ATE: I've had this idea for awhile of a 'What if' sort of thing. This is the idea of what if Ayame wasn't found by Jr. and Mary when they were invading the U-TIC battleship and Albedo was the one to find her instead? This is the result. Just so you know this chap has BOTH the prologue and chap 1 in the same thing. And the prologue consists of what happened in chap 1 of Xenosaga I The Beginning except there's a bit of a change to it (adding to the 'what if'). Enjoy!
Declaimer: I don't own Xenosaga. I only own my OC (that we all know by now is Ayame, if you read the original story series I wrote).
Different Circumstances - XS I: The Beginning
Prologue
The Durandal soon arrived in the area where the Federation fleet had been before the attack of the Gnosis had happen. Jr. and Mary were both in A.G.W.S. units as they made their way to the ship.
"Man…this ship's been gutted down to the core." Jr. said surprised. "Looks like a carcass of a beached whale."
Mary then appeared on his screen. "It's not much better up here. There's no sign of life at all. Just a bunch of A.G.W.S. scrap."
"Figures…" He muttered. "It's not like diving into shark-infested waters with a big juicy steak."
Jr. and Mary flew their A.G.W.S. into the wrecked ship and landed inside.
"Bingo!" He said excitedly. "I've found the remains of a Zohar security ring! I guess this was where they were storing it. Shelley… Set the sequencing primer."
"Roger." Shelly said. "Initiating Primer Walking. Analyzing gate-in wake."
"If they're already out of range, we're outta luck. Let's hope they're still hanging around nearby."
"I can't believe you're hoping those things are still here… Aren't you scared, Little Master?" Asked Mary nervously.
"Heck, there're plenty of things in this world scarier than the Gnosis." Jr. stated. "So,
how is it? Have they already gone over to the other side?"
"Just hold your horses there, Little Master. I'm in the middle of analyzing…" Suddenly an alarm went off. "Wha?"
"What is it?" Asked Jr.
Jr. and Mary suddenly saw something appearing in the area around them.
"Emergency alert! Looks like someone got here before us!" Mary said.
"It appears we're completely surrounded."
The enemies appeared out of nowhere.
"Heh. Using short-jumps, eh? That's pretty damn clever!" He said smugly.
"Little Master, are they…"
"Yeah, no question about it. They're from U-TIC."
The enemies started firing their weapon at Jr., but he dodged them by doing a back flip.
"Mary, I'll head back after I take care of these guys! Order all the crew to return to the Durandal!" Jr. ordered.
Jr. started to smirk as he got out his weapons and attack the U-TIC soldiers in their A.G.W.S units. It took a while but he managed to defeat them all. After Jr. defeated the U-TIC soldiers the ship started to shake wildly. He assumed that if was a U-TIC battleship.
"Whoa, whoa, hold up… Trying to cover up the evidence?" He muttered.
"Little Master, you've got to hurry back! Their mother ship is coming!" Mary said.
Jr. managed to escape the wrecked ship successfully. He watched as the U-TIC battleship destroyed the ship and went back to the Durandal.
Jr. and Mary were riding up the elevator to the bridge of the Durandal.
"Welcome back, Little Master." A 100-Series said.
"What's the situation?" Jr. asked.
"It's a standard attack vessel. Unknown registration. All weapons are at Condition zebra, interlocks removed. Awaiting orders, sir."
Suddenly the Durandal got hit and started to shake.
"These guys just don't let up, do they?" Said Jr. "Activate all shields!"
"Incoming, second wave of attacks. 10 second to impact!"
"'All 100-Series, subchannel into the High Velocity Cannon system!" Shelly commanded as she got into her seat.
"Connection to High Velocity Cannon system complete. Enemy photon torpedo on the port side! Impact imminent!"
The U-TIC Battleship fired lasers at Durandal, but the shields had absorbed the lasers from the enemy ship. At least it would buy them time.
"The shield is still holding!"
"Man…all we were doing was investigating the scene. You'd think they could just leave us alone. Match course and speed!" Jr. said.
"Course and speed modified. Ready to fire!" Shelly commanded.
Jr. placed his hands on the controls and his eyes started to glow brighter as he reacted to the firing controls.
"Take this!"
The Durandal fired laser cannons at the U-TIC Battleship, destroying all but one of them that had a shield up.
"Hah, look at that, Little Master! They're already starting to flee." Mary said.
"The enemy mother ship has begun its retreat." Shelly stated.
"It'd be nice if we could just let 'em go… But we can't do that, now can we?" Asked Jr. "Shelley, give 'em a little nudge."
"And when he says a little nudge, you know what that means!"
"Set engines to ramming speed! Penetrate the port side and prepare for combat!" Shelly commanded.
The Durandal rammed the nose part into the shielded U-TIC Battleship and it penetrated through the shield and the U-TIC Battleship suffered damage.
The crew made it's way into the ship and where ready for orders.
"Our objective is the enemy mainframe. Utilize all available terminals and counter any protective measures." Mary said. "Once inside, engage all hostiles. All hands, move out."
The Durandal crew moved forward.
Mary then looked to Jr. "Well, shall we head for the bridge, Little Master? Ready?"
"All right. Let's get this over with and go home." Jr. said. The two started to move forward.
On their way to the bridge, Jr. and Mary came across a room where three U-TIC soldiers were standing guard. But the soon spotted them and charged at the two. Jr. and Mary easily took them out. The only thing that either of them saw was a capsule, but they thought nothing of it and just left. If only they knew what was inside…
Jr. and Mary made it to the bridge, and due to Jr. touching things that he wasn't supposed to, they were forced into a fight with Ambix. They soon defeated Ambix Mary sat at the computer and started to hacked into the mainframe.
"We've hacked into the enemy mainframe. Okay, so now what? Shall I copy or transmit it?" Asked Mary.
"They've already entered the manual override code… The partitions are being deleted. Hurry up and start your transmission." Shelley said.
"Roger. You just clear your head out and wait for me." Mary found a wide connector and connected it to her headset.
Jr. went over to Mary. "I tell ya, being able to interlink with your sister has gotta be real convenient." Jr. stated.
"I wouldn't say that. She has so many random thoughts."
"I can't help it! We're humans, not Realians. You can telepathically talk to the Kaiser, right, Little Master? That sounds a lot more convenient to me. You don't need this annoying contraption, either." Mary said.
"Not really… I have to constantly make sure I watch what I'm thinking, or else I start sending thoughts I don't want to send." Jr. said. "The whole thing's just as tiring as hell. It'd be easier to just write him a letter."
"Oh, I didn't know it was like that."
"Yep, that's how it is…"
Suddenly U-TIC soldiers came into the room and started to fire on them. Fortunately, Jr. and Mary didn't get hurt. Jr. took out his guns and started firing on them, killing all the U-TIC soldiers instantly. Jr. twirled his guns and put them away.
"You okay, Mary?" Jr. asked.
"Yeah, I'm all right, but… Look what you did!" Mary held up wide connector, which was cut off from the original connector.
"I'm sorry to say that all data from the enemy mainframe has been lost." Shelley said.
"Ah…oops."
"It's because of all those cheesy action flicks you keep on watching!" Mary stated.
Just then Jr. received a signal from the Durandal.
"They've launched a lifeboat. Shall we pursue?"
"Nah, no need to pursue them that far. We just need to know where they're headed. Place a trace request with the U.M.N. administration bureau." Jr. said. "Let's head back. Hurry up with the retrieval preparations onboard the Durandal. All hands, check your equipment. Don't leave any evidence behind."
Jr. left the bridge, leaving Mary alone.
"Amazing…" Mary said. "I can't believe how much his personality changes when he's holding a gun."
"A lust for conquest and absolute power, and the desire to have a really big…gun. I supposed that'd be the standard explanation." Shelly said.
"You don't hold back, do you, Shelley?"
"Although, in Little Master's case, it's probably just a complex about his height."
Mary giggled "Probably. But I think Little Master's plenty attractive just the way he is."
"True… Mary, we'll be leaving in two minutes." Shelly said. "Hurry back, okay?"
"Roger."
Shelley broke contact with Mary.
"It's a shame…" Mary said sadly. "Little Master doesn't have any choice in the matter but to stay that size…"
Mary left the U-TIC battleship, making her way back to the Durandal.
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Chapter 1
Somewhere in vast darkness of space Albedo was piloting the Simeon, accompanied by the Kirschwasser that was always with him. His destination: the remains of the U-TIC Battleship. He sighed in boredom, thinking that trying to salvage any information from a blown up ship was a complete waste of time; there wouldn't be anything left to salvage. But still, orders were orders.
"Find anything interesting, my little Kirschwasser?" He asked.
"Scanning." The Kirschwasser said. "The remains of the U-TIC Battleship are a few kilometers up ahead."
"I'm aware of that, but anything else?"
"There is an object still intact even after the vessel was blown up."
This got Albedo's attention. An object that was still intact after an explosion? Now that was interesting! The Simeon continued making its way to the site and just as the Kirschwasser stated a capsule floated a ways away from the wreckage of the battleship. Going over to it Albedo picked up the capsule and had the arm of the Simeon bring it up to the head in order to get a closer look at it, the words '2008 A.D.' written on it.
Sleeping peacefully inside the capsule was a girl who appeared to be 17 years old with long white blonde hair, wearing an old school uniform.
"This girl…" He thought.
Albedo wandered into a room that was mostly vacant except for the capsule in the middle of the room that he was walking towards. He saw the plate that read '2008 A.D.' on it before wiping the glass, seeing a girl…an angel of the past…sleeping peacefully inside.
After recalling the memory of when he first saw her 14 years ago he grinned maniacally before laughing.
"Looks like this trip wasn't a complete waste of time after all." He mused.
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"Now, Kirschwasser, do you have the sedative ready?"
The Kirschwasser turned to look at Albedo from where she sat and held up the syringe filled with the sedative.
"Yes. It is ready." She answered.
"Good. You already know the plan."
The Simeon flew inside the hanger of the new U-TIC base (AN: I don't know what to call it) since the one on Pleroma was blown up recently. Once they landed Albedo had the hand holding the capsule set it on the platform near the head of the Simeon before getting out, followed by the Kirschwasser holding the syringe in her hand. He stood near the capsule and pressed a button before hearing the hissing sound of the capsule door opening. He looked at the girl lying inside the now opened capsule and saw that she started to stir. As soon as her eyes cracked opened a bit the Kirschwasser injected the sedative into the vein in the girl's arm with great care, causing her to start falling back asleep. Albedo gathered her delicate form in his arms, climbing back inside the Simeon and placing her in the place where he sat before getting out to see the capsule already shut.
He grinned. Everything was going as planned.
Albedo heard the sound of footsteps approached and spotted Margulis and a few U-TIC soldiers following him as they made their way over to the Simeon. He chuckled quiet before making his way to the platform and using the controls to have it lower to the ground. Margulis came over and stood in front of him.
"So you're back. Did you manage to find anything of interest among the wreckage of our battleship?" Margulis asked.
"I might have, unless finding a capsule from the year 2008 A.D. means anything to you?" Albedo answered.
"A capsule?" Margulis raised an eyebrow. "It appears you managed to recover one of our valuable objects. Good work." Margulis walked over to the capsule to inspect it, only to growl in anger a few seconds later and slam his fist on it. "Where is she?" He growled, turning to look at Albedo. He went up to him and grabbed him by the collar. "Where is she, U.R.T.V.?"
"'Where is she?' Was there supposed to be someone in there? It was empty when I found it."
Margulis released his grip on Albedo's collar but the scowl remained on his face.
"Fine! But you have better be right, U.R.T.V….! But the capsule stays with us."
With that Margulis and the soldiers walked away with the capsule. Albedo laughed mentally.
"Come." Albedo said to the realian, walking onto the platform.
Albedo had to lift the girl in order to get in his seat before sitting her down on his lap, her body leaning against him as her head laid limply against his shoulder. He smiled slightly, gently stroking the side of her face with his hand. His angel…so soft and delicate…like a flower.
"Soon, mon belle iris, you'll be in a safe haven."
ATE: That's it for the prologue and chap 1. There will be a chap 2 soon because my editoress will see to it that I finish this story. There will be a second and third story to this series that'll correspond with Xenosaga II The Middle and Xenosaga III The Final. Albedo's probably OOC in this chap, but if you've read my other Xenosaga stories so far you know the reason. Please review! :)
