Robotech vs Transformers: Revenge Road
Part Thirteen
While the transforming Veritechs were the flashy stars of Earth's defenders, Lana Isavia often though the real backbone of their forces were the heavily armored Destroids. Like the Battloid mode the Destroids were humanoid machines, but because they did not need to transform they could be much more heavily armored. Even better they carried bigger guns, in some cases having twin gun units instead of traditional arms. While the Veritechs went out hunting enemy craft, the Destroids made sure they had a safe base to come home to.
Lana gritted her teeth as she wrenched around her Mark-5 Destroid, the human like hands clutching the railgun rifle the tech boys had designed for it. The weapon jerked as it fired off high density projectiles, the slugs zipping through the air at unbelievable speeds and tracing along a alien designed jet.
The unknown Decepticon cursed and wobbled as it zipped away from the fight, while other mecha swarmed in the air above Fortress One. Soundwave was leading this raid, the boxy Decepticon delivering commands in a cold voice. Irritatingly he was staying far back, letting his minions try to break through their defenses.
Destroid teams on both sides of the Fortress swept the sky with rifle and canon fire, while the ship's gun emplacements shot out bursts of pure energy right out of the reactors. Veritech teams had been drawn out on a attack on a airbase near the limits of their range, what command now figured was a trick. Obvious in hindsight, of course, but they were stuck for now.
Soundwave frowned as he watched the ongoing battle, the squad of recently arrived Decepticons being hammered by Earth's defenders. The plan had been elegant in it's simplicity, drawing away the cursed Earth fighters, then swooping in to destroy the unarmed Fortress. Clearly, they had underestimated the defenders abilities.
Lana and her squad provided cover fire as a section of hull pulled back, then she dove aside as a voice yelled, "Firing missile battery!"
With a booming rumble the compartment erupted with box-like munitions, which each soared up a certain distance then detonated. Each 'box' then scattered a swarm of powerful, heat seeking missiles that filled the sky as they homed in on the hot, alien engines of the Decepticons. One fighter exploded in a burst of light and fire, the other Decepticons racing upwards as they tried to flee.
"Transform to robot mode," Soundwave ordered coldly, "shoot them down." Some of his minions did but most did not, and the missiles homed in on two more fighters before Soundwave could gather his forces. He assessed the situation coldly, weighing his numbers versus the existing defenses and the unknown time reinforcements might arrive, and made the only choice he could. "Return to base," he commanded, the wounded, ragged group racing away.
A ragged cheer rang out as they saw the Decepticons run, but the defenders soon turned themselves to more urgent issues. Repair teams hurried out in specially build Destroids to pull up damaged sections of the landing strip, replacing them with new armor plating from stores. The pilots on shift began to swap with off duty replacements, fresh fighters in case the Decepticons decided on trying a second shot at them.
As a elevator lowered her Destroid below the deck Lana let herself finally sag tiredly in her seat, the hours of combat making her arms burn. To prevent accidents there had to be a minimum degree of 'resistance' in the controls, and it tool effort to move the war machines. The Destroid pilots had some of the best muscles on the ship, and they needed them too.
Grasping the controls Lana moved off the elevator to let another Destroid on, then walked the machine over to it's repair and maintenance bay. She moved it into place as the rack locked down around it, then popped the hatch as her seat slid back to let her climb out. Holding onto the ladder the sweaty young woman slid down, thumping down with a sigh before looking her machine over. While she was off duty automated systems and human mechanics would go over every inch of her Destroid, readying it for combat once again.
Several pilots going off shift offered to share a meal with Lana, a drink and in one case a bed but she turned them down politely as she hit the showers. Instead a newly clean Lana headed to the cafeteria first, determined to get some food down before another emergency hit. Not that she expected more trouble, of course, but in her experience it was better to be safe than sorry.
The cafeteria was crowded as duty shifts ended, and Lana had some difficulty getting to the food. Thankfully they made plenty as usual, and she loaded up a tray before heading to one of the tables usually saved for the Destroid teams.
Noting Lisa Hayes and Claudia Grant talking at one table, Lana made sure she kept out of their sight as she went to her seat. Sitting down Lana sighed, pulling apart the crusty bun that came with her meal and eating, thinking back to when they had first met....
Back in the day Lana had been a Military Police officer, working on a base far away from here along with then Lieutenant Lisa Hayes. When a request came in from General Hayes to report on the goings on around his daughter she she had chalked it up to fatherly concern, sending in reports regularly. How was she to know that the younger Hayes was in the outs with her father? Even worse, Lisa's friend and co-worker Claudia Grant found out, told Lisa and she went ballistic.
General Hayes had mostly shielded her from his daughter's wrath, but the damage was done. Everyone 'knew' that Lana Isavia would spy for her superiors, and worse her superiors thought that she couldn't handle covert work. That was bad enough, but worse was the guilt Lana felt. She had thought she was merely helping a father keep a eye on a estranged daughter, but instead she had been giving the old man ammunition to use against a officer she had honestly liked. It was a spectacular mess, one caused by her not asking questions and blindly obeying orders.
"Ensign Isavia?" the voice asked, drawing Lana's attention away from her meal.
Looking up Lana gulped, recognizing Lisa Hayes, the older brown haired woman giving her a thoughtful look. "Ma'am?" Lana jerked up, saluting.
"At ease," Lisa said quickly. Knowing they were drawing attention she asked, "May I sit down?"
"Certainly," Lana said, noting that several pilots had shuffled over to give them space. 'Cowards,' she sighed, looking over at Lisa as she asked, "What can I do for you, ma'am?"
Lisa studied Lana a moment, not speaking. Finally she leaned forward slightly, "Claudia had a little talk with me about giving you the cold shoulder earlier." She smiled slightly, "And I called up General Gloval to talk about you, too."
Lana was a bit startled that the Commander had actually gone all the way up to Gloval, but she hid it well. "And?" she asked as she drank some coffee.
Lisa smiled slightly, "Gloval assured me you're loyal to his faction of the military." She sighed slightly, "I'm sorry for giving you a hard time."
"Don't be," Lana shook her head. "Ma'am, your last experience of me was my being a spy sent by your father. You had no reason to think otherwise," she told her.
"Thank you," Lisa nodded. She hesitated then admitted, "It's going to take some time for me to trust you, even with the assurances I've received. I hope you understand that."
"I do," Lana agreed, "but I hope you'll let me assist where I can."
The soft sound of a siren interrupted their talk, then one of the bridge bunnies said, "Veritech wings coming in for landing. Injuries reported, damage control and medical teams to the flight deck."
Lisa was up like a shot, hurrying out at a dignified but fast pace. Lana finished her coffee off and followed, knowing her cross-training in emergency services could come in handy. They joined the response teams on one of the elevator platforms and rose up to the flight deck. Lana swiftly counted the planes and puffed out a sigh of relief, seeing the right number of fighters coming back.
The fighters with damage came in first, even Skull-One trailing smoke as it rolled to a stop, Roy Fokker climbing out and staggering a bit. Izzy Randal lead her squad down then leaped out of her plane, looking around wildly as she asked, "Where's Fokker?"
"Roy?" Lisa asked as Izzy took off her flight helmet.
"Weapons fire got too damn near his cockpit," Izzy scowled, "he may have been hit."
"He looked fine," a medical tech reassured her as she checked another wounded officer out.
Izzy gave him a withering look, "The flight suits seal up after being punctured. He could be bleeding seriously and you wouldn't know."
Lana took in the damage to Roy's plane, including the hits around the front near the cockpit. "Get a medic to Fokker's quarters," she advised.
Lisa nodded, "And check Claudia Grant's quarters, too, he might have headed there."
"Why the hell didn't he wait to get checked over?" Izzy cursed as they watched medical teams check the wounded and emergency squads putting out fires and readying the planes to be lowered into the belly of the Fortress.
"He hates doctors," Lisa sighed, "and maybe he thought he wasn't that hurt?"
"Well, I hope he was right," Izzy said as the Skull-One was hauled down. Disturbingly the skull emblems had been marred by weapons fire, hopefully not a bad omen.
It was only ten minutes later that a breathless medical tech reported Roy had been found and that he was seriously injured. Surgeons were working on him now, but there appeared to be shrapnel in his chest and a unknown degree of damage.
"I'd better get to Claudia," Lisa said grimly, "I don't know if she and Roy were fighting again or not, but she's got to be going crazy right now."
Izzy nodded, patting her arm comfortingly, "Go on, I'll follow once things are under control here and my team's squared away."
Lana watched Lisa hurry away, then turned her attention to helping teams put out the remaining fires. Thankfully they really hadn't been too much damage, pilots reporting the attack had been remarkably light compared to initial reports.
As the last lift into the bays went down Izzy smiled tiredly at Lana. "Thanks for your help," she said, "this isn't your normal duty, is it?"
"I was talking to Commander Hayes when we heard you were incoming," Lana shrugged, "I just figured I could help."
"Well, you did good," Izzy said honestly. Confident her squad was going to be fine she said, "I want to go check on Roy."
"Mind if I tag along?" Lana asked, following a few steps behind as Izzy rushed down the hall.
Izzy didn't seem to care much as she answered, "Go ahead."
Reaching the medical bay they were informed that Roy was in surgery, and were directed to where the others were waiting. Claudia Grant looked like a truck had hit her as she sat, slumped in a chair while Lisa paced, frowning.
"How is he?" Izzy asked, looking at them worriedly.
Lisa looked grim, "There was shrapnel in his chest, some of which bounced around a bit. His lungs and heart were both clipped."
Claudia was staring through a window down at the operating theater, where two surgeons worked diligently on the blonde haired man between them. "They have him hooked up to a heart lung machine while they patch him up," she told them, "but even if they fix it...."
Lana put the pieces together in her head, like a good former agent. "He may never fly again," she guessed, "his body won't take the strain?"
"Probably," Lisa agreed.
The two doctored stepped away while a third medic began to close. One made a thumbs up gesture to them while the other stripped off his gloves and gown and went around to where they waited. The older man sighed, "He lost part of his lung, his heart should be fine but he's got my sewing thread all through his guts right now."
"Will he make it?" Claudia demanded.
"If he gets through the next twenty four hours or so," the doctor hedged, "I'm confident he'll make a recovery."
"He'll make it," Izzy said, "if only because I want to bawl him out for being a idiot."
To be continued....