Chapter 4 – Halt the Irresistible Force! Larmina's Lament.
Four months prior:
"Ok, now that we're done with drilling, we're going to do some group evaluations of your hand-to-hand skills. McClain, Kent, you're both up!
Standing to her feet in a rashguard and a pair of leggings that went down to her ankles, Larmina took to the mat as her instructor looked on. She was all too familiar with the lessons on grappling being taught as part of the hand-to-hand combat training. Her partner meanwhile, wearing a pair of shorts and a T-shirt, seemed less interested in the finer points of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and more in whatever woman was across from him.
"How it's going?" he asked, flashing a smile. "Name's Lance. I promise I won't beat you up too bad. Maybe we can get…"
"BEGIN!"
"RRRAGH!"
The man named Lance's efforts at flirting were quickly stifled as Larmina ducked under him into a double leg takedown, taking him to the mat fairly easily. Quickly passing to side control past any inclination of defense, she began reaching for the opposite side arm of the panicked Casanova, who attempted to roll away desperately. This only allowed Larmina to control his back and sink in a textbook rear-naked choke, causing him to tap the floor in panic.
"Hopefully," the instructor began, "this shows you what you're supposed to do, and what you're not supposed to do in a grappling situation. You do not stand up like an oak tree. You do not underestimate a smaller opponent! And you sure as hell do not panic when you lose your base! Now, who's next? Tong! Kogane! Up here!"
Present Day
"Oy, this looks bad."
Surveying the area from a radar truck, Cliff began to groan. Something, he didn't know what, had taken this town and seemingly flattened it. There was no evidence of explosions except near some hills, but the buildings of the town, the people, it was if something had merely flattened it, then vanished.
"What did this?" asked a black haired man outside the truck, his expression confused. The man's thick sideburns seemed to do their best to hide the grimacing of his face.
"No idea Hutch, but it wasn't an explosive. There's no evidence of it. It's like something literally plowed through the town and then left. Like it was flattened out."
Cliff, it's Cinda. Did you say 'flattened out'?
Reaching for the small communicator on his belt, Cliff answered, "Yeah Moya. How come?"
We're about ten clicks from your location, and it looks like the same thing happened here. Minor scorch marks are on the side of the roads while most of the town was just…flattened. The flat areas don't even show signs of an explosion or anything.
"Survivors?"
No one I can see, but the town was pretty small. It looks like…hey! Hey! Cliff, we found someone! We'll call back.
Hutch looked on next to another man, tall and thin, as he attempted to scan the area.
"This was Galra, right?" the man asked. "You know, one of those what, Mecha-saurus things?"
"Robeasts, Marvin," Cliff corrected. "You'd think after we sunk one of their battlecruisers the alien podunks would let up."
"No such luck."
"Nope."
It had been a week since the last time Voltron was needed. And yet she felt more exhausted than ever.
In order to train the cadets properly, the trio had been made to fly constant training missions to get used to their new machines, combining and un-combining them without rest. Mercifully, the weekend had arrived, and Larmina was hoping to use the time to catch up on sleep. So when her landline began ringing, she couldn't help but groan, throwing the covers off her bed as she answered it.
"Oh come on, it's 9am…hello?"
Lt. Kent? There's someone here to see you.
"Can they wait an hour or two?"
She's quite insistent Lieutenant. She claims to be your mother.
"Mom?!" The announcement that her mother had come to visit jolted Larmina from her haze and caused her to quickly make the bed. "Um…send her up!"
Hurriedly, she continued to prepare herself and her room, moving things slightly out of order until the door opened without even a knock.
"Hi. Mom, good to see you!" she began, greeting the red-headed woman of 51 even as she stared oddly. "Is something the matter?"
"You couldn't even be bothered to put on a nice shirt?"
Looking down, Lamaria realized she was wearing the same T-shirt she slept in, offering only an awkward smile. Her mother sighed.
"Why do I even bother? I heard you graduated early, but look at yourself!"
"It's…complicated. What are you even doing here?"
"You graduate and you don't tell me or your father what happened, and then they actually…station you somewhere?"
"Like I said Mom, it's complicated."
"You know your father and I were going to have you over at Fort Penn! Unless you actually want to work in the field or…serve in battle!"
Larmina's silence caused the woman to gasp. "They, they didn't! Not to the daughter of the Kent family! I have half a mind to talk to your commander and…"
"That would be a REALLY bad idea Mom," Larmina insisted.
The path of destruction didn't seem as bad from the air, which in Jeff's mind, made it all the odder as he observed the trail from his fighter. What type of Galra weapon could have done this? Did it have anything to do with the battlecruiser that the Galaxy Garrison was currently stripping for anything valuable? Why hadn't the Galra begun an attack with their remaining forces?
RRRUMBLE
"Hey, Ginger! Rocky! Come in!" he yelled into the intercom.
What is it Jeff?
"Something's coming out the ground! I think it's what wiped out those towns!"
What emerged from underground via the use of several drills appeared to be a massive steamroller, attached to a platform filled with cannons. In the center of the grayish machine was a black dome. Once it had finished rising from the depths, the machine began rumbling forward, plowing through anything in its way.
"Air Team 1 to Galaxy Garrison! I found the cause of those towns being destroyed! It looks like a massive steamroller!"
Jeff had no time to continue his explanation as the numerous guns on the platform the steamroller was attached to aimed into the air and began firing. Hurriedly, he began moving his jet out of the way to avoid laser fire.
"We're gonna need something bigger than a jet to hold that thing off!"
The alarm began blaring throughout the base as Larmina looked on at her mother. "Uh, Mom, look, I need to go, like…now."
"We're not done young lady!" the woman shouted. "The only reason you were sent here was because it would look good for our family! You're done! I will not have you be used like a common plebian! I mean, heaven forbid you're forced into a battle!"
The machine was relentless even as Jeff did his best to keep a safe distance from its cannons. The machine had stopped firing, presumably because he wasn't close enough to be considered a threat, but even so, its relentless move forward towards a suburban town couldn't help but worry Jeff.
"Galaxy Garrison! Has the local army been mobilized to try and stop that thing?"
No, but we have!
"Typical!" Jeff yelled as he saw the familiar sight of the three fighters combining into Voltron. "Late to the party, try to get all the glory!"
"Yeah, but we get results!" Daniel yelled back, Voltron's Alpha form flying in front of the massive steamroller even as it continued its relentless march forward. "Besides, I've got a new surprise for this Robeast. WING BLASTER!"
A concentrated beam of energy fired from Voltron's chest towards the steamroller, striking it dead center. However, the explosion, while having taken out a few of the cannons on the platform, did nothing to impede the charge of the machine.
"It's still coming!" Vince shouted. "Let's separate and try Beta formation!"
"Beta?" Larmina shouted. "We need power to stop that thing! We'll use Gamma!"
"Fine!" Daniel shouted, pressing a button as the robot fell back into three fighter jets, flying away far enough to get ahead of the machine, right in front of the town. "Form Voltron!"
"Beta!" Larmina shouted. "Form feet and legs! Alpha! Form arms and body! And I'll form the head!"
The machine that stood in front of the steamroller was more tank than the sleeker forms of the other Voltron formations, thick legs rolled on wheels holding up an extremely thick upper body with a small midsection allowing the upper and lower bodies to swivel. On the upper body were two massive jet engines as well as two large missile launchers. If the head of Voltron's Alpha form was a human wearing a helmet and the head of Beta a human whose mouth was covered by a faceplate, then Gamma's was a thick helmet, smooth except for the two red eyes in front. The machine lumbered forward towards it foe, prepared to stop its charge.
"You're not getting past me!" Larmina boasted. "GO! VOLT TORNADO!"
A forceful jolt of wind pushed against the steamroller, additional cannons being ripped from the platform, but the actual machine remained unimpeded, pressing forward through the torrent.
"We knocked out some of the guns," Daniel began, "but it's not stopping the machine itself!"
"Then we'll just have to do it the old fashioned way! YAAAARGH!"
The machine charged forward, pushing the steamroller with thick hands, doing all it could to push it back.
"This thing isn't budging!" Larmina yelled.
"We're giving it everything we have!" Vince answered. "I don't know how much more we can push!"
The steamroller and Voltron continued to push back and forth, neither able to secure the advantage. The stalemate was soon broken as the black dome opened up, revealing a horrific sight.
A mechanical creature, a crude facsimile of an alien made of bones, emerged from the open dome, its torso extending from the hole as if it were a cobra. Holding a massive axe, the creature lunged forward and sliced the left arm of Voltron, causing it to come loose and nearly fall off the robot. With only one arm pushing back, the steamroller soon gained the advantage, pushing Voltron back and nearly knocking it down.
"DELUXE MISSLES!"
The oversized missiles fired from the launcher of Gamma towards the creature, but as quickly as it emerged, it soon retreated to the cover of its dome. The missiles exploded against the dome, unable to break it.
"If we fall down we're going to be roadkill!" Vince shouted. "We need to fall back!"
"Dammit, he's right!" Daniel shouted. "We need to retreat for now!"
I mean, heaven forbid you're forced into a battle!
"Because I'm not good enough Mom?" she mumbled under her breath. Sighing, Larmina yelled "Separate!" as the three jets flew off in retreat, the thankfully evacuated town soon turned into gravel as the steamroller ran through it unimpeded.
"This is bad," Commander Hawkins began, looking over the results of the battle in the war room. Inside, he, Captain, Newley, and Professor Wade all examined the photos that Jeff had taken, both of the Robeast's path, and of Voltron's battle with the machine.
"How bad is bad?" Larmina asked.
"Bad as in the steamroller itself seems to be made of a very high grade metal that seems to have some sort of shielding protecting it."
"So that's why our weapons worked on everything but the steamroller!" Vince shouted.
"If we can't penetrate that shield," Professor Wade continued, "then we can't stop that thing."
"It gets worse," Commander Hawkins continued. "The recon teams have figured out what that machine's end game is."
"What is it?"
"Here. It looks like they've stopped with the city invasions and want to stop Voltron directly by hitting us where we live. And if we can't halt that Robeast, they may just win. They must figure if they knock Voltron over, humanity will fall like a stack of dominoes."
"We need to get back out there!" Larmina yelled, only for Professor Wade to shake his head.
"Voltron took a major pounding in that last battle. We need time to repair the damage, and to try to figure out a countermeasure against those shields."
"Can't we mobilize the regular army?" asked Captain Rawley, but Commander Hawkins shook his head.
"We don't have a target. After the battle with Voltron, the Robeast vanished. It seems to be able to hide itself underground."
"So what do we do?" Daniel asked.
"Go rest for a bit, but remain on standby," answered Professor Wade. "But be ready to move out at any moment! Recon will continue to try and find that thing, wherever it's hiding."
The trio got up to leave, but as Larmina rose from her seat, Commander Hawkins grunted, not so subtly pointing at the redheaded pilot.
"Lt. Kent, a word in my office please?"
"Of course Commander," Larmina answered, following Hawkins into a small office adjacent to the war room. "What's the problem sir?"
"This," Hawkins replied, pulling out a piece of paper from his pocket, "is the problem. I had a meeting with a Mrs. Valencia Kent this morning, and she offered me this, in exchange for your transfer to Fort Penn, presumably to work in an office."
Larmina grimaced, looking at the check and the sheer amount of money her mother thought this was worth.
"I didn't ask her to do this!" Larmina shouted.
"Why should I believe you? And more importantly, considering how generous the offer I gave you was, why shouldn't have you back on those charges?"
"Because my mom is an overbearing control freak!" Larmina shouted. "She wants to take control of every little detail of my life! Make sure she's on me like a mosquito that won't go away! And you can take this check," she continued, grabbing it from Hawkins' hand, "and shove it down her throat for all I care!"
The commander was clearly taken back by the statement, but nodded. "Whatever issues you have with your mother are no concern of mine, but you're what, eighteen, correct?"
"Yes sir. I turn nineteen in two months."
"Right. Well then Lieutenant, you're an adult. Handle this like one, even if you mother doesn't want to."
Unbeknownst to the pair, outside the office, Professor Wade had been listening to the conversation, snapping his fingers.
"Of course! That's how we stop it!"
With her mother not scheduled to return until the evening, and no sign of the enemy, Larmina found herself with a lot of anger and nothing to take it out on. So she went to the nearest thing she could release the anger on, a heavy bag in the gym attached to the apartment complex. Hammering it with blows, she did her best to focus on everything that had angered her that day. Her mother, the machine threatening to run the base over, the fact that everyone was quick to blame her for everything…
"Upset?"
Turning around, the fiery redhead saw the familiar face of Daniel waiting by the door, offering a smile. Him wearing shorts and a T-shirt suggested he had also shown up to work out.
"What's it to you?"
"Oh don't be that way," the grinning teen responded. "I have to make sure the team is OK, what, being the leader and all."
"You think you're the leader?" Larmina asked with rolled eyes.
"Well, yeah, I'm the Alpha!" Daniel boasted. "That means I'm in charge of the pack while Beta is my assistant! I'm not sure what Gamma does though…"
"That not how that works," Larmina responded while rolling her eyes.
"It's not? Well," Daniel continued, "you want someone to spar with? Come on, maybe you need to take your anger out on something besides a heavy bag."
"You sure?" Larmina asked, looking over Daniel's offer with suspicion.
"Positive. Just pretend I'm the most annoying person you've ever met."
Larmina half expected to see Daniel, or worse, her mother. But instead, when asked to visualize the most annoying person she had ever met, a single face came to mind.
You know I was going easy on you, right? What do you say we get dinner at my place and I show you what I can really do?
"What part of 'no, you creep people out', don't you understand?"
You know what they call me? Lance the tailor, because how I can move and thread through anything. So how's about we go back to my place and I give you a private lesson?
"Grr..."
Without warning, Larmina ducked under Daniel into a perfect double leg takedown, slamming the self-proclaimed leader of the Voltron Force to the mat. Hurriedly, he wrapped his legs around her in defense, pulling her into a guard position as she attempted to rain down punches on his head.
Well, whoever it was must have really pissed her off!
For at least a minute, Larmina attempted to land blows on Daniel's head rather than move forward positionally, her anger nearly all-consuming. However, one shot saw her overextend, leading to Daniel sweeping her and attempting to take the woman's back. Quickly she turned around as he took top position, the pair staring at each other as she was seemingly broken from her trance. Both turned red at the realization.
"Um…" Larmina began, "that was some good technique."
"Yeah," Daniel answered awkwardly. "Thanks."
Mercifully, the awkwardness was broken by the sound of the alarm. Rising up, they began running towards the launch area.
"Remind me never to get on your bad side," was all Daniel could say to break the tension as the pair began heading for the lockers. The slight chuckle from Larmina indicated that he had done his job, at least somewhat.
"Sure, 'leader'."
The steamroller, showing signs of damage from the previous battle in its missing gun emplacements, continued to drive forward towards its target, not letting anything stand in its way. This included the town with the luxury hotel that parents of Garrison students would often stay at when visiting their children. Inside the hotel, one such parent looked outside her window and screamed at the sight.
"Mrs. Kent! We have to evacuate at once! We can't be safe here!"
"Fine! Let's go somewhere AAHH!"
The "AHHH" came as the hotel, not directly in the path of the steamroller, was fired upon by one of the remaining cannons on the machine's platform. The upper floors were all to be annihilated when a blur moved in the way and blocked the blow with a shield.
"Is that…the giant robot from the news?" Valencia asked. Looking out the window, she observed the gigantic robot holding a shield in front of the hotel, deflecting the blasts.
Wasting no time, the robot flew into the air and dashed towards its opponent, splitting into
"See!" she declared! "Look at this! I will not allow my daughter anywhere near…"
"Ma'am! We need to evacuate now!"
"Let's try this again!" Larmina yelled as Voltron separated into its three jet forms. "Form Voltron!"
Quickly transforming, the squat, heavily armored form of Voltron's Gamma form landed in front of the ever-advancing steamroller, preparing to lash out and strike at the charging menace.
"Let's hope it works this time!" Vince shouted.
"If it doesn't I'm gonna haunt that old geezer! GO! VOLT TORNADO!"
The turbofans inside the robot revealed themselves once again, lashing out against the steamroller with gale-force winds. However, this time, small sparks became noticeable as the wind continued to breathe forward were the sparks emanating from the steamroller. First one, then hundreds, then thousands, as if firecrackers were going off.
"It's working!" Vince yelled.
"What is?" Daniel asked.
My latest creation! Answered the voice of Professor Wade over the intercom.
"Wind itself is fine to move smaller objects, but this wind is mixed with thousands if not millions of small corrosive agents designed to eat away at the shield and the metal being used! The shield isn't complex enough to withstand damage from all those angles!"
"That's brilliant," Commander Hawkins answered. "How did you come up with it?"
"The modifications were easy, just load something into the delivery system. As for the idea, it came to me when overhearing your argument with Larmina.
"WHAT?!"
"It worked, didn't it?"
Whatever shielding was protecting the steamroller soon gave way as small holes started to form in the machine, preventing it from moving forward properly. The winds continued to eat away at the steamroller, past the shields,
"We've disabled it!" Daniel exclaimed.
"Then let's finish it!" Larmina answered, accelerating the robot towards the crippled steamroller. But no sooner had it come in close did the dome open again, and the creature that lay waiting inside charged out, axe ready to strike.
"Not this time!"
Before it could raise its arm and strike, Voltron dashed to the side and caught the beast in the grip of its thick robotic hands. Turning to the side, the creature was wrenched free from the tail attaching it to the machine, screaming inhumanely all the while.
"Back to where you came from!"
A powerful throw soon left the monster against the crippled steamroller, desperately trying to move.
"DELUXE MISSILES!"
The two missiles on the rear of Voltron landed on their target dead center, leaving nothing but a charred and battered machine, inert and harmless.
"Looks like we won," Vince began, "but the Galra seem to be changing their strategy."
"Yeah," Daniel answered. "This is a lot sneakier than the last two times they tried to attack, and their target was SED headquarters, not a major city."
"Whatever," Larmina replied. "Let's go home."
For a tourist town that had nearly faced the threat of annihilation earlier, the average citizen was remarkably well composed once the threat had passed. Businesses were open and people, confident the threat had passed, returned to the streets unimpeded. In one such business, a high class restaurant, Larmina sat next to her mother, who had a look of complete distress on her face, occasionally hidden by sips of wine.
"A giant robot! An hour from where you're living! If that isn't proof that you should be transferred to Fort Penn then I don't know what is!"
"Is that why you tried to bribe my commander?"
Larmina's mother said nothing, but visibly grimaced when she saw the check that she was holding.
"I did it for your safety! Your father wants…"
"Yeah, I know Mom, you want me to look important when I take over the real estate business. But I can't just live my life completely pre-programmed. It's a lot deeper than that."
"How deep could it possibly be, hauling freight or working on machines or whatever it is you do?"
The redhead scoffed. "You know what I do? You know that giant robot?"
"What about it?"
"I'm its pilot. One of them anyway."
She scoffed. "Sure you are. Are you that insistent on staying here that you have to lie to me?"
"Mom, I love you," Larmina began, "but you can believe what you want. Just don't try to bribe anyone again. They almost threw me in the brig for it."
"Honey," she answered, "I'm doing this for you. Not for anyone else."
"Then let me do this. For me."
"I don't want you to get hurt. The second, the second you're in danger, I swear, we will know. We'll get you out! I promise."
"Mom…I promise I'll stay safe."
Her mother sighed, but nodded in approval, the two sides having come to a temporary truce. While the waiter approached with their food, she could only offer a slight sigh. For all her worries and nagging, her mother wasn't the most annoying person in the world.
No, that would be that idiot Lance.
I like Lance, or as I call him, Sokka Mk. II. But let's face it, it's really, REALLY easy to see how he would get grating on the girls he hit on.
As always, enjoy and review.