Prologue

August 5th, 2060.

In 2012, World War 3, the conflict that raged on for 7 years beforehand, ended. After Hundreds of Millions of casualties, The Global Defense League, formed by much of the western world, as well as Japan, defeats the United Workers alliance. An alliance that consisted of the PRC, USSR, and many of their anti-western allies, Socialist or otherwise. An event that was followed by the Euro-American split, with little keeping them together. And, in the years afterward, geopolitics shifted gradually.

Until the world was eventually formed around three blocs. Loosely formed confederations spanning the planet. For years, tension had built up between these three blocs, a tension that continued as Humanity extended its reach into the far reaches of the Solar System. And as they began to try to out-compete each other. An era that would be called the Three-States era, by many. It was for that reason that Fortresses littered the orbit of earth, along with the colonies. Just like one constructed by the Pan-Pacific Federation, built within the shell of an asteroid. it was silent as it had usually been. Though there had been quite a bit of tension between themselves, the Atlantic Collective, and the United States of Europe, there were doubts that a war would start once again. The costs would be high, especially with the weaponry their technology had grown to create over the years. But the chances were never zero, as such, with the colonies that'd been shoved into the Earth-Moon Lagrange points, there were fortresses like theirs as well, many, in fact.

Given that they were on the very outskirts of L2, however, even if something did start, they wouldn't expect much to change. As such, it didn't matter to the officers, maintenance staff, and pilots that sat within the base. Most of those in the base either didn't think about such or didn't talk about a possible attack all that much, especially with how far they were from anything all that important. There wasn't much else for one to say. That was no different for one the base's commander, who sat within the top layer of a harshly lit command room. Phan Thuy, A woman with short black hair that stopped above the shoulders, wearing the black button down uniform, common for the PPF's officers. Despite the fact that she'd chosen to be here, she didn't disagree with that common sentiment, nor did the ones under her.

"Man, It's so damn boring out here…"

The words came from a light-skinned man at the bottom of the bridge, his bald head shining in the harsh lights above them. He leaned back into his chair, his feet on the table in front of him. as he spoke in a hushed tone. The man sitting beside him leaned closer to him, speaking as well.

"Hopefully we get on leave soon. Getting real tired of this."

The woman glanced down upon her subordinates as they spoke.

"Can't disagree with that…"

She leaned back into her chair as she spoke. For a moment, the silence returned. Until, a deepened voice spoke out.

"Ma'am, Our sensors are picking up a heat signature, 100 Meters out."

Phan looked down at the source, a man sitting in the layer of seats just below her, his hair was a dark blue, reaching his ears in the back, while much shorter in the front. He wore the uniform one would expect of one of the PPF's officers. This man was Phan's 2IC Lt. Commander Abe Kousuke.

Phan tapped the holographic display of a terminal that lay in front of her, sitting up in her seat.

"What're we getting from the cameras?"

"I'm looking at the feed now, but it looks like some sort of...Portal?"

Phan raised her eyebrow at the statement. A portal? Had he lost it?

"Put it on the main screen."

The man tapped through his terminal, before the void outside, littered with debris, appeared on a display that appeared in the center of the room, screen, but one thing caught her eye, the "Portal" Mentioned by her subordinate, a large rift in space, perhaps even large enough to swallow their base if they went through it. She placed her hand on her chin as she began to think of any possible causes. But, of course, she had none.

"He wasn't kidding...What's going on here?"

Abe turned once more, looking up at Phan.

"Should I Message HQ?"

Phan nodded.

"Yes."

Abe swiveled his chair, now facing his terminal once again, bringing up the communications panel. As he prepared to open a line, one of the lower officers continued to watch the camera feed. Taking notice of what was happening, his eyes widened like saucers as he stood up, as his chair fell down behind him. This did not go unnoticed, Abe began to inch his figure away from the display, as he turned his gaze to the officer, speaking in an urgent tone.

"What is it, Lu?!"

"A vessel is emerging!"

This caught the attention of those there, as chatters began throughout the room, Phan dragged the holographic display, Increasing its size. And, indeed, coming out of the rift, was a hulking Jet-Black mass of metal, coming through the portal, as long as it was, it was just a bit larger than the station that lies in front of it. To say the least, much larger than anything those within had seen. Abe leaned in as he focused his gaze on the new arrival.

"I've never seen a ship like that before…"

Some of the men sitting beside Abe turned their gazes to his terminal, as they began to speak.

"Could it be the Collective or USE?"

"Unless one of them invented some new tech while the brass wasn't looking, I doubt it."

"It can't be ours, we would've been notified already."

These were all good points, but that was not it, something just didn't seem right about the ship, in Phan's head. The spine-like steel protrusions didn't seem like anything one of the three blocs would put on their ships. And what few weapons, or what she assumed were weapons, didn't look like anything familiar to her. Though, as confused as she might've been, she was the one in command, and she needed to make a decision.

"Identify their IFF, and funnel the info to HQ."

"Right!"

With her words, they began resuming their work, turning to their terminals once again. Abe returned to tapping through his display, until he established a communication line.

"HQ, this is LT. Commander Abe, We've found that some sort of rift has formed in front of us, an Unidentified ship has emerged as well…"

This caught the man on the other end by surprise, he went silent for some moments as he processed the information. However, he would soon regain his composure as he cleared his throat. After all, he was a high rank, he couldn't start panicking over that alone.

"I hope you understand that that sounds a bit Far Fetched."

"If you don't believe me, I'll stream it directl-"

Abe found himself cut off once again, as another one of the bridge officers spoke.

"Something isn't right here… I'm not detecting anything. If I'm correct, this ship doesn't even have IFF...Or any communications systems at all."

This revelation brought the woman back into her thoughts, as she attempted to make heads and tails of the situation.

"A ship without Communications..Nobody would be foolish enough to do that…"

As she leaned forward into the microphone, she tapped the terminal's display once again, and now, her words began to resound throughout the fortress.

"Degree Red, get to your Battlestations, all Vanguard Armor Pilots, You are now on Standby. I repeat, Degree red, get to your Battlestations, all Vanguard Armor Pilots, You are now on standby."

With her words, those within the base began to scramble to their positions, Anti-Aircraft and Anti-ship guns were soon occupied by their gunners. Of course, this began some chatter among the troops, especially those in the hangar. Within, there sat 5 Humanoid Machines, with heavy red-armored plates covering them, the plates were angular, typical of the Vanguard armors used by the federation.Their height was intimidating, to say the least, towering over the crew that circled them, and nearly reaching the roof of the hangar. The PPF's Fusang model Vanguard Armors. Mechanics checked the limbs and circuits alike, while some, protected by heat-resistant suits, would go to check on the Covalon Reactors. An invention 100 years in the making. That lied within the armor's "Chest". As the checks continued, the five pilots to these machines entered, their faces unseen, covered by their helmets. They stopped in the center of the hangar, glancing at one another.

"You heard about why they called us, right?"

A man, the tallest, said to the one beside him, who was about three or four inches shorter.

"Yeah, some random ship showed up, won't respond to anything...Sounds a bit strange, don't you think?"

A womanly voice, that of one of the pilots coming to join them, responded.

"Yeah, it appeared out of nowhere too, apparently."

The tall one turned on his heel, his gaze falling on his machine,

"Well, Whatever's going on here... Orders are orders, let's get mov-"

However, his sentence was soon cut off as a flash of blue light flew through the hangar, the blast doors for the catapults were ripped apart. The light did not stop there, however. It continued as it reached the crew, the pilots, and their VA's, they were vaporized within moments, the hangar previously filled with the sounds of machines, Laughter, and the exchange of words, were now filled with naught but screams. On the bridge, Phan sat mortified at what she'd just bear witness too, her eyes widened, as she broke into a sweat. Whatever this was, to her, it did not look good for anybody involved. She was not the only one to share this sentiment, as the room exploded.

"Half of the base has been wiped out!"

"In one shot?!"

"Who are we dealing with right now?"

However, as a loud chime sounded from their terminals, their eyes darted over, as a silence fell over the room. Though they all knew what was happening, none made a sound, at least, until Abe spoke.

"Heat build-up detected... They're firing another shot!!"

The officer at HQ had also gone quiet… All of those within the room continued to hang on every word, including his CO. A tanned-skin man with a head of grayed hair and goatee. He looked down upon the feed, and his gaze fell on the unknown ship. He opened his comm line to Phan as he sat upright once again.

"We'll be sending a fleet to support, Hold on tight."

However, the feed was soon cut off into static, as flying out of the ship once again, was a blue beam. That went barreling toward the station once again. Despite how much they wanted to deny it, there was no doubt in any of their minds, they would not escape. The room was soon ripped apart, those within vaporized, those in the blocks around them faced the same fate. The feed was lost soon after, with those within HQ taking notice of this. The man at the head stroked his beard as he looked upon the feed that was replaced by static, he had but one thing to say.

"This doesn't look good…"

In the days following the attack, chaos and confusion washed down in the Federation's General Assembly, an unknown ship had come and done something that shouldn't have been possible, a Fortress wiped out in two shots. The same confusion had spread Within the Collective, and USE governments respectively. None of the blocs or the independent nations within them claimed responsibility, nor could any figure out who they were. For some days after, there were no reports of the ships, and theories began to brew. Some had believed that this was first contact, though many would disregard these claims.. Until ships like the one that had shown up early appeared above the Earth En masse, about 500 in total. Though less than the total mass of the earth's fleets. The technology they used far exceeded anything they had at the time. Urban areas wiped out, Hundreds of Millions lost their lives.

The earth's poles were attacked by this new enemy as well, as many of the world's major cities were swept under the rushing waves. They soon dropped their infantry, and when they saw the troops that appeared, it was finally confirmed, they were alien in origin. Though humanoid, they more resembled arthropods than any human, around the same height, though with a segmented chitin, that color varied based on the individual, some were more brown or green, others were a sort of beige, like the sands of any desert. They had four arms, two like the humans, as well as two much smaller ones coming from the side of their torsos.

The fact of these being alien, and the fact that they were enemies of humanity, forced the squabbling power's to scrape together a resistance, it was simply not enough. Eventually, a member of the species would make a statement two months after the invasion had begun, appearing on all channels was an Alien that was noticeably larger than those around him, at the least, Two feet taller, with a much thicker exoskeleton, which was pitch black. The four eyes on the sides of his head were just barely visible, moreso as one got closer. He was clothed, wearing a black robe that had its outer trimmings lined with a dark purple. The world grew silent as the being appeared, hanging onto every word. Out came human language, as garbled as the words might've been.

"Primitives… From this day forth, this planet, this system, is now under the rule of the Garsalan Empire. Your futile resistance will only end in your deaths. I, Gu'Kes Zu Kago will crush any insurrection I see…"