Hi All!
Yes, this is yet another of the Big Bore's shortfics. This was meant to
be a spamfic, but somehow outgrew that! Before I get to the fic, there are
three things I must say:
1: These characters belong to someone other than me. I merely borrowed
them for a quick little story.
2: I have a fanfiction archive for my fanfiction, and I belong to the new
ffml web ring. The address is
http://www.geocities.com/Yosemite/Trails/5144/anime.html I'm still working
on it, but it is up and runing.
3: Sorry Phoniexhawk, I know you are going to eventually do a story where
the CADS Cyclones meet the Knight Sabers. I just had to do this though.....
This story takes place sometime during Bubblegum Crisis and during the
third Robotech Generation. I don't like book 18 of Robotech (End of the
Circle) and I ignore it completely for fanfic purposes. I like the RPG
ending better where the Invid come back after the big fight at Reflex
point. This story reflects that. so without further ado here is:
Of Sabers and Cyclones:
Lt. Hart cursed as he dodged yet another annihilation disk fired
from the rather persistent Invid Armored Scout behind him. He glanced to
each side to make sure that his two team mates, Sgt. Pepper, and Specialist
Larson were still okay. They were, but a glance behind showed that the
armored scout had been joined by two more scouts and a shock trooper.
Definitely bad odds, even for three experienced Cyclone riders in VR-041
Saber Cyclones. The Invid were too close behind to risk changing from
motorcycle mode to battaloid mode. Fortunately, the Invid were displaying
their usual poor marksmanship.
"Yo, Lieutenant!" Called Pepper over the tacnet. "Up ahead about
a klick is that hive we were supposed to check on. The one with the funny
readings!" Laura Pepper sounded excited, but not frightened by their
predicament. Hart wished he felt half as confident as she sounded.
"I know, but unless you have a better idea, we better keep heading
this direction. Maybe the terrain will change to our advantage and we can
lose our fan club!" Hart had already ordered Pepper and Larson to quit
firing their sidearms at the Invid, and await a better opportunity.
However, it looked like they were fast running out of options. Larson
chose that moment to interrupt with some new information.
"Hey boss, I got a fix on those energy readings!" Jeremy Larson
sounded normal, without showing the strain of trying to read the Cyclone's
meager instruments while dodging annihilation disks at top speed. "They
are definitely protoculture based, but there seems to be something extra
intertwined, something almost like a fourth dimensional sine wave!"
"A what?" Hart asked as he gunned his engine to jump a rock just
before it burst into a thousand white hot fragments.
"A fourth dimensional sine wave!"
"What in the blue blazes is a fourth dimensional sine wave?"
Snarled Pepper as she decided to ignore her orders, and loosed a blast at
the nearest armored scout. She was rewarded with a lucky hit to the sensor
eye, blasting the Scout apart with a single blow. Hart chose to ignore her
breach of his orders, since she had managed to lighten their pursuit load a
bit.
"It is a time or dimensional effect! There is a lot of theories
about it, but this is the first time I've ever seen anything like it in
this power range! I have no idea how they are generating this type of
energy!"
Hart looked back at their pursuers again, and saw that the two
remaining Scouts and the Shock trooper had been joined by another pair of
Shock Troopers and a Royal Command Battaloid. Things had just gone from
bad to very much worse. "Shit! We got an RCB on our tails! Larson, we
know the Regis is experimenting with evolution on the Invid. Is this
something she is doing with her own power, or is this machine generated?"
Larson hesitated just a moment as he swerved to miss a tree that
had fallen into his path due to the heat beams from one of the shock
troopers. "I'm 99 percent sure that it is not of a biological origin boss!
Why?"
"Because if it is generated by a machine, and it is as close as you
say, maybe we can blow it up on the way by and give our Invid friends
something besides us to worry about! Project a course to the source of the
readings on our visors and we'll head right for it!"
"Roger Boss!" As Larson called up the course, Pepper made another
shot and hit the Royal Command Battaloid. The RCB simply shrugged off the
blow and ripped off a quick burst that forced the female sergeant to dodge
frantically. "Okay, I got it!" Called Larson. "Just follow the green
pipper on your helmet display!"
Hart looked at the distance marked on the display, and saw that
they were only half a kilometer from the location. At their current speed
they'd be their in seconds! "Okay everybody, lets arm our mini-missiles.
We only get one shot at this! If we miss or the device doesn't blow,
spread out and make your way back to Overwatch individually!"
Hart twisted the throttle on his bike a bit harder, a little
worried about the power level he was being forced to operate on.
Fortunately, each team member had a back up set of protoculture cells for
their mechs. A moment later, Hart shot out into a clearing with a bunch of
surprised looking class IV Invid at the far side. They were gathered
around some type of electronic equipment. The only thing separating them
from him was thin air, and two short towers half way between them and him.
In other words, nothing of consequence.
Almost at the exact same moment, he and his two team members each
launched a pair of mini-missiles. The missiles all fired straight and true
towards the Invid. The trio reached the tower just as the missiles struck.
The equipment started to blow up, and there was a bright flash of light.
Much brighter than anyone had anticipated.......
******************
There are nights in Mega-Tokyo when there isn't a single boomer
incident. There are nights when the Knight Sabers aren't out blowing up
part of the city trying to destroy boomers and topple Genom. There are
even nights when the normal crime rate in the area around Hot Legs is low
enough for the night to be considered quiet.
Tonight, though it started out quietly wasn't going to be one of
those nights. Unusually , a rumor had gone around that there would be some
boomers in the neighborhood, and everyone who could had left. Hot Legs was
even closed, due to the knowledge that where there were boomers, the Knight
Sabers wouldn't be far behind. All of this meant that there were only a
few derelicts (who couldn't move very fast or far, and in fact considered
boomer bashing to be great entertainment) to witness a spectacular sight.
Across the street from Hot Legs, the wall of a giant building began
to shimmer. It got brighter and brighter, and began to change color
throughout the spectrum. With an almost audible "pop" there was a sudden
flash of light, blindingly brilliant in the dark Mega-Tokyo night. When
the derelicts got their night vision back, they saw something just a
little different.
Three very hot looking motorcycles sat in front of the wall. This
was not unusual, for in Mega-Tokyo, motorcycles were the most popular form
of personal transportation. On the bikes sat armored-clad individuals that
were looking around in all directions, as if expecting an imminent attack.
This was only a little unusual, for in Mega-Tokyo, hi-tech bandits and
vigilantes abounded. However, the bike riders weren't the Knight Sabers.
That was very unusual, for the Knight Sabers were the heroes (or heroines
depending on who you asked) best known to the public at large.
The armored figures seemed to be doing nothing but looking around,
but then the derelicts didn't have com helmets capable of listening in on
the conversation going on between the nearby members of the Robotech
Expeditionary Force.
"I have no idea where we are boss!" Replied an exasperated Larson
to the question asked by his superior for the third time. "I mean, yeah, I
can tell about where we are on the globe, but not where we are in a
time/dimensional sense!"
"Listen, speak english, or I'm going to kick your ass up between
your shoulder blades when we get back to base!" Snarled Sgt. Pepper.
"As you were Sargent!" Snapped Lt. Hart. "Still, you better try
explaining this in simpler language for us Larson."
"Okay, it's like this: we are still in approximately the same
place on the planet Earth. That is assuming that the magnetic flux lines,
the moon and the stars that I can detect from right here are the same ones
we know. That puts us right smack dab on top of that Invid Hive we were
going to investigate. They built that hive on the remains of Tokyo, or at
least where it was before Dolza's Rain of Death. Therefore, the only
rational explanation for the sudden change in surroundings is either a
temporal or dimensional displacement of ourselves. To whit, either
traveling through time, or into some kind of alternate universe as it
were." Hart almost hated Larson at that moment. For the scientific
specialist sounded almost exactly like one of the academy instructors he
had hated most.
"Okay, I think I follow you Larson. Do you think we moved in time,
or to an 'alternate dimension' as you put it."
"I'd put my money on the alternate dimension. I don't recognize
this building style from any of my textbooks on Earth history." Larson was
quiet for a minute. "However, we have other things to worry about."
"Oh, like what?" Asked Hart.
"Well, like the fact that the sergeant is being targeted by a laser
designator at this very moment." Larson sounded casual, but as soon as
Pepper heard the word 'targeted' in conjunction with her name, she gunned
the throttle on her bike. Though slightly slower, Hart and Larson also
gave their Cyclones a goose, and then all three transformed at once.
The derelicts watching, felt their jaws drop in awe. As they
watched, the bikes came apart, and fixed themselves to the newcomer's
armor. The tires ended up on the shoulders, the back half of the bike on
the legs, the front half on the chest, and the front hubs on the arms. The
Knight Sabers were rumored to have bikes that could act as extra armor, but
nothing that integrated like these! When the transformation was complete,
the figures were nearly seven feet tall, having a boxier look than the
Knight Sabers, with strange looking bulges on their forearms, and stranger
looking guns in their metal shod hands.
"What's the vector?" Asked Pepper as she checked the power charge
on her H-90 Gallant sidearm.
"Due east, about 250 meters down the street. Shows up like a
beacon on infrared."
"Got it!" Sgt. Pepper examined the human looking thing with
infrared on her visor. It looked much like a man, but was definitely a
machine. It had targeted her, so she returned the favor.
Down the street, a BU-55C Boomer ran the three new targets through
it's database. It had already engaged the Knight Sabers earlier in the
evening, along with three of it's brethren. It was the only one left. It
had somehow lost the Knight Sabers, and had to find them again in order to
fulfill it's programming. Though the three figures down the street were
unknown in detail, they fit the basic parameters of the Knight Sabers. One
of the figures raised a strange looking weapon and pointed it right at it.
With a roaring scream (or is that screaming roar?) , the boomer kicked in
it's back thrusters and sped down the street.
****************
High above the impending duel, four figures watched in fascination.
They had been tracking the boomer, trying to figure out what it's mission
was, but had not been able to determine anything beyond the fact that it
attacked them on sight. These were the fabled Knight Sabers, and they had
watched the strange newcomers arrive through a seemingly solid wall. They
had also seen the strange transformation/fusion of riders and bikes. To
say the least they were intrigued.
"Any luck on breaking their codes Nene?" Asked Sylia Stingray of
her electronic's specialist.
"Just a minute more, Sylia...........There!" As soon as she spoke,
three strange voices came over the speakers built into the Knight Saber's
helmets.......
***************
"Go ahead and blast it Pepper!" Yelled an excited Hart. "We'll
try to figure out it's motives later!"
The veteran sergeant took careful aim with her Gallant and touched
off a round. It struck the boomer square in the chest and staggered it's
flight. She fired another round, and it began to smoke. Licking her lips
with anticipation, she fired a third shot into it's head. As it exploded
into a satisfying fireball, she smiled a tight little smile.
"Good shot!" Exclaimed Larson. "But you didn't leave me enough to
have a look at!"
"Well next time I'll let you get up close and interview one!"
Retorted Pepper.
"That's enough you two. I don't care if we run into another one of
those things or not. Anything that targets us get's spiked. Period."
"What about people that are observing us?" Asked Larson.
"Huh?"
Larson simply pointed at a nearby rooftop.
*****************
"Uh-oh, Sylia!" Shouted Nene, "We've been made!"
"Well then let's go introduce ourselves!" With a rocket assisted
jump, the four Knight Sabers plummeted towards the pavement below.
******************
Hart, Pepper and Larson watched as four figures in light power
armor descended from the rooftop. Each figure was lightly built, and
curved in ways that made it obvious that the people inside were female.
Though each armor was slightly different, they were obviously built with
the same design philosophy. Almost in unison, the four figures touched
down.
"Hello, I'm Saber Prime," came a feminine voice over the tacnet
into the REF'ers helmets. "Who are you three, and how did you manage to
come through that solid wall?"
"I'm Lieutenant Hart of the Robotech Expeditionary Force, Jupiter
division." Hart didn't like this situation and was uncomfortable giving
out any information. However, humans weren't his enemy, the Invid were, so
he felt relatively safe with letting out some basic information.
"These are my squad members Sgt. Pepper and Specialist Larson. As
to how we came to be here, I have no idea."
"~stress sensors say he is telling the truth, Sylia~" came Nene's
voice onto Sylia's private circuit.
"I'm the leader of the Knight Sabers. I'm sorry I can't give my
name as you did your's. We are sorry we were unable to prevent the attack
on you by the boomer. However, you seem to be able to handle yourself
well."
"~she's telling mostly the truth boss, but I think she might have
been able to prevent that attack, or at least warn us......also, they seem
able to monitor our conversations, and are talking privately with each
other, like I'm doing to you now...their leaders name seems to be Sylia~"
Larson told Hart over their private channel.
The figure in pink armor looked momentarily startled, then looked
straight at Larson. Though he couldn't see it, she grinned, then mimed
blowing him a kiss, which he did see. Though she couldn't see it, he
blushed madly then he shrugged in response.
"Well, we are soldiers. What was that thing anyways, and why did
it attack us?" The REF Lt. asked.
"That was a boomer, a nearly cybernetic, very advanced robot that
was supposed to make life easier for humans. However, that was a combat
model, and it was sent to destroy us. However, it seemed to mistake you
for us." Replied Saber Prime.
"Well.....Sylia...."Hart enjoyed her slight jump at the mention of
her name, "it seems that we have something in common. We were also running
from something trying to kill us. Where we come from, an alien race has
conquered the earth and enslaved most of the people. We kicked them out
once during a battle at their main hive on earth, but they came back. Now,
the earth we know is a battlefield. We were gathering data on some
suspicious activity when we somehow ended up here."
"That is quite a story....Lt. Hart......"Sylia grinned inside her
visor, regretting the fact that the other could not see it, and that she
didn't dare raise her visor. "What we do is-"
"Sylia! We have ten Dobermans headed this way!" Yelled Nene onto
the Knight Saber's general frequency.
"Uh-oh boss! We have more company coming! Ten unidentified
objects coming down the same street as that last thing!" Reported Larson.
"Saber Prime, it seems that there are 10 somethings coming down the
street. Care to tell us more?" Asked Lt. Hart.
"They are Doberman boomers. Straight security/combat models. Only
an idiot would release them onto the streets! They are usually only used
when an intruder on a base has been identified. Most of them are on
orbiting facilities. They are dangerous and tough to kill. Ten of them is
big trouble. If we don't take them out, they could kill a lot of innocent
people."
"Well, I'm still not sure about you, or if we should be helping
you, but that other thing tried to take us out. We'll fight by your side
if you like."
"We'd appreciate that. Go, Knight Sabers!"
With a battle cry over the radio, the four Knight Sabers leapt in
different directions. The pink one leapt away from the battle, and the
other three towards the oncoming Dobermans. "Well, let's help the ladies
out squad!" Called Hart.
"How do you know they are ladies?" Asked Pepper as she started to
run down the street. "Female I'll give you, but you can't be sure about
the lady part until you meet them!"
"Well, the one in pink seemed nice," responded Larson. He too was
running towards the oncoming boomers, and flipping his Gallant onto it's
highest setting.
The Knight Sabers, being lighter, faster and more used to the
terrain got to the first few dobermans just ahead of the REF team. The
leader started by firing a beamed weapon at the leading doberman. It
shrugged off the blast and continued to charge forward. The dark colored
Saber fired several long darts into the knee of another doberman. It fell
and she followed up to a kick to it's nominal head. It tried to regain
it's footing as she spun around to fire again. The third Knight Saber got
very close to a doberman and whipped her head forward. Two ribbons that
had been trailing behind her flashed forward and ripped long cuts into her
opponents upper chest. She then slammed her palm into the boomer and there
was an explosion. Her boomer went down, out of commission and she leapt
toward another target.
As the reached the fight, the three REF fighters joined with a
vengeance. Pepper blew a doberman away with a volley of two mini-missles.
It exploded, knocking two others down. She gleefully unlimbered her
Gallant to target another boomer. Larson stayed just out of reach and
fired a long burst into a doberman that was trying to get by the melee
towards the 4th Knight Saber that he realized was jamming the doberman's
communications. It's chest turned cherry red, then slagged into itself, a
molten mess. Hart had extended the CADS-1 vibrating blades from their
housings on each forearm of his power armor. He leapt at a doberman,
slashing at waist height with one arm, and at head height with the other.
The doberman screamed as it fell to the pavement in three pieces.
Sylia looked up just in time to see Hart's doberman fall down
dismembered. Smiling she extended her own blade and slashed her opponent.
It opened it's mouth and fired it's heat cannon, but missed, only bubbling
the finish on her shoulder slightly. She punched flat palmed into the
slash she had made, and set off her knuckle buster. The boomer exploded
from the inside out in a shower of sparks.
Priss was getting upset. She fired three more rail gun darts into
her boomer opponent, but it refused to shut down. Here she was in front of
her own stomping ground, Hot Legs, and she couldn't even kill the bloody
boomer! Very upset, she pulled back and punched very hard with her armored
gauntlet. The dobermans chest flexed, then gave way. Priss and the
doberman were both startled to find a flaw in the doberman's armor. After
a mere milliseconds hesitation, Priss fired her rail guns again. The
boomer took a dart into a major power conduit and it began to short. Priss
pulled her arm out and watched as the boomer began to crackle with
electricity, then fall down, smoking out of all of it's joints.
Pepper snarled in joy as she blasted both knees on another target.
"Wow, these things are easy to kill compared to a Invid! No where near as
much armor!" Just then, the doberman she had knee capped fired a long
burst from it's cannon, ricocheting several slugs off of Pepper's armor.
Ticked off, she extended her left CADS blade and slashed at the head of the
doberman while rapping off a quick burst with her gallant. The CADS blade
connected, and demonstrated that it could cut through a boomer like a hot
knife in butter. The doberman slumped over twitching.
Hart dodged a burst of cannon fire from a doberman and struggled
to close. He liked the way the CADS system worked on these foes, and was
anxious to use it again. However his new opponent wouldn't let him get
close enough. He was just reaching for his Gallant when his arms were
pinned from behind. He struggled and tried to break free as the doberman
he had been trying to close with took careful aim at him. Suddenly, his
left arm broke free and he was able to twist out of the grip of the
doberman. He had a sudden vision of the green Knight Saber jumping out of
the way, and saw the doberman's left arm hanging by a thread. Then the
other doberman opened fire and blew the one that had trapped him away.
Sparing a quick thumbs up at the Knight Saber that had helped him, he leapt
towards his adversary again.
Larson was in trouble. A doberman was running straight at him,
firing it's cannon. The shells were missing, but he had just run out of
power in his Gallant. Dropping the now useless weapon, he extended both
CADS, worrying that he wasn't very good with them. Suddenly, the doberman
fell forward, long darts protruding from both of it's legs. Before it
could get up, he ran forward and began to hack at it's back. It tried to
struggle up, but he continued slashing madly until the thing quit
struggling. Getting up, he saw that it looked like a twisted pile of scrap.
Hart and Sylia both closed on the final boomer. The doberman
couldn't decide which to engage first, so it stood it's ground and extended
an arm towards each. The two leaders circled around the boomer as it tried
to keep track of both of them. Then suddenly, both jumped forward with
their blades extended. The doberman howled as it suddenly lost power due
to the severing of all of it's major power conduits. It collapsed sliding
off of the two blades.
Hart and Sylia stood momentarily regarding each other over the body
of their fallen foe. Hart flipped up his visor and grinned. Sylia did the
same. Slowly they looked around and began to take stock.
"Wow, that was fast!" Exclaimed Nene as she walked up towards the
now gathered fighters. "I figured that many boomers would take forever!"
"Like a lot of help you were little Ms. Cyberpunk!" Snarled Priss.
"Nahh, she did good!" Retorted Larson. "If she hadn't jammed
their communications, the would have been able to coordinate better and we
would have had a tougher time of that!"
"I must say Sylia, that your suits are very fast. They would be
very useful recon units in Invid territory."
"Well Lieutenant, I'm impressed by those blades you people have!"
"Oh, CADS? Yeah, it's a pretty nice weapon."
Pepper and Priss grinned at each other, and reveled in their
victory. Linna was the only member of the group not either in
conversation, contemplation, or making goo goo eyes at someone. She was
the first to notice the wall. It was changing colors again.
"Uh, guys?" She waited a moment, and the wall continued to exhibit
the same signs it had earlier. "HEY!!!!" She screamed.
"What is it Linna?" Asked Sylia. Linna merely pointed. Everyone
looked at the wall. It shimmered and changed colors through the spectrum.
With an almost audible "pop" there was a brilliant flash of light.
When everyone's eyes adjusted, there were three hulking figures
standing before the wall. The wall itself had a shimmering hole in it that
showed a jungle and daylight on the other side. The three very tall
figures standing before the wall looked almost confused. Hart was the
first to recognize them.
"Shit, a Royal Command Battaloid and two Shock Troopers!" Shouted
Hart.
"Well boss, that portal seems permanent now. Maybe we can get
home!" Said Larson.
"Well Knight Sabers, looks like we get to return the favor!"
Sighed Sylia.
"Is it always this busy?" Pepper asked Priss.
"Well, Quincy, Mason or Largo haven't shown up yet, so it's been a
pretty calm night so far." Responded Priss.
Just then the Invid noticed the Saber Cyclones and the Knight
Sabers. And so the battle was joined......
I'm sorry to give this an Area 88 like ending, but......
All C&C is welcomed and encouraged...public, private, MST I appreciate them
all.
Yes, this fic was done in one sitting, and then spell checked and sent out.
I've not even re-read it yet. Let me know what you think!
Thanks!
Big Bore and the Nitro Express!
Visit Bob and Tanya's Alaskan Homepage at
http://www.geocities.com/Yosemite/Trails/5144
"There is not enough darkness in this world to extinguish the light of a
single candle."