I apologize for not having this out sooner, but between the other story I began to work on and trying to flesh this story out, I didn't have the time. However, I don't intend taking this long to make a single chapter.
Simulation Chamber
1200 Hours
"Well done squad, I'm damn proud of you" Sergeant Baker exclaimed. He'd love to see Alexei's team beat that time.
"Impressive if I don't say so myself." a voice said off to the right. Speak of the devil, it was Alexei. "Still, my teams going to embarrass yours when we finish our run" Alexei said with a certainty in his voice.
"I agree, you led them well Sergeant Baker".
Both squads turned to see General Hammond standing before them. Without hesitation they all stood at attention and saluted the General.
He returned the salute and motioned for them to be at ease. "As you were gentlemen, I'm only here to check up on the performance of our squads in these new simulators. Iexpected nothing less from a member of Force Recon." With that he walked off to the next squad who had just finished their run.
"We made our run in 3 minutes and 12 seconds, I'd love to see you try and beat that with your ragtag group of misfits." Baker jested at the Russian.
"Well this ragtag group of misfits is about to put you and your squad to shame". Alexei replied with a smirk.
"Then by all means, prove me wrong, it's your turn anyway." Baker said.
SIMULATION CHAMBER READY!
With that, Baker and Alexei shook hands and went their separate ways.
"Good luck Alexei" Baker told him before leaving.
"Thanks" Was Alexei's reply as his team entered the chamber.
"Now kiss" Was the voice of a certain Lance Corporal who said his words just within earshot of Baker.
"Still a better love story that twilight" he replied.
The squad laughed as they went on their way to the next exercise.
Cheyenne Mountain
NORAD Facility
1200 Hours
All was quiet on the consoles across the base. Earth's brand new fleet was now in orbit which added an extra layer of protection should any alien menace come to do us harm ever again. It was made even better with the surveillance satellites which kept a watchful eye throughout the solar system and beyond.
"Hey Daniels, you still dating that crazy bitch whatshername?"
"Her name is Michelle, and yes I am. What's it to you anyway Mike?"
"I'm just saying, she nuttier than a squirrel turd bro. I'm just making sure that if you piss her off, you don't get killed"
"Why don't you just go back to looking at your monitor like you should be and leave me alone about it"
"Bro ain't sh*t on the damn thing, hell; I'll look again for you. He pried his eyes wider and looked over the monitor for few seconds before leaning back in his chair once more. What do you know, all clear" He said in a snarky tone.
"Bro, I f*cking hate you."
The mood in the room changed when one of the consoles started beeping and everyone oriented their eyes towards Mike's direction. He stared wide eyed at the reading. He honestly didn't believe what he saw. He spoke up. "Uhh guys, we have incoming towards earth." He read the diagnostics to make sure it wasn't a glitch in the software and everything checked out. Something was approaching earth at 28,000 kilometers an hour.
"And it's heading directly to our fleet in orbit." Everyone in the room turned pale at that information.
"We need to inform command right now." Daniels said. Suddenly alarms started blaring throughout the base and people were rushing through the hallways. It was at this moment any last hopes at this being a mistake flew out the window. A voice then came over the intercom.
"ALL PERSONNEL, WE HAVE AN UNKNOWN OBJECT APPROACHING EARTH. THIS IS NOT A DRILL, I REPEAT, NOT A DRILL." So much for a quiet and boring day.
USSS George Washington
Medium Earth Orbit
1200 Hours
When word from NORAD came through about a mysterious object approaching Earth at an astonishing speed, every United Nations spacecraft began to vector to orbit above Europe, which based on trajectory estimates, will touch down in Rendlesham Forest, the location of training for the first batch of Marines for the UN fleet. Ground bases were being mobilized for a possible invasion and air traffic was being grounded with air force escorts.
Admiral Joseph Raines was the leading naval officer for the United States Space Force, the American contingent of the UN space force. With the need for orbital protection, the nations of Earth pooled resources and technology they had before and after the war ended. Raines was among the first of US Navy Officers to be granted the opportunity to lead the US military into a truly new frontier. So far, the only nations with individual space warfare vessels were the United States, Russia, and China. Within the next few years, Britain, France, Germany, Japan, Korea, and India will be fielding their own. Britain and France were expected to have their own within another year, with the other major nations not far behind. Current fleet strength consisted of one carrier, four destroyers, and four frigates, not counting mining vessels used to mine resources from the asteroid belt or the landing craft used to transport personnel from orbit to ground. America had the one carrier, which held twenty shuttlecraft, along with two frigates and destroyers. Russia and China held the remaining fleet with one frigate and one destroyer each. Now every vessel was vectoring to coordinates above Europe in an attempt to intercept whatever was heading their way.
"This is Admiral Raines of the USSS George Washington to all United Nations spacecraft in medium earth orbit, we are tracking an object approaching our position and coming in fast."
"This is Admiral Vasiliev of the Marshal Ustinov; we're tracking the object now and are targeting it now."
"This is Admiral Liu of the Chengdu; we have the target in sight, firing VLS cells.
As the object accelerated closer towards earth, the space fleet of earth fired upon the object, but it was too small for VLS cells to hit it. As CIWS systems opened fire on it, they had realized that it was nothing more than a large ball of light approaching earth, thus no weapons had any effect on it.
"What the hell is that thing?" One of the ensigns on the targeting system said with fear in his voice.
"According to calculation, it's heading for RAF Woodbridge."
The Admiral looked over with a look of at the man operating the tracking system with the expression of fear on his face.
"Is there something wrong Admiral?" The man asked with a hint of fear in his voice.
"We have an exercise underway at that exact base, a base where we're currently training Marines for security aboard these ships." The realization struck hard. If anyone wanted to launch an attack on earth, hitting the most important training base in the United Kingdom would be a smart move. Now an unknown object was speeding towards that exact location. A warning needed to be sent immediately. "Get a warning to the commander at Woodbridge, tell them they have incoming!" Raines ordered the communication officer.
RAF Woodbridge
1215 Hours
Alarms were blaring throughout the base as men and women scrambled to prepare for what they thought was an attack. Aircraft were screeching off run ways and troops were running in and out of armories with gear. Squad after squad funneled out with experimental gear not meant for use until after the training. But with an unknown object landing in the nearby forest, everything was on the table. No one was taking any chances that this would be the vanguard of another invasion. The nations of Earth and its united militaries would have none of it.
"You have any idea what's going on sir, we're at full combat readiness!?" Private Woo asked, baffled at what was going on. Baker and Alastair stared at him in confusion, which only made Woo shrink further. "Sorry, I was in the bathroom when I heard alarms ringing."
"I don't think any of us know what's going on, what about any of you?" Feng directed towards the rest of the squad, who all shrugged their shoulders in response. She looked over towards Baker, who she hoped had an answer.
"As of 1200, an unknown object blew right past American and Russian ships in low earth orbit." The squad went wide eyed at hearing this. While none of them were old enough to have lived during the Phauthi invasion, all of their parents did. Hell, most of their parents fought in the war. The war that changed humanity forever. When humanity realized they were not alone, and they had a target on their back. When humanity's remnants had united together to push an alien menace off their world. Now once more humanity was facing the unknown. But come hell or high water, they'd confront it and persevere. "When they fired on it, rounds just went straight through whatever it was." He continued. "Apparently it was a bright ball of light that zig zagged around the fleet in orbit and headed straight here. Specifically, in the forest of Rendlesham."
"So are we being invaded again Staff Sergeant?" Feng asked. "Did they come back to finish us off?" The squad began to feel uneasy about this.
"I don't think we're dealing with Phauthi, this isn't their MO. Regarldess, let's get moving, briefing in 5 minutes."
Now in the briefing room, General Hammond was issuing orders for each squad leader their tasks and what grid pattern they'd be searching.
"Alright listen up" Hammond bellowed to quiet the room down. "As of 1200 hours, an unknown object shot past our fleet in orbit, completely ignoring everything the fleet threw at them. It would seem that this object at first glance is a large ball of light, but it has since disappeared when it landed in the nearby forest."
He flicked the button on his projector controller that highlighted a specific area of Rendlesham forest. Baker recognized the area that was highlighted on the screen. It was the same exact place as the 1980 Rendlesham Forest incident, in which was commonly called "Britain's Roswell". There was renewed interest in old alien abduction reports and old UFO sightings after the war. Still, governments kept much of what they knew about such things classified.
"While aircraft are scanning for this thing from the sky, it'll be up to your teams search on the ground. To accomplish this mission and to guarantee minimal casualties, you'll be outfitted with new experimental weapon systems made for the teams that complete the training and get picked to be a part of MOIEF." He looked around at the Marines present in the room. He saw soldiers from around the world. However a vast majority were of course American MARSOC, British Royal Marines, and Russian Naval Infantry. "I don't doubt any of your capabilities, but this is the real deal. There are a lot of unknowns here, so be careful men. Once you locate whatever landed in the nearby forest, radio it in and specialized teams will arrive to study the object." He flipped the button once more and it showed the deployment zones for each squad.
"Borodin and Baker, take your squads to zone A."
"Chaloux and Paulsen, you'll scout Zone B."
"Zhao and Zaitsev, Zone C"
"Vasquez and O'Neil, Zone D."
"The rest of you are on standby if everything hits the fan. Now get to the armory, grab your gear, and report to you designated deployment zones. You are dismissed."
The soldiers rose to their feet, saluted, and left the room for the armories.
"Hey" Baker directed towards the other squad leaders who stopped hearing his voice. He gave a gesture to come closer and they did.
"What is it Baker?" Vasquez asked.
The first night we arrived here, did any of you feel off in any way? Because my first night sleeping I felt that something was going to happen." Most of them looked puzzled at this question. Most of them chalked it up to being anxious for the training ahead.
"I just thought I was being worried about the upcoming training, so I shrugged it off." Paulsen said.
"I know you didn't pull us over just to talk about gut feelings, speak your mind, my friend." Borodin's knew Baker for years and could tell something was bothering him.
"Look, I have a feeling we're going to be out in the field a lot longer than we think. Just have your squads pack supplies. Ammo, protein and energy bars, water, and battery pack for the new equipment. I have a bad feeling that we're in for more than we bargained for with this. But that sure as hell shouldn't deter us. I'll leave you to it." With that, the squad leaders met up with their squads and prepped their equipment before going out to face the unknown.
"Hey Corporal, you know why Staff Sergeant is having us load up with all the extra gear? It's not like we're going to be out there for very long. And even if we are, we could easily make do with what we have on us right now." Asked Private Herzfeld as he double checked his weapon and ammo, before packing away his extra magazines.
"Beats me." Corporal Feng replied. "But the way I see it, if Staff Sergeant thinks this is necessary, then it is." A loud crunch could be heard in the squad bay as Private Woo was munching on an energy bar before they had to deploy.
"Woo, do you always eat at the most ridiculous times man? I mean sh*t, we're likely about to deal with more aliens, and here you are stuffing your face with food Staff Sergeant said to pack." Private Levy wasn't hiding his annoyance with Woo. During their first night sleeping together in the same barracks, he was eating a bag of chips and made no attempt to be quiet about it. That nearly got him his ass kicked by Corporal Vladi until Baker stepped in and put an end to the squabble.
"Apparently we aren't the only squad doing it, every squad leader issued the same exact orders." Informed Corporal Vladimirovna, who was still tinkering with her exo suit.
"Somethings got to be up if everyone thinks we should be packing this much on us. Luckily protein bars are lightweight and can fit in our pockets pretty easy."
"Just don't eat them all before we land in our drop zone bro." Private Patel laughed. This in turn made Privates Mofid and Samma snicker behind the Korean Marine.
"Enough of the smartass comments, we're leaving for the hangar now." Baker ordered.
The squad snapped to attention and followed Baker out the barracks and into the hangar. Inside were about a dozen V-22's spinning up and being loaded with men. Baker and his team climbed into one and sat down. It took off just after that. The inside of the V-22 was quiet. No one had any words to say. Many of their brains were running a million miles a minute trying to understand what was happening. A bright ball of light landing in the middle of a forest not that far from the biggest training center in the United Kingdom? Something was definitely wrong and they were going to figure out what it was. However, unbeknownst to them, what they were about to experience would be far beyond what any of them could have ever imagined.
"Drop zone coming up, get ready boys." The pilot announced over the comm channel. A few members of the team were silently praying that they'd come back in one piece. Praying that this wasn't the prelude to another invasion. "Drop zone reached, go go go."
The V-22 hovered at 20 feet and the team jumped down and spread out, watching all sides as if they were expecting enemy forces.
"1-2, on my left flank, 1-3 on my right. Watch your sectors and stay frosty.
As the team searched through the forest, they came across unusual levels of radiation and strange symbols marked onto the trees.
"Staff Sergeant, you should come and see this." Tamasine was puzzled as he looked at strange markings on a nearby tree. A circle with a triangle on the inside with a small black circle on the top left and a larger black circle on the bottom right of the triangle.
"I don't know what to make of it, but my gut tells me this is related to what we're looking for. I'll check and see if any others have found any of these." He tapped into his helmet comms to conact other squad leads.
"Alexei, you seeing these strange symbols everywhere? This is getting weirder by the minute."
"Da, the one I found looks like some f*cked up anvil. Everyone's reporting the same thing everywhere, higher than normal radiation levels and unknown symbols on the trees. What the hell is going on?"
"f*ck if I know man." What I do know is that we must be getting closer to the target, because radiation levels are getting higher and I'm seeing more symbols."
"Staff Sergeant, this is 1-2, we may have found something." It was the voice of Corporal Jones. "You're all going to want to see this."
"Roger that, converging on your position now." Soon every team was making their way towards Jones position as he and his fire team went face to face with the unknown.
As Baker and the rest of Alexei's team ran through the forest towards 1-2's position, they noticed a white light that gradually got brighter as they got closer. "That must be what we're looking for." Baker said as he kicked his exo suit into action and began running top speed to reach whatever was out here.
"Holy sh*t!"
"Sweet mother of god!"
"What are we looking at?"
They couldn't believe what they were seeing. A ball of white light just hovering above the ground about 20 feet ahead of them in a clearing. As the squads began to surround and call it in, it started to emit a low humming noise.
"sh*t, what is that sound?" One of the Marines asked, flicking his ear hoping the noise would stop.
"It's gotta be coming from that." The man pointed to the floating orb, which just stood still.
"Phoenix squad, on me!" Baker ordered his men. "Let's see if we can get a closer look at whatever this is."
"You aren't going alone, move up comrades."
As Baker and Alexei's team got closer to the object, the humming grew louder. "Gah" One of the Russian Marines complained. "This noise is annoying as sh*t."
"The Ospreys are inbound with reinforcements."
Suddenly the orb began to glow brighter and the humming grew louder. "Everyone get back. GET THE f*ck BACK!" Baker screamed for everyone to get back from the mysterious orb in front of them, but it was too late. A bright flash soon blinded them all. Phoenix squad got the worst of it. Between the blinding light and deafening hum, they couldn't do anything but close their eyes and wait for whatever was happening to be over.
But for the remaining search teams, all hell just broke loose.
"This is Viper squad, Phoenix is gone, repeat, Phoenix is gone."
"Say again Alexei, what's happening down there?"
"The f*cking orb of light we found just blinded us! And when we looked back, Baker and his team were gone. The object is still here, but their gone!"
"Do not go near that object, reinforcements are on the way, just don't go near it."
"Wherever you are Baker, I hope you and your team are alright." Alexei muttered to himself before looking back at his dumbstruck team. "This just got a whole lot worse."
Christophsis
22 BBY
"Anakin, how are you doing over there?" Obi Wan asked over the comlink.
"We're set. I've got some guys who are anxious to get going." Anakin replied
"Glad to hear it."
"We're back, general." Commander Cody stated as he entered the room.
Obi Wan looked back towards the Clone Commander and spoke. "Good. Obi Wan replied. "The show is about to begin." He went back to observing the road ahead, watching the droid army get closer
As Cody walked further into the observation post set up in the skyscraper overlooking the ambush point, he saw three clones working on one of the cannons. "How's that cannon coming boys?"
The clones stood up and responded "We'll have this one back in business in no time, sir."
"The droids are advancing." Obi Wan said as he looked back toward the clones.
"I'm seeing a full battalion coming right on schedule." A Clone trooper named Gus reported. "Tanks! They brought tanks." He zoomed in with his Macrobinoculars to get a closer look at the incoming droid forces. "A litter closer." Gus said enthusiastically. That soon changed after what he saw next. "They're splitting up."
"What?" One of the clones said confused.
"Something's gone wrong. Prepare all troops for--"
Blaster fire began to ring out from the elevators. The clones that ran to respond were quickly shot down by the incoming droids.
Obi Wan ignited his lightsaber and began deflecting shots as the clones scrambled to grab their blasters.
"Go! Go!"
"Abort the mission!" Obi Wan exclaimed through the comlink.
As Kenobi and the clones began to back themselves towards the other doorway, blaster fire began to pour from there as well. The few clones there were shot down quickly.
"Our position's been compromised." Sergeant Slick stated over the comlink.
As droids began to pour in from both sides, they began to hear a fiant humming sound that began to grow louder and louder.
"Obi Wan, what's going on?" Anakin asked concerned over his comlink.
"We're cut off. The droids are onto us."
As droids began to overrun their position, a blinding light overtook them and the battle droids present. When they opened their eyes, they saw all the droids on the ground, disabled, as if hit by a droid popper. As the clones began to check the droid corpses, they heard shouting from one of the hallways the droids came from, followed by what sounded like cannons going off. They rushed into the room only to be met by 14 strange looking soldiers who had apparently taken down some of the remaining droids. As they entered the hallway, they pointed what Obi Wan could only describe as slugthrowers, at the clones. They wore strange green, brown, and black camouflage, with some type of metal skeleton over their bodies. Now he was in a standoff with these unknown soldiers, one that he aimed to defuse.
"Who the f*ck are you people?" One of them shouted at Obi Wan.
"I could certainly ask the same of you." Obi Wan replied. He didn't want to fight unless he had to. "How about you lower your weapons so we can talk."
"Tell your men to stand down and I'll tell mine to stand down." They were hesitant.
Suddenly glass broke behind them and with it came Anakin and his clones. As Anakin saw the situation, he to ignited his lightsaber and prepared for a fight. The sight of more clones made the strange soldiers back up further.
"Who are they?" Anakin asked. "I saw a bright flash of light and you didn't respond when I tried raising you on the comlink."
"Whatever that flash was, took out the droids." He looked back towards the soldiers in front of him. "I believe it also brought them."
"We don't have time for this!" Anakin said annoyed and reached out with his hand to use the force and disarm them. However when he did, nothing happened. The guns remained perfectly in their hands. "What?" He exclaimed while looking at his hand. Obi Wan store in disbelief and tried to do the same, only to be met with the same result.
"Sir?" Captain Rex asked confused at what he just saw.
"Why can't use the Force on them?" Anakin asked with annoyance.
"Ahem, what the hell are you people talking about? What's this force you keep talking about and why are you reaching out towards us with your hands?"
The Jedi and clones stood dumbfounded at what was before them. A group of soldiers that couldn't be affected by the Force. This was certainly concerning. However, it became clear that if they wanted to attack the Jedi, they would've done so by now.
"Put the weapons down Cody. If they were here to attack us, they would have." Obi Wan reasoned. As the clones leveled their guns and the Jedi holstered their lightsabers, the unknown soldiers began to relax as well. Obi Wan took the initiative and went to greet them.
"Greetings, my name is Obi Wan Kenobi, Jedi Knight of the Galactic Republic." He held out his hand, and who he assumed was the leader shook it.
"Staff Sergeant Matt Baker, Marine of the Earth Defense Force, and this is my team." The man replied.
"Pardon my ignorance, but I've never heard of this "Earth Defense Force", where are you from?" Obi Wan asked the Marine.
"Well it's in the name, planet Earth. As for this "Galactic Republic", can't say we've heard of it either."
'Odd'. Kenobi thought to himself. 'How have they never heard of the Republic. And how are they immune to the Force. I must bring them before the Jedi Council.'
"Well that's rather odd that you've never heard of us. Might I ask what you and your men are doing in the middle of a war zone fought between the Galactic Republic and Confederacy of Independent Systems?"
"I'm assuming those are the robots we killed?" The Jedi looked to the ground and saw holes in bodies of the battle droids. No doubt done by the Marines. "We can't say we intended to come here. Quite honestly, we don't know how or why we found ourselves here."
"I'll assume it was due to that bright flash that we experienced right as we were attacked by droids." Commander Cody reasoned. Anyway, our position is compromised, we can't stay here."
Anakin tapped his comlink. "Gunship, come in. Hawk, we need an evac in the south tower."
"Roger that, sir, we're coming."
"Lead the way." Baker said to Obi Wan. As the group of Jedi, Clones, and Marines went to the elevators, they came under attack from another group of droids. The Jedi ignited their lightsabers while the Marines and Clones ran for cover to return fire.
"That robot there in the middle of the group looks important. Think you can cover me while I snatch it?" Baker asked his team.
"Yes sir, just tell us when." Alistair replied before single shotting another of the tan robots.
"Now!" He ordered as he activated his exo and ran out into the open and made a dash towards the command droid. What droids got in his way were quickly shot down or punched by Baker himself. Baker then jumped and tackled the droid to the ground. He quickly disarmed it and threw the weapon over to Alistair. "Hold onto that Corporal, it might be useful for us later. Each of you pick up one of those lasers." He dragged the droid to his feet as the Jedi looked at him with confusion and surprise. "You think you can get anything out of this robot?" Baker asked the Jedi. Skywalker and Kenobi both looked at each other and grinned. The loaded the droid into the gunship and went back towards the base.
