Hey, author here, this is going to be my second shot at fanfiction, but my first try at a third-person narrative. Thanks for the support.
Prologue
428 AD, Relative to Earth
The war between Iscandar and Garmillas rages on. Two sister civilizations on twin planets, against each other in a conquest over control of the universe. Many worlds have been taken, many more have been destroyed.
But that was a few years ago. When the Iscandian leadership changed, the empire now seeks to liberate its colonies, to have peace with everyone. The one major problem in the way is that the green-skinned counterparts of the Iscandians refused to back down; Garmillian forces have taken ex-colonies and has not stopped its attacks on the empire which seeks peace. It feels as if there would never be an end to this conflict.
But by the will of the gods, prophets of Iscandar have uncovered a peek into the distant future.
A single ship bringing peace. One that will end the never-ending conquest of the Gamillas.
And so, a team of the best shipbuilders in the empire have been sent 168,000 light years away from their home planet on a 3-year trip, to construct the ship as seen in the visions.
And another three years later, the ship was close to completion.
"Alright boys, good work!" the leader of the engineers shouted. "Let's wrap this up as quickly as we can, we're going home!"
Loud cheers echoed through the massive sealed dock as everyone finished up their final works on the ship.
"This ship looks odd, don't you think?" a worker asked his friend, staring at the massive hull of the massive battleship in front of him.
"Certainly does; this resembles nothing in our fleet. But the King's orders are orders."
"Why did we make this dock underground, anyway? Below a sea, too."
"To prevent the Gamillas from discovering everything, and to keep the local population away. We don't need to interfere in their growth, do we?"
"Yeah, you're right. They said this ship will bring peace. Do you think it would?"
"I can only hope so. Sometimes, we all need a little faith."
A day later, everything was complete, and everyone left the underwater dock and the ship. The journey back home would take another 3 years.
Except that the cruiser never completed it.
Outside of the planet later known as "Jupiter", a one-on-one battle took place between the cruiser and a Gamillas vessel, who had eventually tracked down the local solar system the former was in. Both ships were lost.
The Iscandian battleship was left in its dock, forgotten, on the planet known as "Earth."
One
17 November, 2198 AD
Kodai pointed the submersible's nose downwards, descending even further down the East China Sea.
"Now, where are you?" he mused to himself, checking his sonar.
Susumu Kodai, ex-UNCF ensign, now a full-time undersea explorer. The young man had resigned from his post in the thriving United Nations Cosmo Fleet in order to live a slower, more regular life on Earth. His brother, Mamoru Kodai, was a highly-regarded commanding officer of his own ship, and he was the reason why the younger Kodai pursued a career in space in the first place.
But the younger Kodai, he himself soon found out, realized that he was not yet capable of any feats in the fleet, and decided to "take a break" and decide to refresh himself while working on a job he had always eyed as an alternative. It pays well, too.
Kodai frowned as he could see the seabed out from the glass dome of the sub. Where is it?
He checked his sonar again.
"Northeast, a kilometer away," he mumbled himself as he pointed in the right direction.
Why was he on this trip, you may ask? Well, the wreck of the battleship Yamato was starting to be in serious danger of decaying beyond recognition, and Kodai was tasked to film footage of the rusting hulk before it disappears.
A rusting hulk of the once-flagship of the Japanese Navy, he mused.
The Imperial Japanese Navy battleship Yamato. Launched in 1941, she is still the largest sea-faring battleship on Earth ever built, and the most heavily armed and armoured too. 263 meters long, 38.9 meters wide and sitting in the water 11 meters deep, this was the flagship of the combined fleet during the Pacific War, or as the world knows it as, World War 2. Her main guns, 46 centimeters of caliber, were the largest guns ever put to sea, and she carried nine of them in three turrets. They were complimented by six 15.5 cm guns in two turrets, twenty-four 12.7 cm heavy anti-aircraft guns mounted as duals in a turret each, one hundred and sixty-two 50mm and four 13.2 mm light anti-aircraft guns, all providing the battleship with impressive firepower. Her waterline belt armour was 410 millimeters thick, and her deck armour was between 200 to 226.5 millimeters thick. A top speed of 27 knots, even with all that weight.
On April 7 1945, the vessel was attacked by over 200 US planes as she sped, along with the light cruiser Yahagi and some destroyers as escorts, towards Okinawa on a suicide mission under Operation Ten-Go. At 1423 that day, a massive explosion from the ship's magazines tore the vessel into half, and she plunged to the bottom of the sea.
Almost 254 years later, here Kodai is, heading towards the wreck.
"50 meters. Oh, there she is."
The bow of the mighty battleship looked back at him.
"Alright. Now, I'll get to work. Camera rolling."
Over the next two hours, Kodai filmed as much of the whole wreck as possible; the front half of the vessel, still sitting upright, the two massive barbettes that used to house the first two main turrets and the much-smaller barbette behind housing the front triple 15.5 cm turret, the still-standing pagoda mast, the upside-down rear half of the ship…
"Alright, I think I'm done," Kodai muttered to himself as he stopped recording. But before he returned to his ship, he decided that it would be a good idea to explore the wreck himself.
As he looked around the debris field, something caught his attention.
Is that a door?
Moving the submersible closer to a mould of dirt, he used the mechanical arms of the underwater explorer to clear the dirt away.
It IS a door!
One single door, enough to fit a cruiser from the Pacific War era, stood before him.
"What is this?"
Clearing away more dirt, Kodai accidentally flipped over a covered switch.
"Oh, crap! I did not see that!"
The door slid downwards, revealing a dark passageway.
The young man turned on his infrared cameras. The mysterious passageway sloped downwards.
Hey, isn't this a bit of a cliche at this point?
Well, do I want to go in or not?
He pondered for a while.
I'll proceed with caution. Nothing bad will happen, right?
He set the submersible's telegram to 20%, and began his exploration of the mysterious cave.
This cannot be natural for sure, he thought as he went down the path, who built this?
A loud slam from behind caught his attention. Fearing the worst, he looked at the screen of the rear infrared camera.
"Damn it, it shut!" he shouted.
Okay Susumu, don't panic. Now you just need to go down to find a way to get out, right?
He went down for a while more, noting that the walls around looked like they were made out of metal. Very durable metal.
Who has the tech to make this?
The descent soon straightened out, and Kodai found himself in a room that could fit a whole ship.
Suddenly, lights came on, stunning the young man as the water around him immediately began to drain.
Within a few moments, the submersible was sitting on solid ground. Sensors showed that the air around him was all oxygen.
Opening the hatch, Kodai scurried out, torchlight and gun in hand. He wasn't going to take any chances.
He looked around the dimly-lit hangar. A door resembling that of a service door was in front of him.
Walking towards it, Kodai pressed the green button.
Darkness greeted him in front.
Turning on his flashlight, he looked around for any power switches.
The search was short; Kodai found what seems to be the main switch just beside the door.
His hand grabbed it.
Hey, wait! Do you really want to do this?
Eh, why not? We only live once.
Pulling the massive switch down, the whole area sprang to life. The whine of what is supposed to be the power generator was audible, while the massive lights around lit up row by row.
As the lights lit up, he noticed that the "room" was more like a massive hangar; about 500 meters long and 200 meters wide. Around the walls, large water ducts were placed; probably to flood the place up, while there were many grilles on the floors of the mysterious hangar. Kodai was standing among one of the elevated areas of the hangar; the actual floor was about ten meters below him.
As the final spotlights around a certain hull lit up from front to back, Kodai couldn't believe what he was seeing ahead of him.
"What the hell is this?!"
That looks like the Yamato - no, it cannot be the Yamato! Too large! It sure resembles it, though.
Wait, is this a spacecraft?
Kodai stared at the vessel in awe as he got closer, climbing down a flight of stairs.
This ship looked a lot like the Yamato; then again, it looked a lot different from the Japanese battleship.
The vessel was about 300 meters long, certainly longer than the Yamato herself. It had a sharper bow that flared upwards, seemingly giving way to the area of what looks like to be some barrel mounted at the bow, just below the deck. Just like Yamato, the main and secondary guns looked about the same, just… slightly larger. Her superstructure looked like it was inspired by the Yamato, just much futuristic and somewhat sleeker, with the heavy AA weaponry arranged in two roles on each side, keeping the rounded shape of the hull untampered. Wait, are those 4 barrels on the top row turrets?
The pagoda itself was a brilliant work of art; a sleek design with two distinct bridges, each with the center of its front and rectangular windows pointing out sharply. At the very top of the mast was a radar set; something that resembles what the UNCF itself would use for its vessels, as well as what looks like a pod-shaped room.
At her stern was a single large thruster integrated into the hull, while underneath it were two small thrusters integrated deeper into the hull, steering clear of the nozzle of the larger, supposedly-main thruster. On the deck, behind the rocket, were two catapults, just like the Yamato.
Throughout the ship, there were multiple small "wings" on various locations, as well as some torpedo tubes on the bow, sides and stern. Below the hull, at the center of the length of the ship, was a third bridge, jutting out of the vessel as if it were an afterthought. The ship was painted red at the appropriate bottom part of the vessel, including the bridge at the bottom; an indication of a proper waterline, which meant that this ship, like most of the UNCF vessels, were meant to land on water. However, the ship has streaks of rust everywhere, but they do not look serious.
"That's pretty vulnerable, isn't it?" Kodai mused to himself, walking towards the bridge at the bottom. He then noticed that two ramps were extended from the bridge, allowing access to the rest of the vessel.
Brushing aside thoughts that told him it was a bad idea, Susumu went up the ramp and into the ship.
My god, how long has this been sitting here?
Kodai shone his flashlight through the dusty corridors of the vessel.
After some time, Kodai had headed to the superstructure of the ship, finding that all the doors were unlocked. Noting that the lifts were certainly inoperable without power, Kodai took the stairs, opening and exploring the second bridge from the top. This looked like a planning area for the officers; the bridge at the top must be the primary bridge.
Climbing up the stairs and prying open the doors to the first bridge, his guess was confirmed; this was the primary bridge of the vessel.
At the back of the command center of the ship, center in terms of width, was the captain's chair and console, mounted on a slightly-elevated platform. The chair itself seemed to be mounted to a lift of sorts, heading upwards, probably to the pod-like room. Even in the UNCF, chairs for captains were a form of luxury; only the Kirishima, flagship and under the command of Admiral Okita, had such a chair.
On the right of the front of the bridge was the helm controls; dusty and maybe rusting or rotting at some parts. In the center of the front of the bridge, however, was what seems like a tactical command console, perhaps for the tactical officer. On the left was just… a console and a few ports? What is that for? Around the sides of the bridge were multiple seats and consoles, Kodai noted, but he has no idea of what they did.
At the very center of the bridge was a round ball of glass, with a projector/mount keeping it in place. On its left was another console and seat; and another on the right, the latter being easily identified by Kodai as a radar post.
Shining his torchlight at the ceiling, he noticed that the front 50% or so of the ceiling, other than the fact that it was sloped, was also completely covered by a large screen. He also noted that some of the consoles had flip displays on them; they look outdated.
Dusting and seating on the captain's chair, he noticed a small red button on the right side of the console.
Feeling pretty impulsive and thinking that it wouldn't do anything, Kodai pressed it.
Multiple beeps immediately filled up the bridge as every single light and console sprang to life, startling the young man. All of them.
Susumu tried to run out of the bridge, but the doors slammed shut in his face. Anxiously trying to pry them open, he turned round and noticed lines of alien language scrawled over the large screen, moving down at a rapid pace.
All the beeping stopped and the ship returned to its quiet state, with all its consoles and lights still on. Kodai felt cool as he sat on the ground, silent; the air-conditioning system must have turned on.
After a moment, a soft beep could be heard.
"Why are you panicking?"
Kodai immediately jumped up and tried again to yank the doors open, this time feeling real fear.
"I mean you no harm. Are you one of the native species on this planet?"
"What do you think?!" Kodai shouted in reply to the female voice, still trying to open the doors.
"It seems that I have laid dormant for one thousand, seven hundred and seventy years, relative to this planet."
Kodai stopped and turned around. "Wait, who's that?!"
"I am the non-biological consciousness of the vessel you are on board. Or, as what you 'humans' like to call, artificial intelligence. AI."
Kodai stopped panicking. "Wait, are you an alien?"
"A non-biological being cannot be an 'alien', but is of alien origin. Yes, I am of alien origin in relation to you."
"This means… aliens exist and have indeed visited Earth before?"
"Indeed. But first, let me explain to you why I am able to speak your language. While you were trying to escape, I have accessed your planet's communications system and downloaded all the information available."
Kodai paused for a moment. "So, you just hacked the internet."
"In layman's terms, yes. But I will never be traced; my systems are more advanced than your planet's general technological advances. "
"Oh."
Kodai paused again.
Wait, am I really speaking to an alien ship?
"So," he asked, "what are you,exactly."
"I am Imperial Iscandian Vessel #29667, laid down under order of the king of Iscandar, a planet located, with your planet's measurements, in the Large Magellanic Cloud, some one hundred and sixty-two thousand light years away, and completed in 16 May 428 AD, again relative to your planet's measurements."
"So, you're an old ship," Kodai concluded.
"Indeed. However, I was built to have a life expectancy of at least two millennia, after which if I was never activated, my hull would have rusted beyond repair. Once I have been repaired, I would have an indefinite life period, depending on whether I would be destroyed, altered or decommissioned."
"Why would any ship be built to last this long? And why here?"
"I was built as a confidential project to prevent the Gamillas empire from discovering me. The Gamillas Empire was an empire that had warred with us for control over systems, and unlike Iscandar, which was seeking peace when I was just newly completed, showed no signs of stopping their invasive campaign. I am a ship that would bring peace to the Gamilas."
"Iscandar… Gamillas…"
"I was built here away from the Empire to maintain my secrecy. It seems that I have been forgotten."
"Here, allow me to explain further in detail."
After some time of explanations, Kodai asking questions and more talk about the alien technology, the young man thought about something.
"So, this conquest," he asked, "will they reach Earth?"
"Based on the Gamilas' rate of technological advancement, I believe that they would reach us soon."
"What?! And you're nonchalant about it?!"
"I am not programmed to feel emotions. Furthermore, inaccuracies in my calculations can render my conclusions inaccurate."
Kodai sat down on the captain's chair. "But like you've said, the Gamilas aren't going to stop. Earth is in danger, and nobody knows. I'm going to tell UNCF command."
"Wait. My existence must not be revealed now. I have an alternate plan; I can repair myself in a few months in preparation for a Gamilas invasion of Earth. Is that sufficient?"
Kodai thought for a moment. "I'll accept it. By the way, do you have a name?"
"I only have a numerical designation."
"Do you know the battleship Yamato?"
"I have downloaded information about the particular battleship; I am aware of my resemblance to it."
Kodai smirked. "Would you like the name 'Yamato'?"
"I will accept."
"Very well, Yamato. I will return in a few days, alright?"
"Alright. I have control over the entire dock. The next time you return, I will tell you more about my systems."
"Sure. Well, see you around," Kodai said, walking towards the doors leading to the stairs.
"Take the door on your left; that belongs to the elevator."
"Oh, okay."
Somewhere relatively far from Earth in the Milky Way Galaxy, a battle between fleets of two different sides was taking place. One side was easily destroyed.
"Captain, orders from Gamillas. The location of the ancient vessel of Iscandar has finally been uncovered by intelligence after an unexpected ping from its supposed location, your orders are to head over to the coordinates they've sent to us."
"Very well, we have finished up here too. Garle Dessler!"
The fleet broke off from the rest of the green ships and jumped into warp.