Episode 7: Bye Bye Macross

After confronting the alien forces known only as the Covenant within the rings of Coral and the Adair Nebula, the Macross folded near a ring like object within the Lagrange point between the gas giant Threshold and its moon Basis. Captain Gloval decided to leave the two misplaced carriers attached to the Macross on the surface of the Ring. His plan; have the carriers hold off the enemy for as long as possible until a relief fleet of UNSC ships can engage the Covenant fleet at Threshold.

Currently, Rick and his new friends are trying to find some living space they can call their own on board the Prometheus.

"Man, you'd think we'd be able to find a room by now," Rick moaned as he walked through the tight corridor carrying his bulging duffle bag. Already his back was sore.

"Yeah, those Spartans already have their rooms picked out. I wonder what they're doing," Max added from behind Rick. He too was carrying his duffel bag and slowly following Rick.

"Linda's changing right now." Ben replied.

"What! You mean you can see her?" Max asked, stunned by Ben's nonchalant manner.

"Only through her eyes right now. It's kind of weird. There are times when I don't see or hear anything; then there's times when I hear only her voice; and other times when I only see what she sees," Ben explained.

"So what do you see right now?" Rick asked. He was interested by Ben's new found connection to the Spartan.

"Well right now…." before he could finish he saw in his mind Linda looking at herself in a mirror. She was examining every part of her body, making sure she noted the effects that the flower pedals had had on her.

"What is it?" Max inquired.

"She's looking at herself in her mirror." Ben stated.

"Darn why can't I have that gift?" Rick thought to himself as he opened another hatch. What he didn't realize was that it was the hatch to Lisa Hayes's quarters.

"Ahhhhh!" A familiar female voice cried out. Rick stepped back and closed the hatch quickly, blushing heavily.

"What happened?" Max asked hurriedly.

"Rick Hunter! You have some real explaining to do!" The female voice cried out. Then the hatch opened slowly and Commander Lisa Hayes walked out. Max and Ben observed that Lisa was dripping wet and had most likely quickly wrapped a towel around her body.

"Ma'am!" The three pilots stated in unison as they snapped into attention.

"Rick, you are going on report for that!" Lisa stated angrily at the young pilot as she slammed the hatch behind her.

"Why me?" Rick asked himself aloud as he took a few steps forward, but slipped on the wet floor and landed on his back.

"Slacker." Max quipped as Rick slipped again as he tried to pick himself up.

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"Commander Breetai, you realize that as we approach the Installation's gravity field the battle pods' flight capabilities will diminish more." Exedor stated.

Breetai merely grunted. He knew that Exedor was right, but he was facing off with an enemy with superior numbers and comparable weapons. Breetai noticed that the purple ships were slowly pushing his small armada down to the surface of Halo.

"Commander! Zareel's ship has lost thruster control! They are falling toward a small desert plateau on Halo!" A radar operator yelled.

"I have had enough! Have all vessels prepare for an emergency landing on Installation 04! Recover the battle pods and have them re-deploy inside the re-entry pods. As we recover the battle-pods launch a full missile bombardment on the enemy vessels." Breetai barked out.

"Confirmed commander. Attention all gunnery crews, set missiles for full bombardment of target area once we recover the battle-pods." Breetai's sub commander ordered to the rest of the fleet. The battle pods, after two hours of vicious fighting with the alien fighters, fell back and returned to their ships.

The fighter pods continued to engage the Seraphs for as long as possible. As soon as all the battle pods entered their ships Breetai quickly ordered, "Full barrage, all missiles!" The Zentradi warships, wary of damaging Installation 04, finally got the orders they had been waiting for. The large green ships eagerly sent a massive missile barrage, that numbered into the thousands, thundering into the Covenant battle lines. At least a third of the Covenant fighter force was annihilated as the Zentradi missiles slammed into the hapless fighters. The missiles that passed by the helpless seraphs slammed into the shields of the lead covenant ships. Some of the smaller CVS frigates lost their shields and were racked by multiple missile impacts. After the missile barrage at least one frigate was destroyed and several ships, including the CCS Truth and Reconciliation, were disabled in the attack.

"It would appear they don't even know how to use their own weapons! Ha ha! All cannons open fire!" Breetai ordered after observing the stunned behavior of the purple ships. The Zentradi ships followed up their counter attack by firing all their laser cannons in the general direction of the Covenant fleet. Most of the shots hit their marks with deadly consequences. Much of the Covenant fighter craft had by now been shot down or vaporized. By now the Truth and Reconciliation's engine drives had been riddled full of holes from the recent laser attack. The ship was plummeting along with Zareel's cruiser.

"Commander Breetai. We are receiving a transmission from the largest enemy ship," The communications officer cried out to Breetai.

"Put it on." Breetai stated. He personally thought it would be a surrender request but he was surprised when he heard this: "Your destruction is the will of the gods. We are their instrument, Zentradi heretics."

"Sir I have power spikes on all enemy ships!" Breetai's radar operator yelled. The Covenant were fed up with the Zentradi attacks and decided to warm up their plasma torpedoes for a proper counter attack. The holographic view screen showed the outside view. The Purple ships fired off a hundred blue balls of energy toward the Zentradi fleet.

"Plasma Torpedoes!" Exedor exclaimed as the torpedoes quickly approached the Armada.

Breetai quickly order as the torpedoes closed in on his fleet. "Evasive action, all ships!" The Zentradi fleet quickly fired off their side thrusters in an attempt to dodge the incoming torpedoes. Unfortunately the incoming torpedoes tracked their targets well and slammed into their respective marks. When the torpedo attack was over the Zentradi lost one scout ship and several destroyers, and all ships had lost their forward shields.

"Arrrgh! All ship continue advancing, but exercise extreme caution." Breetai commanded what was left of his armada.

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"Commander Hayes. I have two large ships falling from the battle above. They're heading for a large desert plateau about 20 clicks north northwest," The radar operator informed Lisa.

"How is the Daedalus progressing?" Lisa asked.

"The last report stated the Major Silva and his marine detachment had set up a marine outpost on the second island. On the first island we have two Monsters set up to provide long range artillery fire," the communications officer told the Commander. Soon after she received the reports a dull boom could be heard out in the distance. The ships had crashed.

"Ma'am. I have Major Silva on the line. He wishes to speak with you."

"Put it on," Lisa ordered. If Major Silva was calling in person it must be have been important.

"Commander Hayes do you copy?" Silva's voice asked over the comm.

"Yes I hear you Major; you have something to report?" Lisa inquired. Major Silva hadn't felt at ease on board the Macross. Lisa had observed that after an early encounter, and he had also seemed anti-social with the RDF personnel.

"I have a proposal," Silva replied simply.

"Oh, what is it?" Lisa asked again.

"We observed from my position that at least two enemy ships have crashed not too far from here. How about we capture one of them and surprise Captain Gloval?" Silva asked with satisfaction in his voice.

"Although this is a tempting offer Major, our primary objective is to hold off the enemy for as long as possible until a relief fleet can enter the system," Lisa said, reminding Silva of their mission.

"You think the UNSC really cares for some antiquated 500 year old carriers with a few thousand crew? We abandoned planets with a few million on the surface! You can just say bye bye Macross and hello death! But incase you want to live, our only chance is to jump ship and board those downed enemy vessels," Major Silva stated, berating Lisa's stubbornness.

"Now you listen hear Major Silva. We will NOT be abandoned by Captain Gloval. Also, since we don't have any means to knock out the recognition signature on those ships, using them would also violate the Cole Protocol, or did you forget that? I'm sorry Major, but your request is denied!" Lisa yelled back as she got up and turned off the receiver personally.

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After another hour, Lisa ordered Skull squadron to report to the briefing room. Rick, Max and Ben took their seats near the back of the room. The light dimmed as Lisa and Roy Fokker entered the room in front of the large view screen.

"Welcome gentlemen. Just over an hour ago, two enemy ships crash landed 20 kilometers north of our present location. Unfortunately the Prometheus's radar is having problems compensating to the new environment. Luckily we have two Cats-Eye recon units aboard ship. What we need now is three Veritechs to escort the unit I'll be in."

"Wait. Did I hear you right? You'll be in the Cats-Eye?" Roy asked, a bit confused.

"Yes. I'm the only one capable of operating the scout vessel properly," Lisa told Roy.

"But you're the commanding officer. It would be irresponsible for you to go out there," Roy pointed out.

"You'll be in command of the forces until I arrive," Lisa stated, her tone making it clear that her decision was final.

"Of course Commander. Skulls 23 through 25 will have your wing," Roy stated.

"Finally, my first mission," Max said to himself.

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Ten minutes passed by as the Cats-Eye and its Veritech fighter escort approached the crash site. The radiation in the area made it difficult to identify anything.

"This is Cats-Eye recon, we have nothing on radar. Keep up your visual scanning." Lisa advised over the comm.

"This is Skull 24. I have something…. Something going on at 2 o'clock low." Max observed. As he took a closer look he noticed a group of battle pods shooting it out with something beyond an elevation. Then suddenly a massive four legged purple crawler zoomed passed them while firing light pink energy shards at the battle pods. The group was quickly cut to pieces as the shards finally exploded within the pods, sending them to the ground in flaming bits.

"Watch it, Scarab spotted!" Max yelled. The scarab, eager for more kills, spotted the flight group and fired its main gun. The beam passed by Max's cockpit and nailed the Cats-Eye's radar disk. The scout ship tumbled toward the surface of the plateau, spewing smoke. The fighters peeled off and approached the Scarab from multiple angles and unleashed a missile barrage. Most of the missiles connected with their mark but did little more but dent the hull plating on the Scarab. One of the Scarab's turrets acquired Ben's slower moving Veritech and let out a stream of pink energy shards. Several connected with the hull and caused a large explosion.

"I'm getting no response from the controls! Going down!" Ben cried out as his Veritech plummeted toward the surface of the plateau.

"Ben!" Rick yelled as he turned about to face Ben's Veritech. But as soon as his fighter turned it too was racked with a similar number of energy shards. "I'm hit! Max, return to the Prometheus and get some help!" Rick ordered.

"I won't leave you!" Max replied as he sent his Veritech into a series of loops in a successful attempt to dodge the incoming shards.

"You have to! Get out of….." Rick's comm. channel went dead as his Veritech slammed into the ground below. Max knew that his Veritech was no match for a Scarab, but he couldn't simply leave his friends. He decided after the third time of narrowly escaping the Scarabs needler attacks that he had no choice. He would return to the Prometheus and ask the Chief to help him mount a rescue mission.

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In the next episode the Master Chief and a small group of marines attempt to rescue Skulls 23 and 24 while the Covenant interrogates the prisoners. Don't miss the Truth and Reconciliation, the next exciting episode of Robotech/Halo.