Robotech Stargate Saga: Otherworld
Disclaimer: I do not own the characters and universes that I am about to mangle around and mash together for my own amusement – sadly all Stargate and Robotech characters and concepts remain the property of MGM, Amazon and Harmony Gold 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 profit to give to anyone.
Chapter Three
Macross Island
T-25 Minutes to Zentraedi Arrival
Lieutenant Commander Roy Fokker, Skull Leader and the CAG of the SDF-1, was almost to the point of wanting to pull his long blond hair out at the completely fubar situation he now found himself in. He had been taking a few moments to review what he was going to say during the long-planned air show – one in which the secret mechamorphic ability of the veritechs would be revealed to the general public after years of being classified – which would kick off the commissioning/launch festivities when he had received two urgent calls virtually simultaneously. One had been from the bridge of the great battlefortress and the other had been from island operations, both had said the exact same thing albeit in slightly different ways.
The air show, and indeed the whole commissioning ceremony, had been suddenly cancelled. Cancelled and the SDF-1 rushed into sudden emergency launch preparations even as the whole of the UEDF went to a heightened state of alert. The reason for the sudden massive change of plans, and the system wide alert, was both simple and devastating.
There was a fleet of alien warships inbound, and they could arrive at any time.
Not for the first time since he had been told Roy cursed the aliens – be it the Goa'uld or the Zentraedi – absolutely abysmal timing. Seriously couldn't they have waited another day or two before deciding to head to Sol and bring who knew how many tons of trouble with them? Would that have been too much to ask for? Obviously, it was which meant he had to get as much of the SDF-1's currently under strength air wing as possible ready for combat.
Something that was easier said than done.
Not only was the air group assigned to the battlefortress currently understrength – they only had half of their Valkyrie veritech and none of their Saber aerospace fighter/interceptor compliment – but what he did have here weren't all on the base. Nearly a full third of his pilots and ground crews were on leave, having booked the time off and while some had been recalled a few were not answering the recall. Meaning they either weren't on the island or were indisposed in some other way, he wouldn't be surprised if a few were drunk in one of the cities bars or clubs all of which were open all day today.
That wasn't his biggest problem, however. It was the fact that he had several veritechs parked up on the exhibition grounds for planned VIP flights that would now not take place. Valkyrie's that he needed to move to the arming stations ready for any returning pilots to use but the ground crews on base couldn't spare anyone to move them.
"Roy."
A voice as familiar as his own calling his name broke Roy out of his contemplation of the conundrum of moving the fighters. He looked over and smiled warmly as he saw Rick standing there, he was dressed in a pair of jeans and a dark blue t-shirt and was looking concerned. Grinning Roy walked up and pulled his adoptive younger sibling into a warm hug, immediately feeling Rick return it, noting with some approval that Rick had put on a respectable amount of weight. Clearly attending the academy had been a very good thing for.
"Hey, Rick, it's good to see you," he said pulling back. "You look good little bro not so scrawny anymore; academy life obviously agrees with you."
"It isn't bad," Rick admitted grinning before turning serious. "Okay Roy what the hell is going on around here? All the base personnel are behaving like bees in a knocked over hive and I've noticed distinct energy build up at the emitters for the ships anti-gravity wave generators. So, what's going on?"
Roy wasn't surprised that Rick had noticed the increased activity on the base – you would have to be blind and deaf not to – but he was surprised that he had noticed that the battlefortress was definitely powering up. Then he realized that he really shouldn't have been as while Rick could be funny and irrelevant, with a very infectious zest for life, he was also mentally sharper than a razor blade and could be very good at deductive reasoning – which had long made playing games like Cluedo with him an absolute nightmare – when he wanted to be.
"I'm not surprised you noticed, and I could use your help little bro," Roy replied as he could immediately see a solution to the problem of having no one who could move the Valkyries. "You see all UEDF facilities and forces are being put on a heightened state of alert, there's a fleet of alien warships coming in. We don't know when exactly they're going to arrive, but we know they're coming."
"Shit," Rick cursed softly. "Who is it those parasites like the one who mind controlled Nathan with that engineered organism?"
"The Goa'uld and it could well be," Roy said grimacing as he remembered the incident with his and Rick's cousin Nathan. It had taken place last year when Nathan and Aunt Maria had been in Italy as part of a post High School graduation holiday for Nathan. Nathan had abruptly disappeared after returning from a disco leaving only a very freaky note behind. Fortunately, he hadn't disappeared for long having been found on a bus by Italian police along with dozens of other young men and a few women not far from a turn off onto a road that would have gone deep into the Dolomites ending at the ranges highest peak Marmolada. All of them had been delusional and kept insisting they were being called to serve the old Celtic god Vosegus.
Blood tests had shown that every single person on that bus was infected with a bioengineered microorganism that was especially focused in the neural system. Thankfully thanks to the Tok'ra that the Serrakin had introduced them to they knew what it was and how to deal with it, a few zaps with electromagnetic stunners – the modern robotech descendant of a taser - later they'd all been back to normal if initially a little confused about where they were and what they were doing there. Though some, especially a girl named Elena who had gone missing from a skiing holiday with her family in the Dolomites a year earlier, had known exactly what was going on once the confusion wore off. They had quickly told the authorities about the clearly non-human – as human eyes didn't glow and they didn't speak in a booming, distorted voice – leader of the cult they'd been in.
Which had ultimately led to a joint raid by Italian police and local UEDF forces on a bunker hidden beneath an expansive alpine style villa. A raid that had led to hundreds more brainwashed people being recovered and saved and the long exiled Goa'uld behind the whole thing captured. Roy had heard that the Goa'uld – stripped of all his tech and finery, replacing it with a prison jumpsuit - was currently sat twiddling his thumbs in solitary at an ultra-secure prison on the moon.
Rick speaking again brought Roy out of those thoughts and memories. "So how can I help," Rick asked hoping that Roy wasn't about to ask him to jump into a veritech and fly it in combat. Until today he had never seen one outside of modern, very convincing simulator, and wasn't trained on space operations yet.
"Do you think you could taxi these planes that were set aside for some VIP flights to the arming areas so they can be prepped for combat," Roy asked. "The ground crew that would normally do it are off today. I know that with the alert those who are corpus mentis enough will come back but…"
"…you don't know how much longer that's going to take if they can even get back here especially when they start evacuating the civilians to emergency shelters " Rick finished for him getting a nod. "Sure, I can move the planes for you, big brother. Just have you got a spare flight suit it would be better for me to look the part as I do it."
"Great and yeah, there are a few in the hangar. This way."
Elsewhere
That Same Time
Sarah O'Neill smiled slightly as she watched her two youngest children enjoying one of the rides that had been set up as part of a small fun fair that ha d been set up for the entertainment of the people before the ceremony, they had come here to enjoy got underway. It was nice to see Alice and Amelia having fun, it meant that they were no longer sulking and being poster girls for teenage angst. Instead, and for a few peaceful minutes, they were again the fun loving little girls she and Jack had brought into the world. Even Amelia – for five minutes at least – seemed to have forgotten her irritation with Charlie and plotting how to get back at him for giving her boyfriend a full big brother talking to.
She sighed softly as she thought about that, and the little argument they'd had on the plane about it. She was really going to have to have a serios mother to daughters talk with them, much as Jack had had a father to son talk with Charlie when he'd been that age, about certain things with dating and sexuality now that they were in High School. She would also have to encourage Alice to be a bit more independent of her twin and start to find her own way as she and Amelia couldn't always do the exact same things as despite being identical biologically, they were personality wise as different as chalk was from cheese. For example, she knew Alice liked to read more than Amelia yet rather than spend time in the library indulging in her own passion she wanted to get onto the cheerleader squad just because Amelia was trying.
"Mom."
The sound of Charlie's voice behind her made her jump slightly – and wonder not for the first time how he could move so quietly when he wanted – and spin around intent on telling her first born off for trying to give her a heart attack. The words died in her throat as she saw the change in his appearance, he was no longer wearing his grey uniform but was wearing his full suit of armour sans the helmet which was still retracted down into the neck piece. It was the first time she'd ever seen him in armour and to say it was intimidating would have been an understatement especially as it made him look even bigger than he normally was. If that was at all possible.
"Charlie what…" she started to say.
"We need to get Alice and Amelia," Charlie said not wasting time and Sarah was immediately on her guard as she registered that Charlie was in full on military mode. She had seen Jack like that enough times over the course of their very long, very loving marriage to know immediately what it meant…
…trouble.
"What is it?" she asked knowing that she didn't have to say what she actually meant by it.
Charlie glanced around to make sure nobody was listening, nobody was everyone seemed to be too focused on the amusements. "There's a fleet of hostile alien warships coming in and if they are who we think they are then this island will soon come under attack," he said softly leaning in, "dad wants me to get you and the girls to one of the base shelters before the general evacuation to the island shelters begins."
"That sounds like Jack," Sarah said knowing her husband well even as she felt a chill go down her spine at what she had just been told. She looked over and saw Alice and Amelia getting off the ride, prompting her to gesture for them to come over. They did so.
"Mom what's going on," Amelia demanded not looking happy at her fun being stopped as she had been planning to go on that ride again. Then she blinked when she saw her brother fully decked out in intimidating as hell Tristan combat armour with a laser rifle slung across his back. It coupled with the look on his face sent a real shiver of fear down her spine, oh not fear of Charlie as despite her annoyance with him over his, very unwanted, interference in her relationship with Brett she knew that at heart he was just a big teddy bear where she and her sister were concerned. No, the fear came from the fact that something was going on, something bad.
"We're going to a shelter on the base," Sarah said firmly.
"Why? What about dad where is he?" Alice asked.
"Dad's taken charge of the non-naval military personnel on the island," Charlie answered, "he's currently in the island operations bunker beneath the base."
Alice blinked. "But why," she asked a moment before an alarm siren began sounding all over the island triggering a hubbub of confused chatter from everyone around. "What's going on?"
"We're under attack," Charlie replied knowing instantly that they were out of time and that the enemy had to be either dropping from hyperspace or folding in at this very moment. He started to open his mouth to get them moving a moment before a strange electronic humming sound from above caught everyone's attention. They looked up in time to see the edges of a bluish-white crystalline looking energy field rising from around the perimeter of the city and the military base. They met above the very centre of the city leaving a momentary shimmer in the air that quickly cleared.
"What was that?" Amelia wondered having never actually seen an energy shield before. Force field technology had yet to percolate down into civilian life in any real sense.
"They've raised an energy shield around the city," Charlie answered a moment before the speakers that had been set up to allow everyone to hear the SDF-1 commissioning ceremony crackled to life.
"Attention all residents and guests this is Mayor Luan," a male voice said, "I have just been informed that an alien fleet has arrived in system and maybe planning an attack. Because of this threat an immediate evacuation to the emergency shelters has been ordered. Please proceed in a swift orderly fashion to the marked shelters routes will be wirelessly delivered to all smart phones within moments. I ask that you remain calm and follow any and all instructions from civil and military authorities. We will get through this."
"This way," Charlie said as he deployed his helmet so he could use its integral heads up display to follow the path to the nearest shelter. Sarah, Alice and Amelia nodded and began following Charlie, keeping close to him as the fair ground transformed into a scene of borderline chaos as families that had separated off to go on different rides hurriedly began coming back together before heading to evacuate. Yet more people already began moving to leave the fair ground while ride operators and stall holders hurried shut rides down and closed up shop.
Thankfully they had little difficulty escaping the barely controlled chaos of the fair ground as people parted to let Charlie – and with him them – through. Nobody after all wanted to mess with a STORM Commando in a full suit of Tristan combat armour and figured whoever was with him, people who he was clearly escorting, had to be quite important. The military base beyond the part set aside for the fair was now a beehive of activity as soldiers, air crew and ground crews prepared for combat.
"What the hell are those," Amelia said frantically pointing to a large green bipedal machine that, along with three others, had emerged from a hangar and were walking with impossibly organic gait for machines. All four were armed with very large rifles.
"Spartan destroids," Charlie answered smirking behind his visor as he recalled the few times, he'd seen Spartans in action the handful of times they'd launched raids on Goa'uld outposts. The Spartans were always guaranteed to send the Jaffa warriors who served the Goa'uld fleeing screaming in terror as their plasma staffs weren't powerful enough to do more than create a blackened smudge on their thick trinium-hypercarbon armour if they even got past their shield. "They're no doubt moving to the base defence perimeter. Ah here we are."
As he spoke, he led them to small outbuilding, which much like the other buildings on the base was made of hypercrete and entered a code on a keypad that unlocked and opened a thick, heavy door. Beyond the door a stairwell led deep beneath the surface. Before they could begin heading down the whirring of incredibly powerful motors caught all their attention. What on Earth, Charlie thought as they all looked around to see where the noise was coming from.
They soon spotted it as two large doors over another larger hypercrete building had slide open. A second later a large high tech cannon rose from somewhere below, training its muzzle on the sky. In the distance, and using the optical zoom on his helmet, Charlie could see other cannons both here on the base and on the rim of the great caldera that now housed Macross City – a caldera that had been created by the SDF-1 when she crashed as it totally wiped out the cone of the dormant volcano that had built the island – other cannons of various sizes were rising into active position as island defence systems came fully online.
"What kind of cannon is that," Amelia wondered looking over at her brother.
"A ground to space particle beam cannon sis," Charlie replied, "we're running out of time to get you to shelter before whoever our foe is decides to attack. Come on."
Not needing to be told twice the three female members of the O'Neill family began descending the stairwell towards a tunnel that would lead to one of the many deep level shelters buried in the volcanic bedrock of the island that there were beneath the city. All of which were linked together by underground passageways and maglev tubes.
"Will we be safe down here," Alice asked as Charlie closed the door and followed them.
"You'll be fine," Charlie answered.
"You're not staying?"
"I can't. Once I have you three in the shelter I have to head back up and join the defence forces, we're somewhat shorthanded and they're going to need all the help they can get. I can pilot a destroid if needed."
Sarah nodded in understanding and gave the twins a look that prevented them saying anything, though they clearly wanted to as they wanted their brother's protection. Having been a military wife for over three decades she knew that there was nothing any of them could say that would dissuade Charlie from doing his duty. Honour demanded it of him, just like it always had his father whenever he had been called into action. All she could do, all you could ever do, was hope and pray that he came back alive and still sound in body and mind.
It never helped.
United Earth Defence Command
Alaska Base, Alaska
A Few Minutes Earlier
Alarm klaxons split the air and echoed through the many corridors and levels of the largely subterranean base summoning everyone to battle stations. For his part Admiral Hayes broke off a conference call that he had been having with UEG Secretary General James Kohler and his cabinet, where he had been briefing them on why they'd gone to a heightened alert level and hurried back to the main situation room.
"Report," he ordered as he jogged to the edge of the command platform. On the level below various ratings were working overtime as they coordinated the various commands around the globe to the level, they would need to effectively defend the planet. Something that was not always easy as there was still quite a bit of lingering bad blood left over from both the Global Civil War and the proceeding Cold War between various groups. It could make things difficult at times.
"Admiral orbital sensors have detected multiple subspace disturbances on the other side of the moon," one of the sensor ratings reported, "multiple vessels of Zentraedi design and construction are emerging from space fold."
"How many ships?" Donald asked wondering if all the ships spotted by the Solios had come here to Sol to challenge them and attempt to reclaim the SDF-1 or if some had remained at the supply station. It would after all be logical to leave a guard force behind to protect such a by nature vulnerable facility.
"Subspace distortions fading we now count six hundred and twenty four ships, sir."
"Are they advancing towards us?"
"Not at this time sir."
Donald frowned and looked up at the main tactical display screen which showed the Zentraedi fleet, in all its intimidating martial glory, sitting there on the opposite side of the moon. Sensors both on the security tracking grid and on their Luna, facilities showed that all the ships were powered up – though their power signatures were notably a bit weaker than the records recovered from SDF-1 said they should be – and had their weapons systems active. Yet they were making no moves towards them. What are you thinking my giant friends, he thought.
"Bring all our facilities and ships to full alert and have them raise shields and activate the planetary defence network," he ordered, "however under no circumstances is anyone to approach or fire upon the Zentraedi until or unless they are fired upon first. Let's see what their commander is going to do."
"Aye sir," various communications ratings in the room answered before relaying his orders to all the various commands around the world as well as the ships in orbit. While they did that Donald turned his attention back to the tactical display and the Zentraedi fleet trying to work out just what their commander was doing. Was he sitting there as an intimidation gesture, trying to impress upon them the far greater size of his fleet? Or was something else going on?
There was no way to know.
Zentraedi Command Dreadnought
Luna Orbit, That Same Time
Standing in his command blister on the wall of the upper level of a vast bridge Commander Breetai. High Warlord of the Zentraedi, frowned as he studied the sensor readings on the planet ahead of them. Sensors confirmed that the planet was inhabited and that its inhabitants had an impressive level of technological knowledge as they were detecting numerous hyperspace-capable spacecraft in orbit of the planet as well as a sophisticated, if quite bare bones as it was obviously still being either built or in the middle of an overhaul, orbital defence grid.
"Exedore what is your opinion on this planet," he asked looking at the much smaller Zentraedi standing beside him. Exedore was something of an oddity among their kind being far shorter than average and with some notable deformities that would get any other Zentraedi terminated. However, those same deformities had given Exedore a razor-sharp intelligence and capacity for understanding and intuitive logic that made him the best of the advisor caste of the Zentraedi. "Our finder beam has locked onto this planet."
"I know sir and it is clear that the people here have some knowledge of robotechnology," Exedore replied, "our sensors confirm the existence of reflex power generators aboard many of the vessels though they have been augmented in some way that I do not yet understand."
"Augmented?" Breetai asked.
"Yes, commander there is something present that is massively amplifying the power output of their reflex furnaces. It is clearly visible on an automatic analysis of their power emissions, though what this source is I am not sure. We are also detecting the presence of defensive energy shields on many of the ships and on the satellite weapons platforms – the configuration of the shield matrix so I cannot tell you how strong the shields would be."
"Given how advanced these beings seem to be they could have learned a great deal from Zor's ship if it is indeed here," Breetai commented.
"Indeed commander. We need to know that for certain and we cannot do that from here."
"Indeed," Breetai agreed frowning thoughtfully at the holographic displays floating in their projector fields, considering his options and evaluating what he could about the unknowns' capabilities from their sensor data. I need more information, and we need to know if Zor's ship is here. There is only one way I am going to get that, he thought.
Calmly he stepped forward and touched one of the scope-like communications panels. "Dispatch a scout team," he ordered, "they are to approach the unknown's planet and attempt to learn if our quarry is indeed here. They are not to engage the unknowns unless fired upon first."
"Yes commander."
For a few more moments nothing happened then slowly, carefully three smaller vessels broke away from the main body of the fleet and began slowly moving towards the distant blue marble of Earth. Sensor beams reached out seeking the information that their commanding officer had requested for them to find as they moved with a predatory grace towards the planet…
…and a date with destiny.
Authors Note: Well, another chapter bites the metaphorical dust, I hope you all enjoyed it. And now we have come to what I am sure you have all been waiting for the beginning of this take on the First Robotech War. How the war starts this time – will it be the SDF-1 opening fire or someone else – you will have to wait and see all I am willing to say now is that the war will indeed start. A war that is going to be harder on both sides than either yet realizes or understands. Until next time.