Robotech: The Stargate Saga

Disclaimer: I do not own the characters and universes that I am about to mangle around and mash together for my own demented author amusement – sadly all Robotech and Stargate characters and concepts remain the property of Harmony Gold and MGM respectively – I am merely borrowing them and make absolutely no profit from their use. As a result, please keep the legal attack dogs – also known as lawyers – firmly muzzled and on a leash as I have no money to give to anyone.

Interlude Three

Zentraedi Command Ship

Earth Orbit, A Short Time Later

"Commander."

Sitting behind the desk in his office Commander Breetai looked up to see his current advisor/aid standing at the entrance holding a data pad. He was grateful for the interruption as he was currently snowed under – as there Terran friends would say – with paperwork. Being the commander of an entire fleet of Zentraedi warships, was always a lot of work and it was even worse now since – with the death of Dolza – he was the de facto leader of his entire species. While he did not regret his actions in forming an alliance with the Terran micronians – an alliance that was certainly bearing fruit as his people were learning and gaining a great deal from as not only were they learning skills in maintenance and repair that the Robotech Masters had long denied them, but more and more of his kind were learning that there was far more to life than being at war all the time – and standing with them against Dolza's genocidal plans had he known about the increased amounts of paperwork he would have to deal with then he might have given the matter far more thought before committing to the course of action he took.

"Come in Tiran," he said bidding his new advisor/chief aid to enter the office. The other much younger Zentraedi did so, the door to the office automatically closing behind him. "You have something to report?"

"Yes commander. I have to report that the first sequence of the requested system scans has been concluded. The first, second and fourth planets have all been scanned for useful resources, though scans of the gas giants and their moons as well as the dwarf planets and asteroid belts will take another seven to ten days due to the complexity of the systems and our current limited resources."

"Understandable," Breetai answered, he didn't after all have that many ships available right now as many of the million plus ships that had sided with him and the Terrans against Dolza had been destroyed during that great battle. All of the others, including this very ship, had sustained considerable damage and heavy casualties and while the bulk of the damage had been repaired – thanks in no small part to their allies teaching them more advanced damage control and repair skills than what the Robotech Masters had allowed them to possess – it had cost dozens of ships to do it as they'd only been able to do so by cannibalising one ship to fix another. Thus, the number of ships he had available to run the scans was quite limited.

"Have we found anything," he asked.

"The first and second planets are unremarkable," Tiran reported, "there are no detectable resources that could be of use to either ourselves or our allies."

"And the third planet?" Breetai asked, curious as to why Tiran hadn't mentioned Mars or its two sizeable asteroid moons.

"Commander, we have discovered that there are sizeable deposits of quite high-grade trinium ore present on the planet with the largest deposits being located near the southern polar region of the planet."

Breetai's one remaining eyebrow shot up, that was a surprise. The Robotech Masters and most of the other spacefaring races known to the Zentraedi – well with the notable exception of the Invid and the Spherisians due to formers ships being organic while the latter like the species themselves were crystalline – had long used trinium in both starship construction and civil engineering due to its strength and durability. Trinium was strong on its own but when alloyed with hypercarbon and other robotechnology materials it could produce a very strong material indeed. Unfortunately, back in their native galaxy the very strength and utility of trinium had made it quite a rare resource in modern times with all the easily available sources of the ore, especially the more easily refined high grade ore that wasn't contaminated with other materials, having long since been exhausted.

"Interesting," he commented, "is there any indication of just how much is down there?"

"We do not have exact figures yet my lord. Our ships have begun running more in-depth scans of the planet to map out the locations and size of all the deposits on the planet," Tiran answered before he hesitated. "But that is not the only thing we have detected on the planet my lord."

"Oh?"

Tiran hesitated before taking the plunge. "We have detected a very faint energy source beneath the surface of the planet," he reported, "it appears to be originating from a cave on the flank of a long extinct volcano, specifically the volcano that on Terran records is named Arsia Mons."

Breetai blinked. "Why did we not detect this energy source the last time our ships were near Mars," he asked, "and have you identified what kind of energy source it is?"

"My lord it is likely that we did not detect it because our scans were naturally focused on the former location of the Terran base, on the planet which was, as you know, located in the northern hemisphere of the planet. Arsia Mons is located in the southern hemisphere. Also, the energy signature is very faint and appears to be coming from nearly two hundred meters beneath the flank of the volcano. We have not been able to identify it as it is too faint and too deep to be properly identified at least from orbit. All we can tell from orbit is that it is artificial."

"From orbit," Breetai mused. "Have one of the survey ships launch a Cyclops reconnaissance craft to investigate. From low orbit or even in the atmosphere they should be able to identify the power source."

"I will see to it at once commander."

"Advise me as soon as we have the results. Also forward a copy of all current results to Admiral Gloval along with an addendum that we are running additional scans to both determine how much trinium is on the planet and the nature and likely origin of this mysterious power source."

"As you wish my lord."

"Is there anything else?" Tiran shook his head. "Very well you may go Tiran."

Tiran nodded and quickly left the office to attend to the given instructions. Breetai for his part leaned back in his chair and frowned thoughtfully, wondering just what this mystery energy source could be. Despite Tiran's reasoning he was somewhat surprised that they hadn't detect it before now, surely Khyron would have detected and reported it before setting his trap for the SDF-1. Though knowing Khyron, he probably thought it was inconsequential and not worthy of reporting, he thought recalling just how Khyron would have thought about such a thing. If wasn't an Invid power signature – and thus offered the prospect of a major battle with those foul creatures – then Khyron would have dismissed it as being some silly micronian thing and beneath his notice.

He however wasn't so foolish as to dismiss an unknown power signature being where there shouldn't be one as inconsequential. Instead, he knew it could be a warning of something far more serious going on, something that both Zentraedi and Terran needed to be fully aware of. After a moment more thinking about it he sighed softly as it would do him no good to dwell on it. Hopefully the Cyclops recon craft would, through running lower altitude scans of the ancient volcano, find out more about the emission that had teased the orbiting cruisers sensors.

Until then all they could do was wait.

The bleep of his desktop comm jolted him out of his contemplation of the energy signature. Calmly he leaned forward, reached out and touch a glowing control on the offending device. "Yes?"

"Commander Captain Serval's cruiser just unfolded in sector twelve," came the voice of one of the bridge crew, "the cruiser appears to have been involved in a battle as our sensors indicate that there is considerable damage to the outer hull consistent with plasma weapon impacts. Captain Serval has contacted orbital control and requested a priority approach and docking course for the factory satellite. He also reports that they have Colonel Ferretti's investigation team aboard along with one prisoner and two potential guests or additional prisoners."

"Has orbital control granted the request?" Breetai asked.

"Yes, commander they have. The cruiser is moving into the priority approach pattern for the factory satellite. Sir should we contact them and request a report on what happened from Captain Serval?"

"No," Breetai replied immediately as he was willing to wait to see the report that both his colleague and Colonel Ferretti would deliver to the Defence Council on the events that had taken place on and in orbit of the planet in question. He was politically astute enough these days to know that that would be the better option. "However, request a status update on the cruisers systems and crew from station operations once they have docked."

"Yes commander."

Breetai signed off and leaned back in his chair with a sigh. His instincts, honed through centuries of battles across multiple galaxies, were telling him that Captain Serval and the exploration team sent through the star portal had had an encounter with a powerful new enemy. Which meant that a new war could be about to begin for both their peoples one whose outcome would, he knew somehow, affect the future destiny of not just Terrans and Zentraedi but every race in this galaxy.

Linkotis Orbit

That Same Time

High above the atmosphere of Linkotis a section of space suddenly warped and twisted as the boundary between normal space-time and the infinite domains of subspace suddenly came under attack from within. The folds of space-time parted, and a hyperspace window burst into existence with a silent scream of unfathomable power. The window pulsed once, and a ship came back into normal space as though shot from a cannon though the crafts advanced engines allowed it to overcome the effects of hyperspace inertia in less than two seconds. No longer being created and held open by the immense power of the newcomers engines the hyperspace window folded closed as if it had never been present at all leaving the newly arrived alien vessel floating free.

To a Terran eye it would have appeared to be a very strange, but at the same time familiar, design. In appearance the vessel resembled an old Viking war hammer lying flat with the main body and forward section of the vessel having a very hammerhead design. The aft section consisted of three towers, one small and squat set between two taller more slender towers. Two wings that curved slightly forward towards the head of the hammer completed the design. While a Terran would not have recognised the vessel, a Zentraedi would have instantly and been terrified as the giant warrior servitors of the Robotech Masters had encountered the diminutive, being so small that they added a whole new meaning to the term micronian, but powerful builders in the past and not enjoyed the experience.

The vessel was Asgardian.

"Commander we are secure from hyperspace."

Sitting on his command throne on the unique bridge of an Asgard battlecruiser Commander Audun nodded at the report from the navigator. "Very good commence scanning," he ordered. "Look for anything that could explain the disturbance our long-range sensors detected coming from here."

"Yes commander."

As the crew began carrying out his orders Audun considered the circumstances that had seen him bringing his ship, the Skuld, here to a relatively unremarkable solar system. They had been patrolling the Protected Planets something that the Asgard High Council had felt it necessary to do due to the large-scale civil war currently raging in the Goa'uld Empire. The first such war that there had been for nearly seven millennia, caused by the return of the long exiled Goa'uld Sokar and his attempt to overthrow Ra and the High Council of the System Lords.

With the fighting having degenerated between the two sides into a stalemate, with both sides searching for an advantage over the other to end the war in their favour, the High Council had decided that they needed to do something to remind the Goa'uld of their presence. And remind them that the Protected Planets were just that protected just in case some ambitious Goa'uld got any ideas. So far it had worked, and it had obviously been necessary given that twice they had spotted Goa'uld ships in systems where there were protected worlds, ships that had quickly departed when they made their presence known. His own patrol had nearly been finished when their long-range scanners had picked up a large explosion in this system, it had been too far away to get a clear reading on.

Hence, they had come to investigate.

"Scans completed commander," sensors reported. "Sensors indicate the presence of a cooling and spreading debris cloud composed of materials consistent with the hull of Goa'uld vessels. From the size of the cloud, we estimate that at least one Ha'tak-class mothership and a number of Al'kesh were destroyed in this system. However, the residual energy in the debris does not match Goa'uld weaponry."

"Then who does it match?" Audun asked curious as a Goa'uld mothership, while technologically considerably less advanced than an Asgard vessel, was a formidable and dangerous combatant that only a fool would underestimate. Anyone capable of destroying one was a race that the Asgard needed to know about.

"Commander the energy residual matches Zentraedi particle beam cannons," sensors reported, "we are also detecting twenty-four separate points of damage on the planet below with energy residuals consistent with Zentraedi laser fire. In addition, there is the remains of a Zentraedi Frandlar Tiluvo-class combat dropship near the abandoned military bunker that houses this planets Stargate."

"The Zentraedi! Here?" Audun said incredulous knowing that they were a very, very long way from Tirolian space here being literally a few galaxies away. "Search for any phased graviton trace indicative of a space fold. We have to know how many of their ships are here."

"Trace located commander. From the size of it the computer estimates that only one Zentraedi warship was involved in the confrontation with a high probability that it was a Thuverl Salan-class cruiser."

"Could it be lost," his first officer Briar queried, "maybe it somehow misfolded to this galaxy and is trying to find its way home, stopped here for some reason and got into a fight with the natives and the Goa'uld."

"Possible or it could be that the Robotech Masters are planning to expand their domain to include this galaxy as well. Sensors can you determine the vector the ship took when it folded out."

"We can commander however it will take some time as we will have to both compensate for the radiation from the destroyed Goa'uld ships, and the nature of the subspace domain used in space folding."

"How long?"

"At least an hour commander."

"I see begin your work immediately. In the meantime, communications send a message back to Halla advising both command and the High Council what we have discovered here and that I intend to investigate the Zentraedi presence in this galaxy further once we know their fold vector."

"Yes commander."

Audun settled back in his command throne as the bridge crew began carrying out his latest set of instructions. Though he didn't show it the presence of the Zentraedi in this galaxy made him nervous, especially as now that he thought about it the Zentraedi – and the Robotech Masters – had been behaving very strangely for a few years now. Why nobody knew for sure, though the High Council was aware that it had something to do with a rebellion in the Tirolian Empire and something to do with the Robotech Master Zor.

And now there was a Zentraedi cruiser – and likely others as the Zentraedi never travelled alone – here in this galaxy, far from any of the Empires borders. It was a puzzle, one that was both interesting and very concerning.

A puzzle that he would solve one way or another.

Authors Note: Well, another interlude chapter bites the dust, it isn't as long as it otherwise would have been since what would have been the first section of this interlude chapter – the discovery of the protoculture matrix hidden inside the SDF-1 – ended up taking on a life of its own and becoming the last full-length chapter. Still, I hope you all enjoyed it and before anyone asks the energy signature that the Zentraedi are picking up on Mars is not Ancient in origin but comes from another source altogether. Plus, the Asgard are on the prowl as well now which could make things interesting for all concerned in the next few chapters. Until next time.