19C - End of an Era

The Victorian air ships brought back the news of the utter defeat to Melbourne later that night. The next day the headlines of the newspapers were full of the terrible news, lists of casualties and calls for the government to resign. The Victorian Prime Minister tried to hold on to power by deflecting blame to the army and its commanders and to the Minister of War, but by the end of the day had been forced to resign in disgrace.

In Sydney the celebrations were tinged by the terrible loses and the damage to the city.
The telegraph between Sydney and Melbourne ran hot with demands and counter accusations. The NSW Government was slightly assuaged by the fall of the Victorian Government and the subsequent request from the Victorian Governor for an armistice to allow time to form a new government who could discuss peace terms.

Just a week later the world was still coming to terms with this short and fearsome war on the other side of the Earth when there was another shock. All across the world an alien invader had landed. Soon identified as Martians, with formidable weapons they quickly took bridgeheads on each of the continents.

Finally, Earth had found a cause that they could all agree on and work together. All the current disputes were put to one side and enemies became allies, foes became friends, and armies co-operated against the new and devastating invader that threatened them all.

Australia was no exception. The Victorians were happy to find common ground with NSW and to put the recent “unpleasant events” in the past. The new Victorian Government were wise enough to place their Army at the disposal of the NSW to eliminate the Martian attack in the south of NSW. While the NSW government and people were not too happy about inviting Victorian troops into NSW they were less happy about trying to defeat the Martians by themselves and they realised that the Victorian troops, EMUS and flying ships would greatly help them.

So the armies joined together to fight the Martians and a great force assembled in the outback of NSW on a sheep station that the Martians had landed at.

Martian Invasion Area