Macross Fan Fiction ❯ Robotech: Beneath a steel sky ❯ Chapter 22 - A new Ally? ( Chapter 22 )

Chapter 22 ---- A new ally? ----

...

A stunning pain could be felt throughout his whole body, as Robert started to become concious.

Every light movement was like being stabbed from hundreds of nails. Sighing painfully, he slowly opened his eyes... His vision was blurry and unsharp.

He immediatly closed his eyes as they started to ache due to the brightness around him...

The pain was at a remarkable level and he remained still, trying to remember what happened.

He had no idea where he was, nor did he have orientation...

A few seconds passed, when he noticed that something was missing - something that has stopped following him ever since he fell into the Under-Deck.

Strange to himself, there were no raindrops splashing on and around him anymore - It was not even cold...

Lying on his back, he decided not to move a muscle, since any movement would only increase the pain...

He remained silent...

----

As time past by, SDF-1 Operative Kim Young was having a conversation over headphone-communitions with different deck-engineers, when a sudden alarmtone signal appeared on the side of her screen.

"... Hold a second, Engineering Deck - I've just received an urgent signal...", she replied to them.

Judging the sound of the signal, she knew that something must have happened somewhere inside the ship and immediately used her controls to pinpoint the signals.

The screen showed a highly-detailed mainframe of the MacrossCity deck - along with two sections blinking red.

Admiral Gloval was currently not present - Instead, she turned around towards Lisa's direction and said, "Commander Hayes, we've just lost power for two districts!".

Lisa turned her head, along with a surprised face, "Two districts at the same time?", she asked astonished, "... I'm afraid to say that those sectors are now conquered by the enemy force - more or less...".

"The same is happening right now with the districts before - I'm loosing more and more control... from atmospheric controls to district-operation systems and communications".

Claudia Grant's voice could was heard, as she repeated, "Fenris Command, come in - Fenris Command, come in". She gave up and said, " All communications to the lower decks have just collapsed !"

" This is not getting better...", Lisa said to herself... then she rose her voice , " - I will inform the Admiral immediately, try to re-establish deck communications - We can not afford to lose that vital system..."

----

Mick seemed relieved, as he saw that the terminal entrance to the eastern district was still open.

The battles around the large group have calmed down slightly... Exhausted civialians and soldiers were walking along with slowly-moving vehicles - side by side keeping aware of the surroundings.

Looking out from an open hatch of the tank, he asked, "Hey guys? What's this place - I've never been here before".

Corperal Briggs voice could be heard from the below:

"Welcome to Utopia Chenarra District - the main industrial sector - probably the most important part of the city, if you ask me..." -

Another hatch opened, next to Mick's spot.

FoxyRoxy wanted to have a look outside, when she accidently bumped her head against the edge - First, he heard an "ouch", then FoxyRoxy's hand on top of her head when she came up -

"Ouch... What's so important about this place, anyways - Aren't there many other industrial sections in other districts?"

"You're right about that one, Foxy", Briggs replied, "...but there is still a differance between this place and the others... Maybe not common to all the people here, but this is also one of the primary military districts..."

- His pronounciation of "military" sounded strange to them... -

He continued, "From factories to scientific facilities - Veritech hardware to military ground warfare training grounds-"

FoxyRoxy looked around again - astonished, " I've never heard of this place either - How come I've never heard of this...?".

"This is an off-limits area, actually..."

"Top-secret stuff?", Mick did not sound really surprised - after all, he was already starting to lose fate to the sense of the RDF.

"Well, I guess so - if you ask me - Never really been here myself, now that you mention it, but as a military guy, you learn some stuff around here, hehe", Briggs said, "As far as I know, this place has everything, though - safe habitats, bunkers, fortifications, hydroponic farms - storage silos, depots - hangars, repair bays with mechanic aid - even of fully supplied hosipital center!... Geez, I would feel like home - hahaha".

Briggs laughed light-heartedly... He calmed down, his voice sounding serious again, "but listen... that's not all about this place - besides all that stuff and the size of this place, it also is connected to lower deck - under the city... to one of the main reactors of the SDF-1"

"Greeeat, a barrel full of gun-powder... and we're heading straight for it with a torch in our hand...", someone of the tankcrew added.

Mick looked around - The tank was surrounded with more wounded people and damaged vehicles than before - only the many children have stayed safe and far away from all the trouble that happened a while ago...

Nevertheless, everybody was in fatigue - Tired of walking... Surely, Mick did not understand them wrong, it was more like a slave-walk from one part of the city to another...

FoxyRoxy still had a rifle strapped on her back. She went through her red hair with her hand - after looking around, she noticed Mick's troublesome face... sensing that he was thinking about something...

"Mick... is something wrong? You look worried...", she asked softly.

He somehow felt responsible for the safety of people, even more for FoxyRoxy's safety.

She yawned slightly and stretched herself, "This has been a crazy day, don't cha think? How long have we've been running around here?", she asked - then smiled.

"We can't be running on forever from those 'bugs', can we?", he asked, "We're already cornered...", he looked up, "Our last resort..." -

"Huh?", FoxyRoxy replied, confused.

Mick turned his head towards the inside of the tank:

"Hey Briggs, what do you think... shouldn't we 'fortify' ourselves here? What do you think?", he asked, trying to look for advice.

The Corperal leaned back and though a few seconds... "I don't think I can help ya on that one, Mick - It's definately not a bad idea - Now that you mention it. Even though this place is not for civilian eyes - It 'does' have almost everything we need... I'm afraid I'm gonna have to leave that decision for you".

After having one last look - He made his choice. He pulled out the radio from his side and activated it on all frequencies:

"Um, hello, it's me - Badger One - Listen up everybody, I don't know if it's a good idea, but I think it would be the best for us to stay here in the upcoming district - probably our best survival-chance if we would establish a safe fortification here... somehow... In order to get things done, we're going to need everybody - absolutly everybody. I'm sure we've got plenty of professions among us...", he paused and looked at the people...

"Soldiers... Pilots... Teachers... Technician, Engineers - Construction workers ... absolutely every possible profession - We need to make this place safe - It's going to be tough - but if we want to survive, this our best bet... what do you all think?" - He paused again.

A few seconds past by... then a few rose their hands, waving towards his direction. They have all heard his broadcast - Many... almost all of them were smiling. They seemed to be volenteering for the various jobs and tasks needed.

A few where even cheering towards Mick.

Mick smiled in embarrassment... He could not believe that these people were following him...

"This is crazy...", Mick said, "Will we ever get out this mess?", looking over to FoxyRoxy.

She replied with a charming smile, "We need a leader, Mick - someone with cunning and smooth leadership - someone who knows the best for all of us - who else would be suitible?", she asked.

"B-But why don't they listen to the military guys here - they're the ones who have leadership and all that stuff", he sounded uneased, "I... I'm just a rookie pilot - that's all"

"Mick", she said, "after all what you've done for us, you've proven more than that you're just a 'rookie' pilot - after saving me from that hideous thing from the hospital... I know you have the bravery... I would never dare to think the opposite.

The soldiers here are just human-beings just you and me, just like everybody here - most of them feeling betrayed from they're own commander way up ahead... They need a new leader... Who is just like them, Mick - don't you understand?"

Her words gave him strength, somehow... "Foxy... I mean, Roxanne... Did I ever tell you that you're the best person I've ever met in my entire life?", he asked.

She wanted to reply, but immediately blushed and looked away, her face went sightly red, "Th-Thank you", feeling more embarrassed than he was, but happy.

Mick looked up noticing that it was becoming dark. Looks like the holographic sky was slowly moving into "dusk"-mode... Parts of the sky were not complete, there were "square" holes in the sky... probably malfuctions in the holo-projection systems...

----

Robert suddenly woke up again.

"Wha- Where... ?" he said...

Whatever pain he had, was gone... He felt more and more flexible by the second.

Maybe he was recovering from whatever happened to him, he supposed.

Images through his imagination were also coming back to him, remembering him what happened a while ago.

His vision was getting better - Looking around, he noticed that he was in some kind of room.

Large... but totally unfamiliar. -A strange looking door, an unfamiliar ceiling- The walls seemed to be made of unknown material and was colored in soft oceanic blue... strange to him. A totally different architecture - even strange sculputures were in the room...

He leaned up and noticed that he was not on the ground, rather on a flat "bed", along with a sliky blanket. Robert supposed that he could not tell that he was lying in a "bed" nor knowing having a "blanket"since whatever energetic-charge he was exposed to must have somehow knocked out his senses, even the feeling sense - which now "returned" to normal.

Rubbing his face, he noticed that a beard was slowly showing up around his face, since he has not shaved for a very long while...

He felt a smooth motion passing by... Fresh clean air - just like air conditioned -

A lot different than the air he had to breathe while he was in the darkness of nowhere, smelling only metallic junk and water... This started making him remember about his past... but then he cleared his mind.

Robert noticed a lightness on his shoulders. The special BPA-vest he was carrying was not on his shoulders, not even his backback nor gun-holster... Looking around, he noticed that his equipment was lying against the "wall", along with the protoculture rifle next to it...

Again, he asked himself where he was and why everything was against the wall.

Robert decided to make a first step out of his comfortable "bed"... When he stood up, he noticed a sudden akward balanceness, making him feel dizzy.

He still had control of himself and started walking forward...

The first steps were more like those of Frankenstein's first steps. As he walked towards his gear, he heard sounds coming from the "wall" to his left.

"How can there be sounds coming from such a solid wall?", he asked himself. He changed his direction towards the "wall". Noticing a frame inside, he slowly went over it his hand...

All the sudden, the frame inside the wall vanished, reveiling what was behind... Robert was so surprised that he fell to his back. He could not bear what he was seeing...

Judging his vision, it seemed as if he just reveiled a sort of "window", showing him what was outside.

He could see multiple buildings, but of different shapes and sizes, made of different architechure... The "window" also made the most of floor under him transperant, making it possible to see what was below... The room he was in was very high above the ground...

A blue-purple haze surrounded the buildings outside like a fog, permitting him from seeing beyond a certain point.

Floating vehicles flew by, along with strange looking mecha... Mechas he has never seen before...

"Th-This is not Macross City...", he stuttered..., "Wh-what is this place?"

As far as his eyes could reach, the area or "city" he was at was of a strange and unfamiliar culture.

He slowly crawled back, not looking down, trying to fight against the feeling of floating, then wiped some sweat pearls from his forehead...

Robert crawled towards his gear... he was too anxious to leave.

At the same moment he grab the gun-holster, he suddenly remained still as he heard an opening sound not far behind him... two steps could be heard...

Not wasting another second, he swiftly pulled out the handgun from the holster, turned around as fast as he could and aimed towards the direction of the sound...

Indeed, there was a person behind him... a person with a surprised face. The person dropped a tablette with a few unknown objects...

Roberts eyes widened, as he slowly recognized the person...

A female figure with colored face-painting lines on her face, who just dropped a couple of unknown things, moved astonished against the wall behind her, as she saw Robert aiming a weapon towards her...

He noticed her eye color changing into an artic-glaring blue color... Her face full of fear... Her hands against the wall.

He also could not recognize what type of clothes she was wearing... She was too frightened by Robert's reaction...

He suddenly noticed that she had a dark blue scar on her right waist side... After a few seconds,

Robert slowly started to recognize the person... "Is it you?", he asked...

She did not reply due to her fear.

"... c-calm down, I won't do anything, see?", he added, then slowly lowered the handgun...

She watched him lay the gun aside.

Lifting his hands up, he said, "I won't harm you, you see?".

Moments past by...

"Is her fear making her stay frozen on one spot, or does she not know what to do next...?", he asked himself.

She lowered her head slightly... Robert did not move a muscle... then she opened her mouth and slowly said, "Uza- .... Uza zel...?" -

"What is she trying to say?", he thought -

"U... uza zel... vi'na?"

The female pilot bent down to her knees and picked up some of the objects she dropped and slowly came closer to Robert. As she came closer, he leaned back, wondering what she up to.

When she came close enough, she bent down again, holding a type of cloth in her hand.

It seems as if she wanted to wipe something off Robert's forehead.

At the same time the cloth touched his forehead, he suddenly moved his head towards the back, since he felt something stinging. The female lifted her other hand and held his head gently, then again slowly tapped the cloth on his forehead. Although each touch stung him, he remained quiet...

"... Why is she taking care of me?"... Robert asked himself in his mind...

"She's ... not human... but looks human... Speaks... and feels like a human..."

As he observed her curing his wounds, he started to slowly notice in her eyes.

As seconds past by, her eyes slowly changed from the artic-blue color to a pure intense velvet-purple color... He also noticed that she started to feel more calm around him, even smiling, showing her sharp-profile corner teeth.

Each time their eyes crossed their paths, she immediately looked somewhere else and continued tapping his forehead...

"...Is she embarrassed? Hmm, maybe I should try to communicate with her... somehow", he thought.

"U-Uhm, what is your name?", Robert asked slowly - speaking loud and clearly.

She stopped tapping his forehead and looked straight into his eyes - with a questioning face...

"What-is-your-name?", he repeated slowly. She did not reply, but he could surely think that her mind was filling up with hundreds of question-marks.

He pointed his finger to himself, hoping sign-language would help, "My-name-is-Robert-Jackson".

She leaned her head slightly to the side and blinked.

Pointing his finger to himself, he repeated, "Robert-Jackson..."

The female, although confused, slowly lifted her finger towards herself and said,

"... Ro-bel Je'qsan...?"

"No no no, I'm Robert Jackson", he repeated and shook his head, "Robert Jackson - is my name", he then pointed to her, "What is your-name?"

This went on another minute... He started wondering if this was working...

She pointed to herself...

"... Zi'meal q'tel emor' - Na'mea-Xio", she said.

"Great, how am I supposed to encrypt that answer?", he said to her, "... Wait a minute...", he added, then tried to repeat her words, "Ka'tel Erm-more Namea-Zio?"

"Na'mea-Xio", she only replied.

"Hey, that's it! Na'mea is your name", Robert said, sounding as if he found a missing puzzle piece.

"Ro-belt Je'qsan", she said and smiled back.

He nodded, "Yes yes, Robert-Jackson, you got it"

Robert seemed amazed how she managed to understand him.

As she observed him, the female suddenly lifted her hand and went over his face a few times, also through his curly hair, then downwards past his neck and chest -

He moved back... It seemed as if she never seen a person like him before.

"... Be'tel Je'qsan qzal Zen'traedi-Mardukal - Je'qsan Robelt prio'tel Zen'traedi-Mardukal?"

This must be the misunderstanding they had when they first met...

He shook his head and wove both hands, "No - Never , no Zentraedi-Mardu-whatever - Human ... um... Hu-man, terranian - erm being, or so"

Although Na'mea-Xio did not answer, it did seemed as if she understood now that he was not a Zentraedi.

"I'm Robert Jackson, born on Earth - My skin is darker than yours, since my roots are from a land called Africa, I guess... I settled onto this gigantic ship here and worked as a civilian mechanic - not a bad job at all until..."

He stopped talking when he noticed that she was staring at him the whole time.

She did not say anything, but since she had no idea what he was saying, she made again the same questioning face like before.

"Oops, guess I got a little carried away there", he thought, "... hmm, maybe I should try to do that do-what-she-did-thing again to figure out what exactly she is..."

Robert hesitated, then lifted his hand towards her face.

She watched his hand coming closer, but did not move until he touched her cheek. He moved his right hand around her face and through her hair. The velvet color of her eye started to become more intense, then she closed her eyes.

It seemed to him as if she liked what he was doing.

Her head leaned to the opposite side as he smoothly moved his hand across the side of her face.

"... she... she's enjoying this like a cat... re-remarkable", he thought, " - but I've gotta snap out of it, gotta figure what she exactly is..."

Just as Robert went slowly down her neck with his hands, he decided to skip the 'area beyond the neck', since he was sure that she was female.

Her eyes opened, both in a bright velvet-purple color again - she straightened her head when she noticed that he stopped. He pulled back his hand in embarrassment.

"Um, Na'mea - Zentraedi-Mardu-whatever?", he asked, pointing to her and trying to pronouce the words she used, "Na'mea, *points to her* Zentraedi-Mardu...?"

"... Na'mea-Xio", she replied, then pointed to herself, " - Mel'traedi-K'ehtal V'meq Uza"

"Mel-Traedi? Zen-Traedi... Meltraedi? Am I getting this right? You're name is Na'mea-Zio and you are a Meltraedi-Keeh-tal, or something?"

"... Na'mea Mel'traedi K'ehtal ... Z'auss"

Robert nodded a few times.

"Wow... This is amazing how we both managed to understand things, huh? Aliens among each other and we're actually communicating, that's great, huh?", he asked, sounding optimisticly.

Again, it seemed as if Na'mea did not understand a single word he said - of course.

"Damn it, I forgot again...", he said to himself.

The Meltraedi seemed to enjoy his company. She reassumed curing his scratches...

----

Space... Inside the "Void"...

Commander Fokker and his group were on their way back to the SDF-1, when they suddenly received an open communication line from the Bridge-Command.

Bridge Commander Claudia Grant appeared on their screens, slightly fuzzy, but a clear voice...

"Hey, Claudia?", Fokker greeted towards her, "What's the call about? Is trouble ahead?"

""I'm glad to hear that you're fine, Commander... We've picked your team up on the sensors -", she replied with a smile, " - Have your combat group managed to find our missing sheeps?""

Roy leaned back, then replied with self-conciousness in voice, "Yeeeah, that wasn't so tough - in fact..."

Rooks softly slapped the side of his helmet, when he heard what the Commander said.

"He can't be serious", he grumbled, " - If they haven't said anything during that situation ago, they would have been blown to bits by our 'Hokum' swarmlings..."

"Shh, quiet you -", Cherry said from behind. Rooks grumbled back...

Claudia nodded, then spoke further, "" All right, Commander, listen up, the Admiral would like to speak with you -""

"Sure thing, just hand him over", he replied. After a short fuzz, the old man in uniform appeared on screen, Fokker saluted and said, "Greetings Admiral, task completed".

Although the Admiral had his hat slightly over his eyes, as if he was not looking towards him, he replied, ""Greetings Commander, I am pleased to hear that you've managed to return without any trouble. But that is not all, Commander Fokker. The reason I've contacted you has to do something with the upcoming mission you are supposed to do next"".

"Sir? I do not understand", Roy replied, "Are there any problems, Sir?"

""Commander, I've decided that you mission will require more assistance than your flight group. I would appreciate if you were to also take Lt. Caldwell with you, along with his group...""

Rixler shook back, "He wants us to WHAT...?!"

----

Robert was still sitting against the wall as Na'mea was treating him, when he suddenly heard sounds coming. Her eyes went suddenly from purple to blue, along with a serious look in her face.

"Is something wrong? Sounds like people are coming", Robert said.

She looked back at him and grabbed his arm, trying to pull him up. Was she trying to warn him about something? "Z'eel! Mades'ta !"

The door of the room suddenly opened up. Five rather armed-to-teeth-soldier-looking Meltraedis entered the large room, aiming straight at Robert with strange-looking rifles.

He could not see their faces since they were also wearing a type of face-covering masks...

"Uh-oh...", he said.

Na'mea turned around and spreaded her arms, putting herself in front of Robert, trying to cover him. "Z'eel Na kahl'ma - Uza z'el Zentraedi-Mardukal! ", she shouted towards them. Sounded as if she was trying to say that he was not a Zentraedi...

Robert rose both of his hands and walked to the side, slowly towards the back of the room.

If the soldiers were to fire upon him, he did not want that Na'mea would get harmed.

"L-Look people, I'm not Zentraedi!", he said. The aim of the weapons followed Robert, as he moved back...

"Damn... Guess these ladies are not the talktive type...", he said to himself.

The female "soldiers" started moving further into the room, cautiously closing in on him.

"Maybe they're unsure what I am, just like Na'mea was...", he supposed.

Robert was now cornered by them... No way out...

The "soldiers" were definately not the 'talktive' type... sure for Robert, they seemed as if they let their rifles do the talking...

All the sudden, a strange energetic-streaming sound occured right behind them...

The five Meltraedis turned around...

Roberts eyes went wide open, when he saw Na'mea...

Na'meas' face was full of anger... her eyes blood-red... showing her clenched teeth...

She was standing in a fighter-stance, the same stance she made when she attacked Robert back then...

From wrist to elbow, on both arms, she had two strapped devices, familiar to Robert, since she also had these on when she was wearing her "flight-suit"... She must have quickly strapped them on when they were distracted with aiming on the unarmed Human...

Nevertheless, Na'mea seemed very angry... What ever danger Robert was to those "soldiers", their attention seemed to be focused on her now...

Robert noticed an aura around her... slightly visible... and that she was breathing very hard...

She started talking... keeping her teeth still together, moving her lips only... Her voice was full of hatred and sounded threatening... " Mina' ... Vedas..." ... She slowly lifted her arms to shoulder-height, both hands tightened to a fist -

To Robert, it seemed as if she wanted to fight against them...

A sudden energetic-charging sound occured, along with Na'mea shouting out loud " Yaaaaaaah!"

An energetic bolt flew towards the group of the Meltraedi "soldiers".

They took cover - one of the five was hit by the bolt and was sent flying towards the back due to the impact... The unlucky "soldier" slammed against the wall and landed unconsiously next to Robert...

Na'mea leaped foward, straight towards another "soldier", ready for close combat...

Her target did not have the time to aim - Na'mea made a swift attack, kicking the rifle off the hands of the soldier and then swung her arm past by. As soon as her arm passed soldier, a sudden powerful "telekinetic-blow" sent the soldier also flying towards the back of the room, slammed against the wall and landed on the other side of Robert, who was still surprised by Na'meas' powers.

One of the other soldiers managed to have a clear aim and started firing energetic shots from her rifle. Each time the shots were about to hit Na'mea, a sudden energetic shield caused them disintergrate or deflect around her...

Each shot also seemed to be so powerful that she was pushed back, also weakening her shield and her strength...

Using the distraction, Robert pulled out a strange handgun-looking weapon from one of the knock-out women next to him, aimed at Na'meas' attacker and fired two shots.

The shots were smaller than those of the rifle, but seemed to pack a punch, as her attacker was pushed towards the front by both impacts - shaking from a total shock...

Na'mea also used the brief moment to fire another energy-bolt towards the next two Meltraedi "soldiers"...

Unfortunetely, although she managed to hit a different target, the last "soldier" dodged the shot, dropped her rifle and went into hand-to-hand combat...

It was astonishing to Robert how Na'mea defended herself from constant fast blows... Both were flexible and accurate - also defensive and aggressive at the same time... He hesitated to fire, since they were to close to each other...

Suddenly, when Na'mea threw her fist, the "soldier" dodged, leaving her open for an attack... The "soldier" thrusted her fist in a 'low-uppercut manor' towards Na'meas' stomach-area...

Her energetic shield was penetrated, since it far too weak... She received a critical hit and flew towards the back...

The blow was painful... and forced her to the ground...

Na'mea had both of her arms crossed around the area she was punched at... her voice was faint... and painful-sounding... She could not get up...

Robert had a clear shot and started firing... No effect... the Meltraedi "soldier" must have concentrated her energetic shield and deflected all incoming shots... The "soldier" turned around and he stopped firing...

"This one... is a tough one...", he said to himself... There was no chance in firing again... her shield would only repel everything...

Suddenly, Na'mea appeared behind the "soldier", a surprise both to Robert and his opposer - perhaps ignoring the immense pain she had...

From behind, she hooked both of her arms around shoulders of the "soldier", making it impossible for the her to move...

Na'mea gathered all her strength and shouted in a dreaded voice, " Iiiee'Yaaaaaahhhhh !!!" -

Her weak red aura shortly flashed, then discharged all around herself and her captive enemy - energy shortly flew throughout both women...

Silence... the Meltraedi "soldier" dropped to the ground...

Na'mea was still standing... out of strength... and out of breath... She looked at Robert for a second... Her face seemed full of triumph...

All the sudden, her eyes went from red to dark blue... the energetic aura around her fluctuated and she fell to the ground...

Robert did not waste another second and went immediately to her, "Na - Na'mea, are you alright?!", he asked... The wrist-devices detached themselves, strange to him...

"We've got to get out of here...", he said, " before more of those ...", Robert lifted his head and noticed that they had more company...

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