Robotech; a new world

by Fireheart 1945

Chapter 4; Recon

The recon plane, escorted by Skull Squadron, lowered itself into the planet's orbit.

The first reason for the mission wasn't too difficult to understand; the recon plane would try to find radio frequencies in order to get in touch with a native government. They had radio; that much was clear from a number of intercepts.

It shouldn't be difficult; they would be flying over the continent they had landed on previously, repeatedly sending out the same message over and over again, asking for a meeting on the ground

The second part of the mission involved looking for uninhabited areas of the planet to potentially set the SDF-1 down on and start to build a city.

There was a problem; the SDF was designed as a military spacecraft, not a colony ship. It didn't have the necessary resources to permanently maintain a civilian population; given the epic failures that had occurred when the ship had tried to operate (such as the anti-gravity generators breaking free from the SDF-1 instead of lifting it and the fold jump that had landed them impossibly far from home), Captain Gloval didn't think it safe to keep the ship full of non-military personnel. Who knew what other surprises this ship had in store, benign, deadly, or otherwise?

That wasn't the only problem; food would be a problem soon. Construction was already underway for a hydroponics farm, but that would take a while, and the ship's food and beverage supply, meant for a crew of roughly 16,000, would soon drain with the addition of 70,000 more people unless very strict rationing was introduced, along with a water filtration system to recycle water. While SDF-1 could maintain the current population for a while, it would badly need new supplies of food.

Room wasn't a particular problem; the ship was over three-fourths of a mile long at some 1,200 meters and 496 meters wide. It could potentially house a city... key word, 'potentially.'

Gloval had decided against just going in and establishing a base; that could be seen as aggressive, and while the SDF-1 undoubtedly packed more firepower than anything the natives possessed, going to war when they didn't have to would deplete ammunition stocks rapidly. Besides, they were in the middle of who-knows-where in space, and they had to keep weapons ready in case of an alien assault. The previous encounter hadn't been particularly violent, and so perhaps the native rulers might be willing to negotiate to allow a new city to be built and for food and water to be brought in.

Recon One was currently flying in orbit, broadcasting the message Gloval had spoken. And Roy was sitting in his plane, still steamed over Gloval's refusal to try and find Rick. He still obeyed orders, but he couldn't help but boil beneath the surface.

Calm down, stay on mission. Anything could happen. What happens... happens.

--------------------------------------------------

"Hmm," Barrel Buster said, listening to the radio.

"What's up, chief?" a gray mare in the studio asked.

"We've been monitoring those strange radio signals for a while now."

"Anything new?"

"Yeah. For the past twenty minutes, a voice in our language."

"Could you make it out?"

"I'm struggling to hear them properly; their radio, whoever they are, is better than ours I'd guess. Are our astronomers keeping an eye on the objects that came out of the big one?"

"Yes, telescopes are focused on the region of sky where they've been flying, and have been continuing to move with them."

Barrel's tan, shod hoof came down on the counter; he noted that he'd have to replace the nails for his horseshoes soon.

"Anything interesting?"

"It's all interesting, given it's clearly aliens."

"What do you have for Us?"

Barrel turned to see Princess Luna, the Guardian of the Night and one of the Diarchs, standing not far behind him. "Your Majesty..."

"Do not worry yourself with any royal flattery or greeting, Subject. We are here to check that yon device is working, and what it has picked up so far."

"Yes, Your Highness. It seems to just be broadcasting a single message, but we can't quite make it out yet."

"'Tis interesting indeed. Any indications that they will attack us?"

"No, they seem... wait a minute, there's a broadcast coming in... frequency equivalent to WQ-1857 on our own radio system. We can hear the message perfectly."

"And prithee tell, what does it say?"

"I've got it," a red stallion elsewhere in the room said. "'This is an automated message. Request meeting, with national leadership if possible, outside town of first contact. Urgent that we meet." His eyes narrowed. "'Latitude... Longitude...'" he said, quickly writing down the coordinates. "'We come in peace. This message will repeat.'"

"What are the coordinates, Strawberry Punch?" Luna asked.

"Just outside Ponyville, a little to the south away from the town."

"I had expected Ponyville to be the place they were talking about," Luna nodded. "And it makes sense they'd want to meet us somewhat outside the town, away from onlookers. Can we reply?"

"Yes, but we only have one transmitter here. Our radio is also not up to theirs, so they might not hear us."

"Use said transmitter. Transmit on the same channel as our guests. It may be that they can hear us, or something of our message, and make proper conclusions. Continue repeating our message every so often, as they are."

"Er, what should I say?"

"'Request acknowledged and received. Accepted, willing to meet tomorrow at 7 AM at coordinates indicated.'"

"Alright," Strawberry said. He began tuning to the same frequency as the outsiders were using.

"What are they doing up there?" Barrel wondered quietly.

"We do not know, but We will find out, and soon."

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

"'Request acknowledged and received. Accepted, willing to meet tomorrow at 7 AM at coordinates indicated.' Got it, ma'am."

"Well, we got a response, and sooner than expected," Lisa noted. "Get me Captain Gloval."

"We've received the natives' response," Gloval said almost at once. "Thank you for backing it up, Lisa."

"You're welcome, sir. Should we withdraw?"

"Not quite yet. I want you to look for any good land spots."

"Sir, without satellite coverage, that will be difficult. An AWACS is built for monitoring battles and radio, not long distance sight-seeing."

"Still, do your best. We've been in the same location in orbit, and as such the other side of the planet may have appropriate landing sites that we can't see."

"Yes, sir."

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

"This planet seems to become more strange by the day," Gloval said as the transmission faded.

"No kidding," Claudia agreed. "There's an optical illusion that makes it look like the sun is orbiting the planet, instead of the other way around!"

"Hmm. Either our eyes and sensors are malfunctioning, or there is another solution."

"Perhaps the natives aren't as primitive as we think they are?"

"Perhaps. It's not out of the question."

"If they have Robotechnology... perhaps it's not an illusion...

"...I doubt it. Their radio signals are very weak compared to ours, and they haven't sent up any sort of interception, hostile or friendly."

"Still..."

"Yes. Perhaps this planet has secrets beyond what we're seeing. That possibility troubles me."

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

"I would have liked it if you had waited for me," Celestia said.

"The opportunity was upon us, dear Sister," Luna answered, "And We took advantage of it. If I recall, we are equal Diarchs of Equestria, and as such We have as much right as you to initiate diplomacy."

Celestia bit back the retort she'd been thinking of; Luna was right, of course. And the Solar Princess had no intention of infringing upon her sister's prerogatives again, not after Nightmare Moon.

"I didn't say I thought you wrong," she replied. "I only wish you had let me be part of it. I have considerable experience with diplomacy, and let's not forget that we are dealing with a first contact scenario with an unknown alien species."

"Aliens or not, they contacted us with peaceful terms."

"I know. But I'm still anxious about the aircraft they had surveying us. Perhaps they still come in peace, but I want to know what it was doing."

"That did not escape Our mind. According to Our radio technicians, it seems that the aircraft was what was broadcasting the message, not the main vessel."

Celestia paced in front of her throne for a few minutes.

"What would you have Us do, Sister?"

Celetia stopped and turned. "I would like to initiate another broadcast, directly to their ship. Ask them what they are doing before we meet them."

"We see this as reasonable. Perhaps we can learn more from Our guests. For some odd reason, we seem to speak the same language."

"An oddity indeed. Still, it makes negotiation and diplomacy much easier. After lunch today, we'll have the workers of the facility that picked up their broadcast answer some questions, along with Twilight and her friends."

"We pray the news is good."

-----------------------------------------------------------------

"No, we picked up no threats or hostilities from them," Strawberry Punch said, looking nervous. "They only wanted to meet."

"Did they give any other messages after Luna gave you her own to transmit?" Celestia asked.

"Just a brief, "Acknowledged," a few times after a couple minutes of repeating our own transmission."

"Thank you." Celestia turned to Twilight, who was to the right of Strawberry, on the Solar Princess' left. "I know you've written me a letter about the incident, by trusted student, but can you describe the encounter to me directly?"

"I first saw a bunch of flying machines above the town. I wanted to examine them, but I'm not a flier, and at the speed they were travelling, it would have been dangerous to teleport onto them. So I made a note of it, hoping to get a better look later. Rainbow Dash then saw the alien and their machine land."

"Not too much to tell," the blue pegasus said, hoof scratching the back of her neck. "I saw this metal bird-thing landing at Sweet Apple Acres, so I sped to get a better look at it. The thing inside it must have seen me, because the thing went from being a flying triangle to looking like... I don't know, half bird, half griffon or diamond dog, with fists coming out of it, one of them looking like it was holding a thingy that looked like one of those matchlock guns the griffons invented."

"So it was armed, apparently," Celestia noted, nodding. "Please continue."

"It was hovering, and I stopped in front of the glass the alien was under. I looked at it for a minute, then sped away to tell Applejack and her family about it."

"Can ah speak mah part?" Applejack asked, stepping forward, nailed-on horseshoes clanking against the floor.

Celestia nodded. "Of course, Applejack."

"Well, me an' Big Macintosh were workin' in our fields - he was pullin' a plow, ah was buckin' the trees - when we heard some kind o'... noise, like screamin' but not screamin', if ya get me. Rainbow Dash tells us 'bout what she done seen an' we all trotted over ta have a gander. Dash tells us ta stop after we first laid eyes on it, and then flew away ta git Twi on over."

"I flew over to tell Twilight," Rainbow continued. "I told her about it, and she teleported us both over... and nearly made me lose my lunch in the process."

"Sorry," the purple unicorn apologized. "Anyway, the alien was out of its machine by that time. I tried to greet it, but it -panicked. I tried to apologize, but it - he, rather, the voice sounded male - got into his machine."

"Ah bit Rainbow's tail ta stop her from attackin' the thing," Applejack interjected. "If it could fly and hold stuff, what else could it do?"

Rainbow gave Applejack a look, but said nothing.

Twilight's face turned somewhat red. "It's then that I got... a bit excited. I wanted to talk to him, to know everything I could. I tried to hold the machine down with my magic, but it was too powerful; I would have probably died after a few more seconds of holding onto it, and I was weak on energy for the rest of the day due to the strain of trying to hold it down."

"What gave you the impression that trying to hold it down was a good idea?" Luna asked, lifting one eyebrow.

"I... wanted to know. About the alien. About its culture. About its machine. About... well, everything. Thankfully, Applejack talked me out of trying to hold it down, and I let go. It sped into the sky, transformed back into a triangle, and out of sight."

"I understand the desire for knowledge, dear Twilight," Celestia said, her eyes and voice firm. "There's a reason I opened a school for gifted unicorns. But there's no excuse for meddling with a vehicle you know nothing about. You could have killed yourself with the exertion required to keep it down, and that's if it didn't have some means of attacking you."

"I know," Twilight said, head and eyes downcast. "I'm sorry. I wasn't thinking reasonably at the time."

"No, you were not. And the alien probably told his superiors about what you did, which could be seen as an attack or as an attempt to arrest this individual, which may prove a negative weight in the scales when we do communicate face to face with them." Celestia's face then softened. "However, as I said, I understand the desire for knowledge, and I can't help but envy your first-hoof witness to the event. I only ask that you think, even in the heat of the moment, before you do something that drastic again."

"I will, Princess, I promise."

"Very good. Now, for what Luna and I know about our visitors. Sister?"

"We were able to get into the dreams of one of their soldiers," Luna announced. "The visitors have technology far beyond our own, and have been in battle before. While We were not able to get as many details as We would like, We do know that they are armed and prepared for battle. We saw the soldier piloting a vehicle that more or less matches the description you've given us. The weapon you saw it carry would likely have a very high rate of fire, and the craft carry missiles that are able to hone in on their targets and are highly destructive."

"They also sent a large aircraft over our skies yesterday," Celestia noted. "They were transmitting a message saying they would like to meet outside of the 'town of first contact,' which can only mean Ponyville, and that such a meeting was 'urgent,' though they came in peace."

"Ooh, I am so excited!" Pinkie said, starting to bounce. "We'll have cakes, cookies, ice cream, and the biggest party ever!"

"Your enthusiasm is well-noted, Pinkie Pie, but this will be a private and quiet occasion," Celestia said, at which the pink pony's mane deflated.

"Do we know if they're lying about coming in peace?" Rarity asked.

"We personally doubt it," Luna replied. "The soldier whose dream We were in didn't seem to want war. That being said, one point of view does not mean that the visitors as a whole aren't hostile as a national entity or military. Sadly, Our Guards, being armed primarily with spears, swords, and personal armor are probably no match for them in combat without magic, and We don't think that we would be able to repel the enemy without the strongest magic. Even then victory would not be guaranteed; the visitors' weapons may be able to overpower our magic. We both hope they are friendly, or at least neutral if not friendly, we cannot be certain. We'll try to entertain more of their dreams tonight in hopes of gaining further intelligence, but that may or may not prove futile."

"We have no reliable way of reaching them to negotiate," Celestia added. "Our space technology is..." She hesitated. "Almost nonexistent. I'll be the first to admit that Equestria has been lackluster when it comes to technological progress in the past couple centuries. Now it's possible we'll pay for our complacency. However, I have hopes they desire peace; Luna's experience in one of their dreams, along with their request for a peaceful meeting, seem to imply a desire for peaceful negotiations. We'll still rally what forces we have in case they intend violence, but we won't commit to conflict unless they begin it."

"Will we have Guards at the site of the meeting?" Twilight asked.

"We will have Shining Armor and two other hoof-picked Guards with us, but I intend to teleport us away if things go sour rather than fight then and there. There will be a garrison of about a hundred more Guards on the outskirts of Ponyville itself, but not nearly close enough to threaten the visitors. The horns of the unicorns and alicorns within our negotiating body will have to suffice if violence breaks out"

"Can we contact them again?" Rarity asked. "Can we send a message to their ship directly?"

Celestia thought about it for a moment. "While I can send messages through Spike, I don't think I have the range to send a letter to their ship. And space is, to put it bluntly, vast. If I missed the ship, the message, assuming they could even understand our written language, would likely never be found." She turned her head slightly. "Strawberry, can our radios reach them?"

"I doubt it," the red stallion replied. "We had trouble reaching the aircraft that flew over us, and that was closer to us than the big ship is."

"All the same, please try," the Solar Princess said, to which the radiopony nodded.

One of the Guards at the throne room door banged his spear on the floor. "Your Majesties, Prince Shining Armor from the Crystal Empire has arrived."

"Show him in," Celestia answered.

The gigantic doors opened. Shining Armor and four other Guards walked through, fully armored and with swords at their sides. Twilight and her friends made room as the Guards made their way to the princesses.

Shining halted in front of the throne and saluted. "Shining Armor and company, reporting for duty."

"Welcome, Captain," Celestia answered. "You've been briefed about the current situation?"

"Yes, your letter about Luna's dream and... recent events was quite clear. Although you said I might have to be updated by the time I arrived?"

"Yes, I advise you to speak with Princess Luna and with Twilight after this meeting is over. In any event, I want you to take a company of Guards to protect Ponyville in the distant case that hostilities break out, then pick the two who are the most disciplined and come with us to the meeting with the visitors."

Shining touched a hoof to his armored chest. "Consider it done. I'll send the order right away, and pick the Guards before they even leave the palace."

"Very good. Make sure to keep all forces on alert just in case, but don't provoke the visitors."

"Should we consider mobilization?"

Celestia thought about it, but came to a conclusion rather quickly. "I don't think we will have time to mobilize. For one, if the visitors are here to invade, we won't have a front line with which to hold them off as we transition from peace-time to war; from space, they have the ability to pick and choose their targets. They would probably attack and destroy any training centers we set up. For another, I do not think the visitors wish to engage in hostilities. But draft an order for mobilization even so, just in case the meeting goes sour."

"Got it."

"Strawberry, you may return to your regular duties. The rest of you are to prepare for the meeting with the visitors."

As the other ponies began walking out of the room, Luna turned her head to look as her fellow Diarch. "Sister, WE must admit, We are worried."

"As am I. But we have hope that the visitors can be spoken to and reasoned with. While we do what we can in case the worst hits, we stay true to harmony and attempt friendly communication with them."

"Assuming they're here peaceably, what would they want? We doubt they're here purely for altruistic reasons, as nice as that would be. Do they want land? Crops? Tribute? Our help in dealing with a bigger foe? Is this a trade mission? There are far too many unknowns about the situations for Us to be certain that we are doing the right thing."

"I admit that the unknown variables in this sudden equation do make me anxious," Celestia replied, looking at the floor in deep thought. After a few minutes, she lifted her head and faced her sister. "I think we've done the best we can under the circumstances. Now we wait, meet the visitors, and find out what they want. May it play out as the Creator intends."

Author's Note:

My apologies for this taking years.

I admit that deleting most of this story (without backups) was a major misfire on my part. I got a lot of the stuff I feel uncomfortable about (like introductions) out of the way, then got a decent (thought not perfect) story going. I royally messed up on that one

I also decided that the remake, where SDF-1 arbitrarily tries to build a base in unknown territory was also a bad idea. Sadly, it's only recently that Robotech has at all gotten a bit back into me. I hope this version of the chapter fixes the problem (I know that the airplane going through low orbit is still a bit problematic given that no native government gave them permission to be up there or to look for suitable places to land), but I didn't think of what else to do. SDF-1 is still streaming through the wreckage of Macross City and trying to recover other military stuff (like the ships it inadvertently brought with it).

Comments

[Jigoku Luna]

I'm happy to see this story again!

[GhostCreator]

How it is alive!?
2012.
More than a decade passed and it was resurected!
IF only more would follow in this step.

[JDunk1971]

Mein Gott, it lives!

[Alex Warlorn]

Robotech lives.

[Cross Lament]

Remember to keep the earth ponies (and especially Pinkie) away from the Protoculture.

[Helljumper206]

Man been a long time. I remember you having more to this story and was going to reread some of it but saw it mostly gone. It was saddening to see. Seeing you going back to this makes me happy to see what you can make again.

[Fireheart 1945]

11597073

Remember to keep the earth ponies (and especially Pinkie) away from the Protoculture.

Why? I didn't think anyone could actually eat it (other than the Invid). What would it do?

[Stainless Steel Fox]

11597089 Putting a biological power source capable of near infinte energy production next to beings who intuitively manipulate biology, and then there's Pinkie, who's basically an eldritch OCP with a party hat on, and would probably bake it into zero point energy cupcakes...

Yes, there is absolutely no way this could have any negative outcome whatsoever!

I'll just be over here, in a different universe, with my eyes closed and my fingers in my ears.

[paladinwolf]

And now back to Robotech!
media3.giphy.com/media/v1.Y2lkPTc5MGI3NjExMjNkYTc5YjNhZTYzMmEwZTQ1NDJiZWFjYjhlMDRjMzc1ZTdjNDJmYiZlcD12MV9pbnRlcm5hbF9naWZzX2dpZklkJmN0PWc/r1UKKfxA5riJq/giphy.gif

[HorseWordFan]

Holy crap, talk about your unexpected updates!

[Scarlet Scribe]

[Tempestus]

Welcome back Robotech! I look forward to more!

[warbird]

I just noticed the update this morning and plan to reread the first three chapters be going into the new update. Hope it's a good addition and the first of many more this year.

Thank you for continuing this story.

[Dreadknight garen]

11597203
ha, i heard that in the voice. now im gonna go watch robotech again.

[warbird]

Caught up and glad that this story is continuing.

Hope the next update isn't years away.

[gamerj14]

11597089
It seem that your forgetting that ponies eat flowers regularly

After all protoculture is a biofuell extracted/refined from polen and oils from the flowers of life - a name given by the Invid- in several grades ( just like crude oil can be separated/refined in many things ) the more common its a fuel source ( for the quantum reflex reactors) , medical uses (like cloning and who knows what more ) and whaterever other pourposes exist that had not been mention - like there is the implication that beside food it also give some degree of psiquic/psyonic abilities to the Invids, even the Robotech masters it seem they are developing on there own some form of telepatic abilites ( limited to triumbirates of clones)
The implications of all that.....

[Fireheart 1945]

11639619

Didn't someone in the Invid Saga (I think it was either Scott or Lunk) say that only the Invid would eat protoculture and express disgust at eating it themselves?

[gamerj14]

11639631
The edibility of protoculture is never touch outside of those mentions- is the flower safe to consume but the flavor is bland making it useless for food, does it taste horrible and everyone agreed to that, it taste as something incredible but it is toxic, did the goverment at the time tag the flower as no safe ( but it was!)for it to be used ONLY as a power source,medical uses,ect.- so at least to me is more logic that the flowers are at least more likely to be consumable at least by the ponies that are herbibores.
Out of curiosity almost all people consider that eat insects is disgusting/horrible/nonsafe among other things but they are perfectly edible (real life persons eat them in some regions of tje world) for example shrimps and lobsters are a form of insects!
Besides lets be real ,sooner or later a random pony will look at the flower and wonder how it taste(independly of importance or safety regulations), will take a sample,cultivate it somewhere else out of sight and take a bite- the flowers of life are a big question to be answered!-
And you as the autor will have to answer that question-does it taste good,bad; it is toxic, adictive,cause some medical condition,cure something,increase magic, accelerated evolution, do nothing.
Something is bound to happen ( even if that something take years). just left it abandoned inside of the SDF-1 feel like wasted potential for me

[Grey_Z2]

sabia que un día regresarías amigo, la espera valió la pena

[Redwolf777sg]

WTH? I thought this crossover fanfic was long dead and buried. Especially after so many years.