Hello once again, nice to see you. Previously on…Invasion! A fleet of unknown invaders calling themselves the 'Aristian Empire' enters the system and begins a systematic conquest, within just half an hour reach Gamindustri itself. Goddesses stand in defense of their nations, only to be beaten by the Imperial Knights. With the goddesses beaten and the military higher ups gone, the whole system fell within just a single day. Goddesses were then put in cryostasis, so the Empire could deal with them later.

But first, reviews.

To end5: Ah, thank you, as always.

Alright, now let's continue with the story.

Chapter 4

Date unknown

Time unknown

Imperial prison ship Alcellay

She felt as if she was levitating. She was in a silent delirium and the only thing she could see was darkness. She didn't know where she was or when she was. The only thing she knew, was that it was cold. Chill was piercing her to her very bones. She felt weak and could not even feel her arms, legs or any other part of her body.

Then there was knocking.

She didn't know what caused it, but she had to find out. She didn't feel like it, but she did her best to open her eyelids, at least for a bit. For some reason, it felt tiring for her, but she knew, that she had to try harder. After all, it might have been something important.

Her eyes opened slightly. Through the transparent lid of her resting place, she could see someone looking inside. He had some kind of helmet on and was wearing something resembling a uniform. He then turned around.

"It's them!"came his muffled shout."We found them!"

He listened for a second.

"Understood!"he replied to someone."Stainless, open this tin can up!"

There was some rummaging on the outside. Not long after, some little light appeared next to her, on the inside. The light started moving next to her, then ti turned to her right, then after some time, it started going up. It turned again above her head, until it reached the place where it started and disappeared.

"Okay, lift up!"someone exclaimed.

Lid started moving and then, it started lifting up. When it did, her ears were hit by previously muffled cannonade.
"For the love of everything that's holy, hurry up!"someone shouted.

"They're coming, continue firing!"someone else exclaimed.
"Missile out!"another person shouted.

Sound of fired missile was heard and after a few seconds, her ears were reached by an explosion, but the exchange of fire didn't stop. Meanwhile, the lid was thrown aside with a 'thump'. After that, four pairs of arms grabbed her.
"Carefully! She's weak!"probably the team leader ordered.

Arms slowly lifted her up from her pod and carried to the side. Next, they slowly descended, putting her down on the ground. One of the men knelt next to her and turned on his flashlight.
"Is she fine, doc?"
"I can't see any kind of dangerous injuries."medic replied."Then again, she's a goddess."

"So, can we move her?"
"In my opinion, yes."

One of the men nodded and turned shouted:
"Everyone! Gather your stuff! We're leaving!"
"Yes, boss!"

Medic then looked at her face and saw that her eyes were open. Her mouth opened, trying to say something, but medic shook his head.
"Don't."he said."Rest for now."

He then stuck a syringe in her arm. Her eyelids immediately became heavy again. She only could feel her body being lifted up again, before her eyes fell shut.

"Welcome back…goddess Neptune."she heard one of the men say.

Then, she stopped hearing anything.

Unknown date

Unknown time

Unknown place

Neptune sat up on a bed with a gasp. After taking a few deep breaths, she shook her head. Memories flew back into her head, of being pulled out of some kind of pod, with men in uniforms and sounds of gunfire. She had no idea when did that happen or how, but somehow, she knew that it was true.

CPU started looking around the room. The walls, which certainly used to be white, were now covered in all kinds of dirt. There were numerous devices standing around, with numerous beds in rows. So it was probably some kind of medical facility.

She noticed something with the corner of her eye, to her right. She looked in that direction and saw three familiar faces laying on the beds next to her.

"Noire…? Blanc…? Vert…?"she mumbled.

Something crashed on the floor behind her. He head quickly turned in that direction. Standing there was a young woman, dressed in a red-black uniform common in various minding facilities. On her arm, she had a white band with red cross on it. And what crashed, was a tray of medicine that now laid at her feet.

There was an awkward silence for few seconds, before Neptune lifted her hand and waved weakly.

"Hello…?"she said uncertain.

Right then, the girl turned around and ran out of the room.
"Commander!"she shouted."One of them is awake!"

The shout caused the other three goddesses laying on the beds to stir and open their eyes. They also sat up.

"Neptune…?"Noire asked.
"What's going on…?"Vert asked.
"Where are we…?"Blanc asked.

Before Neptune could say something, the girl returned, but this time, she wasn't alone. She was accompanied by another woman. She had slanted, azure eyes, shoulder-length ginger hair and was wearing similar miner outfit. She also had a white-black jacket over her shoulders. Seeing the goddesses, she let out a sigh.

"Good to see you awake, goddesses."she said."You had a long sleep."
"Yeah…?"Neptune asked, scratching the back of her head."Really…?"
"Yes."woman replied."Don't worry, I know you might seem confused for the moment, but I will explain everything to you when the time comes.

"How about now?"Noire suggested.

The woman only shook her head.

"No, you need to regain your strength."she said."After that, Zaya here will lead you to my office. We will talk there."
"Of course, commander."Zaya replied.
"Good to see you in good condition."woman continued."Honestly, we were worried you will not wake up again. Since we brought you here five days ago, you didn't even do as much as flinch."

Goddesses looked at her, confused.
"Sorry, I got ahead of myself. As I said, I will explain everything later. Goodbye until then."

With that, the woman turned and left the medbay. Zaya then looked down at the tray she dropped.

"Eh, allow me to clean it up and I'm all yours."she said.
"No need to hurry."Vert said."We can wait."

"Of course."

Next, Zaya quickly took care of the mess she accidentally caused and for the next few hours, she was taking care of the newly awakened goddesses. Nobody else came by that time, but that didn't bother the CPUs much. They really had to get their strength back.

Finally, after around five hours, around 15:00, they decided that the time was right. After Zaya helped them in checking if they can actually stand up and walk by themselves, which they all could, as promised, she led them out of the room and to the commander's office.

Unknown date

15:13

Facility's corridors

As the five of them walked through the corridors, goddesses were able to take a better look at their surroundings. Just as the medbay, walls were covered in all kinds of dust and dirt, same with the ground. Numerous cables were hanging from the ceiling and lights were blinking. At one point, they were almost showered with sparks. There was also some equipment laying around, most covered in dust and spider webs.

"Wow, now that's some atmosphere."Neptune said."Reminds me of that game I played not so long ago…"
"What game?"Vert asked.
"I can't remember the title, but it was about some engineer guy on an aline infested ship…"

"Deceased Space?"
"Exactly! I was refreshing it in preparations for upcoming remake. But then, you know, that happened…"
"Yeah, my neck still hurts from my fight with that whole Knight."Noire said.
"I still can't believe we lost…"Blanc sighed.

"Everyone in the system couldn't."Zaya said."But that was long ago…"

CPUs risen eyebrows.
"How long ago?"Noire asked.
"I think it's better if you hear it from the commander."the medic stated."She will know the best way to get you up to date."

"If you say so."Neptune said, hands behind her neck."After all, there has to be some kind of exposition dump somewhere in every story. Even though people reading stories like this one rarely like them."

"What are you talking about? What story like this one?"Blanc asked, confused.

Planeptune's goddess simply shrugged.

They continued to walk through the corridors and this time, they were not alone. As they walked, more and more people started appearing. Most of them were wearing miner suits, while some, but smaller number, was dressed in military uniforms. There were also some with guns and tactical gear on, but these were even smaller in number. Goddesses decided to ask about that later.

Finally, they stood in front of the door leading into a room signed as 'Foreman's office'. However, the words were crossed and instead, written under, were the words 'Commander's office'.

"So I was right."Blanc said."This is a mining facility."

"How did you know?"Zaya asked.

"Some of the equipment we passed by on our way here looked like what you could find in a mine."Lowee's goddess explained.
"I guess so…"the medic said.

She knocked at the door.
"Yes?"familiar voice asked from the inside.
"It's me, Zaya."Zaya said."I brought the goddesses."
"Thank you. They can come in."

Zaya moved out of the way and nodded. Then, she left. Meanwhile, goddesses looked at each other, pressed the button to the side of the door and when it opened, they went inside. The room behind the door was as plain as possible. Only things present were a desk with a lamp on it and a seat behind it. There was also a bookshelf, but with no books on it.

Sitting behind the desk was the same woman that came to them in the medbay. She put down some papers and looked at them.

"Welcome to my little kingdom."she said."Take a seat."

She pointed at four chairs standing in front of the desk. CPUs approached them and sat down. Woman looked at the four of them. She cleared her throat.
"First of all, let me introduce myself."she said."Artisan, commander of this whole ordeal."

"We're pleased to meet you, miss Artisan."Vert said.
"Likewise."Artisan nodded."Now, if you want, you can ask me any question you want."

Noire was the first to ask:
"Alright then. First of all, we want you to tell us where we are?"

"Of course."

Artisan then proceeded to open a drawer and pulled out a piece of paper. She unrolled it and it turned out to be the map of the system. She put her finger on the very edge of the system.

"We're here."she said."Aboard an abandoned mining facility in the Outer Belt. It's probably the safest place we can be in right now."

"Alright, that's good to know."Neptune said.
"Next question."Vert said."What happened when we were gone?"

A darker shadow appeared on Artisan's face. She leaned back in her chair and sighed.
"You remember what happened back then, on that day, right?"she asked.

"Yes."Noire said."These invaders appeared and we tried to fight them. But then we…lost it."

"We know, the whole system was shocked by it."Artisan said.

"What happened after we were defeated?"Blanc asked.

"After you were defeated and taken by these whole 'Imperial Knights', their armies didn't waste time. They took over Gamindustri and the rest of the system within a single day."Artisan explained."This is why we call that event 'The One Day War'."
"Nep?!"surprised Neptune gasped."Just a single day?"
"Yes. Following the destruction of the ministries of defense and your defeat, the militaries were rid of their high commands. They tried to put up some resistance, but enemy had so much of an advantage in numbers, that they couldn't withstand their offensive. And as I said, by the end of the day, they war was over. Although I heard rumors, that there were some units that resisted much longer."

Goddesses tried to process what they were just told. It was hard for them to hear, that their system was so easily conquered. But well. Nobody expected this attack and with them gone, there was nobody who could effectively lead the armies to battle.

"And what after that?"Vert asked.
"Imperials immediately went to consolidate their power."Artisan continued."Previous politicians, governors and all people of wealth and power were rid of their positions and replaced by people loyal to the new government. What remained of our armed forces was disbanded and most of equipment scrapped. Media was filled with pro-Imperial propaganda. In short time, the whole system changed completely into something different."

She sighed again.
"Last few years were hard for everyone."

This sentence prompted Noire's attention.
"Wait…did you just say 'years'?"she asked.
"Yes."Artisan replied plainly.

Goddesses looked at each other.
"How long…were we asleep?"Vert asked.

"It's February 2, 2257. You've been asleep for nearly three years."

"WHAT?!"all CPUs exclaimed at the same time.

"Yes, I'm not joking. And for the past three years, the whole system was held in Keya's iron grip."
"And really nobody tried to resist them?"Blanc asked.
"Of course there were some attempts. But…"Artisan fell silent.

"But what?"Neptune asked.

"There is a reason why events such as Kongtown Massacre and Pacification of Marien will forever be remembered."

Goddesses shook. Especially Blanc. Kongtown was the capital of Nintendus, while Marien was one of the planet's moons. Both of them were Lowee's colonies. Hearing about your people being massacred without you there to protect them was not something nice for ears.

Artisan continued.

"Whenever some sings of upcoming unrest were detected, these four Imperial Knights were sent there to stop any kind of rebellion from occurring or spreading. And they never failed in their duty."

"Imperial Knights…"Noire said."They were the ones that beat us. They're still operating?"
"Of course. And not only militarily."
"What do you mean by that?"Vert asked.
In response, Artisan once more reached into her drawer and pulled out several pencils, all in different colors.
"According to our intel, Imperial Knights were appointed governors."she said."The one that fought Neptune, Hall-A, received all former Planeptune's colonies as a part of her dominion."

Saying that, she marked all Planeptune's colonies and former facilities in the system with gold circles.
"Tacoma got former Lastation's territories."

She marked them with orange marks.
"EVEa was appointed as a ruler of former Leanbox's colonies."

She marked them with gray marks.
"And Stellaria now rules almost everything that belonged to Lowee."

Teal colored marks appeared above all known holdings of Lowee. Goddesses looked at it in disbelief.

"They really have the nerve…"Blanc said, tightening her fist, but then she noticed something."What's with Nintendus?"

Everyone looked at the red planet. It wasn't marked with any of the four colors.
"Right…"Artisan scratched the back of her neck."You might not like this…"
"We're already not very into what we're seeing."Neptune said."To take someone's stuff like that!"

"But that certainly isn't gonna be nice to hear for you."Artisan took a deep breath."Arfoire is now in the same camp as the Imperials."

An awkward silence hung in the room. Although Artisan was well aware of what was coming. And when it came, she wasn't surprised.
"WHAT?!"CPUs exclaimed at the same time again.
"What I said."Artisan calmly explained."As it was expected, not everyone was against the new rule. Some actually accepted it. For example, the leader of robots decided to sign a cooperation pact with Keya. Some corporations and other businesses willingly joined them. And then, there was Arfoire, who reemerged after years of hiding. Apparently, she was able to recreate ASIC and due to some deal with the Imps, she now rules Nintendus in their name."
Saying that, she marked the planet with dark purple.

"That…that…"Blanc visibly started shaking. Suddenly, her eye flashed a dangerous red."THAT BITCH! I WILL RIP HER APART WHENEVER I PUT MY HANDS ON HER! SHE WILL FOREVER REGRET EVER TAKING NINTENDUS!"

"And allying herself with Imperials?"Artisan asked, completely unfazed by Blanc's explosion.
"YEAH, THAT TOO!"goddess replied.
"Blanc, calm down."Neptune said."We're trying to keep this whole thing PG. Even though there is a loot of bloodshed coming…"

Lowee's goddess looked at everyone and sat down, still shaking from anger.

"This is how current situation basically looks like."Artisan finished."Imperials still hold the system. They also keep watch over every possible communication method, so it's hard to contact any other part of the system. There is also another interesting thing they did."

"What thing?"Noire asked.
"It's no secret to anyone today, that they possess a faster than light-capable vessels, considering that they came from beyond the system. But following the end of One Day War, they never used their FTL drives."

This was a surprising news to the CPUs.

"Why would they do that?"Vert asked."They have a technological advantage over anything we have in form of means of faster than light travel, yet they don't use it?"

"We still don't understand it."Artisan shook her head.

"By 'we' you mean…?"Neptune asked.

Artisan spread her arms.
"I mean us."she said."The resistance group I lead."

"Oh, so that's why everyone calls you commander."Planeptune's goddess said, putting her hand to her forehead.

"Yeah. This jacket shows my status."Artisan said, tugging on the white jacket over her arms."I took it from our previous leader, who died in a fight."
"And how many people are you commanding?"Blanc asked.

"As of now? There are nearly two hundred people in this base. There were more, but…we lost people. Especially while rescuing you. From fifty men we sent to rescue you, we lost thirty. Three fifths of our fighting force."
"Ouch."Neptune said.
"But we knew it would be worth it."

"By the way, how did you know where we were held?"Noire asked.
"We were able to intercept enemy radio chatter. They spoke of a hidden prison ship holding four prisoners caught three years ago. We were not fully sure if they could be talking about you. After all, as I said, everyone thought you were dead. That Knights took your bodies to finish you off somewhere else."

"And instead, they put us in some cryo pods."Vert said.
"Exactly. We were very relieved to find you."Smile vanished from Artisan's face."But…now I wonder if you will be able to help us…"
"Why? We're goddesses, of course we can."Neptune said proudly.

She stood up from her chair and went to the middle of the room.

"We might have lost before, but now, we are ready."she stated."Transformation!"

Nothing happened. Neptune looked dumbfounded by it.
"Nep?"she only said.
"Did you forget what I said?"Artisan asked."Everyone thinks you're dead. Most people lost their faith."
"And with no faith in us, there is no share energy."Noire said.
"And without share energy, we cannot transform."Vert finished.

"Owwww, bummer."Neptune pouted.

"Hm."Blanc rubbed her chin."And from what I noticed, you were miners."

Artisan nodded.

"Indeed. We used to be miners. Well, most of us anyway. But after the war, when Imps started brutally suppressing any kind of popular movement, we decided to stand against it. We found this abandoned mining facility and set up a secret base in here. In time, we were also joined by some former soldiers, which survived The One Day War."
"And how about your fleet?"Noire asked."You do have ships, right?"

"Of course, we had to bring you here aboard something, right? But we have only one ship. A corvette that escaped from under Imperial guns. They've been our one and only way of moving around. But due to problems with power cells and ammo, we barely use it."
"That's really not much."Neptune said."And we have to save the day with that?"

"It's not time to save the day, goddess."Artisan said."For now, you have to rest. We will think of our next move when you're in full power."
Goddesses nodded and stood up. They went towards the door, but before they exited, Neptune stopped and turned to the resistance's commander.

"You know you can call us by our names, right?"she asked.
"I do?"Artisan asked back.
"Sure. We're all friends here."
"Well, if you…say so."

With that, they left. Outside, Noire glared at Neptune.

"Could you be at least more serious?"she asked.
"I'm trying to be positive."Neptune shrugged.
"Of course! We just learn that our people had to withstand tyrannical rule for the past three years and you still go over it like nothing happened!"

"Now, now, Noire."Vert joined in."As of now, we can't change anything. So cut Neptune some slack."
"For once, I agree with you."Blanc said."Let's do what Artisan said and rest. We will think what to do later."

Noire shot one last glance to Neptune, before they all returned to the medical bay, where Zaya continued to tend to them.

February 2

16:36

Planeptune, Gamindustri

The whole city was completely different from what it used to be three long years ago. It was still a sprawling metropolis, but the whole atmosphere in it was as grim as possible. People, which in the past walked the streets with smiles on their faces, now traveled with complete tiredness and indifference. Imperial soldiers, which following the war turned out to be human, although originating from beyond the system, patrolled the streets day and night. Due to the police hour, everyone who was found outside after 22:00 was immediately arrested and brought to Planeptower's depths, where Imperial secret police had their nest. After that, all traces of such people completely vanished.

"Mom?"a young boy asked his mother, walking past an armed patrol.

"Yes?"his mother replied.
"What are we gonna have for dinner?"
"Same as always. Rice."
"Again? Booo…"

Mother shook her head. It was like that for the past three years. The standard of living really went down since the Empire took over. There was almost no food in stores, most of goods was immediately taken by Imperials so they could use them for themselves. As it turned out, except of thousands of soldiers, Empress and her daughters, there were also thousands of civilians, both simple people and nobility, which came with the fleet. After the system was taken over, they immediately started replacing natives of Gamindustri in their homes, forcing local people to move to newly created slums around cities and become second class citizens. People, too shocked and tired because of how fast it all happened, didn't oppose it.

The two of them continued walking down the street, their heads hanging low as they passed the nearby patrols. However, at one point, the boy saw a cat running out of a nearby alley.
"Look, a kitty!"he exclaimed, getting out of mother's grasp.

"Mica, no!"his mother exclaimed.

But Mica didn't listen, instead going after the cat. The boy started laughing, as he followed the animal.
"Wait, kitty!"he called after it.

But the cat didn't listen, it just continued to run and Mica after it. Creature finally rounded a corner and Mica did so too.

"Please, I wanna…!"

Before he could finish, he smashed head first into something hard. He bounced back and landed on his bum, massaging his head.

"Oww…"he whined and looked up.

And immediately froze.

Standing there, looking at him with one red eye, was a four legged, crab-like machine, a turret on it's back. The turret was armed with two machine guns and a grenade launcher. Whole robot was painted in the typical imperial paint job, which meant a black-gray mix. Only thing of different color was it's crimson red eye, which seemed to drill into the boy's head.

"Centurion…"Mica squeaked.

Centurions were another symbol of Imperial control and occupation. These machines were used mainly for patrol and to fight any kind of crime in all bigger cities. However, they had a…specific sense of what was crime.

For example, it saw even the slightest touch by anyone who wasn't an Imperial citizen as an attack on itself.

"Hostile action detected."Centurion said with emotionless voice."Surrender immediately or face elimination."

Mica just sat there, watching. He was paralyzed with fear so much, that he couldn't even more. Meanwhile, Centurion just stood there, watching and lowering it's machine guns at the boy. It was also then, when Mica's mother also rounded the corner and also froze in fear.

"Hostile did not comply."Centurion stated."Elimination."
"Please, no…"Mica whimpered with tears in his eyes.

Machine guns lowered completely and were aiming straight at it's head.

"Mica!"Mica's mother shouted.
"Elimination."robot repeated."Elimination. Elimi…"

He didn't finish. Before it could, someone ran out from the nearby alley and grabbed Mica, getting him out of the way. At the same time, the same person lashed out it's arm and a throwing knife flew right into Centurion's eye, piercing the cover and reaching the main processor, completely destroying it. Centurion, rid of it's so-called 'brain', shook for a second before collapsing to the ground, motionless.

Mica watched this happen as he was dragged to safety, before looking up at his savior. It was a girl wearing a long, blue coat with a hood, hiding her face behind a face mask.

"Are you alright?"she asked.
Mica just nodded. Meanwhile, his mother quickly approached the two and took her son into her arms.

"Oh, Mica!"she said with tears in her eyes."I'm so glad you're safe! Are you hurt?"
"No…"Mica replied silently, still a bit shocked.

Woman looked up at the girl.

"Thank you so much."she said.
"I couldn't just walk past someone in danger."the girl replied.
"Who are you?"

Girl only made a slider move across the place where her lips were. Woman nodded.
"I understand."
"I have to go now. I'm pretty sure someone will take interest in this."

With that, the girl quickly turned and ran back into the alley. There, she quickly scaled up the wall of the building and disappeared behind the edge of the roof. Everyone could only watch her vanish, while Imperial patrol came to the scene.

"What's going on here?"one of the soldiers asked."Who destroyed the Centurion?"
But nobody answered.

Meanwhile, the girl jumped from one roof to another, making sure to get as far away from the area as possible. After that, she found a gutter which she used to slide down towards the ground. Next, she activated her communicator.

"Are you there?"she asked.
"Yup."voice on the other side said."How are you?"
"Met with the contact, took the package and currently on the run after destroying a Centurion to save a kid. Fortunately, I got out of there before I was noticed."

She heard a sigh on the other side.
"Iffy, why do you always risk?"

IF stopped in her tracks.

"You know I couldn't just leave that kid to die, Compa."she replied.
"I know, I just…don't want anything to happen to you."Compa said.

IF sighed. She really didn't blame Compa. Since The One Day War, they had only each other to rely on in this new reality, especially considering that everyone with ties to the Guild was being hunted down by the new regime. But since they decided to start a resistance group, which soon grew to encompose more people, they had to be extra careful.
"Alright, just tell the others I'll be back soon. And don't worry. If we want to make a difference, I'll do anything for them not to catch me."

"I believe you. And we'll be waiting. Over."
"Over."

With the connection terminated, IF sighed and continued on her way to the hideout.

XXX

Alright, this is the end for now. As always, remember to leave a review, follow and favorite. It will be highly appreciated!