Macross Fan Fiction ❯ Robotech: Beneath a steel sky ❯ Chapter 12 - Out of Time ( Chapter 12 )

---- Chapter 12 ---- Out of time...

 

Somewhere between an abandoned Veritech deck and the Macross City deck...

Slowly floating down the gigantic elevator shaft for large vehicles, a lone “Valley-Cat” Valkyrie hovered its way down the shaft in guardian mode. It was pitch dark and the only thing that produced lighting were the flight instrument panels and the boosters from the Veritech. Mick, who nervously concentrated on keeping the Valkyrie stable, kept his eyes on the Altitude-Above-Ground indicator. As they floating downwards, they started to feel that something was not right. FoxyRoxy felt a strange feeling in her stomach.

"Whoa...", she said softly as laid her hand on her stomach, "Whoa... Did you feel that? Felt weird..."

"Yeah, what was that? Felt it, too"

 

They felt it again.

Mick shook his head, "Is it me, or are we floating upwards?"

 

Mick felt like as if he was loosing his balance feeling, which caused the Valkyrie starting to float a little unstable. He started to see the light of the thrusters reflecting from the wall to their left, which meant the wings were not leveled - Instead of trusting his feelings, he kept his eyes to the instruments and stabilized the Veritech again. His hands shook slightly, making the whole Valkyrie shake as well.

"Steady... steady...", he said to himself quietly.

Flying a Valkyrie was one of his abilities, but floating downwards while keeping a stable position was more like trying to control a leaf in an October-wind.

 

FoxyRoxy noticed a few warning messages - 'Gravity interferences...' and asked, "hey Mick? How far are we away from the ground?"

After checking his AAG indicator, he then replied back, "umm, about 270 meters above the ground? Why do you ask?"

 

She thought a few seconds, then came to a conclusion that made sense to her, "hmm, we're getting close to the city deck... Remember that the city Deck has it's own artificial gravity field?".

"I don't get it", he replied back to her with a confused voice.

 

"Our cockpit also has a type of artificial gravity unit, or?", she asked again, making sure.

"Yeah, we've got one... Heh, right under us."

 

"I think that this is one of the malfunctions which happen to Valkyrie when it comes closer the City Deck's grav-field...", she explained, "perhaps the unit is be trying to generate a steady field, but keeps getting disrupted by the other greater one ... Guess that must be one of those gravimetric problems the engineers told us about during training... Another reason I've heard about a long time ago was something about the alloy the Veritechs are made out of, which has a weird physical side-effect under certain conditions - They seem to have a strange effect upon the gravity field as well, but I can't really remember everything."

 

Her words did make sense...

"Hmm... Now that you say it... It does feel like as if gravity is coming from all sides... And it's making me crazy", Mick sighed.

He could hear tipping sounds - then his left screen blinked in red words along with a female computer voice saying: "Inertial Gravity Harness Unit - deactivated..."

 

After a few seconds, they felt the downward movement, also feeling lighter.

"Okay... they're offline now", FoxyRoxy reported. Mick loosened his shoulders a little, "Ahh, feels better", he said and smiled. According to his AAG-indicator, he added, "looks like we're almost on the ground. Better keep your eyes peeled, Foxy!"

 

As they sunk into the deep, the young man kept his eyes concentrated on the panels, constantly correcting the trim and angle. Mick pushed both footpedals, which caused the "feet" thrusters of the Valkyrie to ignite. The flash of the thrusters went brighter and brighter, making the whole shaft around them visible for a few seconds. After making a soft landing- the 'feet' of the Valkyrie cushioned upon the plated floor and discharged - Mick immediately changed the mode into Battleroid and while they used night-vision cameras, they spotted the elevator door.

Besides all the life-supporting systems one of the most unique and vital system was the head of the VF-1D Valley-Cat. Mounted with sophisticated visual equipment, the head truly belonged to the eyes and ears of the Veritech.

FoxyRoxy's screens showed nothing important... Only constant-echo signals reflecting upwards up the shaft from their position. "Guess this is our only way out", she guessed.

 

"Hmm, ok, no problem", Mick said, "- I'll just have to blast it away!". He moved his right control stick a little, making the Battleroid aim it's main cannon-rifle towards the door. Just before he was about to pull the trigger, FoxyRoxy shouted, "Wait! Don't shoot!"

"Huh? Why not?!", Mick asked, surprised from her sudden reaction.

"I - I've got a bad feeling about what could be waiting out there...", she said quietly, "an explosion could easily draw unwanted attention... Shouldn't we try to open the door by hand?"

Indeed, something troubled her... Her face seemed serious when he looked back at her. Glaring in her blue eyes, he could not resist... Mick grumbled quietly to himself, then said, "Aww-right, lets do it that way...", turned himself around to the front, "erm, how could we do it?"

 

"Let me think a second...", she added and thought shortly, "normally, these lifts got manual-hydraulic controls... Must be here somewhere...", ... All the sudden, she felt the Battleroid moving towards the doors, "... Hey, what are you doing?"

 

The Battleroid grabbed the one side of the elevator-doors.

"I think the Valk' should be strong enough!", Mick replied.

 

He activated full power, causing the door to open a little. The Battleroid then used both hands, pushing the doors to the left and to the right. They could see dimmed lights from the City Deck shining it's way inside the shaft. As FoxyRoxy checked her systems, she felt a sudden impact, as if the Valkyrie was hit by something from the front. It was nothing... The Battleroid only threw itself fast onto the ground, lying on its frontal side - prone position -, aiming towards the outside. FoxyRoxy bumped her head against her own helmet as soon as the mecha hit the ground.

"Ouch! Hey, be careful - I should still be medicated, y'know?!", she said loudly, rather hanging above and behind Mick, luckily being held by her seat-belts.

 

Looking back, Mick apologized, "Sorry! Didn't mean to surprise you - I can see something out there... It's too far away... can't tell what it is. Could you zoom in?", then pointed his finger on the screen ahead, "over there".

 

FoxyRoxy shook her head, then tipped around on her console again.

The optical-camera systems inside the Battleroid's 'head' made "virrr" sounds. Just as the image focused on the area it zoomed to, both of them could not believe what they just saw. The zoomed image showed 'Invid creatures'... practically an army of them, about 300 meters away.

"Oh my... Mick, can you see what they are doing... it looks like as if...", FoxyRoxy said, frightened by the image...

 

They could see that most of them were carrying lifeless objects...

"Dead bodies... and junk stuff... yeah... a lot of stuff...", he replied with a deep voice, sounding somehow angry, however not surprised. "... Why are they taking dead bodies?...", she said -starting to feel even more frightened, "What do they want to do with them..."

 

Mick noticed the fear in her voice, as she spoke...

"Foxy, take it easy...", he replied back to her and looked to the front again ... He then came to a conclusion, "...This is very strange... I don't know what these... things are up to... but they're carrying a lot of dead people around and it looks like they need them for something special... And this is something I've seen once before. We better... - Uh-oh!"

 

Mick was interrupted as they saw a large creature, about the size of a building, hanging down tissue-like tentacles, just 300 meters away and in front of their position, coming around the corner, 'looking' towards them.

"What the HELL IS THAT??!!", he shouted.

Taking immediate initiative, FoxyRoxy did not waste another second to hesitate. She targeted the creature and pulled the trigger to fire the main rifle upon the creatur. Hearing the rile firing rounds upon the beast, she hoped to for the best.

Letting loose of her trigger, she dropped her shoulders as she noticed that the beast itself did not seem to be `impressed'. Needless to say, the rounds seemed to have bounced off its shell - Somewhat not even having the slightest effect of damage.

 

"Crap! Not even a scratch...", Mick shouted...

"... Useless?", FoxyRoxy said surprised by the ineffective attack.

"No time for saying 'sorry' !," he said - moving the control and pedals around. "Let's get out of here!"

The Battleroid got up and moved out of the elevator, onto the compound grounds of the Veritech Barracks. After a few steps, the Battleroid somehow tripped, hovered slowly and fell to the ground. The mecha smashed several small trees and bushes.

"Damn! I'm having a hard time trying to stay on our toes!"

"Must be the artificial gravity!", FoxyRoxy explained loudly. "You should...". She was suddenly interrupted as they heard three very loud sounds smashing not far away from their sides. Three very large dark-blue shards were stuck into the ground next to them - but half the size and length of a Valkyrie... They were astonished by it's size. Judging the cracks those objects made in the ground, they were lucky that they were not hit.

 

"Whoa! Look at the size of those things...", she said slowly...

"""Crap""", Mick thought. He could not believe that it was good that their mecha tripped, for that one shot would have busted right through them...

Rather shocked by the threat, Mick suddenly shouted, "Hold on, Foxy!".

 

The Battleroid got to its feet again and launched its thrusters causing it to make a powerful charge into the open air. While moving forward through the air, Mick made the Battleroid roll forward and pulled the legs closely together. Using its momentum, the Battleroid performed an astonishing somersault. About halfway through the roll, Mick disengaged its thrusters and let the gravity, which had a unusual lighter gravitational effect upon the Veritech, and managed to make the whole Battleroid leap over a high building and changed into Guardian-mode in mid-air just before landing on the street. The Valkyrie hovered above the ground and blasted at full speed ahead.

His co-pilot felt more than overwhelmed as he just performed something she never would have expected from a Rookie who was actually assumed as an inexperienced Veritech pilot...

"You gotta show me that stunt again some time, Mick...", she chuckled as she shortly looked back, “Guess that was our getaway! Way-to-go! Ha, bet those things never expected that!”

Not knowing how his facial impression was, Mick somewhat was sunk into his seat for the short moment - overwhelmed by what he just did.

 

FoxyRoxy sounded amused by the unusual stunt he performed and seemed to feel more confident with him. But Mick on the other hand was more than astonished about his own self for what he just did and a lot more nervous than before. The Valkyrie, though a bit stable, was getting faster and faster - And Mick's eyes were constantly trying to keep a lookout on incoming obstacles.

Fortunately, Mick dodged each obstacle as they hovered ahead...

Blazing through the streets, they suddenly heard shards flying past them, a few hitting the left and rear side of their ship. A few cause several large scratches upon the hull.

“Damn, shooters!”

FoxyRoxy used the head-cannon to provide some cover. The Valkyrie dashed under destroyed building and obstacles again. Looking over to the back, then to the front again, Mick said, "Whoa! Damn... I hope we're heading the right way!"

 

Being shaken around by the movement of the Valkyrie, FoxyRoxy took a look to her right on a compass-like indicator on the instrument panel and said, "We're heading... south... Heading southwards. I hope we're heading the right way!"

He did not seem happy to hear that. "Crap! Is this the right way?! Shouldn't we head the other way?!"

Just as he finished his sentence, FoxyRoxy did not need to answer his question as they both saw a few buildings getting smashed from the side by another row of "large and heavy caliber" shards.

 

He changed his mind - "Let's head your way, Roxy! Hang tight!!!"

The Valkyrie blazed ahead - following the wide street, while being under heavy shard-fire.

 

----

 

Main bridge deck, Bridge Operations...

Still surrounded by the majority of darkness and only lit by the illumination of countless screens, holo-images and auxiliary lights, the bridge crew was listening carefully to a broadcast coming from one of the combat groups within the north of the city: ""Command HQ! We have suffered heavy losses down here! The enemy nearly has nearly taken full control over the `Parisa Square' District! I repeat! Enemy has nearly conquered `Parisa Sqaure'! We need...!""

The voice continued shouting its status report on the battlefield. Admiral Gloval heard the voice loud and clearly, which was coming out of the Bridge speakers...

 

As he listened, thoughts went through his mind, """This is not good at all... Our men are being slaughtered, no matter how much firepower we put in for defense... These raging creatures are indeed strong... They possess strengths unknown to us... They are pushing us more and more back into the corner... We are running out of space... We running out of... time - Such atrocity... Such pain and death falls over the civilians... I fear we are not strong enough to protect them... If I only knew a way to stop them..."

 

Leaving his thoughts aside for the moment, Gloval looked straight ahead as he heard Commander Hayes speaking fast and hectically over her headset as she constantly gave new orders over her station…

 

Officer Kim Young turned around after taking off her headsets.

"Admiral, the SDF-1 Operation Crew has reported that they've just completed network-access upon nearly all main Terminal-Gateway entrances between districts throughout the entire ship."

 

The Terminal-Gateways...

The massive and titanic blockade made of Hyper-Carbonite, supposed intent as a concealment measure to avoid air pressure loss, contamination and other hazards… But for this case, Gloval seemed to have a something else planned, "Finally some good news... Thank you, Officer Young... We will require the lock-down sequences indeed... Order them to stand-by..."

 

Bridge Commander Claudia Grant turned around, when she heard his orders, "Admiral, b-but - may I remind you that we have major numbers of our forces, combat groups and thousands of soldiers spread among all districts engaged in combat - including civilians, Sir?! A lock-down of the Terminal-Gateways would be permanent until..."

"Commander Grant!", he interrupted her with his deep voice, "I am iin full sense of this situation... but we must face the fact that we have to do everything, absolutely everything to protect the civilians... even if we must sacrifices the few to save the many..."

His face was enough proof to show how serious he meant his words. She looked at him for a few seconds, but then turned around, rather than trying to chance his mind - "Yes sir..."

 

It was painful for Sammie Porter to see how Claudia's worries were being `ignored'…

 

Sammie leaned over towards Vanessa's side and whispered, "Is he crazy? If we shut the 'Doors', the people down there won't have a away out!"

Vanessa only nodded, affected by the words of the Admiral as well.

 

 

Hideous thoughts went through the minds of certain people… knowing that `Phase Three' was about to begin…

 

“Artillery units of the Chinese Air Force - Commence artillery bombardment!”, Lisa's voice shouted…

 

 

----

 

Looking back, Chris shouted in agony as he noticed what was about to happen.

As the artillery units fired, he suffered the shock of reality… that sealed the fate of a few squadmates…

 

“”Cease fire! Cease fire!””

 

----

 

Still tired, Robert limped through the rain - and as if he did not have enough bad luck, he tripped, landing with his whole face into one of the countless numbers of puddles. He was soaking wet, slightly wounded, out of energy and hungry. Still holding the rifle, he crawled slowly ahead. It was the headache from the pain he suffered during the impact that was slowly getting back to him that caused him to stop.

 

----

 

Somewhere at the northern districts of the Macross City deck, far away from the frontlines…

The Valkyrie of Mick and FoxyRoxy were still in Guardian-mode, hiding behind the debris of a destroyed building. Having all systems on stand-by, Mick used this break to calm down. He never had done so much dodging since the last time in the evasion simulator… The fact that he could have killed them both affected him greatly, but he started to get back to normal.

 

The "Invids" were far away, but definitely after them.

"Damn... We're in big trouble...", Mick said nervously... "We can't shake them off like this forever - but what the hell happened to this place?!”, referring to the chaos of destructed buildings, burning objects, dead people and creatures all around them, “Aw man… How's our Valk'?”

 

“Not that well, Mick. The left leg suffered several hits and we've lost a few secondary systems. You better not…” FoxyRoxy suddenly laid her hand on the side of her helmet as she noticed voices coming out of her helmet's radio-receiver, "... Mick... I can hear something... over radio... I'm picking up a transmission!". FoxyRoxy's helmet was a bit more sophisticated than Mick's common helmet.

"What?! You're picking up a signal from our people?! And I thought we were alone! Can you understand them?"

"They're saying...", she went silent for a few seconds... listening, "... I can't tell, - There are far too many voices... A lot of shouting, but I can't understand a word", she then replied.

"Too many? Since when do they all use the same frequency?", he wondered.

 

"I'll try a different frequency... maybe I can filter out a few voices", she said as she pressed a few small buttons on the side of her helmet. After hearing a few fuzzes... She started to hear a lot less voices - and clearer ones. "I've got... hmm, a Bridge command frequency... Sounds... sounds like an all-round broadcast coming in now..."

Ignoring the other voices, FoxyRoxy concentrated herself on listening to the female voice coming from her helmet-radio: ""... units! To all units! Disengage combat and divert from the `Parisa Square' district! Retreat to the next southern, western or eastern district! Bridge Command is ordering a perimeter shutdown of the northern main Terminal-Gateways to the Parisa Square, Spearhead, Diamond Cross and Habitat Ring - frontal region-. Perimeter shutdown is permanent... Perimeter shutdown is permanent and will not reopen... Entrances will be shut down in TEN minutes... I repeat, Shutdown will occur in TEN MINUTES! Bridge Command - out - "

 

Since Mick was focused on keeping a lookout for enemy targets, he asked, "Well, What're they talking about? Still got my helmet receiver off since I gotta concentrate here."

"Umm... Something about shutting down Terminal-entrances... and they said that they were going to shutdown the northern terminal-entrances to `Parisa Square' for good... in ten minutes."

"Terminal... shutdown of `Parisa Square'?", he said - then suddenly turned himself around, looking straight at FoxyRoxy, "IN TEN MINUTES?!"

 

She understood his sudden reaction...

"Oh my! Mick! We must be somewhere between the `St. Gregory' and `Parisa Square' districts! If we don't make out of here through `Parisa-Square' within ten minutes... We'll be trapped!"

He turned around again to the front... "Don't worry... We're almost through `St. Gregory' - and since they'll be shutting down the northern one between, we'll be on the safe side", he said, "We're not that far away from allied units either, I guess... And finding the next exit shouldn't be that hard".

Pushing his controls slightly ahead, along with pushing both pedals gently, this caused the Valkyrie to stand up slightly while in Guardian-mode.

"I'm not in the mood for stay here forever... and I'm starting to hate this place too... Which way we need to go?", Mick asked.

"Same direction - My best bet is that if stick to direction we've already taken, we should end up at the next district-crossover!", she replied back to him.

 

"Damn, we don't have much time, Guardian-mode is not fast enough since we have a lot of destroyed things in the way... besides all that - It's like trying to control a row boat with one arm..."

 

"Running and jumping wouldn't make sense either...", she said sadly.

"So far I know, Valkyries are not made for running around... and not even for running or flying around on a deck, like you said... but I think we've got no other choice...", Mick paused - not finishing his sentence -, "Ok, here goes...!"

 

The Valkyrie suddenly started hovering out of its cover and moved southwards, heading for the Terminal-entrances... Both Mick and FoxyRoxy hoped they would make it on time.

 

 

----

 

Main Bridge deck, Bridge Operations...

Commander Lisa Hayes sighed as she just ended her last transmission and disabled the fleet control profile of her station...

"Admiral, I am pleased to announce that the task group was successful in repelling the intensions of the enemy and the destruction of the `Invid' vessel. The task groups have offered enough time to have our fleet retreat until more units were able to support them and gain the upper hand. However, the task group has suffered severe losses and a majority of the `Invid' suppressors were able to retreat…"

"A Retreat ... once again... What game are they playing with us...?", Gloval asked himself, “But very well, I would like to see the casual list as soon as possible...“

 

"Admiral, Terminal-Gateway lockdown in seven minutes...", Sammie reminded.

"Officer Porter, Officer Young...?"

 

"Yes sir?" - "Admiral?"

 

The old man seemed to have come up with a decision... He spoke:

"Maintain and advance perimeter-lockdown to the 'Macy's Valley' District, frontal sector. Order the troops to pull back to the 'Macy's Valley' District..."

 

"Sir?!", they both shouted, surprised by his sudden command.

He continued, "We have already ordered evacuation in these areas, including the civilians from the "Habitat" District... "Diamond Cross" is being evacuated right now. We must take precaution and advance our plan."

Claudia turned herself around, "But Admiral - Although those sections might have most of the civilians out of danger for now, I've received status reports from various troops. They've heavily-fortified themselves throughout the districts, including "Diamond Cross" and "Macy's Valley", sir. They will never make it on time to reach safe-zones or even allied sectors."

 

"Listen up, all of you.", the Admiral said - gaining the attention of the other bridge officers around him , "I am aware of what I have decided to do. The enemy is advancing too fast for us to react and our troops will not stand a chance against these creatures if defensive measures are not met... I don't want any other surprises either... They have slaughtered enough innocent people, so I am forced to do whatever is needed to be done. I hope all of you will understand that. Locking down districts will allow the enemy's forth-going progress towards the south to be hampered and forced to continue towards the east or west, whereas our forces will be able to flank the enemy from both sides. But our main objective is to trap the enemy in the northern district and rescue the civilians."

 

Beside all the others, Claudia had mixed feeling about the orders she was about to fulfill, not only that she was going to give definite "bad news", but that those who will not make it on time are more likely going to face a terrifying fate...

 

----

 

Between the middle of nowhereland and darkness, the iron rain just kept falling endlessly... even a cold breeze past by the lonesome soul trying to crawl through the endless fields of junk. Robert sneezed...

 

----

 

Although Mick had a hard time keeping the Valkyrie stable due to its own gravity-balance malfunction, it seemed as if they have managed to outrun their followers. The Valkyrie was in Battleroid-mode as it ran in large steps. Each time the mecha took a step, it floated slightly, similar to an astronaut walking on a moon's surface. Mick kept focused on all his maneuvering skills, while FoxyRoxy kept her eyes on all other systems such as threat-indicators, internal systems and others. She then noticed her compass-instrument blinking red and yellow circles.

 

"Mick, it looks like we're near close to the Terminal - We've made it!", she said happily.

Mick stopped the Battleroid, causing the legs to "stop at dime". The foot-thrusters slid ahead a few meters, then stopped. "Yeah... And it looks like we're not far away from our people either... Look over there, the fire is still burning... and there are dead soldiers, too... or what's left of them - but actually, where are the goodguys, anyways?", he said back to her, feeling a little bit bad.

 

"... Lot's of destructed armor vehicles here, too", she noticed as she used the `head' of the Valkyrie to scan their surroundings, "... many of them destroyed... Mick, speaking of armor, we don't really have that much ammunition left and our Valkryie is in bad shape. The mechanics are going to kill us - that is, if we'll make it...”

"

"But we'll make it, just keep cool...", Mick said - who actually should say that to himself.

 

They heard a sudden alert siren coming from the outside...

"Huh? What's that?", Mick asked looking around. The sound hollowed threw the entire district, threatening and alarming at the same time. "Sounds like an urgent announcement or so...", she replied, recognizing the sound. They suddenly heard a female voice speaking from the outside, sounding hollow and echo-like, probably from all speakers throughout the whole district:

""Attention! Attention! Barrier-Terminal-Gateway will be closing in T minus one minute and thirty seconds. To all citizens and military units. The perimeter blockade has been advance to the frontal region of "Macy's Valley" due to enemy's high progress through our lines. Terminal barriers will remain... No re-entry will be applied... Civilians who may still remain in the barrier sectors are advised to seek the nearest military troop.""

 

"Whoa - What the -! Wait a minute!", Mick shouted angrily, "Damn it, didn't they say 'get out of `St. Gregory' since they were going to shut down the whole District? Why the hell are they talkin' about 'Macy's Valley' now?!"

FoxyRoxy thought back a few seconds, then remembered, "'Macy's Valley'? Oh no, that's the next district to the south!"

 

"They gotta be kiddin'?! Not good, not good..." Mick lowered his head, slightly starting to lose hope.

"Mick, we'll never make it on time if we continue on foot. What shall we do? Guardian mode is too dangerous, we nearly crashed back there”", she asked with a soft voice... Her voice sounded helpless, “Our Valkyrie is seriously damaged - and if we end up in a skirmish against those `things'…”.

 

"We should...", Mick was about to answer, but then hesitated as he thought a few seconds. Now he was out of solutions. "We... should...", he looked over to his left control... staring at a certain switch... with an `F' on it.

Looking down to him, she asked, "...Mick?"

"I've got to be crazy about the next thing I'm gonna do...", he said to himself.

"What do you mean...?"

 

The Valkyrie changed itself into Guardian mode and started to thrust its "foot" thrusters, making it float high above the building around them... Mick fought again trying to keep the Valkyrie stable, but still caused the Veritech to shake back and forth like a boat on stormy waves.

"Mick? What are you up to?", she asked, heightening her voice, "we shouldn't be flying so high above the ground... We're an easier target!"

FoxyRoxy shook back and forth as Mick tried to keep the Valkyrie steady...

After staring another second upon the certain switch, he flipped the "F" switch, making the Valkyrie pull in legs and transformed into "Fighter-mode". At the same time, he pushed in full throttle, making the thrusters blast at its maximum.

 

"Mick, are you out of your mind?!", FoxyRoxy cried, as she was pressed into her seat by the velocity, "You're gonna get ourselves killed!"

"No time for waiting, Foxy! If we want to make it on time... then this is our only chance!"

Mick overcharged the thrusters, exceeding their output beyond secure values. The Valkyrie blasted ahead like a rocket. Its powerful thrusters roared past many building... Various cockpit warning sounds and lights started blinking and beeping. Mick could feel that the warning sounds were not kidding about "artificial gravity inbound".

Doing dangerous barrel rolls, Mick dodged all buildings coming into their way. FoxyRoxy was holding on her seat handles, feeling like as if she were in a washing machine - She was so surprised that her heart even jumped rapidly. Mick was indeed flying like a maniac - like a lunatic...

The Valkyrie was indeed not made for normal air flight inside the SDF-1 - Since it was refitted for space combat, the manuevering thrusters fitted throughout its fuselage were practically useless, making the situation even worse. Streams of blue lines flew pasted them - Shard-fire!

 

Hearing a buzzing sound which could not be overheard - She looked over and saw that the left part of the Valkyrie on the damage-indicator screen was blinking red-black... "Oh - Mick our left thruster is about to kick-out!"

"Damn! That's exactly what we need now, MORE PROBLEMS!"

 

----

 

Somewhere near the Terminal-entrance between "Diamond Cross" and "Macy's Valley"...

 

Many groups of troopers were making their way through to the last retreat-point, while tanks and other vehicles drove by. While a group of troops were running, one of the soldiers stopped... He could hear something coming closer. He could not determine what type of sound it was since it was very hollow but intense at once. The soldier looked up and then turned around to the back as the sound became louder.

 

----

 

The flight was like a roller coaster on a lane with lots of sideway-rolls. They suddenly felt a strange blow coming from their left side, behind them... and right after that, a discharging sound.

 

Alerting sounds could be heard, “Warning… Power core instable… Emergency shutdown… engaged.”

"Port-side thruster failure! We're loosing air speed!", FoxyRoxy shouted.

 

----

 

Again, throughout the whole district, the female voice from before spoke again, ""Perimeter shut-down... in progress..."" The Terminal barrier doors started to move... coming down from the top... slowly, but surely...

 

The soldier heard an explosion not far away. He looked around and then down the street behind him... He could see something familiar, far away and coming in fast very... He recognized it - It was a Veritech... A VF-1 with unknown modifications and with stream of smoke coming of its left side. The Valkyrie was gliding down, approaching the streets slowly...

"Incoming!", he shouted - Other soldiers turned around, seeing danger coming...

"Take Cover!", another one soldier screamed. They all spreaded out, making their way fast towards their checkpoint.

 

----

 

Mick slowly started loosing control... Even his visual helmet-glass aids were blinking red, showing danger. "Crap, I gotta keep this thing straight! I can't keep it up with one engine!" - He tried changing back into Guardian-mode, but the Valkyrie did not react... "Damn it! Why isn't it working?!"

 

 

"Landing gears are not coming out! Ejection systems not responding!", FoxyRoxy shouted in despair. They heard sudden shutdown sounds throughout the entire Valkyrie... Unfortunately, the main power fluctuated... Nearly all screens and panels flashed off and gravity finally had started to get a grip upon their Valkyrie…

 

FoxyRoxy grabbed her seat handles... and held them as tight as possible... The whole cockpit was shaking and Mick fought keeping the control stick straight. The Valkyrie was just a few meters above the street. There was absolutely no chance at all to stop the unstoppable...

 

"Hold on, we're going DOWN!", Mick shouted...

 

Foxy's eyes widened as she saw several dangerous objects ahead.

 

A lot of cars were on the street, just ahead of them... Other systems just shut themselves off...

The lower side of the Valkyrie scratched the street, making lots of sparks... The whole Valkyrie slammed on the street, streaming ahead at a very high speed... Its wings smashed through many cars next to the sidewalk, luckily slicing through them since the wings were made of tough material. The cockpit itself shook heavily... Then they saw a few cars, scrambled around the street ahead. The whole fighter laid a stream of sparks and two black trails along the street as it slid.

 

"Oh no...", she said with a low voice...

The Valkyrie bashed right into the cars. Its "nose" smashing through everything... Unfortunately, one car rolled over the "nose" - slamming the cockpit a few times as it rolled over it, due to the high speed... Mick slammed to the left and to the right, luckily having his helmet protect his head. Although FoxyRoxy's seat harness was tight and sturdy, the impact was too powerful... The force was so powerful that it caused her shoulder-harness-straps to rip, making her whole upper body fly uncontrollable to the front - Slamming her head into the console-panels and frontal seat of Mick. Mick, however, did not notice anything since he was being shaken around all sides.

The Valkyrie still slid ahead - slightly sideways, but slowing down... Mick looked ahead and saw a destroyed battle tank....

 

"... Damn it... stop...", Mick said with slight pain...

 

The Valkyrie was still sliding closer....

"Stop..."

Getting closer...

"STOP!", he shouted...

 

The Valkyrie slid a few more meters, but then stopped... Its "nose" just a few meters away from the tank... Mick had his head down, ready for an impact... but then noticed that the shaking stopped. He looked ahead... not believing that they stopped... A few seconds passed as he calmed down.

 

Observing everything inside the cockpit, almost every instrument was damaged... not even one was without a crack... he looked up. The cockpit glass had many cracks and scratches as well - in fact, the upper half was more likely gone, he must have not even noticed it was gone until now... He detached his seat harness - or whatever was left from it - and pushed open the cockpit window. He was sure he had a few bruises... then he saw the Terminal-Gateway barrier, way beyond the half of closing. They were not far away from their goal - but there was not that much time to rest...

 

Mick stood upon shaking legs, but could not believe that they nearly.

 

"Crap... How the hell we stopped...", he said - , "I can't believe we're still alive, huh?" - He got up then looked over to FoxyRoxy - but then his smile turned into an astonished face, "Oh shit!"

She was lying on her seat, the head to the back, not moving... Mick climbed over towards her. While climbing over, he felt more pain in his left arm, but ignored it as he tried to get over to FoxyRoxy. He climbed next to her cockpit side and unstrapped the ripped belts. He laid his arm around her head, lifting it up slowly. Her blue helmet glass had multiple cracks in it, impossible to see her face, he noticed that his also had a few...

He pulled off his helmet throwing it to the pilot's seat and then gently took off her's.

Her hair came out, some blood on her lips...

He then threw her helmet also towards the front...

She seemed like a sleeping beauty, but she did not move a muscle... Still having his gloves on, he laid his hand on her neck and tried to feel a pulse... A few seconds passed... nothing...

He shook her a few times... She only moved back and forth - livelessly-.

 

Mick turned around, fell back sitting with his back on the Valkyrie's side, the RDF symbol - scratched by shard-fire - behind him... He could not believe what he has just noticed.

He could not believe that she was dead... Mixed feelings came up... pain... sorrowness... anger and... guilt... tears came into his eyes... He put his left hand on his face... covering the left side...

 

Saying to himself, quietly, "Roxanne... no... What have I done... Why didn't listen to her... ?"

 

A few seconds past... he could hear a few voices to his right... shouting voices...

 

The voices shouted:

"Com' on! Com' on! Get over HERE!!! The barrier is about to close! You'll get caught here if you don't get over here!!! Com' on! Get over here!!! What the hell are you waiting for...?!"

 

There were many soldier waving at him, about 200 meters away, making "come over here" arm movements, shouting at him, the barriers were just about twelve minutes away from completing the perimeter shut-down... The shut-down sequence was very slow, but it was only a matter of seconds until it was done.

A few soldiers wanted to run over to Mick, since they were sure they could make back on time, but they were held back... Mick, however, looked back into the ground... ignoring them and the situation... He did not care anymore...

 

"It doesn't matter..."

 

"ngh..."

 

Mick had more tears in his eyes... he wiped them away, making his face dirty...

 

Shaking his head, he said again, "It doesn't matter..."

 

"* a quiet cough *"

He suddenly lifted his head, "I M U S T be dreaming!", he smiled slightly, "Roxy, you're alive?!"

 

He immediately got up and turned around... FoxyRoxy was still lying... not moving... His face went from happy to sorrowness... He must have hallucinated... It must have been his feelings... His hopes made his imagination think she was alive after all... but it was just his imagination... He looked at her for a few seconds... Her head was still laying on her right, to the back a little... the same spot where he left it... blood still on her lips... Mick was looking at her... noticing her beauty... remembering the past, imagine-seeing the pictures...

 

The first time they met... Their first flight.... His first and second rescue attempt...Their conversations... Her secret disease... Her sense of humor... Her blue eyes... Her smile... Her red hair, which went to her shoulders, which he always wondered how she managed to hide all of it inside her helmet... Her possible favorite quote "ready when you are" ... Remembering her trying to bypass the Hangar Bay panel systems, where each time she said "I got it", she then got a electric shock on her finger, saying painfully - "ouch" - ...

He smiled... then his smile disappeared...

The air was still... only "quiet shouting" voices could be heard from a far.

 

Mick quit daydreaming, looking at her how she looks now... All her cockpit equipment was destroyed... Her HEC suit was a little dirty, with some shattered pieces from her touchpad consoles... He just could not believe how such beauty could die... by his own hands... He could feel guilt and anger come up... along with tears..

He slammed his fist against the cockpit side... biting his teeth together...

Guilt... He looked down, to the RDF symbol, remembering when he started flying Valkyries... he was sure he was going to fly alone... but he knew it was his responsibility to protect the life of his co-pilots, if he should ever have one... and now, his co-pilot was dead... because of his regardless manor and lack of his consideration... and especially because of not listening to her advise of gravity-malfunctions...

Guilt... He felt that he was a walking danger to his surroundings, he was sure that he is a danger to all who even comes close to him. A few more tears came on his face, a few dropped on the RDF symbol, sliding downwards... He looked at her one more time. Leaning over to her, he lifted his hand out at her head and went softly over her face... moving her beautiful hair off and around her left ear... He wiped the tears off his face again... Thinking how such a beautiful angel could join the military... He knew that war would bring death and sorrowness among all, but he never really thought it could bring such tragedy upon him.

 

 

The air was still and quiet...

Mick decided to look at her one more time...

Her head was lying on her hair... He could see single thin red hair, which was in front of her face was flying around a little, very softly blown, by a very soft and slight wind...

 

Mick decided to leave...

As he turned around, he noticed something strange... He looked straight ahead...

 

"Wait a minute", he thought, "The air is calm... practically no WIND!"

 

He turned back to her, taking a sharp look at her hair, which was near her nose and mouth... it was moving... then stopped... then moved again...

 

"I'm not dreaming... "

He climbed next to the cockpit again, putting his ear next to her face... He could feel a soft warm blow against his ear... joy filled his face...

 

"Haha! You're alive!"

Mick climbed out. He pulled her out of the cockpit, letting her back lay on the side of the Valkyrie.

... She was unconscious and her was breathing flat, slow and quiet...

 

"No wonder I couldn't feel her pulse...", he said to himself "- It was already low and slow...", Mick laughed a little, "And I was stupid enough to keep my gloves on!"

He picked her up, gently putting her on his shoulders. Although she was a little bit smaller than Mick, his suit made it quite complicated... He walked slowly ahead, carrying her on his shoulders. At least she did not break her neck…

His knee ached with each movement, but he needed to hurry… Just as he looked ahead, he spotted the soldiers and the gigantic barrier just about to close down between them ... Just 15 meters above the ground. The soldiers stood there, still being held back by others... not believing that he was carrying somebody... but it was too late, the barrier was just a few meters above the ground. Mick fell to his knees, still carrying the sleeping beauty upon his shoulders...

 

"Out of time..."

 

Mick looked at one of the soldiers ahead, while they saw he would not make it... Mick saluted to them... For now, they were sure that Mick and his co-pilot would be doomed. They saluted back, wishing him good luck...

 

The massive wall made of pure Hyper-Carbonite and reinforced synth-steel closed down right between them, making a loud stomping sound that vibrated through the whole ground beneath. This indestructible wall of pure mass just marked a dead border between life and death - and both Mick and his unconscious co-pilot were on the wrong side. For sure, the massive hulk was a definite sign for Mick of abandoning all hopes of finally getting into safety.

 

 

-----