Prologue
161 Post Contact.
Blast off and STRIKE the Bydo Empire!
The signs were everywhere in the city, showing just how low recruitment was for the Earth Defence Forces R-8 program. Since the catastrophic invasion of the solar system in 154PC by the Bydo, and the destruction of Jupiter's moon Io, along with the scouring clean of the surface of Mars, humanity generally had been cowed, almost beaten, with few exceptions. The streets were quiet, and to a native of those bygone years, before contact, the world itself would appear far too silent.
Nearly two-thirds of the world's population had been massacred in onslaughts from the Bydo, great rents in the earth taken by hideously powerful wave-cannon weapons causing the oceans to boil and steam to fill the atmosphere. China and India, the highest population centers on the planet, were struck hardest, showing up to the Bydo as the biggest threat. The Bydo's tactics were well understood – as a self-cloning organism, reliant on bacteria-like mitosis to reproduce, the Bydo would cluster together and fight in gigantic swarms, and because of this, they tended to select the largest concentrations of population as their targets – to the Bydo, more population equals more power, and thus, more of a threat. Inversely, a small population, or better yet, a single manned fighter craft, for instance, was almost ignored. Mechanical and electronics were completely ignored, as if they didn't even register with whatever passed for scanners in the Bydo intelligence.
After the slaughter at Mars, and the devastation at Io, all looked lost for mankind. The Bydo approached, streaming towards earth, the cosmic distances and weeks of travel between planets at light speeds becoming nothing to the Bydo mastery of dimensional travel. How could mankind stand up to an enemy that could cross stars in a matter of minutes?
Yet, through the chaos, the conflict and destruction on Earth, a miracle occurred – the Bydo, the demonic, horrific war machine, organic and in some ways hideously beautiful, were turned back. The onslaught halted – nobody on Earth at the time knew how, or why, but they knew it had halted. What they did not know was who was responsible for the miracle.
The miracle only stopped the invasion though – deep scans would show the Bydo massed out near Pluto, recovering and waiting for the day when they would end humanity, all too completely. The Bydo had been waiting for five years now, five long years where humanity stood on constant alert, watchful for any sign that they would return.
A light rain began to fall on the city, as it so often did these days, gently sparking from the shield defences set up to protect the people within. Autoturrets turned and scanned the sky constantly and, deep underground, the preparations were nearly complete, preparations that would bring the war back to the Bydo.
June 30, 2460AD – Contact
A beep, so faint as to be inaudible.
Another beep.
A long tone, followed by a beep.
Sensor officer Tayla's eyes opened, her cheek pressed firmly against the desk, a small puddle of drool just beginning to form wetting her face and causing her to snap upright and wipe herself off.
"Oh… crap. Sleeping again. At least I had my ala-"
Her muttering was cut off by the realization that the noise was not coming from her internal alarm, but from the speakers on her station. Speakers that for the last ten years had been silent, speakers that she had wondered, from time to time, if they were even connected, or if this was just a waste of a life.
"Crap… crap… crapcrapcrapwhatthehell! Major! MAJOR BAKER!" with a minor freak out and a sudden realization that this was what she had been waiting for she bellowed for her commanding officer, starting the sequence to focus the sensors down to the location the signal was coming from.
Where is the major? "Major!" He should have been here by now! Zeroing in on the signal, coming from just past the general area of Pluto, it began to define on her scope. Several long tones, a couple of beeps, several long tones, a beep. It seemed almost random, except that some patterns would repeat. It almost seemed like…
"What, Captain?! This had better be important, I was on my monthly video call to my family back home!" the Major stormed in. Major Tony Baker, current commanding officer of the Earth Defence Monitoring station – a position not relished by anyone in the Earth Defence Forces due to the outstanding lack of external life, hostile or otherwise. His assignment was merely because his number had come up for time to spend 'in the dead room' – so called because of the total lack of activity ever recorded in that office. With a wiry, lean build, of average height, the Major was not going to be winning any 'Mister Universe' competitions, however it wasn't his body which had raised him to the rank of Major. His mind was as sharp as a razor, and he enjoyed training his daughter to be a quick-witted rogue.
Captain Tayla pointed at the monitoring station.
"Sir, a signal started to come through only minutes ago. It sounds like Morse code. It transmits the same message, and repeats. The signal is coming from just out of the solar system, in the range of Pluto." Tayla settled in to her military training, the excitement still bouncing her around in her chair and her speech coming like a hail of letters and words.
The captain looked, in order, concerned, puzzled, elated, and eventually settled on pleased. He started translating the message.
"This is exactly what we've been waiting for, Captain! Proof of life, outside our world! We need to get this news out as soon as possible – once we have this message translated, we need to broadcast to EDF Central – open a channel and get them to watch the skies, it could be a greet-", the Major's words died in his mouth, the smile draining from his face as the full impact of the now translated message scrolled across the screen in front of him.
PREPARE YOUR DEFENCES STOP THEY ARE COMING STOP THEY WILL KILL EVERYTHING STOP MESSAGE REPEATS PREPARE YOUR DEFENCES STOP THEY ARE COMING STOP THEY WILL KILL EVERYTHING STOP MESSAGE REPEATS
"Sir?" asked Tayla.
"Get the EDF on the line. Tell them our worst fears have been confirmed. Tell them we are not alone, and we may wish we had been." The Major was not smiling anymore. He wasn't scared. There was steel in his eyes, and a clench of his jaw showed determination.
"Tell them to prepare program R".
On the other side of the world, a lone telescope, by chance, pointing at Pluto, sees a small nova. The monitoring station in the dead room goes silent once more.
The word goes out to a largely unbelieving world. Only a few take heed. Most disregard the warning as a hoax, a UFO scandal by an incompetent prankster. What alien would know Morse code? Why would they use it?
The EDF takes the message seriously, and begins to prepare program 'R'. Program R, the codename for the R-Type project, debated for years and eventually settled on as a project of last resort, a project to develop the ultimate combat space fighter.
For decades an elite team of astrophysicists, quantum physicists, materials experts, antimatter experts, military and researchers alike, called from all corners of the globe, begin to work on the most advanced spacecraft ever seen. Through generations, the original purpose of the project remains clear – prepare Earth for interstellar war.
In 32PC, the first successful high energy ion drive is built into a spaceframe. This becomes the foundation for all R-type ships, lending every ship using the technology a distinctive bulbous aft. Near relativistic speeds are achieved by mankind in a massed spaceship for the first time in history.
In 55PC, the first orbital defense platform is raised into orbit. Codenamed station Sakura, this was to be the launching pad for any earth based defense fleet. Boasting internal construction capability, sleeping quarters for dozens of pilots and military staff, Sakura becomes the launching pad for hundreds of projects based on R-type technology, from asteroid miners to low earth flying tanks and construction vehicles, and even automated cargo carrying transports, nicknamed "Pilot On Walkabout", or POW ships after a remote control pilot is found off-station while their transport continues to deliver goods.
In 98PC, the first Wave Motion Gun is developed. Using a capacitance charge to draw all forms of energy, from gamma rays to photons, into a magnetically supported firing arm, a colossal output can be achieved for almost negligible power input. The Wave Motion Gun is test fired at maximum output for the first time to a crowd of appreciative workers and output is calculated at over fifty gigatons. Unfortunately, the structure required to support the gun occupies an entire defense platform, leaving no room for personnel. Military models R-2 through R-7 are tested for various combat possibilities but all are deemed to be insufficiently powerful to provide adequate defense against more than small meteors.
In 120PC, the technology for the Wave Motion Gun is successfully miniaturized and inserted into an R-Type chassis. After countless tests, the gun and ship are cleared for combat use. Production of the R-8 begins, and the pilot training program begins. Pilots for the R-8 are carefully picked for reflexes, mental stability and endurance under pressure. Pilots are stationed constantly on the dozens of orbital defense platforms around the globe, and all ships are kept on active standby. Some question why, when there has been no activity. Perhaps, some say, the message really was just a hoax by a bored monitoring attendant.
In 150PC, the fleet of R-8 fighters is put into long term storage and the pilots returned to Earth. 150 years have passed since the warning, and no soul now lives to remember the message. A small team of personnel remain on active development duty, preparing a new weapon, and a new fighter, based on the R-8, codename: Arrowhead.
In 154PC, without warning, the Bydo destroy Io and begin their assault on humanity.