fanfic_name = Gotterdammerung

chapter = Chapter X

author = Cicero_Phelps

dedicate = All the RDF personnel on this site

Rating = AP15

Type = Alternative Universe

fanfic = Chapter X

Rick rubbed his weary eyes as the VT came to a stop on the tarmac. He'd been up for the better part of eighteen hours straight, and been shot at, blown up, heart-wrenched, and shot at some more for most of his waking day. Max and Miriya looked like stumbling ghosts as they made their way towards the locker room; Rick supposed he looked no better than they did. His wrist console beeped; MedLab showed that Lisa was released while he was in combat, and she was back in his quarters. His heart picked up at hearing that; he ran back to the locker room and, hastily showering, dressed for off-duty. The skies outside started hinting strongly of a wild rain, and Rick hated cold rain with a passion, an aversion he developed while a youth on many camping trips, where his rain gear failed him.

Rick slouched against the elevator wall as it transported him back towards sanctuary. He hadn't felt this tired in a long time, close to an eternity. When the car stopped, he felt as if he'd spent five years of his life just waiting for the slow-moving elevator to carry him back to his quarters. He stumbled out of the elevator and back into the previously clean hallway; the many bombardments that the ship had endured on top of the lacking personnel had left the ship in a perpetual state of mess.

He unlocked and opened the door to his quarters, and saw Lisa sitting on the couch, waiting for him. He smelled the strong, rich aroma of coffee that filled his quarters, and saw that she already had poured him a large mug of it and had a bowl of popcorn ready, as well. He smiled and sat down opposite her. They each smiled at the other, sipping at their coffee. A few moments later, they drooped all pretenses at their interest in coffee and, setting their mugs aside, flung themselves into a passionate embrace, totally lost in each other's arms and lips. What had begun as a wonderful welcome home gesture became a frantic demonstration of their love, as if they could, either one of them, forget it.

Midnight, that most enchanted of all hours of the clock, came and went and they still were on the couch, wrapped up in a warm embrace that would fuel several small villages for centuries to come. Rick broke the embrace for a single moment only, to take Lisa up in his arms and carry her over to the bed. They looked deeply into each other's eyes and reaffirmed a love affair that began before they even consciously accepted its beginning. The lights in the cabin burned low but persistently all night, a persistent testimony to their relationship.

****

0500 and all was well. Skull Three, also known as Frank Green, was patrolling the skies over Macross City, alongside Wraith Four, Carla Sarno. The sun was rising, spilling beautiful shades of the morning reds and yellows across the streets like a painter splashes color on canvas. All was going well, the enemy troops had withdrawn the night before, and the rain had passed, leaving a cooler atmosphere than the day before; even though the temperature was only in the 60's, it was hazy and humid for Alaska. The sun was distorting columns of air in the wasteland around the city, and that could confuse a pilot, making him see things that weren't there. So it wasn't at all surprising to Frank and Carla that they saw black shapes on the horizon. Their scanners couldn't confirm or deny what was out there, so Frank told Carla to stay in formation and he'd take a peek. He pointed his VT towards the rising sun and flew off to investigate. No sooner had he flown 100 meters from the city walls did he feel the impact of armor piercing discarding sabot (APDS) rounds in his cockpit, and see the rush of land come up beneath him.

Carla switched to Battloid mode, then ducked behind the nearest wall and radioed the bridge for assistance as she aimed her rifle over the ramparts.

******

Vanessa hated early morning shifts, but there wasn't really anything she could do about it; the service demanded it of her, and she decided to attempt and be cheery about it.

Then came the Klaxon, the most dreaded alarm clock ever devised by Mankind.

Vanessa shouted over the intercom, "All pilots, get up and to your posts. Air raid on the waterfront, a dozen bogies. We're under attack!"

Admiral Gloval ran onto the bridge, wiping the remnants of a cup of coffee off his bathrobe as he started scanning the tactical situation. Skull Three was dead, Wraith Four was a rookie, and it would take more than ten minutes to scramble even half a fighter squadron. He thought for a second, recalling their little electrical irregularity of the prior day, and ordered "Bring the Omni-Directional Barrier online immediately."

Vanessa scurried over to Claudia's station and manually started the generator sequence. The familiar whirring sounds of the energy buildup pounded at Henry's ears, as he was not sleeping well and had developed perpetual early-morning headaches. As Henry predicted, the electrical interference skewed the enemy VT's sensors, and they beat a hasty retreat. Vanessa looked at him with grateful eyes, and smiled.

Then, they felt the impact of plasma against their shields, as they saw an armored column approach from the over the water; hovertanks were assaulting the city. The barrier wouldn't protect them long, Henry knew. "All pilots, scramble; enemy mecha are on the city's waterfront. We need to stop them before they reach the power generator, or we lose the barrier. All Destroids, stop the tanks. Veritechs, destroy their support ships."

***

Rick sprinted across the tarmac towards Skull One and readied it for takeoff. Lisa sprinted by and took control of Rogue One, painted in black finish with red paneling. Rick did a double take, and tried to wave her off the flight line. Lisa radioed in, on the Squadron Leader channel, "Rick, we agreed to this a while back. I'm not going anywhere you're not going, and if we're under fire, we're facing it together."

Rick sighed. "True, Lisa. Sometimes I forget how much of a warrior you are. Just be careful, okay?"

"Agreed, Rick. Now let's get this show on the road!"

They took off side by side, a perfect imitation of Max and Miriya on the Line. They soared into the morning light, reached the apex of their climb, and spotted the floating attack tenders. Rick leveled out and threw his VT into Gerwalk mode, allowing him greater radius of fire with the rifle, and threw some cluster munitions at the repair ships. The assault tender took severe hits and caught fire as Rick assaulted it. Lisa, meanwhile, made a similar move towards the far tender, and she punched a huge hole in it's stern, causing it to take on water. A minigun started firing blindly into the air, and Lisa took some minimal damage to the left vertical rudder, causing her to shudder a little bit. She turned and aimed at the next tender, and let loose a barrage of air to ocean torpedos. The warheads found their way through to the inner hold of the assault carrier and detonated with a resounding roar.

Then, the second wave of VT's came in, twice as large as the first, and still the reserve squadrons of Wraith and Rogue weren't in the air. Rick looked over at Lisa, knowing that the situation wasn't the best, and seeing her worried look, reassured her, saying, "I love you, Lisa."

"I love you, too," she replied.

"Hey, guys, why not save the air and put some more lead downrange," came a voice over the intercom.

"Nice of you two to finally join the party, Max," Rick sighed.

"Sorry, guys, the coffee pot caught fire again," Miriya deadpanned.

"Yeah, well, we're catching fire out here," Lisa smirked, as she and Rick switched to Battloid mode and turned back-to-back, spraying covering fire in arcs around them. Max and Miriya formed up and made strafing runs at the four remaining assault carriers.

Down below, Rick spotted that the Destroid units had done their jobs, and the hovertanks were retreating, or, rather, attempting to retreat, but had no mode of transportation to leave on. Rick donated a volley of autocannon rounds toward the fleeing enemy, and wiped them out. Lisa, meanwhile, downed two enemy Veritech's and winged another three. They were about to, all four of them, return to engage the air armada amassed against them, when they enemy turned tail and ran. Lisa radioed to base, "Mission accomplished, Admiral, we're returning to base."

"Good shooting, Rogue One, over and out."

State = Continuará/To Be Continue

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email = Lightsaber01ATHotmail.com