Into The Fire
Disclaimer: I do not own the characters and universes that I am about to mangle around for my own amusement - sadly all Robotech and Babylon Five characters remain the property of Harmony Gold, Babylon Productions Inc and Warner Brothers respectively - I am merely borrowing them and make absolutely no profit from their use. As a result, please keep the legal attack dogs - also known as lawyers - firmly muzzled and on a leash as I have no money to give to anyone.
Authors Note: In a departure from what has become the norm for my fanfic works this story is not a fusion crossover fic but is a return to a more old fashioned, dimensional/universal jump crossover. I found this to be a refreshing change of pace to write in comparison to the more complex fusion stories - and before anyone complains in the comments none have been abandoned indeed there are updates for three stories in various stages of completion - and this first chapter is the result.
Chapter One
SDF-1
Earth Orbit
"Entering orbit sir."
The calm professional voice of Lieutenant Claudia Grant was music to the ears of Captain Henry Gloval as he sat in his command chair. Aside from there initial delay in getting airborne - due to some of the antigravity pods deciding to break away from the ship, clearly the titanium-steel cradles in which they'd housed the rebuilt pods hadn't been strong enough - he was relieved that they hadn't encountered anymore unexpected problems getting into orbit to better confront the massive alien armada that had chosen today of all days to appear and threaten their planet.
"Armor's five and six are moving to dock with us sir," Lieutenant Commander Lisa Hayes added from her stations, "destroyers Miranda, Circe and Ajax are moving into escort formation."
"Very good. Vanessa, any reaction from the alien fleet?"
"Negative sir the bulk of the enemy fleet remains in orbit of the moon," Lieutenant Vanessa Leeds replied from her position at the main sensor station.
"Sir we're picking up energy spikes among the enemy fleet," Lisa reported abruptly, "they're preparing to fire again."
"Bozhe moi. Everyone hold on," Gloval ordered. No sooner than the words had left his mouth than the enemy fleet opened fire again, brilliant streams of radiant energy blasting forth from numerous weapons arrays, the beams slicing across the hundreds of thousands of kilometers between them nearly instantaneously revealing that - unlike when the aliens last fired - the beams were lasers not particle beams.
It was immediately obvious that the SDF-1 was not the target.
Instead of hitting the rebuilt alien battlefortress some of the beams passed between them and the two ARMD's attempting to dock with her aft docking ports. Photonic overspill from the beams washed over the hull making the deck beneath the bridge crew's feet vibrate noticeably though it did not cause the ship any damage. Well beyond rattling their nerves a bit.
The same could not be said for the other ships.
The lasers ripped into them like javelins of energized death. Armor melted and vaporized allowing the beams to cut deep into the interior of the ships penetrating bulkheads and flesh with equal, devastating force. Two of the destroyers crumpled as they were speared by multiple high-intensity beams each before fuel and weapons stores erupted, tearing both ships apart in brilliant blasts of flame. Shrapnel from the destroyed ships pelted both the flanks of the battlefortress and the remaining destroyer, forcing the latter to take evasive action to avoid debris and beams alike. The two targeted ARMD's fared only slightly better each ship being speared by a dozen beams each only the stringent safety protocols that governed the storage of the massive amounts of fuel and munitions carried on the two carriers preventing them from exploding in the same way that the destroyers had. As it was, both ships still suffered serious damage and began drifting away from the battlefortress disabled.
As suddenly as it began the laser assault ended.
"Damage report," Gloval ordered within seconds of the laser attack ending.
"No damage sir," Claudia reported.
"Destroyers Miranda and Circe are destroyed," Lisa added, "Armors five and six are disabled and drifting."
"Damn it they're cutting our fleet to shreds," Gloval cursed before racking his brain for a way to salvage this situation. Things obviously could not continue as they were as if they stayed in orbit they would soon find themselves facing the alien fleet alone and that would be a death sentence as while the SDF-1 was undeniably a very powerful warship even they would not be able to prevail against those kinds of odds. Unless of course he somehow changed the narrative…
… and he had just the idea how he could do that. It was desperate and dangerous involving the use of a system onboard that had yet to be tested outside of computer simulations. They had planned to begin a series of tests of the system in a few weeks time, once they had had a chance to properly break in the ship. Unfortunately the arrival of the aliens, and the sheer ferocity of their assault, meant that he had no choice but to move the timetable up a bit.
"Lieutenant Grant, take us back down into the atmosphere. Move us till we're two thousand feet above Macross Island. Have engineering prepare the fold system for a precision jump to the far side of the moon."
"Sir, is that wise?" Claudia asked, turning to look at him, features a mask of genuine concern. "The fold system has not yet been tested, we don't even know if it will work."
"We don't have a choice lieutenant," Gloval answered, not that worried by the younger officer's voiced concern. He was never one to silence his subordinates when they had legitimate concerns about things such as this, especially as there was so much about this ship and her incredibly advanced and potent technology that they just didn't understand yet and probably wouldn't for years or even decades to come. "If we continue as we are now then our entire fleet will soon be destroyed by the aliens. If we're to win this battle and drive the enemy away then we need to do something radical to change the narrative. The use of the fold drive will let us do that."
"I understand sir."
"Good now take us down."
"Aye sir."
"Ensign Porter, Ensign Young advise all station's to prepare for space folding."
"Aye sir."
Zentraedi Command Ship
Standing in his command blister Commander Breetai watched with interest as Zor's battlefortress changed course. The laser bombardment had been far more effective than he had thought with two more of this species' pathetic excuse for space warships being destroyed and those that had been attempting to dock with the battlefortress disabled. He was proud of his gunnery crews as they had aimed their lasers perfectly, hitting the other ships without doing damage to Zor's vessel, well beyond shaking it from photonic overspill. Though he was a little confused as to why the battlefortress hadn't fired back, it's weapons had the same range as his after all though they were substantially more powerful due to the vessels Tirolian origin, indeed aside from that initial reflex cannon shot, which now that he thought about it could have been an automated response a trap for any pursuer left behind by Zor before his death, the battlefortress hadn't taken any offensive action against his forces.
It's almost like this species doesn't really understand what they have, he thought, what power has been dropped in their laps by fate. If that was indeed the case then he supposed that he should be grateful for their ignorance. Especially as that battlefortress possessed enough firepower to decimate a sizable chunk of his fleet, even his own command dreadnought wouldn't stand much of a chance in a straight up confrontation with Zor's vessel. They'd do better than most but in the end they would certainly be destroyed, the difference in destructive power between Tirolian and Zentraedi weapons would see to that.
He was brought out of his thoughts when he saw what the battlefortress' new course was. Instead of heading into an even higher orbit - which would let it fold space to escape as it cleared the planetary gravity well - it was moving back down into the atmosphere. Why would they be doing that, he thought bemused.
"Exedore, what are your thoughts on the battlefortress new course?" he asked, hoping his advisor would be able to make some sense of what the ship was doing, and have some insight that he had missed.
"I have no idea what it is they are planning to do commander," Exedore replied, sounding as bemused as Breetai was over the ships actions. Then he frowned slightly as a possible reason for the ship's behavior suddenly occurred to him. "The only thing I can think of is they might be planning to move through the atmosphere to the opposite side of the planet and then ascend into orbit."
"Using the planet as a shield against our guns?" Breetai queried. Doing that would be quite a shrewd, if somewhat unorthodox, move as orbital mechanics being what they were it would take awhile for some of his ships to get around to the other side of the planet, the distance being too short for a reliable fold jump to be executed. In fact he doubted that even the Robotech Masters would be capable of making such a precise jump, certainly not without making extensive calculations that would certainly take more time than they would gain.
"Precisely commander."
Breetai resisted the impulse to growl in frustration even as he turned his attention back to the screens following the path of the battlefortress. What he saw surprised him. Instead of continuing to maneuver through the atmosphere the battlefortress had come to a stop above the island it had so recently launched from and now appeared to be descending still further as if it was planning to land. Landing in the middle of a battle what in Zor's name are they thinking, he thought honestly bemused.
Still the inexplicable action gave them an opportunity.
"Exedore, are any of our fighters or battlepods close enough to re-engage the battlefortress?"
"Yes commander. We have two squadrons of Gnerl fighters still in the atmosphere that could return and engage the ship."
"Tell them to do so. Have them concentrate fire on the battlefortress fold sphere emitters. If they can disable them the battlefortress will not have any chance of escaping into hyperspace."
"Yes commander."
SDF-1
Rick Hunter was doing his best to ignore the dull ache in his muscles that had been there ever since Roy brought him and Minmei aboard. He knew why it was there, he'd flown a transforming fighter plane at combat speeds and while he was in good physical shape due to being the top pilot at the Hunter Air Circus he wasn't quite fit enough for such high-gee maneuvers. Something his muscles were now reminding him of. Though he had to admit, to himself at least, that it had been one hell of an adrenaline rush.
Not that he intended to tell Roy that. As much as he loved and adored his adoptive older sibling he knew that Roy would certainly use it to try and entice him into the military. Which knowing Roy was probably the reason he'd shown him that fighter in the first place. Something that would not happen as he had no intention of ever allowing the military to turn his skills as a pilot into a weapon of war.
Right now though he was also holding on for dear life as Roy was driving him and Minmei through the interior of the SDF-1 in an open topped humvee. And as usual for Roy he was driving at a speed that was borderline insane, for a freeway let alone the interior of an alien spaceship. Albeit one that paradoxically seemed to be even larger on the inside than it appeared on the outside, much like the time traveling ship in that British TV show his cousin enjoyed, Doctor Who though not to anywhere near the same degree. A glance at Minmei showed she was as white knuckled as he was against the ride. Sheesh now I remember why Pops never let Roy drive, he thought as they rounded a corner so fast that the left wheels momentarily left the floor.
"Roy, where are you taking us?" he asked, "and can you slow the hell down?"
"You'll see… actually we're here," Roy answered as he slammed on the brakes throwing both his passengers forward in their the humvee went from sixty miles an hour to zero in moments.
"Ugh, was that really necessary Roy," Rick demanded as he glared at his older brother before looking over at Minmei. "Are you alright, Minmei?"
"I'm okay," Minmei replied somewhat breathlessly as her sudden encounter with the back of the seat in front of her had somewhat winded her. "Does he always drive like that?"
"Unfortunately. It's why Pops never let him drive one of the support lorries for the Air Circus. I also have lost count of the amount of speeding fines that he had to pay for him."
"I am standing right here you know," Roy pointed out with an irritated frown even as he felt a twinge of pain at the thought of the man who'd adopted and raised him after his parents died. The surprise death of Mitchell 'Pops' Hunter last year due to a previously unknown heart condition was still a deep, raw wound for both Rick and himself.
"We know," Rick and Minmei chorused as they climbed out of the humvee.
Grumbling under his breath about the disrespectful attitude of teenagers Roy gestured for the two of them to follow him. After getting their breath back both Rick and Minmei followed Roy into what appeared to be one of the ships smaller secondary landing bays, though it was hard to tell as the bay was in darkness with only red hazard lights around the hatch to the outside world illuminating the gloom.
But only for a moment as Roy flicked a switch on the wall.
Light abruptly flooded the room making all three of them blink as their eyes protested the sudden bombardment of photons. Note to self: have a word with the engineers to see if they can do something to stop the lights dazzling people when you turn them on, Roy thought as his eyes recovered. He looked over at his little brother, expectantly as he knew how he would react to what was in the bay when his own eyesight fully recovered. He was not disappointed as abruptly Rick's blue eyes widened.
"My racer," he exclaimed in a combination of surprise and delight.
Sitting there in the middle of the bay was the small fanjet racing plane that had brought Rick to Macross Island a few hours ago now. Light's played over the brightly coloured metal skin of the plane proudly illuminating her name plate Mockingbird making the ship look brand new. Though it was only an illusion as he moved closer, to inspect his beloved plane, Rick noted that there was some damage to the fuselage especially on the ring surrounding the fan. The metal was distorted and the paint showed signs of bubbling in a pattern that showed it had been close, dangerously so to a source of intense heat.
He threw Roy a concerned look.
"The ground crews pulled it away from one of the fires ignited by the alien missiles that hit the runway," Roy explained, "it was close she almost went up though thankfully the ground crew put the fire out before it could really catch. I told them to put her here for safety until we can check for damage. Once the ships safe I'll get Vince or one of the other ground crew to take a look at it."
"Thank's Roy," Rick replied in relief then frowned. "But whose Vince?"
"He's Claudia's younger brother. About a year older than you, he's one of the flight engineers here."
Rick nodded in understanding but before he could ask Roy what he should do in the meantime, not to mention press him on how they were going to return Minmei to Macross Island and her family, an alarm began to sound throughout the entire ship. It was a strange alarm, using tones somewhat different to the grating tones of normal klaxons, but it was clear that from the way he looked up with a frown that Roy knew what it meant. "What is it," Rick asked.
"We're under attack again," Roy replied a moment before faint snapping-thudding sounds echoed through the ship. "That's the defensive batteries opening fire. The aliens must be sending down another wave of fighters. I need to get back to my plane but first I'm going to take you two to a more secure section deeper within the ship where you'll be safe from any missile or laser hits."
Rick and Minmei both nodded in acceptance of that - not that they could do anything else as Rick wouldn't risk flying Mockingbird until she'd been thoroughly checked over by the engineers as he knew that in flight the stresses especially on the turbofan were extreme. If it had been weakened or damaged in any way during the earlier battle it would be easy for one of the fan blades to fracture and that could be catastrophic. More than one devastating air crash had been caused by fractured fan blades in the near century of human aviation.
However, before any of them could begin moving the ship's public address system came to life. "Attention all hands. This ship will be executing a hyperspace fold operation in four minutes. All personnel and stations are to secure for space folding. Repeat. This ship will be executing a hyperspace fold operation in three minutes and fifty-five seconds. All personnel and station's secure are to secure for space folding," a female voice, that Roy recognised as Claudia's said over the intercom.
Space folding now? Roy thought incredulous, what the hell is Captain Gloval thinking? We weren't scheduled to even run power up tests on that system for another month. After a moment he gave a mental shrug, it wasn't his place to second guess Captain Gloval's actions and decisions. Especially not now when they were under attack from a race of alien giants, giants who had already shown themselves to be far more powerful and dangerous than they had ever thought possible. Instead he focused on what he needed to do now, to get Rick and Minmei somewhere secure where they could wait out the space fold.
Thankfully he knew the best place to go at short notice.
"This way hurry," he said to Rick and Minmei. Without waiting for a reply he started walking quickly, heading for the nearest crew lounge, which was one deck above and seventy meters forward. It was one of the smaller lounges but it would be a safe enough place for Rick and Minmei during the space fold. Rick and Minmei exchanged a look…
… before running after Roy.
Outside
A Few Moments Earlier
The two squadrons of Gnerl fighter pods - sixty craft in total - closed in on Zor's battlefortress as it hung in the air only two kilometers above the island that it had launched from less than half an hour earlier. The last of the micronian fighter aircraft - whose firepower and capabilities had come as something of a nasty surprise for Zentraedi pilots who were so used to easily dominating who stood against them - had been withdrawn in the time that the battlefortress had been in space - returning to bases on nearby islands to refuel and rearm leaving their path to the vessel open.
If not completely unopposed for as they closed the battlefortress' defensive batteries opened up on them, sending storms of laser pulses and high velocity railgun rounds towards them. Most of the shots went wide - the speed and near vertical angle of the fighter pods descent throwing off the targeting systems controlling the guns - some however did hit home the affected Gnerls vanishing from existence in momentary bursts of flame leaving falling masses of metallic confetti as their epitaph. The Zentraedi pilots paid no mind to their brothers' deaths, being literally created for war as they were by the Robotech Masters; none of them felt any sorrow - if they felt anything at all - at their demise. Instead they pressed on, heading for the battlefortress.
More Gnerl died as either a laser pulse or a railgun slug hit home.
Then they were past the battlefortress, shooting down past her - drawing laser and railgun fire from every defensive weapons emplacement along the flanks of the vessel - and arcing around to attack her from below. Which would both let them carry out the orders that Commander Breetai had given them to target the main hyperspace fold field emitters - preventing the battlefortress from escaping their fleet as it had done in the past - and do so in relative safety. One of the few weak spots in Tirolian starship design was that most of their ships had only limited ventral defensive and offensive firepower.
It was then that the Zentraedi pilots got another nasty surprise.
When rebuilding the vessel after its crash on Macross Island a decade ago human engineers and tacticians had noticed, with some surprise, the relative lack of defensive armament on the fortresses underside. Relative given that it had quite comprehensive defensive weapons coverage on every other angle of approach. Thus they had done something about it and that something now revealed itself as dozens of new defensive batteries opened up sending barrages of coherent supercharged photons towards them - the railgun batteries holding fire for fear of stray shots hitting Macross Island and causing even more damage to the city.
A dozen Gnerl flashed out of existence in an instant, speared by laser pulses, while the others took frantic evasive action while the squadron commander's hurriedly began working out a new plan of attack. All the while desperately evading the torrents of fire streaming towards them from pulsed laser arrays that were not supposed to be there.
They were still working out what to do when new contacts appeared on their screens as threat warnings went off in their cockpits. Every single Zentraedi pilot felt a chill go down their spines as they observed the launch of dozens of small missiles from defensive missile batteries along the battlefortress flanks. The missiles that the micronians who'd refitted the vessel were using had already proven themselves to be deadly, being both accurate and for the Zentraedi frighteningly fast.
Fortunately they had also gotten something of the measure of the missiles as they immediately launched missiles of their own. Automatically the smart seeker warheads of the Foxfire defensive missiles identified the Zentraedi Whernid Awhaug missiles as the priority target over their launch platforms and adjusted flight vectors to intercept both set's of missiles immolating one another seconds later.
The missiles dealt with for now - the Zentraedi having already realized that it would take the micronian missile crews fifteen seconds to retract the pepperbox-style launchers, reload and repower them for another salvo - the surviving Gnerl pilots pressed on to carry out their mission objective. As they closed the lasers didn't engage them again much to the confusion of the pilots.
Confusion that turned to alarm when their sensors detected a massive transfer of power aboard the battlefortress. Energy was being diverted away from the vessel's extremely potent weapons systems to the hyperspace fold system. A system that immediately began to rapidly power up, within moments the battlefortress would be able to fold space and either escape or kill them all as nobody quite knew what space folding this deep into a planetary gravity well would do. Indeed to the best of the Zentraedi's knowledge none of the fold capable races had been foolish enough to even try.
Knowing that they now only had one chance to complete their mission the surviving Gnerl locked onto the battlefortress and fired every remaining missile in their arsenal at the mighty vessels ventral hyperspace fold field emitters…
... emitters that were now glowing with exotic energy that was both eldritch and ethereal as the field emitters reached full power and began the process of forming a fold sphere…
...the Zentraedi missiles impacted but instead of the hull and the emitter housings they detonated on impact with the forming fold field. The force and plasma energy of the blasts merged with the field as it expanded rapidly, extending out from the hull of the battlefortress up to a distance of several kilometers. It enveloped everything in its path, the remaining Gnerl, Macross City and the island that bore its name and a sizable chunk of the surrounding South Pacific digging deep into the ocean floor below the island.
For a moment nothing more happened, the battlefortress, the island and everything in between and around them enveloped in a sphere of near blinding light and unfathomable energy. A sphere that was surrounded by rippling arcs of unstable energies, energies that only intensified as the effects of the Zentraedi missiles spread throughout the field.
Then the bubble, and everything within it, vanished into hyperspace leaving an enormous crater in the ocean and the ocean floor beneath. Hurricane force winds blasted in to fill the void in the atmosphere, simultaneously the azure waters of the Pacific Ocean crashed in to fill the new crater. It was in this sudden massive influx that a disaster was born as, unknown to most, Macross Island like many of the thousands of other islands and islets that peppered the surface of the South Pacific had been born deep within the molten heart of the Earth. A heart that was now partially exposed as the sudden removal of the overlying island exposed a long capped but still full and highly active magma chamber.
Suddenly relieved of the tremendous pressure of a trillion tons of island the magma within the chamber exploded upwards eager for freedom. Diametrically opposite elements met as the inrushing ocean slammed into the rapidly rising and expanding stream of burning liquid rock and tore it apart triggering the devastating volcanic phenomenon known as a phreatomagmatic eruption. A boiling cloud of ash, steam and pumice stone vomited into the atmosphere rising to the height of a jetliner in mere seconds. Atmospheric and oceanic shockwaves raced outwards but worse was to come as the initial blast ripped open a conduit to an even deeper and larger magma chamber.
The resultant explosion as the sea rushed in was beyond cataclysmic, being bigger by far than any volcanic explosion that humanity had seen since the destruction of Thera three thousand years earlier. The shockwaves would traverse the entire planet a dozen times while within hours tsunamis would crash into coastlines with a force that would make the Indian Ocean tsunami of two thousand and four look like a warm up act.
And when the smoke and ash cleared there would be no sign of the SDF-1 and Macross Island. They were both gone from the Earth…
... never to be seen again.
