Macross Fan Fiction ❯ Robotech: Beneath a steel sky ❯ Chapter 26 - Under siege ( Chapter 26 )

---- Chapter 26 ---- ...Purge!...

Somewhere in the gigantic Meltraedi-City, deeply inside the hollow belly of the crippled Quad-Dranna-Ling Mothership...

Both Robert and Na'mea were constantly being dragged by En'dinia's guardians, En'dinia herself was behind them with another guardian, constantly looking back - making sure they were not being followed. There was no time to lose...

Robert remembered the High-Priestess speaking about constant attacks of the "Purging" who were constantly invading the whole city. His best bet was that the "Invids" were meant with the name "Purging". Constantly protecting both Robert and Na'mea, their guardians seemed determined to protect the life of their beloved princess at all costs - as well as his...

As they ran down the streets of the Meltraedi city - Suddenly, they could hear energetic shots, female voices screaming, some explosions and a large group of unarmed - perhaps civilian - Meltraedis making a run for it. The group got into cover, kneeling down behind some debris on the side of the street.

Looking ahead, along the street, he could see another heavily damaged Meltraedi Mecha with it's back leaning against one of the tall buildings. Many spikes were stuck beyond it's hull... One arm was even missing.

"Kel'sah Tikalsis!", one of their guardians shouted.

Robert did not understand a single word. Namea suddenly held his arm - "Na - Namea, what's wrong now?", he asked, slightly out of breath. Although En'dinia was nearby for mind-translation, she did not seem to react to what he said. Nevertheless, she looked up upon him - Her eyes had that same cold-artic blue color again... The same color the second time they met each other in her "appartment room"...

She was afraid... Although she is Meltraedi Warrior like her cultural sisters, she belongs to the seldom number who possess emotions - Normally, Meltraedis such as Priestesses or Empaths would have such a special aspect - from what he understood.

It was the glare of her eyes that told Robert that she was not ready for such a fight - She did not have her combat suit, neither weapons nor her "enchancing" bracers... She was still too weak.

He softly covered her head against the side of his shoulder as he heard a faint explosing dead-ahead.

"Damn it... What's going on in this place...", the young mechanic asked himself.

Suddenly, two of their elite guardians, the ones in shady tight black suits with capes kneeled down - then leaped ahead at a blinding speed. The other "militaristic" guardians moved ahead as well, supporting other Meltraedi Warriors , shooting at a group of "Invids" Robert has not noticed, since his head was down.

Both shady Meltraedis ran along the walls - shard-fire constantly missing them... Somehow, their skilled movements reminded him of a certain scene he once saw in a movie...

Both suddenly leaped off the wall, dodging and charging their attackers at the same time - similiar to the manor how Na'mea pursued her attackers back then. Energetic slashes could be seen. Both swung their energetic blades with great precision, a small number of their opposers were sliced.

Although they managed to slice down at least six "Invids" easily, one of them suddenly was painfully punctured down by three shards. Along with a spray of light blue-ish "blood", the shady Meltraedi fell to ground, screaming a loud cry. She took two hits to the shoulder...

Looking down to her legs, she noticed that one shard was stuck through her right leg. She tried to move, but the pain seemed to have taken over her whole body.

The other shady Meltraedi clinged herself against a wall and looked back at her wounded sister - "Ditaehla!", she shouted downwards in a frightened voice.

The scenario was bloody... Other Meltraedis were shot down.

"Crap!", Robert shouted and pulled his E14 rifle from his shoulder. Just before he was about to get up, Na'mea pulled him down again... Her impression said it all: She did not want him to risk his life.

"But... I can't just...!"

Robert heard rapid fire of high-powered energetic shots - almost twice the frequency of a pneumatic-jackhammer. It was one of their guardians firing aimlessly at the small horde of dodging "Invid-creatures". For a short moment, Robert noticed something strange - Although some energetic shots landed a few hits on the "Invids", they did not seem to be effective... Even worse, the thick skin of the "Invids" just seemed to "absorb" the shots, only receiving minor damaged from them.

All the sudden, a dark shadow above them flew by - Another one of those large "floating Invids" struck past them, along with a number of sharp-clawed "Invids" jumping down...

As they came down like a rain of pure death, three of them were shot down by large bolts of energy.

En'dinia used her psicic powers to shoot a few of them down.

Robert aimed upwards and fired a stream of shots. Indeed, his weapon did seem to be more effective than those of the Meltraedi Soldiers.

The clawed "Invids" were all shot down before they landed on the street, splattering on the solid street of metalic material.... The sound was a mix of splashing water and crushing skelletons.

Voices of En'dinia filled his mind suddenly...

<Essences.Of.Na'mea.Xio.And.Jackson.Must.Prevail! Flee.Na'mea.Xio - Flee.Jackson! Palast of the Meltraedi Keh'Tal!>

Both Na'mea's and Robert's faces frowned.

"Are you serious?! - I can't let you all just die out here and -", he shouted at her, but his voice was overtoned by another female shout...

He looked over and saw the other shady elitary Meltraedi - practically stabbed by long shard - The shard itself was stuck through her torso like a gigantic knife. She fell to the ground... livelessly.

The other incapacitated shady Meltraedi looked over to her sister in a weakened face... then stared at her dying sister...

"En - En'dinia - Meta Venasis Q'eta!", Na'mea shouted at En'dinia - She did not want to leave neither En'dinia nor her Meltraedi sisters behind. Her own life and blood was being slattered out there and each death was a mental attack upon both...

Robert suddenly pulled Na'mea by her arm - He was not sure in which direction he should run, but he did know that the palace was on a similiar mainstreet...

"Rob'el!", she shouted at Robert, fighting not to leave En'dinia and the small group of their guardians behind, but he was stronger.

<May.Essence.Of.Thou.And.Na'mea.Xio.Prevail...> The voices said... then fainted away from his mind.

Robert carried Na'mea away, she kept shouting towards the back with words he could not understand - only "En'dinia" and "Robert" were the only things he could distinguish. He did not think about heading back - En'dinia's words were clear - If he wanted Na'mea to survive, they would need to make a run for it. It was a painful sudden decission, but he did not have a real choice.

Looking up at the "sky", he could see that way above them, around the center of the hollow city, there were many "Invid-creatures" and Meltraedi Mechas flying around, fighting their own battle...

What he was just witnessed now was just like what he witnessed with the soldier troop a long time ago at Macross City... and there was only one thought he had in his mind that time, that he had once again...

"We've gotta get out of here..."

----

Somewhere around the outer rim of the Utopia Chenerra District...

Constant beating sounds could be heard high above.

A military helicopter flew beyond the buildings. Miss Chesovski managed to get used to the controls of the old Apache helicopter as she flew above the wide main street. Just dead-ahead, she could see the target of distress: It was a large truck-like vehicle indeed, carrying strange cargo on it's back. The long object was hidden below a dense net, making it hard to tell what was beneath.

The truck was driving at top speed.

She noticed armed men waving on the backside near the cargo, holding themselves as they looked up.

Slowly moving her controls to the side, she did a clean curve, following the truck's direction, hovering above and behind the truck, following it.

Miss Chesovski opened the radio channel to all possible frequencies and said, "Hey, Attention down there - slow down, you're about to enter an area full of civilians!"

-No response.

She repeated her words again - loud and clearly.

Suddenly, an irish voice replied, "Oi, Missy! Have you gone mad?! For bloody sake, we're being followed by large insect-like creatures and there's no bloody Missy in an aircraft going to make us stop. We've got some important loot we're not goin' to drop - so beat it!"

She decided not to waste another second and set her secondary frequency to the line of the command center.

Mick and Briggs were talking about a few things, when they suddenly heard Miss Chesovski's voice calling over a few radios. Many civilians stopped what they were doing when they heard her voice.

Corperal Briggs immediately grabbed his radio and responded to her call, "Miss Chesovski - Briggs from the command center responding here. What can you see? Over."

"I've spotted some kind of truck carrying a long bulky object ", the forgeign voice replied, " - I'm unable to tell what it is but... wait - I ... I can see one side of it... I - I can see an RDF-Symbol on it' s right side, but that is all. The men are aiming towards my direction - dropping behind them now... Some irishman - I suppose he is their leader and driver - He refused to slow down and said that the object they had on board was their 'loot'. However, they also said that they were being followed by..."

They could not understand the last part of her transmission...

"Miss - Miss Chesovski - What was that last part? We didn't understand you - can you repeat?!", Briggs replied.

Many civilian operatives started to wonder what was going on.

Mick looked towards the large screen-windows. Some symbols were showing dots closing in on the vicinity of the center...

Warning signals showed up on a few panals. Miss Chesovski had trouble controlling her helicopter - her footpedals were not responding. All the sudden, she felt a strong impact - along with shredding sounds and more signals.

"Wha -"

Nervous, but trying to keep calm at the same, she immediately decided to gain on altitude and struck her throttle controls to the maximum, tilting the helicopter forwards, speeding up and flying beyond the truck. The armed men looked up as they saw the helicopter smoking a thick trail of a black cloud, along with a slightly shredded heck-rotor.

"B-Base command - This is chopper Chesovski, I've taken two heavy hits somewhere on this helicopter and I'm slowly loosing fuel and engine power. I've got to get out of here before I drop down! The truck should arrive a minute or two after me, so we better have ourselves ready! Over and out!"

Now things were getting serious...

"Ok, I think this is a situation that should have our full attention and alert! Don't cha think?", Mick said loudly to both, Brigg and civilian operative, "If we're up for incoming 'Invids', then we better get those men, tanks and the VF-1G's online to the frontal area!"

Both nodded, "Ok! I'll contact our military troops of Pointdexter I", Briggs said - took a deep voice and spoke louder in order that every person in the command floor could hear him, "Aw-right all, listen up - I don't know how to say this, but we've got some kind of 'red alert'! We've gotta get people who are not totally exausted or wounded to the arms and get the defenses up - before that truck and whatever is following gets here!"

Brigged pointed his finger towards a small group of civilian operatives, " - and you three, try to warn the others around the area here, NOW!"

The whole center started to become more and more active, many voices could be heard - A few civilians still had trouble getting used to the their systems but there was just no time to lose.

Mick looked back down to the street...

There was one VF-1G sitting in a kneeled position - It was offline mode and it's "cockpit-head" was open. From what he understood about them, was that the "G" versions is that if they were not fully charged, they would deplete their reserves within a few minutes, since their core would discharge faster than normal...

Nevertheless, whatever was coming was "big and flying" - and they could need any artillery possible.

"Briggs - I'm gonna take over that VF-1 Grounder down there. It won't hold long but it should give us good protection"

There was no time to loose, Mick turned away from the screen and made his way to the elevators of the center, running past Dr. Vanderman...

-----

Meanwhile, 10 minutes later - In one of the habitat quarters of the Utopia Chenarra district...

The corridors were very active, many civilians were speaking to each other and children were running around down the halls.

Waiting with a T-shirt and red flightsuit-pants on, FoxyRoxy sat on the couch - Waiting and doing nothing, wondering where Mick could be. Although her mind was elsewhere, she started to feel vibrations... constant vibrations.... Beating vibrations...

She stood up, looking towards the ceiling of the room.

"A... helicopter?"

She could feel the beating vibrations through the ground, getting louder...

As a few seconds passed, she noticed that the vibrating sounds were getting slower - getting closer to the ground. She followed the sound with her ears as it lowered to the ground - It was landing...

The frequency of the beating slowed down a little - sounding as if it has landed perfectly...

"Well", she said to herself, "I guess it's nothing special after all".

FoxyRoxy went back down to couch and closed her eyes...

"Hmpf, well - Mick should be fine... I think I'll just take a nap..."

The beautiful co-pilot leaned her head to the side and closed her eyes...

There was nothing to do for her at the moment - so she just took the opportunity...

It was a nice five-second-rest until her eyes went wide open in surprise as she felt a powerful erupting vibration through the ground, along with a dampened exploding sound...

She immediately woke up and looked around... Again, minor explosions and vibrations could be felt. FoxyRoxy heard many voices coming through her door, sounding as if civilians were suprised by the noise as well.

She immediately grabbed her suit-jacket, radio and rifle, hastingly getting them. Something was going on out there and she wanted to know what it was.

----

Mick heard the explosions as well as he ran towards the resting Mecha...

The VF-1G was sitting near a building with a window open - perhaps there where they former pilot got out. Making his way through the building he ran up the stairs as fast as he could...

The young pilot was rather out of breath again... Although he was getting tired running back and forth across the area, there was just no chance for a real break - not now... not until the area is safe...

Reaching the window, he climbed over and into the open head of the Veritech and sat down.

The cockpit was built in a tight manor, making Mick have a narrow feeling as soon as he strapped the seat-harness belts over his shoulders. Slowly remembering the past, he remembered that he used to fly such type of Valkyrie - Single-seaters... A long time ago before he met FoxyRoxy as his newly assigned RW co-pilot. The cockpit controls were slightly different however. Many displays were missing and the controls for changing modes were gone. The main screen was a lot wider, covering the whole frontal arc.

Mick looked up again as heard another small explosion...

Nervously setting the communication panels, he looked around, hoping that that was not what he thought - After a short response from the command center, he replied:

"Briggs! Briggs, can you hear me? I'm inside the Veritech now and about to get moving - What was that explosion? Was the helicopter destroyed?! Over..."

----

High above Mick's position, inside the main area of the command center, Briggs was standing closely in front of the large window-screen. Zooming in on the burning helicopter, he noticed a young woman in a safe distance behind an abandoned car. It looked like as if Miss Chesovski managed to land and escape before the helicopter exploded. Briggs held his radio near his mouth and replied:

"Mick - I hear ya! Looks Chesovski made it to land and get to safety, before that thing blew up. She alone though - Don't worry, I'll tell someone here to send in a troop for her rescue - Over -"

""Aw-right, what about that truck"", Mick asked, hoping it was not to far ahead.

Briggs touched the window a few times until he managed to see something coming in at a high speed...

"Oh no - It's almost here ... and it's got quite a speed! If it won't slow down, they'll bash right through the whole place, over!"

----

After hearing Briggs' transmission, Mick leaned back for a short second, thinking about the past.

The last time he was in a cockpit was when he and FoxyRoxy crashlanded upon the streets...

It was a slight strange feeling to be inside a Veritech again...

Nevertheless, he snapped out of his short daydream and grabbed the controls of the Mecha. After grabbing the controls tightly, the head of the VF-1G closed, it's shadow covering the cockpit fully. The main screen and few other secondary displays went on - shortly aligned their focus between avionics and scanners. Mick could see a holographic image on the corner of the main wide screen blinking, showing that the core was not fully charged and that it's consumption rate was blinking in red, which was not a great thing...

Due to the fact that he did not have a helmet (which are universally and versatile with Veritech systems) which would give him aiming aids he would have to rely on his own aim, along with wide screen circle and crosshairs, just like in his training days.

As a matter of fact, he was still the same rookie like before... and for some reason, he was starting to miss his co-pilot...

The screen with his armor and damage status started to show green and yellow glowing armor parts, along with a female computer-voice speaking:

"Main power-core online... Secondary-core online... Reinforced and Grav-Stabilized Armor platings on standby... Optics nomimal - Transfusion-systems slightly malfunctioning...

Warning: Primary fusion power cells not fully recharged - Power consumption estimated beyond optimal levels..."

Lookng around the cockpit controls, Mick found a panel which seemed to control the energy-net of the Veritech. At the moment, the Grav-Armor was inactive... He slowly turned a nob clockwise, causing the displays to illuminate armored-areas on the small mainframe of the Veritech-Mecha.

He charged the Mecha's armor to 30%, diverting slightly more energy to the gravitational aids... Mick was not sure if he was doing the right thing - but he already flew a Veritech through the Macross City deck without any supporting systems and it would be tough to do that again with such a heavy hulk.

----

Somewhere deep inside the hull of the Quad-Dranna-Ling Mothership...

Half of the city was in chaos and riot - Multiple explosions could be seen high above in the purple-lish haze like a sparkling sky... Although the ship was super-gigantic, it was not hard to see the action happening around them. Remembering about the sporadic "Invid" raids, this seemed to be a full offense, rather than just a simple terror attack.

Robert Jackson, the young civilian - mechanic and servo-technician, was still on the run, protecting another young female and human-like alien being... The scenario for the young man was very troublesome and confusing. Although the Meltraedis seemed to have better hightech weaponary and unique skills than the soldiers he met from Macross City, they were helplessly in total disadvantage against the horde of the killing beasts.

Judging the situation - and the story of being inside a living creature for 200 years -Maybe the "Invids" started to adapt themselves towards their enemies, becoming more resistant and hardened than before... Meltraedi energetic weapons were practically useless against their tough armor unless they go into claw-to-blade combat. However, one shard - even one slash is a nearly sudden death for the Meltraedis, as they are just as vunerable as the Humans.

Nonetheless, there was a differance between the races, other than their gender or physical structure... It is the Meltraedi mind that is very vunerable versus psychological and mind-ripping attacks of certain "Invid creatures", that cause them fear, hyper-panic or even stunning pain...

Robert already met one of these types of mindripping creatures but it did not have the same effect as on Meltraedis.

Humans seem to be highly resistant versus the mind-attacks of "Invids". The "stabbing" mindpain can easily be ignored and can be used to pinpoint the source.

There was one true fact though about the Meltraedi Keh'tals:

They are fighting the same loosing battle as the Humans in Macross City... Both races have weaknesses and strengths... For sure, they both have the same goal - To survive and eliminate the same threat..

... but right now, Robert's primary task for now was to protect and get Na'mea into the safetyness of the Meltraedi Palast.

As they made their way through the streets, avoiding contact with the enemy and other battlezones, Robert always felt a strange guidance in his mind, always showing him were to go... when he suddenly felt his senses going crazy... He could feel that something was trying to warn him. It was not a mind-attack upon him, but it was indeed intense. Standing inside an alley between two city-buildings, he had this strange feeling as if a few things were about past by...

Na'mea was suprised as Robert held his hand to the back, showing her to stop immediately...

"Uh-oh..."

Looking around, he found a small spot to hide - a little bit too small for two people to hide, unless they would squeeze themselves in...

He had a strange feeling of something controlling his mind, telling him what to do. Grabbing Na'mea by the arm, he pushed himself inside the small hiding spot, pulled her with her back towards himself and cross his arms around the chest area of Na'mea. She was about to say something when Robert quickly laid his hand on her mouth, causing her to be quiet.

Both went quiet... They could hear some far away shooting - but that was not their worry... Na'mea suddenly started to breathe faster and her eyes seem to have turned into that artic-blue color again...

Something has entered the alley...

"Shhh...!", Robert whispered into her ear, trying to keep her calm...

It was not easy for both to stay quiet - they could hear strange footsteps coming slowly closer, about to pass their hiding spot...

At the same moment when the object was visible - she went quiet...

Robert also suddenly felt as if he could not move... Somehow, his mind went empty...

The object stopped - It was an "Invid creature" indeed... The one that tried to do "Mind-Terror" upon Robert in his rainy past. Although Na'mea was not breathing loudly, he could still feel the pure panic under his hand... And for himself - he was super-nervous as well...

He could not move - His mind was still "empty"... He was seeing what was happening but he just could not do anything or take action...

The "Invid-Mindripper" seemed to have noticed something and turned it's head into their direction...

One intense red-diamondlike eye looked upon their direction. It's claws were in a ready stance for attacking anything...

Both Robert and Na'mea felt the worse about to happen...

Suddenly... the creature turned it's head away and started to move further... ignoring whatever it noticed in the spot it just observed for a few seconds. He could not believe what happened... Na'mea has over-paniced and did not move as well...

Robert's mind was still empty...

----

Somewhere in the Utopia Chenarra District, near the command center...

Many armed civilians and military troops ran across the roads and areas - barricading as much as they could. They suddenly heard roaring engines coming from ahead.

It was the truck - driving at high speed - heading straight for the barrikaded areas.

Due to the overloaded payload and speed, the driver tried to break - He was just too fast...

Hearing loud bashing sounds, Mick immediately pulled the Veritech controls and pushed one of the pedals, causing the Mecha to slowly get up. Holding it's rifle ready, the VF-1G stood up in Battleroid mode.

Briggs' voice suddendly shouted over his onboard radio loudly:

"I - I don't believe it, those idiots just crashed right through the barrikade!"

Mick leaned back into the seat and said to himself, "Better get movin'!"

Moving the controls along with the pedals, the VF-1G rose from it's crouched position and stood majestically near the building.

Moving his right hand around, the Mecha lifted it's rifle-cannon - then started to walk forwards, making loud metallic sounds with each step. Just as the Mecha was about to walk around the corner, the heavily loaded truck dashed by, ramming other objects and vehicles - either crushing through them or pushing them along the street...

Mick was in full astonishment as the loaded truck crashed through the objects, leaving a trail of destruction. Finally, it slid into the open compound of the command center stopped... thanks to all the junk heap it took with it.

Seeing many groups of armed civilians and soldiers running towards the crash site, they suddenly stopped as they started to hear strange sounds... It was getting louder and louder... A high-pitched humming sound...

Mick could hear it, too.

The Mecha looked around but could not distinguish the source...

"Attention Mr. Mickerson - This is Clark Flagger and I'm in control of the VF-1 Grounder just ahead of ya!", a voice said from the communication speakers.

Mick could see a green VF-1G standin 50 meters away on the other side of the street with groups of troops and jeeps, lifting it's arm, waving it's hand shortly.

"I can see you, too - Mr. Flagger", Mick replied over comm, "What's your status?"

"At the moment, I'm in command of this small group here - I've ordered a few to check out that blasted truck now and we're going to leave this position to check out the street ahead. You copy?"

"Copy - We should...", Mick said - then noticed the humming sounds getting a lot louder...

The groups on the large open compound field of the base looked upwards, turning away from the crashed truck - towards the sky...

One large and two smaller strange-looking objects were floating... slowing down...

"What the -"

Along with loud dreading buzzing sounds the objects gained on altitude and floated backwards...

Mick could not believe what he was seeing...

"... Command... We've got company!"

-----

Suddenly...

The emptiness in Robert's mind has disappeared in an instant... as well as Na'mea's fear...

He had a strange feeling - as if he has just woken up from being "asleep"...

"That was close... Com'on Na'mea", he said to her, deciding not to waste another second, "Let's get out of here!". Both climbed out of their hiding spot and ran to the left, opposite of the direction the creature went. Robert pulled out his rifle again, making sure that the next beast they would stubble upon would not make such a trouble again

Na'mea kept turning around, looking down the alley - She also seemed suprised from what just happened minutes ago.

Both exited the alley... and stood still suddenly - They were near the main street heading towards the palast grounds, seeing many Meltraedi soldiers and Mechas far ahead, shooting around and fighting the "Invid-Invaders".

Running along the street, Robert kept pulling Na'mea - There was just no time to waste - As he dragged her, she kept speaking words which he could not understand.

"Almost there..."

-----