Macross Fan Fiction ❯ Robotech: Beneath a steel sky ❯ Chapter 1 - The Blackout... ( Chapter 1 )

---- Chapter 1 ---- Blackout...

 

"""Personal logbook of Sensor-Specialist Vanessa Leeds. Well, what do I have to say for today? It has been about six or seven weeks ever since the last attack of the Zentraedis. The whole crew on board the SDF-1 has been working day and night getting our systems back online and not even half of them are fully operational - ' been havin' trouble myself with the array ever since, too. Actually, the Zentraedi nearly had us that day - Several systems have been knocked out and more than the half of the hull was a burning inferno. It was a tragic situation that even forced Admiral Gloval to prepare the fleet and us to send out a transmission to surrender the SDF-1. At the very last moment before he gave confirmation, a non-understandable transmission swept along the broadband channels, which seemed to have 'called' the Zentraedis back, causing them to retreat and refold into hyperspace. Even Lisa was unable to translate the code, but whatever - or better whoever - sent it, saved our lives, more or less - I guess. Since then, the Zentraedi haven't performed any further attempts in attacking the SDF-1 again... not even a single battleship - Which keeps me a little bit anxious since I'm actually the only person who can deal with this complicated long-range scanning. It's been kinda rough lately inside in the city as well. Many groups of civilians have revolted and performed riots - and there's no clue in explaining why or how these revolts occur. I've heard that the police still have everything under control though - more likely. I can understand that the survivors of orbital bombardment are pretty mad about what has happened throughout the last months, but I guess they are just afraid - just like the rest of us. But anyways... Although the whole crew is under constant stress, I must say that things seem to be going on just as usual. I expect this day to be the same quiet day as yesterday... Vanessa Leeds, end of personal logbook input.""

 

----

 

Somewhere deep within the void of space...

The titanic battlefortress continues its journey through space, surrounded by several satellites, ships and other small objects blinking signal lights. Slowly cruising at a very slow speed of 40 km/h, the SDF-1's current position is somewhere between the planets Jupiter and Saturn. Minor sections along its hull are leaving trails of smoke and there are several areas that still show signs of heavy attacks made from a long time ago. Although the battlefortress seems to be in a very poor shape and fairly crippled, it is still intact. Several fleets of small repair frigates and patrolling Veritechs have been dispatched to repair what needs to be repaired.

 

Inside the bridge citadel, the crew continues their efforts as usual. Among all operatives, a single person is lying comfortable and calm on a bed-like seat, holding grip-controls and is surrounded by a deep blue holo-screen showing moving images and other gauges and values. Wearing a light halfway zipped-up khaki-colored jacket with an RDF symbol on it's side with it's sleeves rolled up, it is the resting body of Dr. Karen-Lindsey Young who is currently under the "trance" of mind-symbiosis between her and the SDF-1's virtual interface also known as the consciousness. Not even showing the sign of being disturbed by the voices and noise around her, she remains rather quiet - only feeling the slow and calm vibration of the bridge's powered systems. Although breathing in constant intervals, her body does seem like a lifeless coma-patient...

 

Floating within the inner world of the SDF-1's consciousness, Lindsay has been under this coma-like trance for more than two days. The damage the ship suffered throughout the last great battle has caused severe destruction upon many internal systems, especially those that deal with the automatic navigation algorithms of the bridge. Hundreds of malfunctions have occurred ever since, which have caused the whole battlefortress' propulsion guidance to no longer respond to automated commands of the rear bridge command section. Needing the unique skills of Lindsay once again, she has decided to stay longer within the inner world, ignoring the advice of her medical advisors.

 

Voices... No... Thoughts... Thoughts went through her mind... Personal thoughts...

 

Motions behind her closed eyes can be seen, slowly moving back and forth.

 

Although trying to suppress her memory, pictures of her past continue to appear. She was not sure if these pictures were only side-effects of her long mind-connection session that cause temporal hallucination... Suddenly, as if something gained her attention, Lindsay felt a cold gush of wind that flew past her whole body. It was a strange feeling that caused her hallucination memories to disappear within an instant. A flash... Her surroundings suddenly changed. The dark blue fog that once has surrounded her has vanished, leaving her floating alone, deep within the pure darkness of space, being watched by the eyes of millions of stars... Feeling ready, Lindsay knew that the consciousness of the SDF-1 'wished' to gain her attention - as if it wanted to warn her about something. Indeed, it was a premonition of the SDF-1's consciousness - It must have detected something.

"""...Huh...""", Lindsay's mind said loudly...

Suddenly, the world around her started to move ahead, getting faster and faster by the second - as if it were zooming ahead towards a certain region. Although she has been through this 'procedure' a few times, every time it felt like very intense ride. It only took a few seconds until her ride came to a sudden end. Reaching its goal, Lindsay understood that the SDF-1's consciousness detected something unusual and whatever the SDF-1 'felt', she felt it too... but this time, it was the pure feeling of great danger and fear that shivered down her spine... Feelings that even jagged adrenaline through her veins.

 

Showing signs of feeling unease, sweat pearls began to appear upon her forehead. It was clear that she needed to inform somebody within the bridge - somehow. This task has become very difficult especially since her communication interface has also been affected by the current malfunctions throughout the bridge. There was no time to disconnect from the consciousness, as the procedure also would require a lot more time than usual. Although feeling rather nervous by the urgency of the unknown threat she received, she calmed herself down.

 

Rear bridge command section...

As Lindsay continued to find a solution in how to reach somebody within this section, all leading officers, including Admiral Gloval and other SDF-1 operatives sat at their stations and concentrated on their own tasks. Among all, it was Vanessa Leeds who was sitting rather quiet in her seat, checking the data-images of the gigantic holo-screen in front of her. A pulsing sphere slowly expanding from the SDF-1 slowly faded away, only picking up echos of friendly ships around. Various numbers of secondary scans swept around their vicinity as well as display-lines pointing the current heading of the battlefortress and distances to other far away planets. Hearing low voices within her communication headsets, which were only conversations on other frequencies that could be heard, she was not speaking with anybody at the moment. Suddenly, on the small holo-screen of her console, the screen cleared itself and started typing letters, as well as a female computeristic voice spoke within her headsets. The voice sounded very familiar...

""Va-nessa - It - is - me - Lindsay..."", the voice said.

Surprised by her voice, Vanessa lifted her head. Feeling rather surprised, she knew that Lindsay was not really the talkative person and it was very strange that she wished to talk to her.

""Va-nessa - It - is - me - Lindsay... Can - you - hear - me....?"", the voice repeated once again.

 

Stuttering slightly, Vanessa decided to reply, "L - Lindsay? Is that you?". Hearing Vanessa's rather surprised reaction, Admiral Gloval and Kim Young turned their heads slightly as Lindsay's name gained their attention.

""Va-nessa - It - is - urgent..."", Lindsay's voice echoed, ""We - sense - danger... We - sense - imcoming - danger.""

Vanessa pushed her glasses up as she felt slightly confused about her words. Making another sensor scan sweep across all arcs, she detected nothing that even gave a clue of danger. Switching through many modes, she did not find any hint or signal echo at all.

"Lindsay, I cannot detect anything. You sure about -?", Vanessa replied into her headset, but was immediately interrupted by Lindsay's voice. Indeed, her voice sounded full of fear.

""Va-nessa - You - must - focus - your - scans - upon - the - frontal - portside - arc... We - sense - anomalous - readings...Focus - On - passive - radiation - detection...""

 

Although confused, Vanessa did as Lindsay wished her to do and she began to give commands into her console and started rearranging the SDF-1's sensor array. During her input, Admiral Gloval appeared by the side of his sensory officer, wondering what was going on. Asking with a deep voice, her superior commander asked, "Officer Leeds, what is the problem?"

Typing as fast as she could, the holo-screen ahead cleared shortly and displayed the frontal area of the SDF-1. "Admiral Gloval", Vanessa replied and quickly cleared her voice, "It's Navigator Lindsay Young who has contacted me. She informed me about an anomaly somewhere ahead, but I cannot detect - erm, hold on sir", she said and laid her hand against the side of her headset, hearing Lindsay's voice speaking again.

 

""Va-nessa - You - must - intensify - the - array - to - the - following - coordinates...""

 

Doing as she said, the sensor officer typed wildly upon her console again as numbers and other symbols appeared on her small screen. It did not take long until the blue holo-screen started building a grid around the frontal area and then started focusing. Many seconds went by and she still seemed skeptical about detecting anything beyond the maximum scan range of the sensor array's impulse.

"Hmm... I'm not really detecting anythi -", Vanessa said, but then suddenly, a certain area started blinking, as well as few of displayed images throwing data all around. From what the readings said, the mass of this unknown signal expanded itself at an alarming speed. Her eyes widened, "Oh my - Admiral, she is right! Detecting an anomaly, approximately 127 kilometers away... Sir, from what I can say, I fear this anomaly will be a destination point for a hyperspace jump! The radiation values are increasing at an intense rate... I cannot confirm my readings truly, but I am also detecting a very small object which seems to have the size of a probe... I guess the array's sensitivity must have suffered damage as well. ' Must say that it is a good thing Lindsay picked up these signals for they are practically invisible for standard scanners and the human eye. Another few hours of cruise flight would have brought us dangerously close. I fear another sensor array class seven diagnose will be required once again..."

 

A hyperspace jump anomaly and a very small object waiting in front of it?... Admiral Gloval knew that this only meant one thing... Trouble. Staying calm though, the old man ordered, "Officer Leeds, please inform Lindsay to disengage from cruising and maintain this position - And give her my deepest appreciations for her duty - but I'm afraid we will be needing her much longer now..."

"Yes sir..."

He went back onto his seat and thought about the current situation. As the Admiral crossed his arms, he did seemed a little bit worried. Meanwhile, Lindsay received the order to stop the SDF-1 at once and await further instructions. It belonged to one of her easiest tasks to stop the whole ship from moving just by a simple thought. A slight rumble shook through the whole ship as it's operational secondary retro-thrusters ignited. As minutes went by, a strange line shortly appeared upon the holo-screen of Vanessa, striking ahead towards the anomaly and the small object far ahead. Looking upon her screen with a confused face, Vanessa could not explain what just happened, "That's strange..." The Admiral turned his head over towards her once again and asked, "What is it, Officer Leeds?"

"I am not sure, Admiral, but some sort of signal has been emitted from...", she reported.

"A signal? Emitted from where?"

"...from our array sir - It seems to be a... transmission...", she replied as the signal's content appeared upon her screen. Filled with hundreds of thousands of symbols that were hardly understandable. "It seems to be a transmission... coded in Zentraedi language!"

"Zentraedi?!", Admiral Gloval repeated and lifted his head, "How - How did we send a Zentraedi transmission, how is this possible? What was it's content?" He seemed very anxious as he lifted himself once again.

"I'm unable to understand and comply the transmission, sir", his sensory officer replied back him, "It is filled with such a dialect that I lack the knowledge to comprehend it's meaning, perhaps Commander Hayes could..."

 

Just mysteriously as the transmission has been sent, another problem has just happened. It was a sudden alarming sound that came from her screen. Upon the array's large holo-screen, the image of the Zentraedi code minimized itself and zoomed away shortly. Soon, they could see that the anomaly ahead has expanded in such a mass that its radiation was now detected as a pure threat. Understanding its readings, Vanessa came to a conclusion.

"Sir, we have company - Hyperjump anomaly confirmed! The levels of radiation are showing that an object is about to defold... 127.78 kilometers away from our actual position."

 

Looking ahead through the transperant "shell" of the bridge citadel, every bridge operative spotted a flashing star that shortly emitted far ahead of the SDF-1... It was the same flash that usually occurs when a ship has begun the defold sequence.

 

As expected, Lindsay's premonition proven itself true - and yet, she still seemed unease... It was not the fact that something was about to defold... It was the fact that something really threatening was lurking somewhere within the hyperspace.

 

"Officer Leeds, I'm afraid we are forced to leave this untranslatable code aside...", the Admiral added with a deep voice. A red box covered the object that has defolded and immediately compared its scan with a database of ships. Within seconds, the results were revealed.

"Vessel identified. Threat confirmed - Zentraedi battleship, classified by the Protoculture-Database as "Queadol Magdomilla", presumed as a command ship. Defold sequence has been completed and it has engaged its propulsion drives as well as a course heading towards the SDF-1."

 

Turning herself around, Fleet Commander Lisa Hayes spoke, "Admiral, should we perform a full scale alert? Although preparations might be delayed due to the SDF-1's current status, we should still be able to dispatch a row of squadrons within an hour..."

Although her advice was helpful, it did not sound very satisfying hearing how long it would take to start dispatching defensive fleets - but none the less, time was starting to run against them.

"Not yet, Commander - Not yet", he replied and thought about the next step, Vanessa's voice once again gained the attention of the officers around her.

"Sir! Something is not right - Usually after a defold, the jump anomaly should collapse... Instead, its mass has increased at an incredible rate! I - I cannot explain how this is possible!", she shouted.

 

Another strong and intense gush of wind blew past Lindsay, feeling an intense sphere striking upon herself. Something else was about to defold behind the Zentraedi battleship - Feeling the presence of an object of remarkable size, she felt more unease than ever that her body even trembled shortly in reality. Already seeing what was about to appear... It was too late to inform Vanessa about her premonition, since it was about to occur within the next few seconds.

 

Another star flashed far ahead of the SDF-1, but this time the flash was a lot stronger and intense than the first one. It was so intense that a delayed slight shockwave shook through the battlefortress. Spotting a strange object right after the flash, there was no deny that the whatever appeared was probably just as large as the SDF-1 itself, as many could easily distinguish it's size although far away. Observing the gigantic size of the object, Vanessa seemed paralyzed in astonishment. She was totally overwhelmed by its size that she hesitated to report what she was seeing. Even Claudia Grant heard several communication frequencies being disrupted by its defold.

 

Observing Vanessa's screen, Admiral Gloval's voice suddenly struck throughout the bridge... "Thundering asteroids!", he shouted. Now there was no time to loose - He felt that every second was vital. "Commander Hayes, Commander Grant - Order all patrols to clear out to the rear area of the SDF-1 and call all non-combatant units back to deck! There is no chance in telling if that - that... THING out there is hostile or not, but we can be sure that the Zentraedis are willing to attack us once again. We must not allow the incoming threats to come too close - Contact Gunnery Operations and grant the operation of the Reflex-Cannon!"

 

Just as the word "Reflex-Cannon" left his lips, a hideous thought went through the minds of two certain bridge officers... A thought that had seemed victorious... as if the first step of a great plan has been fulfilled...

 

Calling Gunnery Operations at the frontal bridge section, both Lisa Hayes and Claudia Grant gave authorization for the tactical use of the SDF-1's most devastating weapon - The Reflex-Cannon. The bow of the SDF-1 actually consists of two gigantic rails that divide themselves apart from each other. At the end of this division procedure, both rails are charged by pure energy produced directly from the Protoculture power plant of the battleship. As the energy flew along both rails, particles of intense power begin to gather themselves between them. After a minute of overcharging, the Reflex-Cannon is ready to discharge itself, ready to unleash a heavy beam of pure death upon anything that stands within it's way...

"Reflex-Cannon is undergoing 'Procedure One', Admiral", Claudia reported. After a minute, both rails have split themselves from each other and have settled themselves parallel to each other.

"RC undergoing 'Procedure Two'." As Claudia reported the status of the Reflex-Cannon, Engineering Operative Kim Young laid her hand shortly upon her right ear and rubbed behind it, as if something disturbed her... Although nobody noticed her short distraction, she whispered something, then continued with her duty. Spotting gauges slowly increasing, she could see the energy flow gathering itself within the furnaces of the Reflex-Cannon's rails. Meanwhile, Admiral Gloval sat back down upon his seat, waiting to give the order to fire. Once again, the whole SDF-1 began to rumble slightly as the pure potential of energetic particles began to gather themselves between both rails. Slowly but surely, the particles gathered up into a thick and heavily charged particle bolt held between the rails... ready to be unleashed.

"Sir - May I advise something?", Lisa suddenly asked. The Admiral nodded in agreement. "Thank you - It is obvious that the gigantic object behind the Zentraedi battleship is hostile. I suggest overcharging the SDF-1's Reflex-Cannon beyond 125% to increase the efficiency of the beam... I am sure the beam would disintegrate both hostilities..."

 

Operative Sammie Porter turned herself shortly around... as if she wanted to protest against Lisa's suggestion... but somehow, no words left her lips. As she was about to speak, she swallowed her voice before the words left her lips. It was the face of Lisa Hayes that threw her an evil look - A look she has never felt before.

"Very well - I can understand your worry. Officer Young, Officer Porter, increase intensity beyond the usual rate of 110%." Kim Young did not hesitate at all to fulfill her orders. Sammie, on the other hand, did seem very worried about the orders of overcharging - and yet, she did as ordered. As minutes passed by, the size of the energy bolt exceeded itself beyond the rails and glowed so strong that it was impossible to look directly. "Desired efficiency levels reached, sir", Kim reported back.

"Aligning rails and directing power discharge upon both targets, hit percentage ratio is presumed at 100% upon both targets. Both targets are right behind each other", Lisa added, "We have full confirmation from Gunnery Operations that they are ready to fire and are awaiting your order, Admiral."

 

This was it - There was no real chance for the Zentraedi battleship and the gigantic unidentified object with the size nearly the same as the SDF-1 to survive such an intense particle beam. In theory, it has been proven that the particle beam is able to pierce through the densest types of any possible shield or object...

""Gunnery Operations standing by"", an officer's voice repeated upon the speakers of the rear bridge sections.

 

Once again, thoughts went through the mind of two certain bridge operatives who seemed as if a hideous plan was about to finish its second step.

 

With a deep and strong voice, Admiral Gloval gave the command... "FIRE!"

 

Mankind's first weapon of pure planetary destruction was about to unleash itself once again. As usual for everybody, the beam would emit itself ahead by the speed of light from the rails, leaving the SDF-1 untouched. Gloval and the rest of the bridge had much confident in the effectiveness of this weapon - but this time, things went wrong as the bridge suddenly shook.

Just as it was about to be unleashed, Sammie Porter's main screen suddenly gave warning signals, showing gauges that were blinking red, exceeding beyond secure limits. Shocked by these readings, she immediately cried, "Admiral! We have a problem! Furnaces are still gathering energy beyond the desired rate of potential and I am unable to release the energy bolt! None of my commands are reacting for compensation! If the energy bolt continues to gather energy, the beam will - will backfire!"

 

Surprised by her words, Admiral Gloval immediately shouted, "What, how can this be? Fire immediately!", he repeated loudly. The shaking began to become more intense... "It's not working, sir!", Sammie replied. "Admiral?", Kim asked with a calm but serious voice, "By your command, I would perform a full shutdown of the SDF-1 which would cause the rails to discharge the energy bolt in all directions."

Although slightly confused by Kim's sudden suggestion, Sammie added her advice, "Sir, I must remind you that although a sudden shutdown would save us from a serious backfire, it might cause severe damage to the rails of the Reflex-Cannon. Furthermore, it could take a long while before our systems can be reactivated! We might risk loosing vital time regain all systems..."

 

There was really not enough time to decide which option would be the best, but Gloval knew that a backfiring Reflex-Cannon would surely damage the battlefortress severely while a shutdown might save more of the ship by the cost of time... After taking a deep breath, he ordered, "Full shutdown procedure - immediately!"

 

Kim turned herself around and immediately contacted the Engineering Deck of the SDF-1 over her headsets. Sending over her demand, she immediately received confirmation and said, "Undergoing full shutdown - in ten seconds!", and started counting down. During the countdown, Lisa Hayes announced the whole ship about its shutdown just on time. Right before the beam backfired, all lights, internal systems and other areas onboard the SDF-1 went offline. Practically all areas were covered by pure darkness. Unfortunately, as the shutdown occurred, the bolt discharged itself violently upon the rails as well as over many areas of throughout the ship, just before it expanded around the frontal area and dissipated. Feeling the slight 'explosion' ahead, the whole inner city went into a small chaos, lost in total darkness...

Due to the unexpected power surge that struck throughout the whole ship, nearly every system that had anything in common with the Protoculture-PowerGrid such as consoles, lights and other vital systems were affected. Just like for many areas, the bridge also suffered total loss of power upon their primary systems - A pure blackout. Many female officers screamed as they were surprised by the sudden darkness as well as circuit sparks and other powered systems flashing. "Everybody!", many voices shouted around, "Please try to calm down!"

Among all operatives, it was Vanessa Leeds who remained quiet but felt fear within herself. Surrounded by pure darkness, she held a holo-picture of a certain Valkyrie pilot that fell on her lap. As she was full of fear, her mind caused her to remember the last time being with this person a long time ago...

 

It was only three years ago during a rather cold day. Walking along with a young man next to her side on a sidewalk, Vanessa felt confident and safe walking hand in hand during the unsafe time of terrorist attacks upon the crash site of the alien ship. Having different military careers, it was the day where she decided to split from her fiancee. While her career needed her to stay upon the island, he belonged to the newly formed RDF as a pilot on a tour-of-duty operation, responding to conflicts and attacks of the Anti Unification League around the globe. Although she could not remember the last conversation they had, she remembered the last moments as a sudden explosion struck not far away from them. Everybody around them screamed as they ran in panic. Several cars rolled away or exploded immediately due to the sudden shockwave. Protecting her just on time, the young pilot threw himself over her as pieces from one of the building flew their way. Suddenly hearing sounds of a turbine jet, a fighter plane dashed above and lifted into the sky, joining a small group of other jets that seemed just as hostile as it's own self. Looking back at the people, he spotted many wounded people shouting in pain... Feeling the need to perform his duty, he gave Vanessa a last kiss and ran off, not even looking back at her. From that second on, the love and contact between them vanished ever since...

 

"- Oh C...", she whispered, then suddenly woke from her daydream. Surrounded by the darkness under her console, she felt very lonesome, a feeling she had not really confronted ever since the passed years. As she looked upon the image of the holo-photo again her lonesome feeling began to intensify itself as she stared into the eyes of the long forgotten pilot. Slowly snapping out of her short daydream, she laid the magnetic side of the holo-photo back under her console. The whole bridge deck was practically dark, only a few emergency lights on the floor and illuminating panels of consoles allowed slight orientation. The young officer looked around, noticing many of the bridge operatives trying to stay calm in such chaos...

Gaining the attention of everybody around him, Admiral Gloval spoke, "Officer Porter, was the shutdown a success? Is there a way to get our systems back online?"

Checking for results, she replied, "- One moment, sir."

"Alright, the rest of you, give me a status of your stations...", he asked further.

"Whew... That did not feel like a clean shutdown", Claudia remarked as she rubbed the side of her neck. As she pressed a few of the illuminated keys upon her console, there was neither any real response to her commands nor were there any communication uplinks active, "Admiral, Communication Operations and secondary commlines are offline"

"Fleet Operations - offline, Sub-Command - offline, all possibilities for Fleet-Command is unavailable, Admiral", Lisa reported.

"Sensor Array and all other sensor subsystems are offline...", Vanessa added sadly.

 

"""This is not getting any better...""", Gloval thought...

"Admiral", Sammie called out, "Diagnose complete - Sir, the shutdown was indeed not perfect, but actually saved us from a destructive energy feedback back to the SDF-1's core. Unfortunately, the SDF-1 has still suffered a certain amount of the feedback, which seemed to have knocked out practically all of our active systems. Engineering can confirm that the Reflex-Cannon has caused much damage upon it's own rails, leaving it unavailable for any further use. The Protoculture Power Core has been shut down successfully, but they have severe complications in reactivating it - That is all, the low power available at the moment is practically insufficient... Admiral, from my point of view, we are in very deep trouble..."

"Officer Porter, activate all auxiliary power generators - We cannot afford to let this drop our defenses". His order sounded harsh and yet, they understood his seriousity.

"Yes sir..."

 

Things were getting out of control. All hopes using the Reflex-Cannon failed deeply.

"Officer Leeds, how long do you think it would take until both vessels have reached our 20 kilometer barrier?"

"I guess - it would take nearly three hours sir. The Zentraedi command ship does not tend to be very fast..."

 

"""Three hours...""", he thought.

Suddenly, a few systems throughout the bridge command deck suddenly went online again. Although very dark blue light emitted from the secondary ceiling lights, they did not provide enough illumination at all, leaving the bridge still rather pitch dark. Reporting once again, Sammie added, "It seems as if our auxiliary power generators have allowed some of our systems to be operational again. I will see if I can allow them to produce more - I'm sure we can receive a energy pool to re-establish vital systems of the our deck. Diverting power to Fleet Operations, Communication Operations, Sensory Operations, Engineering and subsystems. Not all stations will act at full efficiency but this is all we can get for the moment."

"Very well", Admiral Gloval said, nodded and then lifted himself from his seat. As he stood up, he said out loud, "I would like all to listen up, and listen up carefully". It was his deep and loud voice that went through the whole command deck that gained the attention of every single operative. Taking a deep voice, he began to explain a new type of plan:

"As you may have noticed, our plan in using to the Reflex-Cannon has failed greatly and the SDF-1 is probably in great danger... It is crucial that we focus our efforts in building up a defense perimeter before the Zentraedi and the unknown object enters the 20-kilometer barrier. We have a deadline of three hours to get as much of our units out as possible. As for the SDF-1, the status is code-red! Full battlestation alert!"

 

Just as he finished his speech, the certain dark blue lights went from blue to red and alerting sounds began to emit from the speakers throughout the whole bridge citadel.

"Officer Young, is it possible to reactivate our main defensive systems such as Zarlon-Particle turrets and other anti vessel cannons? On which systems can we count on?"

Immediately typing wildly over her console, one of her main screens began to show a SDF-1 mainframe image, showing the whole hull and the patch-fields of turrets all along its body. Hundreds of thousands of fields blinked black and red... only a selected few seemed green.

Taking the information from the screen, she replied: "Sir, patch-field defenses have not been repaired. Power conducts along rail gun defenses #20 - #102 are practically burned-out. Triple particle auto-turrets throughout the starboard side are offline...". As she spoke, she tried to reactivate them, with no success. "No response to my commands. It looks like their command-processor-units and their..."- she added, but then her speech was suddenly interrupted by Gloval slightly harsh voice, "Officer Kim, I did not ask for a full report. Right now, I would like to have a shorter version of your report!"

Slightly overwhelmed and shocked by his aggressive demand, she nervously replied, "Y-Yes sir - My suggestion is that we should rely on Destroids units to - to compensate downed cannons. We cannot rely on our turret fields at all..."

"That's how I like it - make it soon"

"Y-Yes... Admiral"... There was a slight feeling of anger and hate that went through Kim Young as she slowly turned back towards her console.

"Admiral Gloval, we have another problem", Claudia just added, "Our Navigator, Lindsay Young, is still under the state of the coma-statis of the NavCon and is not responding anyhow. I've called the sickbay to send us medics immediately..."

"Hmm, this is not good, we did not think about this - Now the whole SDF-1 is a sitting duck...", Gloval added, "We will worry about her later - Officer Hayes, deploy seven Destroid Battalions for deck combat as well as five Valkyrie squadrons for deck alert."

As Commander Hayes spoke via her headsets and contacted the Valkyrie Squadrons, Bridge Commander Claudia Grant contacted the Destroid battalions, taking over some orders for her. Lisa noticed her helpful deed and smiled towards her, making a pause in her alert speech. "Backing me up, just like in the old days, huh?". Claudia Grant smiled back, then continued with her alert speech to the Destroid Battalions, "Destroid Battalions `Rangemasters' and `Pershing Tigers'. Report to duty and arm for deck combat defense! Commander, please contact another five Battalions for deck."

 

Admiral Gloval went back to his seat. Something was not right, he thought. Something was missing... Then he remembered about something he forgot to ask to Vanessa Leeds. He looked over to her and asked, "Officer Leeds - Did you detect any Zentraedi Battlepods until now approaching the SDF-1?".

Staring at her screen, she answered back slightly surprised, "Strange - negative, sir. No incoming Z-Pods at all ..."

That sounded strange in his ears "What?! No Battlepods?! That can't be..."

"Uh sir?", Vanessa added, "I'm not sure, but I think the Protoculture Database has indeed identified the unknown gigantic object after all." Her voice sounded very unsure as the holo-image zoomed away shortly and then displayed a wireframe-image of the gigantic object. Nearly every bridge officer turned around and stared at her screen showing something they have never seen before.

"Oh my... Admiral - The ob-object is not a vessel... Our last scans confirm that it is somehow... biological - no mechanical...", she paused as she tried to figure out an explanation, "It's hull consists of organic material but is virtually coated by several hundred of thousands platings of unknown alloy and components. It's size and length actually exceeds over the length and size of the SDF-1 itself! From what the Database has brought for information, the object has been classified with a Zentraedi-name for which I am unable to translate at the moment..."

A few men and women with medical uniforms entered the bridge area, heading to Lindsay's station.

 

Looking at the size and frame of the object, there was no need to despite the fact if it was hostile or friendly - The hull seemed so dangerous that even Admiral Gloval sensed this situation was going to be a lot more complicated than the last few months. A Zentraedi vessel, hostile and tough as usual, followed by an organic mothership-like object, which is by far beyond the size of the SDF-1. It was the dreaded feeling that made Gloval to think about the odds of this situation - and he came to a conclusion. It was clear that first plan of using the Reflex-Cannon to eliminate all threats at once resolved in pure disaster and now the SDF-1 became more vunerable than ever - For sure, this was not good indeed. Having nearly all primary systems down, the SDF-1 would not be able to protect itself by it's own. Disturbed by this serious fact, Gloval lifted his head and said, "Officer Grant, Officer Porter - Contact the 'Majestica' and two AMRDs to dispatch from the SDF-1's hangar. We will be needing all the potential we can get."

"Yes sir", Claudia replied, "- but I must remind you that the last Zentraedi attack has done much damage. The dispatch could be delayed greatly, perhaps beyond the designated deadline..."

"I understand, but better ever than never... You have your orders."

Both confirmed.

 

"""This is gonna be a long night...""", Claudia thought as she began calling the primary hangar deck. Although operating with dimmed lights within the dark bridge, the whole area was back at it's full potential as they began to work against the time. Taking this moment of 'silence', Gloval sat on his seat and pulled out his pipe as his thoughts began to wander, """Hmm, I don't know what the Zentraedi are up to, but it looks like we are going to have to put up with a fight again. This situation reminds me of the battle during the Great War back on Earth. We fought a battle even though we didn't know who the enemy was ... We just didn't know..."""

Gloval quickly contacted one of the operatives at the flight deck to brief all defenders about the situation. He did not want the same mistake to happen once again. He took out his pipe and tabasco again as he reminded himself about the report of Dr. Vanderman and the female pilots, including the new generation of fresh recruits. """Strange how space can have such an affect on all of us... The female pilots are indeed fast learners... Very well qualified for combat. Many of them were forced to give up their flying carrier after the fold into space. Their flying skills went totally under average right after we refolded somewhere in the outer rim - at least they still know the hardware. On the other hand, male pilots have the flying skills already in their blood...""", he looked at his pipe.""" They are good pilots indeed, for being rookies - They are more than green though - and they all have only been training with flight instructors behind them...""", he looked at the Tabasco. As he looked at both, pipe and Tabasco, then pulled out his box of matches, his imagination started to wander something that dealt with a solution. Remembering the looks of a VF-1D Valkyrie Trainer and the new row of prototypes, his imagination went through him, his pipe as a VF-1D 'Valley-Cat' and the other two ingredients such as Tabasco and the fire as pilots.

"""Perhaps it is time to test these prototypes in the real battlefield..."""

 

Lifting himself from his seat again, Admiral Gloval walked ahead, passing both Lisa Hayes and Claudia Grant who shortly looked at each other, wondering what he was up to. As the Admiral walked down the stairs to the side heading to the frontal section of the bridge, it was very strange for them to see him heading to front. Not only they were surprised, but also other operatives shortly interrupted their doing as they saw their superior commander walking past them. It was Admiral Gloval's charismatic and yet mysterious appearance that gave the impression of a majestic king walking. Many honored him, although nervously. Just like in the rear section, the frontal section was indeed very dark, only a few red lights illuminating and hundreds of screens, holo-images, keypads and consoles glowed weakly. He wove his hand a few times downwards in order to calm down and carry on. Finding the supervising officer of the frontal command section whose name was Commodore John Travis, Gloval stopped a few meters behind him. Although he was having a conversation with a few operatives, Commodore Travis noticed the many faces of the operatives looking beyond his shoulder as he talked.

"- So we better contact those", Travis said and then turned around, "Oh, Admiral Gloval, sir?" Surprised by his appearance, Travis shortly told the other operatives around that they would talk further later. "Hello, Admiral?", he asked with a calm and yet surprised voice and saluted.

"At ease, Travis", Gloval replied.

"How may I help you, sir?"

 

Shortly thinking about his question, Gloval turned his head and overviewed the area around him.

Noticing a few medics around the Navigation Control station, Gloval asked, "How is Lindsay doing? Did the medics manage to diagnose anything?"

"Oh yes, sir, they did. The medics reported that she is in a very complicated situation", Travis explained, crossed his arms and shook his head a few times, "Although she is still alive, the sudden shutdown really endangered her mental health and they are very worried if she'll ever wake up again. In other words, she is really in a state of coma now?"

"Why not remove her from the station to the medical bay? Maybe we could find a substitute pilot who could maintain the station", Gloval suggested.

"I'm afraid that's impossible, sir. The medics of the Research Department advised not to remove her from the station at all. They discovered that there is still an active connection mind connection between her body and - erm, the station. It's pretty complicated actually...", Travis scratched back side of his head as he spoke with a confused voice, "... The only example I understood was that taking Lindsay 'aggressively' away from the station without doing the secure procedure by her will would be like ripping her soul from her body. They also denied the use of any nerve injections to wake her up - It is far too risky that they would endanger her health."

Gloval nodded and sighed as he looked over to her once again. She seemed as if she was sleeping. Thinking about the recent situation, Gloval thought about what happened, then said to Travis, "Hmm, it was my mistake, Commodore..."

"Sir?", he asked, confused by his words.

"An immediate shutdown was suggested and I ordered it - without thinking about Navigator Young", Gloval explained in a worried way, "She has been more than a day connected to that interface and we know that staying longer than usual would do harm to her health."

"Although the shutdown was pretty rough for her psyche, the medics think she'll survive. They only hope she will be able to wake up on her own. But let's not forget that Dr. Young is a very ambitious young woman who would do anything to support the SDF-1. She knows that she is actually the one and only person who can 'suffer' under such conditions. I'm sure she would not take it too personal, Admiral." Strange and yet amusing for the operatives around them, a few admired Commodore Travis' manor how he tried to cheer up the usually all-so-worried Admiral. "Hey what's so funny", Travis asked as he heard a few giggle next to them. A few operatives coughed and turned their heads towards their consoles.

 

"Anyways...”, Admiral Gloval said, who reminded himself about his idea, "What can you tell me about our fleet status? I've ordered my first officer to take care of several orders, so she is pretty busy."

"Well, it looks pretty bad, Admiral", and shook his head twice, "I just spoke with a few operatives and they informed me that the subcommunication channels for the interaction between the bridge and the Veritech squadrons are disrupted due to some strange matter. Although Fleet Commander Hayes will be able to contact them down there, it is the missing interaction between us, the flight control deck and the hangars and barracks that will delay our operation severely. It's the deadline that will definitely be like a rope tied tight our necks. We only have a clean link to the 'Prelodae District' a selected few of the bordering districts."

"How many recruit squadrons in those areas?", Gloval asked directly.

"Yes, one moment, sir", Travis said and looked over to his side, "Seaman Jacobs? You heard it."

"I'm on it, Commodore", the operative replied and started gathering the data, "We have a total of... 11 recruit squadrons, 3 of them have completed basic training, 4 of them are only done with navigation and the last 4 only possess weaponary skills - Hmm, only weaponary... sounds like they skipped something."

"Um, Admiral, may I ask why are you asking about recruit pilots?", Travis asked quickly , "Shouldn't we focus on experienced squadrons?"

"Not yet, Travis, not yet. Thank you, Seaman. Travis, how many VF-1D 'Valley-Cats' prototypes do we possess in that area?"

"As far as I know, we should have about 30 across that area . but what is your intention, Admiral", Travis asked once again, "Do you think it is time for their first test flight - but we lack the necessary pilots who are experienced enough -"

"Not quite, Commodore. Now correct me if I am wrong, Commodore Travis and Seaman Jacobs", Gloval asked, "We have exactly four squadrons who have completed the basic navigation training and the physics in space. These four belong to the 'Armadillo Division' am I right?"

Both nodded.

"Now about the other four squadrons which only have fulfilled weaponry training", Gloval explained further, "They have all the knowledge about Veritech weaponry systems. To which division do these four squadrons belong to?"

"One moment, Admiral", Seaman Jacobs said and read his screen, "All four squadrons which have completed weaponry skill training belong to...", he paused and then spoke with a slightly confused and surprised voice, "... to the 'Venus Division'. It is the division that consists only of..."

 

"Exactly", Admiral Gloval answered with a deep voice, "Our skilled female pilots who have lost all their abilities in piloting a Veritech fighter in space - due to the downside of the 'Syndrome'."

"But Admiral", Travis asked, still sounding confused, "As far as I know, I know that the 'Venus Division' is a really big division that consists practically only of female pilots and soldiers for Veritechs and I know they haven't been in service for few last months. Many either resigned or continued their... well I would say, useless status as reservists", Commodore Travis' expression frowned slightly, "It's pretty sad. I've seen their faces ever since their health status became an issue. They are so eager to serve the RDF with their own lives..."

"Yes", Gloval explained further, "and it has been for them more than a punishment to see other pilots fall in combat. They possess a high determination to support their friends, but they never would have the chance to survive if they were to fly a Veritech fighter alone... They would do anything to perform themselves useful and I think I know a possibility how to give them their desired and deserved 'second chance'."

 

"But why of course, Admiral", Travis said, smiled and nodded, as he finally understood Gloval's intention, "Now I understand your plan."

Admiral Gloval smiled back very shortly and turned away, "You have your orders, Commodore..."

 

"Yes sir!", Travis replied and saluted as Gloval walked away, "Seaman Jacobs, Evans, Wim - Contact the flight squadron commanders of the divisions 'Venus' and 'Armadillo'! We've got a job to do and it needs to be done before that deadline!"

 

 

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