PROLOGUE

Zeta Tucanae III, approximately 48 thousand years ago

There are countless stars in Milky Way Galaxy.

Many of them are billions-year-old giants that are near the end of their life cycle; long ago, they absorbed all objects that were orbiting around them and are ready to end their lives in a bright supernova explosion. But there are young stars that have many planets – ranging from tiny barren rocks to huge gas giants. And some of these planets have an oxygen atmosphere and liquid water on their surface – in other words, they are capable of sustaining life.

One such planet orbits a white-yellow star that is located around twenty-eight light-years from the place that is known today as the Solar System. In turn, the planet sport two moons on its orbit – the bigger one is light blue, and the smaller is bright red. Together, they offer a spectacular evening view.

This planet was an ideal place for any species to live on – and indeed, it was inhabited by many unique life forms. Some of them, like dragons and salamanders, were fierce predators; others, like giant moles, were calm and docile creatures.

And then, there were Elves.

These beautiful creatures closely resembled ordinary man – except that their ears were long and pointy. They lived in many small villages scattered around boundaries of a vast desert, known to them as Great Sahara. Elves were a fairly simple and peaceful people – they did not wage wars between themselves, and they did not try to advance to the West, into plains and forests inhabited by primitive tribes of Men.

Instead, they embraced simple lives of hunters, miners and peasants. They never planted more grain or slaughtered more animals than they needed; their main rule was to live in harmony with nature and themselves.

But, like all in this young world, this was about to change.

…

'Ari! Ari! Where are you? Come home this second!' – deep and loud voice of Elf matron boomed through the oasis at the western outskirts of Great Desert. Nights set fast in desert, and it was already dark; but Ari, her youngest son, was still playing in the nearby palm grove.

She stepped outside to repeat her call; still, Ari was nowhere to be seen. 'Young man, in your nearest future your ass will have a close meeting with your father's belt!' – she thought as she walked off to the hedge around their house, looking for her son. Two moons gave enough light to spot him, running back home.

A faint flash in the sky catched her eyes; must be a falling star, she thought. According to old Elven beliefs, fallen stars were harbingers of change – if an Elf saw one, something important and life-defining was about to happen with him, be it good or bad. Many youngsters spent night after night trying to catch a falling star – dreaming of love of a beautiful maiden, or infinite riches. She was long past these years, but, as every Elf woman, she was a romantic for life.

'Please, give my Aysha a good husband!' she wished. Aysha, her eldest daughter, has just reached that particular age.

Fallen star blinked and vanished; immediately, other three appeared in its place, then five more popped in the sky. She never saw so many fallen stars; in fact, this was the first time she ever saw one.

'Mama, Mama, look at the sky!' Ari, joyful as ever, climbed over the hedge and dropped before his mother. 'Sky is so pretty tonight!'

'Alright, sweety, let's admire it for couple of minutes – but then you go to bed without any complaints, understand?' – she answered, unable to hide a smile.

'Okay, Mama!' little Elf hugged his mother's legs, asking for a return hug. It was given to him without any delay; then, both mother and son raised their heads.

Now there was dozens of falling stars, and with every second more appeared. One of the bright dots started to grow in size, then another; in a couple of seconds, they became sufficiently bright to cast shadows. Something was not right; a chill ran along woman's spine.

'Mama, I'm scared!' little Ari said, trembling with fear.

'Ari, go inside! Now!' mother answered in a voice trembling and full of concern. Little Elf dashed to the house; light from strange objects became so bright that he could clearly see path to the door. It was just a several meters long run.

Fortunately for him, Ari didn't make it.

Great blow shook the small oasis. Palm trees swayed heavily, several broke from such great force. Several birds that were about to get their well-deserved sleep took off, quacking and squeaking loudly. A lone horse in the stables neighed in horror, trying to break free.

Elven family's house took it hard. The roof, made from palm leaves, was torn away completely. All windows shattered, showering house interiors with glass fragments. All fragile pieces inside – vases, statues, dishes – were broken.

The cataclysm ended as fast as it started, with both bright objects disappearing in the night sky. Gushing winds, brought by the shockwave, settled; soon, heavy clouds hid both moons.

Elf mother, dazed by the blow, slowly regained her composure. She turned around – and froze in shock.

Her house, her beautiful little house was basically destroyed. There was no roof – palm leaves were scattered around, many of them broken; not a single window survived the strike. But what terrified her most was a little body that lied near the door.

'Ari!' she screamed in horror and ran to her son. Drowned in tears, the mother collapsed on her knees near him, unable to believe.

'Ari, you alright?! Please, answer me! Ariii!'

Clouds finally gave way, and heavy rain started. That helped: young Elf shuddered, coughed couple of times and finally opened his eyes.

'Mama!'

Relieved, mother hugged her beloved son tightly.

'Ari! Thank Gods you're alright!'

They just sat here, under the rain, hugging each other and crying. They didn't know that old beliefs about falling stars came true this night – and not only for two of them, but for their entire planet.

…

Low Moon orbit, 28 December 1982

Luna-25 was a true marvel of technology. Based on a successful Luna-24 design, it had one important addition. In contrast with all previous missions, which needed constant supervision from Flight Control Center back on Earth, Luna-25 was outfitted with advanced computer system which allowed a fully autonomous flight – from lift-off to landing. There was no communication system, even for emergency purposes: transmissions can be intercepted, and constructors were told to avoid that at all costs.

Another, equally important upgrade was a small explosive charge located inside third stage of its Proton-K rocket; when detonated in low Earth orbit, it would appear that third stage suffered malfunction and exploded – which, unfortunately, was a fairly common in case of Proton rockets. This system worked flawlessly four days ago; now, all space agencies and military commands over the world were sure that it was another failed Soviet space launch.

The sole reason for such secrecy was the surface sample that had been brought to Earth by Luna-25's predecessor. Some of its properties were at least unusual; and some were so mind-blowing that the whole sample was classified as one of Soviet Union's most guarded secrets. One gram from sample that was acquired on a previous mission was given to NASA in December 1976, labeled as Luna-24 sample, in order to fool Western agents.

Now, the 6-ton lander was orbiting the Moon at almost perfect circular orbit, looking for its designated landing site. Back at the Earth, scientists calculated that highest concentration of the unusual element found in Luna-24 sample would be in one of the far side craters – Tsiolkovskiy, in particular; lander's computer waited for the right moment to initiate landing procedures.

Two orbits later, time has come. By computer's command, reaction control system thrusters fired, adjusting spacecraft attitude; then, the main landing engine activated, and Luna-25 started its descend to the black bed of Tsiolkovskiy. At the same time, four stubby landing legs deployed from transport position.

Five minutes later, the lander flew at 200 meters above crater's rim. It was the time to correct attitude again, which was accomplished with another RCS fire. Then the main landing engine fired again, slowing down descent. Several light course corrections, one final burn – and Luna-25 touched down at the bed of Tsiolkovskiy, first man-made object that reached the far side of the Moon. Scientists all over the world would cheer now – if they knew; but goals of this mission were far from peaceful scientific exploration.

Moon dust that was raised by landing engine settled in several minutes after landing; immediately after that, computer gave command to unfold sample gathering device – a robotic arm with special drill that could bore up to 3 meters into the surface.

Drilling process was slow – constructors didn't want to speed it up, in fear of possible malfunctions. It took about 2 hours to reach designated depth; then, process of extraction started. The whole device was designed like vacuum cleaner – hollow drill crumbled soil into dust, which was then sucked into flexible hose and compacted. After that, hose was sealed, retrieved from the drill body and placed into sample return capsule.

The system worked flawlessly, and after the hose with its precious cargo was secured, return sequence was initiated. The whole lander functioned like Apollo Lunar Excursion Module – it was two-staged design, with landing stage left on the Moon. Explosive bolts were blown, and ascent engine fired; the upper stage took off and almost immediately banked right, aiming at its return trajectory. The only thing left that indicated of this secret visit was slightly burned descent stage.

Eighty-five hours later, at the very end of the New Year Eve, return capsule reached its home planet, Earth. After dropping its engines and fuel tanks, it re-entered atmosphere above Siberia. Three bright-red chutes opened at the height of 5000 meters, and the burned-up capsule finally landed into a deep Siberian snow bank. In mere hour, it was located and retrieved by soldiers in unmarked, all-white winter camouflage fatigues – members of one of KGB's secret units.

In the next week, any and all evidence of this mission was destroyed – documents, blueprints, video and audio tapes were shredded and burned. Aside from several high-ranking nuclear physicists and members of Politburo, no one was allowed to know about Luna-25 and its findings.

…

Moscow, Russia, 10 years later

With loud screech of brakes, black Volga stopped near the main entrance of Kurchatov Institute – main nuclear research center of Soviet Union, and now, Russia. Its sole passenger jumped out from the rear seat and scrambled to massive Soviet-style wooden doors.

'Please, state your business here' – one of armed FSK guards stand before man, ready to arrest him if necessary.

'Yes, yes, I have a meeting with Doctor Voloshin. Here is my pass card.' visitor answered. The guard took it and went to the booth – to run a check and make a record into visitor log. Check went fine – this particular visitor had the highest security clearance.

'Galvanov, Viktor Ivanovich, born 1958…' – the guard turned to look at visitor's face. He was a prime example of an ordinary man in his thirties – black hairs, brown eyes, oval face, and so on. The only striking feature was his short, accurately trimmed beard.

'Yes, yes, please, I'm in hurry!' Galvanov answered, irritated by the delay.

'You don't rush things inside nuclear lab, you idiot' guard thought. He was tempted to run an extended check on him – any unusual behavior around this place could be a base for it; but on the other side, he doubted that he could tolerate this man's company for two hours. He sighed and returned pass card to Galvanov.

'You may proceed.'

Galvanov just snatched his pass and darted to the elevators. His destination was the Chief Physicist's cabinet. Not paying attention to secretary, he opened double doors and burst inside.

'Konstantin Vitalyevich, I don't understand! How could you just close my project?' Galvanov shouted. 'It's basically the most important…'

'Victor Ivanovich, please, calm down' Voloshin answered. He was an elderly man in his seventies, and during his long career in nuclear physics, he witnessed many such cases. 'I had no voice in that; the decision to shut down Project 25 came from the top'.

'Top? That bulky alcoholic who these democrats call president? This is preposterous! We worked on this project for almost ten years…'

'…And without any solid results. You know of our economic situation – we can't just spend millions like in old times' Voloshin interrupted him. 'Viktor, this project always was too far-fetched. All you asked for were more funds and more equipment – and you didn't offer anything in return'.

'But what about plasma formation? We were able to make fire – fire! – basically from nothing! No combustible material, no heat, it just appeared!' Galvanov countered. Indeed, that was his top achievement. One day, he tried to use small amounts of focused alpha radiation on a sample, applying electrical current at the same time; next second after that, a fireball flew off the probe's end. That was an unfortunate day for the technical staff – as it turned out, spectrometers isn't designed to withstand direct fireball hits.

'And it took an entire five years to achieve that – and nothing was achieved before or since. Viktor, we are one of the prime nuclear physicists in the world, not would-be fire casters. I'm sorry, but Project 25 is no more'.

Galvanov just silently stared into his eyes, then turned on his heels and left. Voloshin sighed; he hated to do that to young scientist, but order is an order. Now, Project 25 lab will be shut down, its equipment distributed to other labs, and Viktor himself would be transferred to other projects.

But one thing that Voloshin would never forget was Galvanov's final stare. There was no sign of defeat in his eyes; just rage – and determination. Determination not unlike that of a madman. Determination to achieve the goals of Project 25 – no matter the cost.

…

Enraged Galvanov climbed into back seat of his Volga. How could they? Project 25, his pride, his life, his beloved child – was killed by some "fresh minds" in the new Russian government. Almost ten years of work just went into garbage bin.

'Back to the lab' he said and gestured to his driver; young man complied, and soon heavy Soviet saloon was on its way through busy Moscow streets.

Galvanov thought about his past. In late winter of 1983, he received an order to arrive to Lubyanka – KGB headquarters, place synonymous to Hell for many Soviet citizens. There, he received another order from no one other but Yuri Andropov – assume control over a new lab near Moscow, and try to solve mysteries of some strange substance. By the summer, he deduced that it could be only of extraterrestrial origins; when he countered Andropov about this, General Secretary recommended him to keep his mouth shut and continue work.

Next years were filled with trials and errors. They were able to produce small fireballs; once, they managed to create small ice shard. Two years ago, accident happened – Galvanov and his assistant applied electrical current and some heat to the sample; it just flashed – but his assistant couldn't remember what he was doing during that day. It was like his memory was erased by some magic!

Now all of it was dead, destroyed, struck from history.

'Or maybe not', Galvanov thought and chuckled. After all, newly-emerged democratic Russia was a country of many possibilities – government-approved or not.

…

Tokyo, Japan, three months ago

It was an ordinary Japanese home, located in one of many suburbs of Tokyo. Young dark-haired man, dressed in jeans and a blue jacket, stood before the fence, trying to decide what to do next.

'Louise, are you sure?' he asked his female companion – small slender girl with long pink hairs, in a uniform resembling that of some private boarding school.

'For the fifth time, Saito - yes, I am. Now push that damn button!' she answered.

'Well, here it goes.' he sighed and reached for the doorbell.

Author's notes:

First of all, hi and thanks for reading! Comments and reviews are appreciated.

Second, I'd like to give some info about this story. It's based on ZnT anime, and anime alone, so don't expect characters from the novels. Also, it's a "continuation" story, which means that it set after Louise and Saito's wedding. I don't know about the length yet, but I don't plan a full epic.

There will be a bunch of OCs, mostly from our world (you already know one of them). I really suck at appearance description, though, so I'll just make some references later on.

Some characters from anime won't make it into this story, or their roles will be pretty short. Namely Tiffania – I just can't place her here; besides, I never liked her.

Third, technology and weapons will be powerful. I mean, magic is cool, but Louise can't save the day just by blowing anything with her mini-nuke spell in this story – that would be anti-climactic at least. So stay tuned for some action.

And last, but not least: favorite if you like it!