Mospeada Fan Fiction / Macross Fan Fiction ❯ Invid Lullaby ❯ Panic ( Chapter 7 )

Invid Lullaby

Disclaimer: I do not own Robotech or its characters. This fan fiction was written for entertainment purposes only. No infringement is intended.

Chapter 7
Panic

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The dimmed light of their lunar quarters allowed Scott to distinguish Marlene's motionless silhouette by his side. The soft curve of her left cheek peeked at him, followed by a smooth depression, her delicate neck. Her shoulder came next like a small hill standing against the skyline formed by the window. His eyes followed the descending path of her arm as it surrendered inch by inch to her waist. The roundness of her hip faded harmoniously along her leg. Close the the end of the bed, her figure merged with his. Warm. Soft. He felt her bare feet against his.

How many times had he kissed her all over? "Not enough," he thought, longing to kiss her then, to touch her; to brush his fingers onto her skin. He moved closer to her but stopped, feeling he shouldn't disturb her sleep. There would be time in the morning.

He remembered that Marlene had an appointment with Dr. Lang the follownig day. He would accompany her. It was meant to be a routine visit. Blood work, friendly medical chat - interrogation was more like it. An hour at most and they'd be out.

However, Scott remembered that more than once a simple checkup had turned into a whole-day at the lab. "Not tomorrow," he wished. He had plans.

Marlene had been so brave through all of this. She never complained. How did she do it? "So gentle yet so strong," he thought. Emotion flooded his mind. He encircled her in his arms and gently brought her closer to him.

Why had she fallen in love with him? How had she forgiven his many mistakes, uptightness and hardheadedness? It beat him.

Lancer sang a song for them once, precisely when he left her behind to search for the SDF-3. In it, the singer had called Marlene a gentle soul. A soul waiting for someone to lead the way to love. (1)

He became that man and he loved her.

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"That was a long meeting," let out Rick Hunter as he unbuttoned his uniform's jacket.

"Emil can be really thorough at times," gave in Lisa, sitting down tiredly on the sofa inside their quarters.

"He kan, my dear Lisa," agreed Rick mimicking Lang. She laughed.

"Come here, Rick," she asked him. "Sit next to me."

"Aye, aye, ma'am," he replied.

"Obedience is one sexy thing, you know?" she offered as he approached. Rick grinned. After he sat, she lay her head on his lap.

"Hmmm. You comfy, boss?" he asked.

"Very."

He started caressing her forehead following a rhythmical pattern. Lisa relaxed.

"I had never seen a scan like Marlene's. That was something... unusual," she commented.

"Yes, it was. Emil didn't seem to be concerned, though. Considering the baby's genes, a scan like that is to be expected."

"I guess so." She spoke softly and sighed enjoying her husband's warm touch.

"The baby's birth will send the Karbarran group into overdrive," Lisa added suddenly.

"Certainly. From what Emil said, it's impossible to know precisely when this baby is going to be born. It could happen any time, tomorrow, in a month or more."

"We must prepare the Council. If we go public about it ourselves, we will thwart any paranoid story they can come up with," she said. He concurred with a serious nod.

"Who knows what could happen to the poor little thing and his mother if they become targets of some political ploy," said Lisa letting her growing sympathy for Marlene and her baby surface.

He hesitated to speak. "We can't let Scott and Marlene's baby destabilize the alliance, Lisa."

"What do you mean, Rick?" She suddenly sat up.

"I just don't want you to lose your objectivity about this. We don't know enough to rule out the possibility of him being a threat." She stood up and walked away from him.

"You can't be serious, we are talking about a baby!"

"One you seem to have grown quite attached to, Lisa," Rick continued. She went silent for a while.

"You don't need to worry, Rick. I, more than anyone, know how important the alliance is," she finally retorted without facing him.

"Lis..."

"And yes, I've grown attached to the baby and his parents," she interrupted him. "They remind me closely of Max, Miriya and Dana." She had a point.

"After all these terrible wars, what is it that we keep fighting for, Rick? Isn't it peace? Isn't it acceptance of other races? Max and Miriya, Scott and Marlene, what are they but living proofs that our goals are possible?" He nodded, understanding.

"They are what we fight for, Rick. We can't let them be harmed!"

With eyes downcast, he walked to her, placed his hands on her arms and gently but firmly turned her to face him. He hugged her. "You are right Admiral. We cant let anything happen." Slowly, she abandoned herself to his embrace.

"Thank you, Rick."

"You don't have to thank me. It's the right thing to do. And we are a team, aren't we?"

"Yes, Admiral Hunter." He took her hands in his.

"Marlene's going to have to be placed under constant observation," he told her.

"I know." She shook her head. "Scott's going to be thrilled about that. But as Emil said, we can't afford for her to go into labor unattended."

"I bet." Rick answered. "As a father, Scott must put his son first. We'll help with all we can," he added sympathetically while he caressed his wife's back.

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Marlene and Scott sat in the waiting area adjacent to Dr. Lang's office and lab. They'd been there for more than 30 minutes. It wasn't Lang's habit to run that late. Eager to get out of there he stood up and started pacing back and forth.

The receptionist informed the couple that the lab was being prepared. "For what?" he wondered. It had been perfectly fine the last time they were in.

"No more delays," he hoped. He had carefully orchestrated his surprise for her on that day.

At last, the inner door hissed open. Lang's age-hardened face emerged. When the young man's eyes met his mentor's, Scott felt something wasn't right.

With the usual blood work out of the way, Lang asked them about any new symptom or event since their last visit. Although the tone in his grave and accented voice rang calm, Scott found it slightly more abrupt than normal. However, Lang continued as usual and showed them Marlene's latest scans.

The future mother was delighted while the doctor explained what the colors represented. The father-to-be found the images strange, to say the at least. He listened to his godfather in awe, keeping his concerns to himself. What did he know in the end? He wasn't precisely an expert on pregnant Invid's scans.

When the doctor pointed out the bright green spot that was the baby for them, the untrained eyes of Scott and Marlene finally made sense of the charts in front of them. The future parents smiled and dreamed. He imagined his son's face, his tiny hands, his eyes. She saw herself cradling the little one while she sang him a lullaby.

Then, all went downhill.

"Marlene vill have to stay vith us." Lang said, after explaining the uncertainty of the birth date. That statement brought back the parents from their blissful daydreams.

"What?" the Captain said.

"She must stay, Scott."

"Stay? Where? Here?"

Lang nodded. "Arrangements were made," he said.

"N...Now?" the father stammered.

"Yes." Scott's plans went down the drain. They looked at each other.

"Change those faces, for God's sake. Marlene vill be the most komfortable voman on Moon Base, here. This eez not a prison."

"Can Scott stay too?"

"No dear. Sensors must be placed on you. My godson's presence vould alter the readings or vorse, kompletely interfere vith them."

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Scott arrived to his empty quarters and saw the flowers and the unlit candles. The food he'd ordered waited on the counter. He had asked for help to get all ready without her noticing. On her pillow, he would have set the tiny box. It remained in his pocket. There was no point on placing it, she wouldn't open it that night. Sadness overtook him.

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Marlene lay on her new bed, myriad of sensors and wires attached to her body. Cybernetic sounds filled the ambiance. It felt unnatural, sterile. Again she had been focusing on isolating the baby's consciousness. She was tired, but had to go on. Suddenly, she could hear the voice of Dr. Lang as he approached her door.

"I vill konduct today's test, Kralea. Prepare the machine, please," he said before coming into her view accompanied by several of his technicians. The Karbarran that the scientist had addressed moved to the side of the group and started readying the scanner. Marlene had never liked Kralea, there was something sinister in his eyes. The previous technician... Ruk'ya, she was nice. Whatever happened to her? The Invid woman wondered.

Lang barely greeted his patient as the scientific team took position. Marlene's belly was quickly uncovered. The contrast between the warm blankets and the cool air in the room gave her goosebumps. In no time, the scanner lowered onto her.

"Relax," the old man spoke.

She took a deep breath. The scan started.

Lang monitored the screen of his computer terminal with complete attention. He was so focused that he didn't notice the nervousness of his Karbarran assistant. Marlene watched on silently. Suddenly, the doctor's expression changed. The creases on the sides of his aged forehead collided into a frown.

"Vhat eez this?" he said as he started pressing commands into his terminal. Marlene's attention was on him.

"What is it doctor?" the patient asked.

"Nothing, dear. The skanner eez off. Ve'll need to redo it." Then, addressing his assistant, "Kralea, the skanner needs to be calibrated." The technician nodded half hidden in a distant corner of the room.

"Eez it ready yet?" Lang asked a couple of minutes later. There was no answer.

"What eez delaying you, Kralea?" he said walking towards the machine. "Let me zee... "

Before Lang reached him, Kralea finally answered. "It is ready doctor. I was just about to give you the go ahead." He sounded apologetic.

Marlene couldn't see what was going on from her bed. After a short while, Lang came by her side.

"Very vell, return to your terminals, everyone. Ve'll redo the skan. And inkrease the intensity to 2.5."

The scanner's hum started again. Lang didn't move his eyes from the screen. Marlene could see the reflections dancing on his face. She was getting more and more tired.

"There is some sort of interference, doctor," informed one technician.

"I zee it," he answered.

"Inkrease to 3.5," he ordered, oblivious Marlene's big and worried eyes. She started feeling a tickling sensation on her belly.

"We are loosing precision, doctor," insisted someone.

"Switch modes and inkrease intensity by half a point," Lang ordered.

As soon as the scan started over and more intensely, the tickles on Marlene's belly morphed into pain. The more the rays touched her skin, the more intense the pain became. She tried to move. With one look, Lang had a technician hold Marlene down.

"It hurts doctor!" she yelled. In her mind she was holding the baby and she saw he was scared. She tried to calm him, but the pain was getting to her.

"Don't move, Marlene," Lang told her. "For your safety and the baby's keep still... ve are almost done."

The pain was too intense, Marlene was losing the battle to protect her child. She fought the grip of the technician holding her but with a subtle sign, Lang ordered his assistant to sedate her. The needle came and within seconds, Marlene lost consciousness. She felt as if the baby escaped her hands.

"I can't hear the baby's heartbeat, doctor!" informed suddenly a member of the staff. "The mother's vitals are descending too!"

"The readings... the sensors, the whole system is overloaded!" another technician yelled. The lab's main lights went off. Without delay, the reddish glow of the auxiliary system flooded the room.

Lang quickly searched for Marlene's pulse. "There's only one thing to do," thought the scientist realizing how faint the throbbing on the Invid's wrist was. "Ve'll have to operate! Get me Kaptain Bernard, now!" he commanded as the woman's inert body lay resigned in front of him.

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It felt worse than the blade of a sword. The words that alerted Scott about what went on in Lang's lab shook him. He had sensed something was not right when he had to leave Marlene there and then, at 2 in the morning, he received the call. He had been awake. He hadn't even bothered to change after he arrived home. As hard as he tried, sleep wouldn't come to him that night.

How he had arrived to the lab and had gone through the sterilization chamber, he didn't know, all he could remember was seeing her laying unconscious, the worried faces of the technicians and Lang buzzing around her. Immediately, he tried to approach, but Lang's assistants didn't let him. They obstructed his way and his view of her until the doctor appeared.

It was all a blur. Lang had to yell at him to get his attention.

The doctor spoke briefly. They had lost the baby's heartbeat and had to operate to take him out right away. His life and Marlene's were in danger.

Scott was confused. Everything was all right when he left them. Lang was supposed to take care of Marlene and his son. What the hell had happened? He needed to know.

But there was no time to tell him, he had to authorize Lang to operate. Under the pressure, he did. Lang urged him to calm down and emphasized time was scarce. When he was sure Scott understood, he ordered his personnel to release him.

"Marlene," Lang spoke and placed a hand on Marlene's forehead. "I have to operate. The baby and you are in danger. If you kan hear me, hang in there." And she could hear him. As weak as she was, she passed on the thought to her son. "The doctor is going to help us, my love. Don't be scared. Come to me," she told him extending her arms to him."

The operation began, anguish rendered Scott powerless. Lang worked. His skilled hands moved so slightly but with incredible precision. It wasn't long before he took the baby from inside his mother's womb.

Slowly, a radiant convex surface appeared as Lang's hands cleared green blood splotches from it.

Scott saw it, it was an egg. His son.

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(1) The Way To Love
Composed by: Michael Bradley and Steve Wittmack
Performed by: Michael Bradley