Chapter Twenty-One: Change of Heart
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"Dude, I can't STAND it anymore…!"

Kina was still lamenting her capture quite vocally.

"...I can never get a break! Never! Just when I find a really nice guy and really start to get things together, THIS happens…!" She sobbed over and over again, the noise assaulting the ears of the guards.

"She just won't knock it off! I'm going to go batty soon!"

The other guard sighed, then went up to the door. "WILL YOU SHUT UP?!"

Kina jumped, and then started to cry again. "…And now you're yelling at me!! WAAAAAHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!"

"That's it! I'm going to kill her right now!"

The other guard grabbed his comrade. "Wait, wait! It's not worth it! It's not worth it!"

Kina's sobbing grew in intensity.

"…It's worth it! Give me the damned keys NOW!"

"No! The boss will have our heads!"

"Then find a way to shut her up that won't make her cry MORE!"

The other guard went up to the door.

"Miss? Miss?!" he said in as nice a voice as he could manage. "Please stop crying! You're destroying our sanity out here!"

Kina slowly calmed down. "I…I'm sorry, I didn't know."

The guard at the door smiled. "There, you see. Catch more flies with honey and all that."

"Yeah, sure. …And if she starts crying again, I'm going to shove this gun down her…"

Kina suddenly started crying again. "I heard that! WAAAAHHHHH!!!!!!!!"

The guard at the door smacked his comrade in the head. "Nice job, Einstein!"

"I didn't know! How could I have known…!?"

Meanwhile, back at the base…

"Pilots, an important development has arisen. We have managed to narrow down the possible locations of the Hammerhead headquarters to only four potential places in the belt. We have a recon flight out there now trying to make the final determination. Let's listen in, shall we?"

The Commander pressed a button on the table, and a radio transmission came in.

"This is Alpha Six-Two. We're approaching the Gamma Sigma Epsilon series right now. There doesn't seem to be anything out there. No enemy contacts at all; just lots and lots of rock. Wait…now picking up something funky on the I-band scanners…we may have something here, Control!"

Every pilot present leaned forward a little.

"…Radar imaging showing some kind of structure on the surface of one of the asteroids. I think we just found Hammerhead City, sirs!"

Suddenly, an alarm could be heard.

"Oh, hell, we've been found out!" A mixture of warning klaxons and panicked voices filled the background of the transmission. "We've got incoming missiles! Tons of them! Attempting evasive maneuvers!"

Tommy scowled. "Filthy…"

"We can't avoid it! The missiles are gonna hit!"

"Alpha Six-Two, give us your position! Quickly, now!" cried Commander Ironsides.

"Our position is…right over Gamma Sigma Epsilon SF2000-" The transmission suddenly cut out. The Commander sighed, then turned off the comm system and faced the pilots.

"There are only three SF2000 series asteroids in the GSE sector. We are going to send a squadron in to make a last determination, and once we do, we hit them hard. That is all."

As they filed out, Tommy wore a heavily dejected look on his face. John walked beside him.

"I know what you're thinking, pal. I'm sorry, but like I said before, forget about it."

"I know, I know. Don't worry about me."

John smiled. "Eh, I guess I shouldn't fault you for wishing. Let's go and grab some grub; I'm starving!"

After reaching the mess hall for the second time that day (and determined to actually FINISH their meals this time), they sat down together.

"I swear, if anyone or anything interrupts me from my eating this time around, I'm going to shoot them," said John.

"I hear that," replied Tommy. "Let's just finish up so we can get out of here."

They laughed and ate, but John did not know that Tommy's smile was still somewhat forced. Deep down, he had not accepted John's explanation of things, although he understood that John had only good intentions. Of course, Tommy also knew what road was paved with good intentions.

"If I could sacrifice myself to save you, Kina, I would…"

Suddenly, an announcement came over the air.

"Hello? Hello?! Is this stupid thing on?" It was a voice that neither John nor Tommy recognized, but the nasal tone made both men cringe. "We'd just like to thank you for the lovely present you military morons sent us. We'd also like to comment on how simple it was to hard-wire into your joke of a secured intercom network. You people really need to learn some new tricks."

"Those pieces of…" growled Tommy.

"Anyway, this is a warning to you simple-minded fools. Do NOT make any more attempts at trying to locate our base, as they will meet the same fate as the last one. Not that we don't enjoy blowing you saps out of the stars, but it's really doubtful a backwater base like yours can afford to lose many more pilots. We'll miss their screams of agony, though. Bottom line: Keep your noses out of our business. Tootles!"

John slammed his fist down on the table. Normally, the sudden action would've startled Tommy, but he was too filled with rage himself to notice.

"Arrogant sons of…"

They finished their meal and walked back to the locker room. Their duty shift was nearly up. As they changed, John kept avoiding looking Tommy in the eye. Tommy noticed this immediately.

"What's wrong, John?"

After a long pause, John finally met Tommy's gaze.

"I'll do it."

Tommy blinked. "What do you mean?"

"You KNOW what I mean. I'll do it. I'll go to Hammerhead City with you."

Tommy's eyes grew wide. "You will? What about all that stuff you said?!"

"I forgot about something, Tommy. If somebody doesn't teach the 'Heads a lesson soon, they're going to keep on hurting people. And when he mentioned 'screams of agony', I remembered one other thing. They often torture prisoners they keep. Kina is NOT safe there!"

Tommy scowled. "If they so much as touch her, I'll-"

"Hold it, Tommy. This isn't going to be something we can just pull spontaneously. We have to wait for an opportunity."

"Opportunity my butt! If you're right about the torture, we have to get her out of there now!!"

John groaned. "Are you nuts? This isn't the Sharon Apple incident we're talking about here! We're not saving a whole goddamned planet, you know? Why else do you think that goofball Dyson is still in the service?!"

"Point taken, but we still can't afford to wait for too long!"

John thought for a second. "Okay…remember how Commander Ironsides said that they're going to send in a squadron to make a for-sure determination of the location of the Hammerhead base?"

"Yeah."

"I could volunteer Cavalier Squadron for the job. We could get us some of those NP-BP-19 FAST packs, the kind they use on VF-19s. They'd give us the edge we need."

Tommy nodded. "I like it, but how do we actually go in?"

"THAT…is the part I don't know about yet. We may even have to make that part up when we get there."

Tommy sighed. "I just hope Kina can hang on until then…"

At the Hammerhead base…

"Sir, two men wish to see you."

"Oh? Send them in."

The two guards stumbled into the room.

"Sir, please, you have to do something about that woman!"

The man with sunglasses raised an eyebrow. "You mean the prisoner?"

"Yes, sir! She won't shut up!!"

"…Excuse me?"

"That's just it, sir! After we got her in there, she just started crying, and she won't…stop!"

"And everything we do to shut her up makes her cry louder!" said his comrade.

"It's got to be some form of counter-torture, sir! We can't take much more of it! Please, don't make us guard that woman!!!!"

The leader sweatdropped. "Very well, then. I will talk to her personally." He took off his sunglasses, revealing dark brown eyes. "And I guarantee you, she will not pose any more problems after I am through…"

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NOTE: In response to wandering swordsman's review: The reason for the use of the VF Rocket Sleds in Chapter Three was not because their Valkyries couldn't make it through the atmosphere without them, but because variable fighters are extremely vulnerable during unaided re-entries (remember how the YF-19 almost got toasted by those defense guns when it entered Earth's atmosphere in Macross Plus?). The Rocket Sleds increase the speed of the re-entry and provide armor protection to the VF as it enters, giving the pilot a better chance to survive the entry phase of a space-to-surface assault.