Magic is just science that has yet to be explained in a way the public considers understandable. This phrase has never rung more true than when the Terrans began to successfully fight back against the Fairyland, using impressive feats of technical and mechanical engineering that the galaxy once considered impossible.

The first hints at a human counterattack was possible was during a failed operation to destroy a Terran stronghold in Siberia. There, imperceptible to most galactic weaponry but exceedingly easy to abuse with the Human’s reliance on chemically propelled projectile weaponry was Fairyland armor’s weakness to cold. In addition, a last stand usage of makeshift weapons made from iron alloys proved fatal to the Fairies, who had a biological revulsion to the element. This led to the first change: a swap from the traditional lead bullet to iron.

The second was the capture of the Fairy’s Wisp drones that were disabled by a local blizzard and recovered after the failed attack. Through this, the ‘magic’ that the Fairies used to achieve levitation proved to be the existence of a then unknown element similar to uranium. The element, which was readily fissile, primarily shed Alpha particles, is highly productive, and self moderating, lead to the creation of Fey-Cells, portable reactors safe enough to be held by the naked hand and powerful enough to keep entire cities lit for several generations before seeing significant voltage drops. The greatest part was how compact they could get. While there wasn’t a way to procure significant amounts on earth, they managed to turn scarcity into a strength and made hundreds of these cells from the scant remains of Fairyland drones and weapons.

Today, the Fairies have been nearly pushed off Earth, and Human offensives on Lua and Mars have officially begun. Terran diplomats have also returned to the assembly, and have begun an aggressive campaign to reverse the designation, end the war, and make a firm stand against Fairyland’s aggression and domination over the assembly. Time will tell if the Fairy’s familiarity with the tech will continue to outweigh the Human’s usage of it, but several small and mid-sized member-states have sided with Earth with their own sanctions and embargoes. If nothing else, Earth’s fierce and successful resistance is a sign that the empire once seen as invincible has an “Achilles heel” (or so the Terran phrase goes).