Robotech vs Transformers: Revenge Road
Chapter Twenty
"Well, that was a disaster," Captain Claudia Grant noted dryly, studying the report of Fortress Fourteen's destruction.
"Justy did pretty well, though," Lisa noted, the ship's second in command standing nearby on the bridge.
"You know him?" Claudia asked curiously.
"Officer's training school," Lisa smiled wryly, "he was coming in just as I was leaving. Eccentric as hell, but brilliant instincts."
"You heard about what happened once the rescue ships arrived?" Claudia noted, a smile tugging her lips.
"No, what?" Lisa asked.
"Well..."
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Captain Vladamir Zvezda kept a stoic look on his face, but it was hard. The captain of a Russian cruiser he had been assigned to recover survivors from Fortress Fourteen, a important task. One made even more important by the fact that his sister had been the second in command.
He had been so proud when Yuriko had been assigned to the Fortress, even if she DID have to serve under a Japanese. But now that pride had turned to fear as the Decepticons had sunk the vessel, and emergency beacons led them to the survivors.
The stories were all similar, surprisingly. The Captain had... apparently anticipated the attack, evacuating the non-essential staff to life boats. The Decepticon forces had pinned them down with steady fire, then the Fortress had been attacked from bellow and sunk.
'We'll need more sonar on the Fortresses,' Vlad thought grimly. They had concentrated on air defence, because the Decepticons were primarily fliers, but they could travel underwater easily enough. And from reports, depth charges had been ineffective too.
"Sir, we found another raft!" a sailor called. The cruiser and it's own smaller boats latched on pulled the raft over to the side of the ship.
"Engineering," another sailor reported and Vlad sighed. They were still looking for the life raft for the bridge... indications were that it had successfully launched, but there was no sign of it. The day dragged on as they rescued several more rafts, then a call came that Vlad had waited for.
"Bridge marking! Pulling raft alongside." the sailors called as Vlad hurried down to the dock.
The life rafts were complicated to open, with a protective cover along with all the usual waterproofing. They collapsed that back, got the seals undone and extended a boarding ramp.
"Now," Vlad started then froze.
Justy Tylor was sitting in the middle of his female bridge officers. His NAKED female bridge officers. Several of whom were cuddling him protectively.
Vlad managed to get his vocal chords working, "You..."
"There's a perfectly rational explanation for this," Justy started, "involving a bridge fire, soaking water and damaged uniforms..."
"YOU BASTARD!" Vlad yelled, grabbing for him. Justy slipped free and bolted, Vlad chasing after him, yelling.
"Oh dear," Yuriko sighed, covering herself with her arms. "Could someone get us some robes?" she asked mildly.
"And stop him from murdering the Captain," Hyung Kim noted, "it really wasn't his fault."
"Yeah!" Emi and Yumi chorused, the twin girls looking concerned.
"Get back here!" Vlad roared as he and Justy ran by.
"Are you nuts?" Justy answered, running as fast as he could.
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Lisa burst into laughter as Claudia finished. "Yeah, that's the kind of luck he has," she noted, "it may save his life, but not his dignity."
"Did Vlad catch him?" the radar operator asked, looking up from her screen a moment.
"Nope," Claudia noted, "once he and Justy both collapsed from exhaustion, the crew talked him down. It helped that all the girls, including his sister, vouched for Justy having been a gentleman."
"Heh," Lisa shook her head.
"Ma'am, I read the report," the radar operated added, "and I'm concerned about the sonar. We really only have a limited, navigational system, do you think we'll be upgraded?"
"I've already bounced a recommendation to command," Lisa reassured her. She smiled slightly, "I also have a interim solution."
"Oh?" Claudia asked.
"We're being shadowed by a EU sub," Lisa noted, "on silent running. If they spot a Decepticon, they'll let us know."
"Oooh, very clever," Claudia noted as their sensors officer scrambled at her controls, eventually confirming that the sub was there.
Privately Lisa was just hoping the sub could get word to them before it was sank. It was a grim fact that the sub couldn't survive a Decepticon attack, even for a couple of minutes. But it's sacrifice might give them a shot...
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Izzy Randal REALLY really hated clones.
The three Decepticon jets were engaging the RDF forces in the air, even as a ground team was trying to hit the convoy below them in the desert. Car Decepticons, MAYBE the dreaded Constructicons themselves, was hard to say from the video feed. Up here they were fighting copies of the 'basic' design fighter type, guided by a robot hanging back.
'Radio link? Or something more exotic?' Izzy wondered as she dove and dodged. "Hunter! What's your status!"
"Outnumbered but they're fighting dumb," Rick Hunter replied grimly.
"Get back to my position, let's get these handled," Izzy ordered briskly.
If there was anything that Izzy found irritating about having Hunter as a wing man, it was his tendency to showboat. (Yes, she had that tendency too. Conceded. But she GENERALLY had it under control.) But Rick tended to get distracted and chase the enemy, occasionally getting pulled out of position. Which could get you killed.
"Plan?" Rick asked as he broke away from the fighters and rejoined her. He kind of resented Roy assigning him to her. Still...
"Pincer. We need to get down to the road FAST," Izzy said grimly.
"Right," Rick swooped in to attack from one direction as Izzy struck from the other, "Why?"
"Because those robots just combined," Izzy said grimly as she blasted a fighter and sent it spiralling down to the earth.
Arcee went to robot mode, even as the Stuntacons came together. The central truck, Motormaster, formed the body, while the sports cars and indy car formed the arms and legs. The combined robot towered over Arcee and Hotrod, who had been shadowing the convoy along the deserted desert highway.
"Should we order the convoy to try and scatter?" Arcee asked her companion as the combiner lumbered towards them.
"Bad idea," Hotrod offered, "could be more 'Cons out there waiting to jump them."
Arcee fired her pistol, watching it harmlessly bounce off, even as Hotrod used his arm mounted cannons. "It's moving pretty clumsily," she noted as it advanced.
"Well, all four loathe Motormaster, according to the files," Hotrod noted as they backed up, "so I guess that effects the gestalt."
"And no reinforcements nearby, either," Arcee muttered.
Just then her radio sqwalked. "Help incoming, get the big guy somewhere clear of civilians," Izzy's voice commended.
Arcee and Hotrod exchanged glances. He fired, aiming towards the giant's face, "Hey, ugly!" he yelled, "Your mother was a cyber-rat!"
"Megatron eats worms!" Arcee yelled, and soon their combined insults had it lumbering after them rather than the convoy.
"This could get very bad," Hotrod muttered as they backed up, trying to maintain fire even though it wasn't DOING much, "You trust this pilot?"
"Oh yeah," Arcee said as she saw something coming down. "Shit. DUCK!"
Hotrod gaped. SOMEHOW the pilots had hooked the flaming wreckage of a Starscream clone, dragged it down at speed and rammed it right into it. The fighter went up in a fireball, rocking the giant backwards then engulfing it in flames.
"I'm impressed," Hotrod managed.
The combiner TRIED to get up, flames washing around it as fuel burned. As he tried to move the fighters banked around then both fired off flights of missiles, the rockets corkscrewing right into him again. The explosions rocked it backwards, the stresses on the combined robot incredible, then they spontaneously burst apart.
"Hit them!" Arcee yelled, opening up again alongside Hotrod. The Veritechs joined in, forcing the battered Stuntacons to flee the field.
Izzy brought her fighter up beside them, shifting to Guardian mode and flipping up the cockpit window. "Everyone all right?" she asked briskly.
"That was insane," Hotrod noted admiringly.
"It's not insane if it works," Rick offered from his own fighter.
"Let's get these trucks and the cargo to the base," Izzy said with a tired smile. "We do not want to be out here in the open if they take another shot at us..."
"Damn right," Arcee agreed as they set out once again.
To be continued...