The First Battle of Reflex Point

Much has been written about the UEEF's First Reclamation Force and their destruction in their failed attempt to reclaim the Earth. However, what has been often overlooked was that they were not alone in their attack. Rather, it represented the cumulating of efforts that had been underway on Earth since the invasion.

As mentioned previously, there were two large resistance groups that were active in the Americas in the aftermath of the Invid Invasion. The first was the last remnants of the Global Military Police, under the command of Major Nova Satori. Based out of an underground facility near Denver, they GMP had spent the first year after the invasion gathering intelligence on the Invid and their allies. The second was the group led by Colonel Jonathan Wolfe and aided by Major John Carpenter which operated out of Valhalla in Amazonas. This group had been slowly building its forces while planning for a possible assault, but the key issue was one of support; they knew that they lacked the forces to destroy Reflex Point on their own.

The key to the situation was Moonbase ALuCE, commanded by Major General Desmond Nobutu. A veteran TASC officer, he had been carefully hoarding Mecha and personnel against a possible future assault. However, he had been unable to make contact with Earth, and was not willing to commit to anything unless he knew that there would be forces on the ground to aid in an attack on Reflex Point. After efforts at radio communication failed, he sent a single courier, Bekka Cade (another ASC veteran) with an Alpha towards Soldiertown. While she was shot down by the Invid, she was able to make contact with Wolfe's forces. From there, they were able to reach out to Satori, and then break through to establish reliable contact with ALuCE.

The arrival of the UEEF's First Reclamation Force changed the situation completely. Making contact with ALuCE, they were appraised of the situation on Earth and the still-active resistance forces. Through them, a plan began to take shape, one that was aimed at aimed at attacking Reflex Point to decapitate the Invid leadership.

The plan called for the Reclamation Force, bolstered by Nobutu's reserve forces, to punch through the Invid's orbital defences and assault Reflex Point from space. At the same time, the resistance groups would attack Reflex point from the ground, bolstered by forces from the UEEF's forward base at Point K. The aim was to present the Invid with an overwhelming force, one that they would not be able to stop. However, at the same time, it was a risky, all-or-nothing gamble, but between them, Nobutu, Wolfe, Carpenter and Satori felt it was worth it to defeat the Invid.

Unfortunately, the plan began to fall apart even before the assault began. Wolfe pulled out at the last moment, instead redirecting his forces into a seemingly pointless strike on a hive in central Texas. While this removed a good portion of their forces without a shot being fired, both Carpenter and Satori were already committed to the assault and could not afford to back out now, especially with the Reclamation Force and Nobutu's fleet already in the way. Both of them instead went all-in, launching the first wave on schedule. Based on the breakdown of their forces, Satori would provide the majority of the ground troops, while Carpenter's Veritech forces would provide their air support. Even if they were outnumbered, both groups were fully expecting that the arrival of Reclamation Force and Nobutu would more than make up the difference.

However, the orbital assault ran in to far greater Invid numbers in space than expected, with the fleet running afoul of their interceptors and transport ships. Despite having their own warships and a fleet of mecha, most of their force was destroyed in space before even reaching Earth's atmosphere. Those that did make it through were either shot out of the sky by the Invid, or scattered across North America, unable to regroup with the rest of their force. The few who were able to reach Reflex Point were destroyed in the sky above the central Invid hive complex while inflicting negligible damage.

The forces on the ground likewise faced overwhelming numbers from the very beginning of their attack. However, a lack of communication made it unclear what had happened to the 10th Division, leading to a confused situation. With casualties mounting, Satori tried to pull her GMP forces out of the attack, only to find that they were now surrounded and unable to retreat. As a result, the GMP suffered severe losses in the withdrawal, further diminishing their forces. Carpenter managed to pull out more of his forces and regroup with some coherence, but isolated skirmishes with the Invid would occur for the next few days.

For his part, Wolfe's attack on the Texas hive was a questionable success at best. He destroyed the hive and freed a large number of prisoners, but at the cost of numerous members of his team. Furthermore, the operation proved to have been based on faulty intelligence. Wolfe had launched the attack to free his estranged wife and son. Instead, neither were at the hive, having been already moved days ago. Ironically, even with these losses, Wolfe's forces still fared far better than either Carpenter or Satori's.

The losses ran deeper than just the manpower and Mecha. After discovering what had happened, Carpenter broke ranks with Wolfe, splitting what was left of his forces off into a separate group which came to be known as the Splinters. He and Bekka Cade left Valhalla, instead moving into the subterranean complex under the ruins of Portland where they would begin trying to rebuild. However, their focus became less and less on fighting the Invid, focusing on relief operations and supporting refugees.

The GMP retreated back to their own headquarters near Denver to take stock of what they had left. While their losses in terms of manpower and equipment had been severe, it was again the loss of trust in their allies that was their biggest setback. Satori blamed Wolfe for a lot of what had happened, and, by extension, Carpenter who had served as Wolfe's second for not stopping him. Compared to the alliance that had existed before the battle, relations between the GMP and Splinters would be terse at best.

Finally, Wolfe returned to Valhalla where he began to rebuild his forces. Under his leadership, the community would remain a magnet for resistance fighters across South America. Wolfe continued to lead operations against the Invid, but he now worked alone and made no effort to coordinate with any other groups or even contact them, even going so far as to break off contact with Point K. While it is still unclear when he turned, it is generally agreed that the failed attack was key to it. Even though outwardly it was comparatively prosperous, the true nature of the community and its leader would remain hidden for years to come.

In the aftermath, the Invid began aggressively hunting down survivors of the resistance forces. At the same time, they put more pressure on their sympathisers to ferret out those that might be harbouring resistance forces or otherwise aiding them. Many smaller cells across North America were hunted down and destroyed during this time, while more than one innocent settlement was wiped out for simply being on the wrong place. In space, the Invid conducted sweeps of Earthspace to ferret out any surviving forces; however, they did not make any moves against the moon.

Four years later when Second Reclamation Force arrived behind the moon to launch their own effort to reclaim Earth, they found no support. While Moonbase ALuCe offered what intelligence it could, its depleted reserves had nothing left to offer. Likewise, there were no resistance groups on the ground that they were in contact with who were willing or able to aid in an assault. And while Second Reclamation Force was also destroyed in their attack on Reflex Point, their assault would eventually lead to the liberation of the Earth.