Disclaimer: I ain't the owner of Halo or Xenosaga.
Note: This is a back burner project. Have fun!
Summary: The year is T.C. 4768. In empty space on the return from recovering a Zohar Emulator from the former location of Planet Ariadne, the GFS Wonglide and 212th Marine Division find something adrift. The remains of a warship and the key that will unlock the journey home, the journey to Earth.
Xenosaga: The Legacy of Earth
Chapter One
A Hero's Return
Vessel: GFS Wonglide
Ship Registry: CA612589-38-775-6721H
Hull Number: CA-6125
Class: Wonglide-Class Heavy Cruiser
Commission Date: June 8th, 4767 TC
Acceptance Date: April 2nd, 4768 TC
First Deployment: April 18th, 4768 TC
Ship Motto: "Sic Semper Tryannis"
Translation: "Thus Always to Tyrants"
Mission Brief: Make contact with Ariadne; discover reason for loss of communications. If planet is lost recover all salvageable floatsam and data for study.
Mission Debrief: Ariadne is no longer at its galactic coordinates, suggest further investigation, one unknown object recovered, four personnel MIA during recovery, presumed KIA, recommending Security Hazard Level One, currently at SecHaz One, no unauthorized personnel allowed near object…
"Warning! Warning! Unknown wreckage detected directly to the bow, begin evasive maneuvering! This is not a drill! All hands prepare for collision! All hands brace for impact! Repeat all hands brace for impact! This is not a drill!"
As personnel scrambled about as airtight hatches slammed shut and sealed themselves tight to prevent the loss of precious atmosphere if or when the hull would be breached. The crew members scrambled into airtight suits even as the mighty ship activated her thrusters to evade wreckage off her nose. Most of the crew is new and inexperience, the ship itself is still in her factory markings rather the markings of the Galactic Federation Fleet. The ship had been ill-prepared for her mission and if the collision occurs, may be her last mission.
The two are closing ranges at rapid speed. The bridge crew threw the ship into a starboard dive to evade, but because the ship is in a formation, they run the risk of plowing the ship into another of their force. The whole fleet is making wild maneuvers to evade the floatsam. It was just their luck that they exited the UMN just next to the wreckage. It was too close to avoid completely, but the helmsmen on the ships were doing their damnest to minimize the inevitable damage.
The ships slip by the wreckage, as the wreckage fires its own maneuvering thrusters to avoid collision. The Wonglide impacts and scraps along side the lower stern underside, but it's a light collision and only paint is torn off both ships. The scraping goes along the length of the heavy cruiser, straight until the end of the ship. No other collision occurs greater than scraped paint in the fleet. Still it begs the question.
"Why the hell didn't the UMN tells us there was wreckage here!" screamed one ship captain as his ship got back into formation, scraped all over the place as he wrote up the commendation for his bridge crew, as well as a complaint to Fleet Command about the UMN.
He wasn't alone. Nearly all the ships had scrape marks and missing paint. Numerous officers were sighting their crew and writing out commendations for their actions. Even though the damage to the ships was almost none existent, that didn't mean the crews lucked out. Many were thrown about their ships from numerous collisions and there were a number of severe injuries. Even several captains and/or their XOs were in their ships' sickbays.
The Wonglide was one of several ships to taken the lightest scraping and thus only crews were shaken up from the near impacts. A number of others evaded collision altogether, but that didn't make the crews any less affected. The sudden near disaster gave the ships and their crews a fright that could have been a horror story in the future. The crews began to calm down and asses their situation, then they can turn to clearly that wreckage out of the way before someone else smashes right into it.
"Talk about a miracle," someone said as all the ships made it through with just a scraps.
"Wonglide you're on point!" the flagship GFS Judicator ordered.
The crew of the Wonglide realized they were the closet and thus had the unenviable task of salvage work. They went right to it until a salvage ship could get to the wreckage and that would take some time do to the formation having to regroup and get situated. So they went to work. Looking over the wrecked and then deciding on what to do with it.
"Hey! It's only half a ship!" the sensor operator was surprised at his scans of the wreck.
"It may be connected to Ariadne, SecHaz One!" the captain ordered, remembering those four lost souls during the salvage of the thing in his ship's hold.
"It appears to be a warship captain, very old one at that," a female sensor operator reported.
"Regardless, it may be connected since that mid section is almost a clean cut and we've got nothing like that," the captain responded, then looked something over before hitting a communications connection.
"Field Lab!" came a young woman's cheery voice, even as her picture showed her to be a pale blonde with teal eyes and child like face that's in it early twenties.
'Kids!' the captain thought annoyed before speaking, "This is the captain, I'm ordering that your pet be made ready for deployment! You have thirty minutes, no more," he ended the connection before they could complain.
To the bridge crew, they saw him lift his hand as he counted down from four. Bets were quickly made as they waited until the last finger went down. The moment it did, the bridge's main view screen came to life with a blue eyed glasses wearing redhead that many members of the crew thought she looked a bit childish, but there was no doubt that she was beautiful. Her face was scrunched up in anger as her blue eyes seemed to be alive with fire in them. Do to her slightly childish looks, the effect was lost on the captain, and the crew.
"Captain! What is the meaning of this?" she demanded.
"You are aware that your pet project is completely automated correct," he replied.
"OF COURSE WE KNOW THAT!" she shouted in indignity.
"Then you must be aware of why I order that it be ready in less then thirty minutes now," the captain's voice was hard and carried a sharp edge.
The redhead immediately knew why, but not the actual why.
"What for sir," she knew he wouldn't back down, not after four people went missing on top of a planet.
"We nearly hit a severed stern section to a warship. It might be related to Ariadne," he didn't need to say anymore.
"We're have KOS-MOS ready in fifteen, twenty at the most," she replied knowing that this could help solve a lot of questions.
What none of them knew was just how many questions were about to be answered. The wreck would prove to answer the disappearance of a planet, what the Zohar was, and finally were Earth was. After all as the crew continued their scans they found the ship's name and registry, though all they found was the hull number and type of ship, though they didn't know what that latter one was.
"Ship name The Forward Unto Dawn, ship hull number Fox-Fox-George-Two-Zero-One, ship not listed in any Federation documents," a blue eyed blue haired female crewmember reported.
"Hey I've got something!" another operator, male with red hair and green eyes, reported.
"What is it?" the dark haired captain inquired.
"Search for UNSC, that might give us an answer," the operator told his female counterpart.
"Searching," the woman said as she waited and then, "Found, it's a small subject, a historical footnote, but we've got something."
"Report," the captain said, his dark eyes narrowed at the thought of something was merely a footnote in history.
"United Nations Space Command, last known planetary government of…" the woman's eyes widen as her mouth fell open in shock as she trailed off.
"Of what?" the captain inquired.
"…of Earth, of Lost Jerusalem," she finished quietly, but was still heard.
"Get command on the line!" the captain ordered with a sharp bark.
The bridge was nearly thrown into chaos as the crew began to take action. If the ship wreckage was legitimate, then they could very well find Earth. The ship parasite controllers for the Wonglinde's complements of A.G.W.S. and fighters began launching them out priority one to secure the local airspace. At the same time, the ship was brought up to Combat Condition One.
"Wonglinde, Judicator… What's going on?" the flagship was a bit confused.
"Wonglinde to Judicator, unknown vessel may be tied into Ariadne, but the ship's markings show it to be a ship with possible origin being Earth," the brown haired, hazel eyed communications officer reported.
"All units Fleet Combat Condition One! Form a defensive sphere around that wreckage!" The ships of the fleet were still getting back into formation, but with this new order, they were once again trying to reorganize themselves.
"Connected to Command!" cried a blonde hair woman with blue eyes and if it wasn't for the fact she was in the service with a high IQ level, she would have been a poster girl for Beach Blonde Monthly on Planet Paradise VII.
Actually she had been, but opted for military service for bigger and better things. Not to mention the chance to put her mind to work. That and she was quite satisfied that her former Employer had been investigated and fined for underhanded dealings. She also got a nice bit of very overdue pay.
"Link to the Flag for conference," the Captain hold as he stroke his dark mustache same shade as his hair, a bit of a nervous habit of his.
What the two Fleet officers saw was not Fleet Command when the link established, but the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the Contact Sub-Committee, and the upper echelons of the Galactic Federation Government! What did they just step in? The whole thing was not unheard of, but all three bodies who would be concerned at once. Their original mission must have been bigger than they thought from the look of interest on the various people's faces.
"Full Scramble!" the Judicator's XO shouted without hesitation.
"What did you find?" the question was a loaded one.
Clearing his throat, the Captain of the Wonglinde knew it was his time to speak. He just hoped it wasn't too sensitive and that anything they didn't want to hear or already knew would be put off by the discovery of UNS The Forward Unto Dawn. This was going to be either bad or very bad.
"When the Division exited the UMN, we nearly suffered a catastrophic collision with unknown wreckage that the UMN Control Office failed to note or failed to inform us," Captain Gilford Sevson began.
"Oh?" a Contact Sub-Committee, a female with brown hair and dark eyes spoke, the interested look fading.
"The wreckage is of a ship nearly cleanly sliced in two and I mean cleanly in a matter never before seen," the captain saw the renew look of interest and signaled one of his bridge crew.
The assembled people looked upon the live image of a battered ship, yet where the forward section should be, it looked like someone nearly sliced the ship in half with a knife. The ship was in rough shape, but sparks could be seen, showing she still had power. Though it was the design of the ship that drew the most attention with its round thrusters and block like segments. The design was a very old concept and yet why was something this old even here?
That piqued their interest some more, but it would be the next bit that would catch them by surprise as they each examined the ship.
They could see an Eagle and Globe emblem on the hull with the lettering in a blocky format spelling UNSC. The ship's name and hull number was much the same. Then as the ship rotated slightly, an exposed hatch appeared, showing live missiles of a design most definitely out of date and not in their military's or any militaries for that matter inventory.
Archer Missiles though were found in one place and the Second Militia Representative spoke.
"Archer Missiles?" everyone turned to the bald man of coffee dark skin color with chocolate eyes dressed in the white formal garb of his station, "Haven't seen any of those since I was last at the Kukai Foundation for a meeting."
Noting everyone looking at him, Helmer spoke again, "Junior collects antique weapons. Archer Missiles from the…" he didn't need to finish and didn't finish as he was already…
"Durandal?" a woman with dark purple hair and eyes looked at the assemble group and then blinked.
"Junior please," Helmer asked and the woman nodded.
"What's up Hel…mer?" seeing the assembled group look at a young redheaded boy with green eyes that shown with outright confusion.
"Junior, what planet was the capital of the UNSC again?" the old man wanted confirmation.
"Found something UNSC?" seeing the nod as the image was shown.
"Oh man, what a find!" Junior was shocked.
"You know this ship?" Captain Sevson asked.
"If I'm not mistaken that's an Iroquois-Class Missile Frigate. About nine hundred thirty-eight were built, the most famous was Hull Number Two Hundred-One, UNS The Forward Unto Dawn, but the reason was lost, though we have the forward two thirds of the ship at the Foundation. The ship's last captain was a Commander Miranda Keyes, promoted two ranks to UNSC Lower Half Read Admiral," Junior didn't need to say why she received a two rank promotion, but it did beg more questions for a battle related posthumous two rank promotion.
The stun silence that filled the bridge of the Wonglinde was shocking. Carefully bringing up the scans of the ship for all to see showed what had silence them. There in bold white blocky letters were the words THE FORWARD UNTO DAWN. The missing third of the ship, the stern had just been found.
"Well I'll be… As to your question Helmer, Earth was the capital of the UNSC," the silence was total.
"We may have found the way to Earth," one Joint Chief spoke breaking the silence after what seemed to be an eternity.
"It has power, so its maps may be not so thoroughly degraded though…" another spoke defeated, but slightly clinging to hope.
"What about sensors?" Captain Sevson asked.
"UNSC sensors were highly sensitive in the Twenty-sixties, but nearly all historical knowledge was lost during the Chaos Lords Rebellion back in Thirty-Six-Thirty-Five, and this includes most information on the technological advances, among other things. What we know is derived from the Dawn's Forward Sections and what little information we found with it. It was in a drifting and destroyed orbital colony and only survived do to being vacuumed trapped," Junior hadn't made things easier.
"Still, if the remaining sensors had any power, we may be a step closer," the Division Commander for the fleet's ground force spoke up wanting to find out what had happened to his home world.
"I've planned a salvage operation and intend to use KOS-MOS for leading the way," having already reported casualties, the use of KOS-MOS was not entirely unexpected.
"Captain, Field Lab reports a go," the Wonglinde's raven haired red eyed ship's internal communication officer spoke.
"Green Light Captain," the Chief of Staff spoke.
"HOLD IT! I've got a life sign!" the blue haired sensor operator spoke.
"The ship is covered in some kind of energy field, but it's more like a residue that's been clinging to the ship all these years," the redhead sensor op spoke next.
"The Dawn was equipped with cryo pods!" Junior had suddenly remembered.
"Medical to Stand By! Repeat Medical to Stand By!" Captain Sevson ordered over the ships intercom followed by, "Dispatch KOS-MOS for scouting immediately! We have a survivor on the Dawn and need to conduct a rescue as soon as possible!"
Not too long after the blue haired snow white armored with black trim fair skinned android was landing in the aft hanger of the Dawn. She immediately noticed what appeared to be forcibly made hand holds in the deck. She took note of both solid and plasma weapon damage, though there had been more on the outside of the hull and most appeared to have been caused by small arms.
She noted a wrecked vehicle that was covered in burn marks and weapons damage. There were also signs of debris having hammered the vehicle before its fateful crash that it had yet to leave. She noted equipment strewn about that floated with signs of being tossed about. She noted even more vehicles and a pair of aircraft that had collided against the walls to either side of the open stern bay doors.
As she began her walk into the heart of the wreckage, she noted one item float by her. It was purple and her sensors confirmed it was not a weapon that would have been found on the ship normally. She took hold of it and found its design was not of human design as she found a difficult grip to hold and bring to bear the weapon. It was also clearly an energy weapon with markings that did not match anything human.
"I believe that The Forward Unto Dawn was involved in a war with extraterristals," KOSMOS spoke as she walked on, taking the weapon with her.
"WHAT!?" came the intelligent reply from her developer.
"I said I believe…" she was cut off.
"We heard you, but…" Captain Sevson was at a loss for words the man was running a hand through his black hair in a nervous fit.
KOS-MOS noted the Contact Sub-Committee looked like they had just been smacked in the face with a cold fish.
She continued on, finding more signs and then an information folder, manila color even after advancements were made in file keeping. Taking it, KOS-MOS sent the information back to the Wonglinde as she read it and thus missed a tech manual drifting into her face.
Momentarily started, KOS-MOS took hold of the tech manual. She then began to read it and lifted a blue eyebrow in surprise. The whole concept of a ship being able to go into hyperspace without a UMN jump point was inconceivable. There for the information she found was very surprising.
As it was a Tech Manual for the ship's Slipspace Drive, which she had found earlier and in working condition.
"Incredible!" She could here Shion Uzuki, her developer.
"More like impossible! Just look at some of that information," replied Allen Ridgely, Shion's second in the KOS-MOS development team and her caretaker if the jokes were anything to go by.
"I will carry on the mission and return with the information," KOS-MOS started on, but stopped and turned.
There a picture that had caught her attention floated by. Retrieving it, she saw that it showed some soldiers in black and grey full body armor standing near a giant of a man in an olive drab armor suit with a polarize orange face plate surrounded by bodies of what could only be called dead aliens. The group held a variety of weapons, weapons she noticed with more alien arms in an armory a short walk back. She noticed how the green figure was staring off into the distance while the others posed for a picture. Something about that figure seemed…
She could not understand why, but invincible.
She took the picture along as well, not noticing a light appear behind her for a brief second.
"Looks like the UNSC had a fight and came out on top with aliens, Sweet Mary Lou!" the Judicator's XO spoke.
Going through the wrecked interior, she arrived without incident at the doors to Stern Cryogenics Bay A. The doors opened automatically for her, much to her and the Wonglinde's surprise. She entered and immediately found her objective. Unfortunately, she wasn't alone or the first.
"Confirming two scout type Gnosis," she reported.
"Eliminate at once!" someone yelled into the comm.
Noting they weren't in the physical realm and without thinking about it, KOS-MOS activated her Hilbert Effect at full power. The Effect covered the entire fleet and hundreds if not thousands of light years there after. It was so large and powerful, it sent various computers crazy for a few seconds from the EMP shock they had just received and dizzied a number of Realians. The Effect though had the desired want.
The two Gnosis turned from the sleeping person and attacked. KOS-MOS easily and quickly defeated them with the Beam Carbine she had picked up, but failed to notice a third one, which got the drop on her. The third one was tougher and KOS-MOS systems failed for a moment, before she was up and back in the fight. It was then she noticed its features.
A deathly pale man in olive drab full body armor, though the armor had rips and burn marks in it. She noted the death like stare the head gave her as it hung off to the side. Then she notice another walk in followed by two others and the first two stand up. It was now six to one. All six were deformed humans, most likely killed and converted into being Gnosis and with six against one, the odds were clearly not in KOS-MOS' favor.
A loud noise and those odds changed suddenly as the only in use pod's hatch popped open and the armored warrior she saw early in the photograph stepped up, taking a chip from a central node and sliding it into the back of his helmet. He retrieved his weapon, an MA5C assault rifle. He then looked at the seven figures, growling at the six Gnosis.
"You know what to do," a woman's voice said, emanating from the figure's helmet.
"Time to finish the fight," his voice spoke gruff and hard edge as he charged and with a hidden note of what he was up against and what needed to be done.