Hello, here we are with chapter 2. Previously on…A new era of space exploration is about to begin. As the first hyperspace-capable ship built by the nations of Gamindustri makes a successful journey into a new star system, ready to land on a new exo-planet, everyone on Gamindustri cheers on. However, the happiness of the moment is interrupted by a sudden attack by an unknown aggressor. Now, in the face of these facts, Gamindustri must face these new revelations.
But before that, reviews.
To end5: Thank you.
Alright, so, without further extending, let us continue.
Chapter 2
April 3, 2254 G.C.
11:54
Planeptune, Planeptower
"You have to do better than this, sis!"
"Oh no, bucko! You have to do better!"
Two characters on the screen continued to battle each other, as sounds of hits and grunts filled the room. Two players tried to outmaneuver each other, find the opponent's weak point and strike the final blow. However, they were doing so well in countering each other that there was no sight for the end of the fight.
"Hiya!"
One of the characters charged forward with it's weapon drawn, but the opponent managed to block and parry the attack. However, before he could strike, his enemy evaded and jumped back. Both characters returned to circling each other.
"Don't think I'm so easy to deal with!"
"You're gonna regret everything you said and done, kid!"
As they continued to battle, they didn't hear the door to the room opening and didn't notice a small figure sitting on a flying book fly into the room. And she was in a hurry and distress.
"Neptune! Nepgear! There is an emergency!"Histoire exclaimed.
"What?"Neptune asked, turning back.
"Yay!"Nepgear exclaimed.
Neptune quickly looked back at the screen, where her character laid dead on the floor and Nepgear's character stood in a victory pose.
"I won!"Nepgear declared.
"Hey, that's not fair! Histy simply distracted me!"Neptune argued."If she didn't, I would certainly beat you!"
"You can't win every time, sis."
Neptune just sighed and looked back at the distressed Histoire.
"Emergency, huh? What now? Some evil robots rebelled on a far off colony? Dogoos invaded the city? Or maybe Arfoire started herself another mini-empire somewhere?"she asked.
Histoire simply shook her head.
"None of those."she said.
"Besides, you know, that none of those could happen. Last robot rebellion ended with truce which lasts until now, dogoos evade densely populated areas and Arfoire hasn't been seen for years since her last endeavor."
"Yeah, yeah, I know."
"This is something different."Histoire replied."The Basilicom just received a call from Planeptune's Space Center."
Nepgear immediately livened up and her eyes shined.
"Is it about the Galax Mission? It had to take place today, right? Did it succeed?"she asked.
Oracle only shook her head.
"They didn't say anything. They only said that it's something important and that other Basilicoms were informed as well."
Goddess and Goddess Candidate looked at each other.
"This seems serious."Nepgear stated.
"And exciting!"Neptune added.
"Neptune, this is no laughing matter. It might be dangerous."Histoire insisted.
"Don't worry, Histy. I'm the protagonist. If it is something dangerous, you can be sure that I will prevail."
"If you say so, eh…"
Nepgear already turned off the console and was getting ready to go.
"It was said, that within the next two hours, a meeting will take place at the PSC. Representatives of all four nations are supposed to be there. As well as all four CPUs."Oracle explained."If that's the requirement, I fear something might happen."
"We shall see, Histy."Neptune said."And if everyone of up most importance are gonna be there, then I, the protagonist, must be there, too. Get a shuttle ready. We'll leave in an hour."
"Of course."
Saying that, Histoire turned and flew out of the room. As she did so, she almost crashed into two visitors that so happened to enter the room.
"Whoa!"one of the visitors exclaimed.
"Excuse me!"Histoire said and flew off.
Visitors watched as she flew away, before turning back towards the two CPUs.
"IF, Compa!"Neptune said cheerfully."You came back!"
"We did."IF replied."And recently too."
"How long has it been since you left for Yekuz? Three, four months?"Nepgear asked.
"Three. And once we returned, the first thing we decided to do, is visit our Nep-Nep and Ge-Ge."Compa replied in her usual manner.
"Although we seem to have returned in a pretty…busy moment."IF stated, looking back in the direction Histoire left.
"Oh, yeah."Neptune scratched the back of her head."Seems like we're gonna have some busy time for the unknown future."
"Why so?"Compa asked.
Both sisters looked at each other.
"You heard of the Galax Mission?"Neptune asked.
"The one in which the first hyperspace-capable ship will jump to another system and land on a new planet?"IF replied with question."Yes. What about it?"
"For some reason, a meeting was called at Planeptune's Space Center."Nepgear said."Apparently, everyone is gonna be there. It's about something important."
"Oh, you think the mission succeeded?"Compa guessed.
"We would like it too, but considering our luck, we have something to worry about."Neptune said, looking in some direction."Isn't that right, Mr. or Mrs. Reader?"
"Who are you talking to?"Nepgear asked.
"Just the people reading this. But now. We leave in an hour, so we have some time to talk about your time on Yekuz. How was it?"
"Sounds good to us."Compa said with a smile.
And so, the four talked about IF's and Compa's time on Yekuz, a moon of Segen, which was a Planeptunian colony. The two went there for their own reasons. Compa was supposed to take part in medical practice, as Yekuz was known as a vigorously developing medical center, while IF went there for an exchange program with local Guild's branch. There, they were supposed to learn new ways they could use to better do their respective jobs. While there, IF even managed to stop a bombing attempt at the hospital in which Compa had her courses, so that was good. Otherwise than that, the two spent their time there relatively calmly, with nothing as dangerous as that one incident with the bomb.
An hour later, shuttle carrying Neptune and Nepgear departed the Planeptower's hangar and flew towards the Planeptune's Space Center.
April 3
13:43
Planeptune's Space Center, landing pad
After a few minutes of flight, the shuttle reached PSC, where it came to landing, allowing Neptune, Nepgear and Histoire to disembark. The machine left soon after, but the three stayed on the landing pad, awaiting the arrival of the rest. While they did, they could see numerous cars arriving at the car park of the PSC.
"Wow, that's a lot of people."Neptune commented.
"This means that this must be really serious."Nepgear stated.
"I'm starting to get more and more worried, honestly."Histoire sighed."Something is definitely not right."
Neptune just waved her hand.
"You're worrying too much. As I said. Whatever it is, we will take care of it. As we always did."
"Sometimes your optimism surprises me."Oracle sighed.
"That's just who I am."
"Hey, I think the rest is coming."Nepgear said, looking in the distance.
The other two also looked in the same direction and saw three dots on the horizon. Slowly but surely, these dots got closer and started growing, turning into three more shuttles, each having markings of different nation. Machines started slowing down and slowly came into vertical landing mode and touched down. Their back doors opened and their passengers started leaving their insides.
"Hey, how ya doin'?"Neptune asked.
"Was doing well, until I was called here."Noire replied."Now I don't know what to think."
"I was actually reading a good book, but I had to stop."Blanc said."But if it's important, than that can wait."
"I would never pass an occasion to meet with Nepgear."Vert said as if it was something trivial.
Others just rolled their eyes.
Meanwhile, the CPU Candidates were also greeting each other fondly.
"Nepgear!"Ram exclaimed, hugging Nepgear.
"Hello."Rom said, doing the same as her sister.
"I'm glad to see you too."Nepgear said with smile.
Next, she looked at the last of her friends.
"How are you, Uni?"she asked.
"I'm doing good. And you?"Uni replied.
"Same."
Meanwhile, on the side, Oracles were having their own conversation.
"I'm glad to see all of you here."Histoire said.
"It's a matter of the whole Gamindustri."Kei said.
"And when this is concerned, we can't just ignore it."Mina said, correcting her glasses.
"Situation is serious, so there is no time to waste."Chika said, glancing towards Vert.
"So, any information about what all of this is exactly about?"Vert asked.
Neptune only shook her head.
"Nope. We were just called here."
"This can't be good."Noire stated.
"I feel like something is in the air."Blanc thought out loud.
"These are clouds, Blanc."Neptune said."You simply worry too much."
Noire scoffed.
"Maybe you should also take it more seriously?"she asked."Didn't you think that because all of us were called here, this might be really important?"
"Well, worst case scenario, the Galax Mission will be moved to a different date."Planeptune's CPU said, waving it off again.
Noire just shook her head.
"Sometimes I just…"She didn't finish the sentence though.
Right then, they were approached by a member of PSC's security. He quickly bowed before the goddesses, Oracles and the CPU Candidates.
"We're glad that you came."he said."The meeting is about to begin."
"We couldn't skip something like this."Histoire said.
"Allow me to lead you to the conference room. There, everything will be explained and presented to you."
"We'll be right behind you."Blanc said.
Security officer nodded his head, turned and started towards the building. Everyone gathered followed closely behind him. As they walked, everyone that they passed bowed towards them to give them honors. Although that, they could feel the tension that was hanging in the air. Something was really not right.
"Excuse us the atmosphere."security officer said."Everyone has been on edge since…well."
"Yeah, we can see that."Chika said.
"Supervisor Michael Slim, as well as directors, will explain the whole situation to you. Don't worry."
"The more you say it, the more I'm starting to worry…"Nepgear stated.
Officer simply went silent.
They continued to walk down the corridor, until they reached the door leading into the conference room. Officer stood next to them and nodded.
"They are already waiting."he said.
"Thank you."Vert said.
The door slid open and everyone entered. Inside, they were greeted by the sight of directors of all four space agencies, as well as several other people. Seeing them all enter, everyone at the table stood up to greet them.
"Goddesses, Candidates, Oracles."director Amazin said."We're glad to see you."
"Oh, it's nothing big for us. Just another day in the office."Neptune said with a wide smile on her face.
Everyone else looked at her.
"You're the one to say it?"Noire asked.
"Please, take your seats."director Cortna said.
CPUs, Candidates and Oracles found themselves empty seats and took them. Directors looked at one man sitting among them.
"Supervisor Slim, please."director Keida said.
The man nodded his head and stood up. He was clearly distressed, as he had to wipe sweat off of his forehead. He also cleared his throat and then was able to speak.
"Of course…"Michael started. He looked at the goddesses."As everyone here might be aware…the Galax Mission was supposed to take place today. The next step in the human expansion into space: setting a foot on an exo-planet in a star system different than hours."
"Yes, we are aware of that."Mina said.
"Was this meeting called to tell us about it's success?"Blanc asked."Because if so, then the atmosphere in the building doesn't show that."
All people sitting at the table looked at each other.
"We were about to go to that."Michael said."Galax Mission commenced as it was planned. The Utegi engine aboard the United worked. First phase of the mission was a complete success and almost three minutes, the ship found itself in the nearby Zamerius system."
"Yes!"Nepgear exclaimed, standing up.
All eyes immediately turned on her. CPU Candidate immediately reddened on her face and slowly sat back down.
"I'm sorry."she said.
"Don't worry, we all reacted the same when it happened."director Dowser said."Supervisor Slim, you are free to continue."
Supervisor nodded.
"Thank you. As I said, first phase without any problems. Ship jumped from one system to another. After that, it was time for it to land on the surface of exo-planet Zamerius a. United already started landing procedure when…Well, it would be best for you to hear for yourself."
As he said that, his assistant pressed something on his tablet and everyone watched a recording of the last minutes of the United. CPUs, their sisters and Oracles' eyes widened when the word missile was said. They watched the ship spin for a second, before the pilot managed to even it's flight to try and land. But as the machine hit the ground, the screen cut to black and everything went silent.
Everyone sat silent for few seconds, not knowing what to say. Even Neptune couldn't find any funny remark to what she just saw.
"I…"she wanted to say, but stopped.
"What actually happened?"Vert asked.
"We are still trying to understand it."one of the other men and women at the table said."The crew said it was a missile, but we can't be a hundred percent sure."
"What is there to not be sure about?"another person, clearly a military official judging from his uniform, exclaimed."The ship was attacked! People clearly died there! That was an attack!"
Yet another person stood up.
"We can't act irrationally. After all, this might be a sign."
"Sign of what?"
"For years we've been wondering, if there exists life somewhere there, among the stars. We might have received an answer. We might not actually be alone in this galaxy."
"Didn't you see that if you're right, then that means, that the first act this 'alien life' performed, was an act of aggression! We should mobilize our forces and send fleets to guard the frontier of the system!"
"As I said, we can't act irrationally. This all might be just a big, big mistake."
"MISTAKE?! We lost a ship with four men! Something like this cannot be classified as a simple mistake!"
More and more people started joining the argument on both sides. Both the scientist and the military official were being supported by people from their fields, and sometimes even from the opposing sides. Some demanded that a state of war would be implemented, while others wanted to diffuse the situation. Directors, Michael, CPUs, Candidates and Oracles simply sat there, not knowing what to say.
Finally, Noire stood up.
"EVERYBODY, CALM DOWN!"she exclaimed at the top of her lungs.
Scientists and military officials stopped arguing and looked at her.
"I agree with both of you."she said."We can't act irrationally, as it might cause panic. And in a situation like this, we can't allow anything like that to happen."
"Noire's right."Uni said."If everything gets out of control, it might not end well for not only us, but the whole system."
"Then what do you propose?"one of the military officials asked.
Noire glanced at both sides of the argument, then at the directors and Michael, then at all the goddesses and Oracles. She took a deep breath.
"On one side, we can't just leave it unanswered."she stated."We should put all of our military forces on high alert for the time being, until the whole situation get's explained. At the same time, we should not release the information to the public. I know this might sound radical to you, but in my opinion, it's the best path we can take, at least for now. How do you think?"
The question was directed towards other three CPUs.
"Yes, it's radical, but I can't see another option."Blanc said."I agree."
"If this means that whatever took out United thinks twice before coming here, then I agree too."Vert said."Chika, once we're back in Leanbox, remind me to contact the Defense Directorate."
"Of course."the Leanbox Oracle replied.
Then, all eyes turned on Neptune, as only she was yet to decided.
"What?"Planeptune's CPU asked.
"We're awaiting your decision."Mina said.
"I thought it's obvious. If everyone's doing it, I will order the same."
"If you say so."Histoire said and turned towards the scientists and military officials."Thank you for this information. We will treat it with up most seriousness."
"Good to hear that, Oracle."Michael said.
"I think this can conclude the meeting."director Amazin said."We have to solve this situation as quickly as possible."
"Indeed."Noire said."Let's get back home. We have to take care of everything."
With that, the meeting concluded and everyone gathered went their own ways, with CPUs returning to their nations alongside their Oracles and sisters. Once there, they quickly contacted their respective ministries of defense and explained the whole situation to them. Within few hours, all military units both on Gamindustri and across the system were put on high alert, while the scientific minds of the world tried to figure out what actually happened in Zamerius.
Three days later, it started.
April 6
09:06
Planeptune's Frontier Outpost 4, edge of the system
Serving in the Frontier Outposts was probably the least interesting part of military service in Gamindustri's armies. As the name suggested, these outposts were set up at the very edges of the system, where they guarded peace. The only problem was, most of criminal activity was taking place near the center of the system, while the outskirts were left mostly alone. And if something happened, then it was mostly smuggler activity. Nothing too dangerous.
Sitting in the radar room of the station, two radar operators were bored out of their minds.
"Man, this sucks."one of them said."Why did I even sign up for this job?"
"Too late for regrets."his buddy replied.
"Yeah, can't argue with that."
They looked at each other.
"Maybe we should, like, leave this freaking job?"
"No, that wouldn't do. How many years were we stationed here?"
"Two, I guess?"
"Do you remember how to do anything else?"
"Nope."
"Exactly. Besides, nothing ever happens here, so this is a stress free job. Just learn to appreciate it."
"I'm trying but…when I signed up for the military, I wanted to be assigned as a radar officer to some cruiser or maybe one of these new Navigator-class carriers."
"But all places were already occupied."
"Exactly."
He looked at his radar screen and noticed something.
"Hey, you see this?"
"See what?"
"I have some weird readings. Something doesn't…"
He didn't end his sentence.
Several portal-like anomalies appeared in front of the outpost. The two officers widened their eyes, as they saw numerous shapes emerging from them. Their surprise turned into horror, when they recognized these shapes to be warships of various sizes, all painted black and gray. There were tens of them.
They were torn out of their disbelief when alarms started blaring all across the outpost.
"This is the bridge!"the voice of their commander sounded."Prepare for battle! This is not a drill! I repeat: this is not a drill!"
The two looked at each other.
"You wanted action? Here, have at it!"
"I certainly didn't want this, damn it!"
While aboard the outpost everyone was preparing to take combat positions, the invading vessels were already prepared, with their weapons already active. Leading battleship aimed at the outpost and it's main guns came to life. Lasers fired from the two barrels slammed into the outpost, splitting it in half and sending it spinning into the void. Several smaller ships also unloaded into it, to make sure there was no survivors.
"All units."came the order from the flagship."Commence the assault."
Soon after, all ships started jumping towards their assigned targets in the system.
XXX
Here we're gonna conclude chapter 2. Remember to leave a review, follow and favorite. It will be highly appreciated!