Area 51, United States, Earth
0800 HOURS, 3 May 2017
General Hammond did not like surprises. Although the completion of the starship loading in five hours – three hours under the minimum – was a pleasant one he would not readily admit to, a report by the Cheyenne Mountain Space Tracking System that the Horde fleet was already on station at the edge of the solar system when it was supposed to still be several lightyears away did not brighten the general's day. After a brief consultation with the President, General Hammond was given the green light to begin the operation despite the concerns about the group being ill prepared for what lay ahead.
General Hammond had little doubt his people will pull together once ballet was joined with the Horde. The hardest part would be in locating the six suits of power armor. They would have surprise on their side at that point. After that things would get a lot harder. They would be one ship alone far from home. Their only real hope of challenging the Horde lay in raising an alliance from among the subjugated worlds. But how could they do that? Hammond shook off the dire thoughts and concentrated on the immediate problem, launching the starship and slipping past the Horde fleet.
With the starship already prepped for launching, it took only a few hours for the ground crews to finalize the system checks. All the primary systems were complete. Several of the subsystems still required. They were nothing that would prevent a launch, however, and the crew could complete the work in-flight.
Captain Majourny and crew awaited the arrival of Colonel Markson and the six Guardians in the immense underground hangar. They were gathered at the boarding ramp just behind the bridge. Massive six-inch thick steel doors rolled back as Colonel Markson and his unit entered the bay. The sight of the starship was old to them after all the time spent loading and prepping for the launch, but still held a few in awe. All were dressing in olive green uniforms and black web vests. Newly commissioned patches adorned both shoulders. Their uniforms were similar to that of Captain Majourny's crew save they didn't wear the web vests and their uniforms were blue. Bright patches also adorned their shoulders.
Last to enter were the six who would utilize the Guardian armor. This was their first time seeing the starship in its entire splendor. Even the Sorceress had to pause and stare. While the design was familiar to her and she had seen many stages of the reconstruction, it still was different than she remembered. All the uniforms for the group were of identical cut, but different colors: blue for the starship crews, green for the combat units and black jumpsuits with gray under the arms and across the chest and back for the Guardians.
"Now that is a big ship," Jake replied, stating the obvious.
Brad Johnson rubbed the patch on his right shoulder. "Thank you for stating the obvious once again, Jake. I still think they stole the idea from that Japanese series."
What he referred to was the name for the unit as a whole: Guardian Force, G-Force for short. Adrian and Brad were both Japanime (Japanese Anime) nuts. As such, both were familiar with an old series called Battle of the Planets. The five-member team in that series was also called G-Force. General Hammond assured them the series had no bearing on the name. It was just a coincidence and should be accepted as such. Adrian and Brad remained unconvinced, but made no further comment about the matter. The patches did look nice and flashy, the intent being to give them a sense of unity and identity. Once the six suits were given names, the patches on the right shoulder would be altered to reflect this along with an accurate silhouette of the suit.
"I thought you promised the general not to mention it again," Sonya replied.
"In his presence, yes," Brad answered absently.
"Well, here he comes to see us off."
Indeed, General Hammond approached from a personnel door on the opposite side of the hangar. He, like the majority of the ground crew, wore the simple green uniform identical to Colonel Markson's unit complete with the Guardian Force patch on the left shoulder. "Ladies and gentlemen," the general began when everyone gathered close enough to hear him. "Today you embark on a journey that will hopefully reshape the face of the galaxy and change the course of history. The hopes and prayers of everyone involved in this project, and indeed the world, go with you." General Hammond met the gaze of each and every person from starship crewmember, to Combined Forces member, to each Guardian. "Good luck."
"And may fortune favor the bold," Captain Majourny added as General Hammond moved among the crowd to shake the hand of every man and woman.
The six Guardians were the last ones for General Hammond to shake hands with. "If I were a younger man I would have fought to go with you. I guess I'll just have to settle for hearing about it after the fact."
"Do you really believe we'll make a difference out there?" Sonya Boradni asked.
"If I didn't, I wouldn't have stayed with the program. Do you feel we can make a difference out there?"
Sonya hesitated a moment before answering. "I'll know better after we find the armor, if it really does exist."
"It does," Brad Johnson replied. His statement left little room for doubt. It was an ongoing argument between the two for the past month whether or not they were chasing a wild goose. Brad felt certain they weren't, but could not explain why he felt that way. Being a practical Russian that she is Sonya would only be convinced if and when they found the resting place of the six suits of power armor.
"You six have the most difficult job of all. You will be turning a myth into reality. No one will believe at first. It'll be up to you to rekindle the fires of hope. Good luck." General Hammond exited the hangar with the remaining ground crew with the quiet announcement to clear the hangar for launch.
"Well, he certainly doesn't pull any punches, does he," Jeromy commented idly.
"He does make a valid point," Sorceress interjected. "Thousands of worlds know only fear need a hero who knows none."
"What they are getting are six," Jake added. No one disputed that.
A crewman trotted down the forward boarding ramp. "Captain says to get your…selves…aboard. She says you'll have plenty of opportunities to admire she ship later."
"And I thought Colonel Markson was anxious to get on with this," Jake sighed, cracking a smile as they followed the crewman up the ramp.
Sol System, Coreward Rim
Horde Advance Fleet
0815 HOURS, 3 May 2017
General Rongar received the reports from their spies on earth as they came in. Most held little information of any real value to the advance fleet. One report, however, did catch his eye. It was a short message no more than a few sentences, but what those sentences read spoke volumes.
STARSHIP LAUNCH IMMINENT. STRIKE FORCE ABOARD. PURPOSE AND DESTINATION UNKNOWN.
So the humans had a starship after all. Their most closely guarded secret had finally been discovered. Whether or not they knew how to use it would soon be discovered. Rongar stood before the holotable as the globe formed again.
"My Lord, news from Earth. The humans are preparing to launch a starship they had hidden for some time. What do you wish me to do about it?"
"Track it. Once it leaves the system capture it and interrogate the crew. Discover their destination and purpose. These two I must know. Do not fail me in this. Much is at stake." The globe of purple swirling mists faded, as the communication was broken.
A restless Catra appeared on the bridge as Rongar ordered up a scout team. He explained the message from the spy that prompted the action they now took.
"Rrrrrreeeeoooooowwwwww. Let me take command of the scout team. I am going crrrrazy with inactivity," the feral woman all but pleaded.
Thought it went against his better judgment, Rongar reluctantly agreed. Having her stalking the corridors of another ship would at least give his robot crew a rest from hiding from her prowling. And she might come in handy when the time came to capture the human starship. Before sending the woman on her way, Rongar made is orders very explicit: Locate the human starship as it left their world. Track it from a safe distance to the rim of the solar system where the rest of the fleet would lie in wait to capture it.
Rongar watched from the forward observation ports as Catra's small force of four destroyers broke formation and drove into the system. Their red sub-light drives burned brightly in local space, but was soon gobbled up be the eternal night of space. Events were now in motion. How they would develop even a seer could not see. Humans were unpredictable. That was their only predictable feature.
Starship Eternia
Area 51, United States, Earth
0830 HOURS, 3 May 2017
The bridge of the Starship Eternia was a scene of controlled chaos. Conner 'Ace' McCloud sat at the forward left station; the Helm. Captain Majourny sat in the Captain's chair centered in all the chaos, the eye of the storm as it were. All stations reported in on their status to her as stations throughout the ship reported their status to the bridge officers. So far everything looked 'go' for launch.
The actual atmospheric flight-testing was originally scheduled to begin in a couple months with space trials a year after that. They would be cutting through all that in a matter of minutes. They might even get into their first space battle before the day was out. Ace was the only one looking forward to that. He itched to put the ship through her paces and see if she could perform even half as well as it looked on paper.
Jo-jo looked up through the transparent etherium canopy. The closed hangar doors with their network of braces and supports were only thirty meters higher than the highest part of the ship, which was centered along the spine were the retracted quad-laser gun was mounted. Soon she would watch the clear-blue sky give way to the inky star-filled night of space. A grand adventure was about to begin. While she welcomed the unknown, uncertainty tried to creep in over what might happen. All those things that were beyond your control, worry constantly and uselessly about, and tried to plan for in advance.
Ace McCloud interrupted her wandering thoughts. "All stations show ready for launch. Combined Forces unit and Guardians settled in for launch."
Captain Majourny touched a control on the panel stand at her left side. "Hangar Control this is the Starship Eternia prepared to depart."
A brief pause was followed by the hangar controller's voice. "Eternia, you are cleared to depart. Opening hangar doors."
At the same moment, the bridge vibrated from the deep rumble as a crack of blue appeared overhead that steadily widened into clear, sunny skies. The massive doors were the same dimensions as the floor of the underground chamber so the entire hangar filled with bright light once fully open.
"Full power available," the engineer on bridge duty reported.
"Bring thrusters on-line," Captain Majourny ordered. "Prepare for vertical ascent."
"Vertical ascent, aye," McCloud echoed. "Thrusters standing by."
"Main engines ignite."
Ace touched three switches while the captain watched a small status display on the left-hand panel. A diagram of the Eternia as viewed from above was shown with the bow pointing up. The engine outlines at the bottom light up one by one. The engines were numbered same as any earth aircraft; left to right viewed from the aft facing forward. Number 1 and 3 engines were housed in the long cylinders running the length of the primary hull along with the hyper drive engines. Number 2 took up the aft quarter of the primary hull. All silhouettes were illuminated in green once powered up.
The vibrations in the deck were reassuring. It was as if the ship was coming to life. "Inertia dampers and gravity plating," the captain ordered.
Ace touched another switch. "Activated."
"Phasers."
Ace grinned. "Sorry, captain. No such thing. Yet."
"I guess that means they haven't figured out the quantum torpedoes yet, either," Captain Majourny sighed to hide her smile. They were both 'Trekkies' and often joked about what the ship should really have in the way of armament and other systems.
"I hear they may not get the transporters functional until 2025," Ace added sounding so serious the young ensign manning the navigation console next to him looked alarmed. "Relax, kid. We're just joking. They don't have any such things." I have a feeling we may wish we did, he thought.
"Mister McCloud. Take us up to positive one hundred feet," the captain ordered, glancing over the left and right-hand status boards one last time.
"Positive one hundred feet, aye," Ace responded all business. His hands worked the controls as if he'd been doing so every day. In fact, he had been familiarizing himself with the control systems ever since winning the helmsman's job a couple months back.
Vertical thrusters gradually increased their output slowly lifting the great starship of the hangar floor. The silver inner piston of the four landing gear struts extended until they bottomed out and, still, the starship continued to rise. Ace eased the vessel up into the morning sun, the first time it has seen the sun since being brought down from the moon under cover of darkness two years ago. Once cleared of the hangar plus twenty feet, Ace raised the landing gear, and continued to apply vertical thrust until he reached one hundred feet.
"One hundred feet, captain. Holding steady."
Jo-jo couldn't help but be amazed at how smoothly the ship responded on command. The sound suppression was better than she had expected. Now that all systems were functioning, she could barely tell the engines and thrusters were in operation. Hell, if she hadn't been watching through the transparent etherium canopy, she could not have told someone they were moving. "Very well, Ace. Engage main engines. Fifty percent thrust." She turned to the navigator. "Mister Comorov, take us out of earth's gravity well into open space hiding behind the moon as much as possible." As the navigator acknowledged the order and bent to his task, Jo-jo knew hiding was probably pointless. If Horde sensors were half as good as the Eternia's they would be detected as soon as they reached the upper atmosphere where the air transitioned to airless void.
"Course laid in, captain," Ensign Comorov replied.
"Very well. Ace, take us up."
"Yes, ma'am."
General Hammond watched with hundreds of others below as the Starship Eternia fired her main engines, tilted her nose up thirty degrees, and rocketed off toward space. Once more, he wished them all a silent 'Good Luck and God Speed.'
Sol System, Outside Mars Orbit
Horde Scout Team
0900 HOURS, 3 May 2017
Four ungainly vessels pained a sickening two-tone dark green hung motionless in the inky void between the orbit of the fourth planet the Humans called Mars, and the asteroid belt. From their current location in relation to the Earth's position in its orbit, the Horde ships had a clear line-of-sight with their sensors to see the Starship Eternia as she burned for open space between Earth and its moon. As soon as the ship lifted from the underground hangar Horde sensors lit up from detecting the power system not native to the planet.
Catra watched the sensor data scroll across the weapons station monitor. This has to be what Rongar is looking for. "Open a channel to the flagship. Inform General Rongar the Humans are launching a starship."
The general's face appeared on the communications panel a few moments later. "Excellent, Catra. Keep that ship in sight. If they start to leave the system, guide us to an intercept point. Under no circumstances are you to attempt capturing it without support."
"Rrrreeeeooowww. You make it sound like I can't handle one ship," Catra retorted hotly.
"We don't know what that ship is capable of. For all we know that ship could have the firepower to take out ever ship in your force with one shot per vessel." Rongar's stern visage turned more so, if that were truly possible. "You have your orders, Catra. Now carry them out." The image disappeared before Catra could reply.