Luna stood silent, no cheering coming from the crew, just silence. Earth, found, the ships orbiting it as well as the stations turning to face the Vector, or in their minds, an unknown vessel. She could barely believe herself, believe that she was in the very galaxy the humans came from, and even more, near their home planet. Everyone in the bridge watched in silence as the massive ships of Earth, as big and threatening as the Vector, began their rush towards it.

“Intercepting comm links,” the Vector’s VI spoke.

“Unknown vessel,” a commanding, male voice spoke up. “Stand down immediately or face eradication!”

Another voice followed, this one deep and with a slight reverb to it, “Humanae, thise is not Uborae, nor pirat. Ethe zei… The Vectore is back.”

“... By the universe. Vector, stand down nevertheless, do you copy?”

Kira, standing uneasily next to Luna, spoke up, “Vector copies… We have a long story to tell you. We’re opening hangar twenty-B, so feel free.”

“Affirmative, Vector… Welcome home.”

There was a sense of fear amongst the hangar, Luna could feel it as she walked over to the main landing pad. It was strange to see none of the humans, or anybody else for that matter, cheer or make their feeling visible. They were hiding behind their metallic suits, for some reason. Luna did not like that, something was wrong. Her thoughts drifted, what if the real USC was not as friendly as it sounded? Time to find out.

She stopped walking, Kira Feros at her side. Through the energy shields that separated dead space with the hangar, a large dropship passed. Nothing like she had seen before, mounted weapons aiming frantically around the chamber, big in size. With a loud thump, the vessel landed, immediately it’s ramp dropping. Out came Colonial heavy troopers, aiming their autocannons at the crowd that had gathered around. Following them was a single human, unmasked, his complexion old and scarred. In cue, all the humans around the hangar dropped to their knees, including Kira Feros, who yelled out, “Master Admiral Feros in the deck!”

“Feros…?” Luna muttered, taking too long to process what was happening, instead nodding her head to the old Admiral, who was already in front of her and Kira.

He scanned both of them with a wary eye, before whispering, “Kira… is that really you, my daughter?”

The woman looked up, tears welling up in her eyes. “F-Father…”

“Rise,” he said, prompting Kira to stand up. Luna remained silent, watching the exchange. “Kira… It has been too long… What happened? Where is Becker? Silverback?”

“I-... We have all the data compiled in our banks. Just give me the go and I’ll transfer it to you… It has been too long indeed.” Kira cracked a weak smile.

“Welcome back,” the old Feros uttered, then turned to face the rest of the crowd. “Guardsmen! Welcome home!”

And in that instant, the tension was broken. Every single soul in the hangar began cheering loudly, even those non-human. The old Admiral turned to face Luna. “And this, Kira… What is this quadruped?”

Luna cleared her throat. “I am Councilmare Luna, representant of the native species of New Earth, United Species Coalition,” she finished, looking up at the man with a smile.

“Perfect terran…” he rubbed his chin with a set of fingers. “I see that the Vector’s crew is now multi-species.” He smiled and leaned down over Luna. “You and I, we have much to discuss.”

“Truly enough,” Luna retorted, staring at the eyes of Admiral Adamant Feros. She, Commander Gilda, Kira, and the old Admiral sat around a circular table in the Command briefing chamber. “We did notice more than enough similarities in our ways, our language and emotions to draw the conclusion that the Vector had arrived into another dimension. But, as I’m sure you believe, nobody wishes to assume the worst, until something blatantly game changing happens.”

“I’m still surprised that Silverback acted like that.” The old Admiral adjusted his position. “He was a good man, but even the strongest can break. Now, as far as I am concerned, the USCCG is in eternal debt for cooperating and overall accepting all the chaos that we inadvertently broke into your world.”

“It’s nothing, sir,” Gilda spoke up. “We needed this as much as they did. Otherwise, we’d still be fighting with swords and spears.”

The Admiral sighed. “Advancement is inevitable, and so are the problems it carries with itself.” He placed both hands atop the metallic table. “Still, regulations were broken, mostly those that should have kept the Vector away from the natives. I understand that the situation called for such rules to be trespassed, but, we cannot make exceptions here, as the current status is already a massive exception. You established your own form of Government, directly molded after the USC, made your own regulations, and much more. By all means, you were forcefully taken away from us, yet at the same time you chose to settle down while a way back was found. This entire situation calls that you were, at the time, and are still not part of the USC.”

“We do wish, however,” Kira piped up. “For both parties to be united under the same rule, the latter being the original USC. The way that we constructed our government makes it easy to be assimilated by yours, since the differences are minimal, and we have much to share with you.”

“Indeed you do,” the older man replied, falling silent afterwards. “Now, Luna, Gilda, you must be clear that this incident will draw a dozen times more attention than the disappearance of the Vector itself. The path ahead is rocky, but passable.”

“Keep in mind that your planet belongs to the natives, and nobody else. No corporation shall set foot on it without your consent.” He cleared his throat. “There will be many that will try to take abuse of this strange force you call ‘Magic’, and many more that will try to settle down. As I said, the planet belongs to those who evolved in it, and it is only them who decide what to do with it.”

“We understand,” Luna and Gilda replied at the same time.

“A simple requisite before we begin the official merge of both universes…” The Admiral stood up, gazing down at the other three indivuduals sitting by the table. “We are at war with the Ubor, and we wish for you to prove your loyalty to us. In order for that to happen, we require the Vector to join our forces fighting at their very home planet. It will not be easy, I know. Many of you will suffer, and I know that as well. But, the USC has, and will always, fight for the greater good. Those machines fight to eradicate us, but we fight back. Are you willing to do the same?”

“Yes, Admiral!”

“Good.” He turned to face the exit. “We will begin organizing a parade for both sides in twelve hours, the topic for the celebration being your arrival. Sleep, eat, chat, and prepare yourselves. ”