It's Chapter 8, uploaded in the same day as Chapter 7! Whoo! I'm on a roll!
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Chapter 8: The Foreign Commander
Earanae was usually a quiet planet, with inter-faction meetings only every half-year. Except for the economic business done there, there is typically little action.
Thus, when Dr. Brackman, Princess Rhiza, and President Hall suddenly appeared on planet for an emergency meeting at United in between the usual scheduled meetings, everyone was quite surprised. The meeting would've gotten tons of press coverage, if reporters were ever actually let into United (which they aren't).
Inside the building, President Hall was the last to arrive. "Doctor. Princess," he addressed Brackman and Rhiza, "sorry for making you wait. Now, let's get this started. Princess, you were the one to call for this meeting, correct?"
"Yes," Rhiza answered, "There has been a disturbing amount of unauthorized movement in the Quarantine Zone around the Aeon planet of Burke, formerly known as Seraphim."
"Why is the Quarantine Zone there, exactly?" Hall interrupted spontaneously.
Rhiza gave him a cross glare but answered, "During the Infinite War, the Quarantine Zone was discovered to have some sort of problem with the Quantum Realm - once in it, all but the most advanced Quantum transportation is impossible."(AN:1)
Hall nodded in understanding, then beckoned for Rhiza to continue.
"I sent a small squad to the planet, with a new, experimental Quantum teleporter pack that our scientists invented that allowed them to get just on the outskirts of the Quarantine Zone without being stranded," Rhiza continued, "when the squad returned - or rather, when one person returned, as the others were killed - we discovered something... rather disturbing."
"Continue," Brackman said.
"There appears to be an Armored Command Unit of unknown origin on the planet."
"Say again?" Hall said, clearly surprised, "what do you mean? Unknown origin? Do you have any pictures, or proof of any kind?"
"As a matter of fact, I do," Rhiza answered, pulling out a pile of photos from a knapsack neither Brackman nor Hall knew she had. She then passed them around to Hall and Brackman. "The ACU looks suspiciously like UEF, but after further inspection, we realized that it had the health, armor, weaponry, and upgrades of an UEF ACU, a Cybran ACU, an Aeon ACU... and a Seraphim ACU."
"How did you find this out?" Brackman asked.
"The spy squad was able to inspect the other units," Rhiza explained, "looking at the weaponry and intelligence capabilities; it would appear that someone managed to merge the technology of our Armored Command Units and those of the Seraphim to create an even more dangerous arsenal of units. What's more," Rhiza paused, "A Quantum gate was being constructed, and next to it, according to my scientists, appears to be a specialized Gate that can transport anything between parallel realities."
"Parallel realities?" Brackman questioned, "Hmm. Oh yes, I have heard of such a scientific theory. It says that every decision made spawns another reality in which a different outcome to the decision occurred. Oh yes, there may even be a reality in which the Seraphim successfully took over our galaxy. Oh yes, a disturbing thought."(AN:2)
"So our mystery ACU could be from an alternate reality?" Hall asked, "no matter, if it really is in the Quarantine Zone, then it couldn't bother us, anyways."
"I do not think so, President Hall," Rhiza countered, "my scientists were able to modify the Quantum technology to allow us Quarantine Zone outskirt access with not much more effort than it took to invent the ACU itself. All it took was an energy output correction and a better stabilizer, I believe. If this foreign Commander could transport here from another reality, then I believe that it would be able to figure out what my scientists did, or even a way to access the entire Quarantine Zone."
"Rhiza is right, Hall, Oh yes," Brackman said, "this mysterious ACU is a threat to all of us. Oh yes. The Aeon are in the most danger, however, seeing as this Commander is right outside of their territory. Oh yes, I am sorry to say, but it appears that we will have to reactivate our ACUs and quell this threat before it becomes a real danger to us all."
"I wholeheartedly agree," Hall answered, "we need to organize an Op now-"
At that moment a security personnel came bursting through the doors, panting. Hall was about to lecture the intruder upon their meeting until he heard alarms in the outer corridor.
The security personnel began to speak, "Sirs, and Ma'am, we have an ACU that just made planet fall..."
Rhiza, Brackman, and Hall all followed the man's eyes to the photo stack - the photo of the foreign ACU.
"You don't mean to say..." Hall started.
"The foreign ACU?" the man said, pointing, "looks just like the one in that photo."
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AN:1 - i don't think this is the real reason the Quarantine Zone is called the "Quarantine Zone", since i just made it up, so if anyone really knows, please tell me.
AN:2 - for those who don't know, the Parallel Reality theory is an actual scientific theory.
Overall Author's Note: I know that the faction leaders actually communicate throught the little screen-thingys that you see in forged alliance, but bear with me here. Let's just say meeting in person is supposed to encourage trust between factions.
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Alright, two chapters in one day. that means that the next chapter may not be up for a week or so. But keep checking!