Macross Fan Fiction ❯ Robotech: Beneath a steel sky ❯ Chapter 25 - The Wake-up call... ( Chapter 25 )

---- Chapter 25 ---- Wake up call...

"Huh?! Wha - "...

Lt. Chris Caldwell suddenly woke up - He looked around nervously...

As he slowly started to recognize where he was, he also remembered what he just dreamt....

The light was dimmed - only weak guiding lights along the walls were visible. The sweat on his forehead cooled him down slightly. He could also feel that the ship was not really moving either.

"...That nightmare again...", he said to himself quietly.

Chris turned his head to his right, as he felt that he was not alone. In fact, the weight he was feeling on his right side was an exausted Sammy Porter sleeping on his side, her head lying on his shoulder. His beutiful angel has not left his side every since he docked back on board the "Hawks-Eye".

Chris lifted his hand and strifed it through her hair and smoothly past her silky skin - then hugged her tightly. His imagination threw him short flashbacks of his nightmare...

The young pilot looked around - trying to remember what happened during the mean time.

Recognizing his surrounding, he could see that they were inside the recovery quarter of the "Hawks-Eye". Together with Sammy, they were laying in one of the few bunk-beds tightly. Looking around again, he noticed that they were not alone.

The exausted Rookie Pilots of his "renegade" Squadron were also sleeping as well. Observing the group, they were all resting quietly - Both Pilot and Co-Pilot in one bed.

Triss, the youngest female co-pilot of the group, was sleeping near Spencer, who had his arm around her, covering her - keeping her warm. Cherry, without Vinchesca's tribe-headband, and Rooks were also tight together. Vinshesca seemed as if she was really having a deep sleep - Nearly both arms were hanging down the side of the bed, her mouth was open and she was even slightly snoring...

Chris looked over and saw Jester and his co-pilot Sparrow... For a brief moment, he felt better - but then his face changed. It was a great satisfactory to recover them both alive, but there was no real hint if they would recover fully... While Jester was pratically knocked out well, Sparrow seemed awake - her eyes were open... However they were not blinking... She was alive and physically had not received to much punishment - nevertheless, her mind was totally paralized...

Again, he looked around...

These Rookies were once strangers to each other - Now they have formed into a small family, a team of comrades and friendship - A trusted group... He felt confident that this group definately deserves more than just a "Thanks" after all this was over...

It was remarkable, Chris thought...

A few moments past by...

Thoughts went through his mind... The last thing he remembered that happened, was that he had deceided to dock on in order to rest and have little time with Sammy, before they would return to SDF-1 for their definate court-martial case - He also gave the order to the others as well.

Argo said, that it would take another hour, since Commander Fokker decided to lower the cruising speed at a minimum..

Nevertheless, something troubled him. They should have been back on board the SDF-1 already.

Chris decided to get out of the bed in order to figure out what was going on... Maybe Argo knew what was going on...

----

Meanwhile, somewhere in the "Utopia Chenerra District" - In one of the many habitat quarters.

Many civilians have found rooms and other areas to recover themselves. Many groups were sitting around - some holding weapons, other taking care of children and another group taking care of wounded soldiers. Although they knew they were in some type of war and were refugees - again - They did seem to adapt to the situation.

Hundreds of them have already found places to sleep and call home - although they arrived two and a half hours ago - recovering was the hobby for now...

Foxy-Roxy was still taking a warm and replenishing shower.

A constant stream of hot water splashed upon her soft body - She was full of joy as she used shower-soap and other thing for herself.

"Oh my - Mick!", she said loud and happily, "You should really have a shower here - It's great!"

...

There was no answer.

"Mick?!", she repeated. Again, no answer. Maybe he could not hear him well or fell asleep.

Foxy-Roxy stopped the water and climbed out of the shower-tub. A lot of water was dripping on the cold floor. Standing naked in the bathroom, she started to shake, freezing - as she felt a draft passing by.

She quickly grabbed a towel and started to dry herself up.

"Mick - You there?!", she yelled again ... And again, she did not receive a reply.

"Hmm, I bet he fell asleep - he really needs it", she said to herself as she dried herself up...

----

Back aboard the "Hawks-Eye" Recon Carrier, Chris managed to leave the bed without waking up Sammy or the others. Having a look outside one of the windows, he could see that they were still inside the "Void" - Inside a denser part of it, he proposed... judging the thickness of the yellow haze - but that did not explain why they were still in space.

He could also see that there were two Valkyries holding their position very close next to the other carrier - VERY close... He could also see that their engines were powered down and that the operational systems of the other carrier was just as low as the one he was on board of.

"Hmm..:", he said to himself and scratched his head.

Chris walked further towards the frontal part of the ship, walking through each section - All lights were dimmed... He felt like as if he were in a submarine on stealth-alert... but why?

The next section ahead of him was the briefing room -

As he entered the room, he would have never thought of meeting a certain person here...

It was Commander Roy Fokker sitting on one of seats, holding an unfamiliar cassette-disk in his hand while leaning against his seat. He did not seem sleepy at all - rather thinking about something... until he noticed Chris stand near one of the entrances.

The young pilot saluted shortly and asked, "Erm - Sir, what... What's going on here? Why are we still in space?"

At first, the Commander smiled shortly, then wove his hand, showing Chris to come closer and have a seat across the briefing-screen table, which was offline. Fokker kept turning the strange looking cassette in his hands...

"Sir?", Chris reasked - wondering why he was not answering.

Commander Fokker stopped twirling the cassette and laid it on the table... then said, "Lieutenant Caldwell... I don't know how to say it - but I'm afraid were stuck at the moment".

"Stuck?", the young pilot repeated.

"Yes, yes... As you may have noticed, where running on low power and keeping our silouette-profile as low as possible. The "Void" out there got extremely dense around the SDF-1... but that seems to be our advantage at the moment... Besides that, we've got another problem..."

Chris leaned back with a very worried face...

"I - I don't get it, Commander - 'advantage'... 'Problem'... What do you mean, Sir?", he asked.

"No need to call me 'Sir', you may call me Roy, since it's just you and me here", Commander Fokker replied with a short smile... then leaned foward. "Listen... This 'problem' we've got consists of many... We were first suppossed to retrieve you and your squadron - Get back to the SDF by redocking on board the "Daedalous" Carrier..." - Fokker took a short deep breath - "We're not far away from the SDF-1 and that 'organic' thing out there... but the vicinity around the SDF-1 is just crawling with 'Invid-Bugs' all around a lot more than before... We're lucky that our current position is denser than the area out there."

Chris was surprised...

The Commander spoke further, "That's not all - Remember the Daedalus Carrier lights and all the activity going on - Well... It's totally offline... not even one light bulb on... not even one Destroid-signals... It's a total blackout. We've also lost contact to Bridge Command as well... and besides all that - I've got this special mission cassette from Admiral Gloval himself - I haven't seen it yet... But he told me to wait until were almost back aboard."

The young Lieuntenant did not know what to say...

"Lieutenant Caldwell... Chris, listen - I've got a very bad feeling what's going on down there - Look, I know you might get a tough court-martial case, but I think that there's something more important to worry about. Whatever mission is stored on this cassette - I'm gonna need all the help I can and I'm very sure that you and your team will be more than a great assistance..."

Chris rubbed his forehead... Things were just out of control... "Commander... I mean... Roy, my team is just a Rookie Squadron with Veritech Specials - Although I trust them a lot - and their skills - I can't afford to send them on another dangerous mission again... I've already asked them once... I can't do it a second time..."

"I'm afraid we haven't got much of a choice this time... Kid..."

The Commander stuck the cassette into a slot of the table - activating a screen.

----

Foxy-Roxy finished drying herself and covered her body with one towel and her hair like an arabian turban. Drops of water dripped upon the floor as she walked out, heading towards the living room of the quarter.

Her skin shined like a beauty of pure porcellan...

As she came around the corner, she said, "Hey Mick, you've gotta..."- She stopped talking when she noticed that her HEC-flightsuit was the only thing lying on the couch. Her rifle, a radio communicator and both Mick's and Foxy-Roxy's suit-helmets were still lying the table...

Mick was gone...

----

Admiral Glovals face appeared upon the screen.

"Greetings Commander Fokker, I am sure that there won't be enough time to explain the sense of this mission, so I will make this brief - Your mission is to deactivate the frontal energy core of the Macross City Deck... This task is definately going to possess a high risk, since your team must enter the certain district to either shutdown oder destroy the core - deep inside lost territory... This task would definately stop the enemy from attacking, as they require energy as much as we do. The Protoculte Reactor will nevertheless still produce sufficient energy for us until we can recover and oppose the enemy a full strike... But until then, your task will be our only hope - Fare well and Good-Luck, Commander Fokker. This is Admiral Gloval, Chief in Command of the SDF-1 - out" - Gloval saluted, then disappeared - The screen went blank, then showed the blinking words "Message Ended".

There was a moment of silence...

Neither the Lieutenant nor the Commander made a move. Chris looked around... The room was darkened and slightly lit by a row of weak glowing lights. The ship itself was rather quiet, almost silent.

Chris leaned back slowly... "Sir?", he asked quietly - His voice spoke very low, trying to keep quiet.

Roy rubbed his chin, then the side of his face - He also did not seem to be confident about the mission they just heard about...

"I'm afraid we haven't got much of a choice", The Commander replied, "This doesn't look good"...

----

Somewhere in the Utopia Chenerra District...

Mick made his way back to the main command center area, passing the gates. Indeed, he left the habitat quarters without saying a word to Foxy-Roxy... There were many civilian and military personnel sitting on tanks, others having conversations behind sandbags - having their machineguns ready.

There was no time to lose, he ran as fast as he could towards the main entrance to the building. Many other people wondered why he was running so fast down the hall - Mick finally reached the elevator which was empty and immediately pressed the button for the main command floor...

He immediately sunk to the floor - already exausted from running so far...

Mick reminded himself about what he heard over the radio as he sat on the couch in the room while Foxy-Roxy took a shower...

A voice spoke over the radio, very garbled and disorted - sounding somewhat irish... "...anyone! Oi! We're *garbled for a few seconds* - possess important salvage-cargo *garbled* Entering Uto... District *fuzz* Bugsss *Fshhht*" - The rest of the transmission was more than garbled and too hard to understand. There was just no time to lose... Without warning he ran out, only grabbing his sub-machine gun, leaving both helmet and radio behind - not even without saying a word to Foxy-Roxy..."

The young pilot woke up slowly from his daydream and got to his feet when he started to hear loud thumping sounds and beating vibrations throughout the elevator.

"What's that sound...?"

Twenty seconds later, the elevator reached the designated floor.

Two soldiers and three civilians with their rifles strapped on their back were standing next to the doors of the command center.

A few asked him what was wrong, but Mick rose his hand, there was just no time to reply.

As the doors went open, Mick could see many civilians using nearly all the consoles - along with holographic images floating above a projector. Mick walked inside, hearing the beating sound getting louder and louder.

As the young pilot walked past through the entrance, he has not noticed that Dr. Vanderman was on his right side as he passed by... The old scientist took a few steps to the back, bumping into a small group of people. It was probably Vanderman's luck that Mick had not noticed him...

Corperal Briggs was speaking with another person, when he suddenly stopped - noticing Mick's return... He immediately jogged towards the pilot and wove his hand.

"Hey, Mick - Whatcha doing here... Shouldn't you be...", the Corperal asked...

"No time for talkin', Briggs - Hey what's going on, I heard some trouble incoming from the radio - and what's that noise?", Mick replied, interrupting Briggs.

The Corperal paused - then nodded and answered, "Ok, Mick - Come over here, looks like we've got a tough situation coming"

Both walked over towards a civilian operative who seemed to get along with the surveiliance and short-range communications. The center was loud, many conversations and other groups of men and women talking...

"Heya Dean", Briggs called, "What can you tell us about?", Briggs asked.

Dean Emilios pressed a few keys on the touchpads and accidently activated the wrong displays, "Oops, sorry - wait - Ok... it was these here... I think - No... Ah, these", the civilian replied hectically.

"Easy - Easy Dean", Briggs repeated.

"We're not quite sure what's going on", Dean added, "but it looks like ... something large is heading right this way - along with three larger blips further away and floating above the ground... However, we can't tell what's coming - We're not able to comply and understand the signals and systems we've got here... Only that that truck is about 20 to 25 minutes away and those three following blips another 2 minutes...", the man with the headsets replied towards them.

A woman's voice spoke behind them, "I think the closer blip is being followed be the other - If you ask me..."

"Yeah", Dean replied, "That radio transmission did sound like as if they were in deep trouble and it also sounded like as if they had some special cargostuff - dunno really..."

"Mick, that sound you're hearing right now...", Briggs explained, "... is a helicopter - An old but operational unarmed AH-64 Apache Heli which one of the military boys found somewhere on the other side of the district. Thanks to civilian hackers, they hacked the activation codes - don't ask me how... - At the moment, they only had one pilot who could take care of flying one of these helis, since she used to fly civilian helicopters through Macross City. As far as I know, she's alone in that two seater since the other guys are checking out the area" - Briggs pat the shoulder of the Dean twice and asked quickly, "Hey Dean, could you activate that overview you just had a few seconds ago?"

"Sure - Sure"

His large holoscreen displayed the Utopia Chenarra District - Many areas were darkened, showing that they have not been investigated. Briggs point his hand to the south-eastern area of the district and explained further:

"Ok, thanks Dean - Look, somewhere here - Right here, Troop Pointdexter III found one of seven military airfields of the district. I'd say that this field is just full of conventional stuff of the Great War... Wouldn't have expected to find so much vehicles there - They also found two types of armouries - one accessable with conventional and conservative weapons, the other had restricted entry..."

Mick grumbled, "... and I bet I know who knows how to get that thing open... Anyways, what's that Troop Point...?"

"Pointdexter - We've got about 9.000 people at the moment. I've splitted them up into three main troop squads - Pointdexter III is going to recon and scout the area and the southern quarter of the district. Pointdexter II will check out the western area and fortify themselves to cover the 'back'. We're got a steady communication upling to all squads, so we can keep in touch and update these empty district-vicinity maps, guess the guys that used to be here deleted everything, making sure the enemy wouldn't get there hands on it - even though I don't even think they can read", Briggs paused shortly and circled his finger around the command center area, "And here's Pointdexter I, protecting the center, holding fortify-bunkers and guarding the habitat areas behind this building - that's about it..."

Mick nodded... "Sounds good - Great idea about scouting the area. I guess the best is to salvage those armouries and get the wounded to hospitals, - but before start off with all that, we've gotta take care of that incoming blip first".

"Hey Vince!", Briggs shouted across to the other side of the center, calling for a soldier who was standing near the entrance, "Toss me a 'Talkie, will ya!".

"Sure!"

The Corperal caught the radio and set it's frequency to a certain number.

""Um, Miss Marie Chesovski, this is Briggs from the command center - You read me?""

""Loud and clearly - What would you like me to do? - Over"", a soft foreign voice replied.

""Thanks for coming over - Listen, there's something coming in fast from the North-West... about... 345° angle from the command center. Since you're the only helicopter pilot we've found for now, we could need some visual information on that blip which is coming in fast. It would be great if you could check that out and give a report as soon as you get there - Whatever you find, don't get into any action. You're practically unarmed so I don't think that that thing you're flying will stand a chance against any hostilities... Got that, over?"", Briggs ordered.

""Understood Mr. Briggs - This thing is a lot sluggy than the helicopters I used to fly... I'll try to keep out of trouble the best I can - On my way now, over and out!""

Mick noticed the helicopter leaning slightly forward, picking up on speed. She did seem to have trouble keeping the helicopter stable, but she did well compensating the controls. Mick walked over to the frontal gigantic window, looking to the outside. He could see that the VF-1G's were still downed and they would stay like that for another long while...

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