Chapter 1

When realities collide Part 1

Disclaimer

I do not own Rio, nor any element inspirited by Battlestar Galactica, Crysis, Mass Effect or any other series.

The Milky Way galaxy, Orion-Cygnus arm, Unnamed system, 4.2 parsecs rimward from Omicron Persei, March 17, 2062

Dead silence ruled this part of cold space. The only visible source of light emitted by the far away star of the system. Asteroids and planetoids flew with extreme speeds around this asteroid belt. But something invisible to the naked eye navigated between these rocks, unknown to anyone observing the belt from outside.

Two lone stealth ships roamed through the belt, using the space rocks to blend in. The cockpit's lights were turned off as well as the main engines, hiding the ships completely from sight. Their only communication was short ranged low frequency radio. This allowed the crafts to communicate while their signals were filtered out by the background radiation of the universe.

"So, tell me, why are we here again?" The second ship's pilot spoke on the wireless, boredom evident in his voice thanks to the uneventful happenings between the rocks.

The first pilot chuckled. "You were focusing on Selena instead of the mission briefing again, weren't you? Cassidy, brief him please." Commanding to an unknown third person.

"Apparently there was a secret military project under development on one of the moons of this gas giant not too far away. Since the Shawax took over the system, we need to locate the scientists and their cargo and get them back to Avian space as soon as possible." A synthetic female voice finished, as the two ships flew near the edge of the asteroid belt.

"I guess it has to be quite valuable if they sent four Mercury battlestars to cover our asses in case of an emergency." The second pilot commented. The crafts stopped at the edge of the belt and activated their long-range passive scans. Waves of high energy particles moved across the black void at the speed of light, bouncing back from every surface they came in contact with, altering their energy levels which allowed for very accurate analysis of said object. After a five-minute sweep, they managed to gather enough data to continue their mission. The first pilot spoke up.

"Alright, were leaving the belt, the distance to our first objective is one and a half astronomical units. We won't have any cover, so set the ship on full stealth. We should be arriving there in 20 minutes. Cut off all communications until we arrive to orbit." The second pilot acknowledged and did as he was told. The ships engines gave off a quick burst of light as they accelerated and began to travel to their destination, leaving the safety of the asteroid belt behind in total silence.

Omicron Persei star system, Battlestar Memphis CIC

"Admiral, our recovery unit just left the asteroid belt and began to proceed to their objective. They should arrive in approximately twenty minutes. The Shawax has not shown any sign of knowing our ships presence from their scans." The XO spoke, a female Puffin known as Colonel Susan Grey of the Battlestar Memphis reported to a Tawny Eagle listening to the name of Admiral George Ford.

"Good. Let's hope it stays that way. This mission is far too important to screw up. I'd be more relaxed if the administration gave us more carriers just in case things get out of hand." The admiral replied, while watching the 3D hologram DRADIS map in the center of CIC.

Recovery team

The two small ships entered the orbit of the medium sized moon. It was the size of Venus, but due to it being gravitationally bound to a brilliant emerald gas giant, it was classified as a moon. It's surface mostly barren, small patches of white existed at the poles. Although birds associate it with ice, due to the temperature experienced on the surface, water would be rock solid. Instead, the white substance was frozen methane. After adjusting their speed to remain on orbital course, they split up and scanned the world's surface with their passive scans, making sure not to attract any unwanted attention while doing so. The second ship successfully located the underground base, which had a specific marker placed on the surface. While it looked natural, specific geometrical shapes were strategically placed in order to locate it. After meeting up with its partner, they began to ascend to the surface.

Once low enough, the dense atmosphere gave a brilliant light blue hue to the sky, illuminated by the currently setting bright blue sun on its horizon. Although the moon was barren from life, the liquid methane formed oceans and lakes as far was the eye could see. After flying over a mountain range at least twice as high as Everest on Earth, they received an intelligent communication broadcast. Their internal computers flared up after detecting multiple missile lock on devices.

... Attention unknown aircraft, this is Omega Three! State your operation code or prepare to be fired upon! This is a militarized zone belonging to the Avian Alliance! Over ...

"Omega Three, this is Raptor 707, operation code is 337401RE. Emergency extraction from Battle Group 22, requesting permission to land, over." Both spacecraft slowed down their speed while waiting for approval.

… Raptor 707, this is Omega Three. Operation code accepted. Authorization is granted for landing pad C1. Welcome to Nyota Research Base. Omega three out …

Previously invisible lights flared up in the distance, revealing a hidden entrance. The flat but bulky metal doors slowly opened up, showing a silver pad a few meters below the ground level. The raptors flew towards the landing pad, opening their landing gears and gently touching down on the ground before turning off the engines. The moving platform transported them underground, the two gigantic metal doors sealing them from the harsh conditions outside. During their descent, at first the only view they had was concrete walls with bright lights on their sides. As they moved lower and lower, they caught the first glimpse of the research base. Hundreds of automated vehicles moving around, carrying supplies, equipment and other accessories.

Once the pad stopped moving, the ships adjusted the pressure difference, and the doors opened up to the outside air. The staff has already gathered together, standing in the hangar bay, saluting the just arrived pilots. There were only five or six birds in total, which was extremely weird looking at the size of this base. The pilots returned the salute. After a few seconds of silence, a fairly young and attractive female Spix macaw separated from the group and walked closer to them. The gentle voice was a blessing after the hours of computer and electronic equipment beeping for the two pilots. "Gentlemen, I'm Lieutenant Alena Redwood. I assume you are our transport home, correct?" She introduced herself.

"You are correct Lieutenant Redwood. Is the package the Alliance requested secured?" The first raptor's pilot spoke up, leaving his position, walking towards the back of the hangar, looking around for this mysterious package. The second pilot as well as the Lieutenant followed him, while the other group split up and walked to unknown places.

"Yes, it is secured and ready for transportation. The news hit us by surprise, so we had to pack up whatever we needed the most. A special insulator is wrapped around the device, it is not optimal but the best we could come up with in such a short notice." The blue macaw replied, showing the two pilots the way. She took the lead quickly as she knew exactly how to navigate at the seemingly endless maze of containers, crates and equipment.

"Pardon me for asking, but your name is really familiar to me. Do you happen to be the daughter of John Redwood, inventor of the FTL drive?" The first pilot asked the lieutenant, attempting to spark a conversation while they navigated the maze.

"Yes, you are correct. This very project had to do with his research, he was a big part of it until the assault back at Starford Base." The female replied, but not fully finishing the sentence. There was no need, because the news was worldwide at the time. The pilot felt guilt, he was stupid to ask such a question. "I'm sorry for your lose. I didn't have the privilege to meet him, but I heard he was a fine man who did great service to the Alliance military."

"Don't be. Just like you and me, he knew exactly what the dangers were. He always told me to be strong and to never give up. I want to honor him, if not on the battlefield then by finishing what he started." Alena replied, although she tried her best to remain professional, slight signs of sadness coated her voice, but that was totally understandable. Silence followed after for a good minute, until they arrived at the supposed location. The macaw pointed her index feather towards a relatively big container. The pilots stepped forward, examining its dimensions.

"Wow, we aren't fitting that in my raptor." The second pilot stated, closely observing the dimensions. He knew his partner was tasked with the package, and so decided to walk back the other direction in order to assist some of the staff in loading up the necessary hardware to his own ship.

"You don't say Mr. Einstein…" The other pilot spoke, sarcasm in his voice. "Well I guess we will have to attach it to the raptor externally then."

The group turned back, the first pilot went inside his ship to calibrate the thrusters for the extra mass. Meanwhile some of the staff brought magnetic seals to attach the container and move it next to the hangar for easy access. After twenty minutes everyone successfully loaded everything and boarded the second raptor, preparing to leave this facility ASAP.

"Alright, we are full. Get yourself in the air, attach that container and let's get going. The Shawax won't wait long until they scan this part of the system. And I don't want to be here without my viper." The second pilot spoke to his partner, urging him to pick up the pace.

The first raptor lifted off the ground and hovered over the now fully secured container. Once it got low enough the magnetic seals grabbed on attaching it with a click sound. At first the raptor lost balance, but as soon as the navigation program began to counter the extra mass the ship stabilized itself in the air.

"Alright, let's get going, shall we? I bet I can still get to rendezvous point with this heavy cargo before you Striker." The first pilot challenged his partner who is now called Striker, who gladly accepted it, a smirk on his face was visible.

"Oh, you're on Ripso. Last one to land pays the first round!" The two ships left the underground base and quickly escaped the moon's atmosphere within minutes. Once they were out of orbit, the research staff looked out and could see the moon in all of its glory. The now completely set sun illuminated the edge of the moon, giving it a beautiful blue glowing ring.

The pilots had no time to enjoy such luxuries, instead they activated their ship's stealth mode and began to accelerate to fast sublight speeds towards the previous asteroid belt. The orb grew smaller and smaller until it became just a white dot in the vast emptiness of space.

"So…" Ripso spoke up, grabbing the attention of everyone via the radio.

"Can we get a little information about this project? We know it's classified, but my partner and I need to know if it will blow us up or turn us into a giant feather in space." Ripso tried to ease up the mood. Clearly the researchers were not used to the pressure and stress of being in enemy space all alone with no clear objective. Alena answered his question, a small laugh escaping her after the joke.

"Hah! No, it won't blow you up nor turn you into a feather... But you may meet yourself if you play with it." Ripso eyed the macaw from the screen with a puzzled expression. The blue macaw continued after seeing the pilot not understanding what she said.

"Long story short, this device can create a breach in the fabric of the universe to create a passage to another reality. To which exactly remains unknown, as we did no tests with the new version." Alena replied, pleased to see the puzzled expression gone from the military pilot. However, that was replaced with one of mild shock.

"The Battlestar Picon…" Striker said, his thoughts trailing away.

"Please tell me this is some kind of a joke. The Alliance authorized a research in extra dimensional physics? And you made a freaking portal module out of it? Even after Picon? My god, what did we get ourselves into?" Ripso replied, not believing what he just heard. His partner chimed in.

"We're better of detaching and blowing it up to pieces. I just hope the Alliance knows what it is doing." Striker spoke, not too fond of the information himself. The ships crews were silent for the upcoming minutes, eyes glued to various screens.

In a moment's notice, both ships energy got cut off while their momentum continued to fly them through space with no control. The pilots as well as their passengers began to check every system why the malfunction happened.

"Our power is cut off?! How did this happen?" A scientist asked, getting extremely nervous, continuously looking outside the windows but failing to see anything significant.

"I have a bad feeling about this." Ripso spoke under his breath, hoping no one heard him. A few seconds later the power came back.

"The power outage is likely the result of some sort of space time fluctuation. Origin is currently unknown, attempting to reboot raptor systems." CASSIDY informed the recovery team and managed to bring both vessels online in the same time a few seconds later.

The screens immediately started flashing red, displaying warning messages as the speakers beeped, grabbing everyone's attention. The ships automatically left stealth mode and accelerated while scanning their surroundings. Five strange looking vessels appeared in close proximity, close enough to get a good look at them. A central sphere was covered by forward facing missile launchers. Two triangle shaped wings connecting to the main structure from either side, housing hundreds of arrow shaped crafts which began pouring like wasps from a nest. At every wing's end six thrusters fired up, moving the gigantic ships towards the raptors.

"DRADIS CONTACT! Five Shawax battleships warped right next to us! Our FTL is down for six minutes! 50 missiles detected accompanied by 150 fighters! Cassidy, contact the emergency response team right now!" Striker yelled in the microphone while changing the raptor's course to evade the incoming swarm of missiles and fighters seemingly coming out of nowhere.

Battlestar Memphis CIC

"Admiral! Recovery team AI is reporting via relay network, their position has been compromised. Five battleships are in pursuit with at least 150 fighters." The XO informed Ford, who immediately asked. "How were they spotted?!"

"The warships warped right next to them, close enough to detect their signatures. Data suggest it was not a combat jump. Recovery team got affected by space time fluctuations, their FTL is down. I think this is what we would call bad luck."

"Screw bad luck!" The admiral almost yelled.

"Action stations! Set condition one throughout the fleet, commence jump to our birds location. Tell the alert vipers to stand by. Athena stays here, when we get the raptor's vector she can jump in front of them." The admiral instructed. The crew of the CIC got to work immediately. The relative silence was instantly gone, replaced by the loud blaring alarm, alerting everyone on the ship to prepare for immediate combat.

… Action stations, action stations. Set condition one throughout the ship. This is not a drill. Repeat: Action stations, action stations. Set condition one throughout the ship. This is not a drill …

The response ships broke formation from the rest of the fleet. In less than thirty seconds the three battlestars disappeared in a bright flash. The next moment all three warships materialized fourteen light years from their previous position at a moderate distance from their objective and targets. Activating their sublight engines the battlestars accelerated towards the battleships, trying to close the gap as fast as possible to get within firing range.

Six squadron worth of vipers ejected from the battlestars launch tubes with high speeds. As soon as they left their carriers the pilots arranged themselves in an offensive V formation and proceeded to attack the enemy fighters.

"Vipers are airborne and enroute to engage the enemy fighters sir." The XO informed.

"Good. How long till the battleships are within weapons range?"

"Two minutes. Attempting to establish connection with the Recovery team now… Vipers intercepting enemy fighters in ten seconds!"

Recovery team

The two stealth raptors continued to fly through space, trying to evade the pursuing fighters coming after them. Just before they got within weapon range and certain death, the viper squadrons intercepted and engaged the enemy fighters, entering a deadly dance with each other.

"Memphis this is Recovery team. Those vipers sure came in handy. However, twenty broke formation and continue to tail us, they are coming fast! Requesting permission to land on the Poseidon, over."

... Recovery team this is the Memphis. Weapons free, launch flare missiles and continue your route towards the direction you are going. Backup will jump in system within a minute. We will engage the battleships, do not approach us, Memphis out…

Battlestar Memphis CIC

"Battleships within weapons range in five seconds. Our vipers are holding. So far we lost six ships, SAR team managed to recover all pilots. Recovery team is still under pursuit by enemy fighters, sir."

"They will have to wait until Battlestar Athena jumps in. Turn the ship 20 degrees pitch, I want all frontal weapons to face our first target. Set the top batteries to target the second battleship. All batteries switch to salvo fire. Engage once we get in range." The DRADIS screen beeped to get the attention of the whole CIC crew.

"Missile lock! Two battleships fired sixty missiles, twenty are nuclear."

"Activate flak field, launch the remaining squadrons, and get them to cover us while we proceed. Target the first battleship and fire!" The admiral ordered.

Countless small explosions lighted up the darkness of space around the battlestars, creating an almost impenetrable wall against missiles or any fighter unlucky enough to fly into it. The massive KEW rounds at the front of the Mercury class battlestars fired nine high velocity projectiles, cruising space with one third the speed of light.

The first two impacted the battleship's heavy armor, tearing it apart revealing the vulnerable structure underneath. The following five flew right inside, dealing tremendous damage, rendering the warship useless. The final two managed to fly though the target, hitting and damaging the second ship's left side, destroying several missile launchers in the process.

Meanwhile the Shawax missiles arrived near their target. Three forth were destroyed by the active flak field, while the remaining were picked off by vipers. Although one managed to get passed both defenses and was about to hit the Memphis.

"One nuke got through the defenses! Prepare for impact!" One of the CIC crew yelled. Sure enough, a massive explosion rocked the entire ship. Panels sparkled, while the holograms buzzed due to the interference. The detonation stripped away parts of the armor at the impact zone.

"Damage report!" Admiral Ford demanded, while helping a crew member get back up after falling to the floor due to the explosion.

"The detonation took out multiple flak cannons, damaged one of the main kinetic batteries as well as three viper launch tubes. Minor decompressions in section K7. Twenty birds are injured, six have confirmed radiation poisoning. DC teams are working on repairing the electronic damage as we speak." Grey reported the information as soon as she was able to read them.

"Status on Recovery team and Athena?"

"Athena will be jumping in any second now. Recovery team managed to dodge every incoming missile, but the fighters are still in pursuit… Sir, it can take Athena at least ten seconds to recover from the jump, she may not react fast enough to save the raptors." The XO informed Ford. A slight vibration rocked the ship as a smaller missile impacted the ship.

"I borrowed Striker and Ripso from Admiral Reil for this mission for a reason. They can handle the heat. Prepare the next shot with the remaining main KEW batteries. Move to target number two." The XO forwarded the command as told, while the admiral's eyes were glued to the DRADIS screen, observing the two raptors.

Recovery team

"They are gaining on us!" Striker examined, trying to speed up the raptor with no success.

"Is there anything we can do?" An assistant asked the pilots, feeling useless in a situation like this.

"As a matter of fact, yes! Use the mounted turret in the back. Not sure how much combat experience any of you have, just shoot at their general direction." Ripso replied, concentrating on evading the hostile crafts which are rapidly closing the distance.

Striker's raptor lowered a double Gatling gun turret from its back and began to shoot. Small lights flickered around the gun as hundreds of bullets made their way through space, trying to hit the enemy.

"Uh, I'd like to ask a question. I'm picking up activity inside the container. The device is operational again. And it's building up one hell of a charge! What should I do?" Ripso asked, observing the scan results, which indeed showed a spike in the energy readings around the ship.

"WHAT?! Oh no! The fluctuations must have fried the containment grid and now it's charging up! We need to get on board a battlestar and deactivate it before it discharges!" Alena stated over the radio, the seriousness clearly audible in her voice.

"That's dandy… Just what we needed. Got another energy spike… but I'm picking up a jump signature, something is jumping in!" Ripso informed, right after he said it, an additional Mercury jumped in front of them. This confused the enemy fighters but they recovered quickly and continued to follow their targets.

… Recovery team, this is the Battlestar Athena. Be advised a squadron is enroute to intercept your pursuers. Continue to advance towards us and initiate combat landing once in range of the left landing port, over ...

"Athena this is Recovery team. Copy that, orders acknowledged. Proceeding to landing port A1, Recovery team out."

The alert vipers, Recovery raptors and Shawax fighters met at the same time, and as expected a massive dodge fight occurred. Six fighters pursued Striker but thanks to his experience and skills, he managed to dodge every shot and gave enough time for the vipers to shoot the fighters down. He wasted no time and aligned himself with the landing port, carefully docking inside the safety of the Athena.

"Damn it! Athena, this is Raptor 707. Four fighters and three transports cut me off! Can't get close to the landing port. Necessary engagement required! Over."

Ripso informed the Athena, while activating the raptor's close-range weapons to prepare for combat. Although his maneuverability has been decreased, he was still a dangerous opponent.

Meanwhile a few vipers were able to break off the dodge fight and boosted their way to assist the raptor. A fighter managed to fire a single rocket before being blasted to pieces by the raptor's cannons. The warhead reached its target and a reasonably large explosion rocked the craft, tearing off a side engine as well as the right wing's Gatling gun. The force spun the ship around its axis uncontrollably.

"Mayday, mayday. This is Raptor 707, I'm hit! The device is overloading, it can't take much more of this! Avionics are failing, three more hostiles on me! Over." Ripso yelled, trying to control the craft but it was useless. Nothing responded to his command, or if it did, the latency was several seconds long.

... Raptor 707 this is Blue Squadron leader, backup arriving in 5 seconds, hold on! ...

The pilot managed to regain limited control over the craft. He changed course to intercept the enemy and meet up with the reinforcements. The remaining Gatling gun at the left wing bombarded the hostile crafts with small armor piercing bullets.

The fighter attempted to shoot a missile towards its target but failed. The incoming swarm of bullets pierced through the delicate ship, turning it into a ball of fire. Unknowingly to the pilot, the device reached critical charge, alerting the ship too late to fix the problem.

"Well shit." That was all Ripso could say over the radio, as the container overloaded. A small almost transparent orb grew around the raptor, enveloping the nearby remaining fighters, after which a blinding light lit up the darkness of space. The viper pilots looked away, shielding their eyes. A few seconds later the light died out and they were shocked to find nothing at the place where starships were moments ago. No debris in sight.

Battlestar Memphis CIC

"DRADIS contact! Ten battleships jumped in as reinforcements! Second target is crippled, but the Battlestar Poseidon received a serious blow. Her flak batteries were blown up, the remaining ones can only cover about 15 percent. We also picked up a rather big anomaly near the Athena…"

A low frequency humming noise ringed throughout the ship, consuming the interior with total darkness, as the mighty warship lost all power and maintaining its velocity drifted in space aimlessly. The CIC managed to activate the backup generators, regaining a dim source of light.

"What's going on here? Damage report!"

"Every battlestar, raptor and viper suffered a major power outage by the anomaly we picked up at Athena. We are drifting around like rocks." Grey reported, standing at the opposite end of the nonoperational hologram projector.

"What about the enemy? We're sitting ducks… How long till the battleships get within range?" Ford asked, holding onto the nearby table while his ship received small missile hits.

"Under 1-minute sir. We can't hold up so many battleships at once, but it appears they were affected just like us. DC teams reporting, power should be back any second now…" A crewmember reported but was interrupted by the radio.

... Memphis this is Athena. Three battleships jumped near our position, but we were all knocked out by EMP. Primary objective is half success. Requesting permission to jump once jump drive is operational, over …

The admiral raised an 'eyebrow' at the strange question. "Athena specify, what do you mean 'half success'? Over."

… Striker delivered every personnel from base. However, the hardware as well as Raptor 707 has disappeared as result of this FTL anomaly. NO debris located in a twenty-kilometer area. Cassidy failed to respond to any call codes. We have no choice but to label Ripso as MIA, over …

The CIC crew fell silent for a few seconds. Ford was deep in thought, not wanting to accept the news he just received. Meanwhile power got restored, and instantly he got interrupted when a loud alarm tore through the eerie silence.

"Remaining battleships are in range, 40 confirmed nukes inbound!" The XO reported, waiting orders. Another five second silence took over the room, everyone watching the inbound warheads on the hologram.

The admiral fought a separate battle in his mind. Grey was right, they won't be able to handle 40 nukes, but he never left anyone behind before. If he jumps out that will seriously hurt his reputation and pride in the admiral board. Ripso was one of the best pilots in the entire fleet. After a nerve racking five seconds, he decided the war assets and personnel were more important than his reputation.

"Recall all birds, prepare for emergency jump to the rendezvous coordinates. I want all avian ships out of here. Now." The admiral broke the silence. The CIC crew began the preparations for the jump.

"This is the Memphis to all ships. Recall vipers and proceed with the emergency jump. I repeat, proceed with the emergency jump. Memphis out." The XO forwarded the given orders. In the depths of space, every avian viper broke formation and quickly landed on their respective carriers. The nuclear payloads were only kilometers away at this point.

"All birds are in the nest admiral." Grey swiftly reported.

"Jump!" Ford ordered. All four battlestars disappeared with a bright flash, just in time to evade certain death, leaving the Shawax in dust to deal with their losses.