Inspired by Gallforce, Robotech and Outlander
It's my pleasure to present:
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SEEDLING:  Part 2

Admiral Aran Sarkosian looked at the display in
Fleet Command and began to despair.  The red motes
of light representing alien Sharks, Orcas and Rays
swarmed like a cloud of luminous insects while the 
blue points representing his force steadily winked
out of existence.  Beyond them, a larger and brighter
red indicated the location of the Enemy mother ship,
"How long before the Manowar reaches orbit?"  

His aide answered, "Two hours, fifty three minutes.
She's tough, but she's slow."  

And once the enemy "battleship" was in orbit, that would
be the end for Agita, a colony of four million humans.  
He didn't even know how they'd do it.  When humanity 
found an enemy world, they used the same tried and true
combination of asteroid bombardment and fusion carpet
bombing that proved so effective on Hellion.  The aliens
might seed the planet with predatory monsters that 
bred with fantastic speed, or fungal spores that 
devoured all animal flesh, or just somehow cause the
plantlife to stop producing oxygen or they could intend
to use something entirely new.  There didn't seem to
be any limit to their bag of tricks.  Destroying Hellion 
had been a mistake in retrospect.  The aliens had proven
more than capable of responding in kind.  

Now the Admiral was faced with two equally unpalatable 
choices.  Preserve the rest of his command and withdraw,
leaving four million colonists to die in any way that
suited the Enemy's fancy, or stake everything on a 
suicidal direct assault, his command battle carrier 
versus the enemy manowar.  There was no question if 
he took the latter option, the entire task group would 
be destroyed even if they succeeded, and it would take 
a lot of luck to succeed.  

"Order all units to break off engagement.  Use the planet
for cover and retreat to point tango-mirage."  The Admiral's
stomach ached.  This was war, and in war people died.
But it went against the grain to write off four million
civilians.  He was getting too old for this.  Maybe a 
younger man would have tossed away his entire command
for a long shot.  Was it because he wanted to live?
Or because he honestly felt there was no hope of success
and he wanted to preserve his forces for the counterstrike?
In this case the price of his cowardice, if that was what
it truly was, would be to die four million deaths, not just
a thousand.  

He watched as his forces broke off with surprising ease.
Instead of pursuing, the enemy creatures seemed to be
pulling back to protect their own command vessel.  No...
they were...

"Sir!  Manowar is reloading it's Sharks and changing 
course.  I think it's preparing to withdraw into 
hyperspace."

"I can see that.  Try and get a reading on their entry
variables.  We'll pursue as soon as our reinforcements 
arrive."  Saved by the bell.  The Admiral was grateful
to be spared four million deaths on his conscience, of
course, but he couldn't help wondering what had so 
suddenly distracted the enemy battlegroup in the middle
of a major operation.  
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Lt. Mendoza's lips were drawn so far back that his cheeks
hurt as he watched the target disintegrate and fade from
the display.  Finally, the moment he'd signed on and trained
for; a taste of revenge.  

Then the Old Man's voice broke the moment. "Congratulations, 
Lieutenant.  Ensign Berkel, are you picking up anything else?"  

At the helm console the only other person on the bridge, Sera 
Berkel answered calmly,  "Nothing ship sized, sir.  A bit of 
debris." 

"Stand down to Alert status.  Keep an eye out and coordinate
with Yamazaki and Taylor.  Lt. Mendoza and I need to confer.  
You're in charge of the bridge.  Call us if anything starts 
moving."  

The Captain's cabin was closest to the bridge and the moment
that Mendoza closed the hatch, the Old Man turned on him 
and growled, "Just what was the meaning of that performance?"

"Sir, I..."  Taken off guard, Mendoza gaped at the unexpected
attack.  

"There may be a limit to the amount of formality that can be
maintained on a ship this small given how long we go between
shore leaves, but there is _no_ excuse for questioning your
superior officers orders while we are on combat alert."  
Kroller held up his forefinger and thumb about an inch apart,
as he continued, "You were about that close to being court
martialed, verstehen?.  If you _ever_ do something like that
again, I'll have you in Confinement so fast your head will
spin."

Mendoza snapped to parade rest as he listened to the Old 
Man, and responded, "I have no excuse for my behavior.
It will not happen again."  Inwardly Mendoza kicked himself.
Captain Kroller had been so easy going since Mendoza's
assignment that Mendoza hadn't given him enough credit.  

"It had damn well better not.  Discipline that fails under 
pressure is worse than no discipline at all."  Kroller mused
that his second in command looked like a video idol about to
be martyred by an evil dictator and relaxed a little.  
"Listen Paul, I know you've been eager to get into 
action but don't get carried away.  The best way to hurt
the enemy is to do your job well, and remember that I 
know how to do mine.  Let's leave it at that, shall we?"

"Yes sir.  Thank you sir."

"All right, let's go over some ideas for how to dispose of
our uninvited attachment..."
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Outside, Ryo blinked and the star which had just vanished 
reappeared.  His helmet display still claimed nothing was
there.  A moment later, another star vanished.  Into his suit
mike he said, "Hey!  There's something moving out here."

Surprised, Anne responded, "Are you sure?  I'm not picking
anything up."

"It's not showing up on the suit radar but I can see it 
occluding the stars."

Ensign Berkel broke in, "Go out a little and check it out.
It could just be out of range."

"That'd make it pretty big," Ryo answered, "Also gives it
a lot of lateral velocity."

"Just see whether you can get me a visual on it and stop
talking back,"  Ensign Berkel ordered.  

"Yes mother, we're going."  Ryo jetted toward the phantom,
and Anne followed a moment later.  A couple of minutes
later they were close enough to make out a dark shape.

"Told ya.  But what the heck is it?" Ryo wondered.

Berkel requested, "Description, please."

"We have a black tear drop shaped object about 2.2 metres
long, made out of some kind of radar absorbent material.
No sign of emission or propulsion structures."  Anne
hesitated.  "I'm going in to take a closer look."

Ryo didn't think that was a good idea in the least, "Uh,
maybe you better let me do that."

The thought crossed Anne's mind that maybe neither of them
should do it, but after a moment she dismissed it.  "No,
I'm the Survey Officer.  It's my job to figure out 
what we're dealing with."

"OK," said Ryo, jetting toward the object.  "Just let me
check it out first."

"What?  Get back here you idiot!"  He ignored her and 
grabbed hold of the streamlined black shape.  Both of them
held their breaths, waiting for a lethal response that didn't
come.  Then Anne took a deep breath and began to tell Ryo 
what she thought of him.  "You unprintable mental deficient!
Irresponsible, insubordinate, reckless, lame-brained, 
unprintably suicidal unprintable!..."  

Ryo thought she was over-reacting a little, really.  

Inside, Sera Berkel's Mediterreanian complexion purpled
as she held her breath to keep from giggling on duty.  
Anne's stream of invective had thoroughly broken the
tension for her.  She cleared her throat and said into 
her mike, "Anne, you're being recorded so you might want 
to get a grip."

She took another breath.  "Fine.  I'm pleased to report 
the lamebrain's still alive.  I'm going in for a closer 
look."  She jetted toward the object slowly, and 
carefully reached out to touch it.  When there was no
reaction, she activated a bracelet-shaped attachment on
her battlesuit and a fine drill extended to bite into
the matte-black shell.  

As the Captain and Mendoza returned from their talk,
Ensign Berkel greeted them with relief.  "Sir, Yamazaki
and Taylor have found an intact structure."

The Old Man toggled a switch and asked, "Taylor, what do
you have for us?"

"I think we might have the makings of a little Orca."

Captain Kroller scratched at his graying beard with a 
thumbnail.  "I'm old and tired.  Don't make me read 
between the lines, here."

"I think it's something like a seed or an egg.  Orcas are
living creatures after all.  This one may have been
ready to reproduce."

Mendoza interjected, "Then it would probably save us some
trouble if we destroyed it now."

"But we'd learn a lot more about the alien biotech if 
you gave us a chance to dissect it first.  This is the 
first time we've gotten our hands on an intact structure
 belong to one of their ships.  If we could figure out 
how they worked-" argued Anne

"I take it that you want to bring it onboard for this?" 
Kroller inquired.

"That would work best," Anne said.  

Mendoza smoothed his moustache, and warned, "This could 
be a Trojan Horse."

Anne countered, "It could also be a big opportunity.  It 
certainly looks as if this thing was designed to avoid 
being spotted by us.  It was a one in a million chance 
that Ryo...uh Midshipman Yamazaki noticed it at all."

Kroller stopped hesitating, "Very well then.  Bring it
in.  I'll have Dr. Watts set up in the cargo bay."
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And Now For A Word From Our Sponsor:

In case you were wondering, part 2 of Circularity,
my Gall Force/Bubblegum Crisis/Ghost in the Shell
crossover will be coming your way soon, with special
guest appearances to be revealed later.  

I'd like to thank Gary Kleppe for his assistance with
Seedling and I'd like to encourage any readers to 
comment on this story.