Chapter 3
It was no time for hesitation. The Marines were Colonel Kravshera's responsibility, but the landing team as a whole was Vanessa's. She slapped Garo on the upper arm to get his attention, and took Dr. Priest's wrist in her other hand and pulled him along until he followed.
"Lieutenant, we're getting out of here," she told the leader of their Marine escort, and they all began making their way back towards the entrance, peering through the fog of dust and tracking on a faint square of what she hoped was daylight. She switched to the general frequency.
"This is the Captain! All units, evacuate! All personnel are to remount and evacuate the city at once! Regroup at point Zebra! Colonel Kravshera, recover any casualties, if possible, and break contact. I need you protecting the convoy during the evacuation!"
Kravshera's voice came back, controlled, but intense. Even eager. "Please confirm, Captain. Break contact, do not engage?"
She knew what he actually meant; his phrasing was carefully couched so that he wasn't technically disagreeing or questioning her orders, but she knew that the instinct of any Zentraedi from one of the officer clone lines would be to counterattack, not disengage, especially a Kravshera. No, he's not that man! she reminded herself.
The tantalizing square of light that promised safety was growing brighter, and they broke into a full run. It had been a long climb already to reach the chamber, and Vanessa's breaths began to come in gasps as she answered. "Confirmed, Colonel! We are still under First Contact protocols. Cover our withdrawal, so that we can try to make remote contact with the unknown life forms and establish a cease fire!"
To his credit, he obeyed. "Received! All forward units, rally at the base of the pyramid and form a rearguard. Destroid teams one through four, keep an exit corridor open for us, there may be more of them in the city! Sergeant Coste, do you have a visual on the hostiles?
"Negative, sir."
"Can you reach the corporal's fire team?"
"We can't. The whole corridor collapsed in the explosion."
Kravshera swore. "Understood. Withdraw with everyone else. Use the service hatch you found below the mecha bays."
There was a noise. Not on comms channels- here, with Vanessa, in the Grand Hall. Metal on metal. Whirring. No, definitely rolling. A horrendous clang rang across the chamber, then another. She glanced over her shoulder as she ran, but it was useless, with so little light, and so much dust. That sound, though, something big, fast, and tremendously heavy. Smashing against the columns?
Closer, louder now, and she poured on speed even as she forced down an ancient primal terror of the thing that comes out of the darkness. They burst out of the second tier entrance of the pyramid, and Vanessa had to catch herself from tumbling down hundreds of steps to the unyielding metal surface of the plaza below. Around her was light, pink sky, and a reassuring bustle of activity. Her crew were moving with urgency, but not panic. The ATV drivers, bless them, were taking full advantage of their vehicles' superb mobility and were driving them right up the steps, their articulated wheels juddering and their high performance electric motors whining. Six of them slewed to a hard stop twenty steps below the entrance, rocking on their suspension, and the side hatches slid open. Four Marines pushed the heavy but well balanced entrance doors shut and sealed them.
"Mount up!" Vanessa ordered, waving the crew on, while she took the steps three at a time. Priest climbed through the hatch first, then Vanessa grabbed Garo, who had paused next to the ATV's to update the Jeanne d'Arc, by his comms harness, and roughly shoved him through.
"Later! Go! Go!"
Her foot was on the lower lip of the hatch when the pyramid doors were ripped from their hinges. A round, metallic blur shot out into the air past the cluster of ATV's and disappeared from view. Hurrying around to the rear corner of the vehicle, Vanessa saw the object drop in an arc like a solid iron cannonball, before it finally crashed into the steps near the bottom of the pyramid. It sank a deep divot into the structure, accompanied by a loud crunch that echoed off the surrounding ruins. It was big; a dark gray sphere about two meters across, with a glowing blue pattern on its surface that reminded her of the warning markings on a venomous insect. She was about to remind everyone to keep their distance and hold their fire, when it moved.
"What in the - a roly-poly?" Vanessa murmured in disbelief. The object - the machine, really did look like a giant woodlouse. The tight sphere unrolled, revealing a plump body of segmented plates, and underneath, dozens of spindly, insectile legs, with a pair of short feelers or antennae at the front. It looked almost comical as it sprawled on its side, then squirmed and righted itself, bringing back to Vanessa memories of her family's back garden when she was a little girl. She and her younger sister, Esther, had observed the inoffensive, sturdy little creatures browsing through the loamy soil, gently nudging them with their fingertips and watching them roll up into tight, armored balls, then unroll and wander off again. Here was a mechanical cousin, pulling itself out of the divot, its front third lifting off the steps, its feelers twitching as it pivoted left and right. There were no visible camera lenses, but it seemed to sense the presence of the line of remaining ATV's at the bottom of the pyramid. It froze, then gave forth a loud synthesized chirp, and scuttled toward the closest ATV. Its legs rippled with an unnatural syncopated motion that was disturbing to watch. One of the ATV crew, who had their head poking out of the driver's compartment hatch, watched its rapid approach, frozen in surprise.
Vanessa's instincts were screaming that the entity's intentions could not possibly be peaceful, and there was no way she would sacrifice the lives of her crew on a foolhardy hope that there had been a misunderstanding - not even in a First Contact situation. How could she look any of her crew in the eye if she didn't do everything in her power to keep them safe? The order to engage was on her lips, but Colonel Kravshera was faster.
"Destroy it! All units, weapons free!"
There wasn't enough time. The strange mecha climbed the side of the ATV, which settled heavily on its wheels. The machine clung tightly to the ATV and issued another earsplitting chirp, like a car alarm arming, and the glowing blue markings on its armored carapace pulsed brightly, once. Vanessa had just enough presence of mind to throw herself back around the corner of her own ATV.
The detonation was a physical shock she felt pass through her body. Dust and grit blew by her on either side of the hull she was crouching against. Then the entire pyramid groaned, and she could hear muffled clattering from dislodged debris falling inside the ruined building. She peeked back around to see, through the cloud of smoke and particles, a meter deep crater, and nothing else remaining of the vehicle or its unknown assailant.
The nearest ATV to the explosion had been tipped onto its side, and for a moment, everyone from the convoy and its escort force stared in shock. Then Vanessa again heard the rolling sound from inside the pyramid.
"Evacuate!" Vanessa repeated. "Priority evac! Get that ATV righted!" A Spartas battloid moved to obey, using its giant hands to gently lower the overturned ATV back onto its wheels. The driver waggled the wheels left and right, then scooted the vehicle forward and backward experimentally, before darting towards the boulevard they had all arrived from.
"Colonel Kravshera, there are more hostiles approaching from inside!" Vanessa warned. "You are authorized to use any necessary force to defend the convoy!" Not waiting for his acknowledgement, she threw herself through her transport's hatch, painfully striking her flesh and blood right shin against the rim, and then hammered her cybernetic fist against the hull. "Go! Go now!"
She caught the closest empty seat in a bear hug as the ATV driver threw the vehicle into a tight turn that threatened to toss her out of the still open hatch, and then they were bouncing back down the steps at reckless speed. Vanessa couldn't see what was happening, but she could hear enough to deepen her concern.
"Contact!" Storm Two called out. "Four more of those pill bug things just flew out of the pyramid!"
"Stormriders, engage and destroy hostiles! Check your fire when they land! They're intermixed with friendlies!"
Vanessa squinted against the glare of light entering through the open hatch as the Spartas opened fire with their lasers. Somebody - she wasn't sure if it was Priest or Garo- grabbed her by the straps of her life support pack and hauled her forward, allowing her to clumsily scramble into her seat. She fumbled with the seat's safety harness and managed to lock it down just as the ATV hit ground level with a tremendous jolt that shook them all like dry beans in a can. There was a brief view of one of the Spartas units wielding its EU-11 like a giant, spike-shaped rifle, firing relentless energy blasts, and then she dogged the hatch. She didn't need to watch the fight first-hand - she needed sensor feeds. Raw information.
"I want air support standing by," Vanessa said breathlessly, ignoring Garo's affirmative reply, and brought up a tactical overview on the ATV's monitor. Immediately the screen was covered in icons and numbers, marking the positions and distance of buildings, ATV's, hovertanks, destroids, and hostiles. The white square outlines of the destroids were converging on the area to provide protection, while the chevrons denoting the ATV's raced away from the pyramid, and the blood red circles of the hostile machines pursued hotly, rolling along just as fast as the first one had. But the diamonds marking the hovertanks intervened. Abruptly, the red enemy icons flashed, then vanished.
"Targets destroyed! Tough as sin to score a solid hit, but they'll go down!" one of the tank pilots crowed.
"Something strange happening with the pyramid," one of the other tankers reported. "A lot of debris shaking loose, and - my God!"
Vanessa gasped as the overhead view of the pyramid was replaced by a red blob on her tactical map. She zoomed in, trying to make sense of the radar returns. Dozens, no, hundreds of contacts. Maybe thousands.
"Captain!" Priest called out next to Vanessa. He was monitoring the visual feeds, and glancing over at the grainy, shaky image, she saw that the pyramid was collapsing. The pinnacle, with its regal collonade, was falling in, while the immense bay doors that formed a belt around the middle tier of the pyramid burst open under the weight of the 'pill bugs', and now they were pouring down every face of the buildings like tumbling boulders in a rock-slide. They funneled down the main boulevard in a chaotic mass, ricocheting off the walls and each other like mad pinballs. For a few seconds, everyone was again shocked, speechless. Colonel Kravshera kept his head and reacted first.
"Convoy, break formation and clear the boulevard!" the Colonel ordered. "Thunder Team, full barrage!"
Vanessa braced herself as the ATV pulled another gut-wrenching tight turn, its right side set of wheels actually climbing the nearest wall of the side street the driver had chosen, before dropping again with bruising force. The paired Tomahawk destroids of Thunder Team strode into the main boulevard from opposite directions, then turned to face the onrushing wave of foes with synchronized, parade ground precision. Their armor plates were the black of a stormcloud, and their forearms were marked by forked lightning bolts. The visors covering their active sensors glowed electric blue. Planting heavy feet, they popped the protective covers on their missile racks and unleashed a hissing volley of red-tipped death, then blasted painfully bright particle beams from their paired cannons through the snaking vapor trails. No sooner had the glare faded to purple afterimages than they followed with every secondary armament in their dual weapons clusters- lasers, autocannons, and incendiaries. An entire column of hostiles, scores of red contacts on Vanessa's screen, was overlaid by bold 'X'es, then winked blue and faded out. But the outnumbered REF troops were facing a tidal wave of the enemy. Hundreds more of the pill bugs rolled through the blasts, skipping and bouncing over craters, and riding out the explosions and flames.
"Withdraw! Split up and withdraw!" Kravshera ordered, recognizing a hopeless situation. "Try to draw them down side streets and thin their numbers. Don't let them get close!"
"Ensign, green light the air support!" Vanessa commanded.
"Aye! Fast movers inbound!"
The destroids were backpedaling, firing as they went, and one of the Spartas battloids was blasting over the tops of the ATV's as they retreated along the side streets. The first pill bugs entered the alley in pursuit, rebounding from the walls and street with clangorous impacts, cratering them as they went. More speed! More speed! Vanessa thought desperately, all too aware of how thinly skinned the 'armored' ATV's really were, but also knowing that shouting at the driver would serve little purpose. Then she heard the excited chirp, like synthesized bird song, so close it was audible even through the hull.
"Brace!" she screamed, gripping her harness with both hands. A second later, the ATV was tumbling end over end.
Vanessa was upside down. Her arms dangled beneath her, her fingertips just brushing the dented and warped roof of the ATV. The cabin lights had failed, and her monitor was cracked and dead, so the only light she had to see by shone from the tiny, feeble indicators built into her helmet and those of the other passengers. The cabin popped and pinged quietly from the heat and impact of the explosion and rollover, and she could also hear urgent voices calling out through her comms. The blood rushing in her ears, and the incessant drumming in her head, made it impossible to make sense of the transmissions. At any rate, the first task was escape, for her and her other crewmates in the ATV. It was better to let Colonel Kravshera handle the evacuation than to try to manage a battle in her current condition. Not knowing what the enemy was capable of, she resolved to maintain radio silence until they were in a position to see outside the wreck, and flee if necessary.
Vanessa's entire chest pulsed with pain where she had slammed against her seat's safety harness, and she knew she'd be lucky if she was no worse off than being left black and blue for several weeks. Her left hand was numb and clumsy from all of the blood pooled in it, making her wonder how long she had been out. Her right arm responded as readily as always, and she used it to pull the bright red and yellow emergency release pin by her shoulder. The harness instantly fell to pieces, dropping her to the debris-cluttered roof of the ATV.
"Oof!" She just managed to get her knees and forearms under her before she hit, taking most of the shock on her nearly indestructible right arm and left leg. Reoriented, she felt a wave of dizziness as her blood flow changed again, but she shook her head and forced herself to ignore the distraction.
-half the convoy retreating along route A3, bypassing the collapsed highway. No sign of Cap-
Ensign Garo was hanging in the next seat, his eyes shut, and she scooted over until she was in a crouch, face to face with him.
"Ensign," Vanessa rasped. He didn't respond. "Malac!" she called more loudly, over the muffled sound of distant missile blasts. She tapped the side of his helmet, not too gently, and he groaned.
"Quoi?" he muttered, and she smiled incredulously. Is he so deep in that he's been thinking in French?
"Ensign!" she called again, sharply, and the Zentraedi's green eyes fluttered open and focused on her face. "Be ready, I'm getting you down from there!"
With no further warning, she pulled the release pin and got under him, taking his weight on her right shoulder and arms as best she could. He went to the deck in a graceless heap, but she was able to prevent him from hitting his head or otherwise injuring himself further. He groaned again, and she rolled him onto his side.
"Can you move? We may have to leave in a hurry."
The ensign nodded and pulled himself to his knees. "Oui. I'm… functional, Capitaine."
"Good, now let's see about the doctor."
-instruct the air support to hold for my command. I'm not ready to-
"I'm ok, I think," Priest said, having come around while Vanessa was working on Garo. Vanessa clambered past Garo, and eased Priest down when he pulled his own release pin, managing a more graceful landing than the ensign.
"The drivers! Take a look at the side hatch while I check on them." Vanessa squirmed her way on her belly past the front row of seats and slid open the panel separating the passenger and crew compartments. Her heart clenched. Blood. Shiny and thick. Motionless bodies. The crew compartment had crumpled in the crash, and neither of the crew had survived. The last time someone had died a bloody death in front of her had been during the terrible boarding action on the rogue Zentraedi command ship, Sal-Dezir, over six years ago. She shut her eye and took a deep breath, trying to drive back memories of the sharp tang of someone else's blood in her mouth and nostrils, coating her body and dripping from her hands. The muted rattle of autocannons firing a few streets away only further reminded her of the buzzsaw howl of the gun pod when Jose Reyes had shot Captain Gota. She opened her eye and focused herself on the present. Save the living now, and confront the horrors later. She turned back to the others.
"They're gone."
Priest swore softly, a sure sign he was feeling out of his element. Garo nodded with the fatalism characteristic of many Zentraedi.
- Thunder Team, out of missiles. We're pulling back parallel to the route ATV's seven through nine are taking. We'll do our best to cover -
Garo pointed a thumb over his shoulder. "The hatch is jammed, Capitaine. I can't free it."
Vanessa made her way to the pair and examined it herself, then frowned and sighed. She'd been hoping to avoid testing one of her arm's features in the field. She pulled a utility knife and a roll of patching tape from her belt, extending the blade and handing the tape to Garo.
"Be ready with this, Ensign. I'm about to lose suit pressure."
"You're what?" Garo and Priest both exclaimed as Vanessa firmly sliced through the right sleeve of her pressure suit, just above the elbow. Her suit's indicators immediately turned red, and an alarm beeped insistently in her helmet. Her ears popped from the sudden change in air pressure. She ignored the alerts and continued in a circle around her lower bicep, until the sleeve was cut through completely. Dropping the knife, she pulled the loose sleeve down past her elbow, revealing the seamed, glossy blue surface of her cybernetic limb.
"Now, Mister Garo!" The dumbfounded junior officer started, and then hastily began struggling with the roll of tough adhesive, finally winding it over and over the ragged end of her sleeve, re-sealing her suit. The indicators in her helmet flashed, turning yellow, and Vanessa released her breath in a rush.
"Why did you do that?" Priest demanded.
"This is why." Vanessa pulled the loose sleeve off like it was a long glove and dropped it, then tapped out a sequence in her arm's control app. Her arm transformed. Hundreds of tiles shifted and rotated, clacking audibly against each other. She grimaced at a feeling not unlike bones dislocating, as her fingers merged into a single matched pair, like a set of thick, heavy pincers.
"Amazing!" Priest had received training from Doctor Lang's research team, and shared their obsession with all things Robotech.
Vanessa nodded. "You might say I have the smallest veritech ever made attached to my arm." She'd long ago gotten over any embarrassment over her cybernetics, but she typically didn't show off their features like a party trick either.
"But it's strong, right? Couldn't you have just forced the hatch without cutting your suit open and changing your arm?" Garo asked, still staring at her reshaped limb.
"No, my whole body isn't cybernetic. I could probably arm wrestle Lord Breetai if he ever had himself micronized, but I'm not up to the stress of breaking the hatch loose. Trust me, this will work better."
- mass breakthrough, east of your position! Fall back, Storm Four! Drive! Just drive!
Vanessa returned her attention to the hatch, but then they heard an entire series of explosions, closer than any of them felt comfortable with. They had just started to relax slightly when a large fragment bounced off the hull above their heads, making everyone's ears ring.
"We can't stay here." Vanessa found a small gap in the hatch's seal, and inserted her reconfigured arm. The hatch resisted with a grinding noise, before reluctantly sliding open a few centimeters as the pincers slowly spread, letting in a narrow shaft of light that forced them all to squint. For Vanessa, the feeling of pressure was immense, but there was no pain. Priest let out a small chuckle.
"You're carrying around your own personal Jaws of Life."
Vanessa put her good eye to the gap, and looked out. Dust, shadows, and pink sky. "I can't make much out. I'll see if I can widen it."
She returned her hand to its normal configuration with a sigh of relief, and found a fixture in the roof to brace her cybernetic foot against, then place both hands against the edge of the hatch and pushed. The hatch creaked, and slid another centimeter as she grunted with the effort. She had worked hard the last few years to maintain the combat aviator's body condition Miriya Sterling had imposed on her through harsh physical training, and she did her best to leverage her cybernetics, but for a task like this, her ability was not superhuman. She gasped as the hatch moved again, over a handspan this time, and then stopped with a jerk. Priest, who was closest in the tight confines, crouched over her and threw his weight in too, and they yelled together as they poured their full strength into the task.
- you can't sir! There's too many! We have to call in the air strike!
Negative! My orders are final! All units proceed to the nav points I highlighted! I'm about to -
With a sudden howl of tortured metal, the hatch gave way another half meter, more than enough room to escape through. Vanessa and Priest both lost their footing and collapsed in a tangle of limbs. As the pair tried to separate themselves, she saw Garo staring, transfixed, through the open hatch, his face bathed in daylight. His voice came softly through her helmet comms.
"Oh. Merde."
Next chapter… rescue, Rick Hunter style, Lightning strike, and final protective fire…