1 The Assimilation

In the vastness of space where the darkness is only illuminated by the distant stars, their a black and strange looking spaceship flew in the distance.

The spaceship had a strange and unnatural appearance. It had four arm-like engines and the hull was as dark as space. In fact, if it weren't for its yellow glow, one would have assumed there was nothing but outer space.

Who knows how long it's been here?

Or who is on board the ship?

What matters is that suddenly glowing yellow circles appeared on all four arms of the ship and the spacecraft then began to move upwards, without changing its angel.

It picked up more and more speed and got faster and faster; Yellow light could be seen every where on the Spacecraft and then all of a sudden it disappeared and all that was left was a yellow light in the darkness of space, which afterwards also quickly disappeared.

The ship has jumped at lightspeed and who knows what its destination is.

However what the Spacecraft doesn't seem to know is that closely behind them was another much smaller Spacecraft which docked itself to the hull of the bigger yellow glowing ship and accompanied them as they jumped to lightspeed.

...

[Unknown Vessel]

"WAAHH MOM! DAD!" screamed a child's voice suddenly.

It was a girl which is wearing pink pajamas, has full gold / blonde hair which spilled all over her bed and she has bright green eyes which looked scared and in pain right now. She was sleeping on her bed, which was full of stuffed animals everywhere around her. But she suddenly jumped up and screamed for help.

The little girl was drenched in sweat and had an anxious look on her face as she screamed for her parents help.

Meanwhile the stuffed animals were all spread out on her bed.

There was a bear shich lay over their little sky-blue pillows. An elephant which was next to her small right hand, which had a short chain hanging from it.

Under her small left foot was a gorilla and last but not least a small penguin was in her small left hand which she gripped tightly.

If you didn't see a small round window above her showing the vastness of space, you might assume that this is a girl normal girl on Earth screaming for her parents after she had a bad dream.

After the little girl screamed, a sliding door quickly opened in front of her and a beautiful woman came running towards her.

She had full blond hair like the girl, but instead of green eyes she had light brown ones. She wasen't that tall, but for the little girl she looked like a giant.

"My little Vesna what happened?" said the woman as she came into the small children's room and sat down on the bed next to Vesna.

"Mom sob... I was having a nightmare sob... again" Vesna said with tears in her eyes as her mother pet her head and hugged her crying daughter.

"My little princess, everything is alright, it was just a dream. The monsters can't harm you, everything is alright. Mommy is here." the woman kept saying as she smiled lovingly and hugged her daughter and kissed her forehead.

"How is our little princess?" suddenly said a man who also came into the room.

The man had short brown hair and green eyes and looked towards mother and daughter with a slightly worried face as he approached them and then bent down to Vesna.

"My darling, everything is fine, these are just dreams. You're not that small anymore to be afraid of monsters, are you?" the man said with a slight smile as he looked at his daughter.

"No sob... I'm not sob... scared Papa!" Vesna said while fighting back her tears.

"That's how I know my little one. Fearless, just like your Mum and Dad." the man said with a smile while stroking Vesna's hair.

"What do you think my dear, you wash up and get dressed and I and your mom, we'll prepare a special breakfast for you." suggested her father as he looked at Vesna caringly.

"En" Vesna said as she nodded and stood up. However, before she did, she grabbed her tough looking gorilla with both hands and held him tight while she made a serious face and walked towards another door in here room.

Her father laughed lightly when he saw his little daughter so serious with the gorilla in her arms making her way towards the shower.

The door opened as Vesna approached it and she walked through it meanwhile her father and mother walked out of her room.

...

The door closed behind Vesna after she walked through. As ever, the room she was in right now was small and had small holes in the floor and ceiling. On the metallic grey walls of the room one could see different drawings everywhere. One could see a hole zoo with different animals Vesna drew, just like how they described them in the storys of the books she read and the tales of her mother and father.

Vesna put her stuffed animal Gorilla on the floor and took off her pajamas and put them on the floor as well.

Afterwards, she went further into the room in the direction of a wall on which there were some switches. She pressed a red one and suddenly a strong stream of air came out of the holes above her, towards the holes on the ground, sucking up the wind again.

"WAHH... HIHIHI" Vesna yelled with a smile as her golden hair danced wildly in the wind and the gorilla and her pajamas flew around the room.

Vesna always enjoyed the air shower as it would feel so funny and tingly all around her body.

She imagined that the feeling in the air shower of the wind blowing her hair around was just like that on a planet full of animals and people.

Vesna was born on the spaceship of her parents and grew up here for a long time. She has never left her home, the spaceship, or spoken to anyone other than her parents in her life.

Vesna was therefore always curious and interested in understanding things and learning new things. She would often secretly read her father's old paper books for it. There were different stories about nature and something that Vesna didn't really understand. But there were also a few drawings of animals and other creatures that Vesna always read with great interest.

Other times she would bombard her mother and father with questions and drive them insane until she found answers that suited her.

After a while she heard her father's voice on an intercom on the wall.

"That enough sweetheart. Come on, breakfast is ready, we've got your favorite food and if you're not quickly, I'll eat everything by myself." said her father with a laugh at the end.

"No Dad! You baddy!" Vesna said as she pushed a blue button on the wall, ending her air shower.

She picked up her gorilla and then walked into her room towards a wall next to her. Out of the was a drawer opened, there Vesna quickly choose some clothing and put on her underwear and a little white dress that looks futuristic. She then tied her long golden blond hair into a plait and left her room holding her gorilla with both hands.

...

Vesna's room was painted an all pink and has some drawings of animals and places on the walls. In comparison, when Vesna came out of her room, it looked cold and sterile. The walls where metallic grey and had some buttons here and there on it.

Vesna stood in a tube-like passage and walked toward the other end. She was walking down the hall and then she came to the door on the other end, she suddenly heard the quiet voices of her parents from the room.

"We can't go on like this Hel... We should stop the mission, our daughter is more important than our mission! If we continue like this, who knows how our daughter will end up." Vesna's mother said.

"Not important? With our research we are making a very important contribution to resisting these monsters... and don't pretend that you don't know that. We both decided on this mission together at that time and we also knew that raising a child entirely on a spaceship can be difficult, especially considering our mission. Nevertheless, in order to give Vesna a better future, so that everyone can live in peace again, we decided to do our part." said Hel firmly.

"But our child... with every day that we examine the Anima... the worse her nightmares get, maybe we should call it a day it's just getting too dangerous with all the fighting that's getting closer and closer to us. Its not like in the past anymore, Hel." Diana said with concern in her voice and a sad look on her face.

"Stop? We're about to breakthrough in our research and you want to stop? We just have to..." Hel said when he was suddenly interrupted by the door to which Vesna was putting her little ear on.

She got closer and closer to the door and by doing so the doors automatically opened up and Vesna lightly stumbled into the room.

"I... I didn't overhear you." said Vesna lightly frightened.

Both of her parents, Hel and Diana, could read Vesna's mood like a book and of course knew immediately that she was lying, but they didn't address it and instead sighed as they sat down with Vesna next to a table.

Vesna placed her gorilla on an empty little stool next to her and began to examine the food in front of her.

"These are fried eggs and buttered bread, my favorite breakfast." Vesna said with a smile as she immediately started eating wildly with her hands.

"Oh my love, we still had some energy left over from the blue giant we passed a few weeks ago, so we made your favorite breakfast materialize for you." Diana said as she watched Vesna eat with a smile.

"Here my darling, I also had some milk processed for you, feel free to drink something. But please, darling, eat a little slower in the future, ok?" said Hel as he placed a glass of ice cold milk on the table next to Vesna.

Vesna took the milk with both hands and drank half of it in one gulp and made a satisfied face while the milk forms a small beard all over her lips.

Diana saw the milkbard and took a cloth and wiped Vesna's face with it.

Vesna was about to thank her Mother and Father for the food, when suddenly the light started changing from white to red in the room.

"They're moving again. Quickly turn off all devices and get ready for zero gravity, we've got a minute." said Hel as he got up and immediately ran towards a door next to him.

When the door opened, Vesna could brevly see inside. Inside the room was a huge control panel with hundreds of buttons and levers and behind the control panel was a huge window that one could see out of.

There Vesna then saw it, the spaceship that she had seen often in her lifie. She was always afraid of it, as it send her cold shivers down her spine. Her parents also talked often about it and the monsters inside it.

The spaceship was completely black and only yellow light on the outer skin made it visible. It had four strange engines that stretched out in space and was gigantic.

Vesna couldn't see anymore as she was pulled away from her mother how was holding on her arm. Vesna was just able to take her gorilla with her and the two then went into another room opposite the room her father was inside.

Vesna knew that the black and yellow spaceship was the ship of evil monsters which her parents were exploring. But she didn't know anymore as her parents never said anything to her when Vesna asked and it wasn't as if she could ask anyone else, especially since she has never met, let alone talked to, anyone other than her two parents.

The room Vesna and Diana were in now was very cold and there was nothing but a metal box inside it.

Vesna was a bit tense, however the alarm and what she are doing right now was nothing new to her. Vesna was always told by her parents what to do in an emergency when the red light is on and she would practice it until she got it all figured out.

'Do not talk. Don't breathe loudly. Avoid heat and wait for Dad. If Papa doesn't come, then press the second button on the wall. If I'm hungry then I go to the box and eat something, but only a little! When I am outside the cold room or am alone, than I go to the escape pod.' Vesna went through her mind while counting on her fingers.

Her mother held out her hand in the freezing cold room. After a few seconds, the gravity was gone and both mother and daughter began to rise into the air, but they were both tied to two poles on the wall with a tied rope and therefore did not fly high.

After a few seconds, the door opened and Hel floated into the room and held Diana's and Vesna's hands.

And suddenly their was a pressure built up in the ears and the eyes and the Spaceship Hel, Diana and Vesna were on had attached itself to the Anima'Spaceship shich jumped at the speed of light towards who knows where.

...

[Zeta Star System]

After a few minutes everything went back to normal and Hel frantically pressed various buttons on a small pad on the wall. After a few seconds, gravity returned and they all landed gently on the ground.

"Well, the gravitational generator is back on now, let's not use any energy for a few more hours just to be on the safe side." said Hel.

"We have to get out of here, it's too cold for Vesna." Diana said as she carried and hugged Vesna's tiny trembling body and walked out of the room with Hel.

Diana took a blanket and wrapped Vesna in it and carried her daughter tightly.

"Oh no..." said Hel, just entering the pilot's room of the ship and looking at some displays.

Diana stood up with Vesna in her arms and Vesna then saw what was happening outside in space.

...

The huge evil spaceship full of monsters flew towards a planet that was all blue.

"This is an invasion! They want to attack the planet Zeta 2." Hel said as he looked at some of his screens on his control panel.

"What? We have to get out of here Hel, quickly prepare a jump!" Diana said with fear in her voice.

"We don't have enough energy, the last supplies was just too long ago." said Hel in a panicked voice.

As this was happening, the yellow spaceship was getting closer and closer to the planet, and suddenly yellow lights started flying out of the ship towards some very small grey dots in the distance.

Only then did Vanesa discover that these dots were other spaceships far off in the horizon. They were long and small and light came out of them too, but the light was red and went in the direction of the evil spaceship.

The red lights hit the evil ship and it started to glow slightly, but then suddenly there was a yellow light everywhere and the red light no longer came through the evil spaceship.

Then the three saw another spaceship flying very close to them. The ship was grey/white and flew weirdly and had a red top part. Suddenly, red lights came out of the red top part and hit a completely dark little spaceship that had yellow light on it, which was directly behind the ship in which Vesna was.

The Ship suddenly glowed in red and exploded.

Vesna saw something like this for the first time in her life and could not completely understand what was happening in front of her. But the ship that fired the red light was actually a Human Space Superiority Fighter, who fired his particle beam at the enemy Anima Interceptor that wanted to assault Vesna's parents' science ship.

This resaulted in the destruction of the Anima Interceptor. However the Anima are never alone, they attack in cluster of ships and therefore four other Interceptors were all around the science ship.

The human fighter closly dodged the attack of two of the other Interceptors particle beams and turned left and right in space. While all four of the Interceptors were closly pursuing the fighter and attacked at times.

While this was happening in space, Vesna's father, Hel looked at some displays in front of him and touched some buttons.

"Ok we'll make some distanc first, I have transfered enough energy towards the engines and we should be able to make a short jump towards the moon." said Hel.

But Suddenly a particle beam hit the spaceship and the pilot room exploded.

"BOOOOM!"

...

There was a crack in the outer shell of the pilot's compartment and the air was immediately catapulted out. If Hel hadn't immediately held on something, he would have been thrown out immediately.

On the other hand, Diana, holding the Vesna in her arms, couldn't hold on and flew through the air towards the pilot's room.

But before the worst happened, Hel was able to push a red flashing button with a lot of effort and a small, thin energy barrier built up on the door to the pilot's room.

The ship did not have enough energy to create an energy barrier directly at the large hull breach, but it was sufficient for the small pilot's room door. With that, his wife and daughter would not die, so Hel acted quickly without hesitation.

But Hel also sealed his own death with is action and looked one last time at his wife and daughter who were standing at the other side of the energy barrier, screaming towards him.

After that, the pressure became too strong and Hel was catapulted outside the ship and flew towards the far reaches of space.

...

"No Hel! NO!" screamed Diana with tears in her eyes.

"DAD! DAD!" screamed Vesna also with tears in her eyes when she saw how her beloved father disappeared into the vastness of space.

Only after the energy barrier blinked slightly, Diana woke up from the nightmare and pressed a blue button on the wall next to the former entrance. A door then shot out of the wall, sealing the door. After that, the energy barrier dissolved.

Diana then took her daughter back in her arms and tried to calm her down.

"WAAH PAPA WAA! Papa where are you?" Vesna cried in her mother's arms.

Diana just couldn't calm her daughter down as she cried and screamed.

But suddenly the two heard something strange, as if something was scratching the ship from the outside.

Vesna was too busy crying and therefore didn't hear anything but Diana turned pale when she heard the noise.

They were well known to every human being, especially as these were the sounds of the tentacles of the Anima ships piercing through the hull of a spacecraft.

Diana reacted quickly and got up off the ground and ran towards the escape pods with her daughter in her arms.

She must hurry or it will be too late and she and her daughter will die, Diana thought to herself as she ran through the red rooms of her ship and home.

She held Vesna very close to her and after a few seconds arrived at the escape pods.

The ship had a total of four escape pods that could accommodate one person. All escape pods carried supplies and an emergency communications transmitter.

However, Diana felt dizzy for a moment when she saw that all four buttons above the escape pods were blinking red.

"No not a malfunction, not now!" Diana said as she looked at the four pods and quickly placed Vesna on the floor and then walked over to one of the pods and opened a box next to the buttons.

Behind the box were many cables and some instruments that were flashing. Diana grabbed the cables and checked for any damage. She found that one of the cables to the power transformer was defect. She didn't had time to get tools and repair the damage, so she gathered all her strength and ripped out the cable and then pulled it outside.

After that, she quickly ran to a button on the wall and repeated the process, only unplugging a working cable there. Then she temporarily installed a new cable and connected it to the energy transformer.

"Ding"

A sound then signaled that the escape pod was functional again and Diana immediately opened the pod and took Vesna in her arms and placed her in the escape pod.

"No mom sob... where are you going... sob... I don't want to leave without you... sob... don't leave me alone." Vesna said as she gripped her mother's hand tightly with her small hand and held back her tears.

"Everything will be fine my darling. I and your Dad, we weren't the best parents for you and Mom is sorry that we won't be able to be with you in the future. I would love nothing more than to see you grow up to be a strong and confident smart woman, but it's our fault that we can't do it anymore." Diana said as she looked at her daughter and kissed her several times.

"I and your father, we both love you more than anything in the entire galaxy, we will always be with you and protect you, never forget that." Diana said as she shoves Vesna into the pod and then quickly presses a blue button on the wall.

The capsule then closed and a door then separated the capsule from the ship. In the next moment, the capsule's engines started and the rescue pod detached itself from the ship and shot into space, flying far away from the research vessel.

"MOM!" yelled Vesna as she saw herself moving farther and farther away from home.

...

When the pilot dodged the Interceptor's shots and saw the research vessel being attacked by one of the Interceptors, which was using its tentacles on the underside of the ship to create a hole in the hull, he decided to give the people an quick end and save them from suffering.

He lined up and shot that at the research vessel with a red particle beam.

"BOOOOOOM"

The research vessel exploded into thousands of pieces and with it the Anima Interceptor.

"Fighter 235 withdraw immediately, the Anima have breached our defenses and we must protect the civilian evacuation on Zeta 2." said a voice suddenly in the Hunter's intercoms.

"Understood, the research vessel in the sector has been destroyed, I withdraw." said the pilot and looked sadly at the debris of the research ship one last time and then flew in the direction of Zeta 2.

What he didn't notice with all the debris and hostile Anima Interceptors was that a small rescue pod was still intact and floated in space.

...

"NO MOM! DAD!" shouted Vesna, but no one answered her.

She watched everything that happened through a small window and couldn't believe what happened.

Her parents were dead. Vesna knew that but couldn't understand it. The parents who were always by her side sacrificed themselves so that she could survive.

She will never see their smile again. She will never be kissed or hugged by either of them again.

But when she thought all this, it happened.

A yellow light from a ship behind the escape pod shone on her and woke her up from her thoughts.

Before she knew it, a tentacle pierced through the ship's hull and a dark robotic claw suddenly grabbed Vesna's small head.

Vesna despaired when she felt the claw on her.

'No the monsters are not real! Not really! Not really... Not real... not real...' Vesna thought as the world around her suddenly went dark...