(Back in Satan City)
With the fashion show reaching its closing stages, Gohan and Videl remained planted in their seats as they watched the last of the models enter and exit the catwalk. In the past hour or so, the pair had seen Zangya come in and out of the backrooms many times wearing a couple of incredibly stunning dresses. Even though the woman was not from their planet, it was clear to both of them that she was absolutely breathtaking and wore those outfits like a goddess. This probably explained why she was given the spotlight at these events and was so popular with the community, and it was also why the main company she worked for valued her so much.
She was truly the highlight for that morning.
Now, with the main event over and done with, and the speaker announcing the final minutes of the show, the two Z-fighters in the crowd looked on as Zangya came down the catwalk one last time with a completely new look and accessory piece. Sporting a blue tube dress that accentuated her ever curve with a couple of bits cutout showing off her stomach and sides, high heels and diamond earrings for that finishing touch, the woman approached the end of the runway where the judges sat with pride and confidence reflected in her posture.
Her friends applauded her when she stopped at the end and posed for the cameras, head up and back straight. She looked so natural up there and a shooing for a spectacular finish.
However, just when the audience had finished giving her a standing ovation, a sharp pang struck Gohan, Videl and Zangya, startling the three of them and causing the group to direct all of their attention towards the ceiling. At first the judges and the audience thought nothing of it, believing the orange haired woman was merely posing for the media.
But when Gohan and Videl shot out of their seats and nearly knocked their chairs over, the front rows of the auditorium started to stir.
A bead of sweat breaking out on her face, the raven haired fighter gasped, "G-Gohan… do you…?"
Gulping, the half-Saiyan nodded to her half-asked question, "Yes." His gaze then shot towards the alien standing on the catwalk in front of him. "Zangya?"
"I sense it too," the Hera replied quickly, her own face reflecting her bewilderment and fear as she focused all of her senses on whatever the hell had just entered her radar. "Damn. I haven't sensed so much energy in one place before. What the heck is that?"
OOO
(Outside Central City)
Several kilometers out of earth's capital, in the middle of a wide open desert with enormous radar and telescopic dishes dotting the landscape, an enormous military installation was currently on full alert. Alarms blazing and soldiers rushing about from building to building, gathering equipment and readying their jets for combat, it almost looked as though they were preparing for an invasion. Though there wasn't an enemy in sight or a country near their position, the commanders of the base were still directing their forces as they had been instructed to, and were making one hell of a show of it.
Amidst the chaos on the grounds and the noise of aircraft being prepared for launch, inside the main tower on ground zero, preparations for an attack were currently underway. Surrounding a massive holographic projector in the middle of a dark war room, a collection of officers and officials could be seen gathered around the center table, while a platoon of airmen and staff were working diligently at the computers and monitors making up the rest of the chamber.
It was an impressive setup and it had to be. After all the trouble they'd encountered in the past seven years involving extraterrestrial objects heading towards their planet, this one had to be their biggest problem yet.
Staring up at the three-dimensional projection of the earth and moon, a dark-skinned man in a blue uniform with five stars on his decorated uniform narrowed his eyes, "How far is it?"
"It's not far now, sir," an officer operating the main computer answered as he typed in a new set of numbers, allowing the hologram of the planet to zoom in on the object heading towards them. "It hooked past the moon's orbit not too long ago and should be entering satellite space in the next ten minutes."
"Whatever it is, it's moving faster than any meteorite we've ever recorded," the Colonel, an anthropomorphic fox in a similarly colored uniform standing beside the general spoke with a troubled expression on his face. "We've shot down a lot of space debris in the past year, but all of those objects came straight out of our area. This one came from another system entirely."
Making a murmuring sound of unease, the General of the Army turned towards the monitor staff surrounding him with a frown, "What exactly are we dealing with here? What kind of rock is it?"
"It's just as you heard over the transmissions, sir," a woman working over at another computer said as she jacked up the screen. The hologram then switched over from a picture of the earth to the picture of the object in question. "It's a Class 6 rogue meteorite, which we began tracking ever since it left the Mizar star system a few days ago. The object is roughly seven kilometers in diameter, that's around the size of a small village, and is currently clocking speeds over Mach 7. We calculate its impact should be in the next half hour around the west coast, fifty kilometers outside of West City."
Sweating nervously, the general got a good look at the extraterrestrial entity that had entered their midst. On first glance it certainly looked like a space rock from another world, for sure. But tracing its uneven, oval-like shape, it almost resembled a spacecraft or a casket with the outline of a person. Though the details on it were sketchy, it certainly did have that UFO appeal to it.
Upon inspecting it more carefully, the thing also had a pair of ribbon like appendages attached to its sides that were wiggling around like tentacles on a squid, which didn't seem like something an ordinary comet would possess. However, trusting the advice of his astronomical staff, the general immediately went with the first course of action he could think of and turned to look across at another one of the analysts nearby.
"What kind of damage can we expect from this thing making landfall?"
"Honestly, sir?" the airman in the glasses sitting next to the monitor spoke while turning towards the staff in the center of the room. "If this object should breach our atmosphere and hit the earth, it will cause an explosion a million times greater than our most powerful thermonuclear bomb. Everything within a hundred kilometers of it will be incinerated and the shockwave will be so powerful, there won't be a single building left standing anywhere. That's only in the first few minutes of impact."
Hearing all that he needed to, General Rin turned back to the hologram and narrowed his eyes, "Then we have no choice." He then pointed towards the men and women working at the various computers and monitors. "Contact the ground crews of Stations two, four and seven. Have them ready the surface-to-orbit cannons and fire on my command."
"Yes, sir!" Upon registering to the commander's orders, the staff immediately began running around and making contact with the people they needed to. All at once, the commotion inside of the room increased several times over, letting the officers in charge know that preparations for a counter attack were well and truly underway.
The hologram quickly switched from the object to the valleys and deserts outside of the base. Past the radar stations, General Rin and his staff of officers saw three enormous cannons of futuristic design appear in the hologram, rotate on the spot and then point towards the sky. From their posts, they watched the men on the ground get inside and begin setting up the weapons, the numbers jumping up onto the screen flickering through at an insane speed and logging in the coordinates of the objects.
In a matter of moments, the readings reached a hundred percent and the men working the radios of the large guns reported in. With the chatter reaching its climax, the men at the monitors turned to inform their superiors of their progress.
"All three Capsule Corp MAC V-150 Planetary cannons are online sir!"
"Lieutenant Spears of Station two reports they are ready to fire!"
"Station four is primed and ready!"
"Station seven has locked onto the target and is fully charged, sir!"
"All stations are waiting for your go sign."
Silence immediately fell in the room as all eyes turned towards the general. With the hologram breaking up and showing a view of the planet and the object fast-approaching it, everyone was given a full and unobstructed view of the events to come. Thanks to the eyes on the ground and the cameras provided by the satellites currently in orbit, the military was all set to witness and document the results.
Considering his options for several more seconds, General Rin soon reached his decision and exhaled sharply. Upon which he then directed his gaze to his staff and nodded. "Do it."
Receiving his order loud and clear, the same woman by the monitor placed her finger to her head-set and looked towards the screen. There, she had a clear view of all guns locked and pointing towards the sky. "Stand by firing crews… on my mark…" She waited for several seconds. Then, when the green light appeared on her monitor, she nodded. "FIRE!"
A split second later, the staff in the room watched as the three cannons on the hologram lit up and began firing powerful blasts of energy straight up into the sky, each round glowing a hot gold and traveling faster than any other projectile they had.
This was it…
OOO
High up above the planet, the highly compressed spheres of energy fired by all three cannons shot through the atmosphere at breakneck speeds and effortlessly entered the thermosphere. Continuing on at full speed beyond the planet's orbit, the barrage homed in on their target, which could be seen approaching the terra as a shadowy mass in the distance.
The fast-moving rounds capable of disintegrating rock lit up the meteorite they were aimed for like a flashlight. However, the instant the first barrage impacted the object, something unexpected took place.
In the past, the military had been a hundred percent successful in shooting down meteorites that came within range of their planet. A single shot from one of the cannons had been more than capable of wiping out an entire asteroid two kilometers wide in one go, turning it into harmless granite and space dust that burnt up in the planet's atmosphere. With so much power compressed into a single ball of energy, three shots seemed like a little bit overkill for only a single target.
But as soon as the blasts impacted the object after only a few seconds of travel, not only did they fail in slowing it down, but all three rounds bounced off of it like they were beach balls. The second and third waves to follow had the exact same effect, the energy projectiles detonating harmlessly against the object's surface or ricocheting off of it and flying off to fade away into space.
As soon as the barrage ended, it was as if nothing had happened, and the meteorite continued on course…
OOO
"What?!" the fox Colonel shouted in disbelief.
"The photon cannons didn't work!" another general standing off to the side spoke up in astonishment. "How? They were right on the mark!"
As soon as the people in the room saw the barrage fired by the cannons fail in even chipping the meteor, a nervous clamor started up. Questions and exclamations flying this way and that, the airmen and staff began trying to figure out a solution to the problem at hand. Groups started getting together to figure out whether the timing was off and others began checking to see if their surface-to-orbital cannons were malfunctioning. But no matter where they looked, all everyone was able to come up with were blanks and dead ends.
After considering the hologram for several tense minutes, the Colonel with the frustrated expression turned back to his superior, "What do we do now?"
Clenching his fists at the sight of the meteor continuing to head towards their planet, General Rin made a thoughtful grunting noise before once again turning towards his anxious adjutants. "Order all stations to lock onto target and open fire. Ready the U2 missiles and M3 Halos to intercept the target, and have all naval and army units in the region surrounding West City on standby." Receiving a nod from the Colonel, the commander then watched him move off to complete his task.
When the chatter in the room started up again and all workmen began getting into contact with the people they were instructed to, the general then turned to the sergeant standing next to him and frowned, "Get me Bulma Briefs on the line…"
===============================
If you want to support me and also access 30 advance chapters, join my patreon with the link patreon.com/EddyHazArd
Or just search "EddyHazArd" in the patreon searcher.