Robotech; a new world

by Fireheart 1945

Chapters

Chapter 1; Hyperspace fold jump
Chapter 2; Assessment
Chapter 3; Guilt
Chapter 4; Recon

Chapter 1; Hyperspace fold jump

Captain Henry J. Gloval had been having one of the worst days of his life.

Not only had a massive alien armada appeared out of hyperspace, but that same fleet had launched a devastating attack on Macross Island, having wrecked much of Earth's own space fleet in doing so. So far, the Robotech forces in the atmosphere were holding their ground, but it was only a matter of time before the enemy began a concentrated assault on the battle fortress and captured or destroyed it, leaving Earth at the mercy of the aliens.

And to make matters worse, the SDF-1, the massive battle fortress that he commanded, had fired first; the crew had been unable to shut down the ship's main battery, which had fired on it's own after it had detected he alien ships, and destroyed two of them.

No, this wasn't what he had hoped for when he became captain, not at all.

To make matters worse, the alien-made gravity pods had broken away from the ship instead of lifting it when he had tried to have the ship take to the skies. The ship had ignominously crashed back to the ground. Now, he was going to try again, with the engines made on Earth. He hoped the SDF-1 would make it.

After centuries and milennia of existence, shooting and slashing at each other, is it all now going to be put to an end by alien invaders? The SDF-1 had crashed to Earth a decade ago, in 1999. A massive world war had been in play at the time. After humans had examined the ship, they had no choice but to conclude that there were alien powers in the galaxy - if not the universe - who had superior technology, superior by far compared to anything humans could make.

The major powers of the world realized that Earth was vulnerable, and any aliens who had technology comparable to that on the giant ship could attack the planet. The war ended inconclusively, with the nations of Earth unifying under one government, thus ending most threats of war on the planet itself. For ten years, human beings had worked on the massive ship, trying to come to grips with the new technology they had found. A large city, named after the island it was built on, grew around the great ship as it was remade into a spectacular battleship, capable of defending Earth from alien attack.

Gloval had always feared that the aliens would come looking for their lost ship. Now those fears had been confirmed.

"Enginnering reports that backup rockets are fueled and ready for firing." That was Claudia Grant, lover of ace pilot Roy Fokker. She was one of officers who worked on the bridge of the SDF-1, along with Lisa Hayes and bridge operators Vanessa Leeds, Sammy Porter and Kim Young. None of them had any experience in space combat; neither, for that matter, did the Captain himself.

"How's the evacuation progressing Lisa?" Claudia continued. The population of Macross City had taken to flight, running and driving for the nearest shelters.

"All the civilians have been safely transported to shelters. The city's deserted," answered Lisa. She was a very tough, though young, woman who despised any breach of command; she had proven that when a civilian pilot had found himself stuck in one of the new Veritech fighters.

"Very well. Fire the main booster rockets. We'll be lifting off immediately," Gloval said, with no hesitation.

"I hope the standby boosters work." Lisa sounded worried; she had every right to be, after the failure of the gravity pods.

"They'll work Lisa, they were made on Earth." He put a hand on the young officer's right shoulder. "Alright?" Then, in the voice a captain must use when issuing an order, "Blast off!"

"Yes sir," the bridge crew chorused."

Sure enough, the ship's human-made engines proved capable of lifting her into the sky where the alien made gravity pods had failed. The SDF-1 lifted higher and higher into the sky; soon Macross Island looked tiny in comparison with the enormous battle fortress.

I only hope we're not too late.

The alien forces continued attacking the city, with large, two-legged war machines that could carry laser guns or missiles or both. The Robotech Defense Forces were managing to stand their ground, but it was an intense fight, and much of the city was already in ruins. It hadn't helped that the enemy armada had fired a devastating bombardment from orbit, further wrecking the city and inflicting losses on the ehlpless civilian population.

Roy Fokker had had one heck of a day, to say the least. He had lead the Veritech squadrons in repulsing an enemy aerial attack, and fought on the ground; the ability for the Veritech fighters to switch between three different modes of operation made the defenders very flexible, capable of battling both land and sky. The enemy could not say the same, which was one of the few advantages Macross Island's defenders had.

Now, he was returning to the SDF-1 with his young friend, Rick Hunter, and a young girl who had found herself in his plane. He was talking with them over the radio, with their images on camera in front of him.

"She doesn't want to go to the ship Roy, she wants to go back to Macross Island." Yes, Rick Hunter sounded quite a bit like a bratty ittle brother. His actions just before the alien attack hadn't helped that image; he had blasted into the middle of a Veritech performance and had flown so low that Roy could have sworn Rick's plane had passed within inches of his head.

"Are you crazy? The place is crawling with aliens; it would be suicide for her to go back there." Then, after thinking for a split second, Roy asked, "Did she give any reason for wanting to go back?"

"Well..." Not for the first time today, Rick sounded unsure. He had, after all, been forced up into the aerial battle in a Veritech fighter... which he had proceeded to crash into Macross City and had done, in the words of Lisa Hayes, "More damage than the enemy".

"Well I'm worried about my aunt and uncle back in the shelter with the invaders all around them." The young girl, Lynn Minmay by name, had spoken. She sounded worried. Roy didn't blame her for that.

Roy put on a smile. "They're perfectly safe there. The shelters are impregnable."

Minmay wouldn't give up. "But I still want to go back to the island. It's my home."

Roy found it hard to resist her heartfelt plea. "I promise, as soon as the war's over I'll take you back there personally."

Minmay made a despairing sound, but Rick started to look angry. He pointed a finger at Roy. "What do you mean, you'll take her back? I will."

As he said this, Minmay let out a "huh?" and Rick turned, putting a hand infront of his mouth.

Roy almost burst out laughing, but kept control over his senses; he'd learned that control over a lifetime of being a fighter pilot. Then he looked up and saw the SDF-1 up ahead. "Hold on a minute Rick." He tuned into the SDF-1's radio frequency. "This is Skull Leader, calling SDF-1, over."

Lisa Hayes showed up on another video monitor. "Did you find him?" she asked.

Roy smiled. "He was annoying a young lady, I had to rescue her as well."

"You rat!" said Rick.

"So that's our civilian pilot. I wondered why he didn't know how to fly his plane," Lisa said, seeing Rick on one of her monitors.

"Rick pointed at his own monitor. "Who's that old sourpuss Roy?"

"Old sourpuss!?!" Lisa burst out indignantly.

Roy laughed; her face was priceless. "That 'old sourpuss' is our control operator, Lisa Hayes. And if you think she looks like an old sourpuss, you're not as grown up as I thought you were, Rick." He chuckled. He couldn't help it.

"Now listen, Commander Fokker," Lisa began, angrily. "You'd better have a good explaination for turning a Veritech fighter" - here she looked over her shoulder at Captain Gloval, who was trying to hide the fact that he was laughing - "over to an amateur civilian pilot. You could be court-martialed, you know."

"Oooh, she's mad." Roy made a scared face.

"As for you, Rick Hunter, you're in a lot of trouble, whether you know it or not," the angry bridge officer said, pointing at Rick.

"This whole thing is her fault," Rick said, which had a bit of truth in it; it had been Lisa Hayes who had forced Rick to go up in the Veritech.

Minmay leaned forward. "I think I'd apologize if I were you Rick." Then, cupping a hand to her mouth, she added, "Women her age can get awful mean, you know."

Meanwhile, in low orbit, the SDF-1 had managed to link up with the remains of the Earth fleet. While losses had been heavy, most of the Robotech equipment had come through the fighting, and the Veritech fighters were returning to the ship.

Fokker's landing had been confirmed, although Lisa was none too pleased about it. Back on Earth it appeared that the alien ground forces were retreating, not that that was surprising; they had lost half their number or more in their assault on Macross City.

The Captain, though, was not in a celebratory mood. The enemy forces, from what he'd seen of them, seemed to be mostly holding back for some reason. He had discussed this with Lisa, but had not come to a conclusion as to why the enemy appeared to be content to let the SDF-1 link up with the remains of the fleet.

His thoughts were rudely interupted when he saw incoming laser beams from the alien fleet; bright blue beams flashed by the bridge, mssing the SDF-1 but slamming into several human vessels and destroying a number of them.

"Brace yourselves!" Gloval cried out as pieces of the destroyed and damaged ships slammed into the SDF-1. The enitre ship shook.

Finally, the shaking stopped. "Vanessa, what's their position?" the Captain asked urgently.

"The current attack is from the exact same location as the first one, Captain Gloval, but it's ten thousand miles from here."

"Reporting... Miranda, Surfcee and ARMD 3 were destroyed," said Lisa.

Sitting back down, Gloval said, "They're tearing our fleet to shreds. What about our damages?" That last was for damage to the SDF-1.

"We've taken no direct hits, captain," reported Sammy.

"No damage shown anywhere sir," said Kim.

"What is our position?" demanded Gloval.

"Umm... we're just closing our initial orbit, approaching our original position over Macross Island, altitude of 100 miles."

"Claudia, steer for a landing on Macross Island. At 2000 feet altitude, activate the fold system for a position jump," the Captain ordered.

"Are you sure you want to do that Captain? The fold system hasn't even been tested yet." Claudia sounded scornful of the idea.

"I realize how risky it is, Claudia, but if we stay in this position, we'll be totally defenseless."

"But we're not even sure how the system works," Lisa chimed in.

Gloval lost his temper. "We can't just surrender Lisa! We have to try everything first." Then, calming down, he added, "Ready the fold system for a position jump, targeting the area behind the moon." Turning to Lisa, he said, "Get your radar busy on an access check, Lisa. We'll make the jump from precisely 2000 feet above the island."

Claudia made a surprised sound. "Don't we need permission from headquarters?"

"This is an emergency, we don't have time for that."

"But Captain, you know the regulations specifically... uhhh," Claudia said, at the look on his face. "Sorry, sir."

Captain Gloval walked over to her. "I know what the regulations say, but I appreciate you bringing it to my attention."

"I just want to.."

"CLAUDIA! You've got my order." Gloval turned around, facing the rest of the bridge.

"Yes sir, Cap-tan", Claudia said, reluctantly. Then, addressing the rest of the ship, she said, "Attention all hands, priority; fold system standby. Reading maximum green energy at all power stations. All hands to emergency positions, repeat, all hands to emergency positions. This is not a drill, prepare for fold in t-minus five minutes and counting. Mark."

With that, the SDF-1 began it's decent back towards Macross Island.

In a short while, the SDF-1 had reached the designated point for it's jump.

Claudia again came in over the speakers; "We will enter fold in ten seconds... nine... eight... seven... six... five... four... three... two... one... zero."

Captain Gloval gave the order; "Execute hyperspace fold jump!"

A massive bubble grew outside the ship; within seconds it had engulfed the SDF-1, Macross Island, and much of the surrounding airspace.

Within the bubble, everything grew distorted as the fold began to take place; one the sea, two navy carriers rocked and swayed as the bubble enclosed them. the light brightened, dimmed, and everything appeared to triple in number. Everyone could feel something in their bodies and their heads. Back on Macross Island, in their shelters, the civilians could feel the affects as much as anyone.

The bubble grew brighter, and brighter, and then, suddenly, it, and everything within it, vanished.

Back in space, the Zentraedi Commander, Lord Breetai, saw the bright flash and exclaimed "A fold! I don't believe it!"

"Impossible at that altitude!" Said minister Exedore, who was at his side.

"It may be impossible, but they did it!" Breetai shouted.

"What do we do now, Commander?"

Breetai growled. "I want to be informed of their exact location immediately!"

"Now sir?" said a subordinate Zentraedi officer, who had been listening.

"Now!"

The bubble rematterialized, having brought the SDF-1 to an area of space... although it had not come alone...

In Ponyville, most ponies had already gone to bed. However,Twilight Sparkle could not stop gazing at the stars, hoping to find something new to analyize and catalog. The stars shone brightly overhead, and the moon lit the sky and the groud below.

As she continued to walk home, a bright flash appeared in the sky, brighter than the moon by far. She stared as it grew brighter and brighter, then... just disappeared.

Twilight couldn't believe what she had just seen. She ran home and, being careful not to wake up Spike, who was sound asleep, got out her telescope and gazed at the area where the bright flash had appeared.

Chapter 2; Assessment

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."

Chapter 3; Guilt

Roy Fokker flew back over the town, back toward the rest of Skull Squadron. Now that he had time to think about it, his sudden flight from the natives probably hadn't been the best option, but it had been somewhat shocking to find talking horses on this planet, and he hadn't wanted to take chances.

"Skull Leader is that you, over?"

"Skull Leader to Skull Squadron, yes, it's me."

"What did you find? You seem a bit excited, over."

Roy leaned back. "You wouldn't believe me if I told you..."

Captain Gloval looked over the ship as repairs were made and the remaining civilians brought on board. The Daedalus and the Prometheus had been attached to the SDF-1, and could be used to launch fighters and as platforms for weapon systems.

Despite this success, Gloval was not feeling celebratory at all; quite the opposite, in fact. His mood had taken a turn for the worse as he kept thinking about the fold jump and the now vanished fold system. The more he thought about it, the more the realized that everything that had happened was his fault.

The fold system hadn't been tested before he had ordered the jump; if it had, he might have brought off the maneuver he had had in mind at the time. Now 70,000 civilians were stuck on the ship with no way home.

True, the planet below might have resources available that could be used to remake the fold system, but the SDF-1 was a battle-fortress, not a factory. It would be a slow and tedious process, and that was assuming that they could pull it off properly, which was unlikely; just as the crew hadn't known how to use the gravity pods, they hadn't known how to use the fold system with the skill and knowledge they should have had. The truth was, much of the ship's technology was alien, although human hands had remade the ship into a semi-operable military craft. The crew of the SDF-1 didn't have the blueprints for the fold system, and had little knowledge of how to recreate it.

In short, it was unlikely they would be going anywhere. 8,750 light-years was impossible to cross in their lifetimes with the engines they had to work with.

And Gloval had given the orders that had lead to this mess.

If the ship had come out of the jump, say, in Pluto's orbit, it would have been all too easy to go back to Earth, although it would have consumed a great amount of time, perhaps a year. That hadn't happened.

The Captain looked out at the planet. It almost inevitable that it would become their new home.

It certainly was beautiful. Green lands, blue seas, white clouds; it practically was Earth, with only the landmasses being all wrong.

"Captain, Skull Squadron has re-established radio contact," Lisa said from her station.

Gloval turned. "Good. Now maybe we can get some intelligence about the planet below us." And if we're luckier than we have any right to hope for, we'll find a way to replace the fold system, and maybe go back home.

"Are you sure your eyes are working properly, Commander?"

"I'm telling you, captain, there really are horse-like aliens on the planet, and for whatever reason, they are able to speak our language. Furthermore, when I first tried to take off after landing, I was held back by something for a moment before being let go."

Gloval leaned back in his chair. "It doesn't seem possible."

Roy, on the monitor, lost his typical smile. ""One of my pilots got a couple good pictures to prove it." After he had nodded to something (or rather, someone) the bridge crew couldn't see, several pictures popped up on the screen.

One clearly showed a scared-looking, winged yellow horse with a pink mane flying by the cockpit of a Veritech; the picture had been taken from inside the plane. It looked as it if its head would come up to that of a human. Another showed a small town; although they appeared much smaller from the air, the inhabitants had near-identical frames to the yellow alien in the previous photo, though some differed; a number had horns on their heads, others had wings, and some had neither, and were busy on the ground, though most of them were looking up.

If Commander Fokker is putting me on, he's going all out. "Alright Commander, your point is taken. However, It gives us even more work to do. We'll have to contact them and their leader, and see if we can use or purchase some of their resources to repair the ship."

"Have you found Rick yet?"

"No, but we are looking for him now that most of the civilians are on board."

"Ohhhh." Roy was downcast. "Well, we're heading back to base, so I'll be able to look for him myself." His tone suggested he'd have something to say to Rick once all was said and done. His image - and the pictures that had been uploaded - faded from the monitor.

"Oh, they're so adorable!" Claudia exclaimed. "I want one!"

Lisa turned to her, still all business-like regardless of how cute the aliens looked like. "You'd probably start another war if you tried to make one into a pet; it looks like they're the dominant lifeforms on this planet, and I don't want any more trouble than we've already got."

"I know but still, that flying one looked so cute, I could just cuddle it all day."

Sammy, Vanessa, and Kim started chuckling, though they tried to hide it.

"Also, are you sure we should contact them, Captain?" Lisa asked, even more serious than before. "From the details of the first contact, not that there was much of one, they aliens twice engaged in hostile activity; one almost crashed into the Veritech outright, and if Commander Fokker is right, they tried to stop him from leaving, though I have no idea how they managed to accomplish that."

"We need food and materials. The only way we can obtain them is by either hunting for them ourselves, or trading for them with natives who already have them in their possession and can supply us much more than we could hunt for on our own."

"Even so, what could we trade with? We're stuck in orbit with barely enough food for ourselves, and we'll have to feed seventy thousand people in addition to that."

"We have to try something, Lisa. We can't just sit in orbit, hoping that our problems will go away. And, with us and all the ships we accidentally took with us gone, Earth is fighting the aliens without our help. Anything that we can use to get back, however distant the prospect, is better than sitting on our hands doing nothing."

After Gloval mentioned Earth, no one bothered arguing anymore.

"Meanwhile," Gloval continued, his voice much quieter now, "there is something I must do."

The civilian population had proved to be surprisingly resourceful; using recycled materials, they had started to rebuild their town. Macross City was being reborn inside the SDF-1, and it seemed to be promising, however temporary it might be.

It was doing well enough, in fact, for Captain Gloval to make an announcement. He hoped it would help to make things right.

His image appeared on monitors all throughout Macross City as the broadcast started;

"Good evening, ladies and gentlemen of Macross city. As you know, the crew of the SDF-1 initiated a fold jump some time ago that brought the ship into the orbit of a new-found planet, along with" - here he sounded downcast and bowed his head - "Macross island and Macross City itself."

"What you may not know is that... after the fold was executed... we could find no trace of the fold system. We... cannot make the jump back to Earth in our current state."

The people watching the broadcast began to panic; some got angry and began cursing at the image of the captain, while a few started to weep.

"It was I who gave the order, and I alone am responsible for the predicament we find ourselves in today. I regret it with my entire being." The Captain was so miserable as he said this that much of the crowd calmed down, and began to feel pity for him.

"Our one hope for returning to Earth is the planet we now orbit. We may be able to find the resources necessary to repair the fold system and make the jump back to Earth."

"However, along with the planet, we have found a sentient race of horse-aliens that appear to be the dominant life on the planet, and are capable of speech. We intend to begin negotiations as soon as we can. Hopefully they will let us purchase some of their resources so that we can refine them into the parts we need."

Captain Gloval looked sadder than ever as he added, "If... it we can't repair the fold system, we will have to settle on the planet. We cannot travel back without a fold system; our computers estimate we are 8,750 light years from Earth."

He began to cry in earnest as he added, "I only hope you can find it in your hearts to forgive me." The monitors went back to whatever they had been doing before.

Roy Fokker dodged a missile, and fired his own guns at the enemy plane; his rounds connected, and the opposing aircraft spiraled out of control; Roy couldn't see a chute.

"Skull Leader, there are too many of them, what do we do?" The pilot that showed up on Roy's screen was anything but calm.

"We hold out as long as we can, our boys on the ground need the cover fire!"

"Yeah, but if we stay here too long, we'll be..." His transmission was cut off forever as his plane took a direct hit and exploded.

"NOOOOOOOOO!"

Roy jinked left, avoiding another missile, and fired one of his own. It hit the target, which then transformed... into a giant humanoid, streaked with blood and filled with holes.

What? Before his tired and stressed mind could come up with an explanation, several green fighter pods appeared, hovering in front of his aircraft, and fired. Roy's fighter was hit several times, and lost altitude.

He tried everything; nothing seemed to work, and the ground was coming up fast.

A flash of midnight blue; just before his plane hit the ground, he saw a blue horse with a horn on it's head and wings on it's back. It stared at him, as if curious...

The plane hit the ground...

"AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH!" Roy woke up in a cold sweat.

Come on, it was just a dream, just a nightmare... He got out of bed and went to get some milk from the refrigerator in his room.

He even recognized the situation he had been in in the dream, or at least the part before everything went all haywire; it was one of the missions he had flown during the war that had ravaged Earth in the period before the SDF-1 had crashed on Earth.

It all seemed familiar as he sat down. Everything except the horse-thing; that was what was bothering him. He had never seen it before.

The aliens on the planet; my mind just got a little carried away in the dream, that's all. At least, that what he told himself, but something deep inside, something older or more primitive than sight or hearing, told him that there had been more at work than just a simple dream.

Princess Luna got up from her spot in Canterlot Castle. She stretched her legs and wings for a moment, then walked over to a nearby window.

Although not a goddess, as many of her subjects stubbornly continued to believe (of both her AND Celestia), she had the ability to see into other's dreams. As such, it was her responsibility to help and protect ponies in their dreams, as it was to protect them in real life.

However, tonight, she had found a dream unlike any other she had entered; one full of devastation and death, and of beings she had never encountered previously.

The dream's author had eventually caught her attention as his flying machine was hit and sent falling to the ground. His eyes had looked weary and tired of conflict as he looked her way at last.

Roy Fokker... That had been the name that streamed through her consciousness as she locked eyes with him, before the dream had cut off (i.e., when the dreamer woke up). To her surprise, a tear stood in her eye.

To have fought in such a terrible conflict, to have lost so many he considered friends... No wonder she felt like crying.

She looked up at the sky. Although it was still technically nighttime, specks of light graced the horizon; Celestia must have woken and begun her duty as the sun's custodian. Good. The matter at hoof was too important to keep inside her; it was clearly an alien, and, having seen the spaceship with her own eyes, she knew it was one of those aboard it.

She walked though the palace, trying to find her sister; by the time she did, the sun had risen, and the moon was in retreat.

"Good morning, sister," Celestia greeted her youthful sibling. "You seem troubled."

"Yes, I am." She proceeded to describe the dream in detail, along with the alien being in his craft.

"That matches the description of the alien Twilight and her friends saw yesterday." Celestia looked thoughtful.

"Roy Fokker..."

"What?"

"That was the name that went through my mind when I saw him. Roy Fokker." She remembered the look in his eyes, the weariness of war and destruction. "Sister, you should have seen him, he was so sad..." Luna felt like crying again.

"Ohhhhh." Celestia rested her head on Luna's shoulder.

After a few minutes, Luna lifted her head. "Wherefore now, Celestia?"

Celestia thought about the situation briefly. "They'll probably be coming down to greet us for some reason or another. Their intentions will dictate our response to them and our actions forthwith. She looked up, as though she could see through the ceiling.

"Until then, we can only wait."

No one had filed a request for Captain Gloval to be court-martialed. None of the bridge crew seemed any less devoted to the orders he gave. As such, he was still in command. And the thing was, there was no one who could replace him; none of the bridge crew had his level of expertise to command the ship, and none of the Robotech Defense Force personnel had as much knowledge and experience being in command in a battle.

The Captain could only do one thing now; try to initiate first contact with the aliens on the planet below, and request their help in fixing the ship. That was their one and only slim chance to get back home, otherwise, they would have to settle on the planet.

That wasn't the worst thing in the universe, he supposed. The aliens would be hard-pressed to find them, even if (and here, he hoped and prayed that this hadn't happened) they had destroyed civilization on Earth as it was known. And a new history could begin, wiping the slate clear of the wars and disasters that had plagued Man throughout history.

Still, it was heart-wrenching to know that it was almost inevitable that they would be stuck here, that Earth was almost certainly out of their grasp.

He shook himself out of those thoughts. Now was the time for action, not for brooding on misery as he had been doing. All the vessels, including the Daedalus and Prometheus, were in the process of being attached to the main body of the SDF-1. All military craft had been accounted for and those damaged, either in the fighting or the fold jump, were being repaired. Even those that had been destroyed were being recovered and stripped for whatever useful parts they still had, and the remaining components were being reworked to repair or rebuild more vehicles.

Now, it was time to begin ground operations.

He had thought about how to safely contact the horse-people. On the surface, it didn't seem particularly hard; by some amazing fate, they spoke English, after all. After reviewing the footage from Roy Rokker's flight, as well as his report, he wasn't so sure a direct approach would be practical; the sudden though brief arresting of the Veritech by unknown forces had thrown him for a loop, and the natives might not be so friendly as they appeared from other sources.

As a result, it was a good idea to recon the world, and gain some information before making a landing. Skull Squadron would be sent out again, with permission to contact the native peoples. They would be fully armed and equipped, as well as having strict orders to remain together at all costs.

It was time to meet the natives.

Author's Note

*I got the information about Captain Gloval's country of origin from the Robotech Saga Wiki. I've seen some comments on YouTube videos saying he's Serbian, which seems ridiculous given his name.

As for the remake...

I've added more dialog in this and the previous chapter, and have currently started on the fourth. I hope you guys enjoy :twilightsmile:

I'm very excited. Since the restart, I've been feeling happier than I've been for a while. I guess that feeling of disappointing fans of this story is, if not gone, then going. :rainbowdetermined2: :pinkiehappy: :ajsmug:

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 :ajsleepy:

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).