Best HFY Stories: The Chase

[@Darkinu2]

Aliens tend to forget we are... Those Who Run.

[@GarmrsBarking]

actually one of my favorite HFY stories....

[@homoerectus6953]

It's an excellent quote and again a brilliant story to listen to.....

[@TheSolidSnakeOil]

I understood that reference.

[@DeathclawJedi]

@@TheSolidSnakeOil Easy there Captain don't strain that defrosted brain.🤣

[@sigmar4564]

The blood bag was a nice touch

[@brianbarber5401]

Brings new meaning to the term “bait and switch”

[@TheSolidSnakeOil]

This should really be called The Bait.

[@scottl369]

But then we wouldn't have fallen for The Switch at the end. ^_^

[@martinwyke]

That would have given away the twist

[@gvbavel]

Great story, great narration!

[@GarmrsBarking]

red dawn but with professionals and aliens... and maybe another planet???

[@Mark73]

No, they specifically said it was Earth

[@olebloom1641]

Asymmetrical warfare is a mf'r.

[@sethrainey7105]

I demand more

[@beingsneaky]

what?? didn't save a few to show them true pack hunting and chasing??

[@davidtherwhanger6795]

Nope. This was a guerrilla unit. They don't have the time for that.

[@andrewreynolds9371]

Why is it that stories like this talk about how the landscape and/or planet is 'devastated', yet there's always fuel and spare parts to keep vehicles operating? There also magically seems to be plenty of ammunition for weapons. Wouldn't fuel production facilities and large stockpiles be at-or-near the top of any invaders 'to destroy' list? Same thing with ammunition production facilities. You can't just whomp together rounds for a Ma Deuce out of scrap metal and good wishes. Same goes for any other modern weapons. I guess it's easier to write about 'defeating the space monsters' if you suspend reality more than a bit.

[@firefighter_raven]

Ahh, thanks for the reminder. I planned for this to be a much longer series so I'll try to explain that.

[@andrewreynolds9371]

@@firefighter_raven as I said, it's not just you. there's a whole subgenre of 'war stories' where the 'good guys' seem to have the ability to conjure up whatever they need in order to win. I always wondered why no one paid attention to history. many of the Native America tribes acquired weapons by bootstrapping the weapons they possessed and their tactics to capture weapons from their opponents. the Afghans started their fight against the Soviets in the same manner, except they possessed firearms to begin with. I could see this same scene played out with the decoy leading the alien troops into a similar ambush except the ambushing force is armed improved black power firearms and/or actual bows and arrows. it still lets them kill the aliens and capture their weapons (and using those weapons to capture more weapons, plus any supplies they need to keep those weapons firing), without the need for vast stocks of material any thinking attacking force would destroy ASAP after the invasion began. escape could have been accomplished via the same mode the Comanches used: tamed horses, of which there are still many roaming free in the Great Plains. ride in a herd of them, and a space-based observation system is going to see a mass of moving animals, something they'll have seen many times before. keep a big enough herd, and you can drive some ff as distractions, while still keeping enough with you as remounts. (yeah, I write too, so I think about these things from time to time) anyway, good luck with your writing. I can tell you put a decent amount of work into this short piece, so hopefully you're refine/explain your fictional world as you move forward.

[@firefighter_raven]

@andrewreynolds9371 I've been contemplating the ammo puzzle for some time but in a different setting so I know what you mean. There's a ammo manufacturer in my town so I think I'll send them an email

[@davidtrammel]

Great point Andrew. One way around that is to "gear down" with your tech level. Go with flint locks or black powder rifles, which are "relatively" more simple to manufacture. Most of the guns made before the 1800s were made by skilled blacksmiths and metal workers, well within the tech level of insurgents. You cut down on the volume but you make it with tactics that favor volley fire. Maybe add in a few people with bows or cross bows for silent kills. And arm everyone with melee weapons too. A few hand axes, maces or short swords. You would have a very interesting story of a resistance much closer to what you would expect to see. Might be a good suggestion for the writers out there.

[@andrewreynolds9371]

@@firefighter_raven well, think about what makes up modern ammunition: brass case primer propellant charge actual projectile that gets fired you can 'recycle' brass, but that implies you've either got the time to stop and collect it, or that you'll fit your weapons with a container to catch the spent brass. both options have their problems, and brass can only be reused so many times before the accumulated stress starts causing it to fail. that can lead to many different failures of the weapon, not something your fighters are going to appreciate in the middle of a fire fight. primers have some fairly exotic chemicals in their makeup, not lending themselves to being tossed together from whatever lying around the propellant in a modern cartridge is also not easy to manufacture, and gunpowder does not work as a substitute due to it's lower explosive power and the residue left from combustion fouling the mechanism in modern weapons. the projectile itself is (relatively) simple, and about the only thing in a modern ammunition round that could be realistically made in a 'low-tech' setting.

[@greywolf9783]

Yoo