1742

Everyone remembers where they were on August 19th 2016 when the story broke.

Four hundred ships had appeared, in orbit, around Saturn.

The governments of the world tried to keep it quiet but someone told, news this big? Someone always tells.

The media whipped into a frenzy reporting the story, backed up by photographs from an observatory in South America that they paid an exorbitant price for. It was the answer to one of humanity's biggest questions, 'Are we alone in the Universe?'.

For a few months the world's communities were battling each other as to the intentions of the spacecraft, televised debates, scientist's speculations, television programs and the people saying they've been abducted, they all wanted they're five minutes of fame. The government's propaganda machines spun into action playing down invasion theories trying to keep the populations calm.

Three years we watched, waited and tried to contact them The news of the aliens around Saturn no longer making headlines. The latest theories making no more than fleeting comments at the end of a news broadcast.

The world became apathetic, life went on.

They made the news again when they left Saturn's orbit and started moving towards the Earth.

People started to panic when they entered orbit. Anarchist groups seeing an opportunity started mass protests calling for the governments to do something. The bulk buying of food and water started, small groups of people moving out of the cities, prices rose and stock markets crashed. Then came the riots and looting, martial law was imposed across the globe. Religious groups and cults began to see record attendance adding to the mass panic.

Six days after they entered orbit the reports that large objects the size of aircraft were televised, the world's military engaged them but failed to destroy a single one. The decision was made to go nuclear, with no affect. The military started deploying to all major cities and erecting defences.

The international space station reported the objects in the atmosphere had started to spin before all electronics went dead across the planet.

Hundreds of ships came through the clouds and landed. Thousands of troops disembarked. They decimated the defences that had been erected. Within three hours of the first landings all the major cities were lost, their populations decimated. The troops moved from one building to the next killing the inhabitants and throwing the bodies out into the streets.

Heavy machines rolled down the streets behind them collecting the bodies, the building started to disappear and massive structures erected, a shimmering blue haze kept out the pests. Roaming squads made their way out from the cities in ever expanding search patterns for survivors. So effective were the invaders that Eight billion people were cut down to a few hundred thousand, in just four days.

Giant platforms were lowered at hundreds of sites and they began to chew through the earth, more were deployed on the oceans. Ships larger than aircraft carriers coming down through the clouds and up again on an hourly basis.

On board the alien flagship, the death and destruction that had befallen the Earth and it's inhabitants made one tiny change to it's database ...

Update : Planetary Designation - 1742 : Harvesting Status - In Progress