The Masters knew they were coming. Curse Zor for angering the Invid! He would be the death of them all! The Elder Council had just recently ordered all military vessels into orbit, and all mecha to be mobilized. They knew a horrific war was coming, and they vowed not to be caught off guard.

Twenty massive mother ships and millions of cruiser class vessels now orbited the world of Tirol. And the Elders knew that it might not be enough. At least that's what Zor had told them. And Zor was definitely a man to be trusted. He had given them Protoculture...the greatest energy source in the universe. But he had also given it to the Invid. Zor was a genius. He had even created the newest mecha for the Masters...bioroids. And know...he was working on a battle fortress that would include everything he had learned about Protoculture.

Then, the void shimmered, and fifteen invid hive ships appeared. Alarms screamed, and Tirol made ready to defend itself. The twenty mother ships took aim with their most powerful cannons...reflex cannons. The teardrop shaped turrets took aim...and the night came alive with death. The huge beams of starflame leapt out at the Invid, to smash into them. In the first overwhelming volley...the masters thought that they had immolated the Invid force. Actually they had barely even scratched them. And then it started.

Shell door carriers flooded out of the fifteen hives, each being the size of a moon. They were followed by shock troopers and armored variants as well as enforcers...the heaviest class of mecha. The shell doors opened...each one spilling four hundred and fifty scout models...mostly armored variants into space. And that was the first wave. While reflex cannons recharged...the Tirolian cruisers surged up to offer support fire.

They opened up with heavy particle beams immolating thousands of Invid mecha. But after the full barrage of the cruisers, they only put a minor dent in the Invid's total forces. They closed quickly, and cruisers lit the night with AA fire. Particle beams and lasers lanced out across the void, while the invid mecha came screaming in at them, returning fire with plasma cannons.

The masters had seen enough of the Invid to know that once they got on your hull it was game over. At first, it looked like an easy kill. But then bioroids streamed forth out of their launch bays riding hovercraft, blasting away. And in an instant, the battle became very bloody. Blues danced with Armored shock troopers, scouts...while the red commander units tangled with enforcers. The entire sky was alive with energy discharges and explosions. The numbers of kills were uncountable.

They effectiveness of one mecha was about one barrage. But there was one pilot on the battlefield that should not have been there. Zor. He piloted a red Bioroid...and he was unstoppable. He flew his hovercraft with blitzingly fast speed...and fired volleys of incredible accuracy. Many invid saw the barrel end of his weapons. He pulled maneuver after maneuver, dodging, firing, defending, and protecting. Zor also felt the hate for the Invid that they felt for him. He fought with a passion and blind rage that the Invid could not match. There was no order. It was kill or be killed. Zor was fairing quite well.

He stuck extremely close to one of the giant mother ships... that were putting out staggering volumes of fire. Zor's anger increased with every Invid he destroyed. The invid hive ships were slowly moving towards Tirol. He knew their power once they landed. He also knew that the chance of Tirol surviving was quite slim if they made it. Zor flew at incredible speed, taking on enforcers and groups of shock troopers...once he even defeated a whole platoon of armored scouts. The battle raged on...with the desperate Tirolian defenders and the furious Invid slugging it out...often hand to hand, which was usually and Invid victory...because of their claws. And then the cruisers started dropping. Though there were about two million of them...all it took was a few Invid ripping open their hulls...and they flash froze in the cold of space. This gave the Tirolians one advantage. A hiding spot to power down your bioroid, and launch a surprise attack.

Zor made a dash for one as a transmission from the Robotech Masters themselves came through. *** The Master faced Zor on the screen. "Zor, why do you whish to die. I order you to retreat at once." the Master said. Zor spit. "Why master...am I of value to you? Does my science offer you anything? I detest you and the protoculture science you stole from me. I warned you not to take it from me...but you sealed your fate long ago. I will return to the flagship. Provide cover for me." he thought through the communication apparatus.

The screen blanked. Zor smashed through a frozen bulkhead inside the dead cruiser. His hovercraft darted across the void. The flagship was clearly visible...a masterpiece of technology...created by the masters once they learned of protoculture. Now, it cut loose with its reflex cannon. Hundreds of thousands of mecha were obliterated in the blast. And still...each side had insignificant loses. Zor flew for it at full speed. Two reds received silent commands and came onto his flanks covering him as best they could. The flagship was up to full speed now and the distance between them was closing fast.

The hull of the flagship was crawling with invid mecha. The Masters could care less. The hulls of their mother ships were the tougher than even the invid suspected. Their losses on the hulls were incredible. The masters used some nasty particle beam weapons on their flagships, and the invid mecha were cut to ribbons. A gunnery commander triumvirate reported that Zor was safe. The Masters gestured. *** In the void...six mighty mother ships disappeared.

Zor understood the move. They knew that Tirol was going to fall. That was the advantage to having a low range of emotions; you could look at everything logically.

On the surface of Tirol...all over the planet...the hive ships landed. And they had a very nasty welcome present for the Tirolian defenders. Bioroids everywhere were relived to see the invid mecha fall back. At first they were pleased. Then they became wary. The enemy mecha had booked it outside of all firing ranges...except for reflex cannon. But that didn't matter. The hives were ready to use their weapons. The largest planetary barrage came screaming up through the atmosphere. In a minute...every mother ship and cruiser was holed a hundred times through and twice again.

Millions of mecha were destroyed by the total fullsilade of firepower. And then it was over. All the invid mecha lit their engines...and came screaming back in riding trails of blue flame. The bioroids knew it was hopeless, and they all charged as well, firing at maximum range. Each group took very few losses at this range, but the bioroids got more and more kills as the distance closed rapidly. The blitzingly fast scouts were way out in front.

Those were of little concern...as all they had were claws...unless it was and armored variant. The bioroids were determined to punch through the overwhelming number of invid...and take as many of them along to death as they could. But moments before they reached point-blank range, they received silent instructions. They all turned to the left at the last instant...all of them firing up until the last minute. The bioroids were making a run for the moon...where assault ships would pick them up and take the very few remaining forces to the robotech Masters and the Elders.

On the planets surface...the invid were enraged. Zor had escaped them again.