I was back in space, sitting inside my VHT-1 Spartas veritech battloid inside a Deadalus boarding ship. There was no sound. All of us in the troop were waiting for the battle ahead.
I could only imagine the battle outside, with space fighters, bombers, cruisers, and destroyers engaging the enemy ships and bioroids, and laser beams and missiles and shells fired every which way, and space littered with fireballs from the explosions.
I wondered if the enemy would surrender, allowing us to go back to base.
"Maybe they'll just give up," said Private First Class Philip Ducasse.
"And maybe the government will pay us a million dollars for this mission, Ducasse," said another soldier.
We all laughed. We needed the humor, even knowing that the Robotech Masters could blast us to bits the next instant.
"Okay, Army people," said Space Marine Major Shu, the commander of this boarding ship. "Our ships blew a hole in our target; we are going in."
Things were about to get exciting. We all waited and waited, and every second seemed like a long time, an entire history.
And then I felt something shudder, down to my very bones and rattling my teeth.
"We're opening the hatch," said Major Shu.
And hydraulic mechanisms opened the hatch. I could glimpse what was had-some sort of enclosed space, with VF-11 Thunderbolts and VHT-1 Spartas hovertanks in battloid mode already inside, with some infantry. I noticed just how much taller the Thunderbolts were in comparison with the Spartases.
"We're moving in," said Mike. And we did. After all of us had entered, I looked back and the Daedalus boarding ship withdrew, firing its vernier thrusters to maneuver away.
I looked around. We seemed to be what appeared to be a flight deck; there were spacecraft inside, and not of any earthly design. A shattered window was on the left side. Drums and crates were scattered around the deck. I noticed a huge door to the left, big enough to walk a battloid through. I figured that it was a cargo airlock.
"Okay, people," said a voice from one of the Thunderbolts. "This will be our fallback position, in case something goes really wrong. Lieutenant Kersey and his team will secure this flight deck."
"Yes, sir," replied Kersey, who was one of our troop captains.
I was with Mike's troop; so I had the honor of going further inside.
"We got the airlock open," said one of the Space Marines.
"Okay team," said the Space Marine commander. "The enemy will have an ambush."
And there was. I saw some flak just as soon as the other side of the airlock was opened.
"Balu is down!" someone yelled. One of the damaged Thunderbolts were taken into the flight deck.
"I'm all right," said Balu, the Thunderbolt's pilot. "My plane's pretty much useless."
"Okay, you'll join with our foot team," said the mission commander. I looked and saw a man in a sealed flight suit crawl out of the damaged veritech.
"Okay, 6th Battalion," said Major Jack Emerson. "Lieutenant Meyers and his team will come go in, while Lieutenant Kersey and his team secures our fallback."
"Okay, people," Mike said to his team. "Let's do it."
We went through the airlock. The first thing I noticed was the wreckage of bioroids. We were in this huge dark corridor with metal walls; we figured that this was a cargo corridor used by vehicles to transport personnel, supplies, and equipment.
We did not need to be reminded that we were in an environment that could be controlled by the enemy. They had already killed the lights in this corridor, and there was no air inside the corridor. We were dependent on our air supplies.
"The bulkhead must be at least ten feet thick," said a voice.
"They have to be," said the Space Marine colonel leading the incursion. "Helps keep the air in. We'll need to split up into fire teams."
"Got it," replied Jack. "Remember, people, the enemy can control the environment, but we can wreck it." And so we did split up into fire teams. I led one of the five-man fire teams, with Staff Sergeant Kominski as my second.
I led my team down one of the cargo corridors. We were wary. Enemy bioroids could approach us from the front or behind, and enemy infantry can come out through one of the personnel-sized doors.
"Okay, we're secure for now," I said.
There was no response.
"Major Emerson, Lieutenant Meyers, can you hear me?" I asked.
"It appears our radio signals can not reach them, or theirs can't reach us," said Kominski.
Unless we linked up with the others, we had only each other. I looked at the four others in the team. Right here, right now, I, and I alone, was responsible for them.
We came across a huge cargo door, large enough for a VF-11 Thunderbolt battloid. There were some strange markings on the door.
"Let's blow this thing," I said. And so we did, firing our gunpods. I then kicked the door open with my battloid's feet. We then all burst through the other side.
What greeted us was many, many bioroids. They were all lined up neatly against the walls. Most of them were blue, although two of them were red. I noticed some of the panels on the bioroids were open, exposing the innards. Ceiling lights provided illumination.
None of the bioroids moved to attack us. I figured this was a repair garage, as the enemy surely mobilized all bioroids as soon as they learned they had uninvited guests.
"Let's blast them," I said.
"Yes, sir," said all of the other soldiers. We all shot the bioroids. It was like having a target-rich environment in which the targets don't shoot back.
"Ahhhh!" yelled Private Ducasse.
I looked and saw small figures in space suits; they must be enemy infantry. We fired several rounds at them and at one of the windows.
"You okay, Ducasse?" asks Sergeant Kominski.
"My arm is damaged," he said.
We were still taking fire. There was plenty of cover for the enemy infantry.
"Okay, people," I said. "Cover me."
I switched to guardian mode and leaped off my tank. I had a Heckler and Koch UMP submachine gun- used by Earth's armed forces since before the arrival of robotechnology- as well as some grenades. Retrieving my knowledge of infantry tactics from my memory, I approached the place where the enemy troops were hiding, firing my submachine gun in their general direction even as the others in my fire team fired in that same direction.
The soldiers were hiding behind some equipment. I pulled a pin from a grenade, and tossed it to them.
I immediately took cover behind one of the battloids. The grenade exploded, sending pieces of steel shrapnel everywhere. I did not want to think of the effects of being that close to a grenade. I used my HUD to check my air supply- those fragments could kill in this environment merely by puncturing a sealed suit.
"That takes care of these bioroids," I said as I got into my guardian, looking around at the wreckage that we had made.
"Sir, we need to do some more damage," said Staff Sergeant Kominski.
"Let's move out!" I yelled. And we did. I noticed some pipes and conduits running along the ceiling. Some sort of braces held them to the ceiling. "We have more targets."
We fired above. What we were doing was akin to destroying a human body from the inside. I could see water and other fluids spraying around.
"If we can find a reservoir or a fuel tank," said Ducasse.
"Or an ammo dump," said Kominski.
"Watch out, there's an intersection ahead," I said.
I could see it through my night vision; walls forming four corners. There were signs mounted on the corners. I knew what this meant. There could be enemy mecha or troops hiding around the corner, waiting to strike like a predator in the woods. This was a little like that battle in Monument City a few months ago, only we could not call in an air strike to root out enemy forces.
Suddenly there was flak coming in our direction. We instinctively returned fire. I saw a bioroid go down in flames, which would have appeared brighter if I had been looking at it through my own eyes instead of the night vision system.
I stood with the battloid's back against the wall, taking what cover I could.
"We're pinned down," I said. "We could use some relief. Anyone?"
Nobody answered. Not only that, we were expending quite a bit of ammo.
"I'm out of ammo," said Staff Sergeant Kominski.
Our nearest ammo supply was at the flight deck where we had entered. The Robotech Masters' bioroids can resupply from within this ship.
"We'll have to make a fighting retreat," I said.
I switched to guardian mode and aimed the main cannon upward. I then fired a shot right at the ceiling. There was a direct hit, and debris fell down. I switched to battloid and we all made a retreat away from the intersection.
"Where are we going, sir?" asked Kominski.
"Back to where we can restock on ammo and get Ducasse's Spartas repaired," I said.
There was one small problem. I did not know the way back. I certainly did not have a map of the enemy ship.
"There's another intersection ahead," said Private Ducasse.
"We'll turn the corner," I said. We made a right at a T-intersection.
And we did. Luckily, there were no enemy forces to greet us. So far, this had been a luck-based mission. I looked back the way we came, preparing for the enemy to confront us.
They did not come. For a moment I wondered if another fire team took care of them, or if they were reinforcing another team of bioroids.
"I'll watch our back, team," I said. We'll move forward through this hall."
And we did. I kept the back watch, making sure the enemy was not tracking us. I made frequent sprints in battloid mode.
"There's a door here, sir," said Ducasse. "It might lead to a warehouse or garage."
I went to where Ducasse was standing. There was a large rolling shutter. I looked and saw something emerge from around the corner. I instinctively aimed there.
It was other VHT-1 Spartas hovertanks.
"May we be of assistance?" asked Mike.
"Lieutenant Meyers," I said. "You've come."
"We've had a few run-ins with the enemy," he said. "I have two people covering our backtrail."
"It's so hard to communicate," I said.
"Yeah, the enemy isn't making this easy."
I looked and saw a VF-11 Thungerbolt in guardian mode hovering towards us.
"Hi there," said Lieutenant Shelby Porter.
"What are you doing?" I asked.
"I was ordered to back up Lieutenant Meyers and his team," she said.
"Lieutenant Meyers," I said. "I suggest looking behind that shutter, sir."
"Do it."
And so I did, punching down the shutter with my battloid's fists. I burst inside, leading my team in.
The first thing I noticed were these transparent pods stacked in rows. Within each of those pods was this pink flower that grew in triplets. There was a truck parked inside the warehouse, and the ceiling lights were on; this room might have a power supply independent of the ship.
"It looks like an indoor garden of some sort," said Staff Sergeant Kominski.
Mike and Shelby entered the room. "We'd better get this recorded," said Mike.
"These flowers could be used for food," I said. "Or maybe the manufacture of drugs, or even some industrial chemical."
"Or it might just be used to decorate rooms," said Shelby.
"All right, people," said Mike. "Let's move out."
And we did, moving as a solid block along the cargo corridors of the ship. We were all wary of any potential enemy ambush.
"Have you made contact with Major Emerson, sir?" I asked Mike.
"No, I haven't," replied Mike. "We've been out of contact."
That the enemy was doing their best to jam our communications needed not to be said, nor was it surprising. I wondered what was next even as we moved along the corridor.
I then noticed myself feeling very heavy, as if something was pushing me down.
"What's this?" asked a soldier. "Is this ship accelerating?"
"Either that or the enemy increased the gravity ten times," said Shelby.
It never occurred to me that the enemy could do that. It would place strain on the ship's system, but I could see, and was feeling, how useful it would be and was to counter a boarding action.
I looked around. We were at a bend of a corridor, with a huge door about a hundred yards away. Many of the battloids were on their knees. I wondered if this was how it was going to end.
"What do we do, sir?" Private Ducasse asked Mike.
"I don't know," said Mike. "I'm thinking."
We could barely move. Even my arms felt heavy. We seemed so helpless. Aside from waiting for Jack or the others to take out the ship's main power supply, I could not see a way out of our predicament.
"I see something," said a soldier.
I could see some sort of tracked vehicle coming around the bend; it must be be able to operate under high gravity. One thing I noticed besides the tracks was the huge cannon.
"Surrender and you will live to serve the Robotech Masters," I heard a voice say.