Chapter 10 New Player
Naruto looked at Rick as the Admiral seemed to be frozen from the news. No one within ear shot even knew what to say. Claudia tried her best to comfort Naruto as she intertwined her fingers with his, giving his hand a light squeeze that he returned.
"Say that again?" Rick queried his com unit.
"Yes sir. Sensor 13 Alpha just went dark. Last reading from it painted the known silhouette of the new Haydonite ships moving in system. We estimate they'll be at the planet with in a matter of hours." The voice reported.
Rick glanced at Naruto to see the hard look on his face.
"Stand by." Rick ordered as he made eye contact with Naruto.
The blonde didn't know what to say or how to ask that they go defend his home world. Despite the treatment he had received, he still had a few precious people on that world. The old man for one. The ramen stand owners. And the two friends he had managed to make before he left, an Aburame named Shino and a shy Hyuuga girl named Hinata. Both of whom had parents that encouraged them to play with Naruto rather than shun him as everyone else did. Naruto tried hard to swallow the lump in his throat and his mouth felt very dry as he tried to speak.
"Sir…" He began but was cut off by Rick holding up a hand.
"Hang on Naruto. I have a theory that I need confirmed." He said as he opened his com back to the bridge. "This is Admiral Hunter. Open a channel to the Regess."
"Yes sir."
A moment of silence before the Regess' voice came back on the com.
"Yes Human?"
Rick frowned but knew it was her habit of calling them by their species and not by their own individual names.
"Regess. How do the Haydonites know who use Protoculture? I'm sure that they don't meet everyone who has it."
The com was silent for a split second before her answer.
"The Haydonites posses technology that allow them to track the specific energy readings of Protoculture. We do not know where this technology came from or how they have it. But it is how they discovered our race."
Rick felt his stomach squirm at the thought that the Haydonites were tracking them.
"Regess. There is a planet that one of my crew is from. On it are life forms that produce Protoculture in their bodies. That is the planet that the Haydonites are attacking."
Rick could almost hear the anger in her voice.
"The Children of the Shadow have gone to far! They would attack a nursery world!"
Rick blinked in surprise as the other three seemed to be just as confused.
"'Nursery world?' What is that?"
The Regess hesitated before she spoke.
"It is a world that we once inhabited millennia ago before we were forced to abandon it. We were once like you. But over time, we began to evolve after generations of exposure to protoculture. At one point, we began to gain the ability to harness the power of protoculture inside our very being. The world you speak of is a nursery world of our race. It was meant as a away for our race to remain even if the Haydonites tried to exterminate us."
If anything could shock them, this was defiantly on that list. Rick didn't even know what to say, but Naruto did.
"Are you saying…that…I'm Invid?" He asked in a shaky voice.
The voice that answered was full of surprise at the new voice.
"Yes child. You and your people come from our ancestors that were placed in cryo stasis when our war with the Haydonites had began as a means to make sure our race would not be extinguished like a candle flame."
Naruto looked up at Rick as the older man simply remained neutral as he returned to the conversation.
"Regess. Thank you for the information. We'll head out and see what we can do to protect the planet."
"Human. I will be sending some of my children to help you. With our combined forces, the Children of the Shadow will remember this day as the day they were utterly defeated by those they would destroy."
The com went silent leaving the group to simply stand still as they processed the information they were given. Rick seemed to process the fastest as he activated his com for the third time.
"Bridge. I want all personnel ready for combat. Also, get Reinhardt on the horn. And tell the fighter crews on ALUCE to meet up with us ASAP."
The reply was almost unheard as Rick turned the com off and strode to the elevator before he looked back over his shoulder at the trio still standing rooted to the spot.
"You guys gonna stand there or are you going to get ready?"
Naruto smiled grimly as he nodded and followed Claudia to the hanger bays as Lisa hurried over to Rick, a grim look on her face.
"This is it, isn't it? We finally going after them?" She asked after a momentary pause.
Rick nodded his head.
"Yes. War seems to be always on the horizon. This time though, it'll be on our terms."
Xxxxxx
Reinhardt looked at the assembled fleet with awe as the REF fleet and the Invid Carriers assembled at their assigned rally point. Reinhardt didn't know what was more worrying. The fact that half of the REF forces would be folding into battle with the Haydonites, or the fact that the Invid seemed almost eager to butt heads with their old foe. He simply filed those thoughts away as the REF ships kept close enough so that they would be carrying the Invid carriers inside their fold spheres. Gunther sighed and turned back to his desk. He would be here with the SDF-4 to keep Earth safe. He wished Rick luck as the Allied fleet began to vanish into the darkness of space.
Xxxxxx
The Haydonite commander looked at the world in his display in disgust. It reeked of Protoculture. He could almost taste it's foul power form here. Had he been organic, it probably would have made him sick to his stomach. But that was a moot point as his fleet moved in on the planet cautiously. There had been no challenged issued to them as they approached. No mecha racing out to meet them. Nothing. It was almost as if the planet had been abandoned. And it unsettled him. Their should have been some sign og response form at least the Humans. They had destroyed one of their sensor buoys they had left here.
"Any sign of the humans?"
The three others in the command center with him simply shook it's head as they continued to scan.
"This is unsettling. Why have they not responded to our presence? The Awareness foresaw this as a battle of great proportions."
The Haydonites around the center began to feel unsettled as well. The readings from the planet showed that there should have been a massive fleet waiting for them. But again…nothing. The Commander seemed to think through a few scenarios before passing on his own orders.
"Inform the fleet to move into bombardment position. Have them hold their fire for now."
The Haydonite fleet slowly made it's way to the planet, surrounding it. The Commander waited. Still no response. But the planet was giving off life signs. This was confusing him as logically, if the humans had been here, then the people on the planet would have some defense. Archaic Nuclear weapons, Reflex missiles, Snychro Cannons, something. It made no sense to him. But he still had his orders.
"Began bombardment."
Xxxxxx
Rick stood on his bridge as the continued toward the Invid nursery world. He still had trouble accepting the fact that Naruto was an Invid. Not that he had anything against them Hell, Ariel and her sister, Sera, had been a major help to the REF. It was just that this would eventually draw in the other Sentinel races as well. He could picture the history books now, describing the Sentinel Wars. He chuckled at that thought as his helmsman began her countdown to defold. Rick moved back to his chair and tapped his com.
"All squadrons, prepare to launch. Once your clear, you have weapons release clearance. Blow those bastards out of the sky." He ordered.
Several decks down, the pilots and their ground crews cheered at his words and rushed to their planes. Naruto and his two wingman hurried to their own Alpha fighters as alarms began to ringing as the ship began to defold. Naruto paused and looked at the emblem on the side of his fuselage. A fox baring it's canines over a back drop of Earth. The blonde snapped out of his momentary lapse and climbed into his cockpit. After his preflight checks were done, he expertly moved his Veritech into position as the SDF-3 folded into real space. Naruto felt the gee forces hit him as he shoved his throttle forward, rocketing out into space. What he saw made him freeze. His home world was being bombed. Hot anger filled his being as he slammed his throttle forward.
The blonde wanted to kill them. To kill at the Haydonites as he eased his throttle back, allowing his wingmen to catch up. He sight on a large Haydonite vessel, most likely a cruiser, possibly the command ship. He tapped his com panel.
"Lock your anti ship missiles onto the target I'm sending you. Fire when I give the order."
They sent their acknowledgements to him as he locked his missiles onto the ship.
"FIRE!" He screamed as he triggered their launch.
Six missiles knifed through the blackness of space a slammed into the large ship, exploding harmlessly against the shields. Naruto nimbly moved his fighter out of the way of incoming fire from the Haydonites. He looked back and his eyes widened at what he saw. Each of the Invid Carriers had launched all their Scout Fighters, 450 mecha per carrier. He counted at least a dozen of their carriers and was in awe at the realization of how many ships they had against the Haydonites. His awe was shattered as one of the Carriers went up from a Snychro Cannon shot that slammed into it amid ship. Naruto snapped his gaze forward and shoved his throttle forward, screaming as the Allied Fighters closed on the Haydonite fighters.
Fighters exploded in space as the pilots continued their deadly dance, cannons flashing and missiles streaking through the inky blackness, searching for targets. It would indeed be a day to remember.
Xxxxx
Rick watched as the Haydonite ships began to move away from the planet. He nodded his head in understanding. With the gravity well their, the Haydonites were literally fighting with their backs against the wall. But it would make little difference. As he watched several of his fighters speed off toward the enemy fleet and the incoming fighters. He watched the silent explosions and knew that some of his men would not be coming back. But now was not the time. He had his fleet move further insystem, missiles and snychro cannons speeding through the darkness, impacting into enemy vessels. The onslaught was intense, but the Haydonites threw it right back at the REF and their allies. Several Invid carriers went up as the snychro cannon shots blew holes through them as if they were wet card board. He grimaced as his own forces began to take hits as well. Four Garfish Light Cruisers were lost from the onslaught. Even if the shadow tech was now back door free, the sheer amount of incoming fire would still be deadly. Rick gripped his command chair before he rose from his seat.
"Order Lieutenant Uzumaki to return to the ship and to meet me in hanger bay 16. Also have Lieutenant Commander Bernard meet me there as well."
"Yes sir."
Xxxxx
Naruto wanted to tell the Admiral he was crazy. But he had a feeling he'd been called that before. He glanced over at Commander Bernard who was wearing the same look on his face. It made him feel better because he wasn't the only one. Behind him, he could almost hear Cipher questioning the Admiral's sanity and Lieutenant Rush seemed to be in something akin to shock at having been hand picked for this mission. Rick seemed oblivious to their questioning looks as he briefed them on their mission.
"Our goal is simple. The Command Cruiser is interlinked to all the other Haydonite vessels in the fleet. If we can take it out, then we can disorient the Haydonites."
Lieutenant Rush was the first to ask a question.
"If that's the case, sir, then why don't we just destroy it with the fleets main guns?"
Surprisingly, Cipher was the first to respond.
"Because it has too many escorts. Every time one is destroyed, two more take it's place. And if we were to concentrate all our fire onto it, that would leave the fleet open to a counter attack by the Haydonites and we would lose a lot of ships from the return fire."
Rick smiled.
"That and they have data we need. If we can get it, then we can cloak our ships from their scanners. Other wise, they'll always know where we are."
Marcus didn't look to excited about the plan, but nodded his head in understanding of the plan. Rick took a look over his squad and grinned.
"Let's ride."
Xxxxxx
Meanwhile, Lisa was busy directing the fleet as they continued to lose more and more ships. Casualties so far had been twelve light cruisers, 2 Ikazuchi Carriers and almost all of the twenty-four Invid Carriers. All in all, it wasn't looking good for the REF. On the up side, they had inflicted heavy casualties to the Haydonites. At least half of their fleet was dead in space or destroyed. The Admiral watched as another Haydonite ship went up in a bright ball of light as the Traffic Controller caught her attention.
"Ma'am. Admiral Hunter's squad has just taken off and are moving to intercept the Haydonite Command ship."
Lisa nodded and turned away so no one would see her send out a silent prayer for her husband. She turned back to the battle and glared at the opposing fleet.
"Now…It's time to show them just what we can do. Open a channel."
The com officer tapped a few controls before nodding in satisfaction.
"Channel open."
"This is Fleet Admiral Hayes-Hunter. Close and engage. Pick your targets and go. You are all weapons free."
She could almost feel the smiles on all the captains faces as they ordered their crews to head for their nearest target. She herself couldn't help but smirk as well. It was time to call in the rest of their attack forces.
"Order the second combat wave in. Lets show these Haydonite Bastards how we do things on Earth."
The order had barely left her mouth before the space behind the Haydonites began to fill with additional REF and Invid vessels. Lisa smirked. Everything had gone according to plan, and thanks to the Haydonites, they now knew which ship was their command ship. And the time for playing the weaklings was over. Now, they were allowed to actually fight the Haydonites at full strength instead of holding back. She was brought out of her musings by the com officer.
"Ma'am. The second combat wave is in position and are awaiting further orders."
She smiled evilly.
"Tell them…they are a go for Operation Typhoon."
I discovered somthing that is a bit creepy a few days ago. When I had began this story, I had the idea of the variable interceptor in my head when I began the outline for this back in January. I had not used anything to design it becuase I wanted to have somthing in their mecha pool thta was a step up form the cyclones and the hovertank, but yet not as powerful as the Veritech Fighters. What is creepy is that I was recently watching Halo: Legends and the EV92/Open Booster Frames look very similar to what I wanted the VIs to look like. It was rather creepy. The only thing that shares any name with was the MITV12. So, Mircosoft and Bungie own their own designs and the weapons. So if you want a general idea of what the VIs look like, look up "Booster Frame" on google and try to picture it with a more robotech feel, or the description I gave in the last chapter.