TRANSFORMERS GENERATION 2
and
ROBOTECH: THE NEW GENERATION
STRANDED
Part Four: Taking Measures
By Christopher E. Meadows
[Dedicated to Raksha, M. Sipher, Peter Walker, and also to Aubry
Thonon, whose "Children of Light, Children of Shadow" fanfic was one
of the first Robotech 'fics I ever read. (This also lets me split the
dedication evenly between Transformers and Robotech fanfic writers.
:)]
"Well, _that's_ just great," Nightracer said, hands on her hips.
"So, Rapido, you're the one who's famous for Big Plans. Plan us out
of this one."
Rapido ignored the sarcasm in Nightracer's remark, choosing to
take it at face value. "Very well. The first thing we need to do is
make certain of our supplies. Turbofire, as quartermaster, you'll
take charge of equipment and stores. The rest of you, what do you
have to contribute? I'm particularly interested in Energon, for
personal use if not the spacebridge. We're all going to be running
low before long unless we can find a replacement source."
"I think we've all got a few Energon snack packs," Windbreaker
said, pulling out a small case of his own. Skram nodded, and
contributed his own, as did Turbofire and Rapido. All heads turned
to look at Nightracer.
"What're you looking at _me_ like that for?"
"If we're going to survive, we're going to have to share
equally," Rapido noted. "_All_ of us."
"Okay, okay, I get the point." Nightracer pulled out an Energon
canister of her own, followed by another, and set them with the
others. "That's all I've got."
Turbofire looked at her suspiciously. "Are you sure?"
"Are you questioning my word as a Decepticon?" Nightracer
growled, shifting her stance slightly. Turbofire looked like he was
about to do the same, when Skram stepped forward between them.
"Guys, guys!" Skram said. "What's wrong here? If we're gonna get
out of this, we've got to be able to trust each other, at least as far
as sticking together until we can get through this, right? You know
this, I know this...and I'm pretty sure Nightracer knows this, too."
"I won't trust a Decepticon farther than I can throw it,"
Turbofire muttered.
"He's right, though," Rapido said. "We can't survive if we're all
watching our _own_ backs instead of the group's. The trust has to
start somewhere, and I'm willing to take Nightracer at her word on
this."
Windbreaker nodded. "Same here."
"All right. I'll accept that for now," Turbofire said, then looked
over at Nightracer. "But I won't trust you."
"Fine by me," Nightracer replied. "Anyway, there's my backup
Energon. If you need anything else from me, that's fine, too...but
_nobody_ touches my weapons, you got that?"
"Fair enough," Rapido said. "Turbofire, put one third of that
away as emergency reserves, and split the rest five ways."
"Yessir." Turbofire did as requested, and gave everyone back an
even amount of Energon.
"Gee, thanks for giving me my own Energon back. Or at least part
of it..." Nightracer said with notable lack of enthusiasm. Turbofire
ignored her.
"What's next, oh fearless leader?" Skram asked.
"We head out and do some scouting," Rapido said. "If there's a
society advanced enough to field the kind of fightercraft we just
encountered, there must be energy sources that can be converted to
provide Energon for us and power we can get home with."
"Sounds good to me," Windbreaker said.
"I suggest we split up, to cover more ground," Nightracer
suggested.
Rapido looked at her for a moment, contemplatively. "That's...a
good idea, Nightracer. Skram, you go with her. The rest of you, with
me. We'll meet back here in two hours; synchronize your internal
chronometers."
There was a chorus of assent, then the five Transformers changed
to vehicle mode and headed out. Rapido, Turbofire, and Windbreaker
went south, while Skram and Nightracer went north. As Windbreaker
raced ahead of the other two to look for anything interesting,
Turbofire asked, "Hey, boss? Are you sure about letting Skram and the
Decep go off by themselves like that? I mean...she _is_ a
Decepticon...."
"I'm aware of that, Turbofire," Rapido replied. "But she doesn't
have any reason to want to take action against us until we're all
safely home. Least of all Skram, who is the closest to a technician
of any of us, and hence the key to reactivating the spacebridge.
Also, Skram has demonstrated a knowledge of Nightracer--perhaps even a
bit of hero-worship. I don't for one moment doubt Skram's devotion to
the Autobot cause, but I _do_ know that means he probably knows more
about her than any of the rest of us...which means he'd be the one to
know what to watch for if she _did_ try to pull anything."
"I see." They drove on a while in silence, then Turbofire asked,
"So what do you think our chances are?"
"Of what? Getting home?"
"Yeah."
"I don't know, Turbofire, and that's the truth. I don't know
enough about this place to say. It's tempting to say that all we need
is the Energon to power the spacebridge and we're home free...but
whenever you make that kind of assumption, something always comes up."
"Yeah, I know what you mean. I just hope we don't come under
attack by any more of those purple things."
Whatever Rapido had been about to say was interrupted by
Windbreaker's radio call. "Hey, guys! I think I just found
something you're going to want to see...."
Not too far away, a small convoy of air and ground vehicles moved
up the desert. There were three aircraft--one large blue plane, and
two smaller red and green planes that each resembled the front half of
the larger one--and a utility truck/armored personnel carrier brought
up the rear. The smaller planes were Alphas and the larger one was
actually _two_ planes, a combined Alpha and Beta Veritech Fighter.
These were the main mecha-of-the-line of the Robotech Expeditionary
Force, and, as it happened, of this small band of freedom fighters as
well.
The planes were flying on hoverjets only, using the bare minimum
power on which they could get by, to conserve power and minimize
protoculture emissions from their engines. If the Autobots had still
been monitoring human communication bands, they might have picked up a
bit of conversation over extreme-shortrange intercom frequencies.
"Scott, there's something I don't understand," Rand, the
orange-haired young man leaning back in the command seat of the Beta
module remarked. "If Reflex Point is to the northeast, how come we're
heading due west?"
"Well, that's simple, Rand," Scott Bernard replied. The REF
Lieutenant Commander, whose hair matched the color of the Alpha he was
piloting, was the de-facto leader of the small group. "We're low on
both protoculture and weapon charges, and the word from the Resistance
is that we might be able to find supplies of both in this sector."
"Maybe if you didn't use missiles like they were going out of
style, we might only have to worry about protoculture fuel cells,"
Rand said.
"I didn't exactly see you _complaining_ all the times he's saved
your bacon with them," the strawberry-blonde pilot of the red Alpha
put in.
"That's not what I'm saying, Rook, and you know it," Rand
retorted. "The point is, if we want to _make it_ to Reflex Point, we
should all be trying to conserve our ammo, y'know?"
"He's right," Lunk, the burly mechanical specialist of their
party, put in from the APC. "There's only so many missiles I can
carry in this thing. And the truck's currently riding a bit light on
the tires, if you know what I mean."
"Hey, guys, let's not argue, eh?" Lancer, the purple-haired
intelligence specialist and occasional crossdressing lounge singer,
put in from the green Alpha. "What's done is done, and I can't see
any point in recriminations now."
"Actually, Rand does have a point," Scott admitted. "I was
trained for naval operations, not guerilla warfare. Ammo conservation
isn't exactly a big worry when you're resupplied and refitted after
every mission. That's why our mecha were designed to rely so much on
expendable ordnance."
"Missiles, you mean," Rand put in.
"Yes, Rand. I mean missiles," Scott replied, sighing inwardly.
"And cannon shells. I guess what I'm saying is that it's force of
habit that I use so much firepower. It's a habit I do plan to try to
break."
"Actually, if it comes to that, we'd _all_ do well to practice a
little more weapon conservation," Lancer put in. "From the count I
took this morning, we hardly have a dozen missiles left among the four
of us. And I don't think our Cyclone ordnance is faring much better."
"And I'm hungry!" Annie LaBelle, the short, redhaired morale
booster of the group put in from her seat in the APC cab. "And
Marlene is, too, aren't you Marlene? When are we gonna find some more
food, huh?" Marlene, the enigmatic other redhead in the party, just
smiled at Annie.
"You're _always_ hungry, Annie," Lunk said, reaching a hand over
to tousle her hair through her "E.T." cap.
"Hey, cut that out!"
"Sure is desolate around here," Rand noted. "Not a tree for
miles. Just rocks and sand."
"I rather like it," Scott replied. "It's kind of like home. A
lot more like it than that jungle was."
"Heh. No spiders here, eh Scott?"
Scott laughed goodnaturedly. "Or grizzly bears."
"It would be nice if there were no Invid, either!" Annie put in.
"Which reminds me," Scott said. "Lancer, how about powering up
your sensor pod again and seeing what you get?"
"Roger." Lancer reached over to the control board for the
reconaissance sensor retrofit and punched the "Enable" key. While all
the Alphas were equipped with long-range radar (powered down at the
moment, along with most other unnecessary systems, for energy
conservation), Lancer's alone carried advanced analysis equipment
which could return much more information.
"No Invid activity to speak of...I _am_ picking up a large metal
object, about four miles ahead of us," Lancer reported. "It's big
enough to be a crashed drop-shuttle, but the radar-signature I.D.
can't be positive."
"It could have gotten mangled in the crash," Rand suggested.
Scott nodded. "Mm-hmm. Probably right. Shall we check it out?"
"Ugh!" Annie said. "I hate going through those crashed
ships...feels like graverobbing." She shuddered.
Scott nodded again. "I know, Annie, and believe me, I feel the
exact same way. But it's something we've got to do."
"Wait...there's something else," Lancer said. "Movement. Looks
like three medium-sized mecha, from the size of the bounces I'm
getting."
Scott glanced over at Lancer, through the canopies of their
respective fighters. "Is it earth-mecha? Or Invid?"
"I don't know, Scott...I can't get an I.D. on them either," Lancer
said. "Maybe the power drain is affecting the computer."
"It looked okay to me this morning," Lunk said. "I'll run another
check on it next time we stop."
"It can't be Invid..." Marlene said, barely above a whisper.
"I'd feel it...wouldn't I?"
"With all the other new types of mecha the Invid have been
throwing at us lately, there's no way to be sure this isn't one of
them. We'd better proceed as if it's a hostile contact," Scott
decided. "Rook, Lancer, take the flanks. Rand and I will go right up
the middle. Lunk, you and the others stay back here. Let's go!"
"And remember, _guns only_, if you can help it!" Rand put in,
though he was largely ignored. The Veritechs' jet engines ignited,
and the mechaplanes gained altitude and streaked off to the west.
Nightracer drove due north, roughly in the direction of the human
prison camp. She had not wanted to take the Autobot with her, but she
knew that if she had protested, it would have looked suspicious.
Well, she could lose him well before they got there, if it came to
that.
The assumption Nightracer made was simple. Whoever the wielders
of those purple mecha were, they were obviously the power in control
of this region. If they had enough energy or fuel to keep up that
fleet of mecha-soldiers, they surely had enough to spare to power the
spacebridge home. Naturally, it would be far simpler to bargain with
them than to attack them and steal it--regardless of Decepticons'
reputation for instigating conflicts, it was pure idiocy to start a
battle one could not win. The Autobots might have their usual foolish
problem with this kind of dealmaking...but then, they did not have to
know exactly where their power source was coming from, did they?
Nightracer looked over at Skram out of the corner of her sensors.
The blue Corvette was riding along easily, keeping perfect pace with
her. He did not seem to be having much trouble handling the terrain,
and not for the first time, Nightracer wished she had a better
suspension--or at least someone qualified to fix the one she had. All
this driving in desert terrain was degrading it faster than her
self-repair systems could patch it up, and it was starting to ache
something fierce.
"So," Skram said, "you come here often?"
"It's nice that you have a sense of humor, but I'd appreciate it
if you'd keep it to yourself," Nightracer replied sharply. "I don't
find anything amusing about this situation."
"Geez, excuse me for trying to make it a little more bearable,"
Skram said.
"If you have something to say, say it. Otherwise, shut up. I'm
_really_ not in the mood."
Skram made a noncommittal sound. "Well, okay. I'm really, really
excited to get the chance to meet you--and I don't mean from opposite
sides of gun barrels. I've always wanted to talk to you, find out
more about you--you're the best shot the Decepticons have, and--"
Oh, great. As if being stuck with a motormouthed Autobot kid was
not bad enough, he was a _fan_, too. "Look, kid. I don't want to
hear about it. I don't care how amazingly cool you think I am, get
it? I do my job. That's all. And I work alone. I dislike being
stuck with _anyone_. I really _hate_ being stuck with an Autobot.
And I utterly _abhor_ being stuck with _you_. So keep quiet and keep
out of my face, and _maybe_ we'll manage to get along." Before Skram
could reply, she accelerated to maximum speed, leaving him in her
dust.
"Geez," Skram muttered. "Was it something I said?" He increased
his own speed, to try to catch up. "Hey, wait for me!"
When the others got there, Windbreaker was standing in front of
what looked like it had once been a spacecraft of some kind. It was
lacking a fuselage and its wings had been ripped off by the force of
the impact that had also plowed a furrow into the desert behind it,
but it unmistakeably had formerly been a flying craft.
"Whoa," Turbofire said, transforming and standing up. "What
happened here?"
"This thing came down pretty hard and fast," Windbreaker pointed
out. "And look at those blast scars. Megacredits to Energon cubes
those were caused by the kind of blaster beams those purple things
shot at us."
"Whatever it is, it's not a design I've seen before," Rapido
noted. "But it is built to human scale, and it's marked in English."
He walked around it, looking at it from all sides. "It's big,
though. Maybe a drop shuttle of some kind."
"Yeah. And look at this!" Turbofire pointed to one of the wings,
torn off some distance behind it. "Looks like a cargo carrier or
something." He tapped the hexagonal container mounted to the
underside of the wing. "Y'know, I bet this could probably fit five or
six of _us_ in it."
"Can you get it open?" Rapido asked.
"Hang on, I'll try..."
"Hey, guys, we've got more incoming!" Windbreaker reported.
"From the north, east, and south!"
Rapido drew his dual cannon. "More of those purple crabs?"
"I don't think so--but whatever they are, they're coming in
fast!" Windbreaker ran over to the others, and they took cover
together behind the wing and cargo carrier assembly.
"Nothing else we've seen here yet has been friendly," Turbofire
muttered. "Better be ready for a fight." He poked his gun barrel
around the corner of the cargo pod and waited.
TO BE CONTINUED
Author's Notes:
I guess I should also say that this story was inspired in part by
the fan-parody "Robotech III: Not Necessarily the Sentinels", which
used music from the Transformers soundtrack (and had Yellow Dancer
singing "Dare"). I'd probably figure out a way to work songs from
that soundtrack in here, except that it would be far more referential
than I'm willing to get. :)
I know that this episode wasn't too exciting, altogether, but it
did serve to introduce a few more of the players in our little game.
I hope I wrote them believably--this is the first 'fic I've ever
written where I tried writing the characters _from_ the Robotech TV
series _during_ the TV series. In fact, I don't think I've seen very
many 'fics at all set during that timeframe. Kind of a pity, really,
given that the way the series is set up makes it fairly easy to
insert "untold stories" between various episodes.
Anyway, I'm always looking for more feedback! Let me know what
you think. I hope you're enjoying this story as much as I'm enjoying
writing it.
APPENDIX
Well, I figured you might want to know a little more about the
characters, and since you can't exactly race right out and buy the
Gen2 figures anymore, I thought I'd put their profiles in here. Note
that I didn't stick _too_ closely to the profiles in my
characterization of the characters, the same way as most of the
profiles themselves didn't stick too close to proper English grammar.
:) All these profiles are (sic), save for a spelling error
correction I made on Nightracer's. These files are also copyright
Raksha (for Nightracer) and Hasbro (for all the others); I'll
probably put this appendix on my webpage and delete it from the
posted version of the story when I post the complete version to
rec.arts.anime.creative.
Note how much longer and better-written the fan-created background
for Nightracer is than all the others. Shame, isn't it? They ought
to have the fans write the character profiles...would make for a lot
better toy line.
STR = Strength RNK = Rank
INT = Intelligence CRG = Courage
SPD = Speed FRP = Firepower
END = Endurance SKL = Skill
DECEPTICON
NIGHTRACER
FUNCTION: GUNNER
"A good shot is worth more than a big mouth."
Nightracer is one of the best sharpshooters of all the Transformers.
Her skills are almost legendary. She can hit a speeding target the
size of a golf ball at a distance of over 10 miles, both from a
stationary or a moving position. Her vision has a normal and a
telescopic mode, with a computer-guided visual tracking function. She
is cool and imperturbable in even the worst battle situations; almost
nothing can rattle her composure. Other Decepticons admire her skill,
but are put off by her aloof manner, which is often mistaken for
arrogance. In fact, Nightracer disdains braggarts, and is equally
unimpressed when someone raves over her skill. She knows she's the
best gunner around, and neither promotes nor downplays that fact.
She prefers to avoid the complexities of getting close to others, and
tends to make cutting remarks that discourage friendly conversation.
She is extremely fast as a ground vehicle, and is adept at lighning
turns, though she is not designed for rough terrain.
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
STR XXXXXXXXXX
INT XXXXXXXXXXXXXX
SPD XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
END XXXXXXXXXXXXXX
RNK XXXXXXXXXXXX
CRG XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
FRP XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
SKL XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
AUTOBOT AUTOBOT
RAPIDO SKRAM
FUNCTION: FUNCTION:
PLATOON COMMANDER CRACK PATROL
"The deadliest weapon you can have "Hey, loosen up, guys! Saving the
is a sharp mind!" universe can't be that big of a
deal!"
Masterminds and executes battle
plans of mind-boggling complexity. An easygoing daredevil. Out for
His brilliance at planning down to kicks and in it for the glory.
the last detail makes him one of Speeds to the rescue at the merest
the most respected Autobot platoon sniff of trouble and turns it to
leaders. As a smooth, sleek Autobot advantage! In sleek vehicle
vehicle, his rear-mounted engine is mode, his engine doubles as a
also a powerful weapon. Converts to powerful weapon. As a robot, he
a mighty fighting robot! creates havoc in the enemy ranks.
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
STR XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX STR XXXXXXXXXXXXXX
INT XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX INT XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
SPD XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX SPD XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
END XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX END XXXXXXXXXXXX
RNK XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX RNK XXXXXXXXXXXXXX
CRG XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX CRG XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
FRP XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX FRP XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
SKL XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX SKL XXXXXXXXXXXXXX
AUTOBOT AUTOBOT
TURBOFIRE WINDBREAKER
FUNCTION: FUNCTION:
SUPPLIES AND SUPPORT ADVANCE INTELLIGENCE SCOUT
"Never give an inch!" "I can get you the info you
want...before you even know you
Utterly dependable and stolid. Not need it!"
quick witted, but works away at a
problem until he finds a logical The fastest trooper in the force. A
answer. As a vehicle, his engine super-speed information gatherer,
block converts to a powerful zooms ahead of the battle to bring
weapon. As a robot, uses it to back an ultra-accurate report on
defend with Super-Autobot courage! the terrors to come. As a vehicle,
he's long and lean with a dual
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 purpose engine/defense module. As a
STR XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX robot, this firepower becomes
INT XXXXXXXXXX unbeatable in his hands.
SPD XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
END XXXXXXXXXXXXXX 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
RNK XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX STR XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
CRG XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX INT XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
FRP XXXXXXXXXXXX SPD XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
SKL XXXXXXXXXXXX END XXXXXXXXXXXXXX
RNK XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
CRG XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
FRP XXXXXXXXXXXXXX
SKL XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
"Stranded" is copyright 1997 by Christopher E. Meadows. Permission
granted for free electronic distribution via the Fanfic Mailing List
and associated archival, as long as no fee is charged and this notice
remains intact. For further permissions, such as inclusion in
"Con-Quest" or on an archival webpage, please contact the author, he
would likely be more than happy to oblige. :)
The Transformers, Rapido, Windbreaker, Turbofire, and Skram are
registered trademarks of Hasbro and Takara, and Nightracer is a
trademark of Raksha and Plumed Serpent Productions. Their
unauthorized use here is not for profit, and not meant to infringe
upon those trademarks. This is _not_ an official Hasbro-endorsed
story, please don't think I'm trying to pass it off as one. (There,
that should make the Hasbro lawyers happy. :)
Robotech, the Invid, Prince Corg, Scott Bernard, Rand, Rook, Lancer,
Lunk, Annie LaBelle, Marlene, and other associated characters and
mecha are trademarks of Harmony Gold, Inc. Their unauthorized use
here is not for profit, and not meant to infringe upon those
trademarks. This is _not_ an official Harmony Gold-endorsed story,
please don't think I'm trying to pass it off as one. (And that should
make the Harmony Gold lawyers happy too! :)