Robotech: Pyrrhic Wardance

- A Sentinels-MOSPEADA Serial

Chapter Five: Going to Ground

By SithKnight-Galen

SK-G: Well, seeing how they got to the planet last episode, I guess I should go ahead and see where our intrepid crew will go from there. After all, it is my job to cause conflict the best manner possible for my cast of characters.

A/N2: I apologize for the lengthy delay. It seems that the real world can get to event he best of us. And this leads to point numbert hree, because, honestly, I would not mind having a Valkyrie more often than not, especially during rush hour traffic.

A/N3: No, I do not own Macross, Robotech, MOSPEADA or any of the people, events or equipment from it, because if I did, I would be sitting on the kickbacks from this instead of walking a beat everyday. Being able to mooch like that would be pretty nice. Besides, every funding source to help my campaign for global domination cannot be a bad thing...REALLY. Also, feel free to send Reviews, flames, or just asides about life in general. Even agents of the Dark Side do get curious as to how they are doing sometimes.

A/N4: I would like to thank my reivewers so far, they are what keep me going, and I do take your words to heart as I write this and any future endeavors.

Shinto Red: Thank you for reviewing. I thank you for your honesty and dedication.

YaoiYaoiYeah: I am glad to hear that you are enjoying the action. I am trying to maintain a balance in all aspects of this story...Angst, humour, drama, romance, and of course, giant mecha kicking tail!

GPPR: Actually you were right, her name is Kazianna Hesh. I was re-reading my Sentinals and End of the Circle just to make sure that I was getting the feel for things just right and saw my error after you pointed it out. Thanks.

Now on with the Story.. Enter Macross Theme

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Ryan stomped past the sentries and the flight support crew that were re-arming the VTs without a word, making a beeline for his Alpha fighter. The troops did not think nothing of it until the REF Army Major failed to acknowledge the hail from the officer on duty. The look on the senior officer's face was enough to give the young woman pause however, and by the time she had gotten her bearings once more, he was alreayd past her. Second Lieutenant Sylvia Voorhees then turned just in time to see Captain Derringer and two armored Cyclone operatives giving Major Darmouth chase, the two enlisted men just as confused as she was, but following nonetheless. The Major, however, just seemed to ignore them as if they were some form of annoying insect that would eventually get bored with him and go on their merry way. Besides, he had more important things to worry about.

Darmouth made it about two-thrids of the way to the parked Alpha fighters when he paused, hearing the sounds of protoculture enhanced jet turbines coming in and a pair of blue-grey Betas returning from a sortie. Ryan did not wait for them to do much more than land before he was already climbing the just extended ladder to the cockpit intent on interrogating the pilot.

"Where did she go down?" He half yelled at the pilot even as the cockpit blister was still lowering to bring the young man down to the Cyclone jockey's level. "Tell me, where is she?!?"

Johnny took in the man's name and rank very quickly and astutely, deciding to answer the man's questions. besides, the look on the darker man's face was a bit un-settling, although this was not anything like the what he had heard about the infamous "Nighthunter."

"Well, Major, we were not able to find her, exactly, but we got the co-ordinates for where her bird went down, and from the looks of things, it was a mess, but there might be a chance that Angie...er Lieutenant Spencer may still be alive out there."

"So why in the hell did you NOT bring her back in Ensign," Ryan retorted, the venom evident in his low voice even as his eyes narrowed. "She is your wingmate and you left her out there for the Invid to do what they will with her."

'What the hell is his problem? It's not as if they were lovers or anything...Angie isn't seeing anyone, and espeically not some psycho jar-head like this guy..'. Whetstone put an edge into his own voice as he answered back to the senior officer. "Look sir, our orders were to see what we could find out there, but not to put ourselves into any extra danger than we had to, because three downed pilots would have jeapordized the mission far mo.."

"Screw the mission parameters! You should have brought her back one way or the other!," Darmouth yelled, cutting the pilot off and startling even derringer who was coming up behind the duo. Just give me the damned co-ordinates and I'll bring her back myself." Ryan then added quietly to himself, 'Or die trying, I owe you that much.'

"Sir, I can't allow you to do that. The flight...HEY! What do you think you are doing?!?" Johnny tried to grab the flight recorder CD back from the Major, but he was too quick and had already leaped back down the ladder. The Beta pilot scrambled out of his restraints in hot pursuit when he noticed that Captain Derringer had gotten in the Army officer's path. Whetstone was pretty confident that Darmouth would give up under that kind of pressure. So did Derringer.

"Major, stand down. You clearly are not thinking straight right now." Brandon Derringer hated to go into command mode,m but now seemed to be one of those times were it seemed to be the only option that might snap this guy out of whatever had set him off. If not, that was what the two armored marines were behind him for. Hopefully. 'What is up with this guy? I was told that he was one of the smoothest operators in the fleet, but he is now going nuts over one of MY pilots going down, but he doesn't even bat an eye about over three dozen casualties from just the landing. And Angelina isn't related to Ryan as far as I know, so that can't be the reason why he is going nuts. At any rate, I need to put an end to this now, or else this whole mission is in the proverbial crapper.'

"Captain, I need to go get her, and I am taking one of the birds to go and do it. You can bring me up on charges when I return."

"Darmouth, I am not asking you. You are going with these men, and when you are relieved of duty until you are able to take command once more with some sense of reasonable decorum."

Ryan narrowed his eyes at his naval counterpart, but didn't say anything as he stepped forward to be taken away by the two Cyclone Armor clad officers. He quietly raised his hands waiting for the two officers to slap him in irons. The two junior enlisted ratings looked at each other un-easily, then hesitantly stepped forward to grab Darmouth when he sprung into action. Before anyone could react, Ryan punched Staff Sergeant Diaz, the rightside Cyclone jockey in the face, not quite breaking the nose, but making it bleed profusely nonetheless. Then with blurring speed, the veteran military specialist then tossed the other Cyclone rider, armor and all over his shoulder and into Derringer. Even as the grunt is in still in the air, Ryan whirls upon Whetstone, who had just arrived into the conflagaration, and knocked him backwards with a vicious roundhouse kick. Seeing his chance to break away, Darmouth then sprinted to one of the Alphas which were in guardian mode, and prepped for rapid VTOL launching.

Jumping into the veritech and snapping down the canopy in one deft motion, Ryan ignored the flight crew and the officers down below as he patched in his helmet/thinking cap into the Alpha's systems. Letting the familiar tingle of the machine reading his neural pathways and getting in synch with him wash over him like a light drizzle, the determined man completed the pre-flight in record time. Turning the leg thrusters on full, Ryan then lifted the machine up into the air, converted it into jet mode and took off at maximum burn after Angelina Spencer's last location.

Brandon had to shield himself from the backwash and blown about sand from the clearly insane man's departure. He, as well as most of the others present, watched the retreating fighter quickly become a speck in the sky with his eyes narrowed and his mouth compressed into a tight line.

"If he returns alive, I do beleive that I am going to kill him," Derringer muttered just loud enough that Whetstone and Diaz both turned to look at him. In a slightly louder voice so that he could be heard, he then stated, "Get someone up in the air and after him! I do not need two destroyed Alphas!"

The two others scrambled to get their people moving to comply with Derringer's orders when Voorhees then came up to the Frazzled CO. Her french braid was still done, but looked like it was just barely. She was decked out in the standard REF CVR-3 combat suit, except her purple helmet was crooked under her left arm, and she had a clipboard with a flimsy report in the other hand.

"Captain Derringer?"

"Yes, what is it?," Brandon replied shortly, his patience already sorely tested.

"You might want to read this, sir. It seems that what is left of Breetai's combat force is pulling off of the surface and is conducting a fighting ..tactical withdrawal back to the Valivarre." The younger officer handed here superior the clipboard, and then continued with her report. "It seems that preliminary reports, Commander Breetai has been slain in combat, but that he killed the True Invid Regent in the process."

"What did you just say? Commander Breetai...And the Invid Regent? BOTH of them dead?" Brandon snatche dthe report from the destroid pilot's hands and his eyes scanned over the flimsy very quickly, his face paling slightly the further that he had read. This contingency was defintely NOT discussed during the mission breifings. Then he read what the resident intel officer had thought was now going on. That mad ehim pause and blanch completely.

"What's wrong, Captain?," Sylvia asked, a slightly concerned look on her face.

"Get the men in position, Lieutenant, and expect heavy company very shortly." Derringer began stomping back to the Horizont, his stride determined. "Make sure that all weapons and people are decked out in full battle rattle and ready to go. We may end up having to fight some very angry hornets very shortly." With that, the mission commander re-entered the command pod and disappeared from sight before the fighter or Destroid commanders could ask anything else.

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Major Ryan Darmouth was on the most important mission in his life, and he happened to survive this and get both him and Angelina back, it would in all likely-hood be the last mission of his life as well. Dis-obeying at least one direct order and then out and out stealing a top of the line combat multi-role veritech fighter, even if that fighter had been assigned to you, was a courtmartial, and probably, executable offense in at least three intergalactic militaries that he knew of, and in all probability, in most of the others that he wasn't aware of. Trying to focus on the present instead of the past or the present for the moment, Ryan went back over the mental image he had taken of the of the search zone that that pilot, yes Whetstone was his name, had made during his last fly-by.

'That idiot should've gone down with her! What the hell kind of outfit is Derringer running nayways, letting his pilots go off without proper cover in the middle of firefights. Some wingman he was! Was probably back at base knocking back smoothies while everyone else was actually earning their paychecks. If she's hurt, he better pray to whatever Gods are smiling down on his sorry ass that I do not make it back.....'

Darmouth considered continuing that particular line of thought but he noticed something else that caught his attention, bringing his focus and tightly controlled fury onto a new target, or rather, set of targets. Keying the HOTAs, Ryan pivoted his powerful bird down and began to priortize his new victims. Smiling darkly as the recticule in his HUDs targetting display went from opaque to crimson, the sacaren man pressed the thumbpad of his right joystick and then watched a quartet of missles shoot out from his under-carriage hungerily tearing thru the air towards their intended targets.

The formation of five armored scouts on fly-by patrol were intent on finding any of their despised giant advesaries and sending them to the next life. They had alreayd run into a small group of their battle mecha and were in the process of ripping them apart when that strange combat machine that couldn't be detected on their radars seemed to disrupt their perfectly executed ambush. The invid were eventually able to vansquish this interloper as well, but not before their most hated foe had time to re-group and retreat back to their ships. and worse yet, that single machine had killed almost two dozen of their brethren before it was felled to a similar fate. They had new orders from the central hive overmind to find that annoying intruder, or what was left of it, and to bring it back to the science caste to have it examined in more detail. The quintet was just completing one pass of the battlezone and were swerving around to begin another one when number two and five both seemed to explode without warning.

Ryan dove towards what remained of the formation as the survivors scurried to the four winds, trying to get some room from whatever had just dropped two of their flight. Number three was not even an afterthought as two more plasma missiles were dropped on him as Darmouth completed an inverted corkscrew past the poor scout. Reconfiguring to Guardian mode with but a thought and the pressing of a few levers, the combat pilot then brought his gun into play, coring the remaining wingman with a precise, tightly controlled short burst from his right-hand GU-XX autocannon. He then turned his attention to the flight leader, or what he assumed to be the flight leader, only to find the armored scout gone from his vision.

'Now where in the hell did that little bugger go off to....' "AGGGHHGGG!" Ryan exclaimed he quickly pulled his Alpha back and away from the angry stream of annihilation discs that were winging their way to his position. this was definitely not a position that he liked being in, but at least he could work with it.

"Ah, well at least I now know where you are, my little friend," Darmouth muttered under his breath as he right himself and tried to manually follow the sneaky little Invid as it tucked and rolled underneath and behind him. "You can't outrun me that easily."

The two mecha pivoted and rolled in an intense dance, each trying to gain the upper hand as they traded annihilation discs and long-bore autocannon rounds, neither of the two scoring a definite hit, although both leaving telling scores on their opponent. Darmouth was feeling the beads of sweat on his forehead as he pushed the enevelope in the Alpha as he corkscrewed through another long chain of deadly plasma bolts. Then he saw his chance.

'This alien is good.....too bad I am better,' he thought as he saw the killspot in his mind's eye even as it was lining up in his sights and he squeezed the trigger with a definite pull of his gun hand. The man then released a faint superior smile as the last Invid fell to the earth below, a single shot through it's delicate and usually obsucre sensor eye.

'That was not fun....and may have cost me more time than I really could have affored. Please, Angie, be alright...I'm coming and nothing here or on Heaven or in Hell will stop me!'

Finally spotting the rough landing area that Diamondback Five primary had created during her crash. With a flick of his off hand he turned on the Tac-Freq.

"This is Ironwalker Headhunter Lambda One Seven to base. Have reached co-ordinates of downed birdie and it appears that there may have been a walker. Going down to invesitgate."

"Wait, Major Darmouth, Major, think about wh...wait did you say there was a possibilty of a survivor down there?," Commander Janine Derringer's voice piped thru the line and into Darmouth's helmet.

"That is correct, Home base,. Am transmitting co-ordinates and then will touch back in when I can make confirmation one way or the other, Ironwalker Lambda one seven out."

"Wait, Major Dar.....," Janine tried to call the rogue officer one more time, but got only dead air thru the mike as information wa salreayd coming out of the tactical terminal next to the comm array. ."Dammit, that man had better be right."

She then turned to her husband and the CVR-3 clad man with him. The other man looked like all of the other Army types, except he had more kindly features on his youthful looking asiatic face, and the Medical symbol on his right shoulder set her a bit more at ease.

"What did you find out? Did Ryan..I mean, Major Darmouth find her?," the other man asked. As Janine looked closer, she saw the name Zhao, A. on his right breastplate. Zhao seemed to have something of an anxious expression on his face. Janine glanced at her husband, who was studying the co-ordinates, before she answered.

"Well, he didn't say anything definite, Doctor, but he thinks that there is a chance that Lieutenant Spencer may still be alive. he was setting down and was going to continue to search on foot."

Brandon straightened up and looked at his wife, but before he could say anything, Zhao spoke up again.

"Captain, with your permission, can I go with Ensign Whetstone to bring them back in?"

Captain Derringer mulled it for a moment, knowing that every moment and man that was waste don this could mean the success or failure of this mission, but he also knew that Ryan had a point about not leaving ANYONE behind either. Finally making a decision in his mind, and hopefully quelling that little voice nagging at his conscience, he nodded, but added quietly, "Yes, but take one of the Cyclone Riders with you."

"Yessir." Zhao whipped off a quick salute, and then turned and ran back out the command center, calling in for one of the Ground pounders to meet him at Whetstone's Beta. After the door closed, Janine turned to look at her husband. The last three hours since this mission had begun had seemed to age him five years. She watched quietly as he rubbed the bridge of his nose, squeezing his eyes shut to releive some tension. Janine then got up anc came behind her husband, and began kneeding his neck just above where the armor ended.

"So, what is going on now, and what is going to happen when they get back?"

Brandon paused for a moment before he answered, as he had to bring his mind back to the present, as he momentarily shut it off at his wife's caress. He kept his pose though, just so he could enjoy the private moment that he knew was about to end all too soon.

"I don't know. I guess it is all going to depend on what Darmouth finds out there. His conviction was in the right place, but he did also desert his post and dis-obey a direct order. I reviewed his records, and there was never a mention of him doing this in his entire career. I don't know why he flipped about Angie being shot down....he wasn't even that affect by his own people being injured and killed."

"Maybe there's more to it than we know."

"Maybe."

"Well,' Janine murmured lowly as she continued to massage out the tense muscles at the base of her husband's skull. "All we can do now is pray for the best. With any luck, Darmouth might actually be able to find Spencer and they both may make it back safe."

"I sure hope so, because we are going to need every able body and soon."

At that moment, the command lounge's door slid open and Lieutenant Cyndi Mallard, Janine's co-pilot came crashing in, her brown eyes as wide as saucers. The couple quickly seperated at the appearance of the junior officer.

"Captain Derringer, sir, The forward scouts reports an Invid troop formation coming this way. They don't appear to be aware of us yet, but that could change very quickly!"

Lieutenant junior grade Angelina Victoria "Primrose" Spencer had encountered alot in her time in the REF, inckuding having two fighters shot out from under her, but this was definitely something that she was going to have to chalk up to luck to being the only thing that was keeping her alive this time. The blood seeping down her bangs from the nasty gash to the side of her head only the most visible of the wounds she had sustained when she plowed her ruined fighter into the ground. But at least she was alive, or at least that is what she kept telling herself after she came to.

'Any crash you survive and all that jive....guess I am living proof of that....at least until the slugs find me, if even they don't think I am dead.' Angie thought bitterly as she limped into the cave opening that she had been slwoly trudging to for the last twenty minutes. She knew that staying out in the open would have made it easier for her teammates to find her, but it also would have made it easier for the enemy to catch her as well, and that was something she was not that keen on just yet. It didn't help matters that her MOSPEADA armor had also bought it in the crash or she might not have felt quite so naked in the open. Her flight armor was still intact, mostly, if one could discount the gashes in the abdomen and leg, as well as the spiderweb fractures currently composing the right side of her helmet's visor.

'This is just great! Why the hell did I agree to go on this mission anyways? I am going to die on some god-forsaken rock by a bunch o fovergrown slugs in power armor. Why me?' Angie glowered as she looked back once more at the skyline from the cave entrance. She had activated her emergancy rescue beacon, but was not really counting on it saving her this time, as she hadn't seen a single one of her people yet, and it had been over five hours now, if her chornometer was still reading right. She limped a bit deeper into the cavern before her injuries and fatigue overtook her once more, and she slid down against one of the walls, her head feeling suddenly light again. She was hoping that the air her was hospitable, but after the stuff that occured when REFer's inhaled Garuda's hallucinagenic air, and then dealing with the mess on Peryton, she really didn't want to push her quirkly luck anymore.

'Maybe just a little rest won't hurt...I can keep moving in a minute....' she thought as she closed her green flecked brown eyes.

Spencer woke up with shock and a feeling of vertigo a few moments later, the faint ovice of the man who was once the love of her life and more recently the bane of her existance in the back of her mind. She pushed the man's voice out of her mind as she tried to scramble painfully to her feet. She got about half-way there when she heard the first click and paused in mid-action. Looking up, Angie then realized she was staring down the barrel of an Invid Enforcer. Three more red-encased Invid were standing just a bit back. Angie thought to lower hand towards her Gallant still on her hip, but stopped that action as the Invid's gun began tracking her moverment, and there seemed to be something akin to a smirk playing on the thing's mouth.

"You..human are coming with us." It spoke after a moment."

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And there ya go....after so long, another chapter down.

Glad to see how releasing writing can be after such a long break, espeically now that I am a free man myself again. Ending a relationship is never easy, but one does have to realize that life does go on, and you have to find yourself in order not to lose yourself. Well, until next time :)

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