Macross Fan Fiction ❯ Robotech: Beneath a steel sky ❯ Chapter 16 - Caldwell's heroes... ( Chapter 16 )

---- Chapter 16 ---- Caldwell's Heroes...

Somewhere far away and deep under Macross City...

Relaxed and laying on the floor of the train, Robert started to move, waking up from a long and deep sleep. He slowly opened his eyes, then suddenly remembered that he was still lost somewhere down under the city deck...

He woke up and got to his feet, having his rifle ready... Luck must have been watching him sleep, it could have been an eternal sleep if the "Invids"would have found him, lying on the floor, while having a nice and cozy sleep...

He could still could not tell where he was, nor how long he slept, but judging by his fatigue, which seemed gone, he must have slept a few hours.

He noticed that the train stopped. It was still raining from the ceiling, hearing each drop thumping on the top, softer than normal, but that did not disturb him... More important, he was rather dry, since he was the whole time in the train. Robert went to the console of the train, not looking outside... and noticed that it's screen said something:

"Auxillary power cells exhausted... Vehicle halted... Primary generators are recharging main and aux. power cells... estimated time until fully charged cell : 1 hour 12 Min... "

"Hmm...", he thought, "Now I'm an hour stuck here... and who knows what will be wandering around here..." Robert went down to the backpack, took out rations and started to eat them, then took a drink from a field-canister. After drinking, he used his hand to wipe off drops from his lips. "... Damn... "

---

Quietness... space... in the middle of nowhere...

A lonesome Valkyrie slowly drifted into the deep... The Valkyrie seemed damaged... beyond repair... More likely a piece of junk - slowly rotating deeper into space...

The cockpit glass of the Valkyrie was shattered... Two pilots were inside it's cockpit... The one in the back seat started to move...

It was Sparrow... starting to become concious... She woke up in a sudden... Glass and other pieces were floating in front of her face.

Looking around in panic, she noticed that the whole cockpit glass was broken, only a few pieces are still pointing out... The Valkyrie rotated slowly further...

She started to panic more and more...

"Jester... ?", she said in a frightened voice, "Jester! Can you hear me...?" - no answer - "Jester...?!" Only her lips were moving, not a sound could be heard outside her helmet. She started to shout, "JESTER! WAKE UP!..." - again, no answer ...

He was not moving...

Although Jester had the full control of the Valkyrie in the front seat, it was still possible for the co-pilot to use the Valkyrie as well, even though these type of Valkyries normally rely on it's pilot...

She hastingly grabbed the controls of the Valkyrie and started to move it around...

No reaction...

The Valkyrie continued it's rotation... She shaked it around, trying to move...

Again... no reaction...

Her cockpit controls were dead as well - seemingly that the power was off. She tried to reactivate the Valkyrie's power-core... Again, no reaction... She tried again and again...

Sparrow felt helplessly - Immediately setting her frequency to broadband, she shouted:

"Mayday! Mayday! This is Sparrow! Come in please! I need immediate assistance! Over..." - Not even a sound returned - "Mayday, Mayday! Come in SDF-1 control! My pilot is unconcious, maybe dead... Our Valkyrie is damaged beyond operational level! We are drifting away! Come in, SDF-1 !" - No anwser -" Come in...", her voice started to sound cryingly... "Pl-please..." - A tear showed up in her eye - "Come in... "

She could see stars... millions and millions of stars... then seeing the deep black...

Her breathing started to become louder and unstable... She could feel her heart beating, thumping harder and harder, feeling as if it wanted to breach out of her chest...

Sweat pearls started to appear on head forehead... She started to look back and forth... feeling cornered... the endless deep black of space, covering her surroundings... Fear... She was now lead by her own adrenaline... The 'Syndrome'...

She grabbed the controls of the Valkyrie, constantly trying to reactivate the Valkyrie's power core... No effect...

She shouted hysterical... slamming her fists against the consoles around her, which remained black... Most of them were already broken and destroyed... She held herself... seeing the stars rotate... It felt as if the stars themselves were moving around them...

It was frightning... The darkness was around her... endlessly deep... She started to calm down...

"S - Somebody help me..."

----

Chris' Valkyrie, although damaged and flying through space with a destroyed thruster, was moving heading ahead at a speed of 500 km/h... He was lucky to be on course back to the SDF-1, or at least heading there, so he could call for help when he is in range with short-wave communication.

Since his Valkyrie received multile hits, various systems have been damaged, such as primary communication units and other vital systems... but he was alive.

He constantly thought about Jester and Sparrow - knowing that they were slowly drifting away... He could see the SDF-1 ahead. The Fortress, usually known for it's majestic size was very small... Indeed, his private little skimish before has made him drift a lot further away than he had expected. If there was one thing for sure, he would need to back fast. As time past by, he memorized the last cooridinates...

----

The battle continued, but seemed as if it was coming to an end... Heavily armed Valkyries have bombed the Centurion-class "Invid" ship... "Bleeding" and "wounded" it started to fly back to the "Exodus"... Fortunately, it seemed as if it was retreating...

Commander Hayes turned over to the Admiral, saying, "Admiral, the bombers report that they have deployed their bombs, obviously with success. The enemy is retreating... "

"Very well... I think it would be appropiate to call back all squadrons. Then deploy replacements."

"Yes sir..."

Something seemed to bug Claudia... "Admiral?", she asked

"What is it, Commander Grant?"

"Isn't it strange, sir? Why did the enemy send out such large creature? It hasn't done any real attack. Instead, our bombers drove it away with no problems..."

"I've noticed that as well...", he said, "This enemy is more mysterious than the Zentraedi... Are they playing the same game like the Zentraedi?... We have no idea what it's intentions are, besides the fact that it wants to take the Battle-Fortress intact as well..."

"Hmm..."

Sammie Porter turned around... "Admiral, sir?"

"I would like to ask for permission to board the "Oblivion" after my shift...", she asked - Everybody knew why she was asking... Her intentions were clear why she wanted to head to the "Oblivion"...

" You know that you have duties... but instead, after this shift, I am ordering you to head to the "Oblivion" to support them on sensor readings...", he replied back to her.

" Sir?" - She started to feel happiness -"Thank you sir! ..."

She turned around...

Claudia smiled...

----

The rookie squadrons were flying back to the "Oblivion" in cruise speed of 300km/h, since the groups could only fly as fast as their slowest Valkyrie...

Desiree Nueveux, RW co-pilot of french heritage, showed up on all communication screens.

""'ey, mes ami, Where is our commandeur?"", she asked and looked around. Observering her surroundings, she could only discover VF-1D Specials - A few damaged and others without missles or even main canons.

Genesis, another RW co-pilot, also showed up on one of their screeens, ""Yeah... and now that you're asking - Where's Jester and Sparrow?""

""Dunno"", said Pres, as he looked around, ""He requested for covering fire - so we gave him some help - but after that, he disappeared from my wing into nowhere... I've got no idea where that joker could be...""

""Hmm... Maybe they were shot down... "", Rixler proposed.

""Naaaah... Now"", Rooks said in a sure voice, ""Jester flies way too crazy to get shot down! We should be the ones fearing his aim.""

"Rooks, don't forget - He's not invicible...", Cherry said from behind...

"I know, but I know that he's a great pilot.", he said back to her, feeling sure that he was alright.

"I have a bad feeling about him and Sparrow... ", she replied in a worried voice. Her face seemed sad as she thought about them.

"You know Sparrow pretty well, huh?", Rooks asked, looking slightly to the back.

"Yes... You mean Cassandra... Yes... We are the best friends... same goes for Nalia - Someone you can count on, alright."

"Yeah, you two surely do know how to use the radar...", the pilot remarked, "That's something not all of us can understand..."

"Speaking of missing... I miss Foxy-Roxy and Spades as well..."

"Who?", Rooks added.

"Spades... I mean...", sadness filled her voice, "Sara was - killed in action - She received fatal shard fire and... and didn't survive the way back... Roxy is missing in action... along with her pilot..."

Rooks thought back a short second, then said, "Guess that pilot you mean must be Mick... Damn... Where the hell is he... I knew I shouldn't have left him alone that day..."

"What do you mean, Rooks?"

"Remember that impact, or? Well, when that gigantic thing smashed into the SDF-1, he wanted to get Foxy-Roxy from the hospital, I guess... That was the last time I saw him... I can't forget him... First he's missing... now Jester is..."

As the other pilots talked to each other, Syrie noticed something on her primary radar screen. A "blip" was moving in from the bottom...

""Mes ami! My radar is picking up an object. 7 o'clock... le velocity... 500 km/h... distance... 9 kilometre... coming closer.""

"" Is it "Invid"?"", Chessna asked nervously, ""I thought we had them on the run!""

""Rixler here... well, I don't know, but since I'm the highest ranked among us, I think we should check it out! It's a lot faster than we are...""

""Hmm... I can see it too..."", Cherry said, as she viewed her console panels in front of her ""- but it doesn't look like "Invid"...""

""Cherry, don't forget that those things come in various sizes! Even one of them is dangerous!"", Rixler said.

""Yeah... They got us last time!"", Sqype said as well, ""Our Valk' got a few scratches, but it'll keep together!""

""We were lucky that we crashed down on the SDF-1 and not somewhere else last time..."", Needles remarked.

""Ok, but I want those whose allround condition are below 50% to return to base - The rest shall stick to the group.""

""Ok, guys, you heard Rix' !"", Rooks said.

""All... 'Reverse and Direct Maneuver'!"", Rixler orded to his group...

The whole group shut down their cruise-thrusters, turned around, all pointing towards the opposite direction, while moving backwards, then blasted at maximum thrust ahead. Only a few seconds past... Then they received a contact link from the "Oblivion". A sensor officer showed up on their screens:

""Flight group Bravo-One. Where are you flying? Your orders are to return to base. ""

""Hey, we got something on radar!"", Rixler replied, ""It's fast and it's coming closer! I've ordered the Valkyries which need immediate repairs and help to return to base.""

""... Investigate... but avoid combat, if "Invid". A single "Invid" is not dangerous to the "Oblivion" nor to the SDF-1. Oblivion out [ screen fuzz]""

"Yeah right... 'a single Invid is not dangerous...' - They kidding?! Afterwards they'll start crying... Nevermind... Let's get that "Invid"!"

They blazed ahead...

----

Robert felt bored... He was sitting inside the train, holding his rifle ready...

----

Somewhere in the "Diamond Back" District...

A large tank rolls through the wide streets... Inside, the tank observer was looking on the radar map, when he noticed that they were closing in the position of the combat zone...

(>>The crew of tanks normally consists of two tank gunners, one driver, one observer, one mechanic and the tank commander..<<)

"Hey Briggs!", the tank-observer shouted, "We're almost there... "

Corp. Briggs had a zigarette in the corner of his mouth. He looked up, showing his thumb up, then walked to over tank driver and said, "Slow down a little, will ya?"

"Sure thing, boss". He lightened his foot from the gas pedal, slowing down to 7 km/h...

"Thanks. [ Looks up to the tank observer] What do you see out there?", Briggs asked, looking upwards.

"I'll activate the cam and display it on a screen down there", the observer told him and typed on console.

"Ok... "

Mick and Foxy-Roxy, who now had a head bandage, got up to look on the screen as well. The screen showed another battlefield, full of damaged or destroyed buildings, dead people, blood, "Invid" bodies and destructed vehicles...

"Hmm... We've seen this before...", one soldier said, "but where are our people..."

" bet they're on the run, maybe heading southwards - or even east... ", another one said...

"No way... South way is blocked by the terminals. I'd say their heading east, too..."

"Let's say "south-east", happy?", another soldier snarled.

"Joker..."

They laughed shortly... then remembered what was happening - Their faces were serious again...

Briggs got up, "You know... Maybe you guys aren't that wrong about where they're heading... Let's say they really are on the run... Then they are in deep trouble... "

"...They're gonna need all the help they need, or?", the tank-driver asked.

"You got it..."

"Well then", the tank-driver smiled, "I'm on it!", and pressed on the gas pedal, speeding up.

"It must be an evacuation mission out there, or?", Mick asked as he scratched his head...

"Yeah, they don't have that many tanks with them", Briggs told him, "since they're needed else where. Trucks and armored-personnel-carriers are out there, trying to get a lot of people out of here...

Foxy-Roxy asked, "They can only ride on these main streets, am I right ?" -Briggs nodded positivly- "- Then we are not far from them..."

"Hey hey", the driver shouted back, "I said I'm on it!"

"Easy groove, Vince. Oh, before I forget." Briggs opened a small storage cabinet, and pulls out some equipment. "Here are a few things that I want all of you to use, the civs as well..."

He pulled out headset-communicators with shoulder-radio, handguns and ammo-clips.

"Leave the shooting around for the soldiers, but I don't want anyone wandering around afterwards without a gun. Those spikers sure got an attitude. I'm sure we are going to have to support the evacs when we reach them"

"I hope we reach them on time...", Foxy-Roxy said...

----

Robert yarned... then sighed...

----

Space... a severely damaged Valkyrie with a smoking thruster floated straight ahead...

Chris noticed his short range scanners. He could see a few dots, 2 km away... a few more showed up...

"Uh-oh... Something is coming... and it's not alone... damn... and I was so close to getting back... I guess it's the "Invid" coming in for me, to finish me off..."

----

""Ok ladies and gentlemen"", Rixler said, ""Just one "Invid", I don't think we should have a problem with this one... ( I hope)""

""{french accent} Target is un point seven kilometre away.""

""Hey, we can't attack! Who know's if it's "Invid"!"", Cherry said out loud, trying to get everyones attention, ""Aren't we suppossed to do visual contact first?""

Rixler sounded mad, ""Those guys at the bridge know nothing! Making visual contact with "Invids" would be suicide! Visual contact actually equals in range of their spikes, if I'm not wrong!""

""But...!"", Cherry tried to find words to convince them -instead, she was interupted Rixler...

""No "buts"! You have your orders. Now then, to make this work, who still got long range missiles?""

Chessna showed up on their screens, ""We still got two, should be enough for one target. But our targetting systems damaged offline... We'll be needing some passive radar guild-line from someone else""

""Cherry... Could you take care of that.""

""R - Roger..."", Cherry said unhappily and started concentrating the radar beam to the blip...

Every Valkyrie and Veritech unit have different types of avionics. From standard radar systems to sophisticated close vicinity and long range scanners. Usually, radar is used to scan the surroundings of Veritechs, making it possible to find anything that is around it.

Since Veritechs, especially Valkyries, are normally used for close combat, the standard radar only reaches to a range of eight to nine kilometers, since it's impulse expands as a bubble around the Valkyrie.

It is also possible to pin-point the impulse into a beam, aim it directly at an object, so that all friendly units can target the object with passive radar-guided weapons.

Passive radar-guided weapons are rather ineffective, but due to fact the guidance system of missiles and cannons only need a "receiver" system. These "receiver" systems are small, making it possible to increase the kinetic explosion of the warhead and increasing it's range and reducing they costs for being produced.

The radar-beam has to be in constant contact with it's target, or else the missile will fly straight into nowhere... These missiles are not always reliable, especially since they do not have intelligent proximity sensors, so it can explode near a target, increasing it's hit ratio...

""Target locked on..."", Cherry said.

Genesis' main console showed a blinking circle, along with red triangles, showing that the missiles have locked on as well... ""Ready to fire!""

Rixler, who sits in front of Genesis, said, ""Firing 'Dolphin'..."", and pressed the missile trigger once with his thumb""

One missile dispatched from the side the Valkyrie, then blasts ahead.

""Missile on the way... Cherry, keep that beam up..."", he added.

""Alright, alright! I'm on it""

""I'm going to fire the next one, when the missile has about more than half of the way behind it, just in case that thing dodges it... If the first missile doesn't hit... the second one will...""

----

A few seconds past... Chris' threat indicator suddenly started to flash and make alert sounds, showing that one small object was coming in from the front.

"Since when do 'Invids' have long range shards... They nomally come in close... "

The object was coming closer... His threat indicator showed the object coming closer to the middle of the small screen, counting numbers downward - "6.72 km ... 6.67 km..."

The situation was getting worse and worse. Not only he was flying already straight into his death, the "Invid" must have already noticed that he was flying straight into them, making them shoot one large shot...

----

A few more seconds past...

Chessna noticed that missile past the "half-way" mark and said, ""Rix' . You should fire the next one.""

""Roger... Firing 'Dolphin' number two!"", he replied and pressed missile trigger again.

Another missile dispatched, this time from the other side of the Valkyrie, then blasted ahead as well...

"" 'Dolphin two' is on it's way...""

----

Another object showed up on the threat indicator...

Chris' Valkyrie was unable to get off it's present course... The object was now under 1.5 km...

He suddenly noticed that his threat indicatar was flashing something he has not noticed a minute ago... A green thick line was aimed straight at his position... shaking left and right.

The pilot made a confused face...

"Since when do "Invids" have radar? ... " - His face changes into astonishment - "Oh no! That must be Valkyries aiming for me! They must be thinking I'm an "Invid"!"

He tries to change modes, do turning... no effect... he was still drifting foward... - "Oh no...!"

The object that was closing in to him was now visible... It was a grey long object, laying a white stream behind it's path... A missile... A dreaded missile heading straight his way... The threat indicator showed that it was now 400 meters away...

"This is it... "

He could see it coming... It was getting larger, the closer it came... He could see that it was going to the right side of his dead Valkyrie, more likely, the cockpit side... It was now just a few meters away, coming in fast...

(>> slow-motion <<) He could see the missile coming in closer, seeing it's frame and thrust-unit... but then, as if luck was once on his side -

The missile flew past his cockpit... not touching, nor scratching his Valkyrie.

In other words - It missed -

Chris was fortunate that this types of missiles were not fitted with proximity dectectors...

He lowered his arm from his face, since we was actually sure that he was going to die, this time - For the moment, he stared at the stream which pasted by his cockpit, until his head another alert sound...

- "Crap! There is one more heading my way! Looks like this could be the last of my nine lives... but if I want to survive this one... I better - "

He grabbed his helmet settings...

----

""The first missile flew past the target!"", Chessna shouted...

""Damn that monster!"", Rixler said to the group, ""Well, that was his last chance...""

Cherry was concentrating on keeping the beam in constant contact, when she suddenly heard something... Her helmet radio said something...it was quiet... and short... ""... Mrrhs stop! ...""

"Huh?", she said to herself. Her shoulders dropped down slightly and she lifted her head a little...

"What's wrong, Cherry?", Rooks asked when he noticed her saying something.

She held her hand to the helmet... "I'm not sure - Didn't you hear anything? I heard something..."

"I don't know, I was keeping an eye on something else - Haven't noticed a sound...", he said back to her...

""Something is not right..."", she remarked to the others, ""I could have sworn I heard something like "stop"... What if that target is one of ours?""

----

The second missile's white line was visible for Chris, but then, it suddenly did a large curve, flying into a totally different direction, heading somewhere else into space...

"What the...? Did they hear me?"

----

Rixler noticed the missile flying totally off it's course... ""What the hell?! Why did that missile go haywire?!!""

""The missile was fine"", Chessna said, "The beam was aimed somewhere else! It followed the beam!""

""Cherry! What the hell have you done?! Weren't you supposed to keep it on the contact?!""

Cherry ignored him.

Instead, she setted her communication line to broadband - straight ahead to the target, ""Do you hear me? I repeat, Do you hear me?""

"What are you doing? Are you nuts? Rix's gonna rip our heads off!", her pilot said...

""Haven't you've noticed that you are talking to an "Invid"?!"", Rixler shouted...

Ignoring him again, she said, ""Whoever is out there... Do you read me?""

.... A few seconds past, then a voice could be heard, with lots of fuzz and interferances... ""This isssh... Lieutenant Chris - fshhh- well... -der of the Bravo patrol squadron - frshht- Cease firrreeee -chrrzztsssh-""

""I KNEW IT!"", Cherry shouted joyfully, ""It's one of ours!"", and threw herself to the back, sliding relieved slightly downwards.

""Huh?! It's Lt. Caldwell? Our commander?!"", Rixler repeated astonished.

""-chrzzst - You guys nearly shot me down! My Valkyrie is ripe for a junkyard... ! -fshht- I've had a tough fight out there, My Valk' is shot up into pieces... and - I've got some bad news people...""

""Tell us about that later, sir"", Cherry said, ""We should better escort you back to base!""

Rixler sunk also sunk into his seat - but rather confused and astonished at the same time.

"I don't believe it...", he said to himself, "I was about to shoot our own commander away...", Rixler said and sunk even more into his seat in embarrassment.

"Whew, Rixler -", Genesis said to him from behind, "Sometimes we gotta be happy for the lack of accuracy of those passive-guided Dolphins..."

Cherry leaned her head to the back, resting her shoulders from being stressed.

"Wow, Cherry. How did you know it was him and not some slime bag...?", Rooks wondered...

"It - it was just a feeling..."

""Ok, guys, we better slow down and wait for him to get to us"", Spencer suggested.

The group confirmed, while activating retro-thrusters...

They waited quite a while until Chris' Valkyrie floated right past them... They followed...

Looking at Chris' Valkyrie, as it past by, Spencer said, ""Wow... Your Valk' looks like a dart board...""

""Now I know how much punishment a Valkyrie can withstand..."", Genesis added...

""Yeah... Maybe I should make a photo of this... 'Most punishment received in flight'... Haha""

""Very funny! Knock it off...!"", Chris said to them, "" I barely survived... How did you guys managed without me?""

As they flew back to the "Oblivion" Rixler and Sqype gave a report...

----

Robert was lying on his back, resting... looking up to the ceiling of the train... silver... strange that it was kind of shining... as if light was coming from outside... He got curious...

How could it be reflecting blue? This was strange... He got up from his back... He remember that before sleeping, he shut down the "windows", using their integrated platings, so that nothing "surprising" could come in...

He snatched his rifle and made sure that it was active... He opened the entry door of the train...

Now he saw something that he could not believe... He opened the door further, then climbed out... His mouth was wide open in astonishment... not believing what he was seeing around him...

----

Vicinity of the "Oblivion", three kilometers away...

A few Valkyries flew by in a close formation with a damaged... rather destroyed Valkyrie...

Rixler set his frequency on bridge command of the 'Oblivion' and reported, ""This is Private 1st class Madekin - second-in-command, Jason, Rookie squadrons - Bravo patrol, come in, Bridge command...""

An officer with headset showed up on his screen. ""This is bridge command of "Oblivion". I hear you loud and clearly...""

""My squadron investigated the last "bogey"... Apparantly, it happened to be that the "bogey" was a friendly unit, our Wing Leader, who was missing in action...""

""Roger, Squad leader...""

""Bridge command, please give us a landing bay instructions...""

""One moment please *pauses* You may proceed to landing alpha, five.""

""Affirmative, bridge command...""

"Looks like we made it...", Chessna said happily, letting go of her console controls and leaned back into her seat in relievement.

""Umm, guys..."", Chris said...

""What's up, sir?"", Pres asked.

""Are you forgetting that I don't have any "brakes"? I'm a floating rock in space!""

Rixler thought a second...

""Uh, bridge command, we might be needing some supporting measures, our Wing Leader is heavily damaged and has no capability of controlling his Valkyrie.""

""Understood, Squad leader, support measures are in progress...""

----

Robert got out of the train... then looked in all directions, to the left, to the right... up and down... Still not believing what he was seeing...

The ground was flat, not full of junk and other scrap metal... It was flat, metal-plated floor... but that was not all. He was surrounded by a "sky"... Besides the few rain drops falling on him, a blue/velvet sky surrounded him...

A blue-purple haze... strange enough, but he felt like as if he were on Earth. The visibility was limited... He could see to about 600 meters, beyond that point was a blue "wall" of fog, in constant distance to the middle of his position... as he moved, the visibility range followed... He looked up... It was not so bright... rather dark-blue-haze "sky"... It seemed as if his eyes were getting used to the brightness, since he was a long time in the darkness...

It was still raining... Hours ago, he was in a dark forsaken junkyard, which seemed to be an endless desert of scrap-metal, running for his life, trying to stay alive by hopping on a runaway train...

Now, he was on a totally flat "metal" land, a "sky" which seemed just like the typical dusk sky back on Earth... and he was still lost...

The situation was getting worse and worse... Although it was not dark anymore, the "fog" around him surely made him nervous... besides the few raindrops splashing quietly around him, seeing that he was alone... Robert got back into the train, then closed the entry-door...

It was clear... Sara Capricorn said that the rails were the connections between stations... It was his only bet to follow her advice... which lead him to one thought...

"... Damn..."

----

Somewhere deep in space...

As time went by... A slow Valkyrie floated by, turning slowly clockwise...

It's hull and armor rather smashed... The only light emitting was the light reflecting on it's surface coming from the far away yellow sun... The cockpit was shattered...

Sparrow was confused by her feelings... She felt fear, terror and unsafeness, as she saw the deepness of space... She was alone in the dark... She knew that she was surrounded by the silent death of space... As more fear pierced into her mind, she started to become hysterical... trying to wake up Jester and call for help...

Hopelessly...

---