The World Keys (The Syker Key Book 2) by Aaron Martin Fransen

Ship was fifty three kilometers long and three kilometers across, and was tube shaped. It housed two hundred thousand Sirians.
    But it was dwarfed by the Draconian ship. One hundred and eighty six kilometers long, eleven kilometers in diameter, and also tube shaped, it housed over a billion Draconians.
    Both of them rotated to create artificial gravity, since it was the cheapest way to produce such a force, but at a cellular level this caused problems over the generations aboard these ships. The conscious mind was not able to tell the difference between gravity and centripetal force, but the body could, and centuries of lack of gravity tended to wear on both species. They were both anxious to get off the ships.
    The problem for Earth was that the Draconian ship would arrive a full decade before the Sirians. And they would be welcomed by the tens of thousands of Draconians who had been preparing Earth for thousands of years, feeding off of mankind and guiding them in a direction that would ensure total control before the arrival of their brothers and sisters.
    The era of quiet manipulation of their food source was about to end, and the Draconian race was about to come out into the open for the first time since the fall of Atlantis.
    ***
    Finally, this was the crux of the problem.
    Pan had seen that the Draconian World Ship had sent the cluster of asteroids towards them, so clearly they had the technology to do serious damage to the Earth. But the asteroids were planned all along as being a diversion. Many of them would not have struck the planet at all, either burning up in the atmosphere or missing it entirely.
    They would have done enough damage, however, to ensure that mankind was in no condition to resist any kind of invasion.
    At least, that had been the plan.
    Pan was not privy to what their new plans might have been, but he was sure they weren’t about to just turn around and give up.
    John’s effort to enlist the reporter had apparently paid off. In the wake of their story going public, hundreds of other reporters around the world had gotten in on the act, tracking down any evidence of the money and manipulation being used to drive government policies. Hundreds of politicians had already resigned, and hundreds more were arguing about the evidence.
    Clearly the momentum was in their favor, at least for the moment. He could feel the amount of energy feeding the Draconian race waning. It was the right direction, but like a rabid dog, he was afraid it would only make them more vicious.
    They had even returned the space suits to NASA, with their apologies flowing freely and the cameras rolling. For their part, the administration tried to be gracious about it and offered their use whenever they might decide it was required. They had saved the Earth once already, it seemed a small price. And good public relations.
    Zack was able to go back to school with all of his friends; the government had offered their protection, and they could stop hiding, at least for a while.
    So the battle was won, for the moment. It was only a small irony that it might be for naught if they could not stop the coming invasion.
    ***
    John was trying not to hold his breath.
    In truth the use of the space suits had been a “just in case.” John knew full well that they could exist in space with a little extra effort to take some air with them and contain it in a force field. But it was that catch: a little extra effort, and you sure wouldn’t want to lose your concentration. So he was practicing.
    They had taken a camera with them and made a video of the incoming World Ship, but even John had trouble believing it would convince anyone who didn’t already believe they were on the way. Anybody with a home computer could produce images like that ship.
    Two weeks after the airing of Tam’s original story, they had returned Phobos to Mars, hopefully without any serious impact. Mars’ orbit had been affected, but it was so slight they hoped it