Jack the Ripper: London's Shadows / Season 1, Episode 7
First Contact
The invaders reach Alliance territory at dawn. Your scouts track their advance in real-time—reports flowing in through the communication network you spent weeks building. Two thousand soldiers moving in organized columns, their formation speaking to military precision and absolute confidence. The first engagement happens at the eastern perimeter. A harassment squad—five of your best fighters, all above Level 10—strikes from concealment as the lead column passes through a narrow street. Three enemy soldiers fall before the invaders even realize they're under attack. Then your fighters vanish, melting back into the urban terrain before counterattacks can be organized. Eleven minutes later, another strike. Two more kills. Seventeen minutes after that, a third strike. Four kills, one Alliance casualty. The pattern continues throughout the morning. Hit and fade, hit and fade, bleeding the invasion force one small wound at a time. It's working—the advance is slowing, the columns are spreading out to cover potential ambush sites, coordination between units is degrading. But it's not enough. "They're adapting," Victoria reports from her command post. "Sending heavy units to clear areas before the main column advances. Our ambush effectiveness is dropping." You expected this. No strategy works forever against a competent enemy. "Execute Phase Two," you say. "Controlled retreat. Pull everyone back to secondary positions." --- PHASE TWO IS harder. Instead of striking and...