Starstruck [Stellaris/Nier: Automata/Mass Effect]

Two Hundred Years, it has been two hundred years of toil and hardship.

Bastion was not always called Humanity's Home Away From Home so affectionately back then, as the first of our people stepped outside the Arks which brought us here, they were faced with constant challenges. Had they not been so resourceful, so adamant on surviving, they might have perished in the face of such adversity, and taken our future with them. But they didn't, they survived and thrived, and those that came after them continued on their legacy by never taking another step backwards.

Two Hundred years, of loss and triumph.

Our ancestors were not alone in our new home back then, and in those times they would face the greatest adversity any human has ever faced. They faced an enemy, no, a planet hell bent on eradicating them, they faced The Swarm. And they would have fallen, had it not been for Our Savior, Sidney Beauclair, who united our people in a time of hardship and led them against those who would kill them, and emerging triumphant. Through her, and those that would come after her, we were given a future, we have not squandered it.

Two Hundred Years, of sprawl and splendor.

Through that victory, we would once again turn our eyes to the stars, and we would not stop until we reached them again. There had not been any room for failure, for such a noble goal could not be sabotaged by haste born out of greed of individuals. And today we see the fruits of our collective labor relentlessly pursing that ambition, our reach extends from Bastion and enjoys the light of five stars and all that lays beneath them.

My people. My lost fellows, it has been Two Hundred Years of Homesickness.

But it has come to an end. My Beloved People! My brave brothers and sisters in arms! I am overjoyed to tell you that after centuries of solitude, our Age of Trials are over! FOR WE ARE WITHIN SIGHT OF HOME! It is only thanks to the efforts of the brave Captain Alexandra Sigurdsson and the talented crew of the AV Ornogon, may they forever be exalted in our halls of glory! I stand before you, Two Hundred Million Souls, and say with optimism unbound that nothing can stand in our way any longer!

Mother Earth awaits! May nothing stand in the way of our Ascendancy...
-Grand Marshal Augustus Andreiovich Beauclair of the Solar Ascendancy, the fifth Grand Marshal to ever hold the highest office of the Ascendancy. He is also the second Beauclair to do so, being the great-nephew of one Sidney Beauclair. He was chosen for the office for his stellar military career.
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The rapidly escalating pace of the Space Race between the Superpowers of the world would lead to greater and greater advances in technology, and when the tensions between these two nations finally ended, it didn't take long before the much more amenable governments reached an agreement to show the world the importance of cooperation. This agreement would usher in a time of prosperity that would forever be called the Golden Age of Technology.

The two Titans of the world had put aside more than four decades of ideological enmity in favor of a mutually beneficial agreement less than a year after their struggle for supremacy ended. It saw almost immediate results in the form of previously unthinkable amounts of prosperity, and this prosperity would draw the eye of many a Leader that wished the same prosperity upon their own Nations.

In the year 1990, the 'Millennium Accords' would be signed in the City of Rome.

It led to a technological leap that dwarfed any that came before it. It saw the humans finally mastering their planet, it saw them conquer the greatest killers that plagued humanity. It brought Unity, and it brought clarity. This unprecedented flourishing finally saw them look to the skies and realize they were meant for more than just their beloved home planet.

Five years after the Accords were signed, the United Nations of Earth would all come together to embark on a project that saw an immediate explosion in its popularity. This project, called the 'Ulysses Initiative', would pander to the exploratory spirit of Humanity and construct four gigantic Arks. Each Ark would be able to carry thousands of people and would be equipped with a Hyperdrive capable of reaching light-speed and traverse the immense distance between stars effortlessly.

In the year 2000, this ambition would be made real.

Four Arks, each capable of housing and feeding five thousand people for as long as its reactors were running. The product of the UNE pooling its collective resources into this project that was spurred evermore with the roaring public approval. Some of the greatest minds of Humanity would volunteer to take part in this project, something the fledgling Global Government would accept, drunk on its own success and uncaring of the dangers this may cause.

Of course, this success would come at a cost.

The Hyperdrive was an experimental one, one that had only been tested on small crafts, not something as large as the Arks. A fact that was swept under the floor by UNE officials who wouldn't let such a inconvenient fact get in the way of their crowning achievement, and would order them to go ahead with their production. This action would prove to be a mistake, a fatal one.

The Golden Age of Technology would come to a violent end as One of the Four Arks, named 'Iris' exploded in a fireball just as its sister ships disappeared. Five thousand people would die immediately, and the resulting debris from the super-violent explosion resulted in the deaths of hundreds more on the ground. Worse yet, contact with remaining Arks was irrevocably lost.

Twenty Thousand of Earth's brightest, extinguished in an instant.

The Golden Age of Technology came to an end that day, and the short-lived UNE would break down as tensions sky-rocketed and everyone involved started blaming one another for the resulting disaster. The hopes and dreams of an entire generations were crushed, and the optimism for a better future that had been the feel of this era was replaced by distrust and hatred.

Yet this world, divided once more, would suffer one last trial.

The White Giant descended from the sky in the year 2003. It would bring with it the extinction of Humanity, a disease that would bring an end to all life on the planet and there was nothing that could be done to prevent it. Mankind, divided-once-more, was doomed to be forgotten in a Galaxy they had once dreamed to conquer, but wouldn't even notice that it had disappeared...

If only the Universe was so lucky...

 

Is it supposed to be this silent..?
-Chief Communications Officer Mathias Baroque of the AV Ornogon

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The Kuiper Belt. AV Ornogon. Captain Alexandra Sigurdsson

"Captain Sigurdsson," A gravelly voice spoke through the communications terminal as a human-sized projection took shape in the bridge, taking the shape of an old but still very alert and capable man who proudly displayed the uniform of an Admiral. "I must commend you for appearing on such a short notice." He would say as he returned the salute given to him immediately after his appearance. "I know how swamped you are with responsibilities, so I will keep this short."

The Captain of the ship, a tall, pale woman barely past her thirties, would nod in respect and no small amount of gratitude. "Thank you, sir."

"A pleasure, Captain. I am here to give you your new orders, along with all relevant information we possess about Sol and the comparisons made from the data you forwarded to us." There was a pause, a slight pause that made the Captain, Alexandra's heart sink when the Admiral let out a loud sigh and looked at her with a deadly serious expression. "There were a lot of discrepancies, Captain."

If his previous actions had only made her heart sink, those next words had filled her with sheer existential dread. "S-sir?" She swallowed, her mouth feeling extremely dry for a second, "We were extremely thorough with the examination and the cross-referencing of the information given to us by the Ministry, I know there are some classified information left out of those, but surely not so much that they would jeopardize such a mission."

She knew she was overstepping some boundaries there, but she was less concerned about that with the specter of just what would happen to her and her crew for giving a false alarm for the discovery of Mother Earth looming over her. She shot a glance toward her bridge crew, and was met with a collection of fearful faces that ranged from denial to terror.

"Calm down Captain, we would not have announced it to the greater public had we not been certain that this was indeed, Mother Earth. The data have forwarded to us is more or less the same as the last star-map given to the crews of the Arks, you and your people are in the clear." Relief flooded her, although the Admiral's next words brought about a whole another kind of tension.

"Then... What is the problem, sir?"

The aging Admiral sighed, and motioned for something from someone off-projection. "The problem, is Mother Earth herself."

There was that weird feeling again.

"Sir?" She asked, though the Admiral held a hand up for her to wait on her question. A moment later, he was given a datapad that was quickly connected to the projection, which immediately started to transmit data into her console, she immediately forwarded it to her XO so he could sift through the data while she talked with the Admiral. "Does this have something to do with the additional scans we were told to make on the Homeworld?"

Scans they were told to make despite there being strict (and by strict she meant obey or face a firing squad strict) orders not to get close to Earth without direct approval from the Grand Marshal himself. Scans they were ordered to be made from as far as Neptune, whose contents were strictly told to be classified information even before it was acquired, for which they were ordered into a communications blackout over.

To add onto that, her own crew weren't even allowed to share the results with her. She knew that the Ministry of Intelligence would be all over this just so someone wouldn't botch the reunification, but she thought that had been an absurd amount of oversight until this moment.

"I'm afraid so, Captain. Take a look through those results."

She quickly turned to her second-in-command, who transferred a summary back to her after she snapped him out of his weird and uncharacteristic trance, which she immediately started reading. Thankfully, it was a well-made summary which had just about caught the gist of the matter, something that helped immensely because her eyes couldn't believe what they were seeing and forced her to read it again and again until it finally sunk in.

"It's locked in place."

That explains it...

Each and everyone person on her ship knew what Earth was like, each and every human on Bastion and her colonies could describe what Mother Earth looked like from the moment they could walk, even though none of them had ever been there, and some of them never would. They had all grown up on stories about Her, they all had access to information that would confirm those stories.

Twenty-four hour rotations for a day, something impossible to forget. It was still the official clock on every Ascendancy Vessel and Space Stations, not to mention that it was still in use lots of minor colonies. She couldn't even imagine what it would take to stop something like that from happening in the space of just two hundred years, let alone it happening... without killing everything that was on the planet.

Her eyes widened.

"Yes... And it speaks to your high character that you've kept the information confidential, even to yourself." The Admiral sighed, and she caught his shoulders slumping slightly. "Which why the next part is going to be especially hard."

Ah... Should have guessed this was going to happen.

"Captain, you, your crew and your ship are hereby conscripted by the Ministry of Military Intelligence until further notice. We are sorry that your contract with the Ministry of Exploration had to be terminated so suddenly, but be assured that you will be compensated in full when the situation is resolved. Await the arrival of reinforcements and place yourself in their command. Failure to comply with these orders will result in your immediate declaration as a Traitor and will see you and your crew forfeit all your rights as a citizen, hunted and summarily executed."

It was a completely understandable order from every point of view, yet that didn't stop her from feeling numb, mutely nodding at the Admiral and saluting as the projection dissolved with a final sorrowful, but respectful nod from the Admiral. She collapsed onto her chair as soon as the last wisps of it dissolved away, bringing a hand to cup her face as her thoughts started to race.

She knew how irresponsible it was, showing such weakness in front of her crew when she was supposed to be the opposite, leading them by example through these trying times. But having her greatest crowning achievement turn to dust in front of her eyes had been too much for her, that wasn't even to mention the disaster she felt approaching with what they were going to find on Earth.

She wasn't an idealist, she hadn't expected a giant parade that would welcome them home as soon as they appeared on the system, no one on this ship had. But none of them had been prepared for the sheer radio silence they had got from Earth either, the sheer nothingness that covered space between Earth, and the outer asteroid belt that enveloped the system (Kuiper) that they had emerged from.

And whatever had happened to Earth...

It scared her, it scared her more than anything ever had.

And she knew that, as scared as she was, what she felt was paled in comparison to what the knew the higher-ups were feeling, and she also knew how a good portion of them would do when faced with such a situation...

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The Drakon System. AV Adamant, Flagship of the First Fleet. The Old Guard

It wasn't supposed to be like this...

The aging Admiral took a deep breath as the projection of the despairing captain of the Ornogon in front of him winked away, making a show of inspecting the bridge before promptly retreating to his office. He sealed the door off to anyone unless it was an absolute emergency, and settled on his chair with a heavy sigh as he pulled a drawer and withdrew a bottle that had gotten him through some of the hardest times of his long career.

How telling was it, that he'd only started to put a dent in the damn thing during the years he considered to be his crowning achievement? A lot, he supposed... But he didn't care that much, not when there were so many things he had to worry about.

Which just so happened to be his... Crowning Achievement.

He supposed Crowned Achievement would be a better way to put it, even if there was no crown on the head in question. He still acted like a King, had the authority of one and was chosen for his position by virtue of his name, that may as well have made him a King, even if the 'he' in question would never even consider addressing himself as such simply because of his values.

Now, he was aware that he was being somewhat unfair toward their Grand Marshal. The boy had been trained by some of the best among them to be the best among them from the moment he could walk, and he had soaked up that training to a level that surprised even himself, and he'd been the one to put those events into motion! From the very start of his military career, the boy had earned commendation after commendation, to the point where the vote that cemented his ascension to the rank of Grand Marshal had been near-unanimous.

It helped, of course, that Augustus was charismatic as all hell, he'd found himself as the lead voice of several like-minded colleagues immediately upon his entry into the Military. He was also smart enough to make use of the quality, which had helped immensely when those like-minded colleagues proved to be rising-stars with immense potential in their own right.

He was also, knowingly or unknowingly; was talented in making use of his immensely prestigious lineage to it's fullest extent. Whenever he talked, people were reminded of The Savior, especially when the things he espoused were almost exactly the same as what she had preached in her time, when what would become the Ascendancy was just a bunch of scattered space-ships just waiting to be devoured by a monstrous horde.

Because of her, those same scattered groups had been forged into an army that had conquered an entire planet foreign to themselves, and had gone on to conquer entire stars after that. Now, people felt like they had finally found a worthy successor to her, that would finally be able to practice what she and he preached, bringing them to ever-greater heights.

These qualities provided results; deadly, but ultimately highly successful results. He had accomplished more than every Grand Marshal that had come before him with the sole exception of the Savior herself, and even that was in doubt with the rediscovery of Earth.

The problem lay not with the boy's ability, but with his personality. In short, he was an Idealist, radically so.

But he supposed it was only natural that for him to be like that, given the environment he had grown up in.

Every since Humanity had first set up their first communities in Bastion two hundred years ago, every child had grown up hearing stories about what Mankind had achieved during their education. And out of all those stories, none of them were more fruitful than the time when Humanity finally banded together to achieve their goals, the heights they had reached when the borders dividing them were torn down in favor of Unity above all, and humanity embraced it's potential with open arms.

He could still remember the goosebumps he'd gotten as a kid in his History Lectures, and what he had felt then was dwarfed by the sheer fervor the youth of today no doubt had felt when they heard them, especially as those stories had only proved more and more popular, and most of all truthful as time went on, and people saw what that Unity brought come to fruition right before their very eyes.

It was only a matter of time until someone like Augustus would come to lead them, but those wouldn't have had the success that the he had. Each and every Idealist had their own ideas on Mankind's Ascension, and while they might all be competent in their own right, none of them would be able to unite those Idealists, and also the shrinking but still sizable number of Traditionalists, the same way a highly competent leader who also had the name Beauclair could.

If only he'd realized what that would mean before it was too late.

Those Traditionalists were an increasingly vanishing part of the Old Guard of course, and what remained of them surely lamented their decision when their new Grand Marshal upended tradition in its entirety. One of the more glaring examples being them entirely abandoning the slow and safe approach to Planetary Colonization that had been the norm ever since the discovery of the Swarm not being unique to Bastion. The shift toward an even more centralized administration of the colonies made it all too apparent to the Traditionalists which side the Ascendancy was shifting toward.

The boy was preparing for a war.

With whom?

The Old Admiral could not say...

There was life out there, Mankind had discovered that fact just two hundred years ago.

Of course, that discovery had been an altogether traumatic one that still haunted them to this day... Grand Marshal Sophia von Bollwerk when she'd been told that the Swarm was not exterminated on Bastion like they all thought, it had not been a pretty sight. He considered Augustus turning that instinctual fear into a burning hatred to be the boy's greatest achievement, but the ease in which he had done so terrified him to his core.

Especially now, where more and more were embracing his ideology, he'd only need a few words to drive their people into a murderous rage against those that had harmed Mother Earth. The Admiral had seen it in him, watched his reactions when he'd been told that Mother Earth was silent, when he'd been told that Mother Earth had been tidally locked due to what was most likely an apocalyptic event.

His face wasn't that of a man who'dd just had his worst fears realized, it was that of a man who was planning bloody revenge.

He'd said so himself...

"It has only been Two Hundred Years, even if the nature of the Arks' departure from Earth had caused an already predicted time anomaly, we still have to consider that such an event was considered highly unlikely to happen according to our records. Leaving aside the fact that Sol itself turning into a Red Giant was considered far more likely to happen before that, and that was millions and millions of years into the future. No, this was not a natural occurrence. Someone did this to Mother Earth."

That had been the end of his involvement with that conversation, because he had been ordered to take his fleet and get it ready for deployment the moment the order was given, and inform the unfortunate Captain of the Ornogon of her conscription while he was at it. The whole thing had made him painfully aware that his fleet that had once been loyal to him was drifting ever closer to their Grand Marshal.

He was broken out of his thoughts when a red light lit up on his personal terminal.

Speak of the Devil...

He quickly put the bottle away and readjusted himself, running a hand through his snow white hair before finally sighing and allowed the communications request through to his projector.

"Admiral, let us skip the pleasantries." The tall, black haired man that was their Grand Marshal said curtly, "Is the Fleet in position?"

He nodded, "We are in position, Grand Marshal. Ready to move out at your word."

"Good. Rendezvous with the Earthbound in the Pegasus System as soon as you can."

Ah... He should have expected he would be taking the field for a mission like this. He supposed this would also cement his place as the sole hegemon of his fleet, he would probably have to look into his retirement options soon.

"Understood, Grand Marshal."

"May nothing stand in the way of our Ascendancy."

"May nothing stand in the way of our Ascendancy..."

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Now, It is a little exposition heavy, I know... But these are only the first chapters, and it will get better soon.

Your thoughts on this chapter are appreciated, I am always looking for ways to improve my writing.

 

This chapter will see us introduced to the PoV character of this Arc, enjoy...
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Home at last...
-An unnamed soldier, her voice was easily picked up from the surveillance footage of the Mess Hall of the ship she'd been stationed in as she and her comrades stood in absolute awestruck silence at the sight of their Homeworld, once lost.

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Sol System. Fruits of Our Unity.

Watching a Fleet leave hyperspace was a beautiful affair.

Spaceships, numbering only slightly less than a thousand, ranging from sleek Corvettes to gigantic Battleships, from deadly Destroyers to the vital backbone of the Fleet in the form of Cruisers. All emerging out of the endless void of space with a blinding flash of light, arriving in droves. They quickly fell into their traditional formations and rallied around the Flagship of the Fleet in a beautiful show of discipline that was frankly staggering.

It was a beautiful image; that was made ten times better for one Lieutenant Demir Arslan of the Venatores, by the arrival of Ascendancy's Crown Jewel, the Earthbound III. The first Colossal-Class Dreadnought ever to be produced by the Ascendancy, several kilometers long, towering above every ship in the Fleet by a large margin, with the sole exception of the Adamant, another marvel of engineering left in the dust by a superior design. It was armed to the teeth with state-of-the-art weapons and every bit of technology that was developed for the Fleet that it could make use of.

Not a view everyone got to see frequently, especially since the Navy and its Flagships tended to stay out of sight for most of the time purely because of doctrinal purposes, with the sole exception of Military Parades. Although one couldn't deny that it made civilian travelling a lot easier when there wasn't a giant Fleet clogging up every possible bit of space there was to be found whenever there was actually a parade.

As such, the Fleets that weren't assigned to missions; such as Patrolling the Frontier, Planetary Pacification and so forth, were generally kept stationed in their shipyards, while smaller jobs such as patrolling the interior, dealing with prodigiously low amounts of piracy and black market smuggling, and providing protection from such criminal activities for Planets under the Ascendancy fell to the significantly smaller 'Peacekeeping Flotillas', their lack of need for numbers and overall inferiority when compared to the actual Fleet did nothing to inspire the same awe whenever they rolled around.

Which was why, after such a long amount of time without such fanfare spent exterminating some vermin in the new batch of colonies, the Special Forces lieutenant was so content to sit back and watch the view from the Ship he was stationed in, it being part of the Scouting Division of the First and thus having a perfect view of the show that was unfolding before them.

That wasn't to say his moment lasted however, he wasn't that lucky.

"Really? You're still watching the Fleet?"

He sighed as he tore his eyes away from the beautiful view and peeked with a thoroughly unimpressed look at the threshold of the Observatory from the nook he'd made himself comfortable in, coming face to face with the ignoramus who was supposedly his best friend, she who happened to be matching his look and beating him in making it look more convincing.

"Uh... Yeah? Not everyday we get to see something like that you know."

He'd already braced himself for the punch that he knew she'd throw the moment he'd seen the expression on her face, it didn't help that much though, he'd still been dislodged from his comfortable seat and only refrained from face-planting on the ground by virtue of his superior reflexes. "We're moments from Mother Earth, you brain-dead moron, that's more important than the Fleet!"

"Alright! Calm down, would you?" He said, as he dusted himself off. "I was trying to take my mind off of that." The emphasis on the word 'off' was accompanied by a glare.

"You're still on about that?" She didn't look impressed, as always whenever she got it into her head that Demir's logical concerns were nothing more than him was him 'being pessimistic' "What did I tell you about being so pessimistic?" Yep, there it is... He didn't know why he still let her do that when it was just as infuriating for him as her annoyance at his perfectly normal behavior.

"You read the reports, didn't you?" He asked as he leaned on the wall of the narrow Observatory, "Honestly 'Dora, did that read like everything went peachy after we left? One would think I'm fussing over nothing, listening to you speak like that." He was adamant on this, especially since she should know better given that she kept saying she was the smarter one out of the two of them.

Thankfully, that got through to her, "Alright. Fine..." It was her turn to sigh, sitting down on one of the very uncomfortable benches given to them on the Observatory, and hunching forward, her face hidden beneath her hands, dealing with some pretty unpleasant thoughts no doubt. "I guess I was just hoping for something different." He took the empty space next to her, and put a hand on her shoulder. Theodora wasn't alone on that front, the stories had painted such a vivid picture of Mother Earth, to see such a discrepancy between that picture and reality had been... jarring, to say the least.

He quickly dismissed that image once again, not wanting it to lead down what was sure to be an unhelpful and angering thought process. He focused on his friend instead, patting her on the shoulder. "Let's not worry about it, yeah? We'll find out what happened when they send us down there." When she didn't budge, he just sighed and leaned back on the bench.

But, let it not be said that he couldn't think of any good ideas on his feet, because he knew just how to cheer her up. "Hey, 'Dora? You think some Luddites got to the UNE?" He asked.

It was enough for her to look at him, her face bearing that familiar incredulous tint he'd gotten pretty used to ever since Basic. "What? You mean like the Salvies?" Her eyes unfocused as she did a double take after saying that. "Now that you said it..." She peeked around him to make sure no one was there, "There were something about those in the classified files about Mother Earth before the Arks."

He hadn't read those, "Any details?"

She shook her head, "No... Just some footnotes about one or two people that got elected to the UNE Parliament..." That didn't surprise him, from what he had read, people had been excited to get to space. "But that might have changed after the Arks disappeared..."

Right... He'd meant it as a joke, but he could see that she was actually considering it.

Which would mean that she had a big chance of being highly disappointed when they went down there, seeing as there were a lot of things that could debunk their little theory, especially since they were forgetting just a slight tidbit. "What about the planet, you know... Being tidally locked?" He was prepared for the punch she was inevitably going to throw because he would be ruining her mood again.

He was wrong about her punching him, though she did give him a very effective glare. "I'm going to report you to the psych ward, you fucking schizo." She really didn't like people telling her things were not going to go like she'd imagined it would go, but he was prepared to bear the burden of her being angry at him if it meant she wouldn't lose her cool when confronted with the truth, especially when such a thing could get her discharged.

That didn't mean he wasn't going to defend himself from her however. "Hey!" He raised his hands in surrender, though one might interpret it as him preparing to shield himself from some form of assault. "It's not my fault you took a joke seriously and ran with it! You're supposed to be the rational one!" Debatable, but he needed her to stop being angry at him.

"Whatever..." She said as she rolled her eyes. "Let's just gear up before I get the urge to punch you again." She got up with a huff, Demir following behind her after rolling his eyes and wondering just how they managed to maintain their relationship when they quarreled every few seconds for the thousandth time. He wasn't that serious about doing so, of course. Neither of them would hold grudges over something as small as that a spat during a tense moments, and how could there be a tenser moment then the extinction of humanity from Mother Earth?

"Did any orders come through?" He asked, shoving aside any thoughts of the spat and focusing on business.

She shook her head in a negative. "Captain said it would only be a matter of time, wouldn't hurt to prepare early if that's the case." He nodded in acceptance, following her around the corner and entering the Armory behind her. Neither of them forgot to nod to the pair of Marines whose salutes looked way too rigid for them to be anything but awestruck on the way.

It didn't take long for them to spot their squadmates standing in a loose square around the Quartermaster with their backs to them in the corner, only one of them noticing their arrival at they approached them

"Hey LTs," Matthews, one of the newest additions to their newly enlarged squad and the one who had noticed them coming greeted with an informal salute that reflected the relaxed air around them, he was quickly followed by the other six. "We were just checking out the hardware for this mission, Cap said he'd be coming soon."

Demir frowned as he watched Theodora immediately go for the pile. "We didn't get any message from him..."

One of the others, Dubois if he remembered her name correctly, shrugged in an indifferent manner. "He was with us at the Lounge when the Ship's Captain called him over, said we would know when we should gear up." As if on cue, their Wrist-Coms lit up with the blue light that indicated they had just gotten a message of the utmost importance. "That was convenient..."

Whatever jokes that might have been made at her expense was lost when Theodora let out an impressed whistle. "These are some high-tech weapons, I remember reading that some of them were still undergoing tests."

That got him to pay closer attention to the weapons, and see that she was absolutely correct, that was when the Quartermaster interjected. "By the order of the Grand Marshal himself, some of these babies were declassified today just so I could hand them out to you." That shouldn't have been surprising really, none of them had missed the Scouting Division being delayed because of an unscheduled shipment.

One of the others -Galahad, judging by his ID- who had been getting a particularly close look at a manual for a Cannibal next to Theodora chuckled, "Intelligence must be pissed, they don't sound like people who enjoy sharing their toys."

It was the Quartermaster's turn to chuckle, "No kidding, you should have seen the glares I got when they were offloading these things. I fully expect to spend my retirement in an Infested World if I get to that point."

There was a round of laughter, though their attention quickly refocused on the weapons. Demir, for his part, was doing his best to devour the manual for an aptly named Beam-Weapon called Helios, "These could turn some Broodmother Clearance Ops into cakewalks," He grumbled quietly, getting some approving murmurs back. He couldn't guarantee their reliability of course, but it wasn't hard to imagine oneself and a squad equipped with these weapons marching down the long and winding tunnels of a Swarm Nest, and emerging from the other side without any casualties.

Those showcase videos painted a vivid picture...

It would most likely fall to their Captain to snap the squad out of the funk they'd entered because they had been presented with a huge variety of experimental and classified weaponry. Thankfully, he'd just made his entrance to the Armory in a way that had been most effective in gathering their attention, a shame it had been made at the expense of the pair of Marines who had been watching them from the sidelines.

"Alright ladies," Captain Alan Greene, a legend even among the legendary Venatores said with a flippant tone as he grabbed the helmet for their Elite APEX Armor from the table, having already equipped the armor itself. He quickly waved off their salute and sent the Quartermaster packing the same way those Marines had gone. "Stop drooling over the new weapons and start gearing up, I'll be giving you your sit-rep."

One half of the squad immediately got to choosing their loadout as the other half broke off and went for their own armors. Demir following Theodora in stepping into their respective armors. He quickly configured the armor systems to his liking and kept an ear on the closing seals to make sure there weren't any problems with it before focusing back on the Captain.

The Captain quickly used his Wrist-Com to project an image of Earth and its immediate surroundings to the room, "We'll be going in blind, the Fleet doesn't want to barge into orbit guns blazing and what few scans made on the planet couldn't get enough intel to give us full coverage on the ground." A few swipes later and the map changed to one that a trained eye could recognize denoted radio signals.

"The planet isn't completely dark, though I'm told nothing we did could get us to crack through the signal and listen in." What were the odds of that? He quickly put that thought aside when the Captain pointed at the center of the biggest concentration of signal transmissions. "We'll be landing a few hundred klicks off of this position and head to the center, broadcasting everything we've found to the Fleet using this Ship as a Comms buoy and download every bit of data we can along the way." There were several nods, "Any questions?"

"Rules of Engagement?"

"Report to the Fleet immediately upon establishing contact with any humans on the ground." That seemed standard, "Report yourself for quarantine at the event of a suit-breach and make sure to decontaminate yourself both going in and out of the planet, we don't want anyone to catch some super-flu that evolved while we were gone, and vice verse." Understandable. "If it looks hostile, or is listed in your HUD as a hostile, and is not human; shoot to kill."

He could work with that.

He wasn't alone in that, judging by what he saw when the last of his Armor sealed into place and he moved around the room to get himself used to the Armor that was generally heavier than everyone else's, owing to his position as a Close Quarters Specialist. When that was done, he quickly moved to the deal with his own loadout, though not before getting a second opinion. "Any recommendations Captain?"

"Reliability is key, those weapons may be effective, but they are not standard equipment for a reason." He patted his own currently inactive HAR, "You don't want your weapon breaking down in such an important mission." As disappointing as that was, he agreed with the Captain. Though that didn't stop him from grabbing what looked to be a heavily miniaturized version of the behemoth that was the Helios as a side-arm.

Just in case the standard combo of shotgun and sword couldn't do the deed, no reason to dig for an ulterior motive...

After a few moments of preparation later, the captain addressed them again. "Alright, everyone ready?" When a chorus of affirmatives responded, he nodded and shooed them toward the door, "To the hangars then, move out!"
​

__________

Something has changed...
Do you know what?

Negative... It requires investigation.
Is there anything we can do to investigate?​

...Negative.
This is most perplexing.
​

I sense that the end of all we know is upon us...
Do you feel it too?​

Yes...
Nothing will ever be the same. . .

__________

You ten are the first among us to return home.

You, the Venatores, one of the vital pillars that has kept the Ascendancy standing and has made it thrive ever since the Swarm War. I cannot stress just how important that is, just as I cannot stress enough how I wish that our return was under better circumstances. You all deserved so much better after years of such hardship, such selfless service, just for the advancement of our people.

But we must deal with the hand that we have been given, as all must.

We must find out what has happened to our beloved Mother Earth, find out what has happened to our people, find out who has done this to us. You shall be our vanguard in our search for the truth, I trust that you will succeed in your mission and bring us one step closer to the Great Reunion. May nothing stand in the way of our Ascendancy...
-Grand Marshal Augustus, addressing the participants of Operation Hearth​

 

We will... Face the odds against us, and run into the fear we run from.
-Lieutenant [REDACTED], shuttle pilot for Operation Hearth, moments before being reprimanded for breaking radio silence.
_________

The Inheritors

It wasn't often that something entered Sol.

It was an occurrence so rare, that it had been practically unheard of for more than seven millennia.

Many were comfortable with it staying that way, seeing as things entering Sol had a tendency to decimate the native population of Earth whenever they happen to enter the system. As observed with the descent of the White Giant and the plague it brought, not to mention the ongoing Alien Invasion and the subsequent occupation of the planet by their vile creation, the Machines.

The Androids, the ever-faithful creation of Mankind that had been waging an endless war to return their creators to their rightful place, were hard-pressed dealing with these threats as it was. The only good news they had gotten out of war was that the Aliens had been slaughtered to a man at the hands of their own creation, but it had come with the downside that the 'evolved machines' that had driven their masters to extinction because of their supposed stagnancy, now turned their eyes to the remaining humans out of some misguided fascination.

Not that the Androids would ever let the vile machines get close to their beloved creators, of course! But they weren't exactly in an advantageous position, especially since the machines were becoming self-aware. They had the numbers and the resources to keep that advantage indefinitely, they had the defensive advantage by having the planet, they had greater prowess in the realm of technological espionage.

Their significantly greater expertise in individual strength was one of the only things that kept them from losing, along with their greater flexibility and tactical planning. It helped that they also had orbital supremacy, even if they couldn't take full advantage of it, but who knew how long that would last with the machines gaining intelligence and looked to finally ending the conflict for good by going for the moon.

And wasn't that a startling thought, the Androids had been making gains recently, and even the knowledge that the Machines had gained sentience hadn't overshadowed the huge morale boost that came with the information that the wretched Aliens had finally got what was coming to them, but who knew if they would last if the Machines threw their all against a final confrontation.

Commander White could feel the end approaching, even before she had seen the cause of the alarm that was blaring throughout the Bunker. She could plainly see that the others thought so too. She could imagine what they were feeling; fear that their victories had been a fluke, just like the news about the Aliens' death, that they were coming to discipline their wayward creations before finally sweeping them aside and destroying the last remnants of humanity.

There was a healthy amount of despair for that reason too, she was just content with the notion that it was impossible for them to do so. That didn't mean she believed the panicked speculations of her soldiers of course, but neither did it mean she willing to let Project YoRHa be compromised so early of course, there was still much to be done before it could be called a success.

But the end was approaching.

"Order all Units to abandon their current missions and converge on Alpha Base, and dispatch a scout to the source of the signal." She ordered, her uncompromising tone cutting through the haze of fear and breathing back life to the vaunted discipline of her Androids, "Mobilize all available assets as well, and order them to reinforce the Base." Everyone was fast at work now, "Prepare to evacuate all units from the Orbital Stations here and ready the Bunker for the Contingency Order 1."

That signal...

"And get a Scanner Unit to scout out that signal!"

She didn't know what it was about, but it was better to be safe than sorry when the future of Earth was at stake.

Satisfied now that her orders were given, she quietly sighed and watched it all unfold, prepared to give a guiding hand.

In all the commotion, no one noticed a small, nearly invisible blip on the radar shooting past their location within the blink of an eye...

__________
The Predecessors...

The tension inside the shuttle was palpable.

It was a startling difference compared to the air of levity that had existed moments before they were addressed by the Grand Marshal. The speech given by the highest ranking official within the Ascendancy had made even the less serious participants of Operation Hearth sober up with the recognition of the sheer importance of their role, performing an instant transformation to serious determination that ruled them all now...

Well, almost all of them.

Demir never did get used to the customary tense shuttle ride he had to suffer through each mission.

That their shuttle did not exactly have anything that could distract them from the tension did not help his mood one bit.

A radio silence had been enforced on anything that was not hidden behind layers upon layers of encryption, which also happened to extend to both the comms and the external speakers of their sound-insulated helmets. They had been ordered to keep them on at all costs, seeing as the possibility of them suffering an unfortunate incident and having to crash land on the planet's surface was unfortunately not out of the question.

Demir's shudder at that thought was only invisible because his armor hid it well.

It was all very understandable, but made for a poor trip when you were sitting on basically what amounted to nothing more than a floating block of metal that didn't even have any windows outside the cockpit to look out of because some egghead decided that 'structural integrity' was more important than passenger comfort. Seriously... Would it have killed them to at least install some screens in this thing?

He couldn't even get up and pace the length of the shuttle because they had to be strapped down until touchdown, which only exacerbated his anxiety about this whole thing! It wasn't like he had other things to be jittery about, like the very important existential mission they were about to have, oh no... If he survived this thing he was going to have some words with a couple of engineers.

Focus! There are not the thoughts you should be having before this mission...

Demir was very well aware that his very-valid trepidation with tense shuttle rides toward potentially hostile territory (and wasn't just the most comforting and ironic thing to think about Mother Earth) was affecting his perception of what was actually a pretty calm shuttle ride for most, judging by how many seemed to be perfectly fine inside what may very well be their pre-made at state-expense metal coffin.

The shuttle took that moment to rumble and shake violently.

Fuckinghell-

It was a moment filled with dread that mercifully ended soon after a few seconds, the thrice-damned shuttle somewhat stabilizing as the shaking shrunk to a more manageable level. Demir took a moment to extract his buried fingers from the metal of the harness he was bound to before looking around to check if anybody had caught him in his moment of weakness.

The answer was yes, and he was once again left astonished by Theodora's prodigious ability to somehow make a simple stare from a faceless helmet look smug as she could...

At least the others hadn't seen it.

ATMOSPHERE BREACHED, ETA TO LANDFALL TWENTY MINUTES

He couldn't wait...

This shuttle ride was swiftly becoming one of the worst ones he had to suffer through yet...

__________​

Humanity had finally returned to Earth.

It wasn't a momentous occasion like the Auspicious Discovery, achieved by a ragtag crew of plucky underdogs, in a simple ship who was considered most unlikely to ever to bring such a thing, to bring about the return of the Lost Ones to their beloved Mother Earth. In a way, one should not be surprised, as this account is similar to most success stories in Humanity's history, yet it is always shocking when it happens because no one ever suspects it.

Nor was this return a glorious scene like the Greater Solar Homecoming, a Grand Fleet made up of hundreds of state-of-the-art ships, manned by the descendants of the very best humanity had to offer, led by its larger-than-life Marshal as it paraded into the system one by one behind a glorious flagship, ready to find out what had happened to their exalted homeworld...

In comparison to them, The Return was a rather lackluster affair. A comparably tiny shuttle whizzing its way into the atmosphere of the planet, filled with silent faceless soldiers who were grimly focused on the mission given to them, that they were the best soldiers humanity had to offer was the only pomp and circumstance present in this entire affair up until the landing.

As the shuttle landed on the depths of what had once historically been known as the Black Forest in Old Germany, and the praised Venatores filed out of the ship, it is known that the officer in charge of the squad of Venatores, one Captain Alan Greene was the first one to set foot in the grass, all the declassified accounts that could be gathered from the operatives who'd been on the mission testify that he'd quoted the iconic line that were etched into the memory of every human alive.

"That's one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind."

And what a leap it was...

They had been the unwilling exiles that had been ripped from their homes so suddenly, they had been the fearful prey of a hungry swarm of monsters that saw them as nothing more than sustenance, they had been the divided people who had desperately united under a hero that led them to victory, they had been the united ones who had subjugated entire star systems. They had been the ones who had not stopped for two hundred years until they finally managed to claw their way back home...

Only to find that it had changed, that it was still, that it was silent.

Their home had not been idle when they had gone away. To this day, no one to fully knows what happened to Earth, but it was obvious that they had not been the only ones the Universe unleashed lifetimes of torment on. Yet... For all the bleakness that one sees when they look at the surface, life always manages to shine a helpful light on things that make everything a bit better.

Humanity had suffered through numerous trials, but it has always managed to survive them, and it has always managed to thrive and surpass the ones that would come after. They were too resourceful for the Universe to simply crush them and let them be forgotten in the annals of time, and even the ones that had found the odds were too stacked against them would find a way to leave their mark on the Universe.

And a mark they had left...

Humanity's gift to itself would reshape the very balance of the Universe...
​

-The Unending Tale of Humanity: Volume 6, An Invaluable Gift​