The Protoculture Wars
Derek Sherman
Robotech:
Alternate Points
Of View
David
Marshall
This book is dedicated to the following people:
Aubry "Neoculture" Thonon (aubry.thonon@qed.qld.gov.au)
K. Wiley (kkwiley@uccs.edu)
Alex (profnut@nyongwa.montreal.qc.ca)
Steve (epustay@aol.com)
Kirstin (adathono@cc.uq.edu.au)
The Ever-Mysterious Izabelle "IZI" Fate (whom I hope to *never* meet in
real life)
And everyone who ever wrote a fanfic that I liked :)
Legal Stuff
This work is c 1994-1996 by Derek Sherman, except for the portions directly
related to other characters. It should be noted that Robotech and all
things Robotech-related are owned by Harmony Gold.
Feel free to copy this book and distribute it as long as:
A) The copyright notices are left in;
B) If it is printed in a fanzine or any other free,
nonprofit publication, could you mail me a copy
please?
C) It may *not* be printed in a commercial publication
without the prior assent of *all* the copyright
owners, myself included.
------------------------------------------------------------
Chapter 04
[Time Hack - Saturday, 27 June 2009, 1537 hours, Macross City]
<Oh, man, I'm in it deep this time!>
David silently fumed as another blast of canon-fire from
the pursuing alien's craft tore a ragged line of holes
through the right wing of his fighter. David jinked hard
right, then left, then right again, and then straight up,
but the alien kept right on his tail. <Can't shake this
ass hole!> He thumped on the communications panel, but the
indicators looked back at him with baleful red eyes, almost
taunting him. Desperate, he pushed the stick forward,
bringing the hybrid-form aircraft into a steep dive. <Guess
I'm on my own. God, if you spare me on this day, I'll never
climb into one of these things again. I swear it!>
Something off to his left glimmered, catching David's
attention. He looked closer - an aircraft of some sort was
approaching rapidly from his left flank. David despaired for
a moment, afraid that more aliens were closing in on him,
until the other craft got close enough for him to make out
details. "Wha... it's one of ours! YEEHAA!"
The approaching friendly was moving fast, David saw. Too
fast - it was maneuvering in ways that he wouldn't have
thought a living pilot could, if he weren't seeing it with
his own eyes. As he watched, the approaching Veritech fired
two missiles in David's general direction. <I hope he's
aiming for the alien and not me> David mused. Almost as soon
as the missiles were fired, however, the approaching Veritech
overtook them - rolling to avoid hitting its own missiles - and
shot between David's Veritech and the alien craft that was
pursuing him. There was a brilliant flash of light from behind,
and David Veritech was shaken lightly.
<Must've got 'em.> David realized. He turned to see where
his savior had gone, but the other Veritech was racing away,
heading in the general direction of the civilian shelters.
<Do angels fly fighter planes?> he wondered, sparing a glance
around as he eased the fighter out of its barely-controlled
dive. Much to his surprise, the SDF-1 was once again rising
skyward - this time on what appeared to be conventional
rockets of some sort. Adjusting his trajectory so that he
passed far to the rear of the rising ship, David watched
in awe as the immense ship clawed its way towards the
heavens above. It was a humbling sight.
David faced forward again and began a quick check of his
aircraft's systems, mumbling to himself as he did so. "Good,
good, good, not-so-good, good, not good, not... what's this?"
There was a photograph tucked into one of the many nooks in
the instrument panel. He pulled it from it's hiding place
and glanced at it. It was a picture of a rather attractive
young woman dressed in an RDF uniform, standing with an
older couple. Several drops of blood marred the picture, and
he gently wiped them away. He held the photo up and took a
better look - his attention focused on the young woman. The
dark hair, the style in which it was cut, the shape of her
face - he remembered her. <My God. The original pilot of
this fighter.> He turned the picture over. On the back was
written, "Mom, Dad & Christina. Graduation Day, 10/5/08."
<Christina. Her name was Christina. Christina Leeds.> David
slipped the picture back into it's hiding place and sighed,
a chill running through him. <How many other families have
lost their children today? And how many more will lose them
by the end of the day?>
[Time Hack - Saturday, 27 June 2009, 1549 hours, Macross City]
High above, the SDF-1 was little more than a small sliver
of light on top of a dissipating column of smoke. <Now maybe
the aliens'll get the hell outta here.> David thought as he
brought his aircraft around in a slowly shrinking circle
over the shelters he had left not more than fifteen minutes
ago. The smoking remains of both human and alien craft
littered the ground all around, but it appeared that the
aliens had failed to inflict any major damage to the shelters
themselves. He looked around a bit more until he found what
he was looking for - a human body, lying outstretched upon
the ground.
Right where he left her.
David eased the throttle back and slowly depressed the foot
pedals - extending his Veritech's "legs" - coming to a
hovering stop roughly ten meters from the dead woman. He set
the Veritech down upon the ground and set the throttle to
'idle.' Raising the canopy, David spared a quick glance
around before he climbed out and jumped down onto the ground.
Muted explosions and the chattering roar of cannon-fire
echoed off of the cliffs. <Apparently the fight's moved to
a different area.> he concluded. <So much the better for me.>
The woman - "Christina", he reminded himself - lay exactly
as he had left her when he had pulled her from the damaged
aircraft. He stood there gazing down upon her for some time,
amazed at how peaceful she looked, even in death. Steeling
himself, he bent down and picked her up as gently as he
could then proceeded to stumble back to the waiting plane.
He walked slowly, ignoring the blood that he could feel
soaking through his shirt and pants, more concerned with
not to dropping her than he was with his appearance.
After several minutes of agonizing indecision, Christina's
body wound up in the space behind the pilot's seat - the
same space that had produced the shrapnel that had killed
her. He situated her corpse as best he could, not wanting
to jostle her around any more than necessary. As an after-
thought, he took the graduation picture and placed it in
her breast pocket. <At least your family won't have to
wonder what happened to you, pretty lady. Now all I have
to do is get you someplace safe.>
David threw himself into the pilot's seat and strapped
himself in. Slowly increasing the throttle, he rose high
into the air and rotated the Veritech in a slow circle.
<Damn!> he cursed, as one of the still-beleagered shelter
areas came into view. The aliens had managed to wipe out
all the defenders but one - a lone Veritech in robot form
stood bravely before one of the shelters, facing down
seven of the enemy's egg-shaped machines. <Don't those
bastards even give up?>
He did a quick check of his fighter's weapons. The
ammunition counter for the cannon showed only seven
rounds remaining. <Great. Nearly out of ammo, mostly out
of luck.> Then his head snapped to the left. <Good God! I
forgot about the missiles!>
Indeed, two missiles remained on the pylon mounted
under the left wing. David quickly scanned the controls
in front of him. <That looks like the right one.> he thought
as he depressed a button on the control panel. He was
rewarded with an electronic warble in his helmet. <Ah...
missiles armed and ready.> Unfortunately, the display panel
was shorted out. <Hope these are smart weapons. Don't want
to shoot a good guy.>
David kicked the throttle to maximum and dove down at the
mismatched standoff below. The warble in his helmet squawked
and became an angry growl. <Locked on!> "Yeee Haaa!" he
shouted, depressing the firing stud on the stick. The two
missiles sprang to life and shot away from the fighter,
angling down towards the formation of alien war machines.
Several of the aliens began to turn towards him as the
missiles struck. Two of the eggs erupted into balls of fire
and smoke, and another was knocked down by the double-
concussion. David pulled up and allowed himself a grim
smile. <Three down! Take that, you murdering bastards!>
Blue beams of energy streaked past his fighter as David
climbed higher into the air. He had climbed to nearly
seven thousand feet when his fighter shuddered, then bucked
savagely, a deafening explosion filling his ears. The
weapons control panel erupted in a shower of sparks and
smoke, and a good number of the system indicators began
flashing red. David quickly surveyed the damage and cursed.
The left engine had taken a hit, and the resultant explosion
damaged the fighter's control systems. Furthermore, the right
engine was showing a steady decline in thrust. He was
considering his options when he noticed - much to his great
surprise - that the indicator for the comm system had winked
back to green. "It must be my lucky day." The fighter
unexpectedly heeled over the the left and David had to
fight savagely to get it back to some semblance of level
flight. "Then again, maybe not."
He slapped the comm switch. "This is Vee Tee One Three
Three, to anyone who can hear me. Mayday! I repeat, mayday!
I've taken hits from alien craft and am on the verge of
losing all engine power. Controls sluggish, ejection
system damaged." <What do I say now?> "Can someone please
help me?"
There was a burst of static, and then a distorted female
voice came through the speaker. "Roger, Vee Tee One Three
Three, this is SDF-1 control. We read you. Can you divert
to the Prometheus?"
David glanced down at the island below. The supercarrier
was on the other side of the island - a long distance away.
Besides, he didn't relish the thought of landing on the
rolling deck of an aircraft carrier. "Negative, SDF-1
control. I don't think this plane'll last long enough."
There was small gout of sparks from the vicinity of the
left air intake, and smoke began to fill the cockpit. "I
need to get this plane down, and fast!"
The woman's voice came back. "Roger, Vee Tee One Three
Three. SDF-1 is now descending over Macross Island. Rendezvous
and land at bay One One Five. Crash crews will be standing
by."
David looked up. <Yep, there's the fortress. Only one
problem...> "Lady, I don't know where landing bay One One
Five is."
"What do you mean, you don't know?" the woman replied,
sounding slightly annoyed.
<She's gonna love this> "I'm not the original pilot of
this plane, ma'am." David said as evenly as he could. "The
pilot's dead, and I'm just a civilian."
There was a noticeable pause. "A civilian? In a military
aircraft? Not again.... very well, I'll assign a Veritech
to escort you to the landing bay. And you'd better have a
good explanation for all this, whoever you are, MISTER
civilian!"
"Thank you very much." He replied. <Damn witch. What
does she have against civilians?> More indicators winked
to red, and David was finding it harder to keep the plane
level. He glanced over his shoulder, and saw that he was
leaving a long, grayish contrail of smoke behind him.
"Great...now EVERYONE can see me!"
A burst of static from the speaker caused him to jump
slightly, and the plane quickly rolled to the left. "Aw,
dammit!" David cried, hauling back on the stick. He
righted the plane after a few moments of cursing and
grunting, then noticed another fighter to his right,
flying alongside him in hybrid form.
"Vee Tee One Three Thr-<static>-s is Vee Te-<static>-ive
Four, and I've been assigned to escort you to landing bay
One One Five. Do y-<static>-opy?" David looked at the other
fighter through his own smoke-filled canopy. He could make
out the pilot, but little else.
Keying his own mike, David nodded. "Roger that. But
you'd better hurry." He coughed. "My engines are running
in the red, and the cockpit's filling with smoke."
"All right. F-<static>-me." the other pilot said, and
slowly increased speed. David followed as best he could,
fighting the controls more and more strenuously as the
fighter slowly lost power and maneuverability. The SDF-1
was in front of him now, and he saw that the other Veritech
was leading him towards the bow of the mighty vessel.
"Landing bay doors openin-<static>-ee it?"
David squinted through the smoke-clouded canopy. He
saw a massive hatch opening near the front of the fortress.
<So that's what those sections are for.> David took a
deep breath, coughed it back out, and sighed. "I see it.
I'm going in."
"Roger." the other pilot replied, veering off sharply,
and then coming to a hovering stop near the bay. "Good
luck."
David brought his Veritech around so that it was aimed
more squarely at the landing bay. A whining sound grew
noticeable over the din of alarms and the tortured roar of
the right engine. The fighter began to vibrate violently.
"Only three hundred feet to go!" he chanted. "C'mon, baby,
don't let me down now! Please!" He hauled back on the stick
as the Veritech began to roll to the left. "PLEASE!"
Then the other pilot's voice burst over the panel
speakers. "Enemy fighters approaching fr-<static>-asive
maneuv-<static>."
David saw the other Veritech change back into a fighter
and rocket upwards. "Uh oh." David moaned, following the
fighter with his eyes. "I'd better ge-YEEP!"
A missile streaked down towards him, and everything seemed
to go into slow motion. He saw the missile as it struck the
nose of the fighter. The blossoming colors of the explosion
nearly blinded him. He screamed, but there was no sound
except for the roaring thunder of the detonation. The fighter
swung forward, began tumbling end-over-end. The whine of the
right engine increased to a piercing shriek which erupted
into the furious roar of another explosion.
David was shoved down into his seat by the sudden change
in his aircraft's momentum - the plane was now cartwheeling
out of control. The view outside the canopy flashed by like
some sort of psychedelic movie. Blue sky. The SDF-1. Smoke
and fire. Macross City far below. A rather picturesque view
of the sea. His Veritech's right arm, still holding the
weapon pod, spinning away, trailing sparks. The other
Veritech - the one that had been assigned to lead him to the
landing bay - engaging a green cone-shaped enemy fighter.
The landing bay. David could make out the running figures
of the crash crews as they scrambled to get out of the way
of the careening aircraft. The landing bay loomed large in
his sight, and then there was a tremendous impact. The
piercing screech of tearing metal. Sparks and smoke and
fire and shrapnel. He was being thrown like a rag doll
against the safety straps of his seat. The canopy shattered
around him. Intense heat on his arms, legs, and chest as
the control panel burst into flame. A sharp pain in his
left leg. The smell of melted plastic, burnt wiring, over-
heated metal. The pungent odor of ozone. The tang of blood
in his mouth. Something struck his helmet, rocking his head
back. His vision blurred and his ears rang. Then, quite
suddenly, the violent jerking stopped, and he was bathed
in silence.
Slowly his senses returned. He could hear the crackle of
something burning, then a barrage of shouts and sirens and
the rumble of a multitude of running feet. The sputter of
extinguishers. Icy cold against his neck, his hands, his
legs. Rough hands upon him, fumbling with the straps that
held him, removing his helmet, pulling him from the crumpled
cockpit.
"Jeeezus! This guy's still alive! Someone get a stretcher
over here, now!"
"How's he look?"
"Like someone who just wrecked a Valk. Lucky for him the
cockpit section detached on impact, or he'd've been crushed
along with the rest of it."
"Hey, Sarge! We got another one back here!"
"What? Where?"
"Back here! Look, right... aw, geez. She's all tore up,
Sarge."
"Well, get her out of there!"
"Buddy! Hey, buddy! You're gonna be just fine - just hang
in there, okay?"
David blinked clouded eyes at the shadows above him. "Am
I dead?" he groaned.
"Dead? Hell, no, you aren't dead! You're on the SDF-1."
David sighed. "I made it, then?"
"You sure did. Damndest thing I ever saw."
"Glad to hear it."
"What? Buddy.... hey, buddy!"
Darkness overcame him, and he embraced it.
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Derek