Second Chances

Disclaimer: I do not own the characters and universe that I am about to mangle around for my own demented author amusement – sadly all Robotech characters and concepts remain the property of Harmony Gold, we would have had at least one new series by now if I owned it – I am merely borrowing them and make absolutely no profit from their use. As a result, please keep the legal attack dogs – also known as lawyers – firmly muzzled and on a leash as I have no money to give to anyone.

Authors Note: Holy crap I did not expect to leave this story alone for quite this long – nearly two years – after I inadvertently wrote myself into something of a corner plot wise. I was originally thinking about introducing some additional time travellers among the Sentinel races but the more I thought about it, the more I realised that it really wasn't going to work especially considering how the others got their memories of the future sent back in time. It has taken me this long – and numerous readthroughs of the story – to figure out away out of that little pickle but I think I have finally done it. Still, I do apologise for leaving Second Chances unattended for so long. But now it's back so let's just crack on with the new chapter shall we.

Chapter Twenty-Three

Karbarran Cruiser Shi'thanti

A Few Minutes Earlier

Standing before the bridge windows Captain L'Ron sighed softly to himself as he gazed upon the vast expanse of the nebula around them. At any other time, he would have been beyond pleased to have stumbled across a star system such as this one – even if it was inside a nebula – as while there were no habitable planets present the system was rich in very useful minerals and ores. There sensors had confirmed that the largest of the systems three asteroid belts was especially rich in monopole ore – a vital component in the construction of space fold drives and one that could not be synthesised properly through atomic printing for some reason that nobody could quite figure out – which would be a boon for the economy of the Karbarran Commonwealth and a useful new bargaining chip in their trade relations with the other spacefaring races but especially the Tirolian Empire.

But resources were not really what he was after right now.

No, the reason that he and the Shi'thanti were out here, tens of thousands of light years from home, was very different. They were out here looking for allies, for someone who could help them beat back the ever-increasing Invid incursions into their territory. Unfortunately, the search was not going very well at all so far, even with space folding technology the galaxy was vast with many tracts of space being still virtually unknown and uncharted. But there was no other choice as those that they had thought they would always be able to count upon to have their back, they had in the past and they'd always returned the favour when the need arose, had let them down.

When the Invid attacks first began they hadn't been too worried as they hadn't been beyond the ability of their own naval forces to repel, which they had done. Unfortunately, the attacks and incursions by the Invid had continued growing in size, frequency and ferocity with those foul creatures fielding increasingly more powerful forms of battle mecha. Eventually, perhaps somewhat inevitably, the frontier defences had begun to fail beneath the weight and ferocity of the Invid numbers. Which was when their leaders had approached the Tirolians – especially the currently ruling Robotech Masters – for assistance there two species had after all been allies and trading partners for over a thousand years.

Initially help had indeed been provided in the form of a fleet of Tirolian warships that had helped chase the Invid out of Karbarran space and for a time had secured the border. Some ships from the Zentraedi Guardian Fleet had also been dispatched to ensure security on the border. However, in the last year or two things had changed, both groups of warships had been – without warning or consultation – withdrawn to Tirolian space. Without their presence the Invid had overpowered their frontier defences and taken a sizable chunk of their colonies and outposts with the Karbarran Navy only just able to stop their advance shy of their core territories.

L'Ron growled softly as he remembered that desperate battle. While his people had and made use of particle weaponry themselves their own take on them were considerably less powerful than Tirolian or even Zentraedi weapons. While the sekitan that they had long used to power almost all their technology was a very high yielding energy source, certainly higher than fusion reactors would have been though they did make use of them in situations were using sekitan was not the best choice of power sources, it was still inferior to the protoculture powered systems of the Tirolians and Zentraedi. Thus, it took considerable time for their own ion weapons to pound down the defence barriers of an Invid hiveship and destroy it, all the while the Invid protoculture-based plasma weapons cut through their ship armour with relative ease.

As a result, the battle had been long and bloody and ultimately seen the destruction of all but three of his peoples few battleships and the loss of nearly three hundred cruisers and over five hundred lighter warships as well as most of their space fighter corps. While their shipyards were working flat out to build new ships and fighters – with the keels of several new battleships already laid down – they were in a race with the Invid as the creatures were bound to attack again eventually. And it was a race that they were probably not going to win given how quickly the Invid could breed new warriors and grow new ships and battle mecha.

In the aftermath of that battle the government had contacted the Robotech Masters and demanded an explanation for the sudden withdrawal of both Tirolian and Zentraedi forces from Karbarran space. They had not gotten a satisfactory response, hell they'd barely gotten a response at all just being told quite bluntly that it was not their place to question the decisions of the Robotech Elders who were the ones who had apparently given the order to withdraw their forces. Needless to say, that had not gone down well with the Karbarran High Council who promptly formally withdrew from there millennia long alliance with the Tirolians and sent out several ships to begin searching for new, hopefully far more honourable, allies to help them against the encroaching Invid.

A warning bleep from the sensor stations brought him out of his thoughts and recollections of the battle that had necessitated this mission. He turned curiously, moving with an easy grace that you would not expect from an eight foot tall, eight hundred pound being that to Terran eyes would have looked like an anthropomorphic bear.

"What is it?" he asked as the officer manning the station looked for the reason for the alert before looking up in alarm.

"Captain sensors detect a space fold forming nearby," the officer reported, "distance three hundred megametres on a bearing of one two one by zero, zero two."

"How big is it," L'Ron demanded as he marched back to the command chair and sat down.

"From the phase displacement profile, it's a class seven fold sphere," sensors reported sending a shiver of worry across the entire bridge as a space fold bubble that large could only be produced by one of two things either a single large object was folding in, or an entire fleet was folding together. Either one of which could potentially be very bad news for them as intelligence had indicated that the Robotech Masters were not at all happy about their withdrawal from their alliance and L'Ron wouldn't put it past them to send ships or entire squadrons out to stop them finding any allies.

"Bring us to alert status one," he ordered after a moment. "Begin plotting an emergency fold to our backup coordinates."

"Yes sir," came the reply from the appropriate stations. Immediately alarms began to sound throughout the Shi'thanti summoning the crew to their stations. Simultaneously the engineers began working to increase the output of the sekitan furnaces and diverting energy to both ion cannons and missile launchers, while also preparing an emergency power up of the fold drive.

"Fold sphere emerging," sensors reported a moment before a brilliant flash of eldritch light came through the viewports, followed by a second blue flash. "Contact is a large space station, configuration unknown though the construction materials used in the hull match Tirolian hull materials."

"Show me," L'Ron ordered.

"Yes sir."

Immediately a projector field activated, and a holographic screen coalesced into existence showing an image of the station. It was immediately obvious to him that he was looking at a robotech factory station of some kind, though the configuration was different to any he had ever seen before – and he had seen quite a few of them over the years both those built for the Zentraedi to use and those built exclusively for the Masters – and appeared more mechanical unlike the norm for these station which tended to look somewhat like very large asteroids. He also immediately noticed that the station had no escort fleet. Which was also very, very unusual as while these stations did have some weapons systems, they were mostly defensive in nature – little more than short range missile launchers and some point defence lasers – hence why factory stations were normally escorted and protected at all times by fleets of warships.

"Captain we're being scanned," sensors reported.

"Sir should we fold out," his first officer asked.

"Hold fold," L'Ron replied, "there's something strange here as a station like this should have a very large escort of warships to protect it. Yet this one doesn't… why. Sensors scan the station I want to know whose over there – if anyone is."

"Yes sir."

"You think the station could have folded here automatically," his first officer T'Kan asked. "Possibly due to some automated protocol to escape an attacker?"

"It's possible," L'Ron replied, "we know that many factory stations do have such emergency escape protocols. If that's the case and we can board and safely take control, then things could be about to change for our people."

"The Masters won't like us having a factory station," T'Kan pointed out, "they might even send the Zentraedi to take it from us by force or destroy it. You know how jealously they guard the technology behind the creation of these things."

"I know but we cannot let an opportunity like this pass us by."

"I agree though this is a serious risk."

"I know."

"Scan complete sir," sensors reported, "scans indicate that there are nearly seventy-five thousand individual life forms aboard. This is strange."

"What is it?" T'Kan asked just beating L'Ron to the punch.

"Sir these life signs they have some similarities to Tirolian, Praxian and Zentraedi life signs but there are a number of differences."

"Another subspecies," L'Ron asked knowing that Tirolians and Praxians had a common ancestor species though nobody quite knew who they were, where they came from and why they had mysteriously disappeared. As for the Zentraedi well they were just giant bioengineered clones of the Tirolians themselves.

"Possibly."

"Sir we're being hailed by the station," communications reported, "they're hailing us in a variety of different languages. We have already identified both Tirolian and Zentraedi."

"Which means they probably recognise us even if we don't recognise them," L'Ron commented. "Lock onto the Tirolian dialect. Then acknowledge the hail, route it to my screen."

"Yes sir."

"I hope you know what you're doing L'Ron," T'Kan commented.

"So do I," L'Ron agreed a moment before the holographic screen changed from a view of the station to an alien who looked remarkably like a Tirolian. Though it was immediately obvious that the alien wasn't Tirolian as his – and he was definitely male – hair was a dark grey in colour, while skin was a pale pink and much rougher looking than the pasty white of Tirolian skin. The alien was dressed in an odd dark-blue uniform with red trim and was wearing some kind of head adornment that was predominantly white with a black band at the bottom and a gold-and-black symbol at the front. Other Tirolian-looking beings could be seen moving behind him, operating various work stations though beyond a first glance none of them looked Tirolian with at least one having dark brown skin – something he had honestly never seen before in a Tirolian-stock species.

The alien spoke at once. "Karbarran vessel my name is Captain Henry Gloval, temporarily commanding space station Svartalfheim," the alien spoke in a deep, somewhat gravelly voice a voice that was much deeper than Tirolian voices ever were even when they spoke normally and not with that creepy as hell quasi-synthetic voice that the Masters, for some reason known only to them, liked them to talk in. "We were not expecting to see anyone here. Would you mind telling me who you are and why you are over half a galaxy away from your claimed borders?"

L'Ron blinked at the question, surprised despite himself that this alien knew his species and where their space was, even as he was relieved to note that there was no hostility in this Captain Gloval's tone of voice or in his mannerisms. There was only honest surprise and curiosity from the man to see them here, so far from home. He decided he better answer the question as well as introduce himself as it would only be polite, plus he suspected that he and the Shi'thanti had inadvertently stumbled into the space belonging to whatever species Gloval belonged to called themselves.

"Captain Gloval, allow me to introduce myself. My name is L'Ron captain of the Karbarran naval vessel Shi'thanti. I apologise if we have inadvertently stumbled into your territory but let me assure you that we mean you no harm," he replied, even as a side screen blinked into existence showing an analysis of the station conducted by the ships tactical system. Inwardly he shivered as he realized that, unlike normal factory stations, this one was heavily armed with both advanced particle weapons, lasers and missile launchers and was surrounded by an advanced defence barrier two or three orders of magnitude stronger than what could be generated even by a Tirolian Azashar-class mothership the exact level of the increase impossible to determine due to the fact that the full capabilities of the Azashar-class was not known to them and could only be guessed at. In Haydon's name this is more than a factory station, he thought, this thing is a battle station and likely is fully capable of taking on an entire fleet of Zentraedi warships by itself and destroying them. Even Dolza would think twice before tangling with this thing.

Clearly Gloval's people were advanced, possibly even more advanced than the Robotech Masters were as hard as that would be to believe. And powerful, perhaps powerful enough to save his people. Assuming that they were able to and weren't under threat from the Invid themselves or the Zentraedi as he was well aware that multiple Zentraedi fleets had been deployed throughout the galaxy, moving far beyond known space as if they were looking for something, though what he didn't know.

"As for what we are doing here so far from home I'm afraid that is a very long story," he continued. "If we have inadvertently violated your space we will of course leave."

"You haven't violated our space," Gloval replied after a few moments, clearly having been listening to a translation on his end. "As far as I am aware the flame nebula is not claimed by any spacefaring races, though aside from the Zentraedi we haven't encountered anyone else so I cannot be sure."

"You have encountered the Zentraedi," L'Ron asked.

"We have it was not a peaceful meeting," Gloval admitted, "they have attacked us numerous times over the last few months."

"They do have something of a shoot first, ask questions later mentality," L'Ron agreed, "especially with normal sized beings like us, or micronians as they like to call us. It's an unfortunate side effect of the conditioning imposed upon them by the Robotech Masters. Though I admit I am surprised they keep attacking you, normally they avoid contact with micronian races as much as possible. They'd only attack repeatedly if you have something they or their masters want."

"We do and it is a very long, complicated story."

"Much like mine then."

"Indeed."

L'Ron frowned thoughtfully. There was clearly a great deal more going on here than he had first thought, but at the same time something was telling him that this meeting could still turn out to be a very good thing for both his people and whatever Gloval's race was called.

"Captain Gloval, might I suggest we meet," he said after a few moments of silence. "It's clear to me that we both have a great deal to talk about and possibly even offer one another. With your permission I will bring a shuttle over to the station for a face to face meeting with you. Though I must ask what does your species call itself as you are clearly not Tirolian, Praxian or Zentraedi."

"I have no objection to you coming over Captain L'Ron," Gloval replied sounding and looking quite happy to have a face to face peaceful meeting. Well, if Gloval's races facial expressions and body language matched Tirolian and Praxian norms. "And my species refer to ourselves as Terrans."

"Terran," L'Ron answered tasting out the word. "When would be convenient for me to come over?"

Gloval visibly seemed to consider how to respond for a few minutes. "I have several things to organise before we can meet," he said at last. "Would it be convenient for you to come over in say four hours' time?"

"Four hours is fine. It will give me plenty of time to organise things on my end as well."

"Very well then. I will see you in four hours," Gloval answered. "Gloval out."

Gloval's image disappeared and for a moment an alien emblem – a white kite on a circular red background, presumably the symbol on the flag of whatever the Terran nation was called – took his place. Then the holographic screen shimmered out of existence as the communications channel with the space station closed down completely. As it vanished L'Ron leaned back in his command chair, relieved beyond words that, that had gone well.

"All stations stand down to normal running," he ordered, "communications open a secure fold comm link with the homeworld. Tell them I need to speak with the High Council immediately."

"Yes sir."

"Do you think that the High Council will want to proceed with negotiations," T'Kan asked. "We don't know much about this race after all, beyond the fact that they have a very advanced, heavily armed version of a robotech factory station and that they've been in conflict with the Zentraedi."

"True we don't know much about the Terrans T'Kan," L'Ron agreed, "though there is something about them, something that tells me that they could be just what we need to save our worlds from the Invid. No doubt they will want some help from us against the Zentraedi and I know the High Council will see it as a fair exchange."

"I hope your right L'Ron."

So do I T'Kan, L'Ron thought, so do I.

Commander Breetai's Flagship

Arcturus System

A Short Time Later

Exedore was nervous as he returned to Breetai's office in response to a summons from him. For nearly an hour and a half he had been sat waiting in his own chambers, waiting while Breetai and Azonia discussed his plan to micronize some of their people and, using the cover of a probing attack on the micronian planets ever increasing satellite defence grid, slipping some of their people onto the micronian planet referred to its inhabitants as Earth. He knew it was a radical step for them to take, not to mention a dangerous one as the rules against interacting with micronians existed for a very good reason, but he had been honest with Breetai and Azonia that they were at the limits of what they could learn about the micronians from signal analysis alone.

Thus, the only way they could possibly learn more about the micronians – and hopefully learn who their new ally was though he was convinced it was their old mechanical creations the Cylons – they would need to get people on the ground. Hopefully doing so would also let them uncover the location of the micronian factory satellite and with it Zor's battlefortress as the finder beam was having difficulty locking onto the station's phased graviton trail. The station appeared to have executed multiple folds of varying length after it had left this system and the finder beam was having great difficulty in separating out the different wake trails to determine which was the most recent one. It would get there eventually but it could take weeks and even then, there would be no guarantee that the station would still be at the end point when they arrived.

Mentally Exedore shook his head. This particular race of micronians was learning the ways of space warfare very quickly as evidenced by them coming up with such an effective evasion tactic. They'd obviously learned the limitations of finder beam tracking technology and developed a means to if not defeat it at least make finding them an extremely difficult and frustrating task. Of course, even if we find them, we'll need to pin them down for more than thirty seconds, he thought knowing that wouldn't be an easy task either given the immense firepower their factory station seemed to have.

Arriving at the door to Breetai's office he put those thoughts out of his mind for now and pressed the hailer. After a moment he heard Breetai bid him to enter the room, the door opening at the sound of his superior officer's, and personal friend's, voice. Exedore walked in to see Breetai sat at his desk, a pensive look upon his face while an equally pensive looking Azonia was visible on a holographic screen floating in a projector field above the desk.

"You asked to see me commander," he said.

"Indeed, I did Exedore, please be seated," Breetai replied gesturing to the seat opposite him. Exedore did as he was bidden. "Azonia and I have discussed your proposal to micronize some of our people and insert them onto the micronian planet under the cover of a probing attack on the satellite defence grid."

"It was not an easy decision for us to make as I am sure you understand Exedore," Azonia added, Exedore idly noting that in the time he'd been gone she'd changed out of her night clothes and was back in full uniform. "Indeed, had any other advisor bar yourself suggested such an action we might not have considered it at all. Before we give you our decision on this matter we have to know, are you sure that this is the only way?"

"I am commander," Exedore replied. "It might also be our only chance of discovering the new location of the micronian factory station and with it Zor's battlefortress. The micronians have executed a very complex evasion course of varying length and duration space folds since leaving this system. We are having great difficulty separating out all the various phased graviton wake trails as a result."

"They are learning, or should that be relearning, the art of space warfare very quickly then," Azonia commented sounding impressed. "It has been a very long time since we had someone present us with such a challenge."

"Indeed," Exedore agreed. "Might I ask what you have decided to do my lord, my lady?"

Breetai looked closely at him with his one remaining organic eye for a moment before speaking. "We have agreed that you may micronize the appropriate intelligence operatives for insertion onto the micronian planet," he said at last. "Once you have your operatives chosen you will work with both myself and Azonia to develop an appropriate plan to slip them onto the surface of the planet."

"I see thank you."

"Do not thank us yet Exedore," Azonia warned, "this is an extremely high risk strategy that we will be embarking on. IF we fail in this then Dolza is sure to replace both our fleets with others and then we will be back at square one."

"I understand. Might I be excused to begin choosing the appropriate operatives?"

"You may," Breetai agreed with a nod, "however before you begin your deliberations go up to the bridge and send a message to Commander Delitz have him move some Cyclops reconnaissance craft as close to the micronian planet as he dares without engaging their patrols. They're to gather as much information on the extent and projected capabilities of the satellite defence grid as possible."

"Understood commander."

"Dismissed Exedore."

Exedore nodded, stood and left the room to begin carrying out Breetai's bidding.

"Do you believe that Exedore's plan will work Breetai," Azonia asked.

"Exedore has never let me down before Azonia," Breetai replied. "I very much doubt he is about to do so now."

"I hope your right. Now if you'll excuse me Breetai I will begin preparing my Quadrono's to possibly take part in any such attack on the defence grid."

"Of course, Azonia. There assistance in this matter would be most helpful."

Azonia nodded in agreement before closing the communications link down from her end making the holographic screen pixel out of existence as the projector field powered down. Breetai for his part leaned back in his chair, flicked a switch on his desk causing the now familiar haunting tones of the strangely beautiful and soothing micronian music to fill the air, and began to ponder their next moves in this game with the micronians.

Somehow, he knew they could turn out to be decisive.

Author's Note: Well, another chapter bites the metaphorical dust. Hope you all enjoyed it as I know there was no action in this chapter, but it was important to set things in motion for the next few chapters which could prove critical to the mission of our time travelled heroes. Until next time.