Here is the Ninth Chapter of this story of Independence Day Counterattack. I'm sorry that it wasn't posted earlier but it was a little difficult for me to do so this week since I had work to do and the election results in the US have distracted me a little too. In any case here it is now. One thing, I've begun reading the Independence Day novelizations, so in the future I will draw inspiration from it. That being said since I started this story without reading them and the next few chapters were written without reading them as well, I hope that those of you that have read them don't mind if this story goes a little into the AU territory.
As always thanks to all of you who support this story, just by reading or reviewing or following or marking it as one of your favorites or all of the above.
LD: I do not own independence day
Chapter 9: The Lost Space Battleship
Albert observed as Krangton's holographic form moved from one side to another of what he assumed was the council room back at the Resistance's homeworld. The Holographic eyes of many of his peers also followed the Orwegian leader. He was talking about some convoys being attacked by unknown assailants, from what he could make out it seemed those convoys were kind of the lifeline to the Confederation since it brought foods and resources that were not available in their home planet or those that were scarce. It seemed these attacks had been the reason the Orwegian Council Member cancelled the Council Meeting that was supposed to take place the day Albert arrived at HQ and called for another one 10 days later, four days prior to the arrival of the ship that would take them to the Resistance's planet
"I must say that this is most troubling my dear Council Member" Krangton spoke, his tone not betraying any real emotions, like a true politician. "Our Planet finds itself on a dire situation, first because our newest member race, the humans, whose technology is inferior to us and we have the responsibility to help them. Second because it seems that these convoys have been attacked more frequently right now and our resources are dwindling. Third because our routes which had remained a secret since the beginning of our alliance and we installed ourselves on this planet have been exposed. As such I believe we should take it easy witht the incorporation of the Humans to our council should be delayed until we can be sure they will be safe"
Albert smiled imperceptively, he had known Council Member Krangton didn't wish the humanity to have a voice and a vote on the Council. He guessed he wanted them to be just a minor ally of the Confederation. He had downplayed humanity's achievements against the Swarm and claimed that the costs of having them as a full member of the Confederation would be too costly. Of course his reasons for doing so were others, he clearly felt threatened by the arrival of humanity and Albert couldn't really say he blamed him. From what he knew before the arrival of humanity Orwegians had been the vanguard of the Resistance, the species with the most achievements, but with the defeat of the Harvester Queen humanity, a feat never done before, Humanity threatened that position. Of course Albert wasn't really the only one that saw the game Krangton was playing.
"Your came to live here quite recently" said one of the other Council Members spoke. It was an that very thin and had greyish skin and not a single hair on the visible parts of his body and big black eyes. It was the first image that had popped up on any children's mind when they thought of aliens before the war of '96, the Council Member belonged to what had been commonly known as "Greys" on Earth. Their sightings on their planet have been few and sometimes far between and their appearance a Halloween costume for many many years. "My race was one of the first races to be attacked by the Swarm and one of the first to inhabit this Planet, I can assure you it has not been the first time our routes have been attacked by Space Pirates."
"In fact when your race joined us we had similar troubles with our resources and you also required our help when you needed to get your technology up to the same level as ours even if it's true yours was more advanced than theirs, none of the council members then suggested delaying your entrance into the Council or the Confederation" A female voice spoke. Albert observed as Queen Aradine, Princess Miradine's mother approached Krangton. Her appearance very similar to that of her daughter and the only differences the Human Ambassador could appreciate between the two was the difference of age, Aradine was a beautiful woman completely formed with the appearance or a forty year old although the ambassador had been told the Queen was actually older than that. "In fact if I recall correctly it was you the one who insisted that the Human Council Member should stay in our planet, why are you trying to delay that now when we have even sent a transport to get him.
"I'm just concerned for the recent problemsin our confederation your majesty, and I'm also very concerned by the security of the Ambassador." Krangton spoke without being too defensive. It was clear that the Orwegian Council Member knew his politics well, but then again so did Albert.
"I hope the honorable Council Members won't be too hard on Council Member Krangton for voicing his concerns" Albert spoke and Orwegian looked at him as he narrowed his reptillian eyes at the Human. "However Council Member Krangton forgets that I've survived worse threats than Space Pirates and that the mission the UN has given me as the human ambassador to the Council or Human Council Member if you will is more important than my own life. Also I believe that the sooner we can integrate ourselves into the alliance, the sooner we will launch our counterattack against the Swarm."
"We have been fighting a war against the Swarm far longer than you Ambassador." Krangton reasoned barely hiding his irritation.
"I know and it's not my intention to underestimate your races achievements, even if you've been fighting skirmishes you've managed to keep the Swarm from harming the Confederation" Albert said. "You and your race have been the champions of the Resistance, in fact all your races have been champions of the Resistance in their own right. However with the information my Race has obtained and the defeat of one of the Harvester Queens I believe the moment to strike grows near, since the enemy's morale will be low due to their first defeat. Also due to the number of ships coming to Earth which is considerable, the sooner they do their job the better since I'm sure this alliance has better objectives for such a fleet."
Krangton pondered his response and seemed to smile. "You speak wisely ambassador and your bravery is beyond any doubt, I apologize If I offended you" he said feigning respect and bowed his head. Albert was reminded of what Zarhok had told him about Krangton, he was a very proud individual and very easily offended, he had recommended him to let him have a small victory even when he defeated him on the debates.
"Not at all" Albert said also bowing his head. "I just wanted to ease your mind Council Member Krangton about this very real cooncerns. I'm also eager to initiate the Couterattack as soon as we can because I'm sure that if every one of us joins forces we will be successful" He added trying not to sound condescending.
Krangton observed him for a few moments before the Prophet, who Albert had observed remained mostly silent through the Council meetings, unless it was to mediate on disagreements or to keep Council Member Krangton in check spoke.
"Do you have any more concerns?" It asked and Krangton finally shook his head.
"I commend you for your bravery Ambassador" Krangton replied. "I hope to see you soon." He added. "I think we can conclude the Council Meeting here." He looked around at his peers to see if someone disagreed with him on that. When he saw that no one did he nodded at someone and the image of the Council room disappeared from the sight of Albert and the Prophet as they both remained on the Communication's room of the Resistance's frigate.
"It seems Krangton is still trying to retain his power on the Council" The Prophet said more to itself than to Albert.
"You can't really blame him." Albert said. "If what you've said is true, aside from Queen Aradine, he is the most power Council Member and the de facto leader of the council. Although I've seen much resistance to his proposal today."
"There are many who have followed him to this day because of his race's contribution to the security of theResistance's home planet." The Prophet said. "And he has come to see many fellow Council Members as subjects to his people instead of allies."
"Do you think he will eventually come to terms with this new situation. I don't think humanity would resist having another alien enemy right now." Albert said as they stepped out of the comm room entering a bridge manned by fewer aliens than usual, most of the aliens that remained at ESDHQ were outside the ship, some of them at a BBQ at Director Levinson's house which would be their next destination.
"He will accept it. The main reason he trying to delay your entrance it's because he wants to undermine what he considers my authority and he is afraid that he will lose all that he has gained if you enter. However once the our Counterattack against the Swarm begins he will cooperate with you gladly."
"And after that?" Albert asked. The Prophet didn't reply for even it didn't know as she hadn't thought much about what would happen when the Swarm was defeated and it couldn't really say something reassuring to the Human ambassador aside that time would tell.
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David stood in front of the Barbecue at his house's garden as he prepared to cook a second round of hamburguers and hotdogs. He had to say that he had pictured himself doing that week a BBQ wasn't among his plans but Zarhok and Miradine had been very curious about the concept when the members of Legendary Squadron had told the Princess about the very american tradition of doing a barbecue on the weekends and somehow inviting the aliens to David's house for said Barbecue with Catherine's permission. Looking around he smiled, aliens and human alike were eating dinner at his home and talking like old friends, he supposed a great thing had come from the plan he had at first protested. He had even invited Mitchell but he had said he had work to do perhaps knowing and Catherine didn't really want him to go, he had been polite, like he had been making an effort to be since the arrival of Albert Baasch
"How is the second round coming along?" Rodrigo asked as he approached his friend after talking with Zarhok for a while. It was rather a sight to see General Zarhok with a beer on his hand or the aliens eating the human food and drinking their drinks although thankfully all of them had reacted well to the beverages and the food something he had worried about since he wasn't really sure if the aliens would really be able to eat their food or that it wouldn't be toxic to them.
"It's coming" David replied. "It's coming"
"Did you know that the Princess is actually the Captain of the ship that brought her and Zarhok here?" Rodrigo asked him. David shook his head and looked at the Princess who was happily talking to the members of Legendary and Scorpion squadrons plus Isabel's family, the children.
"I didn't" David admitted, he had not talked much with the princess aside from the meetings and the debriefing, he knew that she'd been hanging with the members of Scorpion and Legendary squadrons which was how this BBQ had come to pass.
"It's amazing" he said with a smile. "My kids are about her age too."
"You had a son and a daughter if I remember correctly." David said, it had been too long since he'd seen Rorigo's family, in fact the last time had been in 2000 if he recalled correctly. That was why he'd thought of his son and daughter and children when he'd thought of them upon the ambassador's arrival. Contact had been sporadic after that and mostly professional after he had been named Director of the ESD.
"Marcos and María" Rodrigo reminded him and just then two of Isabel's children, two boys with a healthy tanned skin and black hair, who between seven and ten years, ran past the BBQ almost made him trip as they played tag. "I bet you still remember them when they were about that age" Rodrigo said with a chuckle as he regained his balance and the children were scolded by their father who was seated a near his wife but didn't participate on the Squadron's conversation. He seemed like a nice man although unlike his two sons, two daughters and his wife he had no tan, he was rather pale, he also was skinny and kind of a bookworm much like David had been when he was younger, however his personality seemed nice and even as he scolded his children you could see how much he cared for his family.
"Yes It's been a while since I last saw them." David said referring to . "What are they up to?"
"María is working as a nurse in one hospital in Madrid." Rodrigo replied with a proud smile. "Marcos insisted in following his mom and I into the ESD job, he is a Fighter Pilot based in Germany" His voice was still proud but there was a hint of disappointment on his voice. David could not relate as he didn't have children but he could understand, no parent who'd seen what their generation had or fought the battles they had wanted his children to live the same things they did.
"Did he fight during the attacks of 2016?" David asked and Rodrigo nodded.
"He was condecorated too." He replied. "He is now a Captain. It was a rather fast promotion, he'd just been ascended from 2nd Lieutenant to Lieutenant when the bastards came back."
Laughter came from the zone where the pilots invited to the party were, it seemed like Troy was telling the Princess a joke and everyone was laughing their asses off even before he finished the joke and even the Princess had a small smile playing on her lips.
"For more than two months aliens and humans have been living and working together but keeping their distance. Who knew the princess's desire to socialize with our species and a BBQ was all that was needed for me to see clearly that this alliance can work." David said as he pulled out some more meat from the grill.
"You didn't see it working before?" Rodrigo asked.
"No. I always knew it would, but until now it was just a feeling in my gut you know. But even throughout these months I've always feared we would make a mistake or offend them as humanity always does when we find new civilizations, if we aren't directly hostile like Mitchell was towards them the first day, that the men wouldn't overcome that deep mistrust humanity gained of the beings from outer space after the two Swarm attacks." David said
"Well I suppose the ice between us and the rest of the species in the Resistance was bound to break eventually." Rodrigo said with a smile. "By the way where is Dr Okun? I haven't seen them." David sighed.
"He passed up on the barbecue, Catherine was rather pissed at him for that." David said. "But it seems he has found something interesting in the data that was found on the ship and had to debate it with Tyrion and some human and alien scientists back at the lab so I think he can be forgiven" He added handing a hotdog to one of guests.
They heard the sound of a cars engine, and looked at the street. A military jeep drove up the street and stopped in front of David and Catherine's house and Albert Baasch stepped out of the car which was driven back to the base by MP that had driven him there.
"Albert, I'm glad you could make it" David said with a smile. During the short period of time he had known the UN Deputy Secretary General David had without a doubt established a small friendship with the politician since Albert had demonstrated that he wasn't only a competent politician and an intelligent man but a rather good person.
"Thanks for inviting me." Albert replied and Rodrigo looked around.
"Dr Okun called it to the lab it seems he wanted to inform it of something he had found." Albert replied. "So I've been stood up by my date."
"That always sucks" Rodrigo said chuckling and handing Albert a beer at the same time David offered him food.
"I wonder what the hell has happened" David wondered as he began to prepare the hamburger that Albert asked for. He had the feeling that this recreational time would come to an end soon.
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Okun observed the data the computers was showing him and his colleagues, some of the data that they had extracted from the Swarm's ship before it had been shot down seemed to be a map of their solar system. At first it hadn't been weird to Okun, it was clear that the ship would have studied their solar system before launching their attack on Earth, but as he had studied the map he had noticed there was an area of the Rings of Saturn that was marked on the map, aside from the area where the Rhea base had been which was now a grey area after the destruction of the Saturnian moon by the warm hole created by the Swarm, which had suddenly closed or had collapsed, the time when it had done so was unknown since they had only found out a few months after the attack after the war of 2016, based on the grade of destruction it hadn't been open very long. Whether this was due to the fact that it had been created by the Swarm or not the Scientists did not know.
No this was something else that had nothing to do with that attack on humanity, it was like the aliens had been aware of there being something else, something or someone of interest to them. After realizing this he had passed up on David and Catherine's invitation to a BBQ and had called several fellow scientists both Human and alien, even asking permission to let Doctors Wong and Lee observe the data and give their opinion on what it was and if possible even clarify it.
The conclussion of what that was had been unanimous, on that position what the aliens had been looking for was most certainly a ship and one with a camuflage system it seemed as it did, whether it was of their own or not it was up for debate although Tyrion was sure it wasn't a Resistance ship since the Resistance did not have any presence on the system prior to the arrival of the Prophet to Earth. With that concluded the scientists had gotten to work and tried to analyze the rest of the data to see if they could find anymore clues, until finally Okun decided to contact the Prophet.
The Prophet arrived in the lab an hour later, after it was finished with the Council meeting had been told it it was needed at the lab and Okun and the scientists were still mining through the deciphered data they had so far.
"Doctors" It greeted all the scientists. "Why do you require my assistance?" It asked. Okun turned and smiled at the Sphere really glad it had finally arrived.
"Welcome, we are sorry to call you here, but we have found something most interesting and want to know your opinion about it." He said as he showed it the map. "It seems the aliens from the ship in Africa, had marked a certain area of the Rings of Saturn as a point of interest, another one besides humanity's former base on the now destroyed Rhea. We most likely agree that it's a ship but we are not quite sure of it's procedence. Dr Tyrion has said it's most likely not a Resistance ship but I'm not quite sure it was one of the Swarm City Destroyers or other ships. Do you have any idea of what it could be?"
"It seems to be a highly technological ship with a camuflage system." The Prophet said and Okun knew it was scanning the map on it's own trying to see what the aliens were looking for. "It can't be" it added a few minutes later after accessing it's memories data bank.
"What?" Okun asked curiously.
"I think, what they were looking for is one of my people's battleships" The Prophet replied. "There was a battle on this system several centuries ago, one of the first battles between my people and the Swarm where my people emmerged victorious. However my people's flagship was heavily damaged and it couldn't leave this solar system, the fleet left it here and returned to our home planet to get help but when another fleet returned to provide assistance there was no trace of the ship. It was assumed that the Swarm had returned and destroyed it.
"And what makes you say that it is the same ship?" Tyrion asked as he approached Okun and the Prophet looked at him.
"The battleship that was lost was a heavy space warship "Sujkronodisska" class with an almost perfect camouflage system." The Prophet argued. "And there was no trace of another battle when the second fleet arrived."
"Ok why didn't the crew of the battle come out of hiding when the second fleet your people sent arrived?" Okun said.
"Our Battleships were connected to the bodies of their captains after we left our flesh and bone bodies" The Prophet explained. "If our mechanical bodies ceased to function the ship would become deactivated and and only essential systems would remain active. Camouflage was considered essential if a ship was on a System that was considered hostile."
"And wouldn't your race know this?" Asked Doctor Wong. "Why didn't they begin a search?"
The Prophet observed the Hong Kong Doctor. "We were facing a major threat, a war that consumed many of our resources from the very start, a search was conducted but the fleet was surely called elsewhere."
"What do we do?" Tyrion asked Okun who observed the map again. An alien warship from the Prophet's race would be an incredible asset for humanity and the resistance, only god knew what secrets it held, plus he was sure it could be an useful weapon in the very hard war that awaited them all.
"Contact Director Levinson" Okun told one of his fellow human scientists. "He will want to know this."
"What about General Mitchell?" His colleague asked and Okun made a face. He wasn't overly fond of Mitchell but he knew that he would be really angry if he learnt that they discussed the existance of a nearby alien ship and how to proceed, and didn't even contact him. He nodded at the other scientist to let him know that he could contact Mitchell as well and just hoped that the General would be patient enough to wait for David before he began explaining what they had discovered. The other scientist picked up the phone and began dialing the numbers.
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When David arrived at Okun's lab accompanied by both Rodrigo, Zarhok and Albert he could see Mitchell pressing Okun trying to reveal the important information he had told he had might have discovered while analyzing a part of the data extracted from the ship. The general stopped himself immediately after he saw them entering, perhaps because Albert was there or perhaps because he would soon have the information he wanted. Saluting Rodrigo, who returned the salute, and nodding at David, who returned the nod back, and after a brief almost dismissive salute to Zarhok, the Human general still had not forgiven the Resistance aliens for whatever he thought they had done wrong but he knew better than to ignore Zarhok in front of Albert whom he greeted with a smile on his face.
"Ambassador, I trust you've had a great time at Dr. Levinson's barbecue." He said smiling as he offered him his hand which Albert shook.
"I have General. I have to say Dr. Levinson is a great cook." Albert said politely. "I heard you could not join us because of work."
"Yes sir, I did have to do some paperwork." Mitchell confirmed, he then looked at David looking almost sincere. "I'm sorry I'd had to miss your barbecue, it sounds really nice." He said and David smiled politely.
"Maybe next time" He replied and they turned their attention to Okun. The Doctor stood together with the Prophet and Tyrion the alien scientist as well as Dr Wong and Dr Lee, surprisingly without their escort, something David was sure Mitchell had commented on this upon his arrival, however they both had been proving useful since their arrival made no suspicious movements and continued to help even now, he would have to talk with Mitchell of their treatment when the right time came, when he was completely sure that they wouldn't betray them, to see if he would consider having them as paid personnel, if they wanted. He looked at what they wanted to show them, had introduced a map on an holographic machine, it seemed to be the Planet Saturn and with an area that had been highlighted for some reason.
"I'm sure you are all wondering why I called you here." Okun said and everyone silently nodded. "The reason is simple we believe we have found, probably, an old warship from the Prophet's race."
The group of people remained silent as the took in what they had just heard. If David recalled correctly the Prophet's race was an alien race that was old and advanced and who had fought a long war with the Swarm. The Swarm feared them and for good reason, the only known survivor was organizing a rebellion that could potentially destroy them and they hadn't found where most of the races that formed it were yet.
"Why do you say you have probably found it?" Rodrigo spoke before the rest could. "Aren't you sure?"
"Well, the Prophet claims after it's captain died the ship deactivated and is only keeping a handful of systems online." Tyrion explained, "It's stealth and camouflage systems being part of them. So we can't really confirm it's position or even it's existance."
"Which would explain why our Base in Rhea didn't detect it while it was still active" David said as he looked at the hologram of the area where the second largest moon of Saturn had been before it had been destroyed by the Swarm's Harvester Mothership
"Or perhaps our men in Rhea didn't detect it because it doesn't exist" Mitchell said "You have called us here based on the possibility that there is an ancient Alien warship there."
"You don't understand if there is even a slight chance of that being true, we should investigate it further." Okun defended himself and looked at David for help.
"Certainly if there is an ancient warship around that area it would help our objectives greatly. It would be interesting to organize a search for it." David said. "Since we humans are building our own Space Fleet, an alien warship would certainly be useful, not only could we study it and apply some of it's technology to our own ships and if we can repair it, it could be a new Resistance weapon for our fight against the Swarm."
"Is there a way to bring it here?" Rodrigo asked voicing the next question Mitchell was going to make. "How do you know the Gravity from the Swarm's Mothership didn't destroy it as well?"
"Well..." The Prophet began before it was interrupted by Okun
"From the little data we have it's hard to tell for sure" Okun answered his second question. "But the area where the remains of Rhea and the base are, are marked as well and it's far enough from the area we suspect the ship is to think it's very possible it survived." He then realized that he had interrupted the Prophet. "Sorry."
"If I can reach the ship" The Prophet said ignoring the apology and answering Rodrigo's first question. "It's possible that I will be able to bring it here."
"We would need the Resistance's ship to do so." Rodrigo said as he looked at Zarhok. "Humanity's fleet prior to the war of 2016 was composed merely of shuttles, who served to transport personnel to our bases outside Earth, however the very few remaining shuttles we have are essential for our bases on the Moon and Mars, we can't spare none of them for this mission."
"We will be glad to assist on the retrieval of the ship" Zarhok said.
"It is an old ship right?" Albert asked and all set of eyes were on the veteran politician. "Will it work even if we manage to retrieve it?"
Okun looked at Wong who nodded. "If the ship is anythinglike the Swarm's City Destroyer even the passage of a large period of time won't have affected it much. However we do know that if the ship is there, it will badly damaged after a battle, we can't be sure until we are there."
"Like Director Levinson said the potential uses for the ship, we believe outweight the risks and the possibility of failure to retrieve it." Dr Lee added and Albert nodded in understanding
"Well since it seems we are doing this" Mitchell began. "I believe it would be wise it would be wise to have some humans in the expedition as well." He said as he looked at everyone. "Perhaps the members of Scorpion and Legendary Squadrons could provide security as the aliens retrieve the ship."
"The engines of our Fighters are far less powerful than those of the frigate" Okun protested. "That would just delay the mission."
"And our Frigate is not like other Ships of our fleet, were not designed to carry smaller ships" Zarhok added.
"But our fighters can attach themselves magnetically to any metallic object" General Mitchell argued. "If I recall correctly it was one of the upgrades you made on them. Since your ship is large enough they could always attach themselves to the hull of your ship."
"It is too dangerous, that new feature has not been tested yet. If for whatever reason one of the Fighter gets disattached from the frigate as it's flying at high speeds the pilot won't survive, it could even be a risk to the rest of the Squadrons and the Frigates." Okun replied.
"Sir I don't know if it would be wise, we don't know if our Fighters would even be necessary in this mission." Rodrigo tried to argue concerned about the safety of his men.
"That System is incorporated into our fighters so that they remain in place in case of an attack on one of our carriers when it's forced to take evasive action" Zarhok added to the arguments against Mitchell's plan. "Is not meant to be used that way."
"It will be a good chance to test the system in a extreme situation" Mitchell said not going back on his idea.
"Will you not protest about the mission if we agree to your idea?" David asked knowing the futility of continuing with that discussion. Mitchell nodded and David sighed in defeat. "We better start making preparations." David then said surprising the rest of the people in the room.