Welcome to Gaia! ::

She walks down the street "Now, where is the registration"

Alex, in his desert camo jacket and black pants, stepped off the shuttle. He carried a single bag, and behind the shuttle followed a few of his "bodyguards". They got off their hover-bikes near the platform Alex was standing on, and walked behind him. They were armed with M4A1 SOPMODs with the M68 Aimpoint, and M4QD Suppressor. They were constantly glancing around, searching for any possible assassins.

The passage way was huge. Marble floors, shining with beauty, and vegetation formed in a small square-like section of the passage way, near a large fountain. Probes floated around, heading to different sections of the Docking Bay. Others stayed where they are, acting of security cameras. The place was well protected and survellianced.

Alex headed to the security checkpoint, and dropped his bag on the conveyor belt for it to be scanned. The security guard to his left stared at the screen, and scanned Alex's bag's insides for any weapons, bombs, or drugs. The guard also had a clipboard in his hand, with a pen and scribbling down on a "New citizen" form. He tore it off the clipboard, and handed it to Alex.

"Welcome to Grand Vanguard sir. Name?" he asked Alex, with the form still in his hand.

Alex picked his view up from the floor and glanced at the security guard. He had a Glock 18C holstered on his right hip, with hollow-cap rounds. It seems this security was tight and well prepared for any attack. Alex took the form, and glanced over it.

"Sir, over here," a voice called out, and it was another guard, carrying a metal detector baton. "Sir, your holding up the line."

Alex glanced back, and saw around six angry faces. He jerked his view forward instantly, and headed over to the guard. His bodyguards followed.

Alex picked up his bag from the conveyor belt on his way to the guard. He had to drop it again, because it might trip the detector baton.

The guard activated the detector baton, and it glowed and hummed a mild "MMMOOONNN". It had a small view screen on it, as though it could see through clothes. He passed the baton over Alex's limbs first, and nothing was there. Next, he passed it over Alex's chest, and the detector baton went off.

"Sir, open up your jacket for inspection," the guard said, de-activating the
detector baton, and lowered it.

Alex nodded, and raised his hands to his jacket. He opened it, and a Beretta M9 with seven 9x19mm mags were holstered below it.

The guard reached for his Glock 18C, when Alex's bodyguard stepped infront of him.

"You do that, this entire place is going to blow. This guy, Alex Denton, is one of the best. Pilot, soldier, mercenary, any type of military force. He is
a one man army," said the bodyguard on the left, who had Neo style- sunglasses, and had his finger on his M4A1 SOPMOD's trigger.

The guard nodded, and released his hand from his Glock 18C's holster. He let Alex move along, and the bodyguards turned away from the guard.

Alex's head drifted over to the bodyguards.

"Carl, I hate it when you do that. You make me sound 50x less skillful then I truely am," Alex whispered, with a trace of anger in his voice.

"Yes Alex, but it's for your own safety," Carl replied back.

"Well, the next time you do that, give me the signal," Alex said back, calming himself down.

"Noted."

Alex reached down for his bag, and snatched it up. He went forward, searching for a directory.

*Taking a few days to wonder about how to approach the Epsilon when he next meets it, Guilliam heads down to Vanguard Central Park for a quiet night of staring up at the stars from his favorite park bench*

Guilliam: Sigh......*As he stares into the night sky, his eyes just slide closed as he enjoys the silence* {A bit unnerving.....but it's nice.......not to have to fight right away......was what happened to us really so bad?......they only wanted to preserve the peace......if being used means protecting the people of the galaxy from criminal threat and war, then I never wanted free will in the first place.....}

Erin: HEYA! *A female voice comes up from behind him*

Guilliam: GYAH! *Leaps off of the park bench* EGAD! DON'T DO THAT WOMAN!

Erin: Wha? Aren'tcha happy to see me again?

Guilliam: *His heart still racing from the sudden jolt* Is there something I can help you with? {God, why is SHE my Mission Operator?}

Erin: HQ sent me to give you this. *She reaches into her vest pocket and gives Guilliam a floppy disk* They want you to do some research on a possible metatron deposit on an uncharted planet.

Guilliam: Metatron? Are you serious?

Erin: Have I ever steered you wrong?

Guilliam:.......are you serious?

Erin: *Gives him a goofy anime gaze* .....yes.

Guilliam: If we could get our hands on some.........we may be able to take down, or even recapture the Zeta Units.

Erin: Yeah. We used the last to make the SSA{Self Supporting Armor} on the Omega, didn't we?

Guilliam: Yeah.........but why does HQ want ME to look into it? Doesn't Onit Industries have some people they can send out to do this?

Erin: We're short handed right now helping A.R.M. get back on it's feet. They say that you have the best chance of getting there without being noticed by the U.E.O.R.

Guilliam: And just HOW the hell am I supposed to get there without a ship? You think Alt Eisen can fly that far?

Erin: Thats not my problem Guilly.

Guilliam: Please don't call me that.

Erin: Well, if anything, why not just ask the Vanguard Government for assistance?

Guilliam: Why would the government assist me with this?

Erin: Well, DUH. A scout showed us that the planet is suitable for human habitation. The environment is similar to that of Earth's. The Government here is always looking to expand itself for the better of it's citizens, and a new resource satellite might be just the kind of thing they'd be interested in.

Guilliam:........thats not a bad idea when you think about it like that.

Erin: Yep! See? I'm pretty useful after all, aren't I?

Guilliam: Don't push it Ruine.

Erin: Yeesh. Some gratitude. *Turns around* Well, I gotta get movin'. Things just fall apart at Onit while I'm not around. Bye Guilly.

Guilliam: .........thanks........AND DON'T CALL ME GUILLY! *Looks at the disk* I guess the first thing I should do is arrange a meeting with the Vanguard Government.......

*After recieving the disk from Erin, he heads off to the hangar to use the Alt Eisen's Computer to read it. Having customized the old Gespenst's computer{From which Alt Eisen was built around}, it may be the only thing on Vanguard that can read such an outdated relic. Upon reaching the Hangar, he immediately heads for the cockpit of his iron giant*

Guilliam: Let's see what's on you.....*Slides the disk into his floppy drive* Good thing I use these to write my OS data on. Otherwise, I might never know what's on these things. *His computer screen shows a small planet and some miscellanious data along with it* Atmospheric conditions show a 6.7 percent increase in quality of the oxygen in comparison with Earth's current conditions.....a large number of lakes, possibly with freshwater and an ocean that covers roughly 53 percent of the planet's mass.....vegetation was observed from a short oribital flight........who knows? Maybe this place IS worth something.......detection of Metatron was brief, only having about three minutes detection before losing the trace..........analysis shows that it would take about half a day by hyper gate from the Grand Vanguard Colony.......I guess that means they'd have to set up an Expeditionary Colony if they did decide to pursue exploration of the world.........thats assuming they even hear me out..........though I hope the thought of extra resources is found appealing.....

Heath: Hey Kid!*He comes running up the catwalk behind Alt Eisen's cockpit*

Guilliam: Hey Heath. Did Onit tell you guys about....

Heath: Nevermind that! Gamma's gone missing!

Guilliam: WHAT?!

Heath: It happened about five hours ago! The Epsilon and Omega appeared and took out all the defenses at the Gate Station!

Guilliam: Damn........there's only one unit left.......Grungust Sigma......

Heath: What should we do?

Guilliam: If they took out the A.R.M. fleet and the Gate Station, we don't have the firepower left to turn back the Zeta Series as we are.*Runs his fingers across a keyboard plugged into the Alt's computer* I'm working on something to help as we speak.

Heath: What's this? *Looks at the screen* Isn't that the new rock they discovered?

Guilliam: Supposedly, there's metatron there. If we get a proposal in order to the government, maybe a research team can form to go explore it.

Heath: And you've got an idea as to how we'd explain finding this planet?

Guilliam: Sure. Just tell em' it happened on one of Onit's projects.

Heath: You'd compromise company security to get this?

Guilliam: It's compromised just by them stationing me here. The mere fact that I take it another step forward isn't going to make much of a difference now.

Heath: Good point. I guess they'd find out about the Zeta Series sooner or later......especially with Ares leading the U.E.O.R.

Guilliam: Speaking of such, have you found out what unit he's planned on using?

Heath: He hasn't been seen at any of the thiefts thus far. It's rumored that he plans on using Grungust Sigma for himself.

Guilliam: Thats the strongest one Onit developed.....*Removes a CD from a drive under the floppy drive* I've copied the data to this. I think the government wouldn't take me seriously if I came in with Ancient Relics as grounds for deep space exploration.

Heath: Perhaps I should come too. This is A.R.M.'s war too.

Guilliam: Sure. The more support on our side, the more likely we can have something arranged.

Heath: Send the Governor an E-mail then. I'll go tell the boys to be on standby, just in case.

Guilliam: Well.....what to say........
*E-Mail To Governor Locke Trufeld*
Greetings Mister Trufeld. It has come to my attention that a small planet with an Earthlike Atmosphere has been discovered on a recent expedition of Onit Industries. Due to insufficent resources, the company cannot pursue research of the planet's possible resources, so we believe that you could make good use of the information gathered. If you've any questions regarding the data, you may conact Guilliam Yaeger, a mercenary under our employ, or Heath Stolat, Captain of the A.R.M. Defense Fleet. How you use the information, enclosed in this e-mail, is up to you.
Serato Onit,
President of Onit Industries

Heath: You sure it's okay to sign the bosses name?

Guilliam: I'll send the E-mail to him explaining everything. I was told to do everything in my power to make sure that Project Zeta remained a secret. With everything that's happened, we need to make sure that it's destroyed and never heard of again. Genetic engineering has limitless potential, but it fell into chaos one year ago......I failed to correct a mistake then, but I'll see to it that I do so this time. *Sends the E-Mail* Well, now we either have some nice materials or a big grocery store for Vanguard. Either way, somebody wins.

Alex was in his shower in his apartment. He stood still inside, and let the cold water pound on him. He had three encounters with assassins last night, and his bodyguards took care of them. Every muscle in his body ached.

He shut off the water, and it quickly went down the sewage drain on the tiled floor. With his hand still on the knob, he stayed inside a while longer. He was concentrating, harnessing his piloting abilities in his "Flight Simulation" that came with his bio-mod implementation. He was a downright natural, and during this Simulation he was the only fighter, and he had to defend three cargo ships from one-hundred and fifty pirate ships.

It wasn't tough, since Alex had faced even worse odds. These cargo ships were armed with anti-fighter turrets, and they pack a punch that 1 shot from them could tear the Earth in half. These turrets fired 120mm rounds, which focused on breaching the target's hull, and leaving explosive fragments inside the breached hull, causing a massive explosion.

Record time: five minutes and fifteen seconds. He had done it once again, he destroyed the pirate ships without a scratch on his own fighter. The cargo ships weren't damaged either. He was that good.

Alex got out of the shower, and reached for his clothes. His skin already dried during the simulation. He reached for the comb inside the drawer in his desk, and combed his hair the way he loved it. Spiked blue hair was his favorite. Then, he turned around and saw something on his blue apartment's carpet.

It was a note that was slipped under the door. The handwriting was familiar to Alex. It was neatly written, but it seemed it only took about five seconds
to write it. He picked it up, and it said:

Paper

We went out searching for lunch. Notify us via telemessage if you need us.

~Carl

Alex crumbled the paper, and tossed it behind him, to the wastebasket. It bounced off the rim, then hit the desk, and went back inside.

Alex preferred to always know where his bodyguards were. It let him knew they didn't just dissappear, so they had accustomed to leave "notes" around when they went somewhere else.

Alex opened his apartment door, and slammed it behind him. He reached into his left pocket, and got out his keycard. With a quick swipe, he locked his apartment and the automated voice went on: "Have a nice afternoon".

He went to the elevator section of this floor, and clicked the ground floor. He was about to adventure through the city, to find some work. Shifting around impatiently, Alex checked his watch.

Watch

2:25 PM.

As soon as he lifted his view from his watch, the elevator doors swung open. Inside, were 5 men armed with brass knuckles. One was tall, and bald. He had a dagger, the blade was twice the size of a pen, but shorter then a Short Sword. They surronded Alex, and raised their fists.

Alex grinned, and went into his fighting stance, ready for any attack. He was about to have some fun.

Arc: *After trying out a couple of other Mechs, he recieves a call from Robert, while determining which Mech was more suitable for him.*

Oh, excuse me. *He picks up the vid-phone.*

This is Arc.

Robert: Hey, it's Rob. The registrations are ending today I think, and I was wondering what you were doing right now. More likely you'll be busy when the Grand Prix starts.

Yeah, I was just checking out some Mechs since I was thinking about getting one when I win the race.

Aww, you were window shopping Mechs without me? .. That looks more like a garage than window shopping though... How many Mechs are there?!

o.o; Calm down. I'm at the Nebulae Metals' docking bay, trying some out. I got special permission from someone who works here, since they knew me from the news.

You were trying them out?! Why didn't you invite me?! >_< You know how much I love mechs! Next time, invite me if you're going around looking for mechs! I can even help you pick one out since I know so much about them, you know that, right? *Continues on.*

*Anime sweatdrop.* There's no stop to his mech obsession..

Rob? Hey, Rob. I'm closing transmission, okay?

Wait! I'll go there right now! I can help you pick a mech out!

o_o; No, it's alright. I'm probably leaving now.

Oh... alright then..

*He seemed rather depressed on the screen.*

Er.. I'll talk to you later, alright? Maybe I'll come by and hang out for a bit, since you seem to be bored.

Does it show that much? Well, okay then. See ya, Arc.

*He ends transmission.*

*He returns to Yuri after putting away his vid-phone.*

Sorry about that, Yuri. Anyway, I think I'm done trying out mechs for tonight. I have to go visit a friend of mine.

Yuri: Alright then. I hope to see you soon, Arc.

They leave the docking bay through the teleportation device, sending them back to the store in Vanguard City.

Dion: *After getting sick of having cheap, instant ramen breakfast, he takes the elevator back up to the ever so lively Vanguard City. Instead of getting off at the ground floor of 500 F, he gets off at 451 F, Under Vanguard City. 200 floors of underground city, where many teens come to hang out, as there are many places for them to hang out, especially at the many few stores that are lined up like at the mall. Nearly everything for entertainment was lined up in these 200 floors.

Being that he had still not had breakfast, he wanders off from the elevator while he followed a deliciously good scent of healthy breakfast, which came from very close by at the food court. He walks up to the closest counter, trying to hide his limping from the pain of hunger.*

I'll have the breakfast meal with the french toast with eggs and bacon..

Cashier A: What will you have for drinks, sir?

*He could barely look up at the menu above them.*

Orange juice..

Okay, sir. That'll be 235 credits.

*The cashier lady says as she enters the order to the kitchen in the back room through a simple machine with a button for each meal. A quick way to get order messages through, even if it was only by a couple of seconds. Services have advanced much more than those of before, also due to lack of trees in outer space to create paper. Of course, there were alternative sources for paper, but it's resources became expencive.

*He pays the lady exact change.. as it was what he mostly had anyway. Change. After that, he goes to take a seat in one of the open tables at the food court, waiting for his breakfast to be brought to him. Was it a relief that his pockets were lighter on his weakened state? Or was he hallucinating from all the noodles he has had for the past few meals? Either way, food was more important to him that credits at the moment.

When his food has finally arrived infront of him, he had almost instantly stuffed his mouth with the french toast to fill in his empty stomach. He was just happy to have something other than plain ramen without any toppings on them either. Nourishing himself with the nutrients he was lacking from the breakfast, a ring tone goes off. It was his vid-phone. "Could it be? Did Zenk and the others came back to pick me up?" He thought. While he continued to eat with one hand, he opens transmission on his vid-phone with the other. Just like he had thought, it was one of his pirate buddies displayed on the screen.*

Xath! Thank goodness! I was getting worried when I'll hear from you guys.

Xath: Well, don't get too happy. You're gonna continue your job as a spy.

*He swallows down the food along with the orange juice to speak.*

I don't think I'll last any longer here because of you guys not being able to keep that guy from escaping. The ID Card's invalid now, and I have no creds left.

Then get out here so I can give you some credits. We're not supposed to create any problems here yet. Zenk's orders.

Fine. I'll call you back later after I'm done eating.

*He ends transmission. His previous worries were now relieved as now he has contact with the others, as well as a source of money. Things are finally turning around for him, he thought, as he finishes his dish.*

Xath: *Awaiting in his boss's Space Ship, hiding from the Vanguardian Sensors by using the cloaking device, Xath and Jeggar lounges until Dion arrives. Dion's ship hidden from the sensors as well as he fakes a Hyper Jump, he docks with Zenk's ship.*

Dion's here.

*He says as he turns to Jeggar, predicting Dion.*

Dion: I'm here.

*Watching Jeggar slightly snicker at him, he finds himself a seat to settle at.*

Alright, so Zenk told me to continue spying, huh? Well, tell him I can't since I entered the Space Race. The grand prize is 1 mil creds, which I thought would help out because of you guys failing to keep the ID Card from becoming void of use.

Jeggar: Hyeh! I should be in that race if there's 1 mil creds for the grand prize! Xath, take us down so we can sign up!

Unfortunately for you guys, the registrations ended already. You were too late.

WHAT?!

*He jumps out of his seat to grab onto Dion's collar of his shirt, his judgement easily distracted by his sudden fury.*

*As soon as he sees Jeggar's reaction, he gets up to break him off of Dion before anyone got hurt.*

Quit it, you idiot.

*He turns back to Dion.*

As you were saying?

Right. This is a Space Race Grand Prix that's being held out in various spaces, and it's going to start on Friday. Except my credits won't last me that long.

*He tosses him a credit card from an account separate from those of the Vanguardian Databank.*

Use that until then. It should be enough for you to stay there until the race ends. Since you're the only one that's in the race, good luck.

*He nods to Xath as he picks up the credit card.*

If you lose, you're gonna have to pay off our debts for us.

Heh. Either way, you're gonna get some creds, right? Hell, thanks guys. I won't let you guys down. Tell that to Zenk for me.

*Taking his leave, he returns to his ship to go back to Grand Vanguard, getting ready for the Space Races.*