Robotech: The Ashes of Empire

by GVincent

The Robotech Masters have abandoned their control of empire, their war with The Invid, and the slave Zentraedi forces still fighting it in an attempt to capture Zor's Battle Fortress directly. In this sudden power vacuum, a rogue leader from a caste of Zentraedi whose function is to enforce the will of The Masters on the warrior caste will attempt to seize power and rule herself.

11. Chapter 11: Duty and Honor

Chapter Eleven

Duty and Honor

"It is common and understood that Fate will eventually surrender us all to Death- such is the inevitable conclusion to Duty."

"Death, the able tactician encircles your flanks, arrests your advance, and blocks your avenue of withdrawal- matching point for point your perimeter guard and settles in for the siege. This is the final battle we all face."

"Still, those whose veins course with those principles of Duty and Honor , those who stand tall by them, can in that encirclement stare Death directly in the eyes and say justly, "You can only take this shell, but you cannot have me."

"It requires only the courage to accept this reality, and for some, the fortitude to commit others to it."

Action Commander Gymalt,

Commanding Officer, 4234th Destroyer Squadron, 604th Grand Army

The Trendok 145 Robotech Automated Factory

Action Commander Kevtok advanced after a moment's pause across the vehicle storage compartment's deck to examine with physical contact what he had only seen coming together up to this point.

The Re-Entry Transport Pod, specially designed and fabricated for his mission sat inert, dumbly and indifferently awaiting inspection. His hand-picked Serhot-Ran who composed the security and action force for the operation followed their leader in his inspection of the customized vessel with equal interest. It would serve all as an operational base and home- a microcosm of Te'Dak Tohl culture- during their forward deployment to and immersion in the alien world. In Kevtok's mind this gave the team all a vested interest in examining the craft and legitimacy in the need to do so.

Kevtok ran his hand over the smooth outer skin of the craft at shoulder-height, following the gentle and regular curve of the transport's saucer shape. As with any vehicle or item produced by The Factory, the new transport was constructed perfectly according to specifications and had been verified through rigorous, automated quality-assurance regiments to be flawless down to a level of detail unperceivable to mortal senses. Having been delivered through these processes, it was a trusted and foregone assumption that the craft was as ready for use as technology could make it.

A walk-through inspection of the vessel was a mere formality.

Still, even in the execution of what was technically a "formality"- Kevtok was looking for something that was very tangible, almost corporal, to him. For himself and in his experience in preparing for operations Kevtok found consistently that there was always a moment when an upcoming mission became "real". It was the moment when something clicked and an operation transcended the realm of the conceptual to become something that had a feeling of its own to it. It was a moment when Kevtok felt the character of an operation beyond the particulars of requirements and objectives, and it was in that moment that he felt connected to it.

Committed.

Somewhere in running his hand over the new craft, Kevtok felt the click.

This was the vessel that at a specified and approaching time in the future would open its gangway ramp to he and his team and allow them to breathe in their first breath of the alien world's air.

That electric moment lasted for a heartbeat- long enough to be felt and then felt to fade, and then it was replaced by what Kevtok always felt in its wake. Action Commander Kevtok felt the urgency of what remained to be done to prepare. He could almost feel his mind sync like a chronometer with the timetable leading up to the hour of deployment, and it began to organize all of the outstanding and necessary tasks that lay between this moment and that.

Time was slipping by, and now Kevtok felt it.

Coming to the gangway ramp at the ship's bow (the only feature that clearly differentiated the bow from any of the saucer-like vessel's other aspects) Kevtok stepped up onto the plane and walked to the gaping maw at its head.

If the vessel's outward appearance made it indistinguishable from "standard" Re-Entry Transport Pods, the contents of what would have normally been the cargo hold set it clearly apart from any other vessel of that class. Instead of the great open space within required normally to ferry warriors and mecha in force into areas of combat, the core of the vessel was occupied by a hub structure that extended from what would have been the cargo deck to the ceiling of the towering hold.

From outside, the center hub merely appeared to occupy the space between the cargo deck and the cockpit still situated at the crown of the vessel's broad, flat dome. Having been shown the vessel's layout before its construction, Kevtok knew the hub to contain all of the technologies and facilities that would be required to support the mission's objectives and allow it to be a success.

The survey team that even now was being provided additional and specialized training by the Tirolian scientists would have at their disposal extensive if not compact laboratory facilities. Advanced communications gear never previously incorporated into a Re-Entry Transport hull would allow the detailed reports of the survey team to be relayed to Supreme General Krymina's command along with the general intelligence Kevtok would be responsible for, and would serve as the channel through which new instructions and directives were received.

Functioning as a base for a forward-deployed operation, the vessel had been designed to serve more than the strictly technical needs of the mission. A barracks compartment that would have been familiar to any Te'Dak Tohl warrior in terms of appointments and allotted quantity of personal space occupied a substantial portion of the hub along with appropriate mess and lavatory facilities. The medical bay situated a deck above was equipped with an automated medical station that could, should the need arise, provide the full range of medical services available normally only in a warship's infirmary. Occupying nearly the entire area of that level of the hub, the medical bay also served en equally vital function as the vessel's stasis compartment with a stasis chamber provided for each member of the team.

Every Zentraedi had vivid memories of the jarring experience of being roused from stasis, known commonly as and significantly sanitized by the euphemism of- "The Awakening". Each having gone through the process once, none were eager to revisit an experience that at its best had been described as waking up to the sensation of drowning.

It had been determined early in the planning stages of the mission that Kevtok and his warriors were to undertake that insertion of their vessel into the alien star system would have to take place at a considerable distance from the alien world lest it be detected and intercepted by the indigenous military forces. This would mean a transit time to the world of almost two Tirolian seasons, even at the transport's best speed. Left awake, the crew would find itself with nothing constructive or mission-oriented to do, and not even minimal training facilities to pass the time and maintain their readiness. The quantity of supplies that would be required to sustain the crew in transit alone would far exceed the storage capacity space budgeted into the vessel's design and would have forced space trade-offs that would have carried with them mission impact.

Action Commander Kevtok's team despite the Zentraedi's long-standing status as an intergalactic force had been reduced essentially to the technologies of interplanetary spacefarers. With these limitations of travel and the time requirements inherit, stasis and a second bout with The Awakening became an unpleasant necessity.

As Kevtok and his team made their way on the cargo deck around the circumference of the vessel's center hub structure they were forced to envision the spaces and facilities housed within for the simple reason that they could not yet access them. The mission required, and as a result the customized transport vessel had been constructed to a scale that asked one additional indignity of the Te'Dak Tohl Zentraedi.

Molecular Reduction. Micronization.

Not more unpleasant than the prospect of going into stasis again, it did lack the almost-redeeming quality of allowing the subjected to exist in the state unconsciously. The process by which Zentraedi were reduced in size to near that of their Tirolian creators was reversible, but none entered lightly into intentionally transitioning into such a frail physical state.

Yet again though, mission requirements demanded this for both reasons of conserving space and supplies for a team of the size required- but also for reasons of blending more readily into marooned Zentraedi population of the alien world.

Duty often required the unpleasant of those conducting it and as this was not likely to change. Action Commander Kevtok focused his attention rather on the task of inspecting his new vessel.

The custom configured transport reflected the nature of the mission it was to support in its abundant information-gathering, analysis, and communications facilities aboard. These were to be used by the deployed survey team discretely in their reconnaissance activities. All, from General Krymina and her planning staff down to the team of "volunteers" selected for the assignment, accepted that while the mission objectives were best served by covert activity- it was plausible that more active measures might be called for. This was the reason that Serhot-Ran had been selected to lead the mission, and why elements of technology more familiar to the elite Te'Dak Tohl warriors was incorporated no less prominently into the unique vessel's design.

Along the inner hull of the transport at regular intervals were the storage anchorages for two dozen Nacht-Rau combat suits. The power armor would not be loaded aboard until just before departure, but their space had been planned for along with storage lockers that would contain ample munitions and replacement parts to support a sustained use of the Nacht-Rau in a limited contact, combat role.

Contrary to the normal role of Serhot-Ran and counter to his instinct and training, Action Commander Kevtok understood clearly that unless instructed explicitly otherwise, the combat suits and combat operations altogether were to be for defensive purposes only. Irregular as this was and as closely to this edict as he would adhere, Kevtok hoped from deep within that he and his security force would be called upon to use the Nacht-Rau suits in the forward area.

If this were to come to be, practical necessity would work to their comfort and favor for once in supporting the mission objectives.

At the rear of the central hub of the transport, built into the structure itself, were the two molecular manipulation, or "sizing", chambers that would allow for the return of Kevtok and his warriors to their intended size. Without the chambers, the Serhot-Ran would be trapped in their diminutive size- making the piloting of the shock trooper's principle tool- the Nacht-Rau- as impossible as physically carrying it.

Lieutenant Moyrt made only moderate effort to conceal his discomfort with the approaching reality of having to make a home of the modified transport. As he followed the procession of Serhot-Ran around the core structure, he was keenly aware that soon the world he and his comrades would live, sleep, and operate in was scarcely large enough to hold by volume four of them together in their natural state..

Looking down Moyrt noted that the toe of his boot would not easily fit through the pressure door that he would be able to walk through after the micronization process- but he assumed his perspective would change with his actual change in size. –Or, if it did not he asked Fate for the favor that his duties would keep him preoccupied from thoughts of his physical state.

Moyrt turned away with disgust.

Lieutenant Hyra was not lost on Moyrt's less than subtle body language, commenting, "Well, Moyrt, it's not like you're going to have your molecules artificially manipulated to reduce your mass by ninety percent before being immersed in preservation fluid in a near-death state. Cheer up, why don't you?"

Hyra's words were heard by other members of the Serhot-Ran security team and must have touched a common and sensitive nerve as there were several brief laughs of abject resignation.

"You have such a way of putting things in perspective, Hyra.", Moyrt said dryly, "I feel uplifted already."

"If I make it sound torturous enough", Hyra replied, "the actual doing of it all will seem pleasant by comparison. Don't you think?"

"No more than I have to. Allegedly, thinking got me here."

"And what's wrong with here?"

Ice needles of surprise sank into the flesh along Moyrt's spine as Action Commander Kevtok confronted him on the complaint Moyrt had voiced, unaware of his superior's proximity.

Moyrt stood more rigid, dutifully replying in a dispassionate tone, "Lord, I meant to say-."

"That you're uncomfortable with the thought of micronization?", suggested Kevtok, "Unsure of our chances at success?"

Kevtok glanced at his team, now gathering at a comfortable distance from him. To a warrior their faces were stoic, but Kevtok knew the act well enough himself to see beyond it. He saw that he was speaking now to their concerns and that they were interested in hearing what he had to say.

"In honesty, between warriors, let's just get this out into the open-. I feel the same concerns.", Kevtok admitted, "But Duty demands we set that aside. You- we, have been selected to carry out this mission because there are many unknowns, many difficulties that cannot be anticipated, and because the odds are long against us. We have been chosen because despite all of these things, we stand the best chance of success. Use your skills as Serhot-Ran warriors, trust in the skills, bravery, and intuition of your comrades, and act in faith to Duty and we will succeed. I neither ask for nor want warriors who would take on a mission of this magnitude with no doubts. I do demand that we work together to come up with solutions. Do you understand?"

"Yes Lord!", echoed loudly and uniformly within the hold of the transport.

"Excellent.", Kevtok said, "Assembly in ten minutes for our next briefing."

As Kevtok left the company of the other Serhot-Ran, Hyra nudged Moyrt with her shoulder.

"Sort of makes it all fall into place, doesn't it?"

"I feel more inspired.", Moyrt replied transparently, "Thank you so much for that opportunity to connect with the chain of command."

"Anytime. We should go now if we want a good seat for this."

Moyrt followed Hyra down the ramp, "Tell me something, Hyra- is the oxygen mix in your suit running thin these days?"

Murhan-Thade 4

Sub-Lieutenant Koso felt the solid thud of contact with the ground and stood back from the Re-Entry Transport Pod's hatch as it broke seal and swung outward and down to serve its other function as loading ramp. Koso had no concept of what number trip this was for him back to the barren world. He had consciously decided not to keep a count, but with each successive trip to Murhan-Thade 4 his initial glimpse of the filthy, yellow sky through the opening hatch made him want that trip to be the last.

Something in the sea of warriors that he also saw with each trip caused Koso to return again for one more trip.

Each time aboard Destroyer 741 the transports had loaded with what life sustaining provisions they could scrounge from the ship's stores and from the other two remaining ships of Gymalt's squadron. Each time with Koso's assistance the transport had ferried them to the surface to exchange this cargo for a full load of warriors from that sea of the disciplined patient.

Each time except for this one.

Koso had sensed a shift in the mood of the transport's small crew aboard Destroyer 741 at the moment that the pilot had taken aside the load master to confer in private. He had not had to hear the conversation to know its substance- he had known it to be coming. The early recovery flights that Koso had been party to had delivered warriors onto the warship's hangar deck where they disembarked and quickly dispersed to their duty stations aboard.

Later trips, and more and more with the last ones, the transports had arrived on the same hangar deck to reveal warriors loitering. It was not a question of dereliction; it was a matter that the warriors simply no longer had any place to go. The ship had exceeded its intended personnel capacity and had reached its maximum physical capacity for warriors.

No air charging stations had been loaded for this trip to the planet's surface. No cases of life support packs had been brought aboard and opened to be ready for distribution. There was no point in wasting supplies to prolong lives that could not be saved. The mathematics of the situation had coldly taken command.

Instead, the load master had gone to the cargo bay's small armory locker soon after the ship's departure from Destroyer 741 and had returned with an assault rifle like the ones that Hedra, Ulstik, a fourth warrior that Koso did not know by name, and Koso himself carried. The load master also carried with him spare energy clips for the volunteer crew that he distributed without remark.

Now, as the crack between the ramp and the hatch frame grew revealing a broadening expanse of sky- the meaning of the extra ammunition distribution became clear.

As the ramp met earth, Koso's heart heaved in shock at the sight before him. The lines of warriors awaiting transport off the world seemed now to stretch interminably into and over the horizon. From his vantage point within the cargo hold, Koso could see a dozen or so other transports in various stages of embarkation with equally endless masses waiting to board.

Koso felt Hedra's strong hand on his shoulder as he leaned in close to say quietly, "Do not leave the cargo hold. Do you understand?"

Koso nodded his understanding.

"Say it."

"Don't leave the hold- got it.", Koso affirmed.

"Let's get as many loaded as we can here.", said the load master as he motioned the warriors at the head of the line forward and up the ramp.

The orderly line dissolved as the warriors entered the cargo hold and made their way to the rear of the storage space. An unspoken urgency hung in the air- the sense of importance of making the most of the available space aboard- an understanding that caused the warriors to pack themselves flush against the walls. Shoulder to shoulder they pressed into one another to allow as much room for the next row of their comrades as physical space would permit.

Then the next row assembled, embarked- and then another, and then the one after that.

The pace seemed accelerated to Koso for reasons he could not explain to himself. As the cargo hold filled rapidly, the sub-lieutenant felt the urge to slow the process as though doing so would somehow increase the capacity of the cargo bay or allow for a more economical arrangement of bodies.

There was no slowing the process any more than there was an escape from the inevitable.

The load master pressed by Koso to reach the ramp control panel. There were now sufficient numbers in the cargo hold that there was no way to move while avoiding body contact. There was a constant clicking of body armor striking body armor as warriors squeezed in to make room for just one more of their own.

"That's it-", said the load master with equal parts of grimness and firmness, "We're full."

"Back!", bellowed Hedra, working his body along the hatchway like the blade of a knife severing the stream of warriors flowing aboard, "Back!- Await the next transport!"

Koso felt sickened by Hedra's words, for he knew as he parted the crowd arbitrarily into those who would be allowed aboard and those who would not that there would be no "next" transport.

Stepping laterally and continuing to separate the crowd, Koso found himself visor to visor with another warrior. Koso read in the anonymous warrior's expression that the warrior had correctly read his. The warrior blinked in the agony that was unique to coming to within a single pace of salvation.

Koso tried to speak, thinking he would mimic Hedra's false offerings of impending rescue, but found he could not. He simply waved the warrior back, tightening his grip on his rifle on the chance that he should have to use it.

The warrior stepped back, not breaking his gaze as he receded in the wave of Zentraedi that seemed to roll back down the ramp. As he backed away, holding Koso's attention all the while, something seemed to leave the warrior's eyes.

It was the glint of life, Koso realized as the load master pressed the switch to raise the ramp and the motors began to whir. It was the glint of life leaving the still living, and for all the warriors Koso had killed that day, leaving this one living made him feel the worst.

Before the ramp had risen far enough to obscure Koso's view of the warrior he had turned away- and without thinking- Koso hurled his rifle toward him in an arcing toss. The warrior vanished below the ramp's edge before Koso saw whether or not he had caught the weapon.

"Fate grant them a Warrior's end.", said the load master as the hatch sealed and the cargo compartment pressurized with a lingering hiss of breathable air. They were good words said for the comfort of the living, Koso knew, but hollow in that few if any warriors left behind would find a fitting end.

As the transport shuddered and lumbered into the air, Koso found himself hoping bleakly that the warrior to whom he had thrown his rifle would have the brains enough to use the rifle to blow them out.

"A lousy duty, eh?", Hedra said, having somehow made his way to Koso in the crowd.

"Everything is lousy duty today.", Koso admitted, still feeling sickened by Hedra's false words.

Hedra noticed his sub-lieutenant's embittered expression and took him by the arm, giving him a firm shake.

"What's that look for?"

"What look?", Koso asked, sharply jerking his arm away.

"The one stamped onto your thick skull.", Hedra replied bluntly, "What is it? You don't like the thought of leaving all of those warriors behind?-. Well, I don't either. I didn't see you hopping out of your boots to change places with them though- so deal with it."

The sharp sting of reprimand burned Koso intensely for a moment, but he held his tongue. Hedra was a friend, but he was also an officer now and there were other warriors present.

The moment's pause gave Koso the ability to reflect on what Hedra had said. Hedra was often blunt and short in speaking, but Koso had come to know over time that there was sometimes more to his thoughts than what was so often curtly expressed.

Hedra had been right- Koso had not been in any great rush to trade places with the warriors who had been left behind. The Warrior's Code professed that no warrior's life was of greater value than another's, nor of any great consequence in and of itself. Though the reality was, and what Koso felt was that it was his life and he would have it so long as Fate granted him the time.

Hedra patted Koso's shoulder firmly, "Don't worry- there's no doubt that you'll get to test Fate's mercy again. – We all will, and perhaps soon."

Te'Dak Tohl Warship, Destroyer 525

Commander Pach emerged from his shuttle onto the gangway leading down to the hangar deck. There was no disorientation on the officer's part in boarding the Te'Dak Tohl vessel, as it was structurally identical to any of countless Thuverl Salan Class destroyers that he had been aboard before. Indeed, within the hangar bay every frame and brace was familiar in its place. All aspects of the deck's configuration from the placement of the equipment lockers to even the paint scheme and placement of signs was in fact what Pach would have expected to see had this been a destroyer from a fleet of the warrior caste.

This vessel was not of the warrior caste though, and despite the features that might have led the eye into tricking the mind into believing so- there were differences that told Pach that he was in unfamiliar and hostile territory.

Drawing breath, Pach did not detect the staleness that often afflicted the atmosphere in his own ship- the result of air scrubbers and oxygen replenishers that were constantly being repaired and rebuilt as a result of wear. The air also lacked the pervasive odors of battle that were so common to a seasoned warship in the service of the warrior caste, and that were equally impossible to eliminate. There was no hint of earth, smoke, or blood to the air here. The vessel had the smell of a thing unsoiled by the violence and toil of empire-building or of the condition of military servitude.

Familiar vehicles and pieces of equipment were stowed in their appropriate places, but were unmarred by the wear of constant operational use - making them devoid of the slight imperfections that Pach was used to overlooking on inspections. Light fixtures shone brilliantly, the paint on bulkheads and frames was pristine, and even the decks were kept in a state that defied the appearance of wear.

In its immaculate condition, Commander Pach felt the insult of bad imitation- he was aboard the farce of a fighting ship. It was like a warrior that bragged loudly, but had no scars to show for his tales.

The sensation became overpowering as everywhere that Pach looked he was able to recognize the façade for what it was. This ship, its fighters, mecha and equipment, down to the uniforms worn by its Te'Dak Tohl crew were a irreverent mimicry of all that warrior caste Zentraedi had come to embody over the countless generations through struggle and bloodshed. In this, Pach felt a new cause for revulsion for the Te'Dak Tohl and resolved quite easily in that moment that they would not lay claim to that Warrior's heritage by the mere fact of genetic association.

Not without a fight.

"Commander Pach, Lord."

Pach disconnected himself from his brooding to reply to the lieutenant whom he found at the foot of his shuttle's gangway ramp, "Yes?"

"Lord, my superior, Action Commander Gymalt and Commander Sylas await you on the command deck."

Pach strode briskly down the gangway and took the lead before Gymalt's officer, heading toward the first of many connecting passages that would take him to the bridge. Pach had made arrangements with the two other commanding officers to meet aboard the captured Te'Dak Tohl vessel, but in his distracted thoughts of moments earlier had not noticed their shuttles on the hangar deck.

As he and the lieutenant that Gymalt had sent to greet him left the hangar behind, Pach felt the sharp pang of the possible yet not probable. With all three senior officers of the 4234th- four if one were to include Dychi- aboard Destroyer 525, all were vulnerable should a Te'Dak Tohl attack occur. While Pach was certain that Sylas's executive officer remained aboard Destroyer 818, Destroyer 741 was without both senior command officers as well as a good portion of the officers and sub-officers who accounted for much of the ship's combat effectiveness. Most had been sent over initially as the bulk of the boarding party tasked with securing the Te'Dak Tohl destroyer.

Pach tried to rationalize the thought away, recognizing that the chances of Te'Dak Tohl forces arriving at this tactically ideal moment were slim at best. Furthermore, if Te'Dak Tohl reinforcements were to come it was likely that they would arrive in numbers that would negate any good Pach could do by being on the bridge of his ship.

"My executive officer, is he with them as well?"

"Sub-Commander Dychi ceded command to my lord upon his arrival and joined a rather unpleasant engineering officer and his team in surveying the ship for damage."

Pach shook his head, "That would be Gerrok. Any word yet on the prospect of salvaging this vessel?"

"None that I'm aware of, Lord.", replied the lieutenant as he followed the commander through corridors away from the hangar deck and into a companionway whose walls to either side were lined with Te'Dak Tohl crew and warriors sitting cross-legged on the deck under the supervision of two Regults.

"But I was selected at random to greet you-.", the lieutenant added, "I've been charged with accounting for the Te'Dak Tohl crew on this deck and seeing that they are under adequate guard."

"I see.", Pach said, turning a corner and finding the ship's lifts exactly where they were supposed to be.

The corridors of the command deck were crowded with sitting, captured Te'Dak Tohl much as the corridors of the hangar deck had been, though there was a higher concentration of officers here. All sat quietly under the watch of officers and specialists in the guise of warriors, mainly from Destroyer 741, but also from Gymalt and Sylas's ships.

The vanquished sat quietly, though Pach could feel the hateful stares of the Te'Dak Tohl cut into him as he passed, as surely as if they had been the blades of knives. Despite his disdain for the Masters' enforcers, Pach felt a moment's sympathy for the indignity of their circumstance- until he realized that there had not, to his limited inspection, been a single sign of struggle from the ship's crew. They had simply given up their ship.

Pach found his sympathy greatly reduced with that realization as they in spite of the fact that they had chosen surrender over defense of themselves felt entitled to condescend the warrior caste.

Approaching the command bubble, Commander Pach found his recent adversary, Action Commander Lanon and a second officer whom he presumed to be the ship's executive officer sitting opposite their post's door cross-legged on the deck as many of the crew that Pach had passed had been. Of the hateful stares Pach had received in his journey from the shuttle hangar to the command deck, the burn of Lanon's was by far the worst though the two officers did not even attempt eye contact with one another.

Defiantly, and with a minutely self-indulgent measure of spite, Pach acknowledged his superior officer as he passed simply with, "Action Commander-."

The command bubble door slid open to reveal that the commanding officer's chair had simply traded one action commander for another. Gymalt occupied the seat with every sign of ease and comfort and had been speaking to Sylas who stood to the side of the chamber.

"Lord.", Pach said dutifully, saluting and bowing at the waist to his commanding officer.

"Pach- Fate has kept you, my friend", Gymalt said graciously as though the trials of the past several hours had not touched him, "I'm pleased. Sylas and I were growing concerned with the time it was taking you to arrive. What is your ship's condition?"

"Minor battle damage.", Pach replied, "Nothing that Gerrok and his staff cannot repair."

"Two functional out of three is not bad- considering the battle fought.", Gymalt said almost philosophically, "Fate has finally decided a different destiny for Destroyer 1017 though. The damage to my vessel is far more extensive. There is life support for the moment, but little else is operable. I regret to have to abandon so faithful a ship-."

"There's little alternative, Lord.", Sylas reminded the action commander as though revisiting a topic that Pach had not been party to, "By now, the Te'Dak Tohl know that we have attacked their guard here and likely suspect that we have recovered our warriors. It is reasonable to assume that more enemy forces are on their way as we speak. Even at maximum fold, we still have time before the Te'Dak Tohl arrive- but not much."

"I agree, Sylas.", Gymalt said with a tone of dispassionate logic, "The path is clear for my crew. We will take this vessel as a replacement. It becomes a question of whether the repairs necessary can be affected in the time we have been granted. The survey, to which your contributions in staff I appreciate, will let us know shortly."

"If this vessel can be salvaged", Pach said confidently, knowing well his own engineer's skill and resolve, "then it will be salvaged, and with time to spare."

"Pach and I will need to forage for ourselves as well.", Sylas said, pointing out an obvious fact that Pach had been hesitant to bring up in Gymalt's presence given the more severe condition of his command, "We should send scavenging parties to the other Te'Dak Tohl vessels before they are taken by the planet and burn up."

"That's understood.", Pach said, "Our condition is not critical though- Gymalt's is."

"Sylas is correct.", Gymalt agreed, re-opening the discussion much to Pach's discomfort, "I have every intention of salvaging this vessel for our use- but it's essential that we take full advantage of this opportunity to restore as much function to the vessels of the squadron as possible. We cannot know when the next chance will come."

Sylas grunted in amusement, "Squadron- we hardly qualify for that title anymore. We're a force detachment at best."

Correct as the assertion was, Sylas's words went without comment from the other two officers in the command bubble.

"Regardless", Pach said, moving on to a point that had been weighing heavily upon him since the first transports had begun to return from Murhan-Thade 4 to Destroyer 741, "There is another issue that we must address, and quickly. We do not have an accurate count of the number of warriors we have taken aboard Destroyer 741- but I can tell you that every space is now occupied with Zentraedi. I would estimate my ship is now home to three times the number of warriors that it was intended to support. That means three times the rate of consumption of supplies, and three times the strain on the life support systems in general. My ship can support that number for a while, but not indefinitely. We need to acquire more supplies, and more importantly, more ships- or we have only postponed the deaths of these warriors."

"You're suggesting we locate another Factory?", Sylas asked, "That's a possibility, but not likely and perhaps not wise to attempt immediately. The Factories, as you know, keep themselves spread according to need throughout our operational areas of space and coordinate their activities. If we transmit a call to The Network for assistance in this region we will almost definitely attract the attention of the Trendok 145 and the Te'Dak Tohl."

"And if not the Trendok 145", Gymalt continued, "then I suspect that General Krymina is monitoring the activity of the other Factories via The Network. Even should we locate another Factory- she will almost certainly know. We would not be difficult to find then- and even easier to eliminate."

"A risk, admittedly.", Pach conceded, "What other options do we have? We could attempt to locate another Zentraedi army- though to get the deployment information we require would mean a communications interface with a Factory through The Network. General Krymina again would know of our relative position and of yet another army that she could elect to attack as she did to ours. No- you were correct Sylas, we have to remove ourselves from this operational area before we can safely contact a Factory for assistance. We cannot run the risk of the Te'Dak Tohl reading our intentions."

"Our intentions being?", Gymalt inquired, "Up to this moment our intentions have been to survive and to recover what warriors we could. We have achieved that. Now comes the difficult task of deciding what to do next. You may have struck on the best idea, Pach, in locating another Factory or army. There are risks, but it may be our best option. There is the possibility that if we located another Zentraedi army, we could persuade its commander to retaliate against General Krymina. Now that we know how to offset their technical advantage, a battle-hardened army of the warrior caste could prove quite effective against the Te'Dak Tohl- but they could as easily choose to avoid involvement."

"Let's be candid.", Sylas said bluntly, "We could also come across the kind of commander who is still compelled to perform his duty for The Masters, and looks upon us as renegades. We could come under fire from those whom we intend to warn about General Krymina."

Pach made a gesture as if to clear the air of the increasingly tangled complexities of the discussion in progress.

"We're arguing supposition right now. We have yet to touch on our initial concern of how we sustain ourselves and survive beyond the immediate future."

Sylas answered quickly in his coldly pragmatic manner, "First, we strip these Te'Dak Tohl ships of every consumable and piece of equipment that we can use and carry off. That will sustain us for a while."

"Agreed.", said Gymalt, "Though your ship and mine will be as overwrought as Pach's, Sylas. We must assume that they will bear up under the strain only temporarily. We will need more vessels to endure for any great period of time. That will mean locating another Factory- despite the risks. I see no other way."

"That means relocating to another operational area.", Sylas warned, "That means weeks in spacefold- if not more. And even then, there's no guarantee we'll find another Factory. We could easily exhaust our supplies hopping here and there just searching. We could, however, extend our ability to search by putting our surplus warriors off on a habitable world with supplies to sustain them."

"Absolutely not.", Pach refused outright, "After what the Te'Dak Tohl just attempted? I remind you, we do not have the luxury of our homogeneous commands beneath us. If we were to suggest such a thing, we would more than likely have a revolt. And as you said, searching a different operational area is no guarantee that we will locate another Factory. Their supplies could easily run out before we returned."

"The idea was yours, Pach.", Sylas observed, "I'm just pointing out the unpleasant details. Yes, it is a chance we take- a huge one, even. But we have few easy or comfortable decisions left to us at the moment."

"And the decision is neither of yours to make.", Gymalt reminded his remaining subordinate commanders, "Your input is valued and appreciated- but the decision is still mine. That is my burden."

"Yes, Lord.", said both Sylas and Pach.

Pach was uncertain of Sylas's feelings on Gymalt's reassertion of authority, benign as it had been. Sylas was above all things practical, and while capable of making the difficult decisions such as the ones all three commanders had been alluding to- Pach suspected his inclination would be to adhere to the chain of command for direction.

For his part though, Pach was relieved to be free of the decision. He knew himself capable also of making it- but found himself weary of repeatedly having to do so. He imagined that Gymalt felt worn by his duties, and found himself admiring his commander that much more for accepting that responsibility unflinchingly.

All three senior officers were distracted from the conversation in progress by the sound of the buzzer to the command bubble door. The major issue of the moment had not been decided, but none of the three seemed inclined to pursue the matter further at the moment. The next course of action depended heavily on whether the captured Te'Dak Tohl vessel that they were meeting aboard could be restored to use. Until that was known any attempt at meaningful planning was pointless.

Whether they could afford it or not, the three commanders recognized that they had time.

"Enter.", said Gymalt to the party on the other side of the door.

The door to the bubble slid open to reveal Sub-Commander Dychi standing directly and patiently outside. The more physically formidable Gerrok stood behind him, radiating an aura of impatience at the formalities of using the buzzer to announce their presence. Gerrok pushed past Dychi in the doorway that was barely able to accommodate either and approached Pach directly.

"You need to come with us, because there's something you need to see.", Gerrok said directly to his superior.

Pach made a slight gesture as a reminder for Gerrok's benefit to the two other officers present. Gerrok blinked, the implications not registering at first- but then it clicked.

"Lords-.", Gerrok said to Gymalt and Sylas with a modest attempt at reverence and technical adherence to protocol.

"What's wrong, Gerrok?", Pach asked abandoning hope of an appropriate salutation from Gerrok to his superiors given his clearly elevated state of agitation. "Lords.", Dychi said, asserting himself over the less protocol-oriented Gerrok, "We were conducting our survey of the vessel-."

Gerrok seized the explanation back from Dychi as he went into the flap of his tunic with the arm not immobilized in a sling, "Remember this?"

When Gerrok's right hand re-appeared, it held a standard memory slate.

"They killed Jerl over this, remember?", Gerrok reminded Pach as the other two senior officers watched the exchange between the engineer and commanding officer with confused expressions.

"Gerrok's assistant-.", Pach explained to Gymalt and Sylas, "Yes, of course I remember, Gerrok. -And nearly you too. You've discovered something?"

"Something big.", Gerrok said, "Bigger than what the Te'Dak Tohl did to us anyway. Maybe your counterpart can fill in a few of the details."

Gerrok's explanation had been as cryptic as it had been impassioned, but Gymalt and Sylas were both visibly convinced that Gerrok's belief that he had stumbled upon something of importance was sincere.

Gymalt attempted to extract more information from the engineer, "Define, something big, Sub-Commander."

"I brought that memory slate aboard with us on the chance that we could access the Te'Dak Tohl de-encryption equipment-.", Gerrok began to explain.

In an unusual reversal of communications styles, Dychi reasserted himself to speak directly to the point that Gerrok was meandering toward, "Lord, what Sub-Commander Gerrok is holding appears to be the foundational material required for a significant offensive operation."

If Gerrok's behavior had intrigued the three commanding officers, then Dychi's words captured their interest.

"An offensive against our caste in general-? Against the Masters?", Gymalt asked speculatively.

"No, Lord.", Dychi replied, and looking to Pach continued, "There was more information than we could review quickly, but extensive files on Supreme General Breetai were prominent. There was also significant navigational information and intelligence on a star system in a sector of space that I did not recognize. Other files were on an alien species- but as I said, we chose to bring this to your attention rather than review the information in detail."

"The correct decision, Sub-Commander.", Gymalt repeated, "We need to see this."

The movement of Gymalt and his senior officers to the command center had been swift- pausing only to take the Te'Dak Tohl commander of the vessel, Lanon, with them under heavy guard. Lanon had not been privileged to the exchange within the command bubble, but was noticeably affected by the sudden interest his vanquishers had in him. His condition showed an ever-deepening concern as their path through the stations of the bridge edged closer to the communications suite.

"I assumed- correctly- that the encryption sequence that we could not break aboard Destroyer 741 might be cracked with the gear aboard this ship.", Gerrok explained to his superiors revisiting the background of he and Dychi's discovery, "This station was left unsecured and- well, Dychi told you the rest."

Gerrok turned to the workstation that was easily identified by the senior officers in the party as a stand-alone encryption terminal and inserted the memory slate that had cost Jerl his life into the appropriate port. The terminal responded instantly and from a familiar menu screen listed the contents of the slate by file type, assigned name, and size.

Dychi spoke as Gerrok scrolled through the file menu, "Lords, as I said before there is nothing conclusive here- but the files do lend themselves to the possibility that General Krymina is planning an action against Supreme General Breetai. All the data she could want or need to prepare is here-. Tactical action analyses, unit readiness reports, intelligence summaries on past actions-."

Gymalt nodded his agreement with Dychi and raised his hand to impose a pause, "Why General Breetai? And why the alien species of this system? The co-ordinates on some of these star chart files-. At a glance, I can tell you that none are in currently active areas of Zentraedi operation. Action Commander Lanon, would you care to share what you know with us?"

Lanon's expression revealed nothing except perhaps a hint of defiance.

"I know nothing of this."

In his attempt to reveal nothing, Pach read in Lanon that he in fact knew a great deal- a deliberate attempt to conceal something of substance. There had been much violence recently leading to this moment, and Pach found that he was not averse to just a little more in order to have answers to the question of why.

"I see.", Gymalt replied, "I also don't believe a word of it. Once more, what do you know about this?"

"Nothing.", Lanon said, working to maintain a calm appearance as the unpleasant possibilities of what would likely happen next began to occur to him.

"Very well", Gymalt said, accepting his counterpart's decision, and then saying to one of the guards, "Warrior- the leg."

Without hesitation, the warrior raised his rifle with a casual motion common to one familiar with its use and fired a single energy bolt into the Te'Dak Tohl officer's left leg.

Lanon's leg folded beneath him, sending him to the deck with a sharp cry. As the weapon's report echoed in the command center Lanon clutched at the smoldering, pass-through wound to the outside of his knee. It was a wound inflicted masterfully to maximize pain with as little chance of being mortal as was possible.

"Is anything pertinent coming to mind now?", asked Action Commander Gymalt, standing over the felled officer.

Lanon's expression was equal parts of rage and agony as both repeatedly rippled through him in waves.

"Enjoy the moment…", Lanon growled, "Your kind has few of them left."

Sylas moved forward and placing the heel of his right boot directly onto the Te'Dak Tohl's wound, pressed down heavily through Lanon's covering hands. A yelp escaped the action commander before he could suppress it.

"In that case, I intend to enjoy every one to the fullest."

"Finish me, norghil.", Lanon growled, then wailed as Sylas turned his heel.

"You still don't understand that you're not in a position to be giving orders, do you?", Sylas replied.

"Should it come to that, we will.", Pach assured the Te'Dak Tohl officer, "But hat path could be a lengthy one, and I'm certain that between us- we can find ways to make it a very unpleasant one as well."

"I have a few ideas.", Gerrok volunteered with genuine interest.

"Sub-Commander Dychi-.", Gymalt said to Pach's executive officer, "Where do we have the vessel's command crew under guard?"

"Mostly in Number Four passage, Lord.", Dychi replied.

Gymalt nodded, "I should think that between those who have need-to-know access and those whom have heard by warrior's talk- we can get information elsewhere. In the meantime, I believe Action Commander Lanon still has too many functioning extremities. His example will likely convince one of his junior officers to talk. Warrior- the other knee. To begin with-."

Lanon's eyes widened as the warrior's rifle shifted so that the muzzle was directed to his uninjured leg.

"Wait!"

Gymalt made a motion with his hand, suspending his order to the warrior who kept his rifle at the ready.

"Action Commander?"

"You're dead anyway-.", Lanon snarled, "Your idol turned traitor against The Masters and sided with aliens to steal Zor's Battle Fortress.. We're taking it back for ourselves."

Gerrok scoffed, "Blood loss is going to his head- no one knows where Zor's Battle Fortress went."

Pach was silent in contemplation of the Te'Dak Tohl's claim for a moment, but then asked, "When? When is this to take place?"

"It's already begun.", Lanon said bluntly, though still managing a hint of sublime superiority in his tone, "The end of your kind has begun without you ever being aware of it."

"Perhaps.", admitted Gymalt in a steady voice, "But you likely won't be alive to revel in it. Warriors- take him to the ship's infirmary and see that his wound is attended to. He and his crew will be put down on Murhan-Thade 4 with the same considerations given to our warriors. I'll have no more to do with them- let their own treachery kill them."

"You're finished, norghil!", spat Lanon as he was hoisted up from the deck by two warriors obeying Gymalt's orders, "Your life will outlast mine by only a short while!"

Lanon and his bearers vanished from the command deck, the door sliding shut automatically behind them. The officer's last words remained heavily in the air like smoke that would not clear.

Of the small group left on the command deck, only Sub-Commander Gerrok appeared unfazed by Lanon's parting words. The incredulous engineer became keenly aware of this after a moment.

"What? You aren't actually taking him seriously, are you? He's purging his vents! No one knows where Zor's Fortress is-. He shot it off into deep space. For all anyone knows, he sent it flying into a star!"

"Sub-Commander", Gymalt said curtly, "His claims about Zor's Battle Fortress not withstanding, the Te'Dak Tohl did not massacre two entire armies for their amusement. Regardless of the objective, I believe that Action Commander Lanon was telling the truth as he knew it about an offensive against Supreme General Breetai."

"Let's assume that Lanon truthfully told us what he knows, and that in fact that is the Te'Dak Tohl's intent..", supposed Sylas, "What do we do about it? That's the question we have to come to eventually."

"We warn him.", Pach said, "There is no question. We must warn Supreme General Breetai. We agreed earlier that our knowledge of how to offset the system neutralization device used by the Te'Dak Tohl would give an army from our caste at least a chance at defending itself from them. All that has changed is that we know now which commander we must impart this knowledge upon. With that advantage and our warning, Supreme General Breetai could put a quick end to Krymina. Without it, he has no more of a chance than Alzyha or Bohan did."

"Agreed.", Sylas said, "But you're overlooking a minor detail. Without studying the exact location of this alien system, where Supreme General Breetai allegedly is- I'll forward the suspicion that it's well out of our independent communications range. We cannot transmit a message directly to Supreme General Breetai. We would have to use The Network- which means communicating through Robotech Factories. Once we interface with The Network, General Krymina will be aware that we are attempting to contact Breetai."

"And take this into consideration.", Sylas continued, "If General Krymina is monitoring communications traffic on The Network, which she almost certainly is- she might even be able to intercept and terminate our signal before it reaches Breetai. At the very least, she would know our position and decide to act accordingly. It's fair to say that we'd never know if Breetai actually received our message and took it serously. The best alternative is to depart as soon as we are fit to travel for this alien system, hope that he is still there, and to contact Breetai directly."

Pach countered, "You base that on the assumption that Lanon was speaking truthfully to us. If you make that assumption, you also have to assume he was telling the truth about the operation already being underway. Assume several days to get ourselves into order to depart- add to that the time required to fold to this alien system-. We could very well fold into a combat area thick with Te'Dak Tohl- or even find the battle already over and decided in the Te'Dak Tohl's favor."

Sylas's frustration showed through, "Then either you or I, or both, should depart right now. Within this hour. Your ship is sound enough for hyperspace travel, as is mine. You can't argue both sides, Pach. We either act to warn Supreme General Breetai, or we do not. If we are to warn Breetai, than this is the best way. I suspect that to try to communicate with him via The Network would be pointless. We must establish direct contact, and to do so- we must act, now."

"Don't forget yourself, Sylas", Pach warned, "Gymalt has the authority to make the decisions here."

"I'm not forgetting myself.", Sylas replied, "The circumstances have outgrown the issue of who has authority here. The facts remain."

"Indeed they do.", said Gymalt who had been noticeably removed from the exchange, "And I am to require a short time to weigh them- and our options. Pleas leave me to that work now."

Pach and Sylas exchanged a brief and uneasy glance. Though it was not common for Zentraedi commanders to involve their subordinates in the process of making decisions, it was less common for Gymalt to exclude his outright.

"I will require an hour or so.", Gymalt said grimly, "In that time, Pach, I wish for you to lead the effort to finish the survey of this vessel and evaluate the time it will require to have it ready for action. Sylas, you will oversee the transfer of this ship's crew to the planet's surface and then the transfer of my crew aboard."

Gymalt was silent and thoughtful for a moment before adding contrary to what he had said to Lanon a short time before, "See that provisions are made for the Te'Dak Tohl to support them for the length of time it would require a ship to travel from the Trendok 145 to the Murhan-Thade system and back, plus several days. We will give them a chance at survival at least. Whether they do or not will be the responsibility of the Te'Dak Tohl. Go now."

"Yes, Lord.", replied both commanders.

A moment later and without further discussion Pach and Sylas left the command center with Dychi and Gerrok, leaving Gymalt alone to fulfill his command obligations.

Destroyer 741

"Vala and Khura have been gone a long time- I think.", Etmal said, leaning heavily on Marosa.

"There's a lot of compartments to search, and they're all crowded.", Marosa replied, accepting despite her own exhaustion the weight that her friend and squadronmate put on her

In reality, Marosa could not say with any certainty how long Khura and Vala had been gone. She could not tell how long she had been aboard the sanctuary of this ship- something that a week earlier she would have considered anything but salvation. Marosa could not even put together with confidence the sequence of events in and after the battle on Murhan-Thade 4 that had seen her rescued.

It was all a jumble in her mind that only seemed to grow proportionately more distorted with the effort she applied to sorting it out.

Marosa knew that she was here at least- here with Etmal, Vala, and Khura from Vala's squadron of Quadranos, but was sure of little else.

She was sure of being tired though- more tired than she could remember ever being.

The things that Marosa was unsure of were more numerous and far more troubling in their implications as she shifted her own weight and that put on her by Etmal to ease the burning in her fatigued muscles.

Marosa was unsure of what had happened to her squadron in its entirety- a shameful admission for a Quadrano unit commander. She was not alone in her guilt in this respect as Vala too was seeking, quite literally, a tally of who from both their squadrons had survived and who had not.

Marosa remembered contributing significantly to the advance of Action Group 442 into the enemy lines, and of ordering the squadron under her to make the same efforts with booster jumps into the thick of the enemy to open salients. She remembered vividly the visceral details of mechanized combat at hand-to-hand ranges-.

-And Marosa remembered the terrifying moment when the battle lost any sense of direction for her. That was the moment, the mark in time after which Marosa was unsure of everything.

As both "friends" and "foes" had come out of the haze of battle from every conceivable direction, Marosa had become unsure of her unit's location relative to her own. At almost the same instant she found herself unsure of the direction to carry her fight, or of the ultimate objective.

Perhaps there had been none.

Perhaps the ultimate objective had been what the battle had achieved at the pinnacle of its chaos- indiscriminate slaughter.

Marosa did remember struggling to stay with, nearly clinging to Etmal as the battle had whirled around them like a vortex. She remembered the horror of seeing Etmal's Queadlunn-Rau take a missile hit during a booster climb and come crashing back to earth. Marosa remembered this particularly and with a sense of shame in hindsight because the horror she felt had predominantly been that she would find herself alone in the fight.

Etmal had survived though and whether she had done so before or after someone had passed the order to do so- Marosa had abandoned her combat suit and extracted Etmal from hers to form up and await extraction from the vile world of Murhan-Thade 4 by Re-Entry Transport.

Marosa did not remember the transports arriving on the battlefield, or of the battle even ending. She remembered finding herself on a line at a random landing zone all but carrying Etmal, and of the muted relief in her numbed state of seeing and receiving the help of a male sub-lieutenant whose name temporarily eluded her.

And then she had found herself here, aboard a destroyer from the male army with only a number for a name. She had heard rumors of every kind spoken between other warriors but not directly to her:

The armies of General Bohan and General Alzyha had been destroyed.

The armies were under siege and fighting for control of the Trendok 145 Factory.

The armies had fought and scattered in retreat.

The armies were on their way now to mount a full rescue and then counterattack the Te'Dak Tohl.

Marosa was uncertain what to believe.

She only knew that at some point in the battle earlier that day- or was it the day before? –or a lifetime ago?- she had lost cohesion of her unit and then had lost the unit entirely.

Marosa knew that she needed to rally her Quadranos, but did not know how- and moreover, Marosa knew that she needed to rest or collapse.

Resting was at least a possibility.

"I need to sit down, Marosa.", Etmal said wearily, "I'm dizzy."

Etmal's statement added an urgency to Marosa's own need as the squadron leader was sure that she could not support Etmal any more than she was already.

"That's the concussion talking.", Marosa assured her, "You took a pretty hard fall. We'll find a place for you to rest. Just don't give up yet."

"Maybe you should have left me.", Etmal suggested. It was not defeat in her voice, but the acceptance of impending defeat.

"No, you're just a little shaky. You'll recover.", Marosa said, "And we're Quadranos- we don't leave our own behind."

Didn't they? One could not know under the circumstances.

"How do we know?", Etmal asked as though with her head nearly touching Marosa's, she had been able to read her mind.

Marosa did not answer. She hadn't the energy.

The storage compartment that Marosa and Etmal had been ushered to quickly upon embarking and in which they had miraculously discovered Vala and Khura was filled beyond any kind of reasonable capacity and necessitated that all within stand. As the crowd of mostly male warriors shifted though, Marosa caught sight of an alluring chamber wall and the promise of a tireless support that Etmal could lean against.

"We're going to prop you up against that bulkhead.", Marosa said, nodding in the direction that she had already begun to move Etmal in, "Word has it that there's a dozen or so relaxation chambers aboard, but there's probably a line-."

Etmal nearly laughed- a good sign- and said, "A bulkhead would be great."

The movement to the bulkhead, a trip of no more than a dozen paces, took nearly as long as the time it would have required to cross a compartment ten times the size under normal conditions. Marosa had quickly discovered how to use her shoulder like a wedge between more massive bodies than her own and how constant applied pressure would part them. In this way she had led Etmal on a weaving path until the wall was merely an arm's length away.

A large, male warrior had pressed himself into the nook formed between a frame and the compartment bulkhead- an ideal spot, Marosa saw, to allow Etmal to rest.

"Warrior", Marosa said, recognizing the warrior's badge of rank as being that of a Warrior 2nd Grade, "I realize that this is your spot by Fate's grace and your own efforts- but I have an injured warrior in great need of that spot. I'm asking you to please move for a short while so she might rest.."

The warrior blinked, and realizing that the request- by a female- had drawn attention from the other warriors immediately around him, replied-

"And if I don't?"

An uneasy quiet settled over the warriors immediately around Marosa and the occupier of the space she wanted for Etmal.

Marosa bristled intentionally, trying to make herself look as imposing as her smaller frame would allow- and then borrowing the phrase that hours earlier had worked so well for the sub-lieutenant at the air recharging station, said, "Then I'll knock your head off your shoulders and take it."

The warrior blinked again- his face then lost its stoicism in a bellowing laugh of utter amusement. He stepped out of the nook in the bulkhead to allow Marosa to place Etmal in his spot.

"I've fought enough for one day, Lieutenant. –Quadranos!"

"That was impressive.", Etmal said quietly as she seemed to liquefy into the space that had been vacated for her. The construction of the frame even allowed her to half-sit- a relative luxury.

"At least I didn't have to knock his head off.", Marosa said, enjoying the relief of only having to support her own weight, "Feeling a little better?"

"Much. Thanks."

"Don't mention it. Let me know if you need anything else."

"Think you could find some water and something for me to put my feet up on?"

"Don't push your luck."

Etmal looked at her surroundings carefully, much the way that Marosa had seen her take in a battle many times- with the same survivor's interest and perception.

"We could be pushing our luck already."

"How's that?", Marosa asked.

"I think we're in the same predicament, only the scenery has changed a little. Look at all of these warriors-. How long do you think a ship can sustain them all- all of us, I mean?"

Marosa rested her head on Etmal's shoulder and realized at once how physically drained she actually was.

"I don't know."

"We're on a male ship, Marosa. If they have to start tossing surplus personnel over the side, we might be among the first."

"Their commander came all this way to save us, Etmal- I doubt he'll-. I don't know, Etmal-. Just do me a favor and shut up for a little while. I'm too tired to care if they throw us over the side right now. We've lived longer than we would have."

"By hours even.", Etmal remarked grimly.

"Hours and minutes- that's what we measure life in sometimes. But it's still life."

"And all that it has to offer-.."

Destroyer 525

"You think more like Gymalt than I do, Pach-", Sylas admitted in the quiet of the corridor outside of the command center. Both officers had attended to the duties assigned to them by their superior before returning to find Gymalt still not ready to receive them.

To the thinking of both, this was highly uncharacteristic of Gymalt.

"I wouldn't presume to speculate under the circumstances, Sylas.", Pach replied heavily, weighed upon by that very fact that he could not predict the decision of a warrior who normally he knew and could read so well.

"Under normal conditions-."

Sylas quickly pointed out, "Which these aren't."

"Which these are not.", Pach agreed, "So we wait and see."

Sylas tightened the hold he had on himself with folded arms, muttering, "I hate waiting-."

"Well we can use the time, and whatever we do", Gerrok commented from the short distance away at which he and Sub-Commander Dychi stood, "it's going to be a solid three days of double shifts to get this ship back up to fighting condition. This bucket is a series of small messes that add up to one big, cumulative disaster. –Good work on that, by the way."

"Salvaging this ship wasn't foremost in our thoughts when we were trading fire with it.", Pach reminded the engineer, "But if anyone can do the work, it's you Gerrok."

"You're of course making use of my engineering staff?", Sylas asked Gerrok.

"To their fullest.", Gerrok replied in a tone bordering on indignation at having even been asked such a question, "They will be stripping the other Te'Dak Tohl vessels of anything useful and salvageable as soon as the transfer of their crews allows for the movement of equipment and parts. We should benefit from that too."

"The first priority is to get this ship operational, and before the Te'Dak Tohl return.", Pach reminded the engineer, "Is there any chance you can repair the Ma'Kral cannon?"

Gerrok gave a short, snorting laugh as though his superior's question had been intended to be humorous, "We're lucky that we'll be able restore the power grid and get the drive systems on line. No Ma'Kral though. We're still working on closing the rails."

"If the Te'Dak Tohl return here.", Sylas observed, returning conversation to the larger tactical situation.

Gerrok grunted in dark amusement, "They won't. From hearing Lanon, I'd say they have bigger concerns than investigating what happened to s small detachment of destroyers and their crews. They certainly aren't going to send ships to check on our warriors that they marooned. We could just as easily skip the formalities of moving these Te'Dak Tohl flotsam to the planet for all the good it will do them-. We do as well to just flush them into space."

"Well, we're not doing that.", Pach replied sharply, almost bitingly, "I wish to share as little in common with their kind as possible."

"Aren't we doing the same thing though?", Gerrok asked justly.

Dychi interjected, "We're forced by necessity, Gerrok. Theirs was a conscious decision. We can't very well take them with us- and we are leaving supplies to sustain them. Action Commander Gymalt was correct-. It's up to Fate and their own chain of command to decide what happens to them now."

Gerrok shrugged, "Perfectly fine by me- but every transport used to move them isn't moving supplies that we require- and it's burning time in addition. That's all I'm saying."

"Duly noted.", Pach acknowledged, "Dychi, when the transfer of the Te'Dak Tohl crews is complete, you will coordinate with Sylas's and Gymalt's officers to use the transports to distribute the supplies and munitions of the other Te'Dak Tohl destroyers between our three. There's no telling when we'll have a chance to resupply- we will take everything we can carry."

"Yes, Lord.", Dychi complied, "Though without The Factory's automated drones, the offloading of material from the Te'Dak Tohl vessels and then the loading of our magazines and storage spaces will have to be done manually."

Pach nodded, "Fortunately, we seem to have plenty of labor at our disposal. Work will keep their minds occupied and prevent any- difficulties in discipline, as well."

"Yes, Lord.."

The door to the command center slid open and the warrior who had been standing sentry within stepped out into the corridor, acknowledging the officers with a single salute which swept their company.

"Lords, Action Commander Gymalt will see you now."

As the four officers moved toward the door, the warrior hesitated and then added, "Pardon, Lords- senior officers, only."

Gerrok and Dychi halted, mildly shocked at their exclusion, but stood down quickly.

"I'll pass on what you've told me.", Pach assured them both.

Gerrok shook his head and began down the corridor in the direction of the engineering spaces, "-We've been doing too much talking today anyway- and I hate staff meetings."

Pach nodded after the engineer and said to his executive officer, "Dychi, see to assisting Gerrok and to carrying out my orders."

"Yes, Lord.", Dychi replied.

Gerrok, having heard this, grumbled audibly, "-And I thought you wanted the work done quickly-."

Action Commander Gymalt's expression was calm but otherwise impenetrable as he stood at one of the ship's darkened tactical consoles. Sylas and Pach gathered around their commander with building curiosity as Gymalt gave them no outward signs to read.

Pach felt a separation from his commander that he had never felt in all of his time of service to Gymalt. Something had forced a change in the action commander and whether intentionally or inadvertently, Gymalt had withdrawn from the accessibility that his junior was accustomed to.

Detached as Pach felt from Gymalt now, he was still able to sense that a decision had been reached and given the invisible barrier that had gone up- its implications were not good.

"Your counsel and insight has been invaluable.", Gymalt said plainly and evenly, "You both exemplify The Warrior's Code, and have right to be proud in that. We all live by Duty, and Duty has given us a challenge to which we must rise."

Pach and Sylas exchanged an uneasy glance that neither could conceal and that caused no effect in Gymalt. Both junior commanders had issued enough orders with dire implications to know that when Duty was so heavily stressed, the expected outcome was grim

"What would you have us do, Lord?", Pach asked finally.

Gymalt looked levelly at his subordinates, alternating direct eye contact between Pach and Sylas. His voice was steady, and certain as he began-

"Supreme General Breetai must be warned of the Te'Dak Tohl threat- that is an absolute. He must be supplied with the technical data required to offset the advantage of the device that the Te'Dak Tohl used successfully against our army if he is to stand even a remote chance of defending himself. And finally, we must accomplish these things as quickly as possible as we have no way of knowing when the Te'Dak Tohl offensive against Breetai is to begin- if it has not begun already."

Unimpressed but respectful, Sylas replied, "Lord, you have told us what we are to do, but how it is to be done remains the question-."

Gymalt said with ease and without hesitation, "We attack."

"Attack?", Sylas repeated, his disbelief making his tone sound almost insubordinate, "Attack the Te'Dak Tohl?"

"Attack the Trendok 145, specifically.", Gymalt clarified.

"Oh-.", Sylas said feigning relief, "Well, that will be so much easier-."

"Lord", Pach said cautiously as his mind worked to get around Gymalt's thinking, "We are having difficulties understanding how this course of action is a solution to the problem of alerting Supreme General Breetai of the danger."

Action Commander Gymalt was unruffled by the questioning of his subordinates and rather appeared as though he had anticipated something along that line of inquiry. Perhaps he recognized that the only element still holding his command together was the sense of obligation felt by the two junior officers to him and to Duty.

Explanation of his thinking was a fair exchange for this.

"Going directly to this alien world that Breetai has allied himself with would be the course I would prefer.", Gymalt said simply, "An audience with Breetai would ensure that he had indeed received and understood our warning. However, as we have all agreed- we have no way of knowing whether we would reach him in time to warn him, or in time for him to act on that warning. We must therefore choose the quickest form of communication over the most assured."

"As Sylas correctly pointed out at your last meeting, we are too far out of range to contact Supreme General Breetai directly by hyperspace communications. We would require the signal to be retransmitted through The Network. As Sylas also pointed out correctly, the Te'Dak Tohl are almost certainly monitoring communications traffic on The Network, and likely have the ability to intercept and terminate signals that are contrary to their interests. That is, of course, unless they are distracted."

"By our attack?", Sylas asked, "Lord, I appreciate your confidence in our skills as commanders- but we are three ships against an army. If we ignore the fact that there is an entire Te'Dak Tohl fleet picketing the approaches to The Factory, and furthermore ignore the fact that the facility itself has the armament of an entire fleet to defend itself- you still have to contend with the fact that anything even remotely vulnerable in a Robotech Factory is buried deep in solid rock. That's partially why asteroids were used as a shell for their construction."

"If we were a mild nuisance to them with our best efforts, I would be impressed. We're not going to quite reach the level of a distraction though, I fear."

Pach read in Gymalt's face that the action commander had already considered Sylas's point, but Pach was compelled to add, "Lord, I must agree with Sylas. We would be shot to pieces in a matter of seconds."

"True.", Gymalt conceded, "Unless our attack was initiated from within the Trendok 145 itself."

"And we accomplish that, how?", Sylas asked, his tone reflecting his skepticism of the probability of success and not the logic behind the idea.

Gymalt motioned to the command center around him, "We have all that we need here. Here, and aboard the other two crippled Te'Dak Tohl vessels, that is."

Understanding struck Pach soundly and he said for confirmation, "Their identification transponders-? You're suggesting that we trade out our own for theirs, and attempt to penetrate their outer defenses under the guise of being Te'Dak Tohl?"

Gymalt nodded approvingly, "Yes, you are beginning to see now. Granted, if in broadcasting Te'Dak Tohl identification we were to be subjected to any scrutiny or inspection, we would be discovered for who we are. Consider this though, the Te'Dak Tohl approach and traffic controllers will be relying heavily on The Factory's automated systems and will see us only as icons on a display. Those icons will show us to be Te'Dak Tohl."

"Any warrior who takes the time to actually see us in passing will see warships from the fleets that were in port at the time of the Te'Dak Tohl attack on our armies. At a casual glance, we will not raise suspicion either."

Sylas, not one to go unheard, interjected in response to Gymalt's last prediction, "Don't forget that a Te'Dak Tohl ship escaped us-. To suddenly have three ships he reported lost show up at their newly captured base of operations is going to raise some suspicions."

Pach retorted, "He escaped from the far side of a planet where he had no clear visibility on the progress of the battle or of its resolution- which he was not present for either. Who's to say what that commander told his superiors and what they may think?"

"I understand fully how difficult the situation we will be putting ourselves into will be. It is critical that we act from within The Factory though, as an attack from within will almost certainly cause the alarm and distraction we require. To achieve the surprise, we need only maintain the illusion of being Te'Dak Tohl long enough to moore."

"Once we are moored and connected directly to The Factory's systems, we will have one less layer of buffering between ourselves and The Network. I am hoping that the Te'Dak Tohl will be so concerned with containing and combating us that they will not notice the transmission bursts we will be sending out to Supreme General Breetai."

"This plan, Lord, relies heavily on many assumptions and a healthy ration of Fate's favor-.", Sylas said bleakly, "-But, it could work."

"We will have to make it work.", Gymalt replied to both of his subordinates, "Supreme General Breetai is depending on it working, even if he does not know it."

Again, Pach was compelled to voice a concern, "True, Lord, however-. With this plan, we wager everything on a single action. You admitted yourself that you would prefer to seek out and meet Supreme General Breetai but are concerned by the possibility that we will reach him too late to raise the alarm. That is possible, but if we fail in this plan he will never know at all. Let me voice the unspoken probability that we will not be coming away from this plan once we are committed to it."

"No", Gymalt granted darkly, "No, we likely will not. But, this direct attack on the Trendok 145 is necessary for one additional reason. Even if Supreme General Breetai is successfully warned about the Te'Dak Tohl threat, General Krymina will still have resources of The Factory at her disposal. What she would not be able to achieve with surprise, she could easily achieve through attrition. It is wholly up to us to negate this advantage that she has."

Sylas paled as he said as close to apologetically as Pach had ever heard him speak, "At the risk of sounding like the group fatalist, how can we hope to possibly cause enough damage to The Factory to render it useless to the Te'Dak Tohl? We have a chance of causing them a panic with a general surprise attack, but we could not realistically expect to make an impact on the facility's manufacturing capacity. Any damage we cause will simply be repaired automatically by The Factory before the full weight of its production strength is rededicated to operational support."

"Even if we rendered The Factory useless for production", Pach added, "its stores alone could sustain a campaign for some time."

"That, we cannot help.", Gymalt admitted, "But we can destroy The Factory's production capabilities. Use your experience fighting the Invid-. When you attack an Invid Hive, do you attack from outside? No. Orbital bombardment is pointless as we cannot penetrate their defense barriers. You defeat a Hive by destroying the Brain. You defeat a Robotech Factory in the same way."

"The Hypercomp-.", Pach said, understanding now Gymalt's choice in tactics, "I am a fool for not having seen it-."

"You- we- are not fools.", Gymalt corrected, "We are simply overwhelmed as a natural reaction to the magnitude of our task. But this can be done. This must be done."

Pach's mind had picked up forward momentum again and he speculated, "Disabling the manufacturing functions of The Factory may even cause the Te'Dak Tohl to delay in their action against Breetai-. Postpone until they are able to secure another."

"Possibly.", said Gymalt.

"Possibly, but we have to do it first.", Sylas pointed out, grounding the conversation in reality again, "We have an abundance of warriors to stage such an attack, but that is all we have. We have few mecha, and enough infantry small arms for perhaps half of our forces-."

"And everything that we will need to arm our forces is within a short distance of where we will be moored in The Factory.", Pach countered, "Armories, arms lockers, mecha storage- all are just off the dockyards. We will only have to take them quickly to have all the weapons we need."

"And not bog down in the process-.", Sylas justly observed, "While the weapons and mecha we would need are right off the docks, the Hypercomp is almost dead center in the facility near the command areas. If the Te'Dak Tohl are able to organize a defense and bring the weight of their superior numbers to bear-. Well, I think you see my point."

"Then it is critical that we do not lose the initiative, lose momentum.", Gymalt resolved, "We need a strong and fast spearhead."

"We need Quadranos.", Pach said simply, "And as Fate would have it, we have some."

"How many?", Sylas asked, recognizing that Quadranos were indeed ideal for Gymalt's spearhead.

"Some-.", Pach said vaguely, "I don't know the exact number, but we can find out. Ritzal had a good part of a company of them attach to his command on the planet."

"But they don't have their combat suits, I trust?", Sylas asked.

"No, regrettably not.", Pach admitted.

Sylas sighed heavily, "Then I'm afraid they're of scarcely more use to us than standard infantry."

Tales from his junior officers and crew who had defended Destroyer 741 during its last time in port against the Te'Dak Tohl attempted assault came back vividly to Pach at that moment.

"We do have the Te'Dak Tohl power armor though-. Very similar, I'm told, to the Quadrano combat suits. I'd speculate their operation cannot be totally dissimilar."

"Is it similar enough that the Quadranos could operate them?", Sylas asked, "That's the question."

"Of any warriors under our charge, the Quadranos certainly have the best chance.", Pach resolved.

"And they are the best option we have for leading the assault into The Factory.", Gymalt added, "Let's find out exactly how many Quadranos we have available and make sure we retain as many combat suits as we begin to dump the other mecha overboard."

Sylas shook his head, "All things being equal, I wish that we didn't have to do that."

Gymalt replied, "All things are not equal though. We must have that space for our warriors. We may be able to keep a few mecha for the initial effort, but the bulk we will have to acquire aboard The Factory. This is just one of many details that we will have to discuss though. First things first. Let's complete the personnel transfers and get this ship operational. We can do nothing for Supreme General Breetai before that takes place."

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