I have enjoyed writing this, and I hope you enjoy reading it.
Warning: I have not seen any Gundam TV eps. I have seen some of the movies
and read synopses and the books from Del Rey, but I cannot claim to be Gundam
expert. Please feel free to write me when I screw up your favorite
characters. I wont promise to go out and fix things, but I will listen.
Likewise most of my knowledge of the Macross timeline comes from ROBOTECH's
Macross Saga. I have seen Macross: DYRL, but I can't say I'm that up on the
TV series. Two sources that I have used shamelessly for information (and some
great images) are the Gundam Project's homepage, and the Macross Compendium.
Both are available online, and I recommend them highly.
Copyright Notice: Well, I might as well take credit for what I can right off
the bat. Kiirai Giverns (both of them) are copyright me, 1996. Don't mess
with them unless you ask first, please. Likewise, Alex Barich, Lt. Colonel
Miyakuza, Miyu Tazetsu, Sarah Lassiter, SGT Nick Miller, Lt Phipps, and Ellie
Giverns are mine. Other than that, everything and everyone else who shows up
in this is owned either by Sunrise, or Bandai, or Studio Nu or someone else
who isn't me. This is meant as a work of fan homage to two great science
fiction stories that have both been going for over fifteen years! Long Live
the Gundam! Long Live Macross! (Slap her again!) <evil grin>
Down the Dragon's Throat
A Macross/Gundam Crossover Fanfiction
A Mutants for Nukes Production
Written by: Mike Taub
Chapter Two: Knight Error
Komiria was certain that she had no expectations for what she would
find on the other side of the `dragon.' So when she found herself flying
over a wide inland sea she was shocked. First, because in all the
simulations that General Miyakuza had put her through this was never hinted
as a possibility. Second, because she though she was beyond shock.
As possibilities entered her mind she checked her onboard nav
instruments. After all, it was only Tazetsu's theory that insisted that
this was an alternate Terra. And Tazetsu had been wrong before, just ask
Kiirai Giverns, Jr. According to Tazetsu she and everyone else taken by
the dragon should be here and here should be over the site of the city of
Montreal. But there was only this broad expanse of water beneath her.
Onboard nav told her that by magnetic readings she was above the
site of Montreal. That is if this were an alternate Terra with a familiar
geography. Shrugging, Komiria put that problem aside and tried to spot the
lost sheep she had been sent out to retrieve.
There. About 5 klicks to the west was a VF-11, heading on a parallel
vector to hers. Komiria told her avionics to paint it with a comm laser and
let her know when the two planes had established a secure link. She didn't
want to forgo her anonymity until she knew the lay of the land here in this
new world.
In the meantime she kept looking. She should be able to find the
remains, if nothing else, of Kiirai Giverns' Glaug and Sgt. Barich's VF-4.
Passive systems found a VF-4's radar suite signature. It was down on the
surface of the inland sea, but it was still transmitting. Komiria arranged
for another comm laser to establish a link with that unit as well.
At that point the radio managed to descramble a number of UN Spacy
signals coming from a point about 8 klicks east of her present position.
It came over her speaker but it took her some to figure out what was going
on from the voice only signals.
"...again, Skull three to any friendly. I have encountered a force
of three Regult and two battlesuits that are trying to prevent a Glaug from
seeking asylum. Do not fire on the Glaug at these coordinates."
"Glaug to Skull three. I appreciate the help, but I am a friendly.
But it can wait until these Malcontents are destroyed. I'll take the
Regults. You have the superior maneuverability to take on the battlesuits."
Komiria numbly watched as five of the unknown signals on her HUD
were suddenly identified as three active Regults and two Zentraedi male
issue battlesuits. At least one of the battlesuits seemed to be in some
difficulty, but all of the Zentraedi units seemed to be battle worthy.
At that point the last unknown signal resolved as a damaged VF-1.
Komiria was really confused by that. According to all the records she had
studied there were no VF-1s that had been lost to the `dragon' since the
first overload back in 2011.
2011... Shit there was one more lost sheep to bring back. Dad'll be
really glad to see him again. Komiria watched as the VF-1 got behind the
wounded battlesuit and blew it out of the sky. The Glaug also took the
opportunity to destroy two of the Regults. At this point the surviving
Malcontents decided that between the unknown mecha showing up on their
screens and the unknown weapon that had hit them all, they had had enough
fighting.
Komiria watched as the two UN Spacy units started to give chase to
the fleeing Malcontents. The Glaug was gaining on the two while the VF-1
was only able to keep a stable distance behind.
"Glaug, Skull Three. I have some battle damage. Go ahead and chase
as far as you can, but do not overextend yourself."
"Skull Three, Glaug. I copy that. Will you require assistance?"
"I'm feeling a little toasted, but I should be able to make the east
shore. I'll have a beacon there you can home in on. My bird is in need of
some serious repairs."
"Copy that. There. The other Regult is down. I have lost
acquisition on the Battlesuit. I am coming around to rendezvous with you."
Komiria saw that she still had acquisition on the battlesuit.
Seeing that there were no sign of native forces that she could detect she
took a chance and fired an auto guidance missile at the battlesuit. At the
same time she switched her comm laser link to Corporal Giverns' VF-11 on.
"Corporal Giverns, This is Major Jenius. You are ordered to head to
the east end of the lake and establish rendezvous with the VF-1 and Glaug
that you will find there. The VF-1 will be issuing a tracking signal. I
will meet you there. Do you copy?"
"Yessir! Will rendezvous there with VF-1 on east shore of lake.
May I ask-"
"No. I will explain all when I get there. Major Jenius out."
There that was one lost little duckling heading in the right
direction. And the missile just took out the battle suit. Good. Next
comm will likely be the most difficult. If even half of what Ellie had
told me about that bastard was true he was going to make trouble. Well,
can't expect everything to go well. Komiria activated her link with the
VF-4.
"Sgt Barich, Major Giverns, here. Do you read?"
"Yeah, I read you. But where the hell are you? For that matter
why is this a voice only comm?"
"sigh. I'll explain all when I can get all of the UN Spacy units in
the area to a rendezvous. In the meantime I have a message for you from
your wingmate Sean Doyle. If you want it you will head towards the east
shore of the lake and rendezvous there with the VF-1 that will be
establishing a homing beacon on the shore." Komiria thought for a moment.
This one would be the most likely to have problems with the presence of a
full-sized Zentraedi. She decided that warning him about it would be the
least likely to cause immediate fireworks.
"And Sergeant?"
"Yeah?"
"You will do nothing that may offend any of the officers you will be
meeting there. Especially not the Zentraedi."
"What!! How the hell did one of them get here? And why not? I'm
sure that they are responsible for what ever happened here to the remains of
Quebec."
"Sergeant, that is an order. And among other reasons that the
Zentraedi is not to messed with is that he had just finished a mission to
destroy a number of Malcontents operating in the region around Quebec. Is
that understood?"
"Yes. Ma'am. Barich out."
Well, that was easy. And less of a fight than she had expected. Of
course he would be sure to fly off the handle at her once they were all on
the ground. Now to go tell Captain Giverns and Skull Three that they were
going to get some unexpected company.
Komiria banked and followed the VF-1 to the east shore of the lake.
South of the band of exiles another rendezvous was taking place. The
man who called himself Quattro Bajina was not happy. He had gotten almost all
of the force that the AEUG had dropped onto Jaburo into the base itself. It
was going too easily.
He quickly asked his squad leaders what they had met by way of
resistance on the way into this rendezvous point. Slowly he got admissions
that each force had been opposed only by remote controlled or computer
controlled units.
"But, Quattro, that is good, isn't it? That means that we may still
be able to catch all the Titan Mobile suits getting ready for action at the
base. Right?"
And to add to his confusion, Quattro was stuck with the gifted mobile
suit pilot in the next Gundam: Camille Vidan. The boy's piloting ability
was exceeded only by his lack of knowledge of tactics. "Camille, if they are
planning to defend against us at all they would have met us before we had a
chance to get into the base. Once we get into the base even if they win they
are going to lose the use of many of its facilities because we will destroy
much simply by fighting around the buildings."
"Oh. So, what do you think they may be doing, then?"
"I don't know! Now shut up and let me think. Or better yet, use
those damned mysterious New Type abilities of yours to find what surprises
they may have left for us!"
Camille winced at the vehemence in Quattro's voice. He had been
looking to the older pilot as a father figure of sorts, a pillar of strength
that Camille could lean on, now that his actions had lead to the deaths of
Camille's parents. He pushed the pain aside and tried to find something
useful to do with the powers he was starting to manifest.
He concentrated first on himself and his Gundam Mk II. Once he felt
he could see them in his mind he slowly expanded his awareness out towards
the base...
Quattro didn't expect anything useful to come of having Vidan look
for some answer with his New Type abilities. He some skills in that area
himself, and he expected that if there were anything to be found out that
way he would have done so long since. But it would at least get the idiot
kid quiet while he tried to find the answer to the tactical question placed
before him. For that reason he was doubly surprised when Vidan shouted
through the comm link.
"Captain! Captain!"
"Vidan, stop yelling! Now, calmly. What is it? And I want it in
proper comm discipline or I will put you bread and water for a week if I
don't kill you first!"
He heard Vidan take a deep breath. "Captain, Vidan here. I was
using my New Type abilities, like you ordered me to, when I found it."
Great. Now the kid couldn't get the complete story out. Well, it
was the least he deserved after trying to terrorize the kid into better
behavior. "What is 'it?' What did you find?" As soon as he asked Quattro
realized the one that made this whole mission make sense. It was asinine,
but just the sort of heavy handedness that he had come to expect from the
Titans. They had a...
"Captain they have a nuke on the base. I can't tell where it is,
but it is set to go off in twenty minutes! No, nineteen minutes! We have
to get out of here." Camille turned to run back the way that the AEUG Mobile
Suits had come.
"If you take one step in that direction you are a dead man, Vidan."
Camille stopped. "But..."
"We don't have time to go out of the blast radius that way. We have
only one chance to get to safety. All suits! We have reason to believe that
the Titans have mined this based with a nuke set to take us all out in about
twenty minutes from now. We don't have time to retreat the way we came, but
if we get act quickly and get lucky there will still be transports that we
can use to get out of the blast radius. All previous targets are cancelled.
I want all units to advance on the air strips at best possible speed.
"Once there we will be taking every transport we can find. Is that
understood?"
A chorus of yessirs greeted these new orders. With a new hope before
them all the units kept discipline and headed towards the airstrip. Quattro
turned to his partner. "Camille, thank you for that warning. But remember,
when you panic you let your enemy do your thinking for you. That is a very
good way to get killed. Now let's catch a plane."
Following the AEUG's strike team into Jaburo Quattro had only time to
notice unconnected images. He had lost all control of his troops. Not that
it really mattered. There were only incidental obstacles between the
majority of the base and the landing field.
Once on the landing strip the mobile suits took a quick perimeter
and found themselves facing a group of four heavy lift transports with
waiting engines. Quattro took effective command of his units before anyone
on either side could do something stupid.
Running his Mobile Suit out in front of the transports he aimed his
60mm vulcan guns at the cockpit of the first transport in line. He noted
peripherally that Vidan had run up next to him to back his commander.
Another time he would have been willing to discuss at length the reasons for
obeying orders, but this was not the time to create dissention in the ranks.
Quattro turned on a set of speakers and gave his full attention to
the transport commander in front of him. "Hello, I am Quattro Bajina, a
captain in the services of the AEUG. I am willing to discuss your surrender
to my forces now."
"We don't talk to terrorists!"
"Ah. Of course, terrorists would do things like gassing a peaceful
assemblage of millions of civilians. Or nuking a military base. Right?"
"Yes. Exactly!"
"Ah. Then we agree: The Titans are terrorists. That is the purpose
of our strike here. We were to take on a military terrorist threat and get
out. Now that we have determined that the terrorists have set a nuke to take
out the base and its environs in the next eight minutes, we are leaving. If
you surrender in the next minute you will get to leave, too."
"That's asinine! According to that story you can't afford to do
anything to hurt my planes, or you will be dead. So I'm just going to wait
here until the Federation sends some more Mobile suits to take out you
clowns!"
"Ah.. but you, sir, are operating on a false assumption."
"What is that, pray tell, friend Quattro?"
"If we don't get loaded in the next three minutes you and all my men
will be dead, so then it wont matter that we can't get out of here, and I
might as well relieve some of my frustration before that nuke goes off.
What do you think, Camille?"
Camille nodded his Gundam's head, not trusting himself to speak over
the speakers like the captain was doing. But he did raise his own vulcan gun
to get a precise aim on the cockpit of the lead transport.
"Of course we could all get into your planes and get out of here,
instead. In fact we would have to leave most of our mobile suits behind to
avoid overloading your planes. If I'm lying about the nuke that means that
the federation will be able to salvage over twenty mobile suits. If not you
will have saved yourself and your men as well as my own.
"For you this is a win/win scenario. On the other hand you can be
stubborn and kill all of us. Only I assure you that I will have the distinct
pleasure of making sure that you are dead before I am. Now, for the last
time do you surrender?"
The Lieutenant in charge of the lead plane was a young man. He had
never expected that supply corps would put him in a front line situation like
this. He knew what his commanders would tell him to do, but they weren't
here. And he had nineteen other men whose lives were riding on his answer.
Perhaps he could negotiate just a bit more... This Quattro seemed very sure
of himself, so maybe he would accept a raise in the stakes.
"I still don't buy your story of a nuke in the base. But I have a
counter proposal. If this nuke fails to go off you will then surrender your
command to me and any of the mobile suits that I have managed to get off the
ground in my transports. Agreed, Quattro?"
Quattro was momentarily silent. Now it all came down to how much he
trusted his own intuition and what Camille was reporting to him. The Hell
with it! He knew that there had to be a trap on this abandoned post and the
nuke makes the most sense. "All right! You're on. And your name, sir?"
"Lieutenant Phipps. I can take one mobile suit on each of these
transports. You have two minutes to get them on."
"I read you Mr. Phipps. I will be loading my mobile suit in your
transport. Camille get into the number two bird. Heinz, you get into number
three. Clausewitz, you are going to ride up in number four. And Smith, you
take the fifth transport. Now MOVE!
"All other pilots get out and split yourselves by sections into the
transports I want no more that six people on any one transport. Understood?"
Hasty yessirs rang out and the pilots started to scramble onto the
planes. Quattro took his attention away from the loading of his strike force
to maneuver his Gundam into the cargo bay of the lead transport. Once he was
in he grabbed support struts on either side of his mobile suit and turned the
power off, locking the suit in the hold as best he could without taking the
time for proper rigging. He got out of his suit and moved to greet the other
men from his team who were already in the hold.
"Lien, you are in charge back here. Keep everyone in close to the
suit, and let me know if anything seems out of the ordinary. I'm going
forward to talk some more with this Mr. Phipps."
"Aye, Aye. Sir. Any signal we should be on the lookout for?"
"No. When this man sees how badly he had been betrayed I expect that
he will be glad to help us further. It will be personal then." Quattro
allowed himself a grim smile. He could convince any Earthnoid of the merits
of his cause, but he only seemed to be able to talk to them one at a time.
If the poor blind idiots only knew how badly they were being betrayed by
their government... but they seemed to be willing to guard their ignorance,
as if it were something precious.
Quattro resigned himself. He knew he would never be able to
understand Earthnoids. It hurt his head to even try. It should be
self-evident to anyone with a working brain. Nodding to his surviving
team he ducked through the hatch that lead to the cockpit and crew area of
the massive transport.
"Ah.. our `guest.' I was wondering if you would be up here for the
take off. We are ready to leave at your orders, Captain."
"Good. I'm glad that you are taking such a cooperative attitude
about all this unpleasantness." Quattro took a look at his chrono.
"Lieutenant, how is the loading coming on the other transports?"
"They report ready to go. `Captain.' Shall we, then?"
"Yes. Take off as fast as possible. Lieutenant."
Phipps turned back to his crew and nodded. Quattro could hear the
engines of the transport, which had been idling, rev up to operation levels.
The pilot released the brakes and the transport shot off down the runway.
Once the nose gear was off the runway Quattro could hear the second plane's
pilot call out that he was taking off. Quattro guessed that young Camille
had convinced the crew of the second plane that the threat was real. Maybe
the young pup was good for something.
"`Captain.' Any direction you want us to head towards?"
"Ah. Lieutenant, I hear the faint tone of doubt creeping into your
voice. Why don't we just head straight away from the base, and we can decide
on a final destination once we see who has won this little wager of ours? In
fact why don't we raise the stakes a bit more... If you win I have already
agreed to surrender my whole force to your force. True?"
Phipps nodded. Not that this was news to him. He was still thinking
what the bounty on twenty mobile suits would bring him. Still his opponent
seemed awfully sure of himself.
"Well, if I'm right and the Jaburo base goes up in plasma behind us
in.." A pause while Quattro looked at his chrono again. "...three minutes,
you will surrender your entire force to me and my force. Agreed?"
Phipps looked this offer over. On the surface it really didn't seem
that much like a change in the bet. He nodded absently. `Lets see... one
mobile suit at give a guess 22 million credits... times five percent... times
twenty... Oh boy could I get that new runabout that I've wanted. not to
mention the promotions...'
"Good. As an agreement between gentlemen, then."
Phipps noticed the odd emphasis that Quattro placed on the term
gentleman, but didn't think any more of it. He merely nodded again. Quattro
was satisfied, and let himself step back out of the Lieutenant's attention.
Once he was sure that Phipps was not paying anymore attention to him he
allowed himself a small, tight, self satisfied smile.
In plane number two, a slightly less assured pilot was sitting
silently with someone else from the strike force. He was a youth, with blue
black hair, that curled about his head with little order or pattern. He was
pale and sweat soaked. He kept making nervous glances towards the rear of
the plane, as he were watching something.
"Camille, you have to relax."
Still his attention seemed focused on the rear of the plane.
"Camille." A gloved had reached out to shake the young man's
shoulder.
"Huh? Emma? What is it? Have they turned back to the base?"
The woman that had been trying to get Camille's attention for the
past minute sighed. She ran her right hand through the short ordered mass of
brown hair on her head. "Camille, when an obviously nervous and frightened
young man comes up to you and tells you that he KNOWS there is a nuclear bomb
three hundred and eighty-five meters from where you are sitting, most people
are going to accept that you might know what you are talking about. I think
that the only thing that could get this plane to turn around right now is if
you were to tell the Sergeant flying it that you can sense a bomb in the
Captain's plane."
"Well. That's good, I guess."
"Camille, you worry too much. This is out of your hands. You can't
do anything more to change things. You might as well relax." An impish grin
lit Emma's face for a minute. She clasped her hands behind her back and
leaned forward towards Camille, her face smiling up at his. In a sing song
voice she continued. "If you want, I could help distract you."
Camille looked up at the older woman. The eager expression on his
face changed almost immediately to one of shock and embarrassment as what
she might have been suggesting became clear to his mind.
"You blush such a bright shade of red. It's cute, you know." Emma
laughed, not unkindly, at Camille's flustered expression.
The plane started to shake in some sort of turbulence, throwing Emma
onto Camille. As the plane kept shaking she brought her hands around to get
a better grip on his body. She held him tight for the next several seconds
as the plane shock up and down. Camille, for his part, braced himself more
firmly against the hull of the transport and shot his arms up to the
stanchion just above his head. Tensing his muscles he kept himself from
being tossed about the cargo bay as transport rode out the shock wave.
After an eternity the plane became more stable and those members of
the strike team who had been thrown on the deck began to pick themselves up.
Camille released the death grip his hands had on the stanchion and allowed
his leg muscles to relax. Slowly he brought his left hand down to Emma's
shoulder and tapped on her bare shoulder.
She sighed and loosed her grip on his torso, but did not release him
completely. She spoke into his chest. "You see, you can waste a lot of
energy worrying about things that you can't change, Camille." With a sniff
she brought her head up from his chest and pushed herself off of him. He
noted absently that her eyes were big with unshed tears. "Thanks."
Emma turned away from Camille and looked forward to the cockpit area
of the transport. She stiffened for a moment then waved at someone Camille
couldn't see. "Camille, the sergeant wants you up forward in the cockpit.
I think you are about to be placed in command of this plane. Good luck."
Without another word Emma walked back to the other mobile suit pilots who
were still assessing the damage they had taken during the shock wave.
Shrugging, Camille stood up and walked forward to where the pilot
was waving for him. The pilot had a sickly smile on his face when Camille
first saw him, which became stronger as his continued survival started to
sink in. The Sergeant, his name patch said N. Miller, waved Camille through
the hatch. Camille walked in and found himself the total center of attention
of the entire flight crew.
Behind him he could hear Miller closing the hatch. "Vidan, I didn't
think much of taking you AEUG people out of Jaburo when the Lieutenant up
there ordered it. But I really don't appreciate the idea of getting nuked
by our own fucking people. We had just voted to turn command of this bird
over to you, when we got new orders from the lead plane."
Camille didn't know what was coming. In his imagination he saw one
of the crew pulling a lever and having hatch drop him out of the plane as a
larger hatch dropped everyone else who was in the cargo deck with him. He
simply nodded and hoped that is would be something else.
"Yep. Your Captain Quattro Bajira is in command of this whole flight
now, and he wants to talk you, Lieutenant." And the thing that most confused
Camille was that this sergeant was still smiling even as he turned command of
his plane over to a punk kid. He would never understand these military
people. He took the headset that Miller was offering him. Putting the
right earpiece up to his ear, he spoke into the attacked microphone.
"Vidan here. Is that you, Captain?"
"Yep. Glad to hear you, Camille. I hope that the shockwave didn't
damage anyone over there too much or the Gundam."
"No sir. I don't think so. I'll have to go check again to make
sure, though."
"sigh. Don't worry about that yet. I want you to tell the navigator
of your plane to follow us to the following coordinates. Got something to
write with?"
"Just a moment, sir." Camille checked his pockets frantically,
before seeing the clipboard and pen that Sergeant Miller was offering him.
"Yes, sir. Go ahead."
"I'm looking at a standard map, here. and reading the coordinates off
it. You will find it in the same bin as the Three Zero gang." Camille wrote
down the number 1 and `map?' on the clipboard. Obviously the captain didn't
think that this frequency would be unmonitored. Great and he barely
remebered the codes that they had come up with for this mission. At least
the first one was easy.
"Now, on the map you want to go east to a point on the map which is
marked... Four Eight by Niner Four Seven." Okay, Camille wrote down 48x947.
"I copy that map 30, coordinates 48 by 947. Anything else, sir?"
"Your crew giving you problems, Camille? If so don't hesitate to
kill one if you have to. Try not to lose cabin pressure in the process."
"Captain, no problem with them! Though..."
"Though what, Camille?"
"Nothing. All is under control here. I will get back to you with a
status report in fifteen minutes."
"Very well, plane one. Out."
Camille turned to Sergeant Miller. "Sergeant, could you show me
where the navigation charts are kept here?"
"Yes, sir. Do you need the navigator's assistance?"
"Not yet, Sergeant. I'll show him our destination and leave
everything else in his hands. Just show me the chart storage."
"Aye, aye. Here it is. I'll just go back to my chair. Holler if
you need anything. Oh, yeah. That gal, there, is the navigator. Her name
is Lassiter." Sergeant Miller sat back down in the pilot's chair and took
control of the plane back. Camille looked into the compact storage unit for
the charts. He couldn't make heads nor tails of what organization there
might have been there.
Sighing he looked up to find, to no surprise, the navigator looking
at him. Resignedly he waved her over. She smiled and swayed over to where
he was standing. Her blond hair was in a bun, but it looked like there was
a whole lot of it.
"I wanted to take this chance to thank you for warning us about the
nuke back in Jaburo. The brass never told us anything about it. I'm really
grateful, you know." She smiled and leaned forward to kiss his forehead.
"Like Nick said that last bit was more than we could take. You hear rumors,
you know, and we had already decided to turn this plane over to you and your
friends."
Camille smiled. A bit sickly, it was, but it was still a smile.
"Thanks. Now, could you answer a few quick questions about this storage
system?"
Lassiter smirked, and stepped a few inches back from Camille. It
made him feel much less nervous. "Anything for the new captain."
"Good. First, I assume that there is a standard storage pattern for
all these charts?"
"Yup."
"Better still. Now, this isn't meant to sound accusing, just please
answer it truthfully: are all these charts in their proper places?"
"Of course. We keep turning over these birds. So everything has to
be standardized or the next crew can't find anything they need."
"Great. One last question, then I'll have to ask you to sit back
down."
"Go on."
"Which cubby, or hole would the standard number one storage position
be?"
"That one, right there." Lassiter pointed at a cubby on the bottom
of the stack.
Camille grinned up at Lassiter as he crouched down to pick out the
chart that was in the cubby. "Thanks. Now, please sit down until I wave you
back up in a few minutes. Okay?"
"Sure thing. You are the captain, after all." Lassiter smiled again
at Camille and seeing that he was watching her to be certain that she went
back to her seat, she swayed all the way back and languorously sat back down.
Camille felt himself starting to blush.
He stood up and opened up the chart. Remembering the codes that the
captain had taught every one before the mission he looked for a set of
coordinates at 37 by 836. It was a simple substitution, and Camille hoped
that the Federation would be too busy dealing with the effects of their own
nuke at Jaburo to figure out where they were heading until after they got
there. Camille found that point on the map, and looked at it. Good it was
nothing but water there. He then moved ten map divisions to the east and saw
their destination: Mexico City.
He circled the destination and waved for Lassiter to came back over.
"You see this city?"
"Yup. You want to get there?"
"That's right. I also want the flight path to avoid major federation
bases in the area and large population centers. If you can arrange for as
much time to be spent at very low altitudes as possible. But don't worry
too much about that. Can you do it?"
"Of course. Do you want to approve it when I'm done?"
"No need. You're on our side, now. Right?" Camille tried to flash
Lassiter an evil grin to pay her back for her teasing of him.
"You got that right, Captain." Lassiter smiled sweetly and flicked
Camille's nose, causing him to sneeze and step back away from her.
"Just give that course to Sergeant Miller as soon as you have it
worked out. I'm going aft to check on my people and the suit."
Camille was sure he could hear laughter following him through the
hatch.
Kakizaki was glad to finally get his wounded bird back on the ground.
He spotted a reasonably clear section of shore, and shifted his Valkyrie to
Gerwalk mode. He carefully set it down and sighed in relief as nothing else
showed him warning lights. He was already getting a number of yellow lights
on his starboard turbine. And his port was still shot to hell. He wasn't
certain just how much longer his plane would have stayed aloft, and doing a
depth check on the lake didn't seem a wise idea. Especially since he would
have only one try.
Once he was down he powered down his bird. He got out of the cockpit
and went to his starboard wing. He popped open the appropriate compartment
and brought out the distress signal. He turned it on, and sat on the wing to
wait for the Glaug he had met out there to show up.
He wasn't sure what was going on, but when a Glaug is blowing up
Regults, he was quite willing to take the Glaug's pilot on faith. He was
also quite unsure what was going on. Last he remembered he was being over
taken by the plasma burst from the Macross' shield exploding. He had no idea
how he had gotten from there to here. Where ever here was. His onboard
navigation system showed that he was approximately 40 klicks east of downtown
Montreal. But he didn't remember a lake any where near Montreal.
Hopefully this Zentraedi could give him a clue what had happened.
Looking at the dead trees along the shore, it was possible that there had
been a large explosion in the area some time ago, but then how did he get
here? Or, maybe he had been transported in time. He didn't know.
He shrugged and let that train of thought fall by the wayside. He
looked up over the lake to see if he could spot the Glaug, yet. No sign of
it. Reaching back with his hand he felt to see why his neck felt so sore.
"Ouch." He brought his hand back, and was shocked to find a fine
powder covering his fingers and blood and serum on his fingers. It must
have gotten really hot back there after he blacked out. And he would have
sworn that it had only been for a minute. Carefully he reached up and gently
felt for the extent of the burn. It seemed to only be that section of his
neck that had been exposed between his flight suit and his helmet. Well,
that's better. But it was going to be a bitch until it healed.
Sighing Kakizaki stood up and walked a meter further back along the
fuselage. Opening a second compartment he reached in for the first aid kit.
It was then that he noticed the burn marks along the fuselage of his plane,
and the sections where the paint had flaked off entirely. The first aid kit
was a total loss. The sterile wrappings had charred to ash and the tubes of
ointment were burst and desiccated. Disgusted Kakizaki threw the junk into
the lake just beyond the nose of his plane.
Curious to see just how close things had gotten, Kakizaki forgot
about the Glaug, and started to look at the rear of his Valkyrie. He was
shocked to see that the exhaust guides for the turbines were warped. Only
at the ends, of course. It wasn't enough to affect transformability, nor
operations. But that was the section of the plane least susceptible to heat
damage. It would have had to be over 2600 K to even exceed the design specs
on that part. Between his burn, and the other evidence before him Kakizaki
started to realize just how close he had come to dying several times over
today.
Leaning against his Valkyrie's starboard leg he waited where he could
watch the approach from the lake for his dinner guest. He hoped that the
Zentraedi wouldn't expect him to feed them both. It seemed that even the
`indestructible, immalleable and inedible' emergency rations that were in
his distress kit were also toasted beyond recognition. Ichijo, of course,
would have said that it was a blessing.
Kakizaki hadn't very long to wait. Just as he had gotten comfortable
he finally spotted the Glaug skimming along the water, hunkered down in an
effort to get some kind of surface cushioning effect. It looked like it was
working to an extent, but it was also raising one hell of a rooster tail. As
the Glaug approached the shore it slowed down, and straightened up, since it
was no longer going fast enough to get any benefit from the surface effect.
Kakizaki stepped back behind the leg of his Valkyrie, to shield himself from
the spray of water that the Glaug brought ashore with it.
After a moment he heard the Glaug's engines power down. But they
didn't go off. Apparently the pilot wasn't sure enough to shut down
completely. Frankly, if Kakizaki hadn't had so many yellow and red lights on
his own control panel he wouldn't have turned his engines off completely,
either. Somehow, finding something as simple as caution in common with this
Zentraedi made him feel less worried about the coming meeting.
He stepped out from the shelter of the Valkyrie's leg. He saw that
the Zentraedi had already popped the canopy on his Glaug. That was the next
surprise that he saw. Instead of the normal Zentraedi uniform he saw that
this guy was wearing a _UN_Spacy_ uniform! In shock Kakizaki leaned back
against his Valkyrie as his legs went weak. He hissed as he hit his burned
neck against the metal.
"Are you in good health?" The giant spoke. Japanese, even. Of
course if it was in a UN Spacy uniform it should damn well speak Japanese.
It was a bit formal, but, as the old joke, it is not that it does the trick
well, but that it does the trick at all. The giant vaulted out of its
control chair and squatted down about three meters from Kakizaki, concern
written (How else?) in bold letters across his face.
"I know I am not quite the right size for proper first aid, but I
might be able to offer some assistance. If you will allow it. I will not
touch you with your permission, however. You have nothing to fear from me.
If that is too much, maybe you can describe your symptoms and I may be able
to offer you some medicine that might help."
Kakizaki had seen many things in his time, but a _Zentraedi_
solicitous of his health? This was starting to look like he had always
assumed a morphine dream would be like. Maybe that was what happened.
This was all a drug delirium. `When I finally wake up I'll tell Roy about
how stupidly he died, and he'll call me an idiot, give me a noogie, and
everything will be all right.'
Kakizaki was starting to feel himself separate from his body. He
knew it must be a morphine dream, now. He was seeing a new Valkyrie come in
for a landing next to his plane and the Glaug. Well, actually it wasn't
really a Valkyrie. It was obviously related to the Valkyrie, with the same
nose section, and similar looking engines, but it was a different design.
After a moment the canopy of that plane also opened, and an irate
blond man jumped out. He was shouting in accented Japanese. "Get away from
him you monster! I saw you try to hide the evidence of what you did to him.
Once that major gets here we'll have you up on charges, and then we'll see
just how easy it is to kill a Zentraedi!"
The newcomer was also in a UN Spacy uniform. It seemed that everyone
in his morphine dream was in the Spacy. What fun. `Maybe that means that I
can give this loud mouthed newcomer some orders to shut up. Besides I liked
the Zentraedi much better, he was quieter.'
Kakizaki mustered his attention as best he could and, borrowing the
tone from Roy, started to make his orders known. "You, there! Yes, you,
Sergeant! Is that any way to speak to a superior officer? Put yourself on
report and get out of my sight before I get really mad!" There that would
show his morphine dream who was boss.
Well, it got the attention of both of the figments of his
imagination. The loud sergeant shut up, at least, and started to turn
really interesting shades of purple. The Zentraedi looked even more
concerned, and tried to talk to Kakizaki again.
"Lieutenant? I think you may be suffering from shock. I think you
ought to lie down and let the Sergeant check you for injuries. Can you
understand me, Lieutenant?" The giant looked askance at first Kakizaki and
then to the Sergeant. The Sergeant was starting to splutter, so the
Zentraedi had little need to get his attention.
"Sergeant, I think it is obvious that the Lieutenant is not in the
best of health. I think you can ignore his orders for now. I'll back you
when this `major' shows up. Until then I think that you might want to check
and make see if he needs first aid. I don't think he would really appreciate
me reaching down to do it myself."
The Sergeant looked at the Zentraedi for a minute and muttered
something to the effect of `damn straight.' He sighed and walked forward to
the sitting form of Kakizaki. On his way over he noticed a light streak of
blood on the leg of the Valkyrie. It started at about head height and lead
straight to the Kakizaki's head.
Kakizaki looked up, and saw that the Sergeant was still walking
towards him. `This wont do. I get ordered about all the time in the real
world, and now this morphine dream is ignoring me. Wont do at all.'
"Sergeant! Come to attention when an officer addresses you. That's
better. Hey, wait, if this is a morphine dream... then I only think I made
Lieutenant... Damn. Er. Sergeant. I'm sorry I forgot... heheheheh."
"You, Zentraedi, what did you do to him?"
"Nothing, I assure you. I think I see traces of blood on the
Valkyrie's leg. I think it is likely he is in shock. Would you be so kind
as to check for me, Sergeant?"
"Yeah, yeah. Just a sec."
Before the Sergeant could approach Kakizaki another VF could be seen
coming in towards the camp. This one was not any design that anyone could
recognize. It, like the Sergeant's, had design features that hearkened back
to the VF-1. However it also had more features that made it an obviously
much different model. It transformed to Gerwalk like the other two VF's on
the shore and killed its engines.
As the canopy opened a greenish tinted youth jumped out. He shouted
towards the three others on the ground. "The major just ordered me to have
you secure that distress beacon. She couldn't explain but she thinks we may
not be in friendly territory. Hey, what's with that guy on the ground?"
The Sergeant was not pleased with this interruption. "Well, if
everyone would just leave me alone for a few minutes I think I might be able
to find out. In the meantime that doohicky on the starboard wing is the
distress beacon. You go up and shut it off!"
The sergeant walked forward and finally got to approach Kakizaki.
By this time Kakizaki was mumbling to himself, and the only thing that Alex
could understand was the occasional "I'm sorry, sergeant." Gently Alex
pulled the Lieutenant forward so he could see the back of his head. He let
out a low whistle when he saw the extent of the burn on the back of
Kakizaki's neck.
In the meantime the Zentraedi offered to lift the youngster up to
the beacon, so that had been shut off. Once he saw that the beacon had been
secured, the Zentraedi looked down to the Sergeant and lieutenant beneath the
Valkyrie.
"Sergeant, how is he? You look like you found something bad."
"You could say that. He has this awful third degree burn on the back
of his neck- Shit! His flight suit is starting to crumble, too. At least
that seems to have prevented him from getting that burn any further down his
back. At least it ain't bleeding much. But I think I can see the top of a
vertebrae. This is bad. I think he is in shock. That's one for you,
Zentraedi.
"Hey, kid? Could you get your first aid kit out of your plane?"
"Sure, Sarge. Er.. Captain, would you be so kind..."
"Of course. It sounds worse than I had thought. He had looked fine
until he got a good look at me. I don't know what happened."
Alex thought a moment and decided that the flight suit was a loss
anyway, so he started to tear it down from the neck, to expose the rest of
Kakizaki's back. Damn, he even appears to have first and, in some spots,
second degree burns all down his back. The warping of the metal on the
exhaust ports did not escape his notice, either.
At that point the Zentraedi deposited the kid along with his first
aid kit on the ground next to Alex.
"Sergeant, here you go."
"Great. You remember what to do for burns?"
"Yeah. *gulp* That looks bad."
"Thank you, Amazing Krespin. Get out the ointment."
"Gotcha. Here it is."
Alex started to lather the ointment into the burn on the Lieutenant's
neck. He heard the moans from the Lieutenant, but kept up with the job of
coating the worst of the wound. There would be time for painkillers after he
had done his best to prevent infection. He really didn't like that bit of
bone sticking out of the burn. At least the kid and the Zentraedi were
keeping quiet.
"Damn. That's the last of the ointment. Well, I at least have the
worst wound completely covered, and a few of the second degree burns, too."
"All right, Sarge. Here's the bandages."
"Thanks. Kid... I think we ought to keep my first aid kit in
reserve for when we have to change his dressings."
"Sergeant, from what I have been able to see, I think that is a good
idea. I may have some more bandage material that would be useful, in my
Glaug. Give me a minute."
Turning to the kid, Alex winked. "Hell, if he has a couple of roll
of bandages as big as he is I'll even forget the first six things that went
through my head when I saw him." Alex couldn't understand why that didn't
amuse his audience.
"Sergeant, here. I think you might find this useful." The Zentraedi
was holding forth a loose linen sheet that had been folded in half and
wrapped around a dowel. "It doesn't look it, but it is a sterile dressing.
My wife arranged it for me a few weeks ago. I already took it out of the
plastic that she had put it in."
"Looking at it and estimating the size of the Lieutenant, why don't
you cut us off about half of the sheet, and we can use the other half when we
need to change his dressing." The kid did have a good idea there. Alex
nodded and hoped the Zentraedi would notice.
In a minute the Zentraedi was offering the bandage that the kid had
requested. Carefully taking it, the kid carried it over to the Sergeant.
Between the two of them they managed to wrap it around the torso of the
Lieutenant. Once the bandage was in place and taped up Alex took the arms
from the remains of Kakizaki's flight suit and tied it around his waist.
The two normal sized humans leaned Kakizaki back against the leg of his
Valkyrie.
"There. He should be okay for a bit, now. Thanks for your help,
kid. I mean Corporal." Alex smiled at the corporal next to him.
For his part the Corporal was staring at Alex's face. In a
distracted tone of voice he responded to Alex. "Yeah, sure."
Alex was about to ask the Corporal just what was so fascinating
about his face, when the sound of another Gerwalk coming in got his
attention. The two looked up and watched as a gray angular Gerwalk came to a
landing near the other mecha on the shore. Like the VF-4, and the Glaug, this
mecha did not completely shut off, rather it powered down to a low standby
power level. The pilot stood up in the cockpit, and took off her helmet.
She was a dark haired woman, with an odd tint to her skin. She
looked in approval at the group gathered before her. Seeing Kakizaki leaning
against his Valkyrie a frown appeared on her face. "I can place names to
everyone here, except the Lieutenant there. What's wrong with him?"
The Zentraedi waved for Alex to come forward. Annoyed at being cued
by the giant, he stepped forward. "Well, the long and the short of it is
that he has been badly burned. He has a very nasty third degree burn on his
neck. He also has numerous second and first degree burns on the rest of his
back. We think he is in shock, but we haven't given him any medications
yet."
"I see. Is anyone else here suffering from burns? I wouldn't expect
you, Corporal, to be so afflicted, but I suspect you other two might have
some complaints."
Again, it was the Zentraedi who spoke first. "No, ma'am. I am in
fine health, thank you."
Alex frowned again at the Zentraedi. "I'm fine, thanks. Now are
you going to explain yourself? And I want that letter you promised me.
Ma'am."
"In due time, Sergeant." The major jumped out of her cockpit,
holding a large sack she had taken from her cockpit. She walked forward to
where the microns were grouped around Kakizaki's form. With a quick nod
towards the Corporal and Sergeant she crouched down and opened the sack.
Inside was revealed a boxy white mecha that none of the others could
recognize. It was about half a meter in its largest dimension, with a large
number of manipulator limbs.
The major reached over and set the thing on one side, and the red
cross became visible to the others. Looking at a readout screen, the major
flipped a switched and watched carefully as the mecha hummed and beeped to
itself. Satisfied that it was working she took a series of leads and placed
them on Kakizaki's throat. That done she stood up, and turned back to the
waiting trio.
"You are absolutely sure that you haven't given him any medications?"
"Yes. What is that thing... It looks even stranger than the plane
you are flying."
"It's a first aid kit." She grinned at the stunned expression on
Alex's face. "Actually it is a sophisticated automatic medical support
system. Works great on physical wounds, but the software for disease
recognition is somewhat less accurate. The main reason I want to make sure
no medication is already in the system is that with the degree of burns that
you were implying, it is likely to be using some of it's artificial skin and
nanoid treatments. It was made very clear to me that these were very
delicate techniques, and if the nanoids were released in the blood stream
that had any opiates in it bad things could happen."
"`...bad things could happen.' What do you mean by bad things?"
"Nothing much... just the nanoids would no longer be under proper
control." Seeing the slightly confused looks on the other pilot's faces,
Komiria shrugged. "Think of it as making them drunk. It is a pretty good
analogy."
Komiria stood up and sighed. "Has anyone gotten around to doing
introductions around here?"
The Zentraedi spoke first. "No, major. We have been somewhat
preoccupied with the treatment of the Lieutenant, there."
Alex, his expression soured after the Zentraedi spoke, stepped
forward. "Well, I guess I can start. I am Flight Sergeant Alex Barich, UN
Spacy. Assigned to the Chimeras out of Trenton."
Both of the other males looked shocked to hear that news. They began
speaking together, each other's words making their comments incomprehensible.
Komiria waved them both to silence.
"Look, all of you. This is going to sound odd, but when introducing
yourselves, I think it would be appropriate to state what year you think it
is, too. There is a reason for this."
Alex took the lead, again. "It is, of course, 2021."
The Zentraedi looked down at the sergeant. He was somewhat surprised
at the date the sergeant gave. "Sergeant. I think you may be mistaken. It
is 2013. And I am also stationed at with the Chimeras in Trenton, and I have
never seen anyone looking anything like you on the base." He turned to look
at the corporal and Komiria. "I am Captain Kiirai Giverns, UN Spacy. At
your service, ma'am."
The corporal was still stunned. His face had gone pale, and his eyes
were trying to bug out of his face. He was turning from Alex to Kiirai and
back again. Komiria, having some idea what he might be thinking, walked over
to him. "Corporal, you might want to sit down."
Ignoring the other two, the corporal looked at Komiria. "But, how?
I mean they are both... For years..."
"Just sit, Corporal Giverns. I'll handle your introduction." She
looked up at the elder Kiirai. "Captain. You may want to sit down also. I
have some news that all of you need to hear.
"First, let me introduce the corporal, here. He is Flight Corporal
Kiirai Giverns, Jr. He is also assigned to the Trenton air group. And he
thinks it is 2030.
"I am Major Komiria Jenius. And when I left this morning the date at
the Trenton Airbase was April 12, 2042.
"All of us here have been transported by the fireball that appeared
over the remains of Montreal. Captain, to answer the question that you have,
yes that is your son over there."
Komiria noted that finally she had managed to say something that had
kept the sergeant quiet for a whole minute, now. "Sergeant, here is the
letter that I promised you." Numbly Alex took it. That should keep him
quiet for maybe five more minutes.
She turned back to the younger Giverns. "Kiirai? Are you all
right?"
He looked up at her. "Yeah. I guess so... If you'll excuse me?"
She nodded. He stood up and walked over to the Zentraedi. He stood
in front of the much larger man, and took in a deep breath. The Zentraedi
stayed quiet. A flurry of emotions running across his face. "Hello,
father."
"Hello, son. How are you? I'm sorry I wasn't there for you. I'd
offer a hug, but that seems a bit problematical at our current sizes."
"I'm fine. Stunned, but fine. You know, I have been raised knowing
that you were dead. This isn't going to be easy for me to deal with."
"I see. I think you aren't the only one who is going to have
troubles. When I left Trenton, you were an infant. I'm going to have
troubles accepting that you are he. How was your mother?"
"She was fine when I left, but that appears to have been some time
ago. She has missed you for as long as I can remember."
"I see. Did she... Do you have any other brothers or sisters?"
"No. She stayed alone. I don't know why. But she didn't seem to
want anyone else..."
"I see..."
The two Giverns started to just look at each other in silence. Off
to one side Alex was reading his letter, and looking up at the two Giverns
from time to time. The silence was suddenly broken by a loud series of beeps
from the box next to Kakizaki.
"I'll get that, Sergeant." Komiria walked back to the first aid kit
and secured it's leads back into the machine. She read the readout on the
kit, and grunted in satisfaction. She returned the kit back into the sack
that she had used to carry it earlier. "It looks good. He should be coming
around in about an hour. He wont be ready for flight then, but he should be
in no danger of infection. Let me get this put away, and I'll tell you as
much as I know about our current situation."
Komiria walked back towards her Nightmare, and started to climb up.
"Major, would you like a hand up?" She turned and saw the Zentraedi offering
his palm as an elevator. At his nod she got on and was smoothly lifted up to
her cockpit. She stepped off and secured the first aid kit behind her seat.
Once she got it stowed to her satisfaction, she stepped back onto Kiirai's
hand and was lowered gently to the ground.
"Thank you, captain. Now, I have some more news that you may find
somewhat shocking. You see, we have finally been able to determine what had
happened to you. It seems that you were all victims of a fold system
malfunction."
"No shit, major." Great, the sergeant was back to his usual angry
self. It never could be easy, could it?
"Well, sergeant, if you are so all knowing, tell me where are we?"
He looked around at the unfamiliar geography and back to the major.
"All right I confess. I don't know."
Komiria allowed herself a small smile. "Well, I'm not sure either.
To the best of my ability to tell, we are about 50 klicks east of the site of
Montreal. But that only works if this is the right planet. All I can say
for certain that we are in the magnetic northern hemisphere of this planet.
It is circling a star that seems to be our sun, but I wont make any rash
declarations, yet.
"Instead, let me tell you where we aren't: we are not on the same
planet that the Zentraedi bombed those years ago. We are not even in the
same universe that happened in. The fold malfunction that we have all gone
through had met the proper conditions to send us right out of our own
universe. To the best that anyone has been able to determine we are in an
alternate universe. This should be an alternate earth, but the geography is
so foreign to me that I am not going to insist on that interpretation. I
can't think of anything that would make such a drastic change on the
environment that isn't analogous to the Zentraedi bombardment."
Alex took that opportunity to start laughing. "That is rich,
`major.' So we are all stuck here for ever and ever. Or have you a way for
us to get home?"
"Actually, sergeant I do. If you would be so kind as to keep quiet,
I would be glad to continue." A lengthy pause, while Alex thought about
heckling some more, and rejected the idea. "Good. Now, I have a number of
units that have been labelled fold resonators. They will allow us to get
back to our universe. But I'm not going until we can all go. That means
that we will be here until the Lieutenant there is back up to health.
According to the first aid kit he should be up to trim in about three days.
In the meantime we have a few problems."
Captain Giverns looked up sharply at this. "And I think I can name
one of them very quickly: logistics. Feeding us would have been
problematical with just you mi- humans, but to get me food will be a real
challenge."
"You have that right. Also I think it is only fair to warn all of
you. You will not be going back to your own times. We have all left our
worlds behind. When we use the field resonators we will be leaving here
immediately. But we wont be getting back to our world until the next
incidence of the `dragon.' And that wont be until 2063. I'm sorry to give
you that news."
"So, what are we to do about food?" Corporal Giverns was the only
one not impressed with that date. As long as he got back, he would be happy.
He was looking forward to twitting Lt. Colonel Miyakuza about the screw up
that had sent him out of the universe! And as long as he was here he felt
he was owed some adventure. Something to tell his friends and family about.
A good story at the very least. And for it to be really enjoyable he didn't
want to have to go through great hunger.
"I don't know. We have reason to believe that there is a
technological civilization on the planet. There is a significant level of
Helium in the atmosphere, and that implies fusion tech to our analysts.
Corporal, what I would like to suggest is that you take off in your
Thunderbolt. The sensor packages that you have weren't designed for ELINT,
really, but they will do a good job. I want you to activate the telemetry on
your suite and pipe it down to my plane. I'll talk you through to things
that I want to investigate. If we can find out what sort of civilization is
here we may be able to come in out of the wilderness and get everything that
we might need.
"Of course." Komiria smiled as she said this, a wry, sad smile.
"They may also be somewhat nervous about us. We can't tell how they may
react, so try to keep a low profile. At least we have had one major piece
of luck: no one seems to have noticed our arrival."
Camille was not enjoying his first command. Lassiter was having too
much fun at his expense every time he walked forward into the pilot's
cockpit. And Quattro kept calling him up for more status reports, and
further orders, and just to make sure that everything was going well.
Sergeant Miller was getting nervous about all these calls, himself, and that
was doing nothing to help Camille's nerves. To add to the fun, Lassiter had
just managed to find out that his name was Camille. All in all Camille was
beginning to wonder if it wouldn't have been easier to just go up with the
nuke back in Jaburo.
This latest call, however seemed to be a bit more important than the
rest had been. "Vidan here. What's up, captain?"
"Good. We have a change of flight plans for you. Do you have the
papers still?"
"Of course. Why the change?"
"Can't say now. Hold on, I'll get you the coordinates. It has
something to do with the origin of your Gundam, though. You will want to go
to map sector 15. There we will be continuing on towards our friends to the
east. Got that?"
"Map sector 15. Yes sir. And then we are going east. Got it."
"Good. You did say that your Gundam was in perfect condition?"
"Yes sir. It is at 90% reaction mass and still has a full combat
load. Remember you wanted me to stay by you during the insertion until the
fighting got rough. Well, it never got rough."
A laugh could be heard over the commset. "I see, and the tiger is
anxious that he lost his chance for glory. Don't worry this will be likely
a long fight. Over and out."
With a wry expression Camille put the headset down. Without turning
around, he called out. "Lassiter, I'll have a new course for you in a few
minutes."
"Why yes, ma'am, I mean captain, sir."
He looked over at sergeant Miller. "Was she always like this?"
"Well, no sir. She seems to like you, and is going easy on you."
"Gee, thanks. You have my sympathies, sergeant." Camille headed
back to the navigation table, and worked out the latest course change. He
knew that Quattro was cautious and wanted to keep his enemies guessing where
he was going. He just wished that he didn't have to keep his friends
guessing, too. This was the third course change that the group of transports
had made, and Camille was getting sick of the whole thing. This latest
course change brought them towards an empty spot of sand by the shore of the
Baja sea. Maybe this was a destination. Finally.
He waved Lassiter over, knowing that she would be watching him. He
was hoping that if he didn't actually look at her she wouldn't get too
playful this time.
After a few moments he felt her leaning over his body to look at the
chart that he had on the table. Her voice was right in his ear. "So,
Camille, this is where you want to go now? What's there? Are we going to
have a picnic together?"
"Lassiter, just please plot out the course." Yes, he would keep
this on a strictly business level. That would keep things in control.
"Why of course, Camille. Going to run back to your girlfriend in
the back of the plane?"
Camille straightened in shock. He winced as his head cracked with
Lassiter's. He turned to face her. She was wincing, and rubbing her
forehead. He grabbed her by the shoulders. He saw her eyes open in
surprise. "What do you mean by that?"
"Well, you just seem so nervous every time you head aft. You must
be keeping secrets from someone there. That's all, Camille, dear." Lassiter
smiled at Camille, and leaned against his hands. "Of course, if you want I
can give you a really good secret to keep from your girl friend."
"She is not my girl friend! Just plot the damned course!" Camille
released Lassiter, and walked back to the hatch. That didn't help, at all.
There had to be a way to deal with Lassiter. Maybe he should ask Emma for
help.
"No. I would have to tell Emma too much for that to work." As he
passed through the hatch Camille realized in horror that he had just said
that thought out loud. And of course Emma was leaning against his Gundam's
head. Her eyes were hooded, and he couldn't tell if she had heard anything.
Great.
"Hi, Emma. Any more news from your end?"
She laughed. "Isn't that my question? So we have a new
destination?"
Camille sighed. "Yeah. Now we are headed towards the Baja sea. If
I have understood where we are, we should be getting there in about thirty
minutes. Everyone ready to disembark?"
"Well, yeah. You know what we are going to meeting there?"
"No. Really. I just figure that if everyone is ready to get off the
plane when we land I'll not get chewed out by Quattro again. If we are
staying aboard for another destination well, we can just restow everything."
"There, Camille. You are learning." Emma smiled in reassurance at
Camille. He was a very conscientious young man. She didn't know what she
felt for him. Part of it was guilt: she hadn't helped kill his parents, but
she had been with the Titans when they took them hostage. Part was just the
fraternal feelings that the veteran has for the rookie. But she wasn't sure
that was all. Still he did need some support. "I'll get everyone ready for
whatever happens when we get down at Baja. Do you have anything else to do
right now?"
Camille sat down next to where Emma was leaning against the Gundam.
"Not really. Of course once I get involved with anything else, Quattro will
have Nick get me back up to the cockpit so I can decipher the latest course
change. What fun. And then there is Lassiter."
"Who is this Lassiter?" No. That couldn't be. This was a standard
transport flight crew. Not a Titan crewed unit at all.
"She's the navigator. She reminds me of you somehow. Only you don't
make me quite so nervous as she does." Camille tried to laugh, to get Emma
to share it with him. Instead he was surprised when she shot straight away
from the Gundam, and headed towards the hatch leading to the cockpit. He
jumped up to follow her.
Emma barged through the hatch and pulled out her sidearm. Camille
was about two meters behind her. He had a confused look on his face. The
crew in the cockpit were universally looking nervous and scared at the angry
woman and her gun.
"SARAH! Get up here!"
Sergeant Miller and his co-pilot were staring at the confrontation
taking place in their cockpit. The comm operator was pushing himself into
the cubby with his radio, hoping to stay unnoticed.
Lassiter winced when she heard Emma's shout. She looked Emma in the
face, and smiled at her. "Are you going to shoot me, now? How many people
do you plan to betray? And you're still wearing a Titan's uniform. Do you
know what side you are one anyway?"
Emma's face went white with fury. "I am a military officer. Not a
terrorist! And that is all that the Titans have become these days. Now,
Sarah I have a question for you. Are you still a Titan?"
Camille eyes were wide in shock as he realized what Emma was accusing
Lassiter of being. He remembered in shock Quattro's comments to him over the
radio: `If so don't hesitate to kill one if you have to. Try not to lose
cabin pressure in the process.' He hoped that Lassiter would agree, or it
was all a misunderstanding, or anything else, he just didn't want to have to
kill her in cold blood. And he knew that if she had to be killed it would be
his responsibility: He was in command of the plane. With a deliberate
effort he walked next to Emma.
"Well, Lassiter? What is your answer?" Camille tried to put as much
menace in his voice as he could muster. He did not, however, take out his
own sidearm.
Miller looked at Camille and Emma. "Hey, what's going on here?"
Emma glanced at Miller. "We're holding a field court-martial. I am
accusing this woman of being Sarah Lassiter, a Titans counter-intelligence
officer. You seem to know her as Lassiter. What do you know of her?"
"Hey, she's a bitch queen, yeah, but she's no Titan!" Miller's eyes
were wide open, his face blanched. "We've been flying with her for a couple
of months now. She's a good navigator, but that's no crime." He kept tight
control on his voice, fearing what this woman would do if he started to
babble.
Lassiter never took her eyes off Emma. "Look, Sheen. Can't you
accept that someone who knew you might have also gotten fed up with the
excesses of the Titans? As counterintelligence I got a much closer look at
what `we' were doing to the spacenoids than you did as a MS pilot. I got
transferred down here to supply flights after I questioned my superiors too
often about things I saw during interrogations.
"Don't ask me what I saw. Please." Lassiter kept looking at Emma.
Her eyes never left Emma's.
"That's nice, Sarah. I still find it odd that of all the transport
crews we might capture you `happen' to be on it, in the position of navigator
where you would best be able to get a warning to the Titans where we were
planning to go."
"Emma, I can't say that I didn't get a call up from Admiral Heimann,
himself. He gave a nice pitch: `Do this one small mission, and all is
forgiven.' But I didn't buy it. I had a transmitter, but I ditched it back
in Jaburo."
"Sarah. You know I can't take you at face value. You were always
able to pull the wool over my eyes. And this is too important. I can't
afford any chances." Camille was shocked to see tears leaking from Emma's
eyes, but her aim at Lassiter was rock steady.
"Wait. Can't we let this go until we can Get Quattro to help us?
Emma if she is an agent, won't he want to interrogate her himself?" Camille
knew that there had to be a way to keep faith with the rest of the strike
team, and still avoid killing anyone in cold blood.
"Camille. She is doing the right thing from a strictly military
view. Spies are only debriefed if it is proven that it is absolutely safe
to do so. And the way that this strike of yours has blown up, there is no
way you will have time for the luxury of treating me like a spy. You have
to decide: do you trust me, or kill me?" Lassiter kept her eyes on Emma's
even as she talked to Camille. Her voice was calm, almost pedantic. But
she, too, was leaking tears out of her eyes.
"Sarah..."
"Emma, you're right, you know. There is nothing that I might be able
to say that would convince you. So what is it? Will you trust me or kill
me?"
"Sarah. Goodbye..."
The crack of the pistol was quieter than Camille had expected. The
spot of blood that started growing in the center of her chest was almost
pretty. Lassiter's eyes flung wide open and she smiled a sickly smile at
Emma as she fell down. "You learned. Emma. Good cho..."
Emma put her sidearm back into her holster. She was crying openly.
She took Lassiter's body in her arms and turned to the pilot. "We have to
get rid of this body. She is likely bugged herself. Unless you want the
Titans to give us a warm welcome when we get to our destination." Her voice
was cracking with authority. Miller pointed towards the hatch set in the
bulkhead, and went back to flying.
Camille kept staring in shock at Emma and Lassiter's body. Emma
looked at him. "Don't just stand there. Give me a hand getting rid of
this." Camille stepped forward and grabbed Lassiter's legs. Once that was
done he and Emma started walking aft. Coming around the Gundam the rest of
the strike team saw them carrying the body. Seeing the grim look on
Camille's face and the wholly unreadable expression on Emma's face they said
nothing.
Emma looked up from Lassiter's face. She saw the door, and came to a
decision. "Alright. Everyone, tie yourselves down. We'll be opening that
door to get rid of this garbage. We think that it may be bugged, so I want
to get rid of it before any thing else happens. You, Takeshi, rig a rope so
we can get this door shut once this is out. Got it?"
Everyone, Camille included, started to take the precautions needed
before they opened the door and the slipstream sucked anything not secured
out of the plane. Emma took this time to look at Sarah's face. She reached
out and gently brushed a lock of hair out of Sarah's eyes, then closed them
for Sarah. "Sorry to this do you. You know the worst part? You were right
there was nothing you could say that I would trust. So now I will wonder
forever after if you were just lying again when you died. And DAMN YOU FOR
MAKING ME DO THIS TO YOU!"
Camille came up to Emma. "You have to get yourself ready. We have
all the other preparations ready. Go get yourself tied down. I'll take care
of getting her out."
Emma nodded and moved to a position behind the arm of the Gundam. At
Camille's signal the door was opened, and the difference in air pressure
caused everyone's ears to pop. A few loose papers and bandages flew out the
door. Camille, holding tightly onto the ropes that he had rigged earlier,
stepped up to Lassiter's body and pushed it with his foot until it was at the
lip of the door. Once there he gave it a mighty kick and it was poised for a
moment on the lip, then it was gone. Only a few traces of blood were on the
deck to show where it had been. He pulled himself back from the door and
nodded to the two men on the rope to close the door. Once they had it close
he stepped forward and dogged it down again.
Looking around the hold he nodded to Takeshi. Then walked back
forward to the cockpit of the transport. The remaining air crew looked at
him fear and anger. He came over to the comm operator, and grabbed a comm
set. At his nod the operator opened a channel to the lead plane. "Yes?"
"This is Vidan. Get me captain Bajiro."
"Aye, aye."
Camille waited impatiently. After an endless time he got heard
Quattro's voice. "Yes, Camille. What is it?"
"Emma just revealed a likely Titans agent on this plane. It had been
our navigator, and they may know the most recent destination that you have
had us going towards."
"I see. Well as long as you are on the air I'll give you our final
course correction. Got some paper?"
"Yeah. But Quattro, didn't you hear me? We have no navigator over
here."
"No problem. Just take this course for the next eighty klicks. You
will be picked up there by a ground control signal, and land there. Okay?"
"Yes sir. At any rate remember the first direction we ought to go,
and all will be well. You okay over there?"
"First direction. Got that. Yeah. We are all right. But that
spy... I didn't want to kill her. Sorry. I'll get the right course to the
pilot. Vidan over and out."
Quattro thought about the story that he had gotten in bits and pieces
from Camille. He was not happy to see that the young man was learning so
much about the truth of conflict. But it was his choice to join the AEUG.
Quattro was certain that there was more to the story, once his command was
back on the ground he was certain that he could find the rest. At least it
seemed to be shocking Camille into a warrior's frame of mind. With a little
work Camille would be a very good MS pilot. As long as he lived through the
next few weeks.
End of Chapter Two
Coming soon from Mutants for Nukes:
Ranma 1/2: Arthropod Antics - Chapter Three
"I talk to the trees..."
Down the Dragon's Throat - Chapter Three
"Antibodies"