Stars on Fire
Chapter 1: Arrival and first contact
"Initiate the seventh long distance space fold jump" ordered president Howard Glass an old fifty plus year old man, with white hair and a white mustache, as the main gun of the Battle Frontier space warship finished its firing sequence and cleared the immediate area of the remaining Vajra invaders.
Immediately after which the entire bridge of the massive space vessel became a hot bed of activity, as the various stations of the massive vessel reviewed the information given to them and prepared the massive Frontier convoy for the extreme undertaking that would be jumping the entirety of the huge convoy into the alternate dimension known as fold space. As the stations began giving the confirmation signal one by one, the massive space fold engines of the Frontier became alive and began rupturing the space-time continuum of real space and created a strangely beautiful pink hued vortex through which the millions of tons of the convoy began to pass.
Beyond the pink-colored veil of the space-fold window laid a blue-purple ripple like tunnel through which the massive vessel and its escorting convoy appeared to move, always moving towards a purple-pink gigantic source of light that was always in front of the vessel, and yet the vessel never seemed to reach.
However once the massive vessel made the full transition to the other dimension which was fold space a massive tremor rocked the gigantic construct.
"Report!" ordered the Commodore in command of the Battle Frontier, as he attempted to remain steady during the severe turbulence that was rocking the vessel.
"Unknown fold-space anomaly" yelled one of the bridge operators, as the entire room was rocked yet again tossing several of the bridge officers off their chairs.
"Sir The ship cannot last more than a couple of minutes the stress will tear her apart" informed another office who had just regained his place, and tried to read the extreme amounts of information being presented to him as the ship was rocked once again.
"How long until we reach the designated space-fold coordinates?" asked the president trying to remain in his place despite the serious movement being experienced.
"Impossible to determine" Yelled one of the bridge officers. "Fold-space navigation controls and sensors are not responding"
"Damn it!" Said the president as he punched the arm rest of his chair, and looked at the bridge with rage clearly engraved in his face.
"Can we contact the engine room?" asked the Commodore, as he too observed with powerless rage as the vessels rocking intensified.
Another tremor rocked the ship, and several consoles exploded, sending several bridge officers flying, their blood splattered on the wall as if recreating a macabre work of art carved by the Grim Reaper as he sensed a moment in which to fulfill his role.
The rocking continued, and the bridge officers and crew members struggled to remain in their stations and try to solve the problem. "Commander, the engine room is asking for permission to cut off the main dri..Aahhh!" yelled another bridge member as his console exploded and he was quickly sent to the far side of the bridge.
Without thinking twice the Commodore pushed the communication button on his console. "This is the Commander. Cut off the main drive! Repeat! Cut off the main drive!" where the orders of the Commodore, who was then flung from his chair and sent to the wall, where he passed out from severe head trauma.
For a couple of seconds the entire crew held their breaths, hoping that the Commodores orders had gone through and that they would live, while at the same time holding against the extreme turbulence that rocked the ship. Then what everyone hoped for occurred, the turbulence ceased and the convoy was once again flung into real space.
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Several hours later president Glass sat at his office, looking at the after action reports. His office which was supposed to be the very image of order and organization was anything but. The furniture lay sprayed in haphazard manners and destroyed in many others, the many books in his personal collection where all on the floor, and the libraries themselves where little more than splintered wood, that his desk and chair had survived with barely a scratch was nothing short of a miracle.
The reports themselves where even less promising, and not much different from the state of his own office. The casualty report was high, close to two thousand people, between human and even full Zentraedi had died. Close to four times that were injured and the disappeared list rivaled the dead one. The damage to the frontier and its accompanying convoy of vessels and arcologies was extensive, and would take substantial time to repair.
The president turned around in his chair and looked through the hole which had once held an old design of a window, yet was now slightly more than a hole through the wall. Through it the reports became crystal clear. The buildings which had once ruled the view from the presidential office where completely destroyed, uncontrolled fires still raged unchecked, and the sounds of distant fire and police sirens could be heard in the distance.
The sky which was usually blue thanks to the advanced climate control systems was red due to the increased temperature and the fires which tinted the ambient with their crimson and all consuming fury, as fire crews fired a difficult struggle against the forces of nature which manifested themselves even in a manmade environment.
Suddenly there was a tap on the door and the president turned to look at what was left of his door. "It's me Mr. President" announced a calm and serene voice amidst the apparent chaos which engulfed the president's office.
"Come in" announced the president. Immediately afterwards a tall man, that at first sight looked more like a woman due to his shoulder length and cropped hair entered with several documents in hand. "I hope that you have some good news Mr. Mishima" said the president in a slightly annoyed tone.
Leon Mishima looked at the president with contempt for a second before getting closer. "I am afraid I have even worse news" said the man in a calm voice, as he passed the documents to the president.
For a few minutes the president looked at the documents that where in his hands and sighed trying to relieve some of the stress that was consuming him, and slumping into his chair. "So we have no idea where we are?" asked the president as he looked at the man looking over him.
"Unfortunately so Mr. President, as soon as we were able to restore our navigation sensors we checked the stellar formations surrounding us. We are unable to match any stars position with those on our charts, with only one notable exception"
"And that would be Earth, wouldn't it?" asked the president to which the man only nodded.
"That is correct Mr. President. Furthermore we have a major problem regarding supplies, unless we detect a sufficiently vast source of raw materials and living essentials, within two months we will run out of living supplies" stated Leon Mishima in a neutral tone.
"Humph, have we begun surveys of the nearby systems for the necessary supplies?" asked the president.
"We sent a number of vessels on immediate surveys as soon as they were deemed capable of folding. However we have no way of knowing how long until we hear any type of information from the surveys"
The president looked down at the documents at hand, and sighed once again. The early destruction and escape of the Vajra invaders had been rendered completely useless in the face of the destruction suffered during space fold operations, normally considered a safe and efficient method. Soon however the president was out of his reverie and looked at Leon Mishima in a very stern manner "Initiate stage three rationing throughout the fleet, we need to buy as much time as we need while we find the necessary resources"
"Understood Mr. President" said Mishima and turned to leave.
Before he could leave however the president stopped him. "What about our savior?"
Leon Mishima turned and looked at the president. "We have her under observation Mr. President. However given the circumstances we have decided to postpone the celebrations that where scheduled for her"
"Very well, keep me informed" said the president, and he saw the chief of staff leave through the damaged wall. "I hope the future holds better for us after such a tragedy" said the president as he continued to observe the destruction brought on by the strenuous fold jump.
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Alto Saotome a tall sixteen year old boy, with features that looked more like those of a woman stood in the briefing room of the SMS Macross Quarter, listening to the briefing of his superior officer regarding their new assignment.
At his side where his two best friends and comrades in arms, Michael Blanc a tall sixteen year old boy as well, with short cropped blonde hair, glasses and fair complexion, as well as Luca Angelloni, a short fourteen year old boy, with short red hair and an ever present cheerful attitude that belied his true capabilities.
All three of them where part of the SMS or Strategic Military Services, a privately operated military organization that was currently contracted by the Macross Frontier government. All three of them where paying attention to their commander as he explained their new assignment.
"As you all well know the seventh long range fold operation undertaken by the Macross Frontier was a complete disaster" began their commander Lee Ozma, a middle aged and gruff looking man, with very stern complexion and a hard look in his eyes. "This has resulted in the resources of the Frontier to be extended to the breaking point. Thus we have been contracted to help resolve the situation"
"To this end the Macross Quarter, with an escort of five ships from the Frontier fleet will immediately initiate a survey mission dedicated to locating the resources necessary to repair the Frontier and its ecosystem" said the Commander as a computer simulation showed the vessel, and it five escorts. "This vessel will travel to a nearby solar system and asses the resources present in the system, and how much can be used to restore the frontier".
The Commander then turned and looked at all the present pilots, and assessed their reactions. "Under normal circumstances this would have fallen within the government's jurisdiction, and they would have handled this menial task" said the Commander looking down at the floor and sighing. "However the Macross Quarter is one of the few vessels remaining that is capable of folding without a lengthy overhaul, any questions?" the Commander looked at everyone present and waited for any questions, none where asked. "None, well, we leave in two hours dismissed"
As the Commander dismissed everyone, they all left the briefing room, while Alto Saotome and his friends were left behind. Alto felt bored and depressed a fact that did not go unnoticed by his comrades, who were at his side. "Someone feels bad for not having time to see his girlfriends eh" said Michel Blanc with a smug and assured expression, clearly enjoying his victory over his friends.
"Oh, shut up" said Alto feeling even more annoyed at his friends antics as they laughed at his misfortune. "For your information I do not miss any of those two. Hmmm what a drag" he continued feeling a little angry at his supposed friends jokes. "What I can't understand tough is why the government cannot take care of these menial tasks? I mean, how many vessels are there really that require such a large overhaul?" he asked feeling superior to the menial task he had been assigned.
"Over three fourths of the fleet where damaged beyond fold-operation capability by the unknown space fold anomaly. That the Quarter survived in such a complete state is almost a miracle" said Luca Angelloni, looking at the floor feeling depressed by the information he was delivering to his friends.
All three friends looked at the floor, each one calculating differently the battered state of the Frontier fleet, and the extent of the damages. "In any case, this is an important mission and we can't mess it up" said Michael Blanc as he moved his glasses over the rim of his nose, and observed his two friends.
"Yes" was all that was said by his two friends who looked a little better despite their horrible situation.
"Well, I guess there's not much point in us staying around here feeling sorry for ourselves. Let's go" said Alto Saotome as he left the conference room with his friends behind him.
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Several hours later Alto Saotome looked out of the cockpit of his VF 25 Messiah, as he observed the blue sphere the fleet had come to survey in search of the necessary materials for the Frontier. As he continued on his flight path he looked at the Macross Quarter, lead ship in the small fleet.
The Macross Quarter was a large four hundred meter long vessel, which looked like it possessed two hands and two legs. In the legs were housed the massive nuclear fusion engines that propelled the craft as it slowly made its orbit around the blue sphere. At the front the two hands where very different. The right hand looked like an elongated flat topped pyramid, in it was housed the main cannon of the Macross Quarter, a powerful Quantum Reaction cannon, that created an incredibly powerful micro black hole that it then sent towards its target, the black hole would explode with a given target and be sucked in the powerful gravity generated by the unstable quantum singularity, while a massive gravity wave that was left in its wake shattered the target with powerful directed gravity waves. The left arm was a more conventional run way and storage for the two squadrons of fighters that made the force of the SMS, as well as the devastating Koenig Monster, a huge transformable craft became a powerful quadruple nuclear cannon artillery piece.
The main force of the SMS consisted of the VF 25 Messiah's, craft of their own design. Like all of the VF series fighters, the Messiah was a variable fighter, meaning that it could transform in mid flight to become a half-plane half-robot hybrid, with great VTOL and maneuvering capabilities or a fully fledged two legged robot, with great all around flexibility and if necessary hand-to-hand combat capabilities.
Alto Saotome thus sat in his own unique white and red variant Messiah as he boringly observed the planet they surveyed. At his side where his two friends in their own unique Messiah's. Michael's Messiah was a blue colored variant, and was equipped with a specialized long range cannon for sniping enemies, following his own motto of one shot with a girl or an enemy in his own words. His other friend Luca flew a green colored variant, with a large radome, or radar dome, used for advanced scouting, as well as electronic warfare, accompanied by his three escort shadow planes, autonomous fighter drones, that where slaved to the commands of Luca Angelloni, and served as his eyes and ears.
Alto thus was at the moment currently escorting Luca as he made the survey of the planet from a different perspective of the main vessels, a fact that greatly annoyed Alto. "How long is that going to take Luca? Being out here doing nothing is very boring you know" said Alto clearly expressing his irritation at his current assignment.
"A scan this detailed and important takes several hours you know Alto-sempai" said Luca in a defensive tone, trying to a peace his friend.
"He's just annoyed that he can't spend time with his princesses you know that Luca" said Michael interrupting their private conversation with his cheerful attitude.
Like you are one to talk" came the voice of a woman, as a large red and bulbous robot approached the three fighters. "I seem to recall that you offered some girl a date, and totally forgot about it the other day, she must surely be pissed by now" said the voice in a cheerful tone, but a subtle undertone of envy could be heard from the woman.
"You know that I can't go out with minors Captain Klan, it's against the law and could be seen as sexual harassment" was Michaels reply in a calm and confident voice.
Alto and Luca where laughing as Captain Klan screamed at Michael, who cringed with a smile on his face, as the blue haired woman unloaded all of her frustration at the blonde pilot. For a few minutes all of them had a good time even as the boring subject of the survey was temporarily off their minds. Yet all of that was fated to end.
"Cut it out you four!!" screamed Commander Ozma as he interrupted the reverie of the small group. "Where all here to do a job and we are going to do it well, you hear me!"
Faced with the Commanders wrath the four pilots immediately composed themselves and a wave of yes sirs could be heard though the communications channels. "Seriously, I expect more professionalism from all of you, especially you Captain"
"Yes sir" said Captain Klan in a depressed tone, even as the Commanders face calmed from its previous bout of anger.
"Very well, carry on" said the Commander, as he began to return to his own squadron, but before he even began Luca Angelloni spoke through the communications channel. "Commander, I have a message from the Quarter, unknown space-time anomalies detected at 9' o clock"
At the same time all the pilots turned their heads to that same location and saw as a bright blue and white light appeared for a second, from there a large and bulbous looking ship emerged. The vessel was huge, over 1600 meters in length and it was colored in a light purple almost pink color. All the pilots were surprised at the size and color of the vessel, for they had never seen anything similar.
Immediately Commander Ozma took charge of the situation and of his surprised pilots. "Everyone, return to the Macross and assume a defensive formation, we don't know what where facing, but we are not taking any chances" he ordered to his pilots who immediately returned to the large carrier.
There were a few moments of tense suspense, as the massive vessel moved towards the small fleet, and everyone wondered what it could be. It would only take a number of minutes for them to find out.
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On the bridge of the Macross Quarter its captain Jeffrey Wilder an old war veteran, with a scar on the bridge of his nose and an unkempt beard, dressed in full military garb looked at the holographic projector, which showed the large unknown vessel. The vessel continued its advance towards the small fleet, but made no other actions towards the group.
"Do we have any communication?" asked the Captain to his communications officer.
Ram Hoa a twenty year old long red haired girl answered. "Negative, no communications on any known frequencies"
"Do we have any information from the sensors?"
"Nothing, scans are coming negative. We can see it, and we can target it, but most of our scans are being diverted by some sort of energy field" informed Monica Lange, a dark blonde short haired girl of light complexion, as she studied the large spherical hologram which displayed the information from the main sensors.
"So we are in the blank eh?" asked the Captain without looking at anything, clearly thinking of the situation, and searching for a viable option in this first contact situation.
All of a sudden the systems of the frontier where scrambled for a matter of seconds, but it was enough to startle the whole crew. "Report" ordered the Captain as the information began to filter to his bridge crew.
"Unknown spatial phenomenon originating from the unknown alien vessel" said Ram as she rechecked her communications station.
"All systems coming back on-line sir, the pulse was unexpectedly powerful, but not crippling" said the third bridge crew officer Mina Roshan, a young girl from Indian decent with purple hair, who was overseeing the status readouts of the various stations of the Macross Quarter.
For a few seconds, no one on the bridge spoke, all was quiet, and the tension visible as the alien vessel continued its inexorable advance towards the Macross Quarter and its accompanying fleet. Then a faint signal was received "Captain, I am receiving a faint fold signal originating from the alien vessel. It's on one of the lowest fold frequencies, and we can barely receive it"
"Very well, put it on screen" ordered the Captain and immediately the holographic screen on the bridge of the vessel lighted up, but mot of what was seen was static. "Can' you boost the signal anymore?" asked the Captain looking at the young woman, who was frantically attempting to clear the barely visible signal.
"I'll try Captain" was Ram's only answer, as she moved her fingers over her console in an attempt to clear the image. A few more seconds passed, and slowly but surely the image cleared. What was on the holographic monitor surprised everyone on the bridge.
The image of a large alien in shining gold armor, with a large and ornate head crest, and four mandibles on what appeared to be his face was the image visible on the screen. The entire crew was stunned and could hardly utter a word. For a few seconds the alien seemed to observe them, and uttered a single sentence and the screen was closed.
"Get the signal back!" yelled the Captain, looking at his communication officer, who scrambled to comply with the orders of his superior officer. However that action was short lived.
"Massive energy spike emanating from the alien vessel. Captain, they are preparing to attack!" informed Monica as she looked at her commanding officer.
Without a second thought the Captain began imparting his orders. "Prepare for an immediate engagement. Raise the repulsion fields, and bring all guns to bear. We will not fire the first shot, but we will surely make them pay" said the Captain as the Macross Quarter and its escorting vessels prepared to face the huge vessel, and an enemy they knew nothing about, without realizing the hell that was about to be unleashed upon them.
TBC