New Frontier?

" Alright everyone, listen up! " Mc'gregor yells towards the group. Those who were discussing with each other, and those simply distracted begin to pay attention to him as he begins to speak.

" We are going to be exiting the jump in a few minutes, but before that, I want to discuss with you the results of the previous battle which has officially been documented as the 'Battle of Demeter'. " He voices towards the group.

With that, everyone who had been paying attention sits straighter in their chairs, and quiet whispers can now be heard among them. Seeing this, Mc'gregor continues with his explanation.

" I am sad to say... We've had massive casualties. A significant portion of our pilots are marked KIA due to their presence on the ships that were destroyed, or were the few who were left behind on the surface of Demeter... "

" Likewise, we lost around 3/4 of the marines we had within the strike group. We had significant casualties on the ground that took up the majority of those who were marked KIA, and only have five-hundred and forty-eight that are left. Of that, only 3/4 of them are fit for combat. The remaining estimated 1/4 are in the medical bays undergoing treatment for various degrees of wounds. "

The mood in the room turns sour from the report. Some marines whisper to each other, while the pilots move in their seats uncomfortable, as they listen in on the marines.

The officer lets out a quiet sigh and sits back down, he shakes his head at his own failure to keep as many as he could alive.

*Beep*

As the news begins to settle in, a loud beeping noise comes from the control panels throughout the helm. Loud creaking noises can be heard within the ships of the strike group, as space begins to distort around them.

" Sir, something is wrong with the jump drives! " Yells out a crewman from within the helm.

" Well then?! Don't wait for me to grant you permission to speak! Tell me, what is wrong with our ships? " The officer replies in an annoyed tone.

" Yes, Sir... Well... That's just it. We don't know. The jump drives were fine when they were checked by the engineers, but now they're acting up as if they've been damaged severely. " The crewman replies quickly, with an unsure tone in their voice.

*Boom*

Before the officer can reply, a loud explosion can be heard by everyone on each ship. The distorted space around them begins to return to normal. Yet, what remains ahead of the strike group can only leave them shocked.

Earth. Earth is right in front of them. Yet, it looks... Different. The orbital defenses around the planet are all but gone, and the colossal cities are missing, with only small pockets across the continents to show there is any activity at all.

" Someone tell me why we are in front of Earth?! It should take at least a month constantly within a jump, yet it took us less than a few hours from Demeter?! " The officer screams out at the crew as he stands from his seat.

Hearing the question, the crew scrambles to their different stations within the helm and begins clacking away at keyboards and digital panels. All of them showing errors across screens and flashing red lights.

One key sentence catches the eyes of all within the helm. Upon seeing this, some of the crew begin to frown and furiously begin making calls to the engineers and mechanics of the ship.

( Temporal Distortion Detected. Hammon Robotics Facilities - not detected. Earth Government - not detected... )

This message frightens the crew within the helm. Jump drives are not new technology by any means, but the amount of understanding of them is superficial at best. A jump drive makes a 'pocket' within space where individual ships or an entire fleet can enter, and from there they travel through space by 'tearing' away at it layer by layer.

Essentially, it is like tearing a hole directly into space itself, before forcing the shielded fleet inside and pushing the fleet through another universe entirely. A rough explanation would be 'a really scuffed warp drive'.

. . .

Upon the response of the crew and the warnings throughout the consoles at the helm, the officer turns on communications and broadcasts his message to the entire fleet.

" Personnel, we have exited the jump. Earth is ahead of us, yet there remain key differences and errors in the systems... We will be entering silent mode for the fleet. All external lights are to be disabled, and engines offline. "

Following the broadcast, each ship systematically begins to shut down its engines, the blue luminescence of the thrusters disappears, and the external floodlights on the ships shut down.

The officer turns back and faces the marines and pilots, before addressing them. " Head back to your barracks... And pilots, head to your Titans. We don't know what is going on back on Earth. It could be a revolt, Militia assault, or if what the systems tell us... We may have had a catastrophic error during the jump... Dismissed. "

. . .

- - One hour later. - -

Aryan Miller can be seen back inside the Titan bay, walking back and forth in front of his personal Titan, BRT-1931. Or as he likes to call him, 'Brute'.

" I don't know what to do, Brute. We got the post-battle report after we fought against the Militia, then we discover we're back at Earth after an error with the jump drive! " Aryan vents his frustration to 'Brute'.

In response, a low beeping tone can be heard within Aryan's helmet before a voice responds.

[ IMC Protocols do not provide details as to what should happen in this scenario, Aryan. You should wait for further orders from command. ]

" That's just the thing, Brute. We can't link with Command! Right now we're just on standby as the engineers and mechanics are trying to figure out what went wrong with the jump drive, and why we seemingly ended up at Earth. We shouldn't have had enough fuel to even go this far. "

[ I am sorry, Aryan. I cannot provide a satisfactory answer to the current situation. ]

" Hah... It's alright, Brute. " With a sigh, Aryan finishes up his talk with Brute and walks out of the Titan bay into the general area of the ship.

Marines can be seen talking to each other throughout the corridors. Medics run past Aryan as they make calls through radios and check on injured marines as they go. The casualties from earlier leave a heavy mood throughout the ship as marines hold onto bloodied dog tags and extra weapons from their former squadmates.

Continuing through the corridors, Aryan walks into a large room that can be seen fitted with a series of screens and control panels, as crewmen look at the newcomer before returning back to typing away at the panels in front of them.

Spotting a single crewman to the side, Aryan walks over and pats them on the shoulder.

"Hey Marcus, any news on what's going down on Earth? " Aryan asks the crewman named Marcus.

Marcus was one of the many crewmen Aryan had come to know as a friend from their years of service together on the IMC Carrier. Marcus however, dropped out of the pilot academy in the first few months and returned to active service in the IMC Marines. Eventually, though, he was transferred onto the carrier as a crewman acting as security. When outside of security roles, he was stationed at the communications station alongside a few other dedicated crewmen.

" Hey Aryan... And that's a bit complicated. " Marcus replies while swatting off Aryan's hand from his shoulder.

" How so? " Aryan replies while lifting an eyebrow, and a curious tone in his voice.

Hearing the question, Marcus moves in his seat uncomfortably before replying. "That's... Classified... We can't tell anyone who isn't a Major or rank equivalent or higher. "

In response, Aryan continues to annoy Marcus with questions and teasing. Eventually, Marcus succumbs to Aryan's annoying actions and tells him a vague answer to his question.

Marcus leans towards Aryan, and begins to whisper. "Don't tell anyone outside of this room, Aryan. But from what we can tell from scans and reports from the other ships in the strike group... The Earth below us is reminiscent of that of the twenty-first century. "

Hearing the answer, Aryan just stares back at Marcus behind his helmet. Almost seeing through the helmet, Marcus begins to clarify.

" Not the exact same as the Earth we know. The continents are the same, key cities are the same, but some major differences are small extra landmasses and cities that aren't recorded in the databanks. "

Wanting more direct answers, Aryan leans in and whispers " Any particular cities? Like... Replaced, or entirely new cities? "

Marcus replies with a slight frown, but also some excitement in his eyes. " New cities! We managed to intercept some primitive methods of relaying media and found that two notable cities seem to be 'Metropolis' and 'Gotham'. "

Hearing the news, Aryan pats Marcus on the shoulder and walks out of the room, with a single thought on his mind...

' A new frontier... What's going to happen now? '

As this thought crosses his mind, he comes to a halt as the speakers throughout the ship come to life.

[ [ "Aryan Miller, head to the helm for immediate briefing." ] ]