Big Eyes, Small Mouth (BESM): Nexus Earth - Chapter 9: The Voyage Home

[Justin OOC]

The young woman screamed and quickly enough someone arrived. One of the Civil defense corps officers saw the man and walked over to him carefully. He reached down and prodded the black-clad man's side.

"Sir, Sir are you alright?"

After another unsuccessful attempt, He made a call to CRT-5, since Six was only just splashing down. "We have someone here, just appeared out of nowhere according to the witness. I'm requesting a squad."

The squad arrived and quickly departed with the black clad man. They brought him to the Medical ward in the main building after sensor scans revealed extreme technology on his person.

His Armor was removed, as was the pistol which turned out to be a high caliber laser pistol. The armor was remarkable similar to the Mjolnir armor the CRT wore, but much more compact, with even more advanced features.

A call was put in to Captain Ishiyama and Hoshino, despite the meeting they were at. "Captains you need to report to the Medical Ward on base, We've got something you have to see."

Ruri's eyes Widened, and the rainbow hue appeared. She looked at Raisho and nodded. "We need to put off departure for a bit, it seems we have something very interesting."

The Young Captain looked at the others before departing. "Captain Morisato, you may wish to come with us."

Because it sounded like a request, Kai nodded and followed. Masane was right behind him. With them both going Raisho sighed and remained there to hear if any of the others had any further needs.

Kai Masane,and Ruri made it to the Medical ward and Ruri was impressed by the man's technical wardrobe. His battle armor was light and duable, and even concealable. While lacking the Mjolnir's forcefield it was just as tough, and her interface with it showed improved tissue regeneration, sensor packages, and even Teleportation. There was a massive section that was badlly damaged and burned out. It seemed to resonate when Kai drew near. He turned and walked over to the Man laying on the table. "Stranger you sure have some wild gear."

Ruri nodded. "You don't know the half of it."

[Columbian]

Francis stirred, slowly rising out of the torpor he had been in. Slowly, as the pain lessened, his eyes began to slide open and adjust to the light in the room. Damn, shitty coordinates. Hope nothing bad happ-

His hand was patting his holster where his Metro-Tech pistol is. Or was, rather to be honest. Same with his armor itself. The facts that these was not with him, and the possible implications, brought him up with a start and a gasp.

His eyes somehow fastened on Kai, and the curious look told him that his chances of avoiding the 'not of this Earth' question was nil. Immediately, he rubbed his head and decided to test if he could make a cover identity in this situation. "First things first, where am I?"

[Justin OOC]

"You are in the Medical Ward of Satoshi Industries main office in Neo Tokyo."

"Your Weapon and armor has been removed for mutual safety. It seems to be damaged, and yet of extremely high quality. It's actually abit beyond our own." Clearly the young white-haired girl saw no need to waste words.

The Buxom brunette was next. "Who are you, and how did you come to be in Central Park? Where did you get your armor?"

[Columbian]

Francis' face changed into a completely straight one, as he considered how to attempt damage control. The best idea would be to determine the location of the branch office, and check on their status, if they still existed.

"My name is Francis Gold. As for the other questions, I'd like to have my equipment back first." Checking for damage and buying time was on his agenda, he intended to keep the secret of his Earth as long as he could.

[Justin OOC]

Ruri looked at him. "That will be ok, but know that I have shut off most of the higher functions, and disarmed your weapon's activation matrix."

It was clear the young woman wasn't particularly trusting.

Kai backed away and the others turned around to allow him to don his armor again.

[SalmonMax]

Lily glanced up as Kai and several of the CRT captains rushed off. She sighed and stood up.

"Always something going on around here. Okay you two, go get packed." The two young nobles vanished as they teleported to the apartment, and Lily looked at the door Kai had run out.

Couldn't hurt. She was curious what would make them all hurry away like that anyway...so she followed them.

[Valerie]

"Well Gai, I don´t have have that many stories since I don´t fight unless it´s of maximum need, which is also the reason I have not joined Satoshi formally." Valerie smiled up at the robot from the palm of it´s hand. "I do have a story not from long ago, it was actually my first time in space when It happened"

"We were sortied into space due to a fight with the federation, mind you this was right after we came back from a grueling fight in another dimension but back then it was a complete dogfight and not a tournament like we just finished. Anyway, as I was saying we were sortied to space as the Invaders had come around to play, with....to this point I don´t know WHAT we were fighting, but several captains and Macross-class like ships where needed to take them down." Valerie racked her computer brain for more details, but she seems to have willingly erased most of that fight from there.

"The outside battle was doing good, but they somehow got into the ship, it was not teleporting or space bending, it was straight tearing up space from the seams and walking on whatever is between the slices of space. The records of it are still disconcerting, but the people who boarded where even worst, most of the invaders had horrific forms, mutated humanoid visages, an as much machinery as flesh intertwined, worst of all, they were not attacking without reason, they purposely attacked to draw out Kai, Lily and the Archangel, they wanted to take Kai and the core brain computers on the Archangel and Lily´s ship." Valerie hugged her knees. "Back then, I was not as strong, hell I´m still not strong enough, I was scared and nervous, I didn't want to hurt anybody, but didn't want anybody hurt. "

Valerie continued talking about the weird creatures they fought, the horrible monster that was commanding them and the records of the dogfight going on outside where Saito battled, she ended up by telling Gai about Saito and some of the fallen pilots on that mission.

"That's it for my story this time Gai, how about your story?"

[Columbian]

Francis moved over to the suit, and he paled as he saw the ruined temporal harness. Since it and the comm-gear were down, he was in a quandary. "Fuck." As he started performing the special procedure he'd been given in training for removing a damaged harness, he went over the situation.

If all contact was lost with his dimension, then telling the truth would not make a difference. On the other hand, the branch office needed to be confirmed as existing or gone. If that was gone too, then he could afford to be honest. It wasn't as if Command would make a serious effort to pull him back home.

So the answer? As he finished donning his suit, it came to him. "Ahem." That word brought the women back round. To the one that said she had shut down his equipment, "Can you re-activate my teleportation? My answering your questions require me to have five minutes to investigate something. You have my word I will be back."

[Justin OOC]

Ruri turned around and laid a hand on the breastplate of the armor. The same rainbow datastreams in her eyes spread from her hands. "I have reengaged your armor's teleportation unit. You have Five minutes starting now and then your armor will return you here, Without Fail."

[Columbian]

Without fail? Francis' face started to harden in indignation. This seemed far too suspicious if they wanted him on a leash. Thus he stayed where he was and gratingly asked. "Why? Am I a prisoner?"

[Justin OOC]

The Gaogaigar nodded. "Fifteen Thousand Years ago my people wandered the Stars. We encountered the Invaders then, they were nothing like their current incarnation. They were a peaceful species confined to a single planet. That planet was destroyed and they mutated, becoming the monsters we now know. Still that was on the Far side of the Galaxy. Centuries ago the Federation spread far and wide, and it reached their territory. Since then they've been hounding the Federation."

"On a bandoned moon they found Me in Mothball and stasis, The woke me from my slumber and were awed at what i could do."

"I aided them in their battle and allowed them to do scans, which lead to other robots being created, which lead to them reestablishing human bodies for themselves."

[Justin OOC]

"You show up with advanced gear, more advanced than even ours. While it isn't a problem for me, I'm not inclined to allow you to roam too freely round our home. It is a safety measure."

Masane looked at him. "You've yet to tell us who you are, or give us any real reason to trust you. And you are wasting time from your five minutes."

[Columbian]

Francis' only response was to quietly tap in the spatial coordinates he'd been given for the branch office's location. With a blurring flash of light he vanished from the Medical Ward.

Another flash appeared in front of the ruined Honji pawnshop. The building was still a mass of rubble yet to be cleared, and Francis took in the sight with shock. There was no one to protect here.

He was stranded.

Within a minute and a half, the white blur of light flashed again and Francis reappeared within the Ward. "Damn it. I am stranded here." spilled from his horrified face.

[Valerie]

"Wait, who got the human bodies for themselves? the invaders or the federation? and who blew up the invader's original planet? who gave them the power of space travel?" Valerie was confused by Gai's story.

"So if I get this correctly, when your people first navigated the stars the Invaders where another race on their own planet, but some-when between you going on stasis and the federation finding you, their planet got blown up and they became horribly vicious conquering monsters?" Valerie lastly reacted to his last comment. "Wait, who had human bodies reestablished? The Invaders or the Federation?"

[Justin OOC]

Kai nodded. "Mind telling us who you are now?" Ruri waited, gauging his response.

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

The Gaogaigar nodded. "The Federation lost their humanoid bodies due to a genetic virus, The entire population that survived digitized themselves and worked for 200 years to reestablish a resistant human form. Finally they found old files based upon me and used that to create the first real bodies they'd known. From there they created Living computers like Ruri Hoshino and HG troopers like Klan and Mercury. They found Perfection with Sanger, Ryoma, Elzam and Yoko. The current ones you see with bodies are the most elite, having proven worthy of the immense investment a real body is. There are at least 400 thousand entities awaiting a real Body within the ARKships."

"As for the Invaders, I do not remember what destroyed their planet, I do remember the results. They parasitized the ships that went to investigate, and began spreading from there. We did the best we could, Using weapons more terrible than you could imagine, and all we could do whas put them into dormancy. We couldn't destroy them."

"The few of us left went into stasis around the Universe, hoping that one day we would reawaken to find a cosmos free of the Invaders, and each other. I have searched across all of Federaton space and I have never found another like me. I fear I am the last of my kind."

[Columbian]

"How should I start? Well... on my Earth, we've developed temporal dimension travel after a war with beings called the Invaders. That was about 200 years ago. I worked at a corporation contracting for the American government as a Temporal Resource Obtainment and Intelligence Agent. In other words, we go undercover into other dimensions, to find and acquire useful resources. That is, anything from actual goods, to pure information about where we're assigned. In any case, contact with our branch office was lost after reports of global engagement with this Federation. I was sent in to understand what was going on and try to restore our operation if possible. But my coordinates were off and... you know the rest. And the branch office IS gone, I found for myself. I have my doubts about an effort to rescue me."

[SalmonMax]

"So you go to other dimensions and...steal?" Lily asks as she comes in the door, having overheard the agent's explanation. "How do you cross dimensions without using portals or Keys?"

[Columbian]

Francis' eyes flickered over to Lily, and his explanation seemed hardly bothered by her words. "Not really. Sometimes, the Earth found just isn't inhabited. Usually, if things need getting, we obtain those legally. What is done with property purchased by the agents is the corporations business. Illegal efforts are the very last line of resort."

[Justin OOC]

Ruri looked at Lily then the Agent. "That explains what the burned out gear is, and why it resonates with Kai." She nods. It is possible I might be able to repair it, but it will take far more time than what I have right now. You are Welcome to come along with us, and I will work on it as I am able. But as it stands, I am your only hope to return to your time short of team coming after you."

Kai looked ready to say something, but a stern look from Masane made him stop. Instead he turned to Lily. "I didn't realize you'd followed." He smiled. "Nice to know humanity's still around two hundred years from now, that gives me some hope things will go alright on Dalaraan."

[Valerie]

"Wait, the federation scanned you? How much benefit could they get out of..." Valerie's mind made the connection she should have made a couple sentences ago. "Gai, are you a setient robot, or are you humanoid fused with a robot?" Valerie bluntly asked, there was a chance this might upset the titanic Gai, but she was willing to risk it for something that important.

[Justin OOC]

The Gaogaigar laughed. It was a rumbling not-quite roar that shook the hangar. "I am a humanoid, very similar to you, and the humans of this earth." This is merely my Battle Frame. Before we went into dormancy, there were thousands of others like me, with battle frames similar to this, Three full regiments by your reckoning, in fact. That's why my lack of finding any of them has disturbed me."

The mecha nods. "I would come out, but I cannot at the moment. There is no way to safely disengage my Frame at the moment. Perhaps when whe are once again safe in the open, You and i can meet face to face for real Valerie."

[Valerie]

"That would be great Gai! At least it would make sharing stories that much more easier than me speaking to you from your hand." Valerie beamed a huge smile up to Gai. "Just so you know, you aren't off the hook yet. Unless you tell me a good story I'm not letting you go!"

[Justin OOC]

"I will not forget."

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

In the Medical Ward, Masane looked to their mysterious time traveller and the others present. "So what do you guys think? We can't just leave him here."

Ruri nodded. "We take him with us."

[Columbian]

Francis raised an eye. "Take me where exactly?" in a curious tone.

[SalmonMax]

Lily frowned. "To Dalaraan? I don't know...it seems a little convenient, don't you think? Strange man with dimensional travel ability shows up just before we leave?"

"I mean, maybe I'm being a little paranoid, but I've had a lot of my family die from assassinations. How do we know they didn't start like this?"

[Sakura]

She looked on and listened as best she could to figure out what was going on, then she leaned over to the Eiji, and her tone was curious. "Is this sort of thing common? Also, where exactly are we going and why?"

[Justin OOC]

Ruri shakes her head. "Those powers are exceptionally rare Lily. It is unlikely someone on Dalaraan has them."

She looked at Francis. "We're going to the throneworld of the Dalaraan Empire shortly. You may choose to accompany us, and prove the truth of who you are, or I will have no choice but to reccomend you be remanded into custody, and incarcerated until we return."

She looked at Kai. "Unless you have a better Idea, Head Captain Morisato."

Kai had been watching and nodded to Lily. "If you want to come I'm fine with it, but I'll have to back Captain Hoshino on this, We cannot allow technology like yours outside the country just yet, the world is nowhere near ready for it." It was clear he wasn't happy about it.

"Lily what do you think? We trusted Velocity and she fought and died alongside us. I know picking up Sakura and now this gentleman is too coincidental, but I think he needs to go with us, just like the Gaogaigar. Since this is your world we're going to, I'll leave the final decision to you."

[Valerie]

"Gaaaaai, will you teach me to do that attack you did in the tournament?" Valerie looked up at GaoGaiGar, trying, futility, to read the expression on his face plate.

"For some reason, I think we are going to have a lot of time together. Which reminds me! We gotta introduce you to Captain Hoshino, I bet you can get along with her, she used to be the central computer of a Federation Arkship...I think, or maybe it was a Battleship, or maybe we should schedule training with Ryoma, his Getter is really really strong! I wish I was as strong as you two." Valerie sligthly pouted finishing that sentence.

[Columbian]

"Or... since I'm telling you this anyway..." Francis murmured, "I can show you this." He extricated a small, thin, rectangular chip from a pocket and took off his dark glasses. Turning the glasses over revealed a wafer-thin slit at the bottom of the glasses, within which he slid in the chip.

He handed the glasses to Kai. "Now put these on and see whether I'm lying or not." What would be playing overlaid on the glasses, was the standard briefing chip with details of the mission and basic knowledge of the destination. If should prove he had no ill intent.

[Justin OOC]

"I have sparred with Shin Getter before. It is the most powerful of the robots they based upon me. Ryoma is a fitting pilot for it. Captain Hoshino and I have already spoken at length, and I have copied much of the records within my battle Frame to her terminal. Unfortunately I cannot teach you that maneuver, I do not believe you have the equipment for it."

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

Kai reads the breifing carefully then hands the glasses to Lily, allowing her to verify for herself. He waits for her decision.

[Rorx]

Eiji shrugs to Sakura, "It's not an everyday occurance but we do have things to do at short notice sometimes. On this occassion Princess 'Lilly' has had a message to return home to Daalaran by her father the Emperor. We were just sorting out who was going to go with her."

He glances towards the door that Lilly and the others had left by, "It sounds like there was some other incident that has happened to take some of the Captain's attention as well."

[SalmonMax]

Lily donned the glasses, and behind their tinted lenses her eyes tracked across the tiny glowing green characters as she read. Finally she took them back off and handed them back to Kai.

She gazed thoughtfully at Francis as she did, never taking her eyes off of him. The alien princess was almost perfectly humanoid save for her blue hair and amber eyes. She was statuesquely gorgeous; even the wild windswept style of her short blue hair looked rakish and pretty.

"So it's down to me, huh? What about you, Agent?" she asked. "What do you want? Should we bring you to my planet? Get you involved in a civil war, maybe? Or would you rather stay here on Earth and help them rebuild?"

[Columbian]

"I believe that my training covers many things, but I don't see much point in staying on this planet. I am far more interested in seeing what there is of this Empire. That fair?" Francis replied.

[Justin OOC]

Kai nodded once. "Good enough."

Ruri nodded. Her eyes flashed again. "I have returned full activity to your armor. We will be returning to the Macross and leaving within an hour. I will arrange for a room for you, and once we are underway I will allocate some of my time to repairing your apparatus."

She excused herself, as did the other captains, Leaving Masane, Lily, Kai and Francis there.

Kai smiles. "I guess that's our crew to return to the ship and get ready to escort you home Lily."

Masane nodded. "Your room has already been prepared Master."

Kai sighs, some things never changed.

[Justin OOC]

The remaining hour passed quickly, the massive Gaogaigar was tended and transferred to the Macross's #4 cargo Hold, as was Ratheros' core ship.

The little Cabbit happily sat in Lily's arms, having jumped from Kai to Sasami to Valerie and finally to Lily as they stood on the bridge with the others.

Ruri was ensconced within her control unit and sent word to them all. "Admiral, Head Captain, All mecha, personel and supplies are loaded. The Macross and Quarter are ready to go, as are the The Melissa Davion, The Red Claw, the Starlight. We await your launch orders to Rendevous with our escorts."

The Admiral looked to Kai who nodded. The two massive ships launched from the harbor on columns of blue flame. An hour later they were in Formation with the three escort ships.

"Admiral Gloval, Take us to Dalaraan."

"Aye, Head Captain. All Hands brace for immediate Hyperspace Fold Jump." Handholds appeared and the status lit green. "Execute Hyperspace Fold!"

Time and space lost all meaning as a great purplish white light enveloped the five ship flotilla. "Fold Sphere stable, Space-time fissure created. Warpgate stabilized. Engines to full power all ahead!" The five ships entered the temporary gateway and The crew of the bridge were treated to a fantastic display of lights that put the aurora borealis to shame.

The lights suddenly stopped, all was blackness, then one by one stars began winking into existence. The copmuters all came back online as the helmswoman began relaying telemetry.

"Admiral, we are at coordinates 296 Alpha, 56, Delta, 90 Omicron, Orbit of the moon of the sixth planet of the Dalaraan system. At full speed we are three hours away from third planet, Dalaraan Throneworld."

"Excellent."

The sensor overseer piped up excitedly. "I am registering a Dalaraan Fleet orbiting the planet below, over what looks to be a military base. I have five ships, They are beginning to move, they may have spotted us."

A second later. "They have set intercept course, I reccomend we make our planned broadcast. Also I am registering sensor pings from various arrays in system. The Dalaraan Flagship, and the 2nd Fleet starship Auroris are both in system."

"I am now recieving active returns from three dozen Imperial Warships, with at least a dozen Vectoring towards us. There are no hails."

The Admiral Turned to Lily. "No would be a good time for you to address your people, highness, before mistakes are made."

Kai nodded to her, "I'm right here, you'll be fine."

"Admiral! Incoming Hail!"

"On Screen!"

The picture of a young Dalaraan warrior, well he looked young compared to the grey haired man behind him, appeared. "This is Admiral Yakutsa of the Dalaraan Republic Fleet. Unidentified warships powerdown and prepare for boarding at once. You are intruding into a highly restricted system."

Kai looked Nervous for a moment. This could be bad.

[SalmonMax]

Lily stepped forward and said, "Admiral, this is Princess Aksaniolily and these ships are my escort from Earth. They're for my defense only. There will be no aggression. I am reporting here as ordered by the Emperor himself. We will hold position while you confirm with my father."

[Justin OOC]

Admiral Yukutsa Frowned. "That will be next to impossible. Your ships bear the markinngs of Satoshi, our allies. We will allow you passage in system, but you will prepare for boarding, me must have proof of who you are in these dark times."

Clearly he was agitated. "You have been gone awhile Princess, much has changed, but Welcome home."

The comm ended and Kai frowned. Masane was the one who spoke. "Something is up. Something big."

Six warships took up positions flanking the Escort fleet, and a shuttle launched from the lead ship, It's name translated to "Indomitable."

[Rorx]

Eiji stood at ease on the bridge, although he to was worried by the Admiral's choice of words. Why should confirming information with the Emperor be 'next to impossible'? What ever it was it spelt trouble for Princess Lily and so for Kai and their protectors.

Activating his ear radio Eiji ordered the few people from his CRT onto standby, and his powerarmour to be readied and brought to the nearest armoury/ready room to the bridge.

[Justin OOC]

Kai nodded. "We need to greet their emisarry. Masane, you and Georgi remain here. Eiji, Lily, Valerie, Sakura, Francis, come with me. We're going to go say hello to our guests."

The six warriors made their way down to the hangar where the imperial shuttle was debarking. One of the few CRT-6 squads and a handful of security personnel were there.

Four people emerged from the shuttle. One was the Young Admiral Yukutsa, the other three were Massive Hiroga, Two from the bear tribe, another, the female was one of the rare Jaguar.

"In The name of the Dalaraan Republic, I welcome you to the occupation zone, princess Aksaniolily, and your allies. It is good to see that you're on the right side of things already. Satoshi has proven to be substantial allies in our war against the Empire. Their leaders are masters in battle, and already the former emperor has been slain by all reports. That's why we could not put you in contact with him."

Her father was dead, the empire overthrown, yet there was still fighting. "Our own resources have been severely tested, The bases on Dalaraan's moons are the last hold outs, but The emperor managed to relocate most of the defense system to them before he was slain."

It was impossible to tell if the man truly saw them as allies, or if he simply didn't care about how they'd introduced themselves. "May I ask what forces you bring with you to our system?"

[SalmonMax]

Lily's mouth fell open in shock, and she rocked back a step, then another. Things started snapping together.

The renegade Satoshi faction had been quiet for so long...now it was clear why.

And now the military coup against her father was all but complete. Dalaraan 'Republic' indeed...somehow she doubted that the rebels were getting Takashi's help for 'free.'

She fought back the wave of shock and nausea that had washed over her and struggled to keep her composure. The admiral's forces surrounded them. She wasn't sure if they had enough to fight off her task force, but it would definitely be enough to inflict some major damage.

The moons. They'd need to somehow get through to the moons and coordinate with them. Her father had summoned her, which MIGHT mean he was still alive. She had to make sure.

"We'll take you to one of the conference rooms for a debriefing of the situation on Earth and our forces," she heard herself say in something not too unlike her normal voice. She addressed one of the Satoshi officers and said, "Show them to the conference room, please. We'll be right behind you."

She hoped the Admiral wouldn't make an issue of it...she desperately needed to explain to the others what was going on, and what the dangers were without any of the 'guests' listening in.