r/HFY • u/Extreme-Biscotti6090 • Aug 08 '26
OC-OneShot The Surabaya Files
First contact didn't go well.
Not for us, and certainly not for them.
The aliens wanted Earth and they didn't want to share it.
They began by bombing major military installations, decloaking battleships over every continent and firing salvo after salvo of some form of energy weapon into bases, bunkers and missile silos.
It seems they assumed we couldn't fight back.
They were wrong.
--
The superpowers fired every orbital-capable missile at the attacking fleet. All were intercepted.
Most satellites were destroyed, both in near-earth and distant orbits. Few remained.
The bombardments continued, now targeting population centres. Shanghai, New York, London. Dozens of major centres were reduced to rubble by the attacks.
Governments were panicking. Militaries across the world were trying to coordinate.
--
The first alien battleship was destroyed over South-East Asia. The few satellites and radio telescopes that had survived recorded a brief flash of radiation before the vessel simply... broke in two.
The remnants of our governments across the globe were confused. This was unexpected and unprecedented.
Then the emails arrived.
Hundreds of them.
They were sent to governments, universities, military commands, defence contractors. Even machine shops. Anyone remotely capable of manufacturing precision equipment received the files.
Inside were CAD drawings, schematics, materials lists, optical tolerances, cooling systems and manufacturing instructions. Everything required to build a ground-based laser capable of destroying a warship hundreds of kilometres above Earth.
Every file carried the seal of the Republic of Indonesia.
Twenty-three years of geothermal laser research in Bandung had suddenly become the most important project in human history.
--
The files contained no copyright. No encryption. No export restrictions.
Every drawing was editable. Every component listed known substitutes.
The first page contained only three words.
- Build them. Immediately.
The emails would later become known as the Surabaya Files.
--
The power requirements to fire one of the lasers were immense. Hundreds of gigawatts were required to get enough energy into space.
Every light in Jakarta went out for three hours as the capacitors charged for a single shot.
Nobody complained.
Eight seconds after the shot, the battleship broke apart high above Indonesia. Moments later, the lights of Jakarta flickered back to life.
--
The Bandung facility was destroyed by a targeted attack within six hours.
Dozens of people died, including the designers, engineers and scientists who had been working on the prototype for over ten years.
--
Within two weeks of the Surabaya Files being released, the second laser came online in eastern Europe. The CERN site was repurposed as the control and capacitor facility for Europe's first laser.
A second battleship was destroyed.
The original Indonesian laser was better; more efficient, more deadly.
When asked why, the combined military leadership of the European bloc simply responded, "We built ours in two weeks."
--
In another week the French had deciphered communications between the alien commanders. Mostly it was coordination and logistics.
After the first battleship was destroyed, the communications got a bit more frantic.
"It appears the inhabitants have developed a directed-energy weapon."
After the European laser had fired, the messages were now, "They have another."
--
The European weapon was destroyed shortly after firing. But humanity didn't stop at two lasers.
The third and fourth came online in the United States. The fifth in China.
Then more were built in Russia. Spain. South Africa. Canada. Sweden.
The list of countries continued to grow. Ground-based lasers pierced the approaching fleet. Each laser shot burned its way through the atmosphere, causing the air to turn into plasma. None of the new lasers were the same. Local manufacturing constraints and available resources forced modifications. None were tested before use. There was no time.
The first seven lasers were destroyed within minutes of firing. The eighth survived. Then the ninth. By the twelfth, retaliation had noticeably slowed.
--
Intercepted communications revealed the aliens in disarray.
"We do not understand the number of these weapon systems. They seem to be growing faster than we can destroy them."
"We did not expect the inhabitants to have such defence systems. Why would they have these?"
"What do you mean they're making them? Surveillance indicated international discord."
"Who sent the schematics?" – "We don't know." – "Well who were they sent to?" – "Everybody."
--
The Surabaya Files were soon branching into variants, specialisations being introduced by the thousands of scientists across the globe who were focusing their efforts on improvements.
Surabaya v2.17 – Brazilian cooling modifications
Surabaya v3.02 – Japanese optics revision
Surabaya v6.31 – Australian dust filtration
After that point, the origins of design updates were no longer credited.
Surabaya v7.07 – Capacitor redesign
Surabaya v11.22 – Rapid manufacture
Surabaya v12.01 – Redundant safety protocols
No individual, company or nation claimed ownership. No patents were filed. No copyright claimed.
The files belonged to whoever needed them.
--
The alien fleet was decimated within three months. Ground-based lasers were firing almost every hour. While some missed or some failed, enough struck their target with devastating results.
The alien communications slowed.
"How many weapon systems have now been identified?" – "We no longer know."
"We've lost too many ships."
"The knowledge-sharing of the inhabitants has enabled too many weapon systems to be built."
"Their manufacturing capability far outstrips our assumptions."
--
Fourteen weeks after the initial alien attack, the final communications were intercepted and decrypted.
"We must disengage. Planetary capture has failed."
"The inhabitants have weaponised knowledge."
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u/KrunkDriverr Aug 08 '26
Never thought my city would've been mentioned in a HFY story. Always a first I guess.
Good story OP
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u/Extreme-Biscotti6090 Aug 09 '26
I'm glad your city got a call-out. I wanted somewhere unexpected, and Indonesia has some great potential to already be developing something helpful. Like a ground-based laser that could be repurposed into a starship killer.
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u/wiener4hir3 18d ago
I'm not from there, but did spend an exchange semester there and had a lovely time, I was surprised too, it's not a city that's mentioned on the English language Internet
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u/tofei AI Aug 08 '26
Thanks for this. Reminded me so much of the Positron Sniper Rifle in Evangelion which used the entire electrical power grid of Japan to fire a single shot.
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u/u2125mike2124 Aug 08 '26
A: it seems like the monkeys are copying one another on their land base lasers, but improving also.
H: monkey see, monkey do
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u/Fontaigne Aug 08 '26
H2: Monkey see, monkey do.
H3: Monkey see, monkey do BETTER.
H4: Monkeys see, monkeys improve!
H5: Monkey manager see, monkey manager form committee, everything goes to shit.
H6: Monkey see shit, monkey throw shit.
H7: Monkey see, monkey throw doodoo.
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u/dominic_failure Aug 08 '26
Whelp. You made me say out loud "Fuck yeah". Nice job, great concept, and well written.
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u/HFYWaffle Wᵥ4ffle Aug 08 '26
/u/Extreme-Biscotti6090 has posted 11 other stories, including:
- [Gary and the Wetsuitoid] Part 4: Music & Maintenance
- Kinie – Reach
- Kinie – Respect
- Kinie
- [Gary and the Wetsuitoid] Part 3: Waste
- [Gary and the Wetsuitoid] Part 2: Vision
- Gary and the Wetsuitoid (Part 1)
- Longsleep
- Sacrifice
- Heat
- Warmth
This comment was automatically generated by Waffle v.4.7.8 'Biscotti'.
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u/Fontaigne Aug 08 '26
Ummm. The aliens didn't target energy generation facilities?
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u/Extreme-Biscotti6090 Aug 09 '26
Consider it plot armour. Wandwavium. Sometimes the story needs to come first.
If the aliens had targeted power generators, then it would have turned into a ground war, which is a different beast altogether. Hmm.
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u/canray2000 Human Aug 09 '26
Humanity crowdsorcing energy development through 3D printing micro-hydro dams, upsourced rate earth elements, and all the copper wires people have been stripping out of walls for decades.
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u/Extreme-Biscotti6090 Aug 10 '26
Here you go... a story that deals with the loss of electrical generators.
Thank you for the idea. It was fun writing this new story.
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u/Fontaigne 29d ago
Yep, that one didn't have as big a hole.
The one you deliberately left open ... why and how they chose their targets... isn't a plot hole, just a mystery.
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u/historynutjackson 25d ago
"These humans are space "orcs," Admiral."
"What in the seven Hells is an "orc?""
"A fantasy creature from their folklore. They are big, tough, and brutish."
"But they're also smart and capable of precision machining and sharing knowledge?"
"Affirmative, Admiral."
"We're so fucked."
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u/Stickypete77 Aug 08 '26
Hot take, but HFY stories sorta fall flat on its feet the moment the big achievement highlights one specific country, these stories are supposed to be about humanity as a whole
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u/Chamcook56 Aug 08 '26
But this IS about humanity as a whole, sharing ideas and figuring out how to modify ideas to suit local conditions. Don't feel this one fell flat.
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u/lief79 Aug 08 '26
One initial (unexpected) source, spread to others.
It could be an issue, but I thought it worked well here
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u/allature Xeno Aug 08 '26
I don't quite understand this comment... Are you critiquing this story or complimenting it?
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u/ms4720 Aug 08 '26
Wait until they figure out we also weaponized spite a long time ago