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"Fate would take a drastic turn, for the Race added another seventy years to already eight-hundred Earth years to the overall plans to implement a small but critical improvement related to killercraft. To the Race, it was a small period of time. To the majority of the humans living in the 21st century, World War Two was ancient history."

Worldwar: War of Equals is a Worldwar Fanfiction written by Drgyen that answers a popular question among fans of the series: What if the Race had invaded in the 21st century instead of in the middle of World War II? The answer: the Race arrive on Earth, only this time we were prepared for them and they get much more of a fight from Humanity.

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The story covers the entire globe from North America to Asia. Countries fall, countries rise. Some must carry out the unthinkable and some are barely able to survive but all fight to keep their homes. Why? Because we were here first.

Based on a thread on AlternateHistory.com that can only be viewed by members of the site, the story is mainly documented in a timeline format with the occasional POV chapter thrown in. The fic is also implied to have been made in universe after the war with the Point of Divergence happening in November 2010 and the story itself currently at January 2012. A forum set up by the author can be found here.

As of 2016, the story has become a Dead Fic due to the author losing interest.


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Worldwar: War of Equals provides examples of the following tropes:

  • A Simple Plan: The last time Race probes looked at Earth, we were in the middle ages. The entire Conquest Fleet believed that this campaign would be another curbstomp war against spear swinging primitives. When they actually invade Earth however, they find out the hard way that we moved way past swinging spears.
  • Action Girl: Naomi Cohen and Ruth Meyer, former IDF conscripts on vacation in Sao Paulo who got caught up in the Race's invasion of the city. While stuck in Brazil, they enlist in the military and get assigned to the 11th Infantry Brigade.
  • Actual Pacifist: Lesotho refuses to fight the Race and seeks peace with them instead. It ends up getting them invaded by South Africa to deny the Race a landing zone.
  • Adaptational Badass:
    • In the original novels, all of South America, Central America, the Middle East, and Eastern Europe were conquered very quickly by the Race due to many nations in those areas not having a strong military back in the 40s. Here, South American nations such as Brazil and Eastern Euro nations like Ukraine are putting up much more of a fight.
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    • Separate countries such as Australia, China, India, Mexico, and Palestine (Israel in this case) put up a hell of a resistance as well.
    • Human tanks also qualify. In the original novels, even a battalion of the best Human tanks of the 1940s could easily be destroyed by a single Landcruiser. Thanks to tank technology advancing in the last couple of decades, our tanks are either equal to or superior to their Landcruiser counterparts.
  • A.K.A.-47: They may be known by different names, but the Race's military hardware is no different from any other Human military's.
  • Alien Abduction:
    • The astronauts aboard the ISS are captured by the Race before the invasion.
    • 20,000 Egyptian soldiers are captured in Cairo after the city is overrun.
    • Inverted when Human forces start capturing Race personnel.
  • Alien Arts Are Appreciated: The US and Europe are heavily interested in Race hydrogen engines.
  • Alien Catnip: Race forces in occupied Missouri, Illinois, and Mexico apparently love the ginger available in the regions. If you read the series, then you should know where this is going.
  • Alien Invasion: Much like in the original work. The main twist is that the aliens aren't that much more advanced than the humans.
  • Alien Lunch: Ginger, which is just an ordinary spice to humans, is found to have narcotic effects on the Race.
  • Aliens are Bastards: Race killercraft pilots don't seem to care whether their targets are civilian or military, the EMPs they dropped are mentioned to have killed millions, and then there is the nuking of several highly populated human cities, killing thousands.
  • Aliens in Cardiff: While the aliens do land near or outside capitol cities such as Sao Paulo, Cairo, Kiev, Beijing, and Mumbai, they also choose to land in some place that aren't so popular such as Belleville, Bari, Al Basrah, and Bendigo.
  • All Your Base Are Belong to Us: the Race has captured many Humans cities such as St. Louis, Monterrey, and Kiev and even entire countries such as Iraq, Iran, and 90% of Ukraine.
  • Allohistorical Allusion: When the Race reaches Umm Qastr, Iraq, they are met by the Kuwaiti and Saudi armed forces along Highway 80. Yes, that Highway 80. Wait... a Middle Eastern force defending an invasion attempt from a (somewhat) technologically advanced foe? When's the last time that happened?
  • Alternate History: What if an alien invasion force was spotted in our solar system in 2010?
  • Alternate Universe Fic: Of the What If? variety. The description and the very first chapter make it clear that the Canon series had happened in another universe.
  • America Saves the Day: The US leads several operations in the North American theater that pushes back Race forces and gives assistance to several countries fighting the Race.
  • An Ass-Kicking Christmas: A joint American/Canadian operation appropriately nicknamed "Operation Eve'' strikes at vulnerable occupied positions between St. Louis and Jefferson City. Ground forces are inserted into key areas and destroy Race anti-armor and air emplacement. By the time kids were waking up for gifts from old St. Nick, we gave Race forces a gift by relieving them of their territory and leave the lizards on the run.
  • Apocalypse Anarchy:
    • According to Chapter 5: Interlude to War 2, when the Race's existence was announced in Brazil, preachers in the street became common and there were rumors of cults abducting tourists.
    • Two months before the invasion, UFO and Mayan Doomsday cults spring up and attack military installations in San Francisco. They end up getting hunted down by the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security.
    • Los Angeles has been reduced to a hellhole reminiscent of the Rodney King riots thanks to lack of power and drinking water.
  • Apocalypse Cult: Doomsday cults become popular in the West and they later rise up and attack military installations in San Francisco.
  • Armor Is Useless: Race landcruiser armor is easily breached by rockets and IEDs.
  • Arms Dealer:
    • Cuba and the United States supplied guns to Venezuela and Colombia respectively during the Colombian-Venezuelan war.
    • South Africa is the main supplier of arms and equipment to African and Middle Eastern expeditionary forces.
  • Artistic License – History: In Ttomalss' study on Humans in Chapter 7: Interlude to War 3, America is mentioned as being the first republic, representative democracy, and the cause of decline of global empires. note 
  • Artistic License – Military: A rare Justified example. In preparation for the invasion, militaries around the world adopt weapons and hardware not used by their OTL counterparts such as Brazil buying Leopard 1 tanks and Canada buying a couple of F-22 Raptors.
  • Ascended Extra: Australia, Brazil, China, Mexico, and South Africa were taken over in a matter of months in the original series. Here, they play a huge part in the Human war effort.
  • Awakening the Sleeping Giant: Oh boy, if Humanity wasn't pissed when the Race first invaded, then we sure as hell are now when they launch nukes at several Human cities, killing thousands.
  • Awesome Aussie: The Australians are able to fight the Race invaders more effectively this time.
  • Awesome, but Impractical: Race starships are able to travel across light-years but they lack weapons, effectively making them giant unarmed troop transports that make easy targets for fighter jets.
  • Back-to-Back Badasses: We have Mexican/American/Canadian forces being back to back to back badasses and the Israelis and the Egyptians work fine together.
  • Back Story: The entire point for the Preface chapter is to point out that the Race's invasion of 21st century Earth takes place in an Alternate Universe.
  • Badass Army:
    • All of Humanity's militaries. They've spent almost two years preparing for the Race invasion and it shows by how well we fight them.
    • The Conquest Fleet in their own right as well. They have about 35,000,000 infantrymales and manage to drown some countries with sheer numbers alone.
    • The drug cartels that fight Race invaders in Ciudad Juarez. Yes, the cartel is not an army, but Mexican drug cartels are some of the most well armed criminal organizations in the world, so they definitely have what it takes to fight the Race forces.
  • Badass Boast: When the Race invade Iran, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad declares Jihad on the alien invaders, stating that "It is the sacred duty of every Muslim to destroy the reptilian invaders from hell."
  • Badass Israeli:
    • One Israeli fighter was all that was needed to destroy the Race EMP meant to be used above Cairo.
    • Naomi Cohen and Ruth Meyer, former IDF conscripts on vacation in Sao Paulo who put their training to use when the Race invade.
  • Balkanize Me: Inverted. With Iraq close to falling to the Race, Iran, Syria, and Jordan absorb several Iraqi border towns for "security reasons".
  • BFG: A Race Landcruiser's main gun is 127mm. The standard for Human tanks ranges from 105mm to 125mm depending on the model.
  • Boarding Party: A Race boarding party is sent to the ISS to capture the astronauts on it.
  • Break Out the Museum Piece: The Italian military uses old Cold War aircraft and anti-air emplacements to fight off Race killercraft.
  • Batman Gambit: After the incident with Hugo Chavez, the American and Russian governments actually leak news of the fleet to very unreliable sources such as Alex Jones and Coast to Coast AM in order to discredit his claims. It works and Hugo's claims are dismissed as complete crap.
  • Battle Trophy: US Army soldier James Pertucci can't wait to shoot down an alien and "put the head above [his] fireplace back home".
  • Benevolent Alien Invasion: If Ttomalss' study on Humans is to be believed, the main reason for the Race to conquer Earth is because Humans are highly aggressive and are resistant to their attempts to help them and slow them down.
  • Big Bad: Atvar, the Fleetlord (leader) of the invasion force, is about as close as it gets.
  • Big Badass Battle Sequence: November 15th 2011. The day the war between worlds began across the globe.
  • Big, Bulky Bomb: During Operation Piledriver, three Massive Ordnance Air Blast bombs are released on the Race forces advancing on Texas.
  • Bizarre Alien Biology: the Race has a mating season and that thing with the ginger. They also find breast milk and Human sexual practices disgusting.
  • Boom, Headshot!: Race landcruiser commanders stick their heads out of the hatch, making them prime targets for snipers.
  • Break the Haughty: By the end of December, the morale among the males of the Conquest Fleet has lowered significantly thanks to the huge amount of casualties they've taken (7.8 million out of 35 million to be exact, leaving them with only 28 million troops) and because of the struggle to learn and adapt to the new tactics needed to counter the Humans.
  • Bullying a Dragon: Hugo Chavez really pushed his luck. Not only did he leak that the US was contacting possible alien invaders, but he claimed to have also procured tapes of the emergency meeting in Switzerland and threaten to release them if his demands were not met. It did not end well for poor Hugo.
  • But What About the Astronauts?: The Race boarded the ISS and take all on board hostage two days before the invasion.
  • Call a Human a "Meatbag": Humans are called "Big Uglies" as a slur and "Tosevites" as a official name.
  • Call a Rabbit a "Smeerp": So, to recap, the Race call tanks "landcruisers", aircraft "killercraft", stealth aircraft "ghostcraft", and nukes "explosive metal bombs".
  • Canon Immigrant: The story is an Alternate Universe Fic of the original series. As a result, Fleetlord Atvar, Shiplords Kirel and Straha, and Ttomalss make appearances.
  • Cassandra Truth: North Korea (and to a lesser extent, Iran) refuses to believe in the discovery of alien fleet in the beginning.
  • Cheese-Eating Surrender Monkeys: Averted. During Operation Marin, the French aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle (R91) is the main support of European naval operations and aerial attacks and the ship is credited for being the major reason the operation was successful.
  • Civil War:
    • Thanks to Hugo Chavez's death, the power struggle between the various political parties escalates into a civil war.
    • After Nicolas Maduro is removed from power by a military coup, Loyalist forces clash with supporters of the new military leadership.
  • Cold Sniper: Naomi Cohen and Ruth Meyer are a cold sniper team.
  • Les Collaborateurs:
    • When the governments of the world announce the approach of the Race's Conquest Fleet, many UFO and doomsday cults spring up and attack military facilities in order to pave the way for their "alien masters". They all end up in jail.
    • When the Race occupy Ciudad Juarez, the civilians of the city welcome them as liberators from the drug cartels.
    • The government of Lesotho is willing to surrender instantly to the invaders. It only ends up with them being invaded by South Africa to deny The Race a safe landing zone in Africa. After this incident, all members of the African Mutual Defense Pact rule that none of it's members will surrender and any puppet government The Race installs will not be recognized.
  • Conspiracy Theorist: In order to discredit Hugo Chavez's claims, the American and Russian governments leak news of the aliens to Alex Jones and Coast To Coast AM.
  • Contrived Coincidence: The main reason the fear of "Mayan Doomsday" picked up so much steam was because people saw aliens expected to arrive on Earth in 2012 as too much of a coincidence.
  • Cool Boat:
    • A new Temeraire class cruiser was made to carry a French nuclear anti-orbital missile.
    • The Brazilian F41 Defensora and the F49 Rademaker pound Race positions off the Brazilian coast. The F41 is sunk by Race killercraft and the F49 is badly damaged.
    • The USS Dwight D. Eisenhower (CVN-69) provides assistance to the Australians defending Melbourne.
    • The French aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle (R91). The ship is credited for being one of the key reason Operation Marin was a success.
    • Chinese Type 091 submarines team with PLAAF fighters to rain death on Race supply depots and command centers in Shenyang.
    • Ballistic missile submarines, along with every other type of military naval ship in service, do fine jobs of obliterating Race positions on land.
  • Cool Guns: FGM-148 Javelins and PF-89 light anti-tank weapons are very effective at destroying Landcruisers.
  • Cool Plane:
    • Many are adopted by Air Forces across the world as part of the preparation for the invasion:
    • Some cool aircraft are also used in the Colombian-Venezuelan war.
    • During the actual war, many aircraft prove their worth by holding off the Race's killercraft:
      • Race Killercraft can hold their own in a fight but are outmatch by most Human jet fighters.
      • The 442d Fighter Wing provide air support in St. Louis. Their aircraft of choice? The USAF king of close air support, the A-10 Thunderbolt II.
      • A Xian JH-7 bomber is responsible for the death of Infantry Commander Rstalas.
      • Eurofighter Typhoons and Panavia Tornados prove to be formidable foes to Race killercraft in Germany.
      • Italy's F-104 Starfighters. Yes, the fighter more known for falling down every time it has a malfunctioning conquered a place here. How? Well, for starters it was the more reliable F-104S. Then the F-104S handed a large killercraft force their asses as if it were a nice Italian cuisine. Those killercraft had also been recently improved to boot.
      • The Italians also receives some help from French Air Force Dassault Rafales.
      • During the Battle for Bendigo, Australia, F-18 Hornets give much grief to killercraft. US F-18s also assist the Australians in Melbourne.
      • Chengdu J-20 stealth fighters quickly become the stuff of nightmares for killercraft pilots.
      • A Xian H-6 drops the nuke on Race forces in Luanping county.
      • The Boeing YAL-1 is completed in December and demoralizes killercraft pilots in the North American theater.
  • Cool vs. Awesome: Its a story about alien space lizards facing modern Human militaries with weapons the invaders could never have dreamed of.
  • Combat Pragmatist:
    • Discussed. The Swiss government, who plans to stay out of the European Coalition, instead decides to use the mountains surrounding the country to fight the aliens off. The plan is mocked by the Swedish Prime Minister.
    • When winter rolls around and Race forces slow down, Human militaries take the opportunity to attack the freezing enemy while they can.
    • Forbidden weapons of war are broken out to assist in the fight such as nerve gas, large yield (non-nuclear) bombs, and actual nuclear weapons.
    • The mountain plan created by the Swiss government actually works for Iranian forces, enough so that Race operations in the area are stalled.
    • With the reports of Race males acting very strange after ingesting ginger coming in from occupied territory, its implied that its going to be used against them very soon.
  • Conscription:
    • In August 2011, China begins conscription of men ages 18-25.
    • Germany later scraps plans to abolish conscription.
    • Two days into the fighting, Brazil enacts conscription of men 18 to 40.
    • Due the huge amount of invaders, America re-institutes the draft. There ain't going to be any dodgers this time.
    • Australia is next in line to reestablish it.
    • Egypt starts up conscription, but Mubarak thought it would be a good idea to excuse his family members from the draft.
    • Next up is Iran, who is barely holding out against The Race.
    • The fighting in India gets bad enough that men are being conscripted as soon as they are found.
    • With Race forces coming out of Brazil, Paraguay establishes conscription for men between 17-45.
  • Cosy Catastrophe: Island nations (except Australia) such as England and Japan are untouched so far, which gives them time to prepare defenses and provide military aid to nearby countries.
  • Crapsack Country: Iraq descends into anarchy as Baghdad is overrun and terrorist groups take over some unoccupied cities.
  • Crazy-Prepared: Once the aliens are confirmed to be a threat, most of the world stocks up on weapons, beef up their militaries, research anti satellite weapons, and even restart some previously canceled weapons projects all to combat the incoming invaders.
  • Crossing the Desert:
    • The Race land in the desert outside of Al Basrah, Iraq.
    • The Middle Eastern theater has been the most successful for the invaders as they have conquered all of Iraq and Iran, and occupying sections of Egypt, Kuwait, and Syria.
    • The Race also has varied success in the Australian outback.
  • Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: The Italian Air Force use old Cold War jets to fight of Race killercraft. The last Cold War jet Italy has in reserve is the Aeritalia F-104S, which was a licensed production Italian version of the Lockheed F-104 Starfighter, a plane known for having for having more mechanical problems than a old car. Amazingly, it was able to go toe-to-toe with the aircraft of an intergalactic empire and win!
    lord Martiya (reader): The Race's killercraft got their ass kicked by squadrons of F-104S. I don't know if I should laugh or cry at this... What the hell, I'm Italian, I'll laugh at them!
  • Curb-Stomp Battle:
    • Pilots of stealth fighters are able to inflict devastating losses on Race killercraft formations while almost taking zero losses of their own.
    • Race forces roll over the antiquated militaries of Uruguay and Paraguay.
  • Culture Clash: When the Race learn about Human culture through captured POWs, they are shocked by such a different culture that counteracts their own.
  • Dangerous Deserter: Iraqi soldiers fled their overrun positions with some hiding out with some of the terrorist groups nearby. Though if their actions against The Race in occupied areas are any indication, they're the good guys.
  • Dangerous Forbidden Weapons: Weapons of Mass Destruction that have been outlawed for decades such as nerve gas and eventually nukes are pulled out to fight the Race.
  • Darkest Hour: The aftermath of the nuclear attacks on Washington D.C., Chicago, Tijuana, Milan, and Dalian were until the leaders of the world still refused to surrender.
  • Day of the Jackboot: The Race has taken over cities all over the world and eventually starts conquering entire countries.
  • Deadly Gas:
    • In an act of desperation, the Ukrainian government authorizes the use of untested nerve gas on Race forces, killing all who are exposed.
    • In the event that Race forces overrun Jordan, the Syrian government will break out their formerly secret chemical weapon program.
  • Deal with the Devil: The citizens of Ciudad Juarez, Mexico actually welcome the Race invaders, which they consider better than the Juarez cartel that plagued the city.
  • Death by Adaptation:
    • Robert Mugabe, the President of Zimbabwe, passes away for unknown reasons before the invasion.
    • Hugo Chavez dies of a "untimely heart attack" in January 2011 after threatening to expose the secret discussions about the Conquest Fleet. In real life, he died in March 2013.
  • Death from Above:
    • Race killercraft are able to hold their own against the standard Human jet fighter and give infantry Hell with their strafing runs.
    • Human aircraft are much more advance and seem to equal killercraft in terms of speed but are vastly superior in terms of firepower.
  • Decisive Battle: Operation Eve appears to be the turning point in the North American theater as Race forces make a hasty retreat westward.
  • Defiant to the End: Almost all Earth nations (except for Lesotho) refuse to surrender to Race forces.
  • Demoted to Extra: Russia, who was one of the world powers to survive the events of the original series has only made a few appearances.
  • Despair Event Horizon:
  • Disaster Scavengers:
    • After Venezuelan forces pull out of Colombia, FARC extremist pickup the weapons left behind to fight Colombian soldiers.
    • After Al Basrah is overrun, the many militant groups in the area collect the arms left over from the fighting.
  • Determinator:
    • Pope Benedict XVI, who refuses to evacuate The Vatican despite it being constantly being bombarded by the Race.
    • All of the Human alliances refuse to surrender to the Race.
  • Dirty Communists: After the death of Hugo Chavez, the Colombian government accuses the Venezuelans of supplying FARC revolutionaries.
  • Dirty Coward: When Lesotho states that it will seek peace with the potential invaders, they receive a lot of flak from most of Africa. They actually keep their promise and surrender, despite being thousands of kilometers away from any of the fighting. They get invaded by South Africa to deny the Race a safe landing zone into Africa and all of the country's leaders are arrested under charges of treason.
  • Do Not Go Gentle: After the Race launch several nukes at five highly populated Human cities, Barack Obama addresses the American people with "The Union will hold" speech, which goes down in history alongside Franklin D Roosevelt's Day of Infamy speech.
  • Doomed Defeatist: The reaction of the Nicaraguan government to the approaching aliens is flat out defeatism.
  • Driven to Suicide: Many citizens in the US carry out mass suicides out of fear before the invasion.
  • Drop Ship: Race dropships are the biggest threat to Human resistance as the ships drop thousands of infantrymales a day. Operations are made to take them out of commission.
  • Drowning My Sorrows: Race killercraft pilots in occupied Mexico stage a protest against their superiors demanding safer missions out of fear from both stealth fighters and rumored airborne laser weapons. Despite reassurance of safety, many pilots still handle their stress with ginger.
  • Dungeon Bypass: Discussed. The Swiss government is confident of their military being able to hold off the aliens by using the Swiss mountains to ward them off.note  The plan is then mocked by the Swedish Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt and then EC representatives storm out of the meeting.
    Prime Minster Reinfeldt: "How do you want to use the mountains and rivers for the defense of your country, if an invader can land in a spaceship directly in Bern or Geneva, completely bypassing any natural defenses."
  • During the War: Most of the story is written in a timeline format and the occasional personal story.
  • Eagleland: Type 1. Atvar decides that more Race males are needed in the American theater when he decides that they are the biggest threat to Race domination.
  • Eagle Squadron: After at least two days of fighting, nearby countries assist their invaded neighbors by sending volunteer forces to help out. Justified considering that once the country next door has fallen, they're next.
    • Libya sends a 12,000 man force and a volunteer fighter wing to help the Egyptians.
    • Paraguay sends a small force of 3,000 to Brazil.
    • By the time The Race is knocking on the door to Matehuala, Central American nations have sent a combined 12,000 man force to help with defense.
    • Syria and Jordan sends a combined 20,000 man force to Iraq.
    • Colombian and Venezuelan volunteers begin fighting in Mexico in December.
  • Earth Is a Battlefield
  • Easily Thwarted Alien Invasion: Subverted. Both sides appear to be on par with one another in terms of war tech, however Humans have much more experience in warfare and as a result have way more advanced tactics and weapons that the Race would have never imagined such as stealth fighters, giving us the edge.
  • Ejection Seat: Flightleader Dreek escapes certain death from Ukrainian stealth fighters by ejecting out at the last minute.
  • Elites Are More Glamorous:
    • A team of Colombian commandos are sent to Catia La Mar to assassinate many key members of the Venezuelan government. The mission fails and most of the commandos are killed or captured.
    • American Special Forces try to assist in Al Basrah, Iraq, before the town is overrun.
    • American and Canadian Special Forces play a key role in Operation Eve by destroying Race anti-air and anti-armor emplacements.
  • EMP: The Race deploys several nuclear weapons above the atmosphere to knock out communications and confuse military forces. Only the US, Mexico, Germany, and Egypt are spared since their air force fighters cut them off just in time. According to Naomi Cohen, the EMPs killed millions.
  • Emergency Presidential Address: President Barack Obama gives his "The Union will hold" speech from a bunker somewhere in Manchester, New Hampshire.
  • Enemy Mine:
    • Egypt and Israel set aside differences and set up a military alliance with Turkey before The Race arrives.
    • Colombia and Venezuela agree to a cease fire and start preparing for the incoming alien invasion.
    • Every drug cartel in Ciudad Juarez fights alongside the Mexican military in the city against Race forces.
  • E.T. Gave Us Wi-Fi: The US and the European Union are very interested in the Hydrogen fuel system used by Race vehicles. Europe reverse engineers Race hydrogen powered engines and they are expected to be mass produced by January.
  • Everything Is Big in Texas: Race forces cross the US-Mexican border from Nuevo Leon and head straight for San Antonio. It wasn't an easy fight as the huge military presence in the city is geared up and mobilized, are supported by reinforcements from Fort Hood and Fort Carson, and deploy mines in The Race's path. When Race forces advance on Cotulla from northern Mexico, the USAF drops three MOABs on the Race spearhead.
  • Evil vs. Evil: We have Mexican drug cartels and Islamic extremist groups fighting against The Race.
  • Expy: The citizens of Ciudad Juarez, Mexico appear to take the role of the Lodz ghetto Jews from the original novels. Both are thankful for The Race liberating them from occupiers that were much worse than them.
  • Fantastic Anthropologist:
    • Ttomalss has taken some time to compile a study on Humanity.
    • A xeno-anthropologist has been assigned to monitor the area of the galaxy where Humans and Race are fighting. Apparently, he's part of an entire galactic community.
  • Fantastic Racism: There is zero love lost between The Race and the Humans.
  • Fantastic Rank System: The Race ranking system hides nothing to the imagination but it is somewhat hard to find a Human equivalent rank:
    • Infantry commander appears to be the equivalent to a general rank.
    • Shiplord is a starship captain, but has a prestige superior to infantry commander even if the latter can command forces from multiple ships.
    • Fleetlord (the commander of all forces of the Conquest Fleet) is equal to a five stars-rank.
  • Fantastic Slurs: As in the original series, The Race adopted the term "Big Uglies" as a slur for Humans.
  • First Contact: Humanity tries to go for a peaceful version of this with America and Europe using SETI's ATA and China using a system developed in Yantai Space City. The Race refuse to take the offer for peace.
  • First Contact Team: When the fleet is spotted, SETI and many American astronomical institutes lead by NASA, the European Space Agency, and a Chinese team at the Yantai Space City start to work on a transmission of peace for the aliens.
  • Foregone Conclusion: According to Word of God, the scene with the xeno-anthropologist in Interlude to War 3, is suppose to confirm that Humanity has won the war against The Race but at no small cost.
  • For Want of a Nail:
    • The only reason that The Race invaded Earth in 2011 instead of 1942 is due to implementing "a small but critical improvement" to their killercraft which took 70 years. Justified due to The Race being very conservative and needing thousands of years to make an improvement.
    • The Arab Spring was a huge flop and failed to overthrow any of the regimes.
    • Thanks to the threat of an alien invasion, stealth fighters such as the Boeing F-15SE Silent Eagle and the Chengdu J-20 get their production sped up a few years early and the numbers available are in the double digits.
    • Due to Hugo Chavez leaking reports of the US contacting The Race's Conquest Fleet and threatening to leak tapes of the emergency UN meeting in Switzerland unless his demands were met, he dies an "untimely heart attack" in 2011 instead of 2013.
    • When all of the world's governments revealed the existence of the alien fleet, many start believing that this is what the Mayan's were talking about when they said the world would end in 2012.
    • Thanks to The Race being on the way, Hosni Mubarak gets to stay in office beyond February 11 though the protest against his regime still occur.
    • On April 12th 2011, WikiLeaks releases, among other things, the first draft of "War Plan Teal", the US war plan for The Race invasion.
    • Osama bin Laden is captured by the US in Pakistan on May 7th. He was found suffering from advanced kidney disease.
    • Robert Mugabe, the President of Zimbabwe, passes away for unknown reasons.
    • Muammar Gaddafi was not assassinated in October of 2011.
    • The threat of alien invasion is apparently enough for Russia to apply for NATO membership.
    • Nicolas Maduro is removed from power by a military coup and is replaced by General Antonio Rivero.
    • Southern Sudan is grated independence by a landslide vote on August 17th 2011.
  • Foreshadowing: Private Charles Cunningham of the US Army can't help but be annoyed at the overconfidence everyone else is showing around him, making it look like they already won the war. Cunningham can only think that it will get much worse later on. As of Chapter 4: Total War where the nukes start flying and some countries start to get overrun, he's right to be worried.
    Private Charles Cunningham: "To be frank sir, I find their optimism a bit stifling. It hasn't even been an actual day yet, and they seem like we've won the war. But you know as well as I do that this is only the beginning You wanna know what I think we should all be doing? I think we should all be expecting the worst...and be hoping for the best."
  • Frickin' Laser Beams:
    • The Russian Defense Ministry considers using anti-missile lasers.
    • The YAL-1 gets its funding back and is used to fight Race killercraft. When it is finished in mid December, it shoots down five killercraft - at 200 miles away.
    • The US Navy obtains funding for it's COIL laser program with everything being overlooked to get a unit available as soon as possible.
  • Friendly War: Many countries partake in joint training operations while preparing for the invasion.
  • Galactic Conqueror: The Race had conquered two other planets before coming to Earth. Turns out for them, that the third time is most certainly not the charm.
  • General Failure: Its noted that by the end of December, Race commanders are having a hard time adapting to new tactics to counter the Humans.
  • Glass Cannon: Race Landcruisers are able to dominate tanks with less armor such as the Argentinian TAM tank and the Leopard 1A1, as they come with 4 or 5 inch guns (101.6 and 127 mm for comparison), and composite armor. Though their armor can easily be breached by rocket launchers, IEDs, or other tanks with equally large guns.
  • Godzilla Threshold:
    • Before the war, the threat of alien invasion is enough for some to cross a line or two:
      • NATO pulls all forces out of Iraq and Afghanistan.
      • The threat of pending invasion by the Race is enough for Switzerland to abandon its long-standing neutrality and join the European Coalition.
      • Its also enough for Israel to join forces with its Arab neighbors (primarily Egypt).
    • After the war begins and grows desperate for some, we see more examples :
      • Out of desperation, Ukrainian president Viktor Yanukovych allows Russian forces to aid in defending his country.
      • With the dire situation in Beijing, the PLA authorizes the use of a tactical nuke on Luanping County, 25 miles away from Chengde. It works beautify, killing 25,000 infantrymales and takes out over 200 landcruisers.
      • Also out of desperation, Ukraine becomes the first to allow the use nerve gas on Race soldiers, it works greatly.
      • Syria is fully prepared to break out its chemical weapons program in light of neighboring Iraq being overrun.
      • When The Race begin to move in on Syria, the Israeli government fears a two front war and discuss plans ranging from giving Palestine independence in exchange for more cooperation from their Arab neighbors to "nuclear scorched earth".
  • Government Agency of Fiction: SETI is dissolved a few months after the fleet was spotted and replaced by the Research of Extraterrestrial Intelligence (RETI).
  • Government in Exile:
    • The Ukrainian government is evacuated to Chernihiv as soon as The Race makes landfall.
    • Barack Obama, his family, and other high ranking government officials relocate to a bunker in Manchester, New Hampshire.
    • After Kuwait City is overrun, the Royal Family flees to Saudi Arabia.
    • With Race forces making their way to Baghdad, the Iraqi government flees to Mosul.
    • As the Race advances on Cairo, the Egyptian government evacuates to Alexandria.
  • Gunship Rescue: Race helicopters are noted as being extremely lethal in urban areas.
  • Hazmat Suit: Race technicians start to look into designing a hazmat suit made for regular combat and warding off chemical weapons after the Ukraine gas attacks.
  • Heel–Face Turn:
    • Terrorist groups in occupied Syria and Iraq disrupt Race supply lines and stop their efforts for a short time.
    • Every drug cartel in Cuidad Juarez works with the Mexican military in defending the city.
  • Hidden Villain: The Race Emperor, who approved the invasion of Earth in the first place, has so far been given only a few brief mentions. Justified for two reasons, the first being that he was this in the original stories (until Homeward Bound, that is, and even then it is his successor that appears), and that he's ten light years away and there's no such thing as faster-than-light in this universe, in communication or for travel. If the Race or humans want to speak to him, they have to wait about twenty years for a reply thanks to the speed-of-light barrier.
  • Higher-Tech Species: Averted. The Race were intending to confront spearmen and knights not modern day militaries with the same tech as them, only better.
  • Historical Hero Upgrade: Some of the more... antagonistic world leaders such as Kim Jong-il, Hosni Mubarak, and Muammar Gaddafi are shown in a somewhat more positive light (let's just leave it at that.) Of course, anyone is better than alien conquerors.
  • Hit-and-Run Tactics: The retreating Mexican Army use hit and run tactics on squads of Race troops.
  • Hoist by His Own Petard: The Race had pushed back their 800 year plan to invade Earth another 70 years, which accidentally gave Humanity more time to advance.
  • Hold the Line: The Chinese politburo orders the military to hold to the last while fighting in Beijing and Shenyang.
  • Holy City: The Vatican has been bombarded by The Race constantly. Pope Benedict XVI however, refuses to leave.
  • Home Base: The EC's HQ is located in Geneva and the African Mutual Defense Pact's HQ is in Capetown.
  • Home Guard:
    • Illinois National Guardsmen fight bravely to defend the town of Belleville.
    • The local militia in Monterrey, Mexico help Mexican and US forces fight the invaders in the city.
  • Home Field Advantage:
    • Discussed between the Swiss government and the EC before the invasion. The Swiss refuse to join the EC because of it violating their neutrality and due to believing that they could simply use the mountainous regions in the country as a natural fortress.
    • Race forces do far better in the desert regions of the world thanks to it being similar to their home planet.
    • The Iranians actually use their mountains the same way the Swiss were going to. It works enough to stall Race operations in the area.
    • When winter comes around, military forces begin to exploit the invader's weakness to the cold by attacking when they at their weakest.
  • Hope Spot: Race high command are currently holding on to the hope that they will deliver that one killing blow to win the war due to the supply situation getting increasingly worse.
  • Humans Advance Swiftly: In his study on Humans, Ttomalss states that no previous species that The Race has encountered has advanced as fast as the Humans and that they think that Human governments stimulate innovation.
    Ttomalss: "Humans are insistent on their freedom as they are very individualized. These governments stimulate innovation and only shortly contemplate the consequences if they even do, such as when they developed explosive metal bombs in a mere four years."
  • Humans Are Divided: Discussed. Atvar points out that their are plenty of Earth nations and that they may be able to use that as an advantage. Not so much since pretty much every nation on Earth is a member of an alliance of some kind since the fleet was spotted.
  • Humans Are Special: Humanity went from spears and swords to guns and tanks in a mere (to The Race) 870 years.
  • Humans Are Warriors: Humans have the same war tech as The Race, except that Humans know how to fight a mechanized military and have the proper tactics for such. In addition, their tech base seems based off of mid-nineties military technology, while ours is at least fifteen years more advanced.
  • Humans by Any Other Name: The Humans are called "Tosevites" due to their planet being designated "Tosev 3".
  • Humans Through Alien Eyes: While surprised by our culture in general, they find actually raising our children til adulthood as odd and are especially shocked by how far we have come in such a small (to them) amount of time.
  • I Work Alone: Switzerland at first declines the offer to join the European Coalition, being sure that their Defense Force can do just fine on their own.
  • Improvised Weapon: IEDs made by the resistance groups in occupied territory prove to be very effective against Race Landcruisers.
  • Instant Messenger Pigeon: In the event that The Race destroys communication satellites, the US military considers the use of carrier pigeons in a worst case scenario.
  • Insufficiently Advanced Alien: The Race. Their war machines, while similar to ours, is much less advanced and they have no tactics suitable for our kind of warfare but they make up for it with huge amounts of personnel and equipment. Race computers are somewhat better than Human models, but it is nothing revolutionary and overall research into their captured tech has been "surprisingly dull". Though the hydrogen engines and the auto-loading system seems promising to Human scientist.
  • Intelligent Gerbil: The Race are a cross of lizards and chameleons.
  • In Its Hour of Need: Pope Benedict XVI refuses to evacuate Vatican City while it is being bombarded by The Race to keep moral up.
  • In Spite of a Nail:
    • The 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami still occurs and goes about the same as it did in OTL.
    • The wedding of Prince William and Catherine Middleton goes on as planned.
    • Subverted with Nicolas Maduro. He succeeds Hugo Chavez as President of Venezuela only to be overthrown in a military coup.
  • Invaded States of America: Race forces land in Belleville and eventually reach Texas from occupied parts of Mexico.
  • It Has Only Just Begun: Private Charles Cunningham is a little annoyed by all the optimism shown by everyone in Fort Leonard Wood stating that just because we are doing good now doesn't mean that the war is already over.
  • Killsat: Inverted. Rather than launching satellites, we just make new type of missiles.
    • Before the invasion, the UN authorizes NASA and weapons manufacturers to start developing ASAT (Anti-SATellite) weapons in the event that The Race is hostile.
    • On May 10th, United States Strategic Command starts developing a new version of the Minuteman missile series called the "Minuteman IV", a missile made to strike targets in space with the help of MIRVs. It goes for it's first test run less than two months later.
    • In June, test of a French nuclear tipped anti-orbital missile prove successful.
    • China begins testing cruise missiles capable of orbital flight to destroy satellites.
    • Anti-Satellite missiles made in India are successful.
    • The Americans also create the ASM-140 ASAT missile which can be attached to and launched by an F-22 Raptor.
  • Lampshade Hanging: Briefly in Chapter 5: Interlude to War 2.
    Ruth Meyer: "I asked if you thought it was odd that the aliens were so... backwards, I think. No plasma guns or force fields, only assault rifles and tanks."
    Naomi Cohen: "Yeah, it is weird. You'd expect them to be superior to us. But you know what? I like the little fuckers better the way they are. We have enough of them already."
  • Laser-Guided Karma:
    • Flightleader Dreek and his crew brag about shooting down primitive (civilian) aircraft right before being shot down by Ukrainian stealth fighters.
    • Lesotho surrenders to The Race despite being thousands of kilometers away from any of the fighting. They still get invaded, not by The Race, but by South Africa, so as to deny the invaders a landing zone into Africa.
  • Last Stand: With Miyun County nearly overrun, Chinese troops fight with "fanatical determination".
  • Let No Crisis Go to Waste:
    • Egypt agrees to enter a military alliance with Israel for some mild concessions for Palestinians.
    • Libya gets Russian military equipment in exchange for giving the Russians drilling rights.
    • A week before the invasion, Colombia and Venezuela agree to a cease fire but leaves some troops at the borders in case either side tries to use The Race's arrival to their advantage.
    • With Iraq nearly overrun by the invaders, Iran, Syria, and Jordan add several Iraqi border towns to their territory.
  • Like Reality Unless Noted: Aside from the obvious space lizard invasion, the only separating this version of Earth and our Earth is that the World War series doesn't exist in this timeline.
  • Lizard Folk: The Race themselves.
  • Lock and Load Montage: Starting on May 2011, many of the world's militaries speed up their productions of fighter jets, tanks, combat vehicles, and firearms and some canceled/theoretical military projects are given funding.
  • Macross Missile Massacre:
    • Chinese HQ-2J anti-aircraft missiles heavily damages a Race starship.
    • Ballistic missile submarines, along with all other naval assets, rain hell on Race supply depots and defense position.
  • Make It Look Like an Accident: Implied to be the fate of Hugo Chavez.
  • Make Sure He's Dead: After a Race helicopter crashes in Sao Paulo, Naomi and Ruth gun down the survivors and Ruth throws a grenade into the helicopter's passenger compartment.
  • Master Race: The Race look down on races that aren't them, and come into the Earth conflict believing that they're far smarter and more advanced than the natives. The story is basically one long exercise in proving them wrong.
  • Mayan Doomsday: Once the existence of The Race fleet is confirmed, some people start putting two and two together. The fact they are expected to arrive in 2012 doesn't help. Obviously proven false later since they arrive in November 2011 instead.
  • Meaningful Name:
    • The Mexican war plan is named "Plan Huitzilopchtli". Huitzilopchtli was the god of war in ancient Mexico.
    • Chapter 6 is named Cold War. It documents the point in the timeline where Human militaries in the more colder regions of the world begin to use the winter weather against The Race.
  • Mêlée à Trois: During the Colombian-Venezuelan war, both sides send forces to the border they share with Brazil. In response, Brazil sends a detachment of troops to the border to open fire on either side should they enter Brazilian territory.
  • Microts: A Race year is equal to six months on Earth.
  • Middle Eastern Coalition: As the aliens come closer and closer to Earth, every nation within the Middle East agree to help each other fight The Race invaders. Hell, we even have the Israelis teaming with the Egyptians.
  • Military Coup: Nicolas Maduro is removed from power by a military coup.
  • Mohs Scale of Science Fiction Hardness: A Level 5 example. The aliens are capable of interstellar travel, cold sleep, and starships, but their war technology is comparable to what Humans had back in The '90s.
  • Monumental Damage:
    • During the Colombian-Venezuelan war, the Casa de Nariño was destroyed by a Venezuelan bombing run.
    • St. Michael's Golden-Domed Monastery in Ukraine, the Kuwait Towers, and The Forbidden City were destroyed or badly damaged by Race air attacks.
    • Sanjay Gandhi National Park becomes a battlefield the Indian forces use evade Race soldiers.
  • Mook Horror Show: After shooting down some civilian aircraft in the skies of Chernigov, Ukraine, Flightleader Dreek then watches in horror as Ukrainian Air Force stealth fighters take out his wing mates until it's only him remaining.
  • Multinational Team: Most of the world (including former sworn enemies) works hand in hand (though with some rancor) fighting against the aliens.
  • Mythology Gag:
    • Atvar's first appearance has him staring at a hologram of a 12th century knight.note 
    • As mentioned above, areas such as Central America, South America, the Middle East, and Eastern Europe are able to put up much more of a fight because of all the military buildups in the regions since 1942. Separate countries such as Australia, Brazil, China, India, Mexico, and Palestine (Israel) are able to bring much more firepower to the table.
    • The 56th Emperor Jossano gets blown up outside of Belleville, Illinois and contains half of the Conquest Fleet's nuclear stockpile, only this time we don't need it to make our own nukes.
    • The first Human nuke is still launched by a world communist power. Only this time it's China instead of the Soviet Union.
    • In the original novels, one Race landcruiser could slaughter entire Human tank divisions, which included German tanks, which were known to be the best armored and equipped the biggest guns. Now, it's the German tanks that hold a 4:1 kill ratio.
    • In the original novels, during the Battle for Chicago General Patton used an encirclement strategy to win the battle for the Humans. The same tactic is used by the Germans and the French during the fighting between Mannheim and Wurzburg.
  • Names to Run Away from Really Fast: Race killercraft pilots have taken to nicknaming stealth fighters "ghostcraft".
  • Near-Villain Victory: Atvar ordered the nuclear attacks on Washington D.C., Chicago, Tijuana, Milan, and Dalian thinking it would the death knell for Human resistance. As it turns out, people don't like it when nukes are dropped on their cities.
  • Neutral No Longer: Switzerland at first refused to join the European Coalition due to their longstanding neutrality, although after many meetings with the EC where a lot of neutrality pacts, alliance treaties, two-way and one-way agreements, and organizations were considered and ratified, extended or nullified, or created or dissolved.
  • Neutrality Backlash: The Swiss refused to join the European Coalition because it would violate their famed neutral position on conflicts, much to the frustration of Swedish Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt and Austrian Chancellor Werner Faymann. That said, they decided to abandon the neutral stance once they realize how big a threat the invasion was.
  • Never Bring a Knife to a Gun Fight: The Race thought they had brought more than enough to take over a species they thought were still using spears and crossbows. Cue their surprise when they get contacted by technological means by the same species when it spots them coming.
  • Nicknaming the Enemy:
    • Stealth aircraft are known as "ghostcraft" by Race pilots.
    • Humans are called Big Uglies, same as in the base canon.
  • No Biochemical Barriers: Race soldiers in occupied parts of Mexico tried some of the local food but seem to like ginger more so than any other food. They are also affected by nerve agents.
  • No World Leaders Were Harmed: Averted. Real world leaders such as Barack Obama, Hugo Chavez, and many more are featured in the story.
  • Noodle Incident: Invoked. Most of the iconic events of the war such as Barack Obama's "The Union will hold" speech are not mentioned in detail thanks to the post-war timeline formatting the story is written in.
  • Not So Different: POWs in Race custody try to invoke this on their captors to show that Humans can hold some common ground with them and obtain some peace dialogues. It doesn't work.
  • Nothing Is Scarier: About six months of silence from the Conquest Fleet leaves those fearing invasion on edge before the invasion.
  • Nothing Is the Same Anymore:
    • All of the world's nations (including former sworn enemies who were hell bent on destroying each other) have allied with each other to fight off the aliens.
    • When fighting in Brazil, Naomi Cohen noted that "when Ahmadinejad and Al Sadr were on your side, things were confusing".
  • Nuclear Option:
    • Before the invasion, the only nuclear capable power that considers this an option is North Korea, pledging to destroy the first Race ship that lands on Earth. China is the only nation to take the threat seriously, and Chinese anti-nuclear defenses on the Korean border are increased. Ironically enough, China is the first nation to use a nuclear weapon against the invaders.
    • Shiplord Straha suggest that rather than fight the Humans face to face, they just batter them with Nuclear weapons until they surrender. The plan is ignored since a radiation infested planet would not be an ideal spot for colonist to live on.
    • Related to the above mentioned irony, the PLA uses a tactical nuclear weapon on Race forces in Luanping County.
    • Infuriated by Operations Zeus and Halcon and the Luanping nuclear attack, Atvar orders the destruction of Washington D.C., Chicago, Tijuana, Milan, and Dalian. Chicago is the only city not to be nuked and the attacks kill a combined 540,000 people.
  • Nuclear Weapons Taboo: Upheld by all Human nuclear powers and The Race in the beginning except North Korea, claiming that the threat of retribution for dropping a nuke beat out any of the advantages. China later breaks away from the taboo and drops a nuke on Race forces in Luanping County.
  • Nuke 'em: Defied at first. All of Earth's nuclear capable powers refuse to immediately launch nukes for fear of retaliation. China then becomes the first nation to drop a nuke on the aliens.
  • Numbered Homeworld: Earth has been named "Tosev 3" by The Race, as in canon. The homeworld for The Race is an aversion, simply called "Home."
  • Obligatory War-Crime Scene:
    • Flightleader Dreek and his crew strafe columns of people trying to get out of Chernigov, shoots down civilian aircraft, and fires missiles at random buildings.
    • Ukrainian forces deploy nerve agents on the invaders out of desperation.
    • The PLA authorizes the first use of a tactical nuke in the war by dropping it on Race forces in Luanping County.
    • Then there are the nukes dropped on Washington D.C, Chicago (intercepted by the US military), Milan, Tijuana, and Dalian ordered by Atvar.
  • Occupiers out of Our Country: Middle Eastern Insurgents fight The Race occupiers with as much vigor as they did against NATO forces. Just another day at the office for them.
  • Oh, Crap!: Some of the Shiplords are... less than happy about the "Tosevites" being a space faring race capable of contacting the Conquest Fleet.
  • Old-School Dogfighting: Occurs between Race killercraft and Human pilots as they battle for control of the skies.
  • Old Soldier: The Vietnamese Defense Ministry re-recruits many Vietnam War vets to train their current generation of soldiers in guerrilla warfare.
  • Operation: [Blank]:
    • Operation Zeus: A joint American/Canadian operation on Race occupied Belleville which lead to several starships, including the 56th Emperor Jossano, being destroyed and Race operations in the United States being crippled.
    • Operation Halcòn: The Mexican military attacks a Race starship landing zone near Monterrey. The attack destroys one starship and damages six more.
    • Operation Marin: The first major victory for the European Coalition's air force and navy. The raid on Race starships in Bari destroys two starships and severely damages one which lands in the Adriatic Sea, with Europe collecting the remains of the ship and capturing the survivors.
    • Operation Piledriver: The United States Air Force drops three MOABs on The Race spearhead in Cotulla, Texas.
    • Operation Hermes (aka Operation Eve): Another joint American/Canadian operation, this time on Race positions between St. Louis and Jefferson City. With the enemy freezing thanks to good old mother nature, American and Canadian armored divisions and air forces strike vulnerable positions in occupied territory while ground and special forces are inserted into key positions behind enemy lines and destroy anti-armor and anti-air emplacements. The operation was a success and gives the American people the best Christmas gift they could ask for: the gift of a huge victory.
  • Outside-Context Problem:
    • Despite Humanity never facing an extraterrestrial threat before, they are doing well against The Race though this is mainly due to the invader's "insufficiently advanced" nature.
    • Likewise, The Race only has experience in beating the shit out of primitive screwheads, not militaries with the same tech as them only that the would be subjects know how to fight a war a hell of a lot better than them and have the tactics for such.
  • Permission to Speak Freely: Private Charles Cunningham ask his commanding officer Sergeant Bradly Williams for permission to speak freely before telling him why he is up atop a guard tower by himself rather than with everyone else watching the battles on TV.
  • Point of Divergence: Comes during November 2010 where astronomers spotted the Conquest Fleet. Alternately, it came seventy years before the launch of the fleets, when The Race decided to stop for seventy years to fix a critical piece of technology on their Killercraft.
  • Police are Useless:
    • Averted with Belleville law enforcement. They assist National Guardsmen in defending Belleville, Illinois.
    • Played straight with the LAPD, who are reduced to pockets of officers fighting for their lives against rioters and they helped the riots escalate in the awful state their in thanks to trying to brutally suffocate the unrest in the city.
  • Police Brutality: The LAPD "brutally suffocates" the unrest in the city, which only causes the city to descend into chaos much faster.
  • Properly Paranoid: When "War Plan Teal" is leaked to the American public, they are outraged at what was thought to be xenophobic paranoia. Yeah now that The Race invaded, it doesn't seem too crazy now does it?
  • Pyrrhic Victory: Disscussed. When Atvar and the Shiplords are discussing the power of the Humans, Straha suggest them they simply bombard Earth with nukes until they surrender. The plan is quickly shot down when Shiplord Kirel points out that making the planet a radiation infested hellhole would not be a good thing for the incoming colonists.
  • Rage Breaking Point: Atvar ordered the nuclear destruction of Washington D.C., Chicago, Tijuana, Milan, and Dalian because he was infuriated by Operations Zeus and Halcon and the Luanping nuclear attack.
  • Reality Ensues: There are 35,000,000 soldiers in the Conquest Fleet and have also brought along thousands of pieces of equipment, making up for their technological disadvantage. Despite countries such as the US having superior firepower, tactics, and technology, they still need to reenact conscription and break out forbidden weapons of war to avoid being overrun by sheer numbers alone.
  • Reasonable Authority Figure: The one that has gotten the most screen time so far being Barack Obama.
  • Refugee from TV Land: Averted. Word of God has confirmed that the World War novels as we know them do not exist in this universe.
  • Reptiles Are Abhorrent: The Race. Sure their pilots could care less whether their targets are military or civilian, sick artillery barrages on random cities to lower morale, or drop nukes on several highly populated urban centers, but at least they treat their prisoners with respect.
  • La Résistance:
    • Militia groups in occupied America and Mexico fight against Race forces as well.
    • Insurgent groups (you know the ones we were fighting before) also cause trouble for the invaders in occupied Syria and Iraq.
  • Roaring Rampage of Revenge:
    • After the nuking of Milan, Italian Air Force fighters decimate the Race killercraft squadron responsible.
    • PLAAF fighters also hunt down and destroy the killercraft squadron that drop the nuke on Dalian.
  • Rock Beats Laser:
    • Realizing that a space faring race will be able to disrupt satellites and communication lines, the US military reinvents many "old school" methods. Even carrier pigeons are being considered if it gets bad enough. The plan is also adopted by Brazil, Chile, Peru, and Uruguay.
    • The Italian military's Cold War era jet fighters and anti-air defenses work just as well as their modern counterparts in keeping Race killercraft from gaining air dominance.
    • Chinese HQ-2J anti-air missiles are able to badly damage Race starships and fighter jets are fully capable of outright destroying them.
  • Rousing Speech:
    • Atvar gives one to the other Fleetlords to get them ready for the fight against the Humans.
    Atvar: "The Emperor has ordered that we take Tosev 3 and prepare it for colonization. The task will be difficult; this I admit, but we are males of the Race! Our intelligence have shown that we outnumber the natives by at least six folds! Victory can still be attained if we strike hard and without mercy. And so I say, we do not retreat, we do not give way, we proceed."
    • President Obama also gives one to the American people after The Race nuke dropped on Washington D.C. It was so rousing, that it goes down in history alongside Franklin Roosevelt's Day of Infamy speech.
    Barack Obama: "America has never come under the yoke of a foreign king, and never will."
  • Rule of Three: Averted, this goes very badly for The Race. The first world that they conquered was like themselves, and advanced very slowly, and were able to conquer it easily. The second world that they conquered was also like themselves, and was also conquered easily. The third world... was us, and even with over thirty-five million soldiers, things aren't going well for them this time around.
  • Salt the Earth:
    • The scorched earth tactic proves popular with the Italian military as they fall back from overrun areas. The Ukrainians later start utilizing the tactic as they retreat from Kiev.
    • One of the plans for the scenario of a two front war with Race forces overrunning Syria and and launching an attack from occupied Egypt is "nuclear scorcher earth".
  • Scary Dogmatic Aliens: The Race invade Earth just to gain another colony for The Empire.
  • Scenery Gorn: The after effects of the Ukrainian chemical attacks on Race soldiers were described as having landscapes filled with the deceased bodies of Race infantry having died on the spot.
  • Schizo Tech: Humans are actually surprised that the aliens have tanks, aircraft, and technology that are somewhat weaker than ours, but at the same time they have starships and cold sleep tech.
  • Science Hero: Astronomers spot the Conquest Fleet right outside our solar system, preventing them from catching us by surprise like in the original series.
  • Scifi Writers Have No Sense Of Scale: The Race's fleet is described as having 35 million males and as being able to overwhelm parts of Earth with sheer numbers even as they attack across the entire planet. 35 million is hardly enough to overwhelm a planet of 7 billion people. Justified, since The Race likely believed that our population hadn't changed in numbers since the Middle Age, and 35 million soldiers with advanced technology would win in that kind of fight if we hadn't made any progress. Also, not all of those 7 billion humans are adults able to serve as soldiers, and the time we have from when the Race is first spotted to when they arrive and attack isn't really long enough to get the sheer numbers of people needed properly trained, especially in today's modern, highly technical military.
  • Screw This, I'm Outta Here!: During the Colombian-Venezuelan war, the National Army of Venezuela invades Cucuta and Valledupar. They give up on Valledupar a week later thank to fierce Colombian resistance.
  • Semper Fi: Two battalions of US Marines land in Australia to help defend Melbourne.
  • Sex Is Evil: Or revolting, at any rate. Ttomalss is disgusted by all forms of Human sexual activity and warns readers of his study on Humans not to watch any videos of it unless they have a strong stomach.
  • Shout-Out: Naomi Cohen recalls reading a story about would be alien conquerors trying to take over Earth armed with muskets.
  • Shown Their Work: The author does a good job at incorporating modern day events and politics into an invasion by space lizards. He has also done his work on the militaries of the world and their equipment.
  • Signature Scene: In-Universe.
    • The destruction of the 56th Emperor Jossano and other starships are broadcasted on news channels around the world after the success of Operation Zeus.
    • A photo of the portrait of Mao Zedong smiling down on a destroyed killercraft in Tienanmen Square becomes one of the most iconic image of the war.
  • Sitting Duck: Race starships are often attacked while stationed at their landing zones.
  • Sleeper Starship: How The Race arrive to Earth.
  • Sniping the Cockpit: Aiming for the heads of Race landcruiser commanders has become a popular tactic with Human snipers, as they stick their heads out of the hatch to look for enemies.
  • So Much for Stealth:
    • The Race Conquest Fleet was spotted in our solar system almost two years before they touched down, giving Humanity time to prepare for them. RETI also cracks their radio codes extremely easily.
    • Averted for human stealth aircraft, which are a massive advantage that humanity has over killercraft. Though not all Human nations have them, only the world powers and those who made deals with them.
  • Sociopathic Soldier: Race killercraft pilots are made of Type 1s. They don't care whether their targets are military or civilian, if its dead they're happy.
  • Sole Survivor: Flightleader Dreeek is the only survivor of his squadron that was decimated by Ukrainian stealth fighters in Chernigov.
  • Space Age Stasis: Baring the recent killercraft updates (which is why they came to Earth in 2011 instead of 1942), The Race has been stagnant for thousands of years.
  • Space Station: The ISS is raided by a Race boarding party two days before the invasion.
  • Spared by the Adaptation:
    • Osama bin Laden was captured in this timeline instead of being killed. Though if we didn't kill him than the advance kidney disease he had would have.
    • Muammar Gaddafi was never assassinated in this timeline either.
  • Straight for the Commander: A People's Liberation Army Air Force JH-7 bomber kills Infantry Commander Rstalas, sending his forces into disarray.
  • Straight Man and Wise Guy: US Army Private Charles Cunningham, the only soldier in Fort Leonard Wood taking the invasion seriously and James Pertucci, the complete opposite.
  • Suburbia:
    • After St. Louis has fallen, the fighting has extended into the suburbs.
    • The killercraft pilot carrying the nuke meant for Washington DC was intercepted mid course and had to drop the bomb on the Springfield section of DC.
  • Suddenly Significant City:
    • Kyneton, Australia is brought to fame after the Australians successfully halt a Race attack on the town.
    • The Egyptian capital is moved to Alexandria when The Race lands outside of Cairo.
  • Superweapon Surprise:
    • When The Race arrive near Earth, they did not expect the spear swinging primitives to have moved up so quickly to using tanks, aircraft, and nuclear weaponry.
    • The Nerve gas unleashed by the Ukrainians came as a complete shock to Race high command, who had zero concept of chemical warfare.
  • Supervillain Lair: The 127th Emperor Hetto acts as the command hub for the Conquest Fleet and is Atvar's main base of operations.
  • Switching P.O.V.: The Path to War and Interlude to War side chapters switch between a Human POV and a Race one.
  • Tactical Withdrawal: In preparation for the incoming invasion, NATO withdraws all troops from Iraq and Afghanistan.
  • Take Over the World: The entire point of the Conquest Fleet is to land, beat the hell out of the native resistance, pacify the peaceful natives, and secure the planet for the Colonization Fleet.
  • Tanks for Nothing: Subverted. Argentinian TAM tanks and Brazilian Leopard 1A1 take heavy loses thanks to lack of armor. But other models, such as the MBT 2000 and the Leopard 2 are either equal or superior to Race landcruisers.
  • Tank Goodness:
    • Surplus Chinese Type 88 tanks are sold to various African nations.
    • Race Landcruisers are able to hold their own against our tanks, but its no Curb-Stomp Battle.
    • On the Chinese front, Type 96 and Type 99 MBTs devastate Race infantry and Landcruisers.
    • The Royal Canadian Dragoons, a Canadian Army armored regiment, joins the fight with the Americans in St. Louis. They utilize the Leopard 2A6 and it's 2A6M variant.
    • The US 1st Armored Division works with the 1st Cavalry to defend the US-Mexican border. The US 1st Armored Division is mainly made up of M1A2 Abrams.
    • German Leopard 2 tanks prove to be invaluable during the Battle for Frankfurt.
    • Picking themselves up after the devastating defeat at Al Basrah, the Iraqis beat back Race Landcruisers attacking Amarah with T-72s.
    • Subverted with Argentinian TAM tanks and Brazilian Leopard 1A1s, who can fight off the Landcruisers, they take heavy losses due to lack of armor.
    • South American MBT-2000s and Leopard 2s have proven to be either equal or superior to Race landcruisers.
    • French AMX Leclerc tanks fight alongside the Germans at Mannheim and Wurzburg.
  • Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: Colombia and Venezuela agree to put their conflict on hold to prepare to fight the incoming aliens.
  • Tempting Fate: Flightleader Dreek and his wingmates talk about how primitive Human aircraft are ... right before the squadron gets slaughtered by Ukrainian stealth fighters.
  • The Alliance:
    • The European Space Agency works with NASA to keep track of the fleet before they arrive.
    • The members of ASEAN agree to defend each other during the invasion.
    • America, Canada, and Mexico agree to give mutual assistance in the event that the North American continent is attacked.
    • Likewise the members of the African Union and the Arab League agree to fight as one as the African Mutual Defense Pact should the aliens land in their territory.
    • Egypt, Israel, and Turkey enter a military alliance with each other.
    • Most of Europe teams up and forms the European Coalition.
    • Australia, realizing that America will probably be too busy defending its own interests to help out, organizes the nations of the Five Power Defense Arrangements (the United Kingdom, Singapore and Malaysia) in defense treaties.
    • Chile and Peru agree to support one another if either one is invaded.
    • The South American Security Council is finally created consisting of Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay, Argentina, Chile, Peru, French Guiana, Suriname, Guyana, and Ecuador.
    • The African Mutual Defense Pact is created and the members are Kenya, South Africa, Swaziland, Lesotho, Madagascar, Nigeria, Ethiopia, Egypt, Uganda, Tanzania, Burundi, Botswana, and Tunisia.
    • Representatives and military leaders from Russia, Belarus, Romania, and Moldova ally to combat The Race threat pouring out of the Ukraine and form "The Minsk Pact".
  • The Cartel: The drug cartels in Ciudad Juarez, including the infamous Juarez cartel, fight alongside the Mexican garrison in the city to combat the Race.
  • The Cavalry:
    • The Venezuelan 1st Cavalry Division spearheads an attack on Cucuta and Valledupar.
    • About two days into the fighting, many nations under siege are getting support for nearby neighbors and fellow alliance members.
    • Three days after the first landing, the US 2nd Infantry Division join the fight for Missouri.
    • The 1st Cavalry Division helps the 1st Armored Divison defend the US-Mexican border.
    • The Australian 1st Division and 2nd Division fights for Bendigo with help from the Americans.
  • The Dragon: Kirel, Atvar's second in command.
  • The Empire: The Race's reason for invading Earth is to add another territory to their empire.
  • The Emperor: The Race emperor, who has not made an appearance as of yet.
  • The End of the World as We Know It: The belief that an alien invasion in 2012 would equal the end of man was all that was needed for the "Mayan Doomsday" theories to pick up steam.
  • The New '10s: The Race invade in November of 2011 and the war is currently in January 2012.
  • The Neutral Zone: Brazil takes on this role during the Colombian-Venezuelan war.
  • The Plan: As The Race comes closer and closer to Earth, several nations start making war plans to prepare for them:
    • "War Plan Teal" from the United States:
    "The strategic relocation of U.S. Army and Marine units prior to the contact. Canada and Mexico have also been involved in the planning, given the proximity of these countries to the US. Given the large size of the continental USA, only key areas are to be defended initially. Mutual assistance is also expected from all three nations (US, Canada, and Mexico) in event of an attack on North American soil."

    "Most NATO units serving in the Afghan war will be immediately withdrawn in the event any NATO members find themselves under attack. Plans are made to withdraw critical military units back to their respective home countries in less than 72 hours. Already, arrangements are being made with Pakistan to facilitate the rapid evacuation of these military units. Prior to the expected date of contact with the fleet, a communications blackout will be imposed in Afghanistan. NATO forces will also temporarily withdrawn units back to their home countries should an invasion occurs. The coalition forces in Afghanistan will largely comprise of the Afghan National Army and special forces units. Most air assets will also be withdrawn. All major operations are to cease three months before expected date of contact.
    • NATO starts to plan how to best defend Europe, though planning is difficult as all countries want priority protection and they are unsure if the aliens are able to strike anywhere in the world.
    • China also draws up their own war plan with Russia. Similar to the American "War Plan Teal", they intend on only defending key positions and they plan to relocate industries into the deeper more rugged parts of the country.
    • The members of the Five Power Defense Arrangements along with Indonesia and the US review war plans for The Race.
    • On the same day as the wedding of Prince William and Princess Kate, British and Commonwealth officials meet to discuss a mutual defense plan inspired by America's "War Plan Teal".
    • The Mexican war plan "Plan Huitzilopchtli" involves buying 24 F-15SE Silent Eagles, having the FX-05 Xiuhcoatl assault rifle replace the Heckler & Koch G3A3, and rely on Americans air bases and personnel.
  • The Quisling: When Lesotho announces that they intend to seek peace (i.e surrender) with the invaders even if they are hostile, several African nations accuse them of being this. They carry out their promise which gets them invaded by South Africa and all leaders of the country are arrested under charges of treason.
  • The Remnant:
    • Retreating Mexican units cross the Texas/Mexican border and are integrated into the US Army.
    • The LAPD are reduced to this as riots throughout Los Angeles caused by lack of water and electricity in the city grow out of control.
  • The Reptilians: The Race.
  • The Reveal: Three months after the fleet is spotted, the governments of the world announce The Race's existence at the same time.
  • The Right of a Superior Species: Atvar convinces the other Fleetlords to get behind the invasion by telling them that by being males of The Race, they are automatically smarter than the Humans by six folds. Then they invade Earth...
  • The Rival: Kirel is this to Straha.
  • The Stool Pigeon: Hugo Chavez, who nearly revealed the existence of the Conquest Fleet before the rest of the world was ready to do so themselves. Its implied he gets a "untimely heart attack" for his troubles.
  • The War on Terror: Ended. With NATO aware that The Race's Conquest Fleet are on the way, troops are withdrawn en mass from Iraq and Afghanistan.
  • They Come in Peace: Before the invasion, author Deepak Chopra claims to have been in contact with The Race for some times and speaks of a "message of peace and love". A short time later, he gets abducted by the Department of Homeland Security.
  • Third Time's the Charm: Averted. Earth is the third planet The Race invade in their history and quickly becomes the most costly invasion in they have ever fought.
  • There Are No Global Consequences: Averted.
    • Once all the world's governments announce The Race's existence, things start to get a little hectic:
      • NATO forces withdraw from Afghanistan.
      • Stock market all over the world sees a downward spike in points.
      • The Arab Spring is largely ignored and unsuccessful, with many of the regimes overthrown in OTL staying in power.
      • UFO and Mayan Doomsday cults start to appear all over the world.
      • The huge amount of defense spending causes a recession and the world's geography and politics changes rapidly.
    • It gets somewhat worse when the invasion begins:
      • Many oil processing plants on land are destroyed by Race airstrikes and the prices of oil skyrocket.
      • Played straight with world trade as sea commerce has not been notice by The Race.
  • There Is No Kill Like Overkill:
    • In preparation for The Race, we developed nuclear tipped anti satellite missiles.
    • In order to halt the Race's advance to Texas, the USAF drops three MOABs on the incoming force. It works and the advance is halted immediately.
  • This Means War!:
    • Venezuela declares war on Colombia after a Venezuelan recon plane is shot down by the Colombians.
    • Colombia declares war on Cuba after they start supplying weapons to Venezuelan forces.
    • Most famously, Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad declares jihad on the invaders in his country.
  • Time Skip: Ttomalss' study on Humans was written in 2057.
  • To Win Without Fighting: Discussed. Shiplord Straha suggest that rather than sending males to fight and die trying to conquer Earth, they just batter the planet with nukes until the Humans give in. The plan is shot down instantly due to a glassed planet not being a good place for the colonists.
  • Took a Level in Badass: After the defeat in Al Basrah, the Iraqis step up their game and becomes a formidable foe against the invaders.
  • Trapped Behind Enemy Lines: During the Colombian-Venezuelan war, a team of Colombian commandos are sent to Catia La Mar to assassinate many key members of the Venezuelan government such as Nicolas Maduro. The attempt fails and most of the commandos are captured.
  • Truth in Television: The Brazilian government has actually been proposing the idea of a real South American Security Council since 2008.
  • Unfinished, Untested, Used Anyway: The Ukrainians unleash untested nerve gas on Race infantrymales out of sheer desperation.
  • United Europe: All of Europe allies under the banner of the "European Coalition".
  • Urban Warfare:
    • Occurs between Colombian and Venezuelan forces in Cucata.
    • With The Race finally on Earth, this occurs in huge cities across the globe such as Monterrey, Sao Paulo, Kiev, Mumbai, and many others.
    Monterrey has fallen proper despite the best efforts of the Mexican Army. However, the Race lose at least 600 infantry males and 30 landcruisers fighting for the city. They learn the hard way that urban fighting greatly favors the defenders.
  • Violation of Common Sense: Race landcruiser commanders often stick their heads out of the hatch to look for enemies. Human snipers are quick to exploit this.
  • Violence Is the Only Option: Humanity tries to peacefully contact the fleet only for The Race to disregard all contact attempts.
  • Voice of the Resistance: The Kuwaiti Royal family encourages their citizens still in occupied Kuwait to undermine the invaders over the radio.
  • War Fic: Should not be a surprise; it's based on a series titled "World War" after all.
  • We Come in Peace — Shoot to Kill: Humanity tries to contact the Conquest Fleet in an attempt to obtain peace. The Race ignores all attempts at contact, determined to take Earth by force.
  • Weaksauce Weakness: Race soldiers love the Human spice ginger, which "addled" them and seems to be on its way to becoming something Human forces are going to exploit soon.
  • We ARE Struggling Together:
    • While the rest of the world is preparing to fight the incoming Conquest Fleet, Colombia and Venezuela continue to fight each other. Though they agree to cut it out and start preparing for the invaders.
    • A joint Chilean-Peruvian armored battalion keeps driving toward Brazil, completely ignoring Paraguay's pleas for help as the country is slowly being overrun and causes animosity between the three countries.
  • Wham Chapter: Chapter 4: Total War is where the nukes start flying.
  • What Could Have Been: In-Universe. The prologue of the story mentions that the Race were going to invade during World War II, however an improvement to their killercraft took 70 years to install and by the time they were actually ready to invade, they had inadvertently given Humanity more time to advance.
  • What the Hell, Hero?:
    • When the first draft "War Plan Teal" is leaked, the American public is outraged calling it "barbaric paranoia" and "unpatriotic defeatism", which lowers President Obama's popularity.
    • Italian President Giorgio Napolitano is heavily criticized for failing to prepare defenses around Italy that could have prevented the nuking of Milan.
  • What Were You Thinking?: Hugo Chavez is berated by everyone at the UN meeting for revealing the existence of The Race fleet.
  • Whole Story Flashback: The first chapter recaps the entire events of the canon series... only to explain that those events happened in another universe.
  • Wrong Genre Savvy: When all of the world's governments confirm the existence of The Race's fleet and that they are to arrive in 2012, some people start connecting the invasion with the Mayan Doomsday. Funny enough, they arrive in November 2011 anyway.
  • Would Not Shoot a Civilian: Averted for Race killercraft pilots.
  • Wretched Hive: Los Angeles is reduced to a chaotic shithole thanks to lack of electricity, lack of water, and "brutal suffocation" of unrest by the LAPD.
  • You ALL Share My Story: Averted. None of the main POV characters have met each other yet due to fighting in different parts of the world.
  • Your Normal Is Our Taboo: Among other things, The Race are shocked by our lack of Empires and our high rate of advancement in 870 years. They also think raising our young is odd.
  • Zerg Rush: Discussed between Atvar and and Kirel before the invasion of Earth. The Conquest Fleet consist of 35,000,000 infantrymales and note that no Human military can match them in those numbers. This tactic actually works in some of the small countries of Earth, helps dominate the skies, and gives superpower nations such as America and China a run for their money.
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