Robotech/Halo: The Macross Saga.

Preface

This story that I have been writing for the past few months is an AU (Alternate Universe) between Robotech: The Macross Saga and Halo. The first chapter takes in Episode four of the Macross/Robotech series were the crew of the SDF-1 are more or less aware of the mistake they made when they folded but are not aware of the time period they are in. The rest of the Preface contains two timelines. Humanities and a basic Alien timeline to help you understand the background better. Now read on and Enjoy!

The Halo/Robotech Timeline: Humanities History

1999-2159: MISFOLD
This period marks the beginning of human expansion into it's solar system. After a certain amount of time waiting for the SDF-1 or the Aliens the United Earth Government begins the colonization of Mars and Io. Soon thereafter however, the Unified Earth Government collapses due to economic problems and increased attacks by the Anti-Unification League. All orbital facilities and Grand Cannons are put out of commission by precision strikes by the terrorist. Shortly there after the Grand Cannon projects are abandoned since the economy of the time was in sore straights. Soon the more industrial nations began funding colonial projects aimed at further developing Mars and other planets and moons within the sol. system since the population grew to immense heights on Earth.

2160-2200: EARLY CONFLICTS
This period in human history was marked by a series of brutal conflicts between various governments and factions in our Solar System. Conflicts of particular historical importance included the Jovian Moons Campaign, The Rain Forest Wars, and a series of clashes on Mars.

As overpopulation and political unrest on Earth increased, a number of new political movements formed. The most noteworthy dissident movements of the period were the "Koslovics" and the "Frieden" movement. The Koslovics-supporters of neo-Communist hardliner Vladimir Koslov-sought a return to the glory days of Communism and the elimination of corporate and capitalist influence, particularly in orbital facilities and offworld colonies. Interestingly both were once part of the Anti-Unification terrorist that destroyed the first United Earth Government.

The Frieden movement was a resurgence of fascism, springing from anti-Koslovic sentiment that had taken root in the Jovian colonies (largely backed by Unified German Republic corporations, frequent targets of Koslovic "workers' crusades"). "Frieden" literally means "peace"-in this case, they believed that peace could be achieved only once the "oppressors on Terra Firma" were eliminated.

2160
March-June: The Jovian Moons Campaign began. Jovian secessionist attacks on fledgling United Nations Colonial Advisors on the moon Io led to three months of fighting between the Earth military and Jovian "Frieden" forces. Though this was not the first armed conflict in our Solar System, it was easily one of the bloodiest, and is generally considered to be the spark of increased friction and militarization that followed.

The Jovian Moons Campaign escalated tensions, as Earth's national governments-many of which sponsored colonies within the system-began fighting proxy wars off-planet. As these proxy wars continued, tensions on Earth mounted, leading to a number of armed conflicts on Earth itself.

2162
The Rain Forest Wars: Armed conflict ripped through South America, as Koslovic, Frieden, and reformed UN forces all clashed over ideological differences, sparking additional conflicts off-planet.

2163
December: In a conflict that stemmed from the Rain Forest Wars, the three primary Earth factions clashed again, this time on Mars. A series of lightning strikes against Koslovic forces near the Argyre Planitia marked the first extra-terrestrial deployment of Marines. The campaign was an unqualified success. As a result, future military doctrine favored large contingents of Marines for ground assaults and ship-boarding actions.

2164: INTERPLANETARY WAR
UN-sponsored military forces began a pattern of massive buildups, culminating in the first real interplanetary war. After the successful Marine deployment on Mars, recruitment drives and propaganda tactics strongly bolstered UNSC (United Nations Space Command) forces. UN forces defeated Koslovic and Frieden forces on Earth, then began a systematic and dedicated drive to crush their remnants on the various planets they held throughout the system. At the conclusion of these brushfire conflicts, Frieden and Koslovic forces were defeated in the face of a massive, unified and very powerful UN military.

2170: EXPANSION
A unified Earth government was reformed in the wake of the conflicts of 2160's. Now, the victors were forced to deal with a less obvious but equally serious threat: overpopulation and a massive military that had no enemy to fight.

In the postwar period there were massive population surges and the overpopulation, coupled with the destruction and famine bred by the Rain Forest Wars, threatened to destabilize the economy.

2291: FASTER THAN LIGHT
A team of researchers, physicists, and mathematicians working in secret developed the Shaw-Fujikawa Translight Engine, a practical means of propelling spacecraft across vast interstellar distances. These scientist used much of Dr. Lang's research on the Hyperspace Fold system to develop this faster than light drive.

This new engine allowed ships to tunnel into "the Slipstream" (also called "Slipspace"). Slipspace is a domain with alternate physical laws, allowing faster-than-light travel without relativistic side-effects. Faster-than-light travel is not instantaneous; "short" jumps routinely take up to two months, and "long" jumps can last six months or more.

The SFTE generated a resonance field, which when coupled with the unusual physics of the Slipstream, allowed for dramatically shorter transit times between stars; however, scientists noted an odd "flexibility" to temporal flow while inside the Slipstream. Though no human scientist is sure why travel time between stars is not constant, many theorize that there are "eddies" or "currents" within the Slipstream-there is generally a five to ten percent variance in travel times between stars. This temporal inconsistency has given military tacticians and strategists fits-hampering many coordinated attacks.

2310: FIRST WAVE
The Earth government unveiled the first in a line of colony ships-and volunteers were in great supply. Conditions on Earth had deteriorated in the face of overpopulation, so hitching a ride out to a colony became an attractive option.

Each colony ship was assigned military personnel and escort ships to help better utilize the massive (and expensive) standing fleets that, in the collapse of armed dissent, were soaking up a great deal of funding and resources.

Because FTL travel in this period was still fairly new and expensive, colonists and military personnel faced a stringent regimen of physical and mental testing. In theory, only the best-qualified citizens and soldiers were allowed to colonize "nearby" worlds. This was the birth of the Inner Colonies.

2362: THE ODYSSEY
The Odyssey launched on January 1, 2362. The lead ship in a fleet of colony vessels, the Odyssey-laden with troops and terraforming gear-spearheaded the colonization of a new world. This sparked the first wave of human expansion beyond the confines of the Solar System.

2390: INNER COLONIES
By 2390, the colonization of the Inner Colonies was fully underway. There were 210 human-occupied worlds in various stages of terraforming, and the population burden across human-controlled space was largely stabilized.

2490: THE BIRTH OF THE OUTER COLONIES
Expansion continued at a rapid pace, and by 2490 human space encompassed more than 800 worlds throughout the Orion Arm of the Milky Way (ranging from fairly well-tamed planetary strongholds to tiny hinterland settlements). Outward expansion continued, and the Inner Colonies become a political and economic stronghold, though they relied heavily on raw materials supplied by the Outer Colonies.

During this period, the planet Reach (orbiting Epsilon Eridani, right on Earth's metaphorical doorstep) became the UNSC's primary Naval yard and training academy. Reach was a major producer of warships and colony vessels, as well as a training ground for covert operatives and Special Forces.

2525: THE COVENANT WAR BEGINS
On April 20, 2525, contact with the Outer Colony, Harvest, was lost. After failing to re-establish contact with Harvest, the Colonial Military Administration sent a scout ship, the Argo, to investigate. Contact with the Argo was subsequently lost after the ship arrived in the Harvest system.

The CMA dispatched a battle group to Harvest, consisting of three warships. The lead ship in the battle group, the Heracles, returned to Reach, badly damaged and with heavy casualties. The ship's commander reported that an alien warship with powerful weaponry was present, and had decimated Harvest, exterminating the colonists (and presumably destroying the Argo).

The battle group engaged the alien warship and was thoroughly routed. The Heracles-following the destruction of the other two ships in the group-jumped out of the system, but due to the damage she had sustained, took several weeks to make it back to Reach.

The Earth military immediately upgraded their alert status and began preparations to move in and retake Harvest. By December, a massive Earth war fleet under Vice Admiral Preston Cole mobilized, one of the fastest such mobilizations of such a large fleet in the history of humankind.

2525: THE BATTLE OF HARVEST
Cole's war fleet engaged the alien warship responsible for the decimation of the colony, scoring a victory (though the battle cost Cole two-thirds of his battle group). Only a last minute tactical inspiration turned the tide of battle.

After returning to Earth, Cole-promoted to Admiral-learned that a number of outlying colonies had been destroyed, leaving behind no survivors. Cole began to move his fleet around in an attempt to intercept the invaders. Ground and ship-to-ship battles began in earnest, raging throughout the Outer Colonies. During one ground engagement, human forces captured one of the aliens. Before he succumbed to his wounds, interrogators learned that the aliens referred to themselves as "the Covenant."

THE OUTER COLONY MASSACRES
Over the next several years, Cole's forces were hammered, despite his excellent leadership and tactical brilliance. It was simply a matter of being outgunned; Covenant kill ratios tend to top four to one in ship-to-ship combat.

By November of 2535, virtually all of the Outer Colony worlds had been destroyed by the Covenant. The "Cole Protocol" was established by military order: All human vessels must ensure that Covenant forces do not find Earth. Human ships-when forced to withdraw-must not travel on an Earth-bound vector, even if that requires jumping into Slipspace without proper navigational calculations.
If blind jumps are not possible, the ship's captain must order self-destruction if capture is imminent. In addition, it is also imperative that the powerful ship AI data cores not fall into Covenant hands, so part of this protocol involved either the removal or destruction of the ship's AI in extreme situations.

2536-2552: THE SIEGE OF THE INNER COLONIES
Covenant forces swarmed into the Inner Colonies. For several years the war fell into a pattern: humans emerged victorious from isolated battles-typically during ground operations-but at a horrible cost. In space combat, the humans lost at a precipitous rate, and one by one, the colonies fell.
2552
February: SDF-1
The SDF-1 reappears near Pluto orbit and the story begins….

Robotech/Halo timeline: Extra Terrestrial History
(Note this time line use Earth's dating system to make the timeline more understandable to you Micronians. Also, It's a rough timeline so it may not answer some of the questions you have. Bare in mind that these answers will come soon enough as the story develops.)

1899-1998:
The Invid in a desperate move to retake their Homeworld, give life to a large batch of Protoculture on their planet in an attempt to create a bio weapon meant to kill off both Zentradi (either micronized or Macronized) and the Robotech masters. Soon after the complete infestation of and annihilation of the Invid race occurs. A Zentradi and Robotech Master resourceing fleet was assimilated by this 'Flood'. Near the end of this time period the Robotech Masters introduce shielding technology and plasma torpedoes to Zentradi and their own ships to help combat the spreading Flood infestation.

1999-2039:
At this time for every Zentradi taskforce that destroys an infested fleet two more Zentradi fleets fall to the Flood never to be heard from again. Finally the Flood infection reached the Robotech Master's Homeworld. At this time all but one of the protoculture factories that can process the Flood like pure protoculture have been destroyed by infected ships. Zor, in desperation, sent the SDF-1 and the only remaining Protoculture factory away into deep space. He hoped that it will remain safe from Flood hands and eventually found when the time was right. Breetai is then sent to find the missing battle fortress which possessed the only viable way to destroy the Flood. By this time Kyron's 7th fleet and Azonia's Meltradi fleet are assimilated by the Flood and Gravemind is formed from both Azonia's and Kyron's former minds.

Unable to find the SDF-1 or the missing Breetai taskforce, Dolza, leader of all Zentradi fleets initiates a 'Great Journey' to find the missing battle fortress. All of his fleets are either destroyed or heavily damaged while searching the galaxy for the SDF-1 by the ever growing Flood fleet. The Flood command ship under the direct command of Gravemind soon unleashes a new weapon that micronizes Macro-Zentradi. This allowed the flood infection spores to more easily infect Zentradi forces and had the added benefit of making Zentradi crews unable to reach their control consoles.

The micronized Zentradi that happened to survive this new attack fled with some of the wiser Robotech Masters to a few, habitable, out of the way worlds. Many others, either more brave or just stupid, decided to stand and fight the Flood on more established worlds. A few of the smaller refuge settlements survive even to this day.

2040-2044: Now at this time for every Zentradi standard fleet that destroys a Flood fleet, four more Zentradi fleets fall to the Flood. The Robotech Masters finally evacuate their Homeworld, in the face of superior Flood swarms, to their seven ancient research ring habitats. These installations, dubbed Halo, become 'fortress worlds' and attempted to stall the Flood.

2045-2050:
As all other options are exhausted the Robotech Masters begin preparations to destroy all life in the Galaxy in order to annihilate the Flood once and for all, but before it could be done the Flood invade all Halo ring worlds and absorb all sentient bio mass before the rings could be fired. Fortunately most flood vessels were destroyed in the onslaught above the Ring worlds and those ships that landed on the ring worlds were made inoperable and eventually broken down by the station monitors and used to make more sentinels and repair the damage to the Halos in order to control the Flood on the rings and maintain containment. The Flood, unable to leave their new prisons, went dormant in the ring worlds.

A Brief History of the Covenant.

2050c-2552:
Around this time the Prophets and the Elites have stopped warring against each other in their little corner of the galaxy. This came about when the Prophets finally shared some Forerunner technology with the Elites. (This was really a Zentradi warship that was lucky enough not be infected with the flood but mysteriously had no crew aboard. The damaged ship's logs spoke of a Great Journey of Salvation. But for what exactly this journey was for exactly they knew not. The only other information that could be deciphered were images of a seven ring worlds and a reference speaking of 'reclaimers')

Both races, spurred on by this new yet incomplete information and the patched together technology present on the ship formed the Covenant with the purpose of finishing this great journey. The Covenant grew in technology and size as more relics of the past and other alien micronian races were absorbed into it.

(Theses relics and technology were gathered from damaged Zentradi vessels and Robotech Master stations that were lucky enough not to be infected or had small infections of the Flood that were easily put down by the Covenant)

Then as the Covenant expanded it was around the 23rd century in Earth time they came upon micronized Zentradi and Robotech Master settlements that the flood consider too small for absorption and ignored entirely. The Prophets looked at the damaged logs on the original Zentradi ship they captured and compared them with the logs for other captured vessels. They realized after careful analysis that these aliens were the 'reclaimers' that the legends of the Great Journey spoke of. Angered by this news that only they (The micronized Zentradi and any like them would be the reclaimers) the Prophets ordered their destruction and the destruction of any race that shared genetic similarities with them. The Prophets thus branded them an affront to the gods. And the covenant war chaste fought them with the utmost vigilance.

It was during this destruction or the Ages of Reclamation as they are know to the Covenant that one enemy settlement proved useful in a sense. This settlement was hold up in a Fulbtzs Berrentzs class home base. The Home Base jumped from sector to sector trying to evade the Flood during their time of war. They continued jumping until they came upon a Covenant fleet fresh from the Taming of the Hunters. The Covenant, realizing the significance of such a base, captured the station, renamed it High Charity and made it their own home base. Now the Covenant are in their ninth age of Reclamation. Their target is Humanity.

Robotech/Halo: The Macross Saga

Episode 1: Further Revelations:

Captain Gloval, attempting to use an untested Robotech device, inadvertently causes a disaster. Not only did the fold system transport the huge Battle fortress but also Macross City and its surroundings, through the space-time continuum into deep space orbit of the planet Pluto, and even the wrong time period!

"Initiate Hyperspace fold immediately!" Captain Gloval yelled. Once the jump had been completed he immediately stared issuing orders while trying to figure out what exactly had just taken place.

"I don't know what happened, but our first priority is to get all the civilians from the shelters onboard the ship as soon as possible," Captain Gloval said into his receiver. He put it down and turned his attention to other matters that might be more serious later on. "Lieutenant Hayes, have you been able to raise anyone at all?"

"No sir, I haven't been able to raise either the Daedalus or the Prometheus. It doesn't look good," Lisa said to him.

"Hmmm…. I see. That's bad. I mean those are aircraft carriers; they weren't meant for outer space! How could I have been so stupid?" The scene of cars, concrete, and every other thing outside the bridge view port that was once apart of Macross island was still ingraining itself in his mind. 'What a catastrophe.' He thought.

"Stupid chronometer." Claudia said to herself.

"What is it Claudia?" The Captain questioned.

"Well sir, the clock reads the right time of day, but it's reading as February 19, 2552." Claudia replied, confused.

"2552!" The captain said in amazement. 'Could it be possible that we were sent to the future?' he thought. His receiver rang twice before he picked up. The strain of being a helpless captain on an untested ship with an inexperienced crew had taken its toll on Henry Gloval so far. "Yes I know. Is it possible? Okay... I understand, keep me posted." He put his receiver down and turned to bridge crew. "It seems our situation is far worse than expected." He hesitated as he tried to word this bad news in a way that would not disturb his crew any further. "Dr. Lang, our chief engineer tells me that we seem to be in the future." The crew was dead silent in the light of this new information.

"The future?" Claudia asked after taking in this new information.

"How can that be possible?" Lisa asked.

"I don't know. I just hope earth still exists." Gloval said.

xxxxxxxxxx

The sensor operator aboard the ONI prowler Circumference couldn't believe the data that was coming up on his track. The sensors on the Circumference had just detected a large slipspace entry near Pluto orbit, but the signature was not Covenant or UNSC. "Sir?" The operator said to get his commanders' attention. "Yeah son, what is it?" Commander Repine said to his Operator.

"I have a large Slipspace entry near Pluto orbit sir. The…"

"It can't be the Covenant!" The commander exclaimed. "They don't even know the location of Reach yet!"

"Well sir." The operator interjected. "It matches no known signatures we have on record."

"Really?" The commander said. "Are you sure Ensign? Do you have Excalibur working on it?" the commander asked.

"Yes sir, the Ship AI is working on it." the operator replied. "Good. Excal…" The Ship AI's hologram silhouette came alive near the operator's console. "You won't believe what are sensors have picked up!" Excalibur said. "What is it?" questioned the Commander quickly.

"It's the SDF-1! It has returned!" exclaimed the AI.

"The SDF-1, my god!" The commander said in a relieved sigh. "Prepare to hail them."

"Hail who?" The sensor operator asked. The commander simply smacked himself on the head before he answered. He had forgotten that when the SDF-1 had folded away with Macross Island the United Earth Government at the time covered up the incident. The official statement for the disappearance of Macross Island, that carried on to this day, was that anti-unification forces had nuked Macross Island, destroying everything there including the SDF-1. The cover up would have failed if it weren't for the sudden withdrawal of the Aliens.

After some twenty years of waiting for either the SDF-1 and/or the Aliens the United Earth Government began making major changes to the UN Spacy. It was renamed the United Nations Space Command. Veritech fighters were then replaced with less intricate space superiority fighters. Destroids were also regulated to cargo lift duty and the general public never knew of the first space war Earth had fought.

Many in the Top brass, including Admiral Hayes, were shaken by the brief but terrible events that happened on that February day and had pushed for the colonization of other worlds in order to ensure the survival of Humanity. Now, five hundred years later, humanity was slowly being annihilated by the Covenant. It would seem that the Covenant had defeated the Aliens since there had been no further contact with them, but nobody knew for sure.

Commander Repine then replied to the sensor operator. "We are hailing the SDF-1, son. It must have gone into slipspace when those anti-unification terrorist nuked the island. The slipspace rupture must have protected them somehow."

"Yes, that seems to be possible given the circumstances," Excalibur added.

"Well I'm sure that they must have received a lot of damage. We better report it to Fleet command, and investigate further. Let's hail fleet command and the SDF-1 first and then jump to Pluto," the commander concluded.

xxxxxxxxxx

The SDF-1 bridge crew had been busy reading reports from all over the ship as the civilians of Macross Island were brought aboard when Sammy's screen received a transmission from Neptune orbit.

"Captain Gloval!" She cried as she got out of her chair and turned to look at him.

Captain Gloval was startled at her excitement and quickly took his pipe out of his mouth, stuffed in his coat pocket and exclaimed, "I was just holding it; I wasn't going to light it."

Sammy quickly replied upon seeing what the captain just did. "Yes Captain I know all about that, but can you look at the screen for a moment?"

"Don't worry Sammy I have it here," Lisa said. Lieutenant Hayes then began to read out loud the message to the bridge crew, "To Commander of the SDF-1. This is the United Nations Space Command ONI Prowler Circumference. We have picked you up on our sensors and are… folding to your location to render whatever aid we can. Also, welcome to the 26th Century! Circumference out."

"Well at least we know we really are in the future," Claudia thought aloud.

"And our people have folding capabilities as well," Lisa said.

"Well, this is the future. They may even have soldiers that have energy shields for all we know," Captain Gloval added. The Captain's receiver began to ring again and he picked it up.

"No Commander Fokker, our first duty is to the civilians that are coming from the shelters. I can't allow you to go out searching for your friends at this time. I'm sorry but they are going to have to wait. Gloval out." He clicked the receiver off before Roy could get a word in edgewise and the captain turned back to his bridge crew.

"I think this is going to be a long day. Let's prepare for the Circumference's arrival," he said and everyone was back to reading reports and given instructions on how to get over the disaster that happened earlier today.

In the next installment the crew of the SDF-1 learn a little more about the origin of the Macross while some learn to cope with the new situation they are in. Stay tuned for Readjustment; the next episode in the legacy of Robotech/Halo.