Overture I

After the Insurgency war ended in 2397, humanity thought we could relax. They thought wrong. United Nations Interplanetary Command scientists discovered that Earth would become uninhabitable in two years. Said terraforming Mars or Venus to be new Earths was impossible in that timeframe. In response to this, the U.N.I.C. assembled a multinational fleet. 2 British battleships (HMS Hood and HMS Montgomery), 2 American cruisers (USS Amber Clad and USS Frontier Defender), and 3 American transports (USS Mayflower, USS New Horizons, and USS Phoenix) made up the fleet, named Taffy 3. Each ship had experimental energy shielding and weapons, as well as a "warp drive".

Alpha Nine was assigned to the Amber Clad, beginning the journey on January first, 2398. He was given one of the officer's suites out of respect for my achievements during the Insurgency War. He was not a naval officer, but as a Drengr super soldier, he was already afforded great respect. The soldier sat in his suite, wearing his black prototype Phalanx armor. It out-classes the entire Leonidas line of armor, with better equipment and tougher energy shields. He gripped the hardware in his hand tightly. Then he slid it into the lot on his helmet.

The HUD updated, turning from red to blue. Then a familiar feminine form appeared in the palm of his hand.

"Hey, Osiris." Alpha Nine said.

"Hello, J. It's been a while." She replied, smiling.

H nodded, then stood up. While he was assigned a suite, he had orders to remain in cryo until needed. So, he made my way to the cryoroom he was assigned to. Fireteam Alpha's room. Stepping in, the Drengr paused, placing a hand on one of the pods. He lingered there for a moment, only moving after Osiris spoke.

"J?"

"I'm fine," he replied, his voice a little shaky. "Just trying to see which pod is mine."

Walking through the room, he soon found the pod designated Alpha-9. I stepped inside, speaking to Osiris as the door closed.

"I'll see you there." He said as ice began to form on the pod's window.

Alpha Nine woke up to the sound of a mechanical voice saying, "quickthaw process initiated." From his pod's window, he saw a terrified young Marine, shaking in her boots. Then the door to to the room was launched halfway through the room, and a beam of light shot from out of view, searing through her body. He pushed the pod's hatch open forcefully, then rushed the door, tackling the giant, bipedal reptile that stood in it. He slammed his fist down on it, hearing a loud crunch. Then he grabbed its head, twisting it until its neck snapped.

Finally, he checked on the Marine. Her armor had been melted, fused to the skin underneath. The super soldier put his fingers to her neck, checking her pulse. Nothing. He reached down and grabbed her rifle, gently prying her fingers off of it.

"Osiris, status report."

"Taffy 3's come under attack by alien forces. All ships have boarders. The U.N.I.C. has sent several destroyers as reinforcements while our warp drives charge."

Alpha Nine nodded, hearing shouting and gunfire from the hallway. He stepped out of the room, immediately taking several hits from the energy weapons that the enemy had. The Phalanx armor's shields absorbed the hits as he moved to take cover. His suit's shoulder-deployed chaingun activated, scanning the area he took cover in.

"Osiris, mark friendly tags in green on my motion sensor. Any other signals in red."

The heads-up-display updated immediately updated. There was a lot of red on the motion sensor. He gripped the rifle, then turned into the hallway and was immediately hit with an energy beam. Fortunately, his shields held. He charged forward, returning fire. Several Marines joined my advance.

"We need to push them back to the hanger bay." The Drengr told them.

"Understood!" Was the reply.