but it'll pick back up again come chapter 19 and 20, so you'll just have to bare with me while I detour with all this "plot nonsense" :)  There will still be some sex in the chapter though so if that's your main reason for reading, don't despair.As usual, mail me comments/suggestions/death threats etc. at (invidwriter@hotmail.com) - Even if you have to resort to just saying "cool story."  And as always, I have msn messenger, so if you want to add me to your contact list just use the email address above.Invid InvasionChapter 18"Fall Apart"  	"Andrea and Kitty got off the boat and began to walk.  The boat had stopped in an old port in Miami that was still in pretty decent shape, despite the rotting wood of the docks all around it.  "Where are we going?" Kitty asked as Andrea headed off to the North.	"Beats me.  We're still on vacation right?  So wherever we want.  But I was thinking we may as well head north for the time being since that's where we'll eventually meet up with the others."	"Makes sense, I guess," Kitty said.  "You ever been to Miami before?"	Andrea shook her head.  "Never been to Florida before.  You?"	"All the time," Kitty said.  "We used to drive down here once a year when I was a kid.  I've been here a couple times since.  It's a nice city, even after the Invid attacked."	"Oh?"	"Yeah, it's fairly spread out, you know?  And for some reason it didn't get hit as hard as a lot of the other places.  There are still a few people living in the central core."	"Really?  Since farming doesn't work real well on concrete I thought no one ever lived in the cities anymore."	"They have some way of bringing supplies in and out.  Not really sure what."	"Huh," Andrea said looking around.  This area in particular seemed as abandoned as any other city, but maybe the warehouses at the docks weren't too appealing to live in.	While Andrea looked around, Kitty walked on ahead a short distance and rounded a corner at the end of the block.  Suddenly, Andrea heard the other woman shriek and back up.  "What is it?" Andrea said jogging a few seconds to catch up.  Kitty was breathing heavily and looked panicked.	"Bones," Kitty said leaning back against a wall with her eyes closed.  "Sorry, just bones."	"What do you mean, bones?" Andrea said as she looked around the corner.  She stopped in her tracks as she looked down the street.  There were large heaps of blackened human skeletons lining the roadway in piles.  The piles went on for a few blocks and Andrea followed Kitty back around the corner as if having them out of sight would mean they weren't there.  "That's what you mean."  Andrea took a deep breath.  The sight of them had shaken her up a little too.  "Are they from the original attack?"	"Must be," Kitty said.  "Let's try and find another way around."	"The next road should be clear.  I've seen set ups like this in other cities and they normally alternate roadways."	Kitty nodded and the two walked another block to clearer streets.  The huge piles of charred bones were far too normal a sight in a big cities downtown.  With so many people killed in the attack, there was nothing to do but cremate them and nowhere to do it but concrete intersections.	"That's the third time I've seen that, and it never gets any easier," Andrea said trying not to look to the sides whenever they walked through an intersection.	"I've never seen it before.  I don't normally go to this part of the city."Andrea nodded and wrapped a comforting arm around Kitty as they walked.  A few blocks later they were passed it and both women did their best to push the thought of charred skeletons out of their heads.  They didn't have a lot of success. * * * *		It was early evening and the two women had made it to the northern section of the city.  They'd found a nice area of beach that was easy to set up a tent on and Andrea was lying naked on her back, trying to get some kind of tan under the hot sun.  Kitty on the other hand, decided that some swimming was in order and, just as naked as Andrea, she was in the ocean trying to swim through the large waves.  	Andrea had her eyes closed and was dozing when Kitty's voice woke her up.  	"Andrea."	Andrea opened her eyes and looked towards the shore.  Kitty was walking towards her.  "What's up?" Andrea said.	"I was thinking of something."	"Oh?"	"Do you remember the first time we were on a beach together?"	"How could I forget," Andrea said with a smile.  "How long were we at it that day?"	"A few hours at least," Kitty said dropping to hands and knees a few feet away from Andrea.  She crawled the rest of the distance seductively.  Each move forward caused her small breasts and lithe hips to sway back and forth.	"Mm, I think about four.  Plus the time with Irene afterwards."	"Well, I've been thinking, maybe we should try and brake that record."	Andrea propped herself up on her elbows as Kitty crawled between her legs.  "It's definitely worth a try," Andrea said, still smiling.  She had really taken a liking to Kitty's body; her small breasts most of all.  As Kitty continued crawling forward she lowered her head so her tongue touched down on Andrea's belly.  As she moved she dragged it up her stomach, ribs, left breast and eventually neck and chin until it met up with her lips. 	"Tasty as ever," Kitty said holding her lips right next to Andrea's.  "Are you seduced yet?  Or do I need to put a little more," she thrust her hips into Andrea's, "effort into it?"	"A little more effort couldn't hurt," Andrea said joking, but smiling constantly now.  She had to admit, she liked being pursued a lot more then she liked doing the pursuing.  Kitty on the other hand, seemed equally comfortable at both.  She had since moved into a sitting position and was running her sandy hands up her glistening wet body.	"Ooh," she said in surprise as her hands brushed her hard nipples.  "The sand's a little coarser then I remembered."  	"Ads to the charm," Andrea said staring at her perky, lightly sanded breasts.  "Come here, that's more then enough seduction for one day."  Andrea reached out and grabbed Kitty's elbows to pull her closer.	"But I've barely started," Kitty said moving closer as Andrea was indicating.	"That just proves how good you are," Andrea said, pulling her hard against her body.  	"Oh is that it?" Kitty said.  Andrea nodded.  "And what does that say about you?  If you don't have to put on any moves at all?"	Andrea laughed.  "I don't know, maybe I'm just too easy a lay.  Word's starting to spread."	"Well I haven't been telling anyone."	"Good," Andrea said.  "Because every time I do it with someone else is just one less time I could be doing it with you."	Kitty paused.  "Do you mean that?"	"Yeah," Andrea said a little surprised with herself.  "I guess I do."	Kitty's face changed from happy, to one of pure delight and she kissed Andrea hard on the mouth.  "Mmm," Andrea said backing way before her lips bruised.  "I'm going to need those for later."	"Sorry," Kitty said.  "You've just... you've never said anything like that before."	"I must be the type that's slow to commit."	"Are you saying you're committed?  Did this just become an official us thing?"	"I guess it did."	Kitty let out an excited squeal and pounced forward, kissing Andrea once more, and this time knocking her flat on her back.  She was kissing hard again but Andrea figured it was one of those times to just take it as it was given.  She wrapped her arms around Kitty's lower back and squeezed, hugging her closer.  	Andrea could feel the warmth and the wetness from Kitty's crotch over her stomach.  Kitty pressed into the kiss again before parting and kissing along Andrea's cheek, gradually working her way to her ear.  Then, suddenly she stopped and Andrea opened her eyes to see what the hold up was.  By the time she had opened her mouth to speak, Kitty was already back at it, licking the length of Andrea's earlobe.  "I seem to remember you liking this," Kitty said quietly into her ear.	"Loving it maybe," Andrea said as a shudder passed through her.  Kitty licked again and then stuck her tongue into her ear.  "Ohh," Andrea moaned.  Her level of arousal doubled with the one lick alone.  "Don't stop," Andrea moaned as Kitty continued.  After far too short a time she stopped, but before Andrea objected started up on the other ear.  Andrea was writhing beneath her and Kitty took the opportunity to get a good grope of Andrea's right breast, squeezing it emphatically as she continued to nibble at her lover's ear.	"I know exactly what you like," Kitty whispered into her ear.  "And you know exactly what I like.  Between the two of us, we'll make this the best night of our lives."	"You sure about that?"	"Positive," Kitty said.  "I have to tell you the truth," she whispered into Andrea's ear and then gave it a lick and a quick nibble.  "I never thought we'd be a couple."	"Neither did I," Andrea said.  "But truth be told, I think I was just afraid of a serious relationship with another woman."  She gasped as Kitty's tongue slipped in her ear again, "but I don't think that's a problem anymore."	"What got you over it?"  Kitty let go of Andrea's right breast and grasped the other one.	"I don't know.  The way you snapped me out of that whole thing with those women the other day.  That was part of it I'm sure."	"Well, if you weren't going to be in a relationship with me, I sure as hell wasn't going to let you be in one with someone else."  Andrea gave a look of surprise and Kitty laughed.  "Joking."	"You'd be right to think so though.  After the way I've always led you on."	"Part of the fun," Kitty said.  "Now are you going to stop talking and make love to me, or should I pull up a chair?"	"My lips are sealed," Andrea said with a smile.	"Not too sealed I hope."  Kitty kissed at Andrea's lips and Andrea opened her mouth to allow Kitty's tongue access.  "Mm," she moaned through the kiss.  "Wait right there," Kitty said breaking the kiss and sitting up.	"Where are you going?"	"You'll see."  Kitty stood and walked into the tent.  A moment later she came out with her old 18-inch double dildo.  "I've been keeping it for the right occasion."	Andrea felt guilty for a moment, upon seeing it as she remembered what she did to Kitty with it several months ago.  "I figured you didn't want to use it anymore."	Kitty shook her head.  "Just waiting for the right time.  I know you weren't being you.  Truth is, I wasn't really being me either.  Now," Kitty got on hands and knees.  "Get to it, will you?"	"Yes ma'am," Andrea said crawling over and taking the dildo from Kitty's hands.  She put it on Kitty's back so it wouldn't get covered in sand and flipped onto her back so she could get between Kitty's legs with her head.  "Don't let that thing fall off or it'll be a lot rougher going in thanks to all the sand."	"I'll do my best," Kitty said as Andrea lifted her head to touch her mouth to the other woman's pussy.  "But knowing how good your tongue is, I can't make any promises."	Andrea kissed at Kitty's labia, taking one lip into her mouth and sucking on it before exchanging it for the other.  "Unn," Kitty moaned.  The brunette beneath her wrapped her arms around Kitty's legs and pressed her mouth harder into Kitty's pussy as if trying to draw out all the juices inside.  She pressed her tongue inside the woman's nether hole and was rewarded with her first taste of liquid.  "Mmm," Kitty moaned again.	Andrea heard the first sounds of wetness coming from Kitty's sex as her tongue continued to play inside the hole.  Her lips and chin were getting wet with Kitty's juices and each time she shoved her tongue in, Kitty bucked, but somehow managed to keep the dildo from falling off her back.  "Put it in.  I'm wet enough," Kitty begged.  	"Okay, you're the boss," Andrea said and shimmied out from under her.  She grabbed the double dildo and pressed one end up to Kitty's pussy.  With one solid push, a few inches were buried inside her body.	"Mm, wrong hole."	"What do you mean, wrong hole?  I have the same equipment, I'm pretty sure it's in the right spot."	Kitty shook her head.  "I want it in my ass."	"Are you sure?"  Andrea looked down at Kitty's crinkled bud.  "It's not a very big hole."	"When you've had that whole thing up there, half of it doesn't seem like a big deal, you know?  Besides, whether you know it or not, I know you like putting it in there."	"Why do you say that?" Andrea said not entirely denying it.  She did have to admit, Kitty was probably right. For some reason she did like playing with the redhead's ass.	"Because when you were on the flower that was the first place you went for.  Just put it in, Andrea.  We'll both like it, I promise."	"Okay," Andrea said.  She watched Kitty's labia part and expand away from the centre of her sex as Andrea pulled the head of the dildo out.  When the plastic was free, Kitty's pussy closed again and Andrea pressed the wet head up to her ass.  Andrea could see the redhead's anus twitching.  It tightened briefly as Andrea pressed the head against it but quickly went slack.  When it did, Andrea applied a gentle amount of pressure and pushed the tip inside.  	"You're going to have to push harder then that, if you want to get it in," Kitty said.  The head wasn't even inside her yet.  All she could feel was her hole partially open thanks to the light pressure of the dildo's rounded tip.	"I don't want to hurt you," Andrea said.	"You won't.  Tell you what, just hold it still, I'll put it in."  Without waiting for an answer she shoved back gently.  Her ass slowly accommodated the plastic until the inch long head was completely inside her.  It clenched around the skinnier shaft, and Kitty shoved back again, this time burying another inch or two.  Before she knew it, she had half of it inside her and was about to push back once more.	"No no, you're there," Andrea said.  "I'm going to want some of this for myself."	"Oh, sorry," Kitty said.  "So hop on already."	Andrea, still facing Kitty, lined the other end of the dildo up with her pussy and pressed it gently past her labia.  She held it by the middle as she moved up and down, each time working more of it inside her.  When it was most of the way in, she let the fake phallus go and pushed the last couple inches deep inside her.  Her pubic hair pressed against the crack of Kitty's ass and her legs pressed hard against her thighs.  Andrea took a knee with one leg, and the other she lifted up at a ninety-degree angle so that the sole of her foot was flat on the soft sand.	Because of her upright position, compared to Kitty's horizontal one, the dildo had to bend in the middle and in doing put a lot of pressure on some unusual spots inside the two women.  It felt good and Andrea, grabbing Kitty by the hips, began humping the other woman's rear.	She was enjoying herself immensely but started to feel a little bad that Kitty probably wasn't having the same amount of fun.  In an attempt to correct the problem, Andrea took her hands from Kitty's hips, put one flat on the ground beside her and bent over so that her right hand could reach around and play with Kitty's free pussy.  "Mm," Kitty moaned as Andrea's fingers brushed her clit.  Her palm was tickling with Kitty's red pubic hairs.  She reached a little further and pushed two fingers into Kitty's sex.  She could feel the plastic dildo pressing against the thin membrane that separated her two holes and she curled her fingers to reach at her lover's G spot.	Kitty let out a loud pleasurable moan and Andrea felt her pussy constrict around her fingers.  She was having an orgasm.  Andrea stopped her thrusting for a moment so that Kitty could enjoy the warm tingling sensation of her climax.  She felt her fingers get soaked in warm, thick cum and it began collecting in her palm.  The dildo in her pussy was twitching thanks to the tensing of Kitty's ass.  	Andrea continued to hold her position, watching Kitty's back tense and shift as her orgasm washed over her.  Eventually, her movements stopped and Andrea moved her hands back to Kitty's hips.  "Ohhh, wow," Kitty said still coming down from orgasm.  "Just give me a second and you can get back at it."	"No rush," Andrea said watching her sink her head between her arms to try and catch her breath.  She was breathing heavily and her back was flushed.	"Okay," she said after a minute.  "Go ahead."	Slowly, Andrea started moving back and forth on the dildo.  The plastic was making wet sloppy sounds with her motions, giving away how turned on she really was.  She started to pick up the pace, gripping harder at Kitty's hips.  Eventually each thrust ended in a slapping sound as her thighs came into contact with Kitty's ass.  The dildo continuously showed itself before disappearing between the two women's flesh and after a few minutes, Andrea was getting very close.	Knowing it wouldn't be long, she leant over again and reached one hand up to Kitty's breasts.  It was hanging down, but small enough that it didn't hang by much.  Andre cupped it and squeezed it in her palm, feeling the nipple press into her palm that was still wet with Kitty's cum.  	Feeling Kitty's firm breast and stiff nipple in her hand heightened her arousal and she pictured rubbing her wet pussy against the tan coloured bud.  The image of Kitty writhing beneath her as she rubbed her crotch into her soft breast was more then enough to send Andrea over the edge.  She tensed, gripped Kitty's tit firmly and came hard.	She pulled off the dildo and flipped Kitty over.  She then lay down on top of her lover and hugged her tightly as her body continued to tense and shiver with her climax.  Andrea breathed heavily and looked into Kitty's eyes.  She smiled.  "You have great eyes."	"Thanks," Kitty said.  "So do you.  Although yours are also very horny eyes."	Andrea smiled, "I never could keep a secret."	Kitty kissed her hard and it was the beginning of a long night together.* * * *		Andrea was asleep.  At least she thought she was.  She was standing among the charred remains of the dead in downtown Miami.  She was in an intersection where the buildings still stood fairly tall on all sides and in front of them, on each corner piles of skeletons stood as tall as she did.  She looked up at a blue sky slowly turning orange.  She wondered if it was sunset, but the skies color changed to quickly.  Soon it was read with black specks and she knew immediately what it was.  She had seen it before.  "The Invid," she said aloud. * * * *		Andrea woke up with a start.  It was early morning and the sun was just beginning to rise.  "Shit," she said to herself remembering her dream.  She looked over to Kitty.  The other woman had her head on Andrea's right breast and her arm was casually draped over her ribs.  Her hand was lightly grasping her left breast and Andrea had her own arm around the redhead's shoulders.  They were both still naked from the night before.	Andrea tried to shimmy out from underneath Kitty but realized it was hopeless.  "Kitty?" She said quietly so as not to startle her.	"Hm?" Kitty was only half awake but gripped Andrea's breast tighter.	"I need to get up."	"Mm, no get up."	"You can stay sleeping but I have to get up."	"No get up."	Andrea smiled.  "If you don't let me get up then you're cut off for the day.  No more sex."	Kitty groaned and with one more firm squeeze to Andrea's breast, let go and rolled over.  Andrea stood and put on her black, Invid one piece, followed by her holster.  'The suit really was skin tight,' she thought looking down at her protruding nipples and well-defined muscles through the fabric.  'Oh well, no time to worry about that.'  "Stay here," she said to Kitty, before moving off.	  She jogged into town, not really sure what she was doing, but she knew she wanted to get to the spot of her dream.  They had a habit of coming true and some instinct told her that she should be there.	It took her an hour of jogging just to get back downtown and once she was there it took an additional ten minutes before she found the heaps of bones from her dream.  Finally, she was standing in the middle of an intersection, surrounded by skeletons and looking up.  "Man, this is not a fun place to be just now."	Five minutes later, the sky was still blue.  'Maybe they won't come,' she thought to herself.  'After all, what reason do they have to come back?'	She continued to look up, as it saved her from looking at her surroundings.  An hour passed and still she looked up.  	Just as she was starting to feel relieved, the sky began to go orange. "No," she whispered quietly and pulled her .45 out of its holster.  The sky turned a darker orange and shifted to red.  Soon black specs were getting larger and approaching the city.  "What are they doing back?  Damn-it, they didn't even give us a month."	Before Andrea knew what was happening, a fleet of ships detached from the main group and headed down to the city.  They were making an attack run.  "Oh shit," Andrea said taking some cover behind one of the piles.  She didn't want to get too close to the buildings.  She remembered what happened last time.	Plasma weapons fired all around her and the ground started to shake.  She wished desperately for her cyclone, but it was with Aria along with the rest of her heavy equipment.  "This isn't right," she said to herself.  "Why would they attack us now?"	As the buildings around her started to crumble, she noticed weapons fire coming from the ground up.  People were fighting back.	The four story building on the northeast side of the street finally collapsed, creating a dust storm around her.  She tried to stretch her jumpsuit up over her nose and did so with relative ease.  Not only that but it filtered out the debris with surprising efficiency.  Now, if only she could see.	She heard another building collapse on the southeast side and she moved to the west, trying to stay out of the way of falling cement.  When she heard it settle she moved back to the east again knowing that the buildings she took shelter behind now would be soon follow the example of their counterparts.	The dust was so thick that she couldn't see the ground in front of her and she tripped on pieces of concrete several times, once ending up face to face with an old skull, before finally making it back to cover again.	The other two buildings were fired upon and started coming down, just as she knew they would.  More laser fire from the ground triggered an explosion and she saw a spark of flame in the sky before a loud crash startled her.  One of the Invid ships must have come down nearby.  'What now?' She thought tightening the grip on her pistol.	A few minutes passed and she heard what sounded like a hatch being blown, followed by the crunching of bone.  The sound was getting closer.  Carefully, quietly, she moved into a kneeling position.  The dust was starting to clear slightly and through the water in her eyes she could make out a blurry shadow.  It wasn't human, that was for sure.  Andrea guessed it was an unarmored stage four.  She crept closer as it obliviously moved towards her.  She concentrated on her telepathy and stood up.  She spoke telepathically to it.  "If you move, or try to send out a signal to the others I will kill you where you stand."	The truth was she had no idea how to tell if it was signaling the others; she just hoped her bluff would work.  It seemed to at least for the moment as the Invid stopped and turned its head slowly towards her.  "Who are you?"  It too spoke telepathically to her.	"I'll ask the questions around here."	"Humans do not know how to speak telepathically."	"This one does," Andrea said and carefully moved closer.  This would not be a good time to trip.	"Interesting.  And by exposing yourself you risk giving away your position."	"I don't risk nearly as much as you do right now."	"Ah, don't you already know?  I will be reincarnated.  You will not."	'Shit," Andrea thought to herself and pointed the gun at its head.  It was going to give away her position.  Without hesitation she fired, and the Invid crumpled to the ground, oozing green blood.  "Shit," she repeated aloud.  That didn't go nearly as well as it could have.	Andrea sat down on a large piece of concrete and waited for the dust to clear.  She wasn't going to be able to do much else until then.  She didn't even know which direction was which anymore.  A few hours passed and the dust thinned enough so that she could see parts of the sky and look at her surroundings about ten feet in front of her.  'Good enough,' she thought and stood up.  That would give her some cover but still have visibility.  She got her bearings and started walking carefully back to the tent.	Although the attack was over, it was fairly slow moving through downtown.  Rubble filled the streets and there was next to no sign of pavement.  It was all debris on top of debris.  After walking about half an hour, she found a body on the ground in front of her.  She rushed forward but unfortunately when she arrived, it was obvious that the man was dead.  She sighed and worked her way around him to continue walking.	There were another few bodies along the way and by the time she reached the fourth, she didn't have much hope.  But as she bent over to check the woman's pulse, she realized that she was still breathing.  The woman was blonde and her clothing was in tatters.  She was obviously extremely beautiful but she was also unconscious.  "Hey, wake up," Andrea said shifting some larger pieces of debris away from her.  She was bleeding in a few spots and Andrea saw no choice but to take off the blonde's shirt and use it to stop the bleeding.  The woman was still unconscious when she got out her knife, and cut it down the back before carefully removing it.  She would have used her own, but as she knew from previous experience, the Invid material didn't cut well.	A few minutes later, she had the white t-shirt cut into strips and wrapped around any areas still bleeding.  As she rolled the woman onto her back, her large breasts came into view and Andrea realized just how beautiful she was.  When cleaned up, she probably looked better than Irene even.  "Wow," she said to herself.  She was stunned for a moment, staring at dirty blonde curls of hair framing a perfectly sculpted face and chest.	Knowing she had to shake herself out of it, Andrea picked her up under the arms and then lifted her onto her shoulder.  She was still picturing those firm, gorgeous breasts as she cleared downtown and walked carefully down the side of one of the main streets.  The woman was light for her height, no more than 130 lbs., but like all weights, after a certain amount of time, she started to get heavy.	Another hour passed all to slowly, and Andrea finally arrived at the beach.  "Andrea, you're okay!"  Kitty was still naked and she rushed out of the trees and over to her.  "Who's this?" Kitty said looking at the woman clad only in a pair of shorts and some makeshift bandages.	"I don't know.  She's been unconscious since I picked her up.  Here, help me get her down."	Kitty assisted and working together the two women got the stranger off Andrea's shoulder and onto her back on the grass beside the beach.  "Wow, she's gorgeous," Kitty said, immediately noticing.	"Tell me about it," Andrea said.  "But somehow I doubt she'd appreciate us staring at her tits all day so let's try and find something to cover her up with."	"They hit the tent with some kind of energy beam.  It's completely vaporized."	Andrea's eyes went wide.  "Thank God you weren't in there."	"Yeah I know.  Thank God you weren't in that mess," Kitty said pointing to downtown.	"I was," Andrea said.  "It's definitely the Invid."	"But why would they come back and attack like this?"	"I don't know, but I'm going to find out.  Aria should be here in a couple days with supplies.  We'll just have to wait it out until she gets here."	Kitty nodded and looked at the blonde woman.  "I'll get her some water."	"Thanks," Andrea said.  "I'll try and bring her around."	Andrea knelt down beside her and gave her a light shake.  "Hey, can you hear me?"	"I can hear you just fine," came a voice from behind her.  Andrea immediately grabbed her .45 and spun around.  It was Destiny.	"You've got a hell of a lot of nerve coming back after all this."	"Actually I never left," she began to approach and Andrea watched her carefully.  "I've been following you but I lost you in Cuba.  It took me a while to catch up."	"I thought you were all going to leave."	"Not all, just most.  You're the one who recommended using Earth as a buffer in case the Masters attacked.  We couldn't very well do that without leaving some scouts behind."	"How many?"	"Just half a dozen.  But that's a topic for another time, right now there's more pressing matters.  I'm glad to see you're okay."	"Could have fooled me after that attack on the city."	Destiny looked her in the eyes.  "That wasn't us."	"I saw them, Destiny.  I saw a stage four outside his ship."	"And I'm telling you that there are only five other Invid, at least ones that answer to the all mother, that are on this planet."	"So who's fleet is that?"	"I can't say for sure, but I would guess that the fleet belongs to The Regent."	"The Regent.  I've heard about him.  He's supposed to be the bad version of The All Mother"	"Basically, around thirty years ago, the two of them had a falling out.  The All Mother believed in the preservation of the species, above all else.  The Regent on the other hand, was angry and vengeful.  He wanted payback and so he sent off to make the Masters, and anybody associated with them pay for what they'd done to our planet."	"So if it is the Regent here now..."	"Then he'll make what we did four years ago look like a summer fair." * * * *		Andrea had been listening to Destiny explain the situation for nearly thirty minutes.  Kitty had gotten the women awake but hadn't tried to interrupt.  Meanwhile, Destiny continued talking.  "The important thing to remember is the Regents force is maybe half the size of the All Mother's.  That means to make the kind of attack he's making he's fairly spread out."	"Which means..."	"Which means if you're going to fend them off at all, you'll do it in the first few weeks before he can get settled in.  After he's had a chance to set up defenses, you might as well start digging a grave for yourself because no one will be left alive after the first six months."	"Okay, so then the question becomes: where is he?"	"He'll be in an underground hive.  But unlike the hives we have, this one is mobile.  It can move underground at about twenty kilometers an hour and I'd imagine he would pick somewhere in what used to be The United States to place it.  If you can draw him out of the ground, he'll be vulnerable and that will be your chance."	Andrea nodded.  "I'm sorry I thought it was you and the All Mother's Invid who attacked us."	"You had no reason to think otherwise," Destiny said.  "No apology is necessary."	"Nonetheless..."	Destiny smiled and stood up to break the uneasy silence.  "Perhaps you should introduce me to your new friend."	Andrea stood up as well.  "Perhaps I should introduce myself."  The two women walked over to where Kitty and the now conscious woman sat.  "Hi, my name's Andrea.  Sorry I couldn't say hi earlier, we had something fairly important to discuss."	"That's okay," the other woman said.  "My name's Stacy. I hear you saved my life."	"No, you saved your own life.  I just brought you here.  The area where I found you weren't in the best of shape."	"Oh.  Well thanks anyway.  I'm glad you found me.  If there's anything I can do to repay you I'd be happy to."	"No, I'm just glad I could help."  Andrea gestured to the Invid, "this is Destiny.  She's a friend of mine."	"Nice to meet you," Stacy said.	"We have some friends coming to meet us here in a few days.  Assuming they made it through the attack, they have quite a lot of equipment.  You're welcome to stay with us for the time being if you like."	"Thank-you.  I would.  At least until I can go and look for my family."	"They were in the city?"	"No, they live in Houston."	Andrea nodded.  "Hopefully we can find them." * * * *		A few days passed slowly.  When Andrea wasn't plotting strategy with Destiny, she was looking through what was left of the tent.  She was currently searching some of the sand beside it and had been at it for an hour or so when she felt something hard touch her fingertips.  She reached in deeper with her hand, grabbed hold of it and pulled it out.	She smiled happily as she looked at it.  It was the watch her brother had given her and the only thing in her bag she really gave a damn about.  Best of all it looked completely fine, other then the fact that it didn't work.  She put it on her wrist so as not to lose it again and walked over to the others.	"Found what you were looking for?" Kitty said.	"Yeah, actually.  I was just," Andrea stopped short when she heard the hum of motorized vehicles in the distance.  "You think that's them?"	"Who knows," Kitty said standing up.	"You and Stacy wait here," Andrea said grabbing her weapon and running out towards the sound.  She found some brush to hide in along the road and after a few minutes she saw a jeep driving down the road, followed by a troop carrier and a half dozen tanks.  Andrea smiled, recognizing the equipment and moved out from her hiding space.	The jeep pulled to a stop in front of her and Aria got out happily.  "Fuck, am I glad to see you."	"You too," Andrea said happily.  "Did you guys make it through the attack okay?"	"Surprisingly yeah.  I was fuckin' taking back roads and shit so as to avoid Coalition forces and I found this one road along the coast that was all treed in.  So I took that and I guess the fuckers didn't see most of our stuff cause they only got three transports and a tank."	"Good."	Thunder stepped out of the transport behind Aria's jeep and Aria hesitated for a minute.  "Look, I've got some shitty news, okay?"	Andrea's smile faded.  "What's wrong?"	"Fuck," Aria said to herself and sighed.  "Ed was on one of the transports that got hit.  He didn't make it."	"Ed didn't make it?"  Andrea was stunned.	"I did what I could, but...  fuck, yeah, he didn't make it."	Andrea stood in silence for a moment with a blank expression.  "We've got to..."  She stopped, unsure of what to say.  "Get all the vehicles under some cover.  I have to...  I have to go for a minute."  Andrea walked off into the trees beside the road.  Aria looked to Thunder with a frown and walked back to her jeep.	"Come on, maggots, let's get these vehicles hidden," she said into the radio.* * * *		Andrea didn't know what to think.  She's already had to go through Ed's death once, or at least what she thought was his death.  To lose him a second time was unbelievably hard.  Keri, Heather and now him, all in the last few months.  Who would be next?	All she could think about for the next hour of her walk was how to stop it from happening to anybody else.  If the attack in Miami was any indication, Earth's human population probably just halved.	She knew she had a fairly sizable military force at her disposal, and so did the Coalition.  Between the two of them they'd stand a fighting chance against the latest alien invasion but getting the Coalition to work with her would be a lot easier said then done.	Eventually she found herself back at camp and by default had decided the time for mourning would come after the crisis was dealt with.  She couldn't afford any distractions until after the Invid were sent packing.	She located Aria and walked over.  "Did you see any potential Invid targets on your way here?"	"There's a hive that's being set up just north of here.  But that's kind of a big ass target.  Can't think of any we saw that would be more appropriate."	"Okay.  Andrea looked around.  "Our troop count seems a little thin."	"Yeah, we have more people then cars so I had to rig up my own version of the pony express.  They'll all be coming in phases over the next few days.  But I did think ahead and get all those chumps from Oaxaca that promised to help you out."	"How many did you get?"	"Hah, that's the funny thing, half the fucking town showed up.  I guess your free gift idea wasn't so bad after all.  About twenty thousand.  I did the same in York and got another fifteen."	"So we're looking at nearly 100,000 soldiers."	"The Coalition can kiss my ass.  100,000 isn't bad, even if they barely know which direction to point a gun."	Andrea smiled, "no, 100,000 isn't bad at all.  No wonder it's taking them a while to get here."	"Exactly.  Even in the fuckin' glory days it took a while to mobilize that many people."  Aria paused for a minute and leaned in.  "Listen, I've been thinking.  I know they're a bunch of ass-fuck, racist, shit eating bastards, but if we could get the Coalition to help us out, we could send all these invading fuckers home in one giant-ass body bag.  Hell, we'll bury them in pink bunny ears so we can find their bitch-asses in hell and fuck them up a second time."	"You're a very strange person, Aria."	"Yeah but I'm right and you know it."	"I know it," Andrea conceded.	"There's a radio transmitter down that way.  We've been picking up Coalition signals so I'm sure can reach them if you want."	Andrea nodded.  "I'll do that now."  Andrea started walking away.	"Remember, Andrea.  Pink bunny ears."	"I'll remember," Andrea said and continued walking.  She found the transmitter Aria was talking about in only a few minutes and immediately tuned it to a common Coalition frequency.	"This is Andrea Robertson for General Johnson on the council."	"Rank and position please," a cool male voice answered back.	"I'm not in the Coalition.  I need to speak with the general immediately."	"What did you say your name was?"	"Andrea Robertson."	"Ah yes, I've heard of you.  I'll see if the general will take your call."	"Thank-you."	There was a clicking noise and a long pause before the radio kicked in with some static and Jack's voice came on the line.  "Andrea.  I'm glad to hear you're okay."	"You too.  How did Trump Towers fair?"	"We fended off the initial attack but we believe they're regrouping.  We expect another offensive in a few days.  Is this a secure channel?"	"Uh, no.  Give me a minute."	"Okay, go to type three common encryption."	"Uh, copy that."  Andrea looked around briefly for an encryption button.  She'd never used a radio for more then common conversation before.  She noticed a few other people in the vehicle with her so she turned to them.  "Does anyone know how to encrypt a frequency?"	"Uh, sure, give me a minute and ah'll be right there."  Andrea's heart stopped as she heard the accent.  She turned to see someone that looked nothing like Ed.  "Uh, you okay ma'am?"  He was a pudgy man in his thirties.  Dirty clothes with a bit of a beer belly.  Also like Ed.  Andrea had trouble keeping her emotions in check.	She snapped herself out of it.  "Yeah, I'm fine."	"Alright, so what d' you need here?"	"Type three common encryption.  Whatever that means."	"Oh no problem.  If y' want you can ask him if he wants to go to Coalition E.  Ah happened to learn that one in my travels."	"No, that's okay," Andrea said thinking it would be better to use that to gather information instead of giving away that she knows the code.	"Alright," he said punching a few buttons on the control panel.  "There ya go.  Type three common."	"Thanks."	"No problem," he said and went back to his work.	Andrea picked up the radio.  "Okay I'm secure."	"Good," Jack said.  "What do you know about this attack?  Why are your Invid pals back?"	"That's just it.  It's not the same group of Invid that were here before.  See, politically they have two different leaders and different groups that follow each one.  They're completely independent."	"So you're saying this is their big brother?"	"Little brother actually, but a lot meaner."  Andrea explained what Destiny had told her and finished off by asking if the Coalition would be willing to join forces with her for a counter attack.	"I'll see what I can do, Andrea.  But you're not real popular over here right now."	"I know, but we both know that this is our only chance.  If we can unite our forces we can force them to leave now."	"Alright, I'll run it by the council.  I'll give you an answer within the hour."	"Thanks, Jack."	"Don't thank me yet.  Let's just see how this plays out.""Okay.  I'll be waiting."  Andrea put the radio back on the hook and leaned back in her chair.  This was going to be a long hour. * * * *		"Andrea, come in?"  Andrea jumped in her chair but quickly reached for the radio.	"I'm here, Jack.  Give me good news."	"I've got good and bad.  The good is that I've convinced the council that you would be a good ally for this particular mission."	"Well that's the main thing isn't it?"	"I'm afraid not.  The Emperor isn't willing to risk the safety of the tower by diverting our forces.  We've currently called everyone back who's within range to aid in its defense.  We can give you some of our people in northern Mexico but you'll only get five, maybe ten thousand and minimal equipment.  The rest are all coming here."	"Damn-it, Jack.  If we stay on the defensive the whole time we are going to lose.  We have to attack fast, before they can cement their positions."	"I know that and you know that, but the Emperor doesn't agree.  I'm sorry, Andrea.  There's nothing I can except wish you luck.  Whatever troops are coming will arrive within two days.  After that, you'd better move out before it's too late for all of us."	"Jack, listen to me.  You have to try again.  Convince the Emperor that we have to do it this way or not at all."  There was an empty pause.  "Jack?"  Andrea waited another moment.  "Jack, come in."	The technician who had helped her earlier spoke up.  "See how that light's off?  It means the other side's no longer transmitting.  He can't hear you."	"Damn-it," Andrea threw the radio onto the console. 	"So, uh...  Are we still goin' t' do it?  To attack I mean?"	"I don't know," Andrea said solemnly.  "I don't know."	"Well if you want mah advice, which you probably don't, Ah say we make a stand.  This is the fourth group of invaders t' hit this planet since ah was born and ah think someone needs to tell them, and all the other assholes out there where to go."	"What did you say your name was?" Andrea asked.	"Ah didn't.  Mah name's Mike."	"You have some good advice Mike."	"Ah like to think so," he said with a smile.Andrea smiled back and left the trailer. * * * *		"So?  What'd they say?" Aria asked as she saw Andrea approached.	"What was it you called them earlier?"	"Ass-fuck, racist, shit eating bastards," Aria said.	"It's true."	"Fuck," Aria said.  "So what do we do now?"	"We wait two days for whoever else can get here, and then we move out.  It's time someone tells this group, and all the others to follow, that Earth's not for the taking."End Part 18"Next:  Four chapters left!  In part 19, Andrea's army gets some combat experience.  But how are the five thousand Coalition soldiers that join her going to interfere with group morale?  It's a battle royal as we gear up for Invid Invasion's grand finale.