Hard Contact Part Three
Clone sergeant CT-2388 was tired, both physically and mentally. He had been tasked with helping the technicians repair and refuel the starfighters during the battle. Pulling massive fuelling hoses, transporting fresh tibanna canisters, welding temporary metal sheets over burnt parts, all of these tasks wore him out faster than a starship's hyperdrive. He had been sleeping in his bunk bedthey were when his lieutenant woke him up. A sharp knock on his bunk bed stirred the sleeping CC-2388 awake. Pushing himself up, he rubbed his eyes to see CT-4333 standing nearby, his white helmet under his arm.
"Sorry to wake you up, CT-2388" CT-4333 extended his arm to pull up CT-2388. Standing at attention, he saluted his commanding officer with a loud voice, "CT-2388 reporting for duty, sir!" The clone lieutenant nodded at him and began the briefing. Apparently, Jedi general Plo Koon had offered to meet with the two unknown allies aboard his ship and CT-2388 had been chosen in a lottery to be a guide for the two groups.
His white plastoid armor shining under the light, he and the nine clone troopers he commanded stood silently on the hangar bay, waiting for the aliens' ship. Two landing bays were reserved for them and they had been told beforehand where to land. CT-2388's helmet comlink buzzed once, signaling their imminent arrival. "Look alive, men. They're here."
The first ship that arrived was a yellow rugged transport. He could see the heatwave dispelling from the metal engines. A door-like hatch sild open to its right side and two soldiers stepped outside, sweeping the area with their rifles. Seeing that it was clear, one of them flashed a signal to the occupants inside and the passengers stepped out, marveling at the massive hangar bay.
The first three people that exited the transport were dressed in dark blue double-breasted military uniforms. The metal wing-like pin signifying their ranks was spotted on their collar. A woman wearing a dark suit with brown pants was helped out by one of the officers. Other civilians exited the transport, such as a priest.
For a while, the group was uncertain about what to do until one of the military officers stepped toward him.
Admiral Helena Cain stepped toward one of the white armored soldiers cautiously, her hand placed on her pistol holster. The man and his squad waiting in front of the Raptor wore the same white plated armor. The helmet had a small fin protruding backward and a T-shaped visor. It reminded of her the old Cylon Centurion models, their bulky metal frame impervious to their bullets. Their leader had green accents around his armor
A slight shift in the soldier's stance made her weary and she stopped near a stack of crates. "Remove your helmet, soldier," she barked him. The man passed, turning to consult with his men. Nodding at his men, the green armored soldier removed his helmet, revealing a bald man with brown eyes. Cain sighed, thankful that they were humans.
"Is there something wrong, sir?" the man inquired. She shook her head, "No, I had to make sure you were human and not a Cyclon." His eyebrows furrowed at her statement and he slipped his helmet back on. "I'm Sergeant CT-2388 and I have been ordered to bring you and the other delegation to the bridge." Now it was Cain's turn to be confused at him. "Do you have any other name besides your designation, CT-2388?"
"No, but I guess you can call me Guide or Mr. Guide." CT-2388 offered. Helena raised an eyebrow and straightened her posture. "Well, Mr. Guide, I apologize for my earlier actions," she said and clasped her hands behind her back, "I'm Admiral Helena Cain, commanding officer of the Battlestar Pegasus and head of the Twelve Colonies of Kobol." Guide snapped a quick salute, his squad mimicking their leader's move.
The soft whine of an approaching ship alerted that the other delegation had arrived. Unlike the rugged transport, this sone was sleek and had a futuristic vibe to it. Two small rectangular pylons glowed with blue energy as it landed softly next to the other transport. Printed in block lettering was the words 'Kirk' and beneath that was presumably the ship's designation code. The hatch slid open, revealing its occupants. Leading his group was a tall bald man in a turtleneck uniform. The shoulders and angled sleeves were crimson red and they could see a sort of rank pips on his collar.
Behind the bald man were his other companions, some of them exhibiting strange characteristics. One had pointy ears, another had blue skin and a pair of stalks on his forehead, and a female cat-like humanoid. To Guide, it was normal seeing the other aliens. He fought alongside many alien natives, from tall hairy Wookies to the twin-tailed Twileks. But to the other human delegation, they were in disbelief. There was an awkward silence that was broken from a loud cough from the bald man.
"Are you alright?" the man asked. Blinking his eyes rapidly, one of the military officers nodded at him. Shaking his hand, he grunted at the bald man, "I'm sorry, it's just weird seeing people that aren't human. By the way, who are you?"
The bald man chuckled for a moment, his cheerful visage morphing into a stony expression. "My name is Jean-Luc Picard, commander of the joint Starfleet-Romulan refugee fleet. On behalf of the United Federation of Planets, it is my honor to meet you, sir..."
"Adama. Commander William Adama of the Battlestar Galactica." the Caprican finished Picard's sentence.
"Wait a minute, a refugee fleet? You're stranded? What happened to your planet?" Tigh asked.
"I will explain the details later, but I believe we are stalling our guide." Picard gestured at the clone trooper. Sighing quietly, Guide stepped toward Picard and saluted him. "Since we're all here, let's get moving." the trooper beckoned the delegation to follow him.
Clone troopers gave Guide, his squad, and the delegations a wide berth, stepping aside to give them aside. The clone sergeant could not hear the murmurs from his fellow comrades, but he could sense their curiosity. Stopping at a turbolift, he ordered his squad to stay behind while he took the leaders up first. It was a bit crowded, but they managed to fit in. The ride was smooth, but the atmosphere was tense.
As they waited for the rest of their group members to catch up, Guide watched a small, timid woman approach Picard. Dressed in a black business suit and a tan skirt, she struck a lively conversation with him. Whatever Picard said to the woman made her jaw drop slightly. She turned on her heel to pull at Commander Adama's sleeve, but the arrival of the other group members ended her attempts.
Pausing in front of the door, Guide turned to face the delegations, "We're here now, so get ready". The door slid open and the groups marched in.
The bridge was a wide expanse of space, illuminated by bright starlight streaming through the triangular windows and the ceiling lights above. In the center of the room was a dome-like pit, divided in half by a black bridge. He could see officers sitting at their consoles inside each half of the dome. Closer to the door and away from the dome-like pit was a tactical room. Transparent navigation maps surrounded a large circular table, where several robed figures stood. He noticed one of the robed figures looking at him and the figure excused himself to greet them.
The alien had wrinkled orange skin, its eyes covered with a sort of googles, and the mouth covered with a metal faceplate. Metal fingertips adorned each of his fingers. Bowing to the two groups, a surprisingly deep but recognizable voice rattled through the faceplate.
"Greetings, I am Jedi Master Plo-Koon. On behalf of the Galactic Republic, I welcome you aboard my vessel." The other robed figures bowed their heads to the groups. From the corner of his eye, he noticed that the woman wearing the military uniform did not return the greeting, her hands clasped behind her back.
Gesturing to the circular table, they congregated around it as Plo Koon activated the holoprojector. A hologram of the Republic fleet, the Colonial fleet, and the Starfleet task force appeared over the table.
"Before we start, I believe we should introduce ourselves so we know one another." Plo Koon said. Seeing that neither group wanted to introduce themselves, the Jedi Master decided to break the ice.
"As I said earlier, my fellow Jedi and I represent the Galactic Republic, a democratic union comprised of many worlds. We are a peaceful people, however that peace is gone." The symbol of the Confederacy of Independent Systems and a portrait of Grievous's cybernetic head appeared. "For two years, we have been in a war with a secessionist group called the Confederacy of Independent Systems or the CIS. Believing that the Republic was corrupt and stagnating, they form the group in secrecy and planned to take over the galaxy in a surprise attack. In preparation for that mission, they built a massive droid factory on the planet Geonosis."
Picard frowned, confused at the CIS's actions. Why hadn't they begun negotiations with the Republic before starting the war? Raising his hand, he asked his question. Plo Koon nodded slowly, "Yes, it's strange that the CIS never negotiated with the Republic in the first place. Perhaps they had already begun negotiations, but the Republic refused to accept their terms or even attempted a compromise."
"So, what were you doing before you arrived here?" Adama asked. Wearing his hair in a top-knot and a deep scar slashed across his left eye, Jedi Master Even Piell stepped forward to answer his question.
"I was captured by the Separatists when I received vital intelligence. I was imprisoned and tortured until I was rescued by my fellow Jedi. We were going to jump away when a black hole appeared near the planet. The fleet was trapped and we fled the Separatists by going through the black hole. We arrived here and received Galactica's distress signal."
"And we thank both of you for saving us. If it wasn't for your aid, we would have lost the battle." Commander Adama interjected. Raising her hand, the woman who was speaking to Picard earlier spoke. He noticed the raven-haired female military officer scowling at her.
"Thank you for inviting us, General Plo Koon. I am Laura Roslin, President of the Twelve Colonies of Kobol. I will be brief, but our people have been on the run for a long time. Several months, a race of machines called the Cylons bombarded our homes with nuclear bombs. Our military fleet was decimated in the attack and we were scattered." She pointed at Commander Adama and Admiral Cain, "However, there was one military ship that escaped unharmed, the decommissioned Galactica. He rallied the survivors to Ragnar Station and from there, we have been running from the Cyclons. Recently, we were joined by the Pegasus, led by Admiral Cain."
"Our mission is to find a planet called Earth, home of the Thirteenth Tribe. We believe they are under attack from an unknown threat. Before the battle started, Lieutenant Thrace was speaking the enemy leader." Producing a small recorder from her pocket, she played the recording.
It became silent as the recording filled the tactical room. Once it ended, Roslin slipped it back into her pocket. 'What do you intend to do once you arrive at Earth?" Master Fisto asked.
"Find the Thirteenth Tribe and figure out how we can help them. In time, we might even ask them to rejoin us." Laura said. She looked around as everyone frowned or furrowed their eyebrows at the Colonials. Neither the Jedi nor Admiral Picard had ever heard a possible long-lost human group willingly rejoin their brethren.
"What makes you so sure they will rejoin your group willingly? They could be a sovereign nation." Obi-wan pointed out.
"Under Colonial law, they are a colony and belong to us. Besides, their navy was probably decimated by the drones." Cain said.
"What if they refuse? It would be pointless to start another war." Jarrus countered. Cain smirked at him, her arrogance radiating outward. "We will see about that."
It was finally Picard's turn to introduce himself. Drawing himself to his full height, he cleared his throat. "My name is Jean-Luc Picard, fleet admiral of the joint Starfleet-Romulan refugee fleet. Before we arrived here, I was tasked with evacuating the Romulan people from their homeworld." He brought up a hologram of the Romulan homeworld and the Federation's data on the Hobus supernova. "About a decade ago, they requested help from us after discovering their sun was going supernova. We evacuated as many as we could. Unfortunately, we were ambushed by rogue Romulan military forces. We were reinforced by the arrival of a fleet until we were dragged into a black hole."
"So, does anyone know where Earth is?" Ahsoka timidly asked.
Placing a small datapad on the table, he activated it and a hologram of the solar system appeared.
"When we arrived here, we dispatched our shuttles to scout out the area. We came upon a fight occurring between a Grineer and Corpus ship. I believe that this universe is a mirror world of our solar system."
"A mirror world? Like an alternate universe?" Anakin asked. Picard nodded. "That's correct. In alternate worlds, history has been affected but some things may remain the same, such as planets and resources."
"We are still verifying our information, but we believe we can locate Earth soon," Raffi said. She flinched when her combadge buzzed and swatted at it.
"Raffi here, what's going on?" she said. A tinny voice replied back to her, "We found Earth, sir. A shuttle from the Veracruz is transmitting footage, we're sending it over."
The datapad's transparent screen flashed as it received the footage. The hologram switched to show a bird's eye view of Earth. Immediately, he recognized a few countries from the footage. He easily spotted The long chain of islands that was Great Britain, the rectangular tan landmass was presumably Saudi Arabia. But he locked eyes on the giant crater. As the camera zoomed in, he spotted objects that resembled giant humanoid bodies. A majority of them surrounded some sort of tower, while the rest laid in straight rows.
"They're huge..." Tigh whispered aloud. The monstrosity of the attack dawned on the Colonials, which only fueled their intensity to get to Earth as soon as possible. For the Jedi Knights and their fellow clone troopers, they had never seen anything so big before. Picard gripped the table's underside as memories of the Borg resurfaced. If these drones had the same adaptive ability as the Borg, this Earth was finished. The camera switched and almost everybody gasped in shock. The small Moon that was orbiting Earth was shattered and held together by
The morbid thoughts and fears were dispelled when he was contacted by Worf. "Sir, we have trouble on the way."
"What happened? Were we spotted?" Picard asked. Worf shook his head, "Not yet, but we are going to lose our cover. That small spat at Uranus expanded to a full-blown battle and both sides are congregating here. The captains are nervous and asking for orders. Should we proceed to Earth?"
Picard closed his eyes, trying to process the situation. If the joint fleet came here, there was a chance the battle would come to them as well. If the combined fleet jumped to Earth, what would happen next? Assuming they could contact the natives, what if they were shot down? The unknown facts plagued him, but Picard didn't have time to worry about them.
"Mr. Worf, lay a course for Earth. I will join you momentarily." Picard ordered. Switching off his combadge, he looked at the group, who was staring at him. "So it's decided, then?" Plo Koon said. Picard nodded his head somberly.
"If that is the case, we will join you. Would you mind transferring the coordinates?" Plo Koon asked. Picard handed over his datapad as a clone officer began the information transfer. The same process was repeated with a Colonial navigation officer.
As they re-entered the hangar bay, Picard felt less uneasy about being around the Colonials. He was sympathetic to their plight and wondered how they survived for so long. Dwindling supplies of food, low morale, and the fear of being annihilated any moment had molded and shaped the Colonials into a resilient and hardy people. But, they were also arrogant in their beliefs. During the discussion, they insisted that the people inhabiting Earth were the Thirteenth Tribe, a long lost group of humans that was once part of the Twelve Colonies of Kobol.
The Starfleet admiral found it hard and a bit ridiculous that this Thirteenth Tribe would accept the Colonials so quickly. Unless the Thirteenth Tribe had some kind of artifact related to the Colonials, there was no way they would accept the Colonials' offer.
Lunamaria rubbed her eyes as a yawn escaped her mouth. It had been thirty minutes since Athrun and Kira had scouted ahead. So far, there was nothing interesting except for a few pictures and videos they sent back to the ships. Like the others, she was surprised to see the doppelganger ZAKU mobile suit and the doppelganger Dagger suit. s guarding the asteroid. The number of ships and mobile suits led them to believe one of two theories. The first theory was that they were a refugee fleet, guarding the colony ship inside the asteroid. The second theory was it was a temporary alliance between two enemy forces. Murrue pointed out the different symbols between the two mobile suits. There was also the strange behavior of the suits avoiding each other. Clearly, there was a stalemate going on between the two sides.
Sighing, she leaned back and closed her eyes, hoping to catch some shut-eye. Her shift was almost over and she would return the Minerva to rest. Unfortunately, her blissful sleep was denied when someone contacted her. Startled, she slipped her helmet's visor on and stabbed the intercom button, "What's wrong? Did something happen?"
An amused chuckle from Rey answered her."Oh, nothing. I just wanted to prank you." He laughed as Luna berated him over the intercom. It was funny seeing her so angry over a trivial matter. To Rey and Shinn, she reminded them of an overbearing and overprotective mother. She would allow them to pursue their goals unless it was too extreme. She would reel them back to their senses, explaining to them why they should or should not proceed with their goal and pointing out the false reasoning.
A chime from the radar alerted the Legend Gundam's pilot that the sensors had detected something coming out of Saturn's atmosphere. Aiming his beam rifle at the approaching object, he deployed the DRAGOON pods and the small weapons pods detached themselves from their docking ports. "Luna, we have company," Rey warned her.
"Status report," Captain Gladys demanded as she inside the darkened command room. The room was illuminated the bright console screens manned the bridge crew. Commander Arthur saluted her and gave a quick summary of the situation. "The Legend is reporting an unknown object is coming out of Saturn. We're turning the ship around to see it, captain. Tristans and Isoldes are being prepared."
"M'am, we have an incoming visual on the unknown object. Magnifying now." the pilot shouted. The object grew larger as it exited Saturn's atmosphere. Frowning, she consulted with the database to understand what she was seeing. "That's impossible. Why?" she murmured aloud. Looking over her shoulder, Arthur's eyes widened when he recognized the image.
"You're kidding me, right?" he said. As much as he wanted to deny his suspicion, both the image and the object shared the same shape and design. It was an ancient battleship design from the long-forgotten AD era.
It was called the Yamato-class battleship.
The ancient battleship was painted light purple, while her keel was bright red. It looked remarkably similar to its World War II ancestor, which frightened some officers who recognized it. It didn't make sense to them, but it was there in front of the Minerva.
"Lieutenant Windsor, hail them via Morse code with the spotlight and radio frequencies. The message is as followed: 'Can you read this? Please respond.' All pilots are to return to Minerva and set up defensive positions." Gladys ordered. Outside, the Minerva's spotlight flashed its Morse code message.
"Sir, we are receiving a Morse code message from the ship in front of us. Decoding message immediately." Analyzer reported. The Yamato's resident AI's lights blinked rapidly as it processed the message. "Message processed, admiral. The message reads: 'Can you read this? Please respond.'"
Sitting near the back of the command deck, Admiral Juzo Okita gripped the metal armrest and pondered the mystery ship's intentions. He was still reeling from their abrupt trip into the unexpected black hole that swallowed them as they were leaving Saturn's atmosphere. Thankfully, there were no serious casualties besides the minor scrapes and headaches. To his right side, Yuki Mori pulled off her headset and reported to him, "The same message is being repeated on all radio frequencies. Should we respond back, sir?"
Tapping a button on his console, the main screen magnified and focused on one of the humanoid machines standing on the ship's deck. Two slanted rectangular eyes glowed back at him as it pointed a massive rifle at the Yamato. A V-shaped antenna was attached to a small red square, which displayed the words, "X-666S Seicento Sessantasei" Juzo frowned at the words, wondering what it meant. Was it the machine's model number? His thoughts were interrupted when his second-in-command called him.
"Your orders, sir?" Major Shiro Sanada asked. Pushing himself off his chair, Juzo adjusted his hat, "Contact the unknown ship via radio and send a hailing message to them."
"Aye, sir" Sanada saluted him and carried out the order. The white noise of static filled the room and disappeared when the hail was accepted. An image of a blonde woman in a white military uniform appeared on-screen.
"To whom am I speaking to?" the woman asked.
"I am Admiral Juzo Okita of the Earth Federation, commanding officer of the battleship Yamato." he introduced himself. Nudging his head, he asked, "If your mind, could you ask your men to stand down?"
"I will unless you promise not to attack us." the woman replied. Juzo repressed a silent sigh and accepted her offer. There wasn't much he could do against the three ships. Assuming they all had the same humanoid machines, the Yamato would lose in a battle against them. The woman spoke to a person off-screen and he saw the machines return to their ships, flying back to an internal hangar inside.
"You have my thanks, captain..." The woman finished his sentence, "Captain Talia Gladys, commanding officer of the ZAFT assault carrier Minerva." Juzo raised his eyebrows, curious about the Minerva's specifications.
"Ma'am, incoming message from the Strike Freedom. Enemy contact at their location! They're requesting reinforcements." Talia scowled as the ship prepared to move out. She had forgotten she was still transmitting when she heard a cough from the white-bearded admiral.
"My apologies, admiral. I'm afraid I won't be able to help you right now. My pilot reported they have encountered enemy forces and require our aid."
Juzo nodded to her, "We will stay here and await your return, Captain Gladys. Good hunting." The link disconnected and the main screen reverted back to its default state. Ahead of the Minerva, both the Eternal and Archangel's engines were burning as it charged into the fray at full speed. A countdown had started and was posted at the upper right-hand corner of the screen.
"ETA: 3 minutes"
In the Yamato's command bridge, Juzo pursed over his options as the bridge crew talked among themselves. Some had advocated that the Yamato should stay away from the battle, observing it from a hidden position. Others suggested they should aid the Minerva in the battle.
"Chief engineer, how long did it take to charge the Wave-Motion gun?" Juzo suddenly asked. Startled by his question, Hikozameon Tokugawa scratched his beard. "Five minutes, sir. Why do you ask?"
Juzo chuckled at him and Tokugawa's face blanched, realizing his friend's intention. "Navigator, get us on an ascending path above the Minerva and follow it. I don't want them to see us. Chief engineer Tokugawa, start prepping the shock cannons and wave motion gun." The bridge command buzzed with activity as they began shouting their status reports. Inside the engine room, the hum from the massive cylindrical wave motion engine grew louder as it fed more power to the thruster.
Beam weaponry and funnel technology were a devastating pair meant for one another. Anything that wasn't protected by anti-beam coating was vaporized in a flash, leaving behind a burning jagged hole in their armor. The anti-beam coating lasted for a few shots until it was rendered useless. The funnels were a nightmare for pilots. The small detachable pods were too small for a normal human eye to track. They constantly moved in random patterns, unleashing their deadly array of beam shots at the enemy. You either were too foolish or too confident to take down a mobile suit that used funnel-based weaponry.
But the numerous advancements that made the pair so terrifying met their match against a technology that wasn't developed in the Universal Century. The Corpus merchants would be shocked to hear that the UC humans never developed it. With the devastation all around them from the consecutive wars, one would think it would have been developed and mass-produced already. But it never came to fruition.
Nef Anyo smirked as he watched the pitiful humanoid machines fire at his ship. Their laser shots were unable to pierce the energy shields that were recharging every second. Looking at his monitor, the shield's percentage was still in the high nineties. the board member considered ordering the crew to unleash a barrage on them when his advisor convinced him to stand down. Sooner or later, they would give up after realizing it was impossible to damage the shields.
His daydream was shattered when the helmsman reported two unknown bogeys off the Crusader's port bow. Nef sighed and rubbed his forehead, annoyed with the arrival of reinforcements. When the image of the reinforcements appeared, he quickly compared the two forces attacking his ship. Despite some similarities, their designs were distinct from each other.
"Focus your fire on those two, captain. Ignore the others." Nef ordered as he left the bridge. There was something about those two machines he couldn't shake off. A feeling of foreboding made him walk faster to his personal shuttle in the hangar bay.
"Incoming!" Kira shouted as he dodged the anti-air flak detonating around him. The Strike Freedom's wings flared as the mobile suit flitted around. Kira watched his beam shots strike the invisible energy shield, which rippled as the beam shots dissipated. "That's not good," Athrun murmured when he saw his own shots dissipate as well. Alarms blared loudly inside their cockpit, warning the pilots of an incoming missile barrage. Raising their arms, the beam shield popped out. Orange clouds obscured their view of the enemy ship, their monitor sensors flickering.
Bursting out of the clouds, multiple rays of light slammed into the ship's energy shields. The blue translucent shield faded as it was overwhelmed by the Strike Freedom's Multi-Lock On attack. The Infinite Justice followed up with another Multi-Lock On attack, scorching the ship's metal armor. Black smoke poured from its wound and Athrun could see humanoid firefighters trying to put the fire. A metal gate sealed the gaping hole as the vaporized, warped metal armor was purged into space. Orange streams of AA flak and blue streaks of energy streaked past the Gundam as they continued their assault on the ship.
On the other side of the ship, morale had risen considerably. The pilots were getting bolder with their attacks, making near-suicidal gun-runs on weakened portions of armor. Mobile suit carriers inched toward the enemy ship, their beam cannons firing rapidly at the enemy ship. Inside his cockpit, Amuro watched as a squad of Jegans and Geara Dogas bombarded another section of the ship. Shouts of elation flooded the radio channels as the warped armor was purged.
He flinched as a sense of foreboding ran down his spine. Amuro scanned his monitor while looking for any abnormalities. Hie eyes hovered on a slim rectangular slot that was guarded by a few AA batteries. He could see the tips of cone-shaped capsules jutting out of the slot and the Newtype quickly deployed his funnels.
The funnels flew toward the slot just the strange conical tips launched. There were too many of these flyers as they were launched out of their firing tube. Several of them penetrated the ships' hull, but they didn't explode on impact. Instead, a pair of square magnetic clamps attached on either side of the conical capsule latched to the ships' hull.
"What the hell is happening outside, Amuro?" Bright demanded. "I don't know, but these capsules haven't exploded yet," Amuro responded.
"If they aren't exploding, why would it latch on to the hull?" Amuro theorized as he realized the capsule's purpose. "All mobile suits, shoot them now!" he shouted as he aimed at the nearest capsule.
"They're boarding our ships!"
