Prologue Recovery Operation

USS Enterprise CVN-65; May 17, 1984:

Stepping onto the bridge, the man was instantly greeted with several cries of ‘captain on the bridge’. Almost immediately his XO called him over to a console. Heading on over, he inquired, “What do we have?”

The officer sighed, “Recovery mission. Local monitoring stations picked up a fast mover in sector four.” They tapped onto an area on the sea chart, “It crashed somewhere around here. The admiralty wants us to locate and recover the wreck, think it might be some new Soviet aircraft.”

“A recovery mission? Now? We are already late as it is, this could delay our arrival and I’m sure the troops on the ground...”

“I agree sir, but the orders come straight from Fleet Admiral Cutter, sir.”

He sighed, “My father? Lovely, well better get this over with then.”

Turning, Captain Cutter started giving orders. It seemed they weren’t going to be assisting their allies just yet. He wasn’t happy about the delayed departure either.”

___

Three days later:

Captain Cutter watched the ‘bird’ land. It was one of several flights they had conducted over the area, but thankfully they had gotten some results.  As the ground crew secured the plane without even turning he asked, his XO, “What do you make of the object?”

He was referring to the object they had found on the latest flight. They’d been expecting some kind of wrecked aircraft, but what they saw wasn’t anything like it. Of course they weren’t the only ones in the area, three Soviet cruisers had been spotted conducting a similar search and intel revealed that the Soviets had diverted two carriers into this sector, Kiev class. They were expected to arrive in four hours, he wasn’t too worried about them. On paper, the Enterprise alone was more than a match for them and like any carrier she wasn’t alone, the Enterprise had been originally on course to support combat operations in South China and Northern Vietnam. That region was a political mess as far as he was concerned and it wasn’t the only one. It all started a few months ago when the Chinese Empire signed an alliance with the Soviets, now Compact forces were attempting wide-scale invasions in several areas, notably Indochina and Manchuria.

Cutter understood that the Chinese were simply trying to reclaim lost territories, they’ve been the laughingstock of the civilized world since the end of the Second World War, but the recent political changes in China and the new alliance were certainly concerns. Nothing he had to focus on at the moment though.

“It’s the strangest aircraft I’ve ever seen, if it even is one. I’m not even sure how its floating.”

He nodded, recalling the image. The object was clearly metal, its surface scorched in several places, notably, there were furrows in the surface, not unlike what he would have seen with a science fiction energy blast. The object's hull was approximately three meters long with an ovoid shape, the metal blue-grey. There were no sign of any wings, or secondary features. It left a lot of questions, “Agreed, but I figure we will have answers soon enough.”

As if to prove his point, a Seahawk outfitted for recovery took off a moment later. It was a new craft, one he was still getting used but its abilities would certainly be useful for this. Two more took off after the craft, as escort and assistance if required.

He turned from the viewport, he hated moments like these. The waiting was often nerve-wracking. Only for the comms officer to interrupt his thoughts, “Sir? Admiral Cutter is on the line for you.”

“I’ll take it in my office,” he replied before heading for his office.

As soon as he was behind his desk, he accepted the call.

“Richard, I wish I had better news for you, but we are going to have to cut your search operation short.”

“We just found the object, and I sent the recovery team out just a couple minutes ago...”

“Excellent, in that case as soon as you have the object, you are setting course for Tokyo.”

“Tokyo? What on Earth for?” replied Richard Cutter, while trying to think why. There were some indications of action in East China, but most of the action going on was in Manchuria which the Chinese were trying to take back from the Japanese.

“The Soviet Compact has been making some noise in the area for awhile, earlier today following a large Soviet fleet was spotted in Japanese waters, just before an enemy air raid hit several cities on the southern coast of Korea. Our codebreakers, suggest the enemy is planning to open a new front up in Korea, as such you will be joining with the carriers Yorktown and Nevada and linking up the Japanese 4th fleet for a joint counter operation.”

He blinked, “Understood sir.” Cutter had thought those two ships were in the yard for refit, but that must not be the case anymore. They were the same class as the Enterprise and both launched the year after the Enterprise, which is why they were CVN-66 and CVN-67 respectively. “And about the object, its a strange metal egg, looks to have been scorched and has melted furrows in its hull. My crew and I aren’t even sure why it’s still floating.”

“Interesting, well the Iowa is currently taking on supplies in Tokyo harbor, she is scheduled to head back to San Francisco naval yard soon. I can have her take the object back with her.”

Richard nodded, “That sounds like a plan.”

Admiral Cutter signed off a moment later, and Richard Cutter headed back out to do his job. Stepping out into the bridge his XO, approached, “Good timing sir, the object recovery went smoothly. The heli pilots, tell me it was unusually light, they had no issue fishing it out of the water.”

“Interesting, as soon as it’s aboard set course for Tokyo.”

“Tokyo? Aye sir, anything I should know?”

Cutter gave him the short version and waited for the helicopters to land. When suddenly radar reported, “Contact!”

“How many? Where?”

“Three, profile suggests Soviet fighters. They don’t seem to have spotted us yet, but if they continue, they will soon.”

He glanced at the board, there was a combat air patrol not too far from the contacts. “Divert Eagle one and two to intercept.”

The command was carried out quickly and he watched on the screen with bated breath as the aircraft changed course and closed on the contacts. Seconds ticked by then they entered weapons range. He listened to the radio traffic, just before the first missiles launched, then the second. Part of him hated ordering men into battle like this, but they were at war. He just hoped the war didn’t escalate into a global conflict like the Second World War had.

Seconds later, the missiles slammed into the soviet craft and exploded. Yet not before they sent out a distress call, their mother carriers likely knew. He glanced out the window, the helos had landed and the object was being offloaded now. Several airmen were working it off the helicopter, while photos were being taken for the records.

 “Signal our escorts and get us out of here. And get that flight deck clear, I want double the birds in the air, yesterday.”

“Aye, sir!”

___

Forty-four years later; Secret American Federation Lab:

Nestled securely in the center of the lab was an old alien pod. For years now scientists have been taking a crack at it, trying to figure out it’s secrets. It was somewhat dangerous work too, as they had quite quickly discovered. The first team to try cracking the pod open had triggered some kind of security system, their charred corpses were recovered several days later when the pod finally switched back to its previous docile state. 

A younger woman watched the readings on her console, entirely aware of the dangers. She held her breath, as the computer screen flashed, the UI displaying only alien data, the language was unfamiliar but they were getting closer now to a working understanding of it. They had spent years trying to decode it and a great deal of resources studying the pod. Given the advancements they had made, it was worth it, even with the few lives they had lost.

Suddenly the computer beeped, and the letters on the screen shifted into familiar English. 

System Status:

Hull Integrity: Minor surface damage; condition acceptable

Shields: Nominal
Defense Grid: Nominal
Propulsion: Depleted
Main Power Cell: Depleted
Secondary Power Cell: 48% capacity
Medical Suspension System: Nominal
Occupant status: Healthy
Computer Core: Nominal
Distress Beacon: Offline
Secondary Comm node: Offline
Navigational Array: Offline
Secondary scanner node: Offline

Compatible direct computer interface detected, accessing....
Local environment... Nominal

Local species... acceptable
Processing...

She frowned, “Um, Miyu! Come quick! I think we have something.”

Another scientist came rushing over, she was young but surprisingly smart which is why she was here despite barely being out of college. She quickly looked at the screen, “That is something alright. Do you know what this means?”

The woman nodded, the other girl sharing her smile as they declared together, “First contact!”

Suddenly there was a hiss from the object, and the pair of them looked over, as the metal slid open. Its surface denting, before sliding apart to reveal a transparent material. Several other scientists, came over. Men and women both stopped what they were doing and watched as a strange fluid drained from the chamber behind the transparency. Then the transparency split apart seamlessly before vanishing into the sides of the pod to reveal a clear view of the occupant, the very naked, very female, and very young occupant. She looked human, maybe two years old, her eyes were closed seemingly asleep, while wet teal blue hair clung to her puffy face.

For a moment or two there was only silence before suddenly, Miyu exclaimed, “So cute! As she snatched the little one from the pod. That brought everyone to life and the girls quickly ushered the men out of the room, it was completely inappropriate for them to be in the room with a naked girl so young, scandalous in fact.