Robotech: The Stargate Saga
Disclaimer: I do not own the characters and universes that I am about to mangle around for my own demented author amusement – sadly all Robotech and Stargate characters and concepts remain the property of Harmony Gold, MGM, and Amazon respectively – 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: A quick reminder that conversation in bold represents the voice of a Goa'uld or Tok'ra symbiote speaking through a host. Conversation in bold italic or just italic represents a host and a symbiote speaking internally to one another.
Chapter Eleven
United Earth Defence Command
New Macross City
Sometime Later
Silence reigned in the meeting chamber of the United Earth Defence Council as the council members, as well as invited officials from other parts of the United Earth Government, carefully digested and considered the reports that had just been delivered to them by both Colonel Ferretti and Captain Serval. There first foray through the Stargate had not gone as well or had been as peaceful as they would have liked given that within at most half an hour of their investigation team arriving on the planet – which according to Colonel Ferretti's report was called Linkotis – they'd been attacked by an alien infantry force from the Stargate. A force that the STORM commandoes had quickly defeated, taking a single one of them alive as a prisoner.
Simultaneously, well almost simultaneously, the Zentraedi cruiser in orbit had been confronted by a group of alien warships consisting of a cruiser and a number of corvette-style ships. To the surprise of some of the Council especially Colonel Matthews, the Zentraedi hadn't fired upon the aliens first. Indeed, Captain Serval had gone out of his way, by Zentraedi standards at least, to try and diffuse any tension. Only for the alien commander who'd referred to himself as a Lord Solec – who'd appeared human but obviously wasn't since humans didn't speak in a deep, resonant voice that seemed to echo nor did their eyes glow – to not really be interested in anything other than demanding surrender. Somewhat inevitably after that battle had erupted and the aliens had ultimately been defeated, their ships blown out of the sky by the Zentraedi's powerful particle cannons, though Serval's cruiser had taken quite a beating in the battle.
After the alien warships had been defeated, but not knowing if more were on the way and really not being in a fit state to engage in combat again, Captain Serval and Colonel Ferretti had both elected to withdraw from Linkotis immediately. As such the Zentraedi ship had sent down a dropship, only for the native population to shoot it down as it had tried to return to the orbiting cruiser. Serval had immediately sent down a second dropship, with a fighter escort this time, but not before firing upon the anti-aircraft positions from orbit destroying them.
Interestingly when the first dropship had been shot down it had revealed the presence of another ship – a ship that had previously been invisible. A ship with two human-appearing aliens aboard that Colonel Ferretti had elected to rescue before returning to space and leaving Linkotis – though not before setting the damaged first dropships self-destruct charges. The cruiser had then folded back to Earth and was now docked aboard the factory satellite for repairs.
"Opinions," Secretary Anderson said breaking the silence on the room, judging that everyone had had some chance to fully digest the contents of the report.
"It has certainly been an eventful mission," Admiral Gloval said immediately frowning in genuine concern, while idly fingering that – thankfully unlit – pipe of his. "Though it has revealed something very concerning, especially when you factor in the more in-depth analysis of the sensor telemetry from Captain Serval's cruiser."
"What do you mean admiral," Anderson asked.
"Mister Secretary it is clear that there is an advanced and highly aggressive race out there that doesn't balk at attacking planets and destroying whole civilizations," Gloval explained. "The analysis of this species, I believe that the prisoner Jar'un referred to them as the Goa'uld, weapons signatures show that exactly the same type of plasma weapon were used historically to bombard Linkotis as what were used against Serval's cruiser."
"How can you be certain," Anderson questioned.
"The fossil energy signature is identical."
"Fossil energy?"
"Admiral Gloval is referring to a well-known phenomenon in which an energy weapon – no matter what kind of energy weapon it is – leaves a trace of itself in any surrounding matter that was not vaporized or disintegrated by the imparted energy," Exedore explained. "This energy is referred to as fossil energy and can linger for anywhere up to several decades depending on the characteristics and molecular structure of the materials impacted. For example, most forms of stone will retain the signature for several decades whereas a crystalline material will retain it for at most six months."
"So, it is like a fingerprint?" Colonel Matthews asked.
"Essentially yes though not as precise as it only tells you the type and characteristics of the weapon used – for example with the plasma weapons we're talking about it indicates that the plasma is naquada based – and not be used to trace a single given weapon. Certainly not in the way you would have been able to trace a bullet from the rifling marks on it."
"Interesting."
"So, we can say with a high degree of certainty that these Goa'uld are the same species that attacked Linkotis?" Anderson questioned.
"It is extremely likely yes. The fact that they were able to inflict quite considerable damage to Captain Serval's vessel indicates that even if they were not, they are a considerable threat to both of our species. A threat that we need to know more about as the worst enemy you can face is one you do not know."
"It is also possible that we have encountered minions of one of these Goa'uld here on Earth," General Markwell said.
"What do you mean," Gloval questioned just beating the secretary of defence to the punch.
"I asked the medical personnel on the factory satellite to run a scan of the Jaffa prisoner Jar'un, we told him it was under the pretext of making sure he was carrying no dangerous contagion – he wasn't by the way. I then had the doctors compare what they found to Doctor Fraisers records of the changes made to Nathan Hunter's physiology by Vosegus before or just after the imposition of the 'Prime' personality matrix."
"And?"
"They are almost identical. The same projected levels of physical strength – two to three times that of a normal person be they Terran or Zentraedi – and endurance. Same enhanced bone and muscle densities as well as the same enhanced blood oxygen storage capacity. The only real difference beyond Nathan lacking an abdominal pouch is the regenerative capabilities Nathan's are closer to a normal person whereas the regenerative capabilities of Jar'un's physiology are considerably greater. The doctors believe that this is due to the presence of the serpentine creature in Jar'un's abdominal pouch, which I believe Jar'un referred to as a prim'tah."
"So, you believe that…" Anderson started to say.
"Vosegus is a Goa'uld yes," Markwell finished. "The doctors believe that what Vosegus did to Nathan Hunter – and has presumably done to others he has abducted and brainwashed with that previously unknown biological compound, to say nothing of any others he's used a neuro-somatic imprinter on – was him attempting to recreate the Jaffa. It would also fit with the name that the would-be assassin used when referring to Mr Hunter. Jaftari."
"Well, that is concerning," Anderson commented, "though the question then becomes how long has Vosegus been here? How did he get here?"
"It is possible that he has been on this world for millennia ever since the star portal was buried beneath the Giza plateau thousands of years ago," Exedore commented.
"Would he not have died and turned to dust long ago?"
"Not necessarily very long-lived species are not unknown," Exedore explained, "for example the Karbarran species lives for fifteen hundred years. Spherisians due to their unique crystalline physiology live even longer, with individuals up to several thousand years old being recorded to exist. It is possible that these Goa'uld are another very long-lived species."
"Regardless we need to know more about them," Anderson said, concerned by the fact that Vosegus might both be a Goa'uld and that he had been here on Earth through the whole of their recorded history. Who knew what damage he had done in that time, what secrets about them that he had learned especially now that he had at least some access to robotechnology materials, vehicles, and weapons. "The question is how do we go about learning more about this species? Their level of technology, their capabilities, and the threat that they could pose." As if we didn't have enough to worry about with those Zentraedi loyal to Dolza who escaped with ships, he thought, not to mention the Robotech Masters.
"We will be questioning Jar'un soon," Markwell commented, "hopefully he will be able to provide us with some more information on the Goa'uld, the Jaffa and maybe even the Stargate. Plus, there are the other two aliens recovered by Colonel Ferretti's team. They're aboard the factory satellite as well once they're awake they might also be able to give us some more information.
"The other thing we should do is to send more teams through the Stargate and see what information we can find out on other planets," he continued. "Using the symbols on the gate as a reference and the star charts provided by Commander Breetai, we have determined several dozen probable locations along with the other combinations from the reconstruction of the cover stone glyphs."
"I would recommend against using the Stargate again for a little while," Gloval replied. "Now that we know that hostile infantry forces can be sent through – and in all probability smaller forms of battle mecha – we have to consider the viability of its current location at Fort Minotaur. As I understand it is currently housed in what would have originally been the bases wind tunnel, which is not an ideal defensive location."
"No, it isn't," Markwell admitted, "I would suggest that we construct a new facility somewhere a bit more secure than Crete to house the Stargate. Though we can by all means keep the research facilities for it at Fort Minotaur. Research was the main reason we built that base before the Rain after all. Maybe take a page from Vosegus book and build somewhere like the Alps. There are a number of cave and mine complexes beneath the Alps that, with a little bit of work, could be repurposed into a secure base for the gate."
"It would certainly be easier on our resources than building completely from scratch somewhere," Anderson said thoughtfully knowing full well that they only had so many resources to go around. Much of which were earmarked towards reconstruction efforts after the Rain of Death. "Alright then general set the geologists and as many of your combat engineering crews as you can spare to work finding possible locations. Once they have one, they're to submit them to the Council for consideration."
"Understood sir I will get on to it as soon as we finish this meeting."
"Excellent. Now does anyone else have anything they wish to discuss based on this report?" Nobody spoke. "Very well then let's move onto the next item on today's agenda. Exedore, I believe you have a report from Commander Breetai?"
"Indeed, I do," Exedore replied with a smile, he had been sent their latest findings by Tiran an hour or so ago and to say it was quite interesting would have been an understatement. "As you know for the last few weeks, ever since the discovery of the star portal – sorry the Stargate – beneath the Giza Plateau we have been carefully surveying all the planets in this system for signs of any useable resources. The scans of the inner planets have now all been completed. Neither Mercury nor Venus has any useable resources present that we can detect, Mars however is a different story."
"Yes, the report sent yesterday indicated that there is a metallic ore present there," Gloval commented, having read the report forwarded to him by Breetai's chief aid Tiran. "Trinium, I believe you called it."
"Indeed. We have detected sizeable quantities of very high-grade trinium ore in numerous locations around the planet with the greatest sources being near the Southern Polar region."
"For those of us who don't know what is trinium?" Anderson asked.
Exedore quickly explained about the material how in its ore form it could seem useless being extremely brittle but when refined produced one of the lightest and strongest known pure metals to exist being a hundred times lighter than the lightest of steels while being harder than diamond without being brittle. He also went on to explain that while strong on its own trinium became even stronger and more durable when alloyed together with hypercarbon.
"It sounds quite useful," Markwell commented. "Is that one of the materials used in the construction of your ships?"
"Unfortunately, no," Exedore admitted, "in our native galaxy most of the deposits of trinium were mined out long ago and while synthetic versions do exist – and are used in starship construction – they are somewhat inferior in performance to the original even when alloyed with other robotechnology materials such as hypercarbon.
"However, the amount of trinium ore detected beneath the surface of Mars is both numerous enough and high-quality enough that I believe that mining of it should begin as soon as possible. Once the repairs to the station are completed, I believe we should send some of the automated mining fleet from the factory satellite to Mars to begin acquiring the material."
"There is a mining fleet aboard the factory satellite?" Gloval asked surprised by the news, though he supposed that he really shouldn't be. They had only had the factory satellite for two months and there was still a great deal about it that they didn't know, entire sections and modules that had not been able to be accessed due to all the damage the station had sustained over the years of its deployment alongside the Zentraedi. Damage that was now steadily repairing itself after the satellites self-maintenance and repair functions suddenly, and inexplicably, came back online a few days ago.
"Indeed, all such factory satellites have their own automated mining fleet designed specifically to harvest useful minerals and ferry them back to the satellites foundries as quickly and as efficiently as possible. And due to their automated nature once unleashed they do not stop until either all the materials, they have been sent for have been harvested or the station's storage silos are filled, whichever comes first. Once the mining fleet control station can be accessed, we should deploy it to Mars to mine the trinium."
"I think we can all agree on that Exedore," Anderson replied, "I will have to clear it with the Secretary General, but I don't foresee any difficulty in getting agreement to proceed. But I believe your ships detected something else on Mars?"
"That we did, and it is far more puzzling," Exedore admitted. "Sensors on our cruiser detected a faint energy signature, too faint for us to properly identify from orbit, coming from one of the caves on the flank of the volcano Arsia Mons first identified by your Mars Odyssey probe in two thousand and one. In order to attempt to identify the power source a Cyclops recon craft was sent down to run low-altitude scans over the volcano. I was sent the results a short time before this meeting began."
"Did they find anything?" Gloval asked curious.
"Indeed, they have admiral," Exedore confirmed. "The energy signature is coming from a small vessel at the bottom of the deepest of the caves, a hundred and seventy-eight meters beneath the surface. Due to its depth and the presence of a number of ores in the surrounding lava rock we cannot determine much about it, if there are any crew aboard or if it has been abandoned there for some reason. We have however been able to positively identify the power source."
"Well don't keep us in suspense Exedore what is it?" Anderson asked.
"Our analysis indicates that the power source is sekitan-based but enhanced through the application of naquada."
Everyone blinked slightly at that. They had read a little bit about sekitan in Captain Serval's report given that Linkotis was apparently quite rich in the material at least according to his ship's sensors. Though the report was also clear that aside from using powdered sekitan to boost the power of the explosives in their anti-aircraft rounds – which was what had enabled them to damage the first dropship enough that it crashed back to the surface in the first place – the Linkoteans didn't use the material properly. Possibly because they didn't know what the Zentraedi – and they themselves – knew about the ore and how it could be and indeed was used to power entire spacefaring civilizations in the Zentraedi native galaxy. Something that was of great interest to them as while considerably less powerful than protoculture it was certainly if not a substitute a viable supplement to their protoculture-based power systems. And now it appeared that someone else in this galaxy knew the secret of sekitan and had developed the means to not only exploit it but use naquada to enhance it. Someone who for unknown reasons had hidden a starship beneath the surface of Mars.
"So, what should we do about it?" Anderson questioned.
"I believe we don't have a choice but to mount an expedition to Mars to investigate the ship. See if we can determine how long it has been there – as it could have been there for a year or it could have been there for decades as the Mars Odyssey probe wouldn't have picked it up when it identified the presence of the caves – and who it belongs to. If possible, maybe even bring it back here to Earth or at least to the factory satellite for a more in-depth analysis," Gloval said.
"A ship could be made available for such a mission," Exedore added knowing that Breetai was as intrigued by the identity of the hidden mystery ship, and who it could belong to, as everyone here seemed to be.
"As with the deployment of the mining fleet I will have to clear it with the secretary general but that should not be too difficult," Anderson replied after a few minutes of thinking about it. "In the meantime, begin assembling your expedition team admiral."
"Yes sir." Gloval acknowledged with a smile, he already had someone in mind to lead the mission. Though convincing him to go could be challenging – though he would make it an order if he absolutely had to – but he was sure he would be able to do it. It was at that moment that an aide came into the room and whispered something quietly in his ear.
"What is it," Anderson questioned as the aide withdrew after giving Gloval his message.
"We've just had a message from the factory satellite," Gloval answered. "One of our new guests is awake."
Secure Medical Section
Robotech Factory Satellite
A Few Minutes Earlier
Doctor Jean Grant hummed softly to herself as, holding a computer tablet in one hand, she arrived at the secure medical ward aboard the factory satellite. This was the last of her rounds for today, indeed it was the last of the rounds that she would be doing on this particular tour of duty up here. Tomorrow she, Vince and young Bowie were scheduled to take a shuttle back down to Earth and their family home on the outskirts of New Macross City. It will be nice to breathe unrecycled air again, she thought, even though it will probably be cold given that we're rapidly coming up on another long, cold winter. But at least we'll get a Christmas earthside this year.
It would make a nice change she knew as they had spent their last Christmas at the Luna Yards where Vince had been posted, helping to oversee the final preparations for transferring the incomplete SDF-2 to Earth for final outfitting. Naturally she'd accompanied him and did a tour running the base medical bay, which had been somewhat boring with the only excitement coming a few weeks after they settled when she – to both her and Vince's surprise and delight – discovered she was pregnant with Bowie.
She shrugged off those memories and instead focused on what she was here to do. She nodded politely to the armoured STORM commando standing guard in the room before moving over to where the two human looking aliens lay asleep on neighbouring beds. If aliens are the correct term for them, she thought knowing from the bio-scans they'd run that both the male and female were as human as she was, with none of the subtle differences that separated Terrans from Zentraedi. The only non-human thing about each was the strange serpentine creature that was wrapped around each of their upper spinal cords, and which had numerous small tendrils extending up into the brain. From what they could tell each creature was absorbing oxygen and nutrients through its skin and was excreting a number of highly unusual proteins that seemed to strengthen the body and enhance regenerative abilities. It was also secreting tiny amounts of naquada though what purpose that served in the body was any bodies guest.
Jean had to admit that she found the relationship between the serpentine creature and the human host fascinating. If she was right, they were actually seeing the first evidence of a symbiotic relationship between two living, sentient beings, especially as neural scans had isolated two separate neural patterns in each being. Of course, it was also possible that – like something out of pre-arrival science fiction – the serpent creatures were simply controlling the body and doing what they would with it. Though she suspected if that was the case it would have been obvious on the neural scan.
Calmly she began checking the bio-readings on the two of them. Only for a soft groan to catch her attention she looked over to see that the male was stirring, making numerous small movements that indicated that he was about to wake up.
"One of them is waking up call the rest of the medical team," she ordered looking over at the commando.
"Yes doctor," the commando acknowledged and while he didn't move Jean knew he would be using his helmet radio to not only call the rest of the medical team but inform the station superintendent that they were waking up. Jean for her part moved over to the male, just in time to see a pair of pale blue almost grey eyes flicker open. The man blinked and began looking around, confusion and fear appearing instantly on his face.
"It's alright your safe here. You and your companion were hurt when your ship crashed, we recovered you and brought you back here with us when we left Linkotis," she said placatingly in the matronly way that only female doctors and nurses could fully encapsulate. She noted with relief that he was listening and actually seemed to understand as he visibly seemed to relax somewhat. "Can you tell me your name?"
"Martouf," the man replied, his voice dry and croaky from not having been used for a while.
"Here," Jean said picking up a pitcher and pouring him a glass of water and offering it to him. He took it eagerly and drunk deeply noting that the water was cold and tasted fresh though there was a slight metallic tang from whatever pipes it had been sent through.
"Thank you," Martouf answered giving the human woman, who had the matronly air of a healer he noticed, which meant that beneath that would be a tiger ready to rip you to shreds verbally if you did something she disapproved of. He looked around to see Freya lying on another bed nearby – he also noted that floating above what looked like equipment were holograms covered in alien script – and beyond her he could see walls made of a strange blue-grey metal that didn't look like any alloy he had ever seen before.
Jean followed his gaze. "Don't worry your friend will be fine," she said as more medical personnel arrived, "in fact all four of you are fine."
"Four," Martouf repeated confused, then he realized what she was referring to. "You've detected our symbiotes haven't you."
"Of course. You were thoroughly scanned for injuries when we brought you aboard."
"Oh, so that's what that was," Lantash said in Martouf's head. "I was dealing with the concussion you got from hitting the wall of the escape pod so hard during the crash – we really have to do something about that by the way as concussions are not fun or quick to deal with - when I felt something pass through us both."
"You could have warned me before I opened my eyes," Martouf complained.
"I could have yes."
Martouf silently grumbled to himself about snarky symbiotes withholding information that the host really needed to know. Preferably before they opened their eyes to find themselves lying on a medical bed, gods only knew where.
"I heard that."
"You we're meant to."
"Are you alright," Jean asked seeing that she no longer had Martouf's attention. Instead, he seemed to be looking inward in some way and the relay from the neural scanner showed a great deal of interactivity between the two neural patterns present in the body before her. They're talking to each other, she realized.
"I am fine I was just talking to Lantash," Martouf said reassuringly.
"Is that the name of your symbiote?"
"Yes," Martouf confirmed before sensing that Lantash wanted to speak. As was the etiquette for such things among the Tok'ra he looked down and felt the familiar, but nevertheless somewhat disconcerting, feeling of being gently pushed aside so to speak allowing Lantash to come to the fore. As soon as the changeover was complete Lantash looked up and Jean was startled when Martouf's eyes momentarily glowed from within as though there were lights behind them.
"Greetings I am Lantash," the symbiote replied, the deep oddly resonant voice of the symbiote startling everyone around. Lantash noticed and smiled reassuringly. "I can speak this way if you prefer," he said using Martouf's natural voice instead of his own.
"You can speak however you wish you just startled us that's all," Jean answered, "we have never encountered beings such as you before now."
"I suspected as much given the communication we monitored between the Goa'uld Solec and your Captain Serval before the battle over Linkotis," Lantash said, "now before we proceed would you mind telling us your name and where we are? You know about us after all."
"Well, I suppose that's fair. I am Doctor Jean Grant," Jean responded. "You're in one of the medical bays on board a robotech factory satellite in orbit of my home planet."
"Robotech? What is that?" Lantash asked puzzled having never heard that term in his life before, which was saying something when you considered that like most of the Tok'ra he was thousands of years old. He had seen and experienced a great deal in that time both in person and from the memories of his hosts, all of whom he remembered and to this day greatly missed.
"It's a long and complicated story and I don't have the clearance to explain it to you right now," Jean answered apologetically.
"It's alright doctor we understand," Martouf replied as Lantash let him take control again. Unless it was important Lantash was content to let him be the primary personality, unlike some other Tok'ra like Thorun who preferred to be the prime personality though of course they would let the host speak whenever they wished and wouldn't think of doing anything without the agreement of their host. They were after all still Tok'ra not Goa'uld.
"I am glad that you do," Jean answered a second before a strange pulsating alarm began to sound throughout the station, prompting her to look up in surprise as she recognised the alarm based on those that they had all been briefed on when they'd first been posted here.
"What's that," Martouf asked.
"It's a combat alert," Jean answered, "we're under attack."
Asgard Battlecruiser Skuld
That Same Time
The moment they emerged from hyperspace at the Zentraedi cruisers apparent destination Commander Audun knew things were a lot more complicated, and a great deal more serious, than he had ever thought they would be. Directly in front of his battlecruiser, floating at one of the gravitational balance points of the planet Earth what its natives called Lagranian points, was the imposing mass of a massive robotech factory satellite. A structure whose sheer size and complexity rivalled some of the space stations that the Ancients themselves had been able to build at the height of their power and was a true testament to both the technologically very advanced nature and sheer power of the Tirolian civilization.
The fact that one was here, was very worrying as it meant that in all probability the planet below had already been annexed by the Robotech Masters. Though what was an even bigger concern right now was the fleet of Zentraedi warships that their sensors could detect all around them, some were in orbit around the factory itself, more were hanging in orbit of the planet in defensive orbits while more – including one of their monstrous four-kilometre-long command ships – aggressively patrolled between the planet, the station and the airless rock that was Earth's moon.
According to the tactical computer there were nearly four hundred of them in total.
The Asgard crew felt a profound chill go down their spines at the sheer firepower that was arrayed here, and which would soon, certainly be turned against them. Audun, like his entire crew, knew that while the Skuld could take on and defeat two or three Zentraedi ships on her own they were no match for a force this size. If they attempted to challenge a force this size, they would be quickly overpowered and destroyed. They would have to leave quickly, and he would have to speak with both the High Council and Supreme Commander Thor about getting a fleet here before the Masters' foothold in this galaxy got any stronger, the developing sentient species of this galaxy had enough to worry about with the Goa'uld they did not need the Robotech Masters and their Zentraedi lapdogs as well. Not to mention where the Robotech Masters and the Zentraedi came eventually the Invid would follow.
"Transfer as much power as possible to the hyperdrive," Audun ordered even as warnings went off around the bridge warning that the Zentraedi were powering up their weapons systems and beginning to target them, "prepare for an immediate jump to hyperspace set course for home."
"Yes commander."
"Commander we are being hailed by the Zentraedi command ship," communications reported sounding surprised and confused. He wasn't the only one as Audun also blinked in confusion, communication from the Zentraedi that didn't involve an exchange of particle beams! This was new.
"Keep transferring power to the hyperdrive," he ordered after a moment of stunned surprise. "But don't jump into hyperspace yet. Open a channel to the Zentraedi command ship."
"Yes commander."
A holographic screen shimmered into existence and brought in an image of one of the most imposing and famous of all the Zentraedi commanders. The faceplate covering one side of the being's face, covering an old injury inflicted by the exotic plasma weaponry of the Invid, made his identity perfectly clear even before the alien spoke in a deep rumbling timbre – due in no small part to the sheer size of the being – that echoed slightly though without the odd resonance of a Goa'uld or Tok'ra voice.
"Asgard vessel I am Commander Breetai of the Free Zentraedi Forces," the giant humanoid said. His words making Audun blink before exchanging a surprised look with his first officer. Free Zentraedi Forces? What in Odin's name was going on here. "This planet and system are under our protection. Identify yourselves immediately and state your business for being here. If you do not, we will assume your intentions are hostile and respond accordingly."
"Commander Breetai I am Commander Audun of the Skuld. There is no need for threats we mean you and this planet no harm."
"Given the last few times our species have encountered one another you have meant us harm you will forgive me if I am hesitant to believe you, Commander Audun," Breetai replied. Audun gave a subtle Asgardian wince at that; it was true that the last few times Asgard and Zentraedi had met it had not been a pleasant meeting for either of them. Indeed both of them had inflicted heavy losses upon one another – the sheer size of the Zentraedi warships and their thick, advanced armour allowing them to soak up ion cannon bolts that would have destroyed a Goa'uld ship in a few seconds meaning it took far longer than the Asgard were used to for their ships to destroy a Zentraedi vessel, all the while even the watered down versions of Tirolian weapons given to the Zentraedi by the Robotech Masters would be steadily ripping away the shields of even their strongest warships – which had left a very sour taste in the mouth of both their species as neither of them was used to losing battles.
"However, as our Terran friends and allies would say I will give you the benefit of the doubt," Breetai continued, "so I will ask you again Commander Audun why are you here?"
"We were concerned," Audun admitted. "We investigated a large explosion in orbit of the planet Linkotis and found debris consistent with a number of Goa'uld vessels and an energy residue consistent with Zentraedi weapons. We also detected a fold vector leading out of the system."
"And that led you here."
"Indeed. We were concerned that the Robotech Masters were attempting to establish a foothold in this galaxy and your presence here shows we were correct."
"My people and I no longer serve the Robotech Masters," Breetai answered in a tone that communicated that neither he nor those under his command served the Tirolians any longer and if he had his way they never would again. "We serve nobody but our own future. A future that thanks to the Terrans we are increasingly learning to build for ourselves. The cost to them of freeing us was high as our former supreme leader Dolza attempted to exterminate both them and us, but they survived and together we defeated Dolza and his fleet."
"They sound impressive. I would like to speak with them."
"I believe that can be arranged. I will speak with them though it will be their decision if they speak with you or not."
"I understand."
"Good remain at your present coordinates I will be back in touch with you shortly. Breetai out."
The holographic screen shimmered out of existence as the Zentraedi closed down the communications link from their side. Silence reigned on the bridge of the Asgard cruiser for several seconds, the entire bridge crew somewhat stunned by what they had just learned. Somehow the people of this planet had fundamentally altered the intergalactic balance of power by somehow breaking the chains of servitude that had bound the Zentraedi to the Tirolians from their earliest beginnings as miners on the giant planet Fantoma. Then the sensors chirped slightly.
"Commander the Zentraedi ships are powering down their weapons systems," the officer manning that console reported, causing a ripple of surprise around the bridge. "All gun and missile ports are closing and targeting systems also powering down. All Zentraedi fighters and battle mecha are resuming previous patrol pattern."
"They really have changed," Briar commented, knowing in the past that the Zentraedi would never have behaved in such a fashion around them. Nor would they have talked to them with anything other than charged particle beams.
"Indeed, whatever has happened here it has fundamentally changed the intergalactic balance of power," Audun agreed. "Communications contact the High Council. Advise them of our current situation, include a copy of the conversation with Commander Breetai, and request instructions."
"Yes commander."
Authors Note: Well, another chapter bites the metaphorical dust. I hope you all enjoyed it. If the Asgard and the Zentraedi appeared quite belligerent to one another it is because the two species have a complicated and very bloody history. They have faced each other in combat many times across a number of different galaxies where the Robotech Masters have, or had, influence and neither has particularly enjoyed the experience as while Asgard warships are more powerful one on one the Zentraedi weapons are nothing to sneer at power wise and in superior numbers are fully capable of overpowering and destroying an Asgard vessel. Needless to say, neither species has a very good feelings for the other though that might begin to change soon. Well, that's all for now, until next time.