Second Dreamweaver Defold...

One of the things Scott had worried about for this part of the mission, is just how different things might be. In the months prior to departure from the universe whose fate he'd just radically altered, he'd searched for his family - only to find out that his parents had never existed on that Earth, let alone he or his siblings. For that matter, neither had anyone in Alex's family. Things were so similar in gross detail as to appear the same, but on closer look, were totally different. This fitted well with the "World as Myth" hypothesis, but being part of the confirming data was a bit unsettling.

They assumed, from the clues given by Cindy and her mother, than the next stop probably would be during the SDF-3 mission - but where and when during those years was another matter completely, in terms of preparation. Would it be pre-launch, at the arrival over Tyrol, or as late as the launch of Saturn Division for Earth in 2035? Would they ride in to save the Farrago over Praxis - or to take part in the liberation of Optera from Edwards? And, it would probably be Edwards they would face, scar and all - after all, if the destination also had no Scott Freeman, then it would be probable that Edwards was never discovered to be the traitorous scum that he was, until it was too late - much as like on the Tyrol that he had found himself on after that original misfold in 2016.

The best he could do is just prepare for the most common contingency, and that was that they'd run into Inorganics at some point in the fight. Lang, Nichols and Tyler had whipped up an solvent that made an excellent anti-Inorganic warhead, as it would expand in a foam matrix on detonation, and dissolve several cubic meters of the structure of those creations within seconds, as if it were acid. Granted, against flesh and blood creatures it would cause first and second degree burns and eat away most clothes, but most equipment in the REF arsenal (or used to build Tiresia) would be unaffected. Given what it would do to an Invid mecha, and its pilot inside (the pilot would FEEL the damage caused to the mecha - let alone the slow painful death once the unit was compromised), use on those was prohibited - after all, deep inside, even an "Eager"/Iiga scout pilot was still a sentient being (if not potentially convertible into a human). If they HAD to be fought, conventional weapons were a lot faster and merciful. The mecha on launch standby, therefore, were armed 60% conventional anti-mecha armaments, 40% solvent, in their missile loads.

When defold came, the expected view of Fantoma filled the main screen - the question then became that of when, and where were they in relation to Tyrol...

"Any idea of the date? And, Where's Tyrol in relation to our position?"

"Working on the date from astrometrics;" Aurora replied. "Tyrol appears to be in opposition to our position. If the REF is present, and we could get line of sight on Tyrol, the SDF-3's chronometer beacon should give us the date it thinks it is."

Given that we really didn't know what the real date was for most of the mission, Scott thought, that would only be of limited help - if this is even the Tyrol of the REF, not earlier.

"Okay, start easing us around. Gloval, Hayes; keep your ships here - we don't want to freak anyone out until we have to. All squadrons report to your fighters and await launch orders. For all we know, there could be anything from the Regent's Invid to the Robotech Masters at full strength ahead. Review your scenarios from your cockpit monitors - you'll have a few minutes lead time before launch in any event to get everyone up to speed on which one applies."

A few minutes later, the limb of Tyrol began peeking over the Fantoman horizon.

"I'm starting to pick up something on the fleet public affairs frequency," Bowie reported. "It seems to be a trial of some sort."

"Trial? Put it on screen." Scott was 99% certain now just WHEN they were, but it never hurt to double-check. Sure enough, it was the mockery that was the attempted show trial of Wolfe and the others, right at the point where Lang turned the tables on Edwards. And, as the chaos erupted during Edwards' escape, he saw no sign of himself (and he'd been part of the trial), so if he had a counterpart here, he'd still be with the Sentinels, like his counterpart in the universe he'd visited had been until the Korra'ti arrived.

"SDF-1, SDF-2; we've got complications. Start heading my way, at half my speed. The circumstances are what I once referred to you as being the REF's darkest hour on Tyrol."

"The Edwards coup?" Gloval asked.

"Correct. We've arrived at a rather precarious point. We can move in and scramble our fighters to fight the Inorganics, but it also means that we'd be flying into a furball of blue-on-blue fighting as well, and with our not exactly being in anyone's IFF database, that will put us squarely in harm's way."

"What's the approximate timeline for the events" Lisa asked.

"Provided we don't do a micro-fold closer, which is NOT a good idea around a ringed gas giant, Edwards' stolen SDF-7 class cruiser will already be powering out of range en route to a safe fold-out position before we get in range to do more than launch fighters to clean up the Inorganics and start rescue operations. The ship was awaiting field trials, but Edwards had already placed a loyal skeleton crew aboard it, in case he had to do a sneak attack on the SDF-3. Most of the crew of the SDF-3 was ready to mutiny, if necessary, try to rescue Wolfe and Lang, and attempt to flee the system at sublight speeds while continuing the fold repairs, to keep it out of the hands of Edwards. Unfortunately, Edwards knew this through his own espionage, and was willing to inflict major damage to the ship to prevent it from fleeing."

"What if we warned the SDF-3?"

"Do you think they'd believe us? After all, we hardly look the part of the Sentinels."

"Who says we have to look the part?" Lisa asked, a determined look on her face. She turned to the right, and spoke to her commo officer. "Sammy, I'll need an audio-only channel, all identifier flags turned off . Cut off the speakers from the other two ships. Helm, move us back into the Dreamweaver's cloak effect radius. Use the audio channel to connect me to the SDF-3 bridge, and I'll need absolute silence on this bridge, once you connect."

"Lisa?" Gloval asked.

"I think I know what she's got in mind. Henry, was Nick Hayes a good poker player?"

"I never could beat him; why?"

"I just hope his daughter is as good at bluffing as he was..."

"SDF-3, this is Admiral Hayes, over," Lisa spoke into her headset.

"Lisa - Admiral, thank God. This is Captain Forsythe. "Where are you?"

"Just barely in audio range, coming around Fantoma. I've got some important intel for you; the Ghost Riders have taken over the new SDF-7, with the intent of using it either to stop you from interfering on the planet, or to make their escape if Lang regains control ground-side. Arrest any suspect personnel on the SDF-3 immediately, and take out the new ship's command tower with your own weapons before they can raise shields. If that's not enough, do what it takes to keep it from leaving."

"Yes, ma'am! Any idea what's going on down-planet? We lost all communications after the trial video cut off."

"Edwards appears to have gained some method of controlling the Invid terror weapons that were shut down several years ago, and retained them for this very night, instead of destroying them as ordered. They're currently ravaging the city. We'll launch the few fighters we brought with us to assist on the ground as soon as we're in range, but once you get the other ship taken care of, you need to interdict any attempts to flee the surface with your fighters; we don't want any other ships hijacked or sabotaged by the traitors. Consider the orbitals closed for outgoing traffic."

"Will do. Admiral, we're scanning for you, but can't pick up your source of transmission."

"We made new friends while away, and they're providing transport on a cloaked vessel. After all, it's not like we'd be safe coming in announced, with Edwards wanting to hang us from the radar mast without a spacesuit. I've gotten some advance scouts on the ground ahead of us, keeping us up to speed on the circumstances in Tiresia, but they aren't set up for combat."

"Good cover, Lisa," Scott said, though only his bridge crew and Gloval's could hear it.

"If you say so - some of the intel weenies are a bit nervous with the circumstances of your transmission, but you check out five-by-five on voice analysis."

"I should hope they're nervous - after all, look what following strange transmissions got me into on Mars back in twenty-ten."

"I seem to recall it got you a husband, eventually."

"I guess it did., though it took long enough to land him."

"Laser cannons are rotated into firing position, and aimed manually. They don't appear to have seen our move, but they do seem to be dropping into a lower orbit."

"Wait till they stabilize that orbit, then fire - the last thing we want to do is hit them while descending, and have the ship crash into the city."

"Rate of descent is now zero - going active targeting, and FIRE!"

Several seconds passed, then the video sensors of the three ships closing on Tyrol picked up the lasers lancing from the SDF-3 and striking the other ship.

"Target is disabled. Engineering aboard the target appears to have stabilized the orbit after the damage, but I doubt they have the crew to actually fly her. Her internal sensors indicated all but five people aboard were on the bridge, and the bridge isn't there anymore."

"Get a boarding crew over there as soon as you can spare them."

"Right away, Admiral."

One hour later:

"Thanks for the loan of these Alphas, General," Rick said, as the three fighter wings left the Dreamweaver's shadow device range, and functioned under their own individual units.

"I wasn't about to let you fly down in your Valks and Lightnings; those things would have given us away. Besides, you'd have had to jettison your payload for reentry, and somehow I don't think you'd have wanted to use those tiny lasers in ground combat, or fly around doing strafing runs. Plus, remember how tough those Bioroids in the simulations were? The Inorganics cut through them like a pinata, when the Invid invaded here - your fighters would be sitting ducks. Remember, only two of the enemy types, other than any Ghosts we might find, have anything resembling ranged weaponry, and those are so weak that it would take lucky shots to more than scratch the armor."

"So, why are you here, and not back in the Captain's chair?"

"I've got important first-hand knowledge of what's going on down here, and know the landmarks. Plus, I've got a couple of specific tasks in mind. The wing from the SDF-1 is to seize REF Base Tyrol, to prevent Edwards from escaping that way. My ship's wing will secure the government center, and push back the Inorganics from it, while attempting to get down to the organic computer Edwards is linked into via his headband interface, to control the Inorganics. Take out Edwards, and the computer returns to default Invid programming, until I can get one of my people to use the band to shut it down; take out the computer, and they shut down without having to kill anyone. I need you and Skull to secure the area around the building I've designated on your onboard map, in case we're early enough to stop him from gaining hostages."

"The incident with Minmei and Kyle, you told us about."

"Yeah, the timeline of that event is all screwy - it was such a mess that we really don't know exactly when it happened. I know that in the world I visited 25 years ago, one of our group managed to cause Edwards to miss a fatal shot, by accidentally stumbling into the act in progress. On my world, my niece got there late, as at the time she had conflicting priorities, and Kyle was already 'mostly dead', and she got my wife to fire up their modified Protoculture Chamber so they could play 'Miracle Max' again. Here, unless we get there in time, Kyle is a dead duck - well, at least until we get him back to the ship, and Minmei would be a hostage."

"So, that's why you taught me how to polarize the helmet, for the building penetration."

"The last thing we need is 'Rick' to intrude in the Lynns' lives, even if you aren't the one they know. Or, for that matter, Edwards seeing you and going after you."

"How come you didn't tell Roy?"

"Well, if Edwards DOES make it over to Base Tyrol and sees him, I figure it would be enough to warp what's left of T.R.'s fragile little mind to have to face Roy again. And, this time I don't think Edwards will come out of it alive; I've got Dana over there as an advisor, in case someone has to do hostage removal as part of the confrontation. Dana can teleport short range with others, but she doesn't like doing it. The question is whether or not she'd intentionally bring whatever arm's holding Minmei with them as she teleported out. That girl can be vicious, sometimes. Don't let her 'sappy romantic when not on duty' side fool you."

Scott, Rick and their four wingmen landed on the outskirts of what had been the headquarters of Edwards' command, what had once been called the 1st TASC Ghost Riders, back on Earth. The buildings were modified survivors of those of pre-Masters Tiresia, and were still tied into the labyrinth of tunnels dating from ancient times. There was no guarantee the tunnels were the same layout here as on Scott's Tyrol, and he never thought to check on the other Tyrol from Rick's universe, but it was worth checking, to bypass as many remaining guards as possible.

"You sure you want me suiting up in this power armor?" Rick asked, trying to figure out the VR-038 controls.

"Well, it will stop most small arms fire, other than the rounds we designed to fight the Inorganics - and Edwards kept those out of production because he didn't want people shooting up his toys. On the other hand, once you get used to it, the exoskeleton makes you able to out-dodge Kyle's special effects from the movie. Besides, it's not like it's weighted down with weapons like the standard models you played with in our simulator."

"And we're going through tunnels? Will we even fit?"

"We should; most of the underground parts of the network were built to be a square cross-section about three meters to a side. Some of them are collapsed, but those are mostly in the sections that were damaged by the Invid four years ago, or by the Masters trying to root out opposition after they took over. This place is built like 20th Century Rome - for several millennia, instead of digging down to ground level, most new construction just buried what was there before, and converted the older buildings into basements and utility space for buildings built on top of them. Some of these tunnels are former street entrances, and a few deep ones are sewers dating from before the first brick was laid in Babylon. No one had a full map of them - the story goes that the Zor and his school buddies from the local equivalent of high school and college spent their youth exploring, and their map still had dozens of tunnels branching off their map that were unexplored when they were too busy as adults for such trivial pursuits."

"Okay, check my suit."

Scott went over, and made sure that all the connections were made properly. Manual union of the Cyclone with the base armor was a bit tricky, since the expert systems in the powered mid-air transformations actually home the moving parts in on their junctions, and even adjust the parts to compensate for different size users. Rick wasn't skilled enough on motorcycles to attempt a transformation on the fly, and Scott had to use the manual adjustment wrenches to get Rick his full range of motion.

"Okay, you're good. Now, let's hope the tunnel under that cover-" Scott motioned to where the other 4 pilots were pulling up the Tyrolean equivalent of a drainage tunnel access plug "-goes where it did back home."

Well, the tunnel ALMOST went to the same location. Here, it appeared that the cell entrance that Scott had used never existed, and that the tunnel exited one building away, through a hidden trapdoor in what was apparently some junior staff officer's office. However, the building was adjoining the target, and it was a simple matter to do a booster-assisted leap up to the neighboring roof, catching the two guys pulling security duty on the roof (and not looking for attacks from below) off guard, and incapacitating them with stunners. From there, it was a matter of stepping through some doors, and into a Tiresian-style transport tube to the basement.

While in the tube, Scott could about hear his own heart pounding in his head. After all, HE had been the one whose errant shot almost did Edwards' work for him. As they stepped out of the tube, he got a radio call from Daniel, who was with Roy at the spaceport, so they held their assault plan up for a few seconds.

"General, the Inorganics just went into recall mode - they're heading back toward the Brain's location at the secondary dust-off, one of Ghost's Horizons. Have you succeeded?"

"Succeeded, hell... We've just got to the detention level. Whatever caused it, wasn't us."

"Be careful, then. We're setting up a mile exclusion zone around the Brain."

"What was that?" Rick asked.

"Status update. Something's different than the other two times I found myself entering this building on this date in history. Be sharp; maybe Kyle succeeded this time, and we don't want to accidentally shoot him, or get our necks snapped by him out of mistaken identity."

"Breaching charges in place, sir," one of the junior pilots reported.

"Okay, blow it!"

"Fire in the Hole!"

Given that they were in full undersuit and Cyclone, they didn't have to worry about shrapnel, backblast, or the noise - or, for that matter, their polarized helmets prevented any momentary blindness from the flash. They rushed the door, to find...

"What the hell?"

In one of the open cells, Minmei sat, sobbing, being held securely in Kyle's arms. Colonel Adams was propped up against the far wall, with half his face blown off. Edwards' body was crumpled on the floor, looking as if he'd been begging for his life, when someone had blown his head completely off; in his hand was a laser derringer that he'd tried unsuccessfully to draw on his attacker. The damage to the two Ghost Riders was horrific, and indicative of a heavy sidearm meant to penetrate body armor that neither man had been wearing. But, who shot them?

"Mommy, can we go home, now?" a small girl's voice said, cutting the silence.

Scott looked through the bars of the other cells, and saw the source.

"Yes, honey, take us home," the other Minmei in the room said, picking up her daughter, and the two faded from sight.