The crowd of people, well over three-fourths of them still going through puberty, gathered on a lawn. Behind them were some ordinary-looking buildings. These buildings will be where these new cadets will eat, sleep, and learn to become officers in the services of the United Earth Forces. It would be the start of a four year metamorphosis for them. Their daily routine would be very different, very structured, under the daily control of cadets not much older than they were.
This was only a provisional campus, as the formal campus was on Planet Earth, currently occupied by a hostile alien power known as the Invid Regency.
Among these new cadets was Maia Aurora Sterling, appearing to be a girl wearing a sleeveless blouse and skirt. Her parents, Max and Miriya Sterling, looked at her on this warm day.
This was the start of a journey.
"Take care," said Max.
"Do your best," said Miriya.
"I better get going," said Maia, before heading in the other direction, a direction that would drastically change the teen's lifestyle.
Max and Miriya felt that Dana and Steve should be here, to see their little sister begin her journey towards becoming an officer in humanity's military.
Ooooooooo
The auxiliary hyperspace fold drive typically has an engineering officer and several engineer's mates attending to it, looking at the consoles or at the tall cylindrical device itself. But that is during normal operations.
At this time, with the whole place depressurized, only three people, sealed up in spacesuits, their feet sticking to the deck via electromagnets, walk through. The only illumination is from the headlamps mounted on the helmets of the spacesuits. Some corpses of crewmen move about, bouncing off the bulkheads.
Dr. Emil Lang connects his Apple HyperMac Portable laptop to one of the consoles. The console's screens provide the stati of the various systems and parts of the drive.
He looks at the laptop screen. He had spent well over a week working on a program. There are so many things that could go wrong, from the rest of the United Earth Forces not existing, to their subatomic particles scattering over tens of thousands of light years.
"You ready?" asks Miriya Parino Sterling.
"Yes," replies the robotechnologist.
Inside the bridge, Captain Rodrigo Ramirez sits in his leather chair. Every console is manned. A holographic display of the auxiliary fold drive's systems appears before him.
"Looks like Dr. Lang is ready," says Lieutenant Ernest Johnson.
"Understood," the captain says to the big green man wearing a stiff-collared outer coat over service khakis. He presses a button. "All hands to your stations."
Lang looks at his lap[top computer screen.
And presses the Enter button on the keyboard.
He feels vibrations.
And then the edges of everything in the chamber looks blurry.
Captain Ramirez and the others on the bridge notice this too.
And so do Admiral Rick Hunter, Colonel Dana Sterling, and the rest of his command staff.
This is the hyperspace transition effect.
"Ze vield's oscillating," says Dr. Lang.
"So a signal should go out," says Admiral Hunter. "How long will it take to at least reach allied space?"
"Vell, it could be one to twelve hours by my estimates."
No one mentions the possibility that the space that had been controlled by the United Nations and its Sentinels allies may no longer be under their control.
Miriya focuses, as does Command Sergeant Major Walera Gashtar. Lang focuses on his laptop screen. "Ve need to broadcast as long as ve can," he says.
Tension fills the officers, crew, and Space Marines aboard.
The double vision effect looks just like that of a hyperspace fold.
Even as Miriya looks at the auxiliary fold drive, she listens in for any communication from the bridge that the Expeditionary Fleet or the Sentinels allies sent help.
She and everyone else keep waiting.
The fold field oscillates.
The monotony is broken when Lang sees a warning notice on the HyperMac Portable's screen.
"Ve have to stop it," says the robotechnologist. He does not need to tell anyone that they would either be torn apart or crushed together. He presses buttons on the keyboard and the trackpad.
Everything seems blurry.
And then sparks fly from the auxiliary fold drive, followed by smoke coming out from the vents.
Lang looks at the fold drive's console.
It is dark.
It is dead.
"Lang to bridge," he says. "Ze oscillation stopped. Zis vessel can no longer vold through hyperspace under its own power."
"I understand," says Captain Ramirez. "All we can do is wait for our allies to get to us."
Lang looks at Miriya and Gashtar. "No point in us staying here," he says.
"I'll take point," says Gashtar.
He walks along the deck, leading Miriya and Lang through corridors to an airlock. They then all walk along the outer hull, making sure their magnetic boots maintain grip
"do you feel that?" asks Lang.
"What?" asks Miriya.
Then there is a flash of light.
A giant vessel appears, over two and a half thousand meters long. Its design leaves no doubt.
That is a United Nations Spacy vessel- a colonization ship.
Miriya, Lang, and Gashtar all smile.
There are more flashes, as more vessels defold out of hyperspace. Most are of the Terran diaspora, and there are a few vessels from their Sentinels allies.
"We're going home," says Miriya. "I'll get to see by grandkids."
"Ve'd better keep going to ze airlock," says Lang.
"Mom, can you hear me? "It's me, Dana."
"We're on our way back," says Miriya.
"Ark Angel's gonna fold us back to allied space," says the Army colonel.
And then there are more flashes.
The vessels that appear are of no design any of these three were familiar with.
"We have trouble," says Command Sergeant Major Gashtar.
"All hands, battle stations!" yells Captain Ramirez. "Knight Squadron, move out now!"
In the flight deck, a Stonewell Bellcom VFA-6 alpha veritech fighter is prepared, olive drab in color. Lieutenant Colonel Minori Seto of the United Nations Space Marines sits in the cockpit, checking all instruments.
"I have a green board," she says. "Knight Leader, ready for takeoff."
"You are clear," says the air boss.
She pushes a throttle, and her veritech launches out of the Pioneer. She looks at the enemy vessels, recognizing them from still images she had seen in briefings. The veritech pilot already sees lasers and missiles being exchanged between their allies and the enemy feet.
"We protect our ship," says Knight Leader.
Several smaller craft approach the crippled battle fortress. Seto locks on multiple targets and fires missiles. At least two of the enemy craft are destroyed, scattering debris in every direction.
Ooooooooo
Inside the flight deck of the Ark Angel, the Alphas and Stonewell Bellcom VFB-8 Beta veritechs are ready. The pilots, all wearing CVR-03 armor, get inside.
Among them is a lieutenant named Ian Cromwell. Climbing into the cockpit of his assigned veritech, he glances to his right, seeing his wingman, Lieutenant Marcus Rush.
"Skull Leader is ready to go," they hear their commanding officer, Lieutenant Commander Maia Sterling, says.
"Skull leader, you are clear," says the Ark Angel's air boss.
Cromwell glances at his left hand. Underneath the glove is a cybernetic hand, connected to a cybernetic arm. The Invid had mangled the left side of his body as a result of that failed attempt to retake Earth two years before. It took him long to recover and to be able to take flight.
And now there is a new enemy.
"Skull Six moving out!" exclaims Lieutenant Cromwell as he pushes the throttle and launches his Alpha out of the flight deck.
"Skull Seven moving out!" exclaims Lieutenant Rush as he too pushes the throttle, which pushes back exhaust, which pushes the veritech out into the vacuum of space.
"All right team," says Commander Sterling, "our target is in the eleven o'clock position."
Soon, Skull Squadron engages the mystery enemy fighters."
ooooooo
Admiral Hunter is once again commanding a fleet after all these weeks isolated from the Expeditionary Fleet and the rest of the United Earth Forces. Colonel Dana Sterling looks at the screen at a console in the fleet command center.
She briefly feels that Skull Leader sounds familiar before focusing on helping the admiral coordinate the defense of the Pioneer.
They watch as the colony ship gets closer, with orders to fold them to a safe space.
Dana and the others hear chatter.
"Knight Ten is down!"
"The Pegasus has taken heavy damage!"
"Fire guns at nine o'clock!"
"Ark Angel is taking heavy fire!"
Miriya sees a bright beam strike the hull of the Pioneer just a few dozen meters ahead of her.
"That was too close," she says.
None of the three walking along the hull need to say that they are too exposed out here. A single piece of shrapnel can pierce their suits, causing them to lose their own atmospheres.
Suddenly, they shake, and then Miriya sees the Pioneer moving away from her.
She sees Command Sergeant Major Gashtar near her.
She sees his feet not gripped to the hull of the robotech battle fortress.
She moves her legs and notes that she is not gripped either.
They are moving through a battlespace, with missiles and laser beams and explosions all around.