Chapter 2: First Contact

A blaring klaxon awakened Hiro from his slumber.

101, this had better be important.

The lieutenant shambled into his blue-green jumpsuit as he ran to Spacehawk's CIC.

"Space Sergeant, what is going on?"

The spherical robot swiveled around on his perch.

"Sir, we have a contact on sensors, and it's moving fast. Trajectory is consistent with Mars-to-Earth transfer."

Back at Hawknest, Ninestein was playing an antique video game on Battlehawk's computer systems when Hiro called.

"Doctor Ninestein, we have something."

"Hiro, you caught me at a bad time-"

Ninestein felt an elbow hit his ribs.

"It's all yours, Mary."

Captain Mary Falconer rose from her chair and approached the screen.

"What is it, Lieutenant?"

"It's a contact heading from Mars. It's not responding to our hailing frequencies, and it's not on any Earth database."

Ninestein paused.

"Track it down."

Hours passed as Spacehawk kept the contact on its sensors. Around 0500 the next morning, something interesting happened.

"Contact's entering Earth's atmosphere." Hiro announced.

"Where's it touching down?"

"Projected landing site: Woomera, Australia."

"Got it."

Mary turned to another spherical robot.

"Sergeant-Major, we'll need a hundred of your men."

The robot blinked for a moment.

"Uh-"

"Zero, just do it. We've got a contact."

"On it, sah!"

Zero leapt off his perch and disappeared.

"Get Hawkwing ready."

A buzzing noise awakened Kate from her slumber.

"Tiger, what's going on?"

"Contact. Get Hawkeye out of bed."

Kate sighed as she turned around to a nearby cot. Sprawled across it was Lieutenant Hedly Howard Henderson III, aka "Hawkeye."

"Hawkeye, get up."

"But mom, it's a Saturday!"

"We have a ten-forty. Move it."

Hawkeye shot out of bed, clad solely in a sleeveless shirt and a pair of boxer shorts.

Within fifteen minutes, the two were en route to Hawkwing's launch hangar. Before them was the Terrahawks' main all-purpose fighter aircraft. Suspended above the main aircraft was its namesake wing, which served as a source of auxiliary fuel and main firepower.

"Hawkeye, get into your perch."

The lieutenant rolled his eyes as he was loaded into the gunner's pod, all the while muttering about how uncomfortable it was in comparison to the pilot's pod below.

"Hawking, you have ten-fifty."

"Hawknest. Ten-ten."

The mounted aircraft began to accelerate as it was pushed along by a ceiling-mounted catapult. Outside, a whirlpool formed in a nearby lake. The hangar doors opened, and Hawkwing rose from the lake.

"Airborne."

"Prepare for takeoff." Ninestein ordered.

"Ten-ten." Mary replied as she fastened herself into her chair.

The Battlehawk turned 90 degrees and began moving forward toward its launch pad.

"All systems go." Mary announced.

The launchpad rose up to the surface, and its two pilots triggered the vertical engines. Battlehawk roared to life as it blasted off into the air.

0700 GMT:

It was still night when Battlehawk landed in the Australian outback. The air was still, hot, and dry.

"Zeroids, prepare for insertion."

A small battalion of spherical robots fell from Battlehawk.

BOOTING…

CENTRAL PROCESSING: ONLINE

SPEECH: ONLINE

WEAPONRY: ONLINE

LOW-LIGHT VISION: ONLINE

SENSORS: ONLINE

: ONLINE

"Sah, we're on the ground!" Zero announced

"Good to hear. Fan out and look for that contact.

The sergeant-major sent the command to the rest of the Zeroids, and the hunt was on.

0730 GMT:

"Sah, my sensors are pickin' up abnormal energy readings. Grid reference CA-18."

"Can you see anything?"

"No, sah."

"Macrovision."

Zero activated the zoom mode and was taken aback.

"Sah, yer not going to believe this. We've found the contact…right beneath a spider."

"Did you say you found it right beneath a spider?"

"Is that a bad thing?"

Suddenly, the contact grew to the size of a small car.

"Sah, it's gettin' bigger!"

In a flash of light, the contact achieved its full size.

"Tiger, did you just see what I just saw?" Kate asked over the radio.

"I did."

Ninestein opened a hailing frequency.

"Attention, unidentified contact. You are in protected airspace. Identify yourself, or we will shoot."

Silence.

"We will shoot if you don't answer."

The radio crackled to life.

"Typical human behavior. Always ready to shoot that which is strange."

"We do not want war with your people. However, if we are provoked, we will be inclined to shoot back."

"In that case, emerge from your craft and tell your robots to disengage."

"I will concede."

A few minutes later, Ninestein emerged into the outback, dust swirling around his eyes as the mysterious ship stirred up clouds of it.

"Come out." he requested.

Suddenly, he vanished in a flash of light.

"Sah!" Zero shouted as he watched the events unfold.

Back on the Battlehawk, Mary was biting her nails when Zero hailed.

"Sergeant-Major?"

"Cap'n Falconer, you are in command now. Doctor Ninestein has been abducted."

Mary gulped as she flicked on the radio again.

"Yes?"

"Let your prisoner go."

"Never! Never!"

A howling cackle came over the radio.

"Whoever you are, let me warn you that your actions could be construed as legitimate grounds for war. If you release the prisoner, we will put this incident behind us."

"The Earthscum is mine! All mine! And soon, your entire species shall join him!"

The cackling resumed.

"You leave us no choice, then."

Mary toggled over to the Zeroids' comm frequency.

"Fire at will."

The Zeroids extended the guns built into the left side of their "foreheads" and fired upon the ship in a volley of light.

"Then so be it!"

A beam of energy emerged from the ship and cut a swath through a cluster of derelict buildings.

"Hawkwing, take that thing down." Ninestein ordered over his personal commlink.

"But Tiger-"

"We don't have a choice here, Kate! As of ten minutes ago, we are at war!"

"Ten-ten."

Hawkwing dove from the sky on a dive run towards the alien ship. From his gunner's pod, Hawkeye lined up the wing's massive particle acceleration cannon and fired. A piece of the ship's hull evaporated when it got hit.

"Retreat!"

The alien ship roared to life. From her seat in the pilot's pod, Kate watched as her instruments went loopy and dust obscured her vision.

"Plan B, Hawkeye." she ordered.

"We've got a spare wing, right?"

"Don't know. Don't care."

Hawkeye grinned as a pair of mechanical arms removed his pod from the wing and brought it down behind Kate's.

"Detaching."

The main fighter detached from the larger wing and sped away, leaving the now-derelict lifting body to spiral down towards on a crash course for the alien ship.

A resounding explosion rocked the area as the wing collided with its target, setting off the unexpended fuel and munitions stored within. The ship fell like a brick, breaking in two upon impact and sending many pieces of itself and its payload flying hither and yon.

"Mary, tell me that wasn't the most beautiful thing on this green Earth you ever saw!" Hawkeye boasted over the comm.

Mary was silent as tears rolled down her face as she visualized Ninestein's broken body amongst the flaming wreckage.

If there's even that much left. He was caught dead center in that blast.

Just then, a humming noise filled the air as the ship mysteriously reformed.

"What the-" a stunned Hawkeye muttered.

"Nice try, Earthscum. But I have what you might call an ace up my sleeve, for I control matter itself!"

The ship roared as it left Earth behind.

"Tiger! NO!"

"Cap'n! Can't-a thing-dust-break-comms, ma'am!" Sergeant-Major Zero announced over the radio.

When the dust cleared, all that was left of the battlefield were some scorched patches of sand and bits of alien ship littering the outback.