The Discovery of Zi
"Sir?" Captain Ryan Herman snapped out of his daydream as his first officer Commander Rudolf Zenebas put his hand on Herman's shoulder. "Captain, sir. We're in stationary orbit over the planet." Outside the massive window in the center of the bridge of the Terran Empire colony ship Helic, was a relatively small, Earth-like planet.
"Sorry, Rudolf. What do we have on this planet?" Asked Herman.
"Not a lot, sir. If it wasn't for the strong particle and radiation emissions coming from the planet, we wouldn't have detected it. The planet seems to be 1/4 the size of Earth, has two moons, breathable atmosphere, and Earth standard gravity. The planet is safe to land on, despite the radiation, as it seems to have faded after thousands of years. The colonized, intelligent alien life had yet to be discovered. Not even ruins of such a civilization. The blue-green planet below him might just change everything. "Commander, set a course for the planet. We're going down there."
"Sir? You know what protocol dictates-"
"I know very well what the protocol says! Set a course for the planet!"
"Yes, sir," said Rudolf, as he turned and shouted orders of his own on the COM. Herman shifted with anticipation. They were about to make the discovery of a lifetime.
Two hours later, the Helic had touched down on the planet, which the discovery team was calling Zi. Herman looked around, and was not very impressed. It looked like a smaller version of Earth, with nothing else but trees, birds and—
"Sir! Look!" shouted Zenebas. Herman looked in front of him and gasped. A large, wolf shaped object dominated the view. It looked like stone, and was so massive; he didn't notice it at first. Battle scarring lined the sides of the massive stone object. It almost looked like it could—
"Sir! Watch out!" And the object sprung to life, no longer looking like stone. It leapt at the humans. Herman and Zenebas jumped aside of its large foot, while the four other men accompanying them raised their beam rifles and fired at the object. It swept out with its claw, and slashed them into a bloody pulp with one swipe.
"Come on! We got to get the hell out of here!" Yelled Zenebas, and him and Herman ran away, back to the Helic. The object chased after them.
Herman raised his communicator and shouted into it: "Herman to Helic we got something heading towards us, we need covering fire."
"Acknowledged, sir." Came the monotone response. The main guns of the Helic armed, raised and fired at the object. They connected and armor exploded off it, and it shouted a devilish howl. Herman, panting with his hands on his knees spoke. "What do you think that was, Commander?"
"I have no earthly idea, sir. But I think we should inform Earth Command about these…these…Zoids, sir."
"I agree, Rudolf. I agree."
-
After a detailed transmission was sent back to Earth, Herman, Zenebas, and a group of heavily armed men left the Helic. The made detailed reports about the features of the planet, and had not encountered any other Zoids until…
"Sir, look up ahead. Looks like some ruins," said Rudolf, pointing. Herman put his macrobinoculars that had been hanging around his neck to his eyes.
"Looks like it, Rudolf. Care to take a look?"
"Gladly, sir."
-
After a short hike, the group arrived at the entrance of the ruins. A large, weathered arch, about fifty meters in height dominated the view above them. Massive pillars reached to the sky on their sides, and brown bricks paved the ground. Ancient inscriptions in languages long forgotten loitered the walls. A long hallway snaked out in front of them, with many others branching off.
"Alright," said Herman. "I'll take one person with me, and we'll break off into pairs and explore this place. Keep in constant contact, and if there is trouble…well, you know what to do." The men nodded, broke off into pairs, and wondered away. Zenebas decided to go with Herman, and they took the central hallway of the ruins.
More large statues dominated the sides that lead up to a pair of incredibly large replicas of what appeared to be T-Rexes. A portrait was in between the two statues, hanging in the middle of a wall 100 meters in height. Another grand hallway was past this, which led to stairs descending downward. Zenebas and Herman walked down the corridor, and more inscriptions were written on the walls.
As they walked down the stairs, they arrived into a room that seemed to be miles long. At the middle of this room was the same object that the statues and portraits displayed outside of the room. The object was inside a huge cement block, with its mouth open, and claws ready to strike.
It had a name. A name that was long forgotten by those who built it eons ago, and those centuries from now would remember for all time. The Death Saurer.
But Herman and Zenebas did not know what this was, what it could do, or how many had died at its claws. The Command Wolf they encountered earlier was nothing compared to what this monstrosity could do to them. But they did not know. And so they ignorantly moved onward.
"Wow! Look at that thing, sir! It looks very powerful!" said an excited Zenebas.
"There were an awful lot of inscriptions on the walls to get here. Remember what we detected before we got here? Radiation levels that was so high, that they only have until the last few thousand years died down. That might seem nothing to you, but that's pretty big in actuality. We haven't seen any sign of this things creators, and knowing the way history is, I bet this thing killed them all. This thing is dangerous, Rudolf."
Zenebas scoffed. "Well, whatever it is, it's ours now. This thing is light-years ahead of our technology, we could become the most powerful force in the Universe!"
Herman shook his head. "Rudolf, men have risen to power and died by saying those exact words. What your talking about is evil. Pure evil."
Zenebas turned to Herman. "Oh I see. You want it for yourself, but you can't have it! It's mine I tell you! Mine!"
"Well Mister Mine, how do you plan on getting that thing out?" asked Herman.
And as he finished those words, the ground shook, and rocks fell from the ceiling. The walls collapsed, and thousands of Zoids arranged in neat rows that went on for miles on each side appeared.
"With those."
"Your crazy, Rudolf."
"I know, sir."
"Dammit man! You're signing your own death warrant! How do you even know those will obey you?"
And as he said that, one of the Zoids marched near each man, and their cockpits opened up.
"You were saying, sir?" Herman simply said nothing, and climbed into the cockpit of the nearest Zoid, which was a Command Wolf, and Rudolf climbed into a Dark Horn. The other Zoids moved out of the way, and cleared the room, so that the two men could fight without interference. The fate of Zi depended on this battle.
The cockpit's closed and sealed, and Herman and Rudolf had strapped themselves into the Zoids. It took only a few minutes for Herman to learn the controls; they were just like the fighter that he piloted back at the academy.
Herman mulled over the situation. Rudolf was acting…Weird, a little weirder than he normally did. Herman stopped and thought; he himself was acting a little strange lately. It must be that big black Zoid, the Death Saurer. Herman shrugged. The time for battle was NOW!
The Command Wolf roared at the Dark Horn, and charged the triceratops Zoid. It roared in return, and fired bursts from its massive gatling gun on it are back at the Command Wolf. It jumped quickly to the right, and jumped high into the air, and fired two shoots from its cannon, and dove right for the Dark Horn. The Command Wolf's claws penetrated the armor of the Dark Horn's right leg. The Dark Horn staggered.
"It's not over!" shouted Rudolf. He fired everything he had at the Command Wolf, which tried to dodge the massive onslaught of weaponry. It failed. Half the rounds made their mark, and the Command Wolf cried out, and collapsed, but it fired some final shoots at the Dark Horn, which hit their mark, and the Zoid collapsed. The cockpits of both Zoid are exploded off, and the two men jumped out of their cockpits, and charged at one another.
Kick. Punch. Crack. Rudolf took a blow to the head, and Herman, to the crouch. The two men staggered, and drew their pistols. Herman was the faster one of the two, and drew his pistol first. Herman grinned. "Game over, Rudolf."
Zenebas returned the grin. "I don't think so." And so the Terran troops marched over to the two men, and pointed their SMGs at –surprisingly– Herman.
"Stop! Do you people see that thing? Don't you sense the evil it possesses? The raw power it has corrupts, and haven't you noticed us ALL acting differently?" asked Herman, panting. Some of the troops lowered their SMGs, and looked at one another, the others kept their aim.
"If you value freedom, and realize the danger this thing possesses, come with me, and we'll stop any who tries to take possession of this monster! Or, you can go with him, and fight or evil, fight under an emperor, one who will do anything to take over the world!" Herman didn't know if any of this was true, he just had inferences, and right now, they sounded right to say. Herman lowered his gun. "Since you're my friend, I'm going to spare you this once, but the next time we meet, your dead." And Herman left a surprised Rudolf, and left with his escort of Marines.
They arrived back at the Helic, and informed Earth that the planet wasn't safe for colonization, and set charges to the ship's translight communicator. No one can have the power that this thing possesses. While the ships contingent of crew was small, and few females were on board, they would have to set up two separate empires, one that fought for the power of the Death Saurer, the other to stop the other from getting it. Now one must wonder why they just didn't take the Death Saurer, or destroy it, and the answer was that the Zoids defending it would not allow anyone to take or destroy the ancient weapon of death, because while they valued their existence, they worshipped the strong.
The next war, and who would win, would decide the fate of the planet, and the Universe. Two separate countries were established, one on one continent, the other on another. They were the Zenebas Empire, named for their first Emperor, Rudolf Zenebas, and the Helic Republic, named after the ship that brought them to Zi, respectively. One forth of the Zoids defending the Death Saurer joined the Empire, and the other forth, the Republic, while over half stayed to guard the ancient beast of death.
Shortly after their founding, a small colony of ancient Zoidians was discovered on Zi, and the two countries after a quick war of conquest, absorbed them. Over the coming centuries, the Zenebas Empire would collapse, and become the Guylos Empire, while the Republic remained unchanged in the course of war.
After centuries of fighting, both sides have forgotten what the war was really fought for, and now fight for the preservation of their two nations, and to show which government is supreme.
As for Earth? The Human empire continued to expand, but never, never reached Zi, and so planet Zi was left alone by the rest of Humanity; forever to fight in their never ending struggle of power.
And this is the legacy of Zi.