//------------------------------// // Chapter 2; Assessment // Story: Robotech; a new world // by Fireheart 1945 //------------------------------// The first thing Captain Gloval noticed, once he was able to think straight and see clearly, was that the bridge was dark. He supposed that was to be expected; the jump would have taken quite a bit of energy. "Let's have some light in here," he ordered. A dull, red glow swept across the cabin. "Switching to backup generators, sir," Claudia said; oddly enough, she sounded calm, given the anxiety she had shown before the fold. She flicked a switch. The cabin was thankfully bathed in normal lighting. "Radar shows an extremely large object just beneath us, sir," Vanessa said seriously. "Our jump target was the moon, that's what your large object is," the Captain replied. "No, it's too small to be the moon, sir. I'll put it on the monitor screen for you. She hit a few buttons. Gloval and Vanessa gasped. A massive white object could be seen... coming straight for the SDF-1. "It's coming at us!" Vanessa said, panicking. "No, we're moving toward it." Everyone looked at the screen. Something seemed awfully familiar about the object. Vanessa got it first; "It's Macross Island, Captain Gloval!" Gloval wasted no time. "Retro rockets, Claudia! Maximum thrust!" Claudia tried some of the controls. "It's no go, I'm getting no response whatsoever from the computer!" "Emergency, emergency! Prepare for impact, prepare for impact!" Lisa sounded over the ship's speakers. "It's covered with ice, Captain", said Sammy, just before the ship hit. There was a thundering, deafening crash; just about everyone standing was knocked down as the SDF-1 slid across the icy surface, wrecking every building in it's path before coming to a stop. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- On the planet below, Twilight Sparkle gasped as she saw the two objects collide. She had no idea what she was looking at, only that it was new and had probably never before been seen in Equestrian history. She also knew she had to report to the Princess as quickly as possible. "Spike! Spike!" She called out. Now was no time to sleep. Presently the purple dragon walked downstairs. "What is it, Twilight?" He sounded cranky. "There's no time. Spike, take a letter." "At this time of night?" "Just do it!" she said in an imperious tone. Then, seeing she had hurt his feelings, she continued, "I'll let you sleep in come morning." "Okay, okay." Spike got out a quill, some paper, and an ink glass. Twilight cleared her voice, then began; Dear Princess Celestia, I have observed something that I doubt has ever been seen before. I saw a white flash in the sky, one that could have eclipsed the moon had it gone on for long. It subsided quickly. However, upon getting out my telescope and looking at the skies where I saw the flash, I noticed two objects that hadn't been there before. They ended up colliding with each other, and the smaller object had been obscured; maybe it was destroyed in the crash? In any case, I felt the need to warn you in case you hadn't seen it. I doubt it could be dangerous, but I just wanted to be sure. Your faithful student, Twilight Sparkle. Spike looked a bit more awake now. "What do you think it is, Twilight?" "I have no idea, but I intend to find out. Now, send that letter." Spike gathered himself and blasted the letter with magic fire, sending it on it's way. "Good. Now, we just have to wait." Twilight went back to her telescope. However, she wasn't able to keep looking through it long; she heard a loud belch, and Spike came rushing upstairs, clutching a letter marked with the royal seal. He handed it to Twilight, who opened it and read; My faithful student Twilight Sparkle, I too saw the bright flash, and saw the crash through a better telescope than anyone else in Equestria (not to mention the fact that Luna went crazy, think I was pulling some sort of trick). And what I saw does give me worry. First off, the larger object appears very much like an island, surrounded by icy waters. I cannot be certain, but I think I could see buildings on it. As for the smaller object... It was clearly not made naturally. It looked like nothing less than a great ship, flying through the stars. They weren't there before the flash, which leads me to speculate that they were brought here by some force currently unknown to us. The ship did collide with the frozen island-like object, and I regret to have seen several buildings destroyed. I can also see a strange phenomonon; as I continue to look through the glass, I can see small flashes and beams of light criss-cross over the apparent wreck, as if there is a battle in the beautiful stars far away. I am not sure who, or what, is responsible for this event; however, I do know that we shall find out in short order. Princess Luna had agreed to examine the wreck and determine if there is any danger to Equestria, or the world, for that matter. I'll send another message soon. In the meantime - or, rather, in the morning - gather the bearers of the Elements of Harmony, and tell them what you have seen and what I've told you. Be brave, my faithful student. Sincerely, Princess Celestia. Twilight sat there, taking a moment to comprehend what she had read. "Cool..." said Spike. "Hey Twilight, do you think we'll meet space ponies?" Twilight shook her head, though only to clear her mind. "I don't know. It does seem as if there is a space... ship, thing, out there, on that space island. I guess we'll find out what it is in due course." ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ "We just shot down the last enemy battlepod, sir," Sammy reported. "Very good." That was one thing out of Captain Gloval's hair. Kim reported something good as well; "The civilian refugees from the shelters are being brought on board now, sir, and the medics report they're in good shape." "Thank you Kim." The SDF-1 had started brining the civilians from Macross Island on board; the shelters had been thick enough to protect them from the cold vacumn of space. "Any contact with headquarters yet?" he asked Claudia. "No, Captain, I've tried, but I haven't been able to raise them." Claudia was sounding nervous again; given that they had just crashed into Macross Island (again), that was justified. "Are you sure there's no system malfunction?" asked Sammy. "Negative," Claudia replied. "None at all, it's operating perfectly." Vanessa turned her head in the Captain's direction. "Give me the reading on our position." Gloval felt that something was dreadfully wrong. He was proved right shortly. Vanessa looked a the readout, then, with a tone of intense worry, said, "I... I don't think we're in Earth orbit." The look on her face changed to one of sheer terror. "Captain, the computer has calculated that we're 8,750 light years from Earth." "What!?!" Gloval was incredulous. So were the bridge crew; there were gasps everywhere. "It can't be? I was against this fold system all along!" Claudia said, over the consternation of the other bridge officers. "Captain?" asked Lisa. Sammy and Kin started to panic. "Now, now, settle down, don't panic. All we have to do is refold to get right back where we started." Captain Gloval was as scared as any of the bridge crew, but knew he had to set an example for them. "There's absolutely nothing to worry about." "I hope not Captain" Lisa said quietly in response. Suddenly the phone on the bridge rang. Growling, wondering what could possibly have gone wrong now, he picked it up. "Yes..?" he said. The news he heard was shocking; "What!?! It can't be! Impossible. I'll be right there." He set down the phone and groaned. Then he fixed his hat and made to leave the bridge. "Captain?" asked Lisa again. "What's happened?" Gloval stopped walking and turned. "Chief Engineer Lang tells me the fold system has vanished into thin air!" The bridge officers gasped, then made despairing noises. "Sir..." Lisa began. "...Did you say... vanished?" "That's what he told me." The Captain walked out the door, desperately hoping that Lang was wrong. The women on the bridge fell into despair; "We'll never get back!" "Oh no!" Sammy and Kim started crying. -------------------------------------------------- It turned out Lang had been correct; the fold system had vanished, almost as if it had never been. Captain Gloval felt like ripping his hair out when he returned to the bridge. Without the fold system, the ship could travel for a lifetime, and never cross a fraction of the distance to Earth, if the computer's estimates were anywhere near correct. As he contemplated what to do next, his thoughts were interrupted by Vanessa. "Captain, I've detected a planet very close by; in fact, we're in it's outer orbit." "Bring it up on the monitor." Vanessa proceeded to do so. Everyone gasped yet again. One the screen was a blue and green planet, looking very similar to Earth. Yet it was different from Earth. The land masses were different shapes and sizes from their counterparts on Earth, and in different areas. A large landmass dominated about a third of the world, stretching almost from one pole to the other. However, the planet looked to be about the same size as Earth. A satellite very much like the moon was visible.* "Hmmm." Captain Gloval thought to himself for a moment. "Send a team down to assess the planet, it's our best hope for survival. If it's inhabitable, we can set down there and try to repair the fold system, if it's possible." "And what if it's not, Captain?" Lisa asked. "...In that case, that planet has become our new home." Gloval sounded glum. The civilian population was not going to like hearing that, but it would be true. Gloval went to his quarters, and presently returned to the bridge with a small, but powerful telescope that had been a gift from his father. He extended it to it's full length and, bringing it to his eye, turned it toward the planet. Again, it looked so much like Earth. He could see clouds moving across the skies, though in one large area, he could see that they seemed almost.. orderly. That was interesting. "Scans seem to show an Earth-like atmosphere," Vanessa began railing off. "It's breathable down there. Plenty of water, if we need it. Primitive radio transmissions, at least compared to Robotechnology." "Radio transmissions?" Gloval asked. "Like, as in communications?" Vanessa looked at her reading again. "I can't be one hundred percent sure, but I'd say that's what they are. Not very many of them, and almost all of them are located on on continent, the one in view right now." "...Interesting. Continue." "Seems there's life down there; scans seem to detect a considerable amount of it. Possible mineral deposits; we won't lack materials to repair and rebuild." The bridge officer paused. "Well?" Lisa demanded. "My scanner must be on the fritz; the sun is much too small and too close to the planet for this kind of biosphere to exist!" "That can't be right, check again," Lisa told her. Vanessa reset the scanners. "It's telling me the same story. The sun appears to be giving off a considerable amount of energy for its size; it's not much bigger than the moon, but it's giving life to the planet below." "That's impossible; how would it failed to collapse and turn into a red dwarf thousands of years ago!?" "I don't know. If you don't trust me, look for yourself!" Lisa did. "Hmmm, she's not wrong, that's exactly what the scanners are telling us. Must be a bug. No star that size could exist." "Let's forget that for now," Gloval said. "We have a lot to do." ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Gloval had plenty to put the information from the scanners out of his head within the next few days. "I don't know what happened exactly, but our first priority is to get the civilians on board the ship as soon as we can!" He put down the phone he had been using. He walked over to Lisa and Claudia. "Well?" he asked. "Captain, I can't seem to raise either the Daedalus or the Prometheus on any channel," Lisa said, concern filling her voice. As she said this, Claudia announced, "Nothing on the Icarus."* "It doesn't look good" Lisa continued. "Hmmm. I see. That's bad." Captain Gloval looked outside the window, where the two large naval ships were floating in space. "They're aircraft carriers. They weren't built for outer space! What a catastrophe!" He turned to Lisa. "Commander Hayes, order a squadron of rescue vehicles to bring the carriers alongside the ship." "Uh huh." Lisa sounded a little out of it. "I'm surprised; Captain is it more important to link up with them than with ARMD 1 or 2?" Gloval nodded. "I believe their onboard weapons should still be operating." "I hope it works, Captain." "It must be done quickly "That's for sure," Claudia added. Gloval walked to the window. "All those lives lost and property destroyed; how could I be so stupid?" He turned to the bridge crew. "We will have to get those shelters onboard and begin salvaging at once." --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Fortunately, it didn't take too long to get all this done, although Gloval had had to deal with near mutiny when he refused Roy Fokker's demand to go searching for Rick Hunter, who had gone missing. Roy had been incensed; "Aye aye, Captain, whatever you say; I'm sure that seventy thousand civilians are a whole lot more important than my friend!" The Captain hadn't faced such insubordination since he had taken command of the SDF-1, but he didn't bust Roy Fokker for it. He did send Roy out as part of force that would recon the new planet. Roy was still upset and nervous; so far, nobody had seen either hide or hair of Rick or Minmay. However, he had his orders, though it took everything he had to obey them. Along with a Cat's Eye reconnaissance vessel and a few of his fellow pilots from Skull Squadron, he was currently descending into the northern hemisphere of the planet. They flew down out of the clouds; for the first time, they could see the ground. "Looks a lot like Earth, sir," one pilot quipped. "Yeah, like Earth's long lost sister," said another. "It looks a lot like Earth, but stay sharp. For all we know, those aliens could still be out there." Roy wasn't going to let discipline or awareness slip just because the surface of this world looked like home. He had to admit, though, it was breathtaking. "Cat's Eye to Skull Leader, come in, over." The recon ship's commander radioed Roy. "Skull Leader to Cat's Eye, what's new, over." "Don't look now, but I... I think I see a... castle, I guess you'd say, over on that mountain way up ahead." Roy squinted; sure enough, in the distance, he could see what appeared to be a white castle, on the side of a small mountain. "Sir! I think I can see something flying up ahead!" one of Skull Squadron's pilots cried out. "This is Skull Leader, what do you see?" "I'm... not sure, sir, but those clouds... look like a giant, flying city." "That's what so important!? Some random cloud formatio..." Roy looked. Indeed, the clouds up ahead really did resemble a city; so much, in fact, that it was hard to believe it was anything else. "...Well, I have to admit, it does..." Again, something he saw made Roy stop talking. He could see various... things flying around ahead, in and through the city-shaped cloud. The commander on the Cat's Eye interrupted his thoughts; "Skull Leader, base is telling us to see if your squadron can land and explore on foot, over." Roy snapped himself out of it. "This is Skull Leader, I read you loud and clear." He switched to his squadron. "Boys, were gonna go take a look around closer to the ground. be on the look out for anything suspicious." "Yes sir," the men chorused. Skull Squadron took a dive, coming up a maybe a thousand feet from the ground. "Sir!" "Yes, what now?" "Sir, I can see a town, for real, this time, down below and to our left." Roy looked down; what he saw was unmistakable; a small town, with a large farm off to the side. "Roger. Skull Two, I'm going down for a closer look." "Are you sure that's wise sir? It could belong to those aliens who attacked Earth." "...No, it can't be. I can tell these people, whoever or whatever they are, don't have the technology to even get into orbit, much less man ships with Robotechnology. I'm gonna land." Then, when the pilot onscreen still looked nervous, he added, "I'm not going far from the plane, and remember, I'm armed." That was technically true; he did carry a service pistol. However, compared to his Veritech fighter, it was a mere peashooter. Roy flew over the village; he could see what he first thought were the inhabitants. Then he was able to get a glimpse of them. He shook his head in wonder. There were dozens, even hundreds of small horse-like lifeforms in the streets. They all had various colors in their coats, and some were pulling wagons; he could have sworn one was managing a stand, then he shook his head again. How could a race of horses have the know-how to operate a stand? He couldn't see any of the planet's inhabitants, just what he believed to be their colorful pets. He thought to himself. Maybe the aliens' traditions stated that they had to be in their houses during the day, and they let their horse-like pets out during this time. He saw a farm with a big red barn up ahead; he would set down in the field not too far from it. As he started to land, he noticed a blue blur fast approaching. Roy pulled the lever for Guardian mode, and the fighter transformed. The plane began to hover as he killed it's forward thrust. Before he could actually land, however, the blue thing had caught up to him. It was now staring at him through the cockpit. Roy marveled the thing infront of him; it was another one of those horse-things, with a cyan coat and a rainbow-colored mane. It was about the size of a Shetland pony back on Earth, maybe a little larger. It's hooves, if that's what were at the end of it's legs, were the same color as the rest of it's body, and he thought he could see a mark or tattoo of sorts on it's flank. It tilted it's head as it caught sight of him. He waved at it. It started, then flew off at a surprising speed for it's size. Wow, I wish my old barnstormer could accelerate that quickly. He set the plane down on it's "legs" and killed the engine. He had landed dead center of the field. He opened the cockpit and stepped outside (exiting on the left side of the cockpit) before he realized how stupid that had been; for all he knew, this planet could have lacked oxygen. It turned out the air was breathable, though; he hadn't fully trusted the briefing Lisa had given him, and what pilot would, in this situation? He took off his helmet and looked at his surroundings. Yep, this was a farm, as old-fashioned as one could hope to see. There was an orchard off to his right and to the front of the plane; to his left was the big barn, and a house not far from it. He could see the town, no very far away; he could probably have walked there in twenty minutes easily. However, what really took him in was how peaceful this planet seemed; it looked as if war hadn't even been invented. To someone who had had a lifetime of war, this place seemed second only to Heaven. He looked away from the town, and saw an orange horse-alien approaching in the distance. Roy squinted again; Is that a stetson hat?! As he shook his head he could see that leading it was the blue alien that had hovered infront of his Veritech; it seemed to be leading it's orange companion and a large, red-coated alien that resembled the ones alongside it; it had tan hooves and a matching mane, and a long muzzle. As he watched, the blue alien flapped it's wing and flew a few feet in the air. It then turned to it's companions, lifting a hoof in an unmistakable gesture to stop. They did so. Then the blue horse flew away at an unbelievable speed. What is it up to now? ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "Twilight! Twilight!" Rainbow Dash flew through Ponyville, looking for her scholarly friend. Suddenly she slammed into somepony. She and the other victim tumbled for a ways before coming to a crashing halt. Rainbow rubbed her head, then looked at who she had crashed into; by insane luck, she had run right smack into the very pony she had been looking for. Twilight groaned, then picked herself up; she had been reading something when Rainbow had hit her. "Twilight, thank Celestia! You have to come, quick!" Twilight looked at the excited pegasus. "What's so important, Rainbow Dash?" "There's this flying thing, that landed at Sweet Apple Acres, and some... thing came out of it. It's..." "Oh, that must have been that flying machine I saw earlier." True to what the Princess had told her, she had alerted her friends about the apparent ship in the skies. This was the first time since then, however, that something had occurred to remind them of a possible alien incursion. "Where exactly did it land?" "Over in the cornfield.." Twilight focused her magic, which enveloped her and Rainbow Dash, and in a flash of purple light, they had vanished. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The red and orange aliens had continued their approach after their blue friend had disappeared. Roy felt slightly nervous. He couldn't see the owners of the equine lifeforms anywhere, and he didn't know if they were friendly. As they walked in his direction, he was struck by an absurd thought; what if these aliens were sentient? They had already demonstrated a high level of intelligence. He shook his head. Let's not start getting crazy ideas... There was a flash of purple light; Roy flinched and raised an arm to shield himself, but the light vanished as quickly as it had come. He looked up, and saw the blue alien from before, now leaning from side to side as if dazed, with a violet... Is... Is that a unicorn? The notion was strange, but here it was, a real, live unicorn (or unicorn-like alien), standing right in front of him. It was amazing. For a few seconds everything was quiet, except for the sound of the red and orange aliens' hoofbeats as they finally arrived. The purple equine stared at him, although he could only see honest curiosity in it's gaze. Then it blinked and coughed. "Ummm... hi?" "Guh!" Roy took a step back. "What the heck's going on here?" Did that... thing really just speak to me? "Oh, I'm sorry! Did I startle you?" There! It just did it again! Roy scrambled onto the Veritech's left wing; he had fought many battles in his day, had shot down well over a hundred enemy pilots, but this was something altogether unfamiliar and strange. It unnerved him where the most intense dogfight wouldn't. "Wait, don't go!" Roy jumped into the pilot's seat, replaced his helmet back on his head, and started the fighter's engines. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Twilight and company watched, amazed, as the machine's feet glowed blue, and it lifted off. Then to the astonishment of everypony present, it transformed from a bipedal form to a streamlined vehicle. Rainbow tensed, then lowered herself, preparing to spring, to give chase to the alien flying machine and it's pilot. Before she could, Applejack grabbed hold of her tail with her mouth. "Hey!" The cyan pegasus turned around, irritated. "Sorry sugarcube, but ah don't think it's a good idea to follow that thing. Who knows what it can do?" Twilight attempted to grab the object in her magic out of instinct. As it's engines built up, she was surprised at how hard it was to maintain a hold of it in her magical grasp. "Sugarcube, ya sure that's a good idea?" The violet unicorn thought about that... for about half a second. By now, the energy required to keep a hold of the machine was immense, and while she could have kept it up, she realized that holding onto a piece of military hardware, as this appeared to be, would not reflect well upon the aliens. She released it. The vehicle sped away at great speed, with a deafening roar as it flew away. Twilight was surprised at how fast it flew. It turned and flew in the direction from which it had first approached Ponyville, leaving a trail of white smoke behind it. Twilight looked in the direction of the retreating flying machine. "...This is definitely going to make an interesting letter to the Princess."