Robotech: Pyrrhic Wardance
- A Sentinels-MOSPEADA Serial
Chapter One: Drop Zone
By SithKnight-Galen
A/N: This series takes place during the beginning stages of the invasion of Optera up thru the invasion by the first wave of REF ships to earth. I decided to extrapolate upon two combat teams that were mentioned in numerous Jack McKinney Sentinels books and a few times in the Macross Saga, the Diamondbacks, and the IronWalkers. While the traditional crew of heroes( Lisa, Rick, Max, Scott, Jack, John Wolfe, etc.) are not featured in this, they are mentioned or do get to make cameos during this series. All feedback is welcome, and if you flame, just remember, I have plenty of marshmallows and a really long lightsaber.
A/N2: This is my first full length story on fanfiction.net…Thank Sphersian and Carla Fox for this horror. ;-P Now, on with the show!!
**Graja System**
The fighting was becoming it's most intense as the Invid were pushed inside their second perimeter by the invading REF forces. The armored scouts and airborne inorganics were being swatted out the sky by the score before the vengeful humans. However, the Robotech Expeditionary Forces were paying a heavy price indeed for the liberating of this system. While the Alpha and Beta pilots were steam rolling over the Invid assault ships in one on one dog fighting, the bigger shuttles and transports that they were supposed to be escorting in were taking a mighty pounding from both the assault carriers that had launched the mecha as well as the planet-based defenses that were doing their utmost to swat the humans out of the air.
Captain Brandon "Baelanos" Derringer, Diamondback Squadron Leader, watched as another Horizont class troop transport burst into flames and careened from the Graja III's upper atmosphere, breaking up into so many meteorite fragments. The names of at least a dozen people that he personally knew scrolled thru his mind in a heartbeat as he watch them die in a fraction of a second. He then watched the LEGIOS that had been assigned to that ship going into an almost berserk whirlwind of death a the squadron of Invid responsible for it's parent ship's destruction. Baelanos had to pull his attention away from the gladiatorial combat as a series of plasma bolts nearly punched his ticket. He pulled back his nose as he rolled to the side, the bolts passing bare millimeters below him, close enough to score his blue Alpha's paint. Just as the armored scout attempted to line him up for another shot, his wingman blew him from the sky.
"Nice shot Otaku!"
"Just doing my job, now let's get back to making sure our cargo makes it to the surf….after this that is!" Lieutenant Commander Craig Martin pulled his Beta down and hard after trio of suicidal scouts who were trying for a strafing run on their own pair of Horizonts. The belly-mounted tri-barreled GU-XX made short work of the trio, swatting the flankers out of the air before the flight leader was even made aware that death was upon them The leader tried to make a roll away, similar to the one that Baelanos himself had tried a few moments before, but that was cut short in mid-move by Captain Derringer himself.
"Can't have a copycat."
"Please, you know imitation is the greatest form of flattery, Captain."
"Hush Lindsey, we don't need the good Captain flustered when he is supposed to be leading us to yet new heights of glory babysitting these big birds down to the surface."
"Stay focused on target, you two. We aren't home free, yet, and just remember Merlin, we don't make it down, your ability to make it back to the fleet are all but nil."
"Thanks for putting him back in line there…."Mrs. Baelanos"
There are series of snickers and chuckles on the comment briefly as Commander Janine Derringer tried to get control of the fighter element that had been assigned to her formation of ships and once more, the Diamondback's jester had decided to make a tense situation into a something worse, a joke. Even his own wife, who was also his wingman, seemed to have trouble keeping him in line at times during battles. However, they were one of the better Alpha-Beta teams in the REF, probably only surpassed by the Sterlings and Penn and Baker and that weird duo of Hawthorne and Whittcomb over in the Gunslingers. A bout of turbulence as her ungainly ship hit the middle atmosphere brought her attention back to the task at hand, which was getting her ship and her payload of a dozen destroids down to the surface. This was actually their second round trip down to the planet's surface, and her group was fortunate not have lost any of their six heavy trans-atmospheric transports. Their only in-transit casualties up until this point was Heins and Washington's teams both getting pounded during the climb out of Graja's gravity well the first go-round. Spencer, Washington's alpha pilot appeared to have been able to bail out in time, but they weren't able to confirm that any of the Cyclone or Spec-Ops teams were able to pick her up.
"LZ beacons hot and online, chief."
"Acknowledged and laying in CONN."
"Good. Set in and begin our run. Let the cargo know we are t-90 from drop zone, loadmaster."
"Aye ma'am, err sir."
Nodding curtly to her crew, Janine called back out to her husband on his TAC-Freq. So far this mission was rough, but they had come out of it relatively intact. With a bit of faith, their luck would continue to hold out.
"Diamondback 01, close formation as we are hot dropping on the LZ. Captain Derringer, make sure that our path is clear. We are beginning our run now. Lightningbolt Three you are pace setter."
The indicated Horizont sped ahead a bit and began to go nose down as the cloud cover dissipated showing the terran-like terrain below. The ground defenses tried to get a look on the incoming formation of invaders but they were almost too difficult to track, and as the Invid defenses opened up, the REF responded in kind with Defender's, Sharks and Mini-monsters which had gotten themselves dug into overwatch positions during the first wave.
The first three ships were able to swoop in and drop off their armored bunkers in such a way that the groundpounders could use the cargo containers as a beachhead and initial command post. As the fourth ship, Lightningbolt Six went thru it's procedure of swooping down, detaching it's pair of armored bunkers in it's pattern, and then climbing at full burn back for open space, it suddenly began to smoke from a dozen locations in it underbelly. A squadron of Shock Troopers broke thru the underbrush laying down a withering barrage of fire upon the hapless ship even as it began to try and climb from the landing zone. The escort fighters came around and pounced upon the Invid like angry hornets, but it was too late to save the beleaguered ship as it made planetfall, slamming into the wood line and digging a deep groove into the ground that marked it's crash path.
The Invid, as soon as it became apparent that their initial target had been successfully neutralized, began to scatter and try to pick off the other bipedal and flying nuisances. Unfortunately for them, the humans were quick at adapting to the situation, and the Gladiator and Excalibur units that were being carried in the precious cargo containers were already pouring out and adding in their own brand of destruction, making the Invid pay for the deaths of the flight crew in spades. A quad of more aggressive Troopers made a kamikaze charge at one Excalibur, but were quickly and effectively dropped by Merlin as the air cover decided to come back into the fight themselves, hammering the ground based defenders without mercy. The alpha-beta mixed bags strafed the wood line and any clusters of targets, forcing the Invid to scatter and thus get overwhelmed with numbers of swarming Cyclone teams and destroids. Some of the smarter, or perhaps sneakier Invid decided to make it over to the downed Horizont to finish off any of the survivors before the other humans could mount an effective rescue party. They began slashing and prying away the armored skin of the ship to get to the un-protected crew inside.
Just as the first Trooper peeled away the final piece of hull plating however, instead of spying corpses or cowering fleshthings, it caught an eyeful of Gallant H-90 just before the pilot got splattered thru the back of his cockpit and his body fluids mixed with that of his nutrient bath. Even as the first shock trooper fell back, half a dozen green and purple Cyclones came pouring up and out from the hole, shooting missiles and reflex- powered energy blasts in all directions. In seconds, it was over, as the last Invid fell to the ground, holed in over a dozen places and with both claws and one plasma cannon blown completely off of it's main body.
During this bout of madness and death, the last two Horizonts, including Janine's made their drops and were re-grouping and pulling back at full burn for the relative safety of their deployment zone back in space. After a few more passes, the escorts of the 19th ATAC rejoined the ships they were "mother-henning". As the Horizonts broke orbit and made their way back to the Quintet of Ikazuchi class SDF carriers, the fighter screen had to break thru a few more of the defending Invid air defenses, swatting them aside with missile barrages and high-velocity slugs. Brandon oversaw the transports getting reloaded with yet more droppable bunkers and his own people reloading their ordnances, he let his fatigue overtake him for a brief few moments. After all, even after almost four years of this, it was not getting any easier. He snapped back to attention as the shuttles re-formed on him and his fighter group, re-enforced by yet another flight from the carriers began their way back to the planet to drop down more soldiers and dish out more death.
'Yup,' he thought. 'Today is most definitely going to be a long day indeed…'
With that grim thought, Captain Derringer led his boys and girls back into the fray once more, headlong back into the chaos on the planet below.
SithKnight Galen-à Don't forget to write and tell me what you think! Reviews are good for you! ;-P