Heh... there's a lot of back e-mail I've yet to reply to, and some of it is
c&c for past chapters of this fic or of my (STILL untitled) Mononoke fic.
I've been a little preoccupied with real live events lately, but I might
find enough time to get back to it over the weekend. MAYBE. We'll see...
at any rate, I figured I should send this.
Oh, btw, you don't need them yet, but you may want to consider finding the
fansubs of the first two Tylor OAVs. (For one thing, they're SERIOUS in
tone, just like this fic. For another, I'm going to be using certain
events- and characters- introduced in those two OAVs in this fic.)
Soyokaze Fansubs is the only place I know of which has them (though if
anyone knows of anywhere ELSE which has these OAVs, let me know... I feel
too much like I'm advertising for these fansubbers when I'm really just
trying to let people know where to find this thing).
Chapter 6
Tylor watched as the last pair of ships in his squadron headed off to their
patrol with a sigh. Each pair had been a Raalgon ship with an Earth ship
to accompany it. The whole process of organizing and moving out the six
ships had taken a full hour, but finally it was the Tsunami's turn.
"Okay... now for our move. Lt. Katori, is the course plotted in?"
"Yes, sir."
"Good," Tylor said. "Then engage the jump drive- destination, one hour's
conventional drive travel from Earth Colony Station 535. The first patrol
is about to start." The destination had been chosen to provide a 'safe'
distance from the colony, as hyperspatial jumps were never very accurate.
Usually, they were making jumps in such haste that there was no pre-planned
destination, so usually such calculations were impossible, but now that
they were finally given enough time to worry about it Tylor felt compelled
to remind Katori that he needn't get them too close to the orbital platform
that served as an away base for an Earth Colony still terraforming its
future destination.
"Aye, aye, sir," Katori replied. He pressed a button on the navigation
console, and the generators producing the energy field that signalled the
Hyperspace Transit System's activation began to hum. With a small lurch,
the ship vaulted into the field.
Hyperspatial jumps took some time, but fortunately it was a short jump and
it only took a half hour to arrive at their destination. When they got
their, they immediately noticed something was wrong.
Tylor blinked, looking out the giant bridge windows. "Is that... weapons
fire?" he asked.
Katori checked the instruments on his console. "Yes, sir. Registering
particle beam fire, directed at the colony. Given the limited amount of
particle debris, I'd say that the battle has just begun."
"Who's fighting who?" Yamamoto asked absently.
"It looks like there are a grand total of four Earth destroyers and twenty
three fighters engaging the colony. The Colony's barrier is holding for
the moment, but the constant bombardment will knock it down in about an
hour."
"Earth destroyers?" Tylor asked cautiously. "Which ones?"
"Checking their registration, sir," Katori replied. "Hmm... all four were
supposed to have been mothballed at the end of the war with the Raalgon.
There's the Moskva, the Bolivar, the Avenger, and the Kalu. All four are
at least twenty years old, but then the Soyokaze was fourty when you took
command of her, and this ship is fifteen. The fighters all appear to be
Shinryuu class- slower than anything we've got, but able to take more of a
pounding than the Ranpu's that the twins are now flying. We do have that
one Ganryu class fighter of Kojiro's, though, which is as good as about
five of them."
"The terrorists," Tylor said simply.
Yamamoto's eyes widened. "Eh? They were already here?!"
"Go to general quarters," Tylor ordered. "Have they spotted us yes?"
"I don't think so, sir, but it's hard to tell. They may just be ignoring
us until we're in range."
Tylor nodded. "Luitenant Kim!"
"Yes, sir?" she asked hesitantly. Everyone almost groaned when they heard
him address the communications officer. Tylor hated making surprise
attacks- he was sure to do as he always did and warn the enemy of their
approach, making the job ten times harder.
"Can you tap into their communications network and find out whether they
have sighted us yet or not?"
A slight murmur arose from the bridge crew as they looked at their captain
in wonder. Tylor not revealing their position? That meant he wasn't going
to attack, didn't it?
"Uh... um," Kim stuttered, not expecting that question. "Checking!" She
adjusted a few knobs, and tried a few things before shaking her head.
"Sorry, sir, no can do. The enemy has set up enough jamming devices to
block any message the colony might send, and if the base isn't able to
break through their jamming, we sure aren't going to be able to break
through it enough to intercept ship-to-ship transmissions."
"Damn!" Tylor cursed, bringing more stares and more murmurs his direction.
"Well, we don't have a choice- whether they know we're here or not, we have
to stop them. I can't let the terrorists hurt anyone else. Start moving
in. Put the marines and the fighter pilots on standby- we'll need them
soon enough. I'd say we should contact the rest of the task force, but we
can't risk breaking radio silence on the off chance that the enemy doesn't
know we're here."
Kim hesitated. Hoping to comfort Tylor, she added, "It wouldn't matter if
we wanted to, sir. The jamming is so strong we wouldn't be able to reach
anyone if we tried."
Tylor nodded. "Then it's up to us. Katori, take us in. Charge the
barrier, but don't bring it up until we're within firing range- again, we
don't want to risk letting the enemy know we're here." He hesitated.
"Yamamoto, report to my stateroom. I'm going to brief you on something.
Katori, you have command while I'm gone. I'll be back in ten minutes, but
if ANYTHING happens that I should know about call me right away."
Katori nodded. "Yes, sir," he said.
Of them all, Katori was the least phased by Tylor's unexpected decisions.
When Tylor and Yamamoto left, Kim turned to him with a stunned look on her
face.
"What's with you? Haven't you noticed how strange the captain's acting?"
Katori nodded. "Of course I have, but I'm not letting it affect my job.
As I said before, it doesn't matter who the captain is- I'm still one of
the best navigators in the fleet, and will do my job irregardless."
"But... doesn't this affect you at all?"
Katori didn't say anything for a moment. "Well... it IS taking all my
Buddhist training not to scream to the captain at the top of my lungs 'Who
are you and what have you done with the real Tylor?'"
* * * * *
The two twins stopped Ensign Kojiro just before he got into his fighter.
"Ensign Kojiro, sir!" they called.
Hesitantly, he turned around. "What is it? We're about to head into
battle."
"We know that," Yumi said.
"But we figured you might want this, first," Emi continued.
"Right!?" the asked each other as they offered a brand new plush Kojiro
doll to Kojiro.
Kojiro nearly had to blink away a tear, quite touched in spite of himself.
"How did you finish this so quickly?"
"Oh, we knew how important it was to you," Emi started.
"So we spent the last hour and a half making it for you," Yumi continued.
"And we finished it just in time," Emi concluded.
"Right!?" the chirped to each other, giggling.
Kojiro shook his head. "Girls, I..." He frowned. This terrorist force
was much larger than anyone on the ship had suspected it would be- four
destroyers and a virtual swarm of fighters. It would be dangerous
anywhere, but the fighters weren't shielded, and so it would be much more
so for him and the girls... IF they all went out for battle. "Are you sure
you two are ready for this? If it comes to a battle, this'll be our
biggest combat mission ever. We'll be heavily outnumbered, and you'll have
to rely on your speed to outwit the enemy's bulk. You can sit this one
out, and we can get two of the other pilots to take over for you..."
They looked at Kojiro sadly. "Don't you think we can do this?" Yumi asked,
biting her lower lip and nearly tearing up.
"Aren't we good enough for you?" Emi questioned, mimicking her sister's
pose.
"Flying's all we ever wanted to do!" Yumi wailed.
"We've worked REAL hard at it!" Emi wailed.
"Ack!" Kojiro panicked. He couldn't take the assault from both of them at
once. "I won't stop you! You're both great pilots- you'll do a good
job... but please, stop crying!"
At once, both twins immediately became their usual bouncy selves. "Oh,
thank you, Ensign Kojiro, sir!" Yumi cried, running up and hugging him so
hard he squawked.
Not to be outdone, Emi ran up and hugged him as well. "We promise we won't
let you down, Ensign Kojiro, sir!"
Turning their heads towards each other, but refusing to let go of the poor,
girl-shy fighter ace, they crowed their usual confirmatory phrase at each
other- "Right?!"
* * * * *
Tylor entered his room first, checking to make one hundred percent certain
that he had put away the stims. Once he was sure of that, he let Yamamoto
into his room before shutting and locking the door behind him.
Yamamoto looked concerned. Why had he been dragged to Tylor's personal
quarters at a time like this?
"Captain," he said. "Why did you bring me here right before such an
important battle? What is going on?"
Tylor sighed, then walked over to his desk. Using a key to unlock a small
thin drawer, he pulled out a memory chip and handed it to his first
officer.
"I didn't want to give this out, but now that the battle's approaching, I
suspect it is rather important that someone on this ship other than me have
that piece of information, just in case something... happens."
Yamamoto blinked. "What is it?"
"A copy of the compiled set of intelligence data that the Earth has
discovered. It is important that it not be given out indescriminately,
because if the wrong people learn about what intelligence we have on them,
then certain other people who are loyal to Earth will be killed for passing
data on to us. Some of this stuff will seem rather silly to keep secret,
but it's highly important that it REMAINS secret. Do you understand?"
Yamamoto nodded. "Of course, sir."
Tylor took a deep breath and nodded. "Good. There is one other reason I
asked you down here, though."
"Oh?"
Tylor nodded. "Yes. Yamamoto... if I... well, if something happens to me,
will you please let Yuriko know and look after her for me? It would be
much better for her if the news were to come from a friend, and it will be
a trying time for her with my gone...."
Yamamoto stared Tylor straight in the eyes. Even with his recent surge
of... well, discipline, Yamamoto had never heard his captain seem so
responsible as he did right then. Looking out for Yuriko was something he
would have wanted to do, anyway, and the captain begging him to do this
made it seem all the more important.
With a firm nod of his head, Yamamoto agreed. "I would be highly honored,
Captain."
Tylor sighed, relaxing a little. "Good. Now, let's get up to the bridge
before the action starts, shall we?"
"Aye, aye, Captain."
* * * * *
"Everyone ready to kick some terrorist butt?" Andersson asked his company
of marines as he took his seat in the cockpit of the Marine transport.
"Hell, yeah!" Master Sergeant Cryburn answered from the cockpit of his
Marine Mecha. "I've been waiting for some good action since the end of the
war- FINALLY, we can get some!"
"This'll be tougher than the usual mission," Andersson cautioned. "We'll
be heavily outnumbered, and the enemy is likely to have their own set of
marines- not just the Raalgon footsoldiers we're used to dealing with, but
Marine Mecha's."
Cryburn snorted. "Please- we've taken on the Melba with no problem, we
broke out of Earth's strongest military prison and rescued Captain Tylor,
we can take these ninnies!"
Andersson thought for a moment. "Maybe I should take my own mecha this
time- it's been a while since I did anything but pilot this tub. I want to
be part of the action this time."
"Bah! We aren't gonna need your help against this bunch of idiots. We can
handle them."
Suddenly, Luitenant Kim's voice came over the transport's loudspeaker.
"Attention, Marines," she said. "Time to launch. Remember- conceal your
engine signatures as long as possible. Also, you must time your strike for
EXACTLY twenty-one minutes from now. The Tsunami will be in firing range,
and once we are we'll start shooting. If you wait too long, the enemy
ships will have their barriers up and you won't be able to board. If you
move too soon, you'll be unsupported. Do you understand?"
Cryburn growled. "Why does she keep telling us what we already know?
Andersson, let me talk to her."
Andersson shook his head. "Lt. Kim, don't worry about us. We know our
job," he said. "Ready to launch."
"Confirmed," Kim said. "This is the last communication we'll be able to
send until we destroy whatever's jamming our transmission. The bay door is
opening- you may proceed. Good luck."
Andersson nodded. "Okay, men, we're off. Let's go!"
The marines cheered as their transport left the Tsunami's fighter bay. The
action was about to begin.
* * * * *
"Are you ready to launch?" Kim's voice broke into the cockpit of Ensign
Kojiro's Ganryu class fighter.
"Um," Kojiro stuttered. He was in the middle of tying his replacement gift
from the twins to his control board, and couldn't really take off right
then. "I'm, uh, completing some last-minute adjustments to the cockpit.
Should be ready to go in under a minute, however."
"That's okay, we've got a few minutes. Don't rush those safety checks,"
Kim said. "Remember, though- you can't take off the usual way- we'll be
giving you a push-start to mask your engine signature until the last
minute, and you should allow your forward momentum to carry you until we
reach the combat zone. Do you understand?"
Kojiro finished tying the plushie to the pilot's stick and then strapped
himself in. "Understood- don't fire the engines to the last moment. Ready
for takeoff."
"This is the last communication any of us will be able to make until we
destroy the jamming device. Good luck."
Kojiro looked to his left, where Yumi was flashing a victory sign his way.
Then he looked to his right, where Emi was doing the same. "Good luck, you
two," he whispered.
* * * * *
"Kojiro and the twins are off, sir. Confirmations coming from engineering
and weapons control that our weapons and defenses are charged and ready.
The marines are off our scanners, but at last check were on schedule," Kim
reported.
Tylor nodded. "Good. Time until we're within range?"
"Six minutes," Katori said. "Attempting to form a lock on the enemy
destroyers weak points with passive scanners, but it will be difficult."
Tylor shook his head. "Belay that. Target the fighters."
Katori turned to him. "Sir?"
"Our fighters have orders to strife the enemy destroyers before turning to
face the enemy fighters. Our marines are going to try and board the one
destroyer they're likely to miss. We can't fire on them until they're
clear, so we'll target the enemy fighters until Kojiro and the twins have
completed their first pass."
For some reason, it bugged most of the bridge crew that what Tylor was
saying made sense.
Yamamoto coughed. "Time?"
"Four minutes, thirty seconds until we're within range," Katori noted.
"Is there any indication that they may have spotted us?" Tylor asked.
Katori shook his head. "They still haven't raised their barriers. They
seem to be concentrating on the Colony. It may be that their communication
scrambling device is masking our presence."
"Don't count on it," Tylor said under his breath. "We need to hope that
they aren't playing possum. How is the Colony?"
Katori shook his head. "The barrier is holding, but won't for long." He
sighed. "Who's the idiot who designed that defensive system? A barrier
strong enough to withstand a barrage like that, but no weapons to
counter-attack with?"
"It did have one," Tylor noted. "The reason I picked this location as our
own was because someone had sabatoged this base a few weeks ago- there used
to be a fighter bay, but that section was ejected when an alert warned that
it was about to explode and take the station with it. Left them utterly
defenseless except for the barrier."
Yamamoto blinked. "Then why was there any doubt that this was going to be
a terrorist target?"
"There has been a rash of sabateurs striking against these outer rim
stations lately. This was the biggest target of them, though- fifty
thousand men and women, all waiting for their future home planet to be
terraformed."
Kim gasped. "Fifty thousand? But... why? I mean, they're civilians- why
would the terrorists attack a place like this? It makes no sense!"
"Because all terrorists are cowards!" Tylor growled, startling Kim. "They
strike at innocent targets which cannot defend themselves, merely to scare
other civilians into helping and protecting them in order to keep the
terrorists from treating them the same way. They're obsessed with making
their point, and they don't care who they hurt along the way, but they're
too scared to face off against the regular military."
Even Katori seemed a little shocked. Sure, since he'd come aboard, he'd
seemed a little... testier, and sterner, and more serious... but that was
pure, unadulterated anger in his voice just them. Tylor was... angry? No,
worse than angry... Tylor was furious.
A beeping brought Katori's attention back to his monitors. "Two minutes,
Captain. No change in the enemy's defenses."
Tylor nodded. "Everyone... prepare yourselves."
* * * * *
Dom turned as Azalyn arrived on the bridge.
"Ah, you're finally here," Dom said, a smile accompanying the gentle
admonishment in his voice. "It's not befitting the first officer of a ship
to be late, you know... what was the message you recieved?"
Azalyn looked at Dom with a somewhat shellshocked expression on her face.
"In two weeks, I will need you to take me to a rendezvous with... a former
enemy, to discuss matters of state under a flag of truce."
"My empress?" Dom said, a little stunned. "Which former enemy, may I ask,
are we going to be meeting?"
Azalyn shook her head sadly. "I would like to tell you, Dom... but I'm
afraid of how you would react. Just trust me on this, though- I know what
I'm doing."
Dom blinked. "My Empress, I will always trust you to make the right
decision. But can you not trust me?"
Azalyn looked at him with tears in her eyes. "Not after the last time you
met this man, no..."
Dom wondered. It couldn't be Tylor- true, he had behaved poorly after the
last time he had met the Earth captain, but Azalyn understood that he was
able to deal with him. Besides, Azalyn would never call Tylor a 'former
enemy.' Perhaps it was Wang?
Well, no time to worry about that. "Very well, my Empress. I am
disappointed, but... it is your decision."
Azalyn nodded, not able to meet his eyes. "I am sorry, Dom, but I just
can't risk this... You do understand, right?"
Dom sighed. She was entitled to her private concerns. It just hurt that
she wouldn't trust him... though after what he'd done in the Tylor's War
incident, he totally understood. "Yes, my Empress. I do." He sighed, and
decided to change the subject. "We should get moving- even with the jump
drive, it will still take nearly two hours to reach our destination... if
we hurry, we should still have a chance to make a second jump in case our
first guess is wrong."
Azalyn nodded. "Yes, we should hurry." They were both silent for a
moment. "So, are you going to give the order, or what?"
Dom jumped a little bit, somewhat flustered. "Oh, right... Riska, set
course for Earth Colony Station 535, ten minutes out." The Raalgon
Hyperspatial Jump Drive was a little more advanced than Earth's- they could
even track other ships through those jumps- but they were still somewhat
inaccurate.
Riska, the Navigator for the Doreame, blinked. "Um, I already did, when
you first ordered me to ten minutes ago."
"Oh, right," Dom said. "Well, then, commence the jump."
Riska nodded. "Engaging."
Silence reigned, except for the hum of the generators.
"Dom," Azalyn said quietly.
"Yes, my Empress?"
"You will understand when I meet with this person why I won't tell you...
but I will need your help when I meet with him. So please, don't hold this
against me?" Azalyn pleaded.
Dom paused. There were any number of things he could say in answer to
that- not the least of which was that she, being the empress, shouldn't be
begging him for anything. But the truth was, there was no way he could
answer in anything but the affirmative.
"As you wish, my Empress."
* * * * *
"Ten seconds until we're within range, sir," Katori said.
Tylor nodded. "Full power to engines, raise the barrier, and open fire on
those fighters.
"Yes, SIR!" Katori replied. "Full power. Barrier up. Weapons are
ACTIVE!" Under Katori's skillful hands, the Tsunami descended into the
cloud of Shinryuu class fighters and started ripping bolts of heated plasma
into them.
Tylor turned to Kim, who was supposed to be monitoring the other elements
of their forces. "Status of the fighters and the Marines?"
"The marines timed their assault perfectly, sir- they've succeeded on
attaching their transport to the Kalu, and I believe that they are storming
it as we speak... however, I am not able to communicate with them, so
beyond that I can't say. I am unable to pinpoint the source of the enemy
jamming, so I don't know where to target to eliminate it. As far as Kojiro
and the twins go... their straffing run is going very well."
That did not even begin to describe the success of the fighters. They had
several very specific targets that they were aiming to hit- each destroyer
had six shield nodes used to generate a barrier, and each destroyer had at
least four gun turrets. In seconds, half of the turrets were gone.
Figuring that the destroyers' firepower had been weakened enough, Kojiro
began targetting the barrier generators. Between him and the twins, all of
the shield nodes on the Moskva were blown out, and half of those on the
remaining two ships were gone. Kojiro was tempted to go around for another
pass, but the Bolivar and the Avenger were already starting to raise their
defensive grids, and his orders were to move on to the fighters after
weakening the destroyers. With a sigh, he turned his Ganryu towards the
remaining Shinryuu class fighters and charged in, performing a nice fly-by
of the Tsunami's bridge with Yumi and Emi following.
"Shift targets," Tylor ordered. "Head towards the destroyers. Let's try
pulling the battle away from the Colony- if we can move this fight, the
station can shut down its barrier and recharge it for a bit."
"Aye, aye, sir."
"Concentrate our fire on the Moskva. Their barrier is down- if we can
eliminate them fast, we might actually stand a chance in this battle."
"Yes, sir!" Katori said.
Tylor sighed, collapsing down into his chair. "Now if we could just tell
how the marines were doing...."
* * * * *
An explosion blew a hole in the bulkheads of the Kalu, allowing the small
platoon of marines entrance into the warship. At the first intersection,
Master Sergeant Cryburn took charge.
"Okay, boys... Jason, take half the men and storm the engine room. The
rest of you, with me- to the bridge!"
The marines cheered, following Cryburn's lead. Once Jason's group had
broken off, Cryburn blasted a hole in the deck above him, and jumped up to
the next level, followed by the rest of his mechas.
He turned a corner, with Corporals Bunta and Yamada on his heel. He
immediately stopped and dove for cover as five of the Kalu's Marine Mecha's
confronted him.
"Look out!" he cried.
The terrorist mecha's opened fire, and Bunta was caught in the hale of
bullets. His own marine mecha lost a leg before added support arrived,
returning double the rate of fire that the Kalu's marines were showing.
Soon, the hallway was clear.
Cryburn inspected the situation. "Sorry, Bunta, but you're out of the
action- no way we can fix that here. Angel, Charly, take Bunta back to the
transport. Yamada, the rest of you, follow me!"
Andersson was a little surprised when the three mechas came back much
earlier than he was expecting. "What's going on?" he called.
Bunta opened the hatch of his mecha and sighed. "Hi, skipper. Master
Sergeant sent me back when I lost one of my mecha's legs."
"Damn- so he sent TWO mecha's to take you back? Cryburn's weakening his
force much more than he should... damn, I knew I should have gone with you
guys. I should be part of the action, dammit."
Charly laughed. "Relax, skipper. We can handle it."
Andersson nodded. "We'd better hope we can."
* * * * *
Despite the barrier, the constant barrage of four destroyers pounding on
the Tsunami rattled the warship. Amid all the chaos of battle, however,
the bridge of the ship was much as it had been before the battle, save for
Yamamoto having been knocked head over heals from one rather rough blast.
"Captain," Katori reported dutifully. "The Moskva has been partially
disabled and is attempting to move away."
Tylor glared out of the Tsunami's bridge windows to see the damaged ship
running out of the fight. "Follow it! I want that ship destroyed!"
"Captain?" Katori said questioningly. "We've still got three other ships
to deal with..."
"I don't care!" Tylor growled. "I don't want them to have a chance to...
wait," he stopped and grabbed his head, massaging his temples.
Kim nearly left her seat in surprise. "Captain Tylor, sir, are you okay?"
"Don't get carried away, think about this," he babbled." I don't need to
worry about them doubling back right away- it takes a few minutes to turn
one of those ships around, so I can spend some time worrying about the
other two ships if I'm careful. The marines can handle the Kalu, but that
still leaved those other two ships..." Looking up, he started issuing
orders. "Katori, change of plan. Concentrate on the, um, the... uh, what
were there names... concentrate all fire on the Avenger. Lt. Kim, I want
you to keep a CLOSE eye on the movements of the Moskva... if they even
start to turn around, give out the loudest shout you can."
"Yes, sir," Kim said.
"Aye, aye, sir..." Katori added.
Yamamoto finally recovered from being so ignominiously flipped upside down
to stare at the Captain. Tylor seemed to be wincing as if his eyesight was
troubling him, and was rubbing the temples of his forehead tiredly.
Yamamoto didn't know what to make of it- perhaps he was having trouble
because he wasn't allowing himself enough time to sleep? Whatever it was,
Tylor bore watching....
* * * * *
Kojiro wasn't doing too well. After the straffing run, he and the twins
decended on the scattered fighters that the Tsunami had left in its wake,
but most of the enemy force had survived the brief attack that the
destroyer had launched, and so the three of them were outnumbered by more
than five to one. Thanks to their speed and manueverability, the Ranpu's
had been able to take out one terrorist fighter each, and his Ganryu was
able to take out two more, but that still left them heavily outnumbered.
Now, they were on the run, and things didn't look good at all.
A blast of plasma barely missed the nose of his fighter, rocking the tiny
craft as it passed through the comet-like blast's tail. Kojiro made an
evasive maneuver, and then noticed what happened with that shot that missed
him.
Yumi's Ranpu had been hit, and hit badly. The cockpit was undamaged, but
her engines were utterly destroyed and she was spinning out of control.
"Damn!" Kojiro cursed. Spinning his Ganryu around, he sped towards the
damaged craft, laying down some covering fire to keep the enemy Shinryuus
from picking off the damaged craft. He launched a cable at Yumi's fighter,
and started to try to stabilize it. An enemy fighter, however, split the
cable with a quick shot, sending Kojiro shooting out of action due to his
own momentum.
Emi picked up where he had left off- launching a cable to try to bring her
sister's fighter to a stop, hopefully allowing her to eject safely. Her
Ranpu, however, was immediately mobbed by enemy fighters, and before long
another blast of plasma hit her ship. The Shinryuu's closed in for the
kill.
That was when Kojiro's Ganryu came screaming in, tearing into the attacking
fighters. Taking out the two lead ships, he scattered the enemy force,
making it fall back to re-organize.
"Damn you all!" he shouted, not caring that they couldn't hear him, as he
positioned his fighter to protect the two disabled fighters. "I can't let
you hurt those two girls- they're MY responsibility, and I WILL keep them
safe!"
Realistically, he knew he didn't have a chance. He was outnumbered twelve
to one, and his need to protect the twins seriously hindered the advantages
his ship's greater maneuverability gave him. He didn't stand a chance, and
he knew it.
A re-organized cluster of fighters charged in, guns blazing. Kojiro took a
ship he knew that the Ganryu could stand to keep it from getting through to
the twins damaged ships, and fired the last of his missiles to kill the
lead Shinryuu. He was down to one particle beam cannon, and that was it-
the other three his ship was equiped with had either been damaged in the
combat or had overheated to the point that they couldn't fire. Then the
last one gave out, and Kojiro knew it was over. He closed his eyes,
bracing himself for the final blow.
"I'm sorry, girls... I did my best," he whispered. When nothing came for
several seconds, he opened his eyes, surprised. "What?" There, in front
of him, eleven pairs of engines showed as the enemy fighters retreated.
"They... ran away? What's going on? Why would they leave without
finishing us off?"
* * * * *
Cryburn and the three marines left with him (Yamada had been held back in
order to provide a rearguard, and hadn't caught up with them since) kept
moving, dodging the occasional potshots that the Kalu's crew were able to
send at them. They didn't have time to worry about the enemy marines-
their job was to secure the bridge and take the destroyer out of action.
"Okay, boys," Cryburn rallied. "Just this one last door to get through!"
Rats pointed his gun at the offending bulkhead. "We're ready, Sarge."
"Let's go!" Cryburn cried. The combined fire of the four Marine Mechas
shattered the door, and they ran in, ready to fire on anyone who moved.
Turning on his loudspeakers, the Master Sergeant started shouting terms to
the startled bridge crew.
"Don't anybody move! If you so much as twitch the wrong way, you'll get a
bullet right between the eyes, so you'd better not try anything funny!"
"Oh, dear," the Kalu's captain said impudently, standing and putting his
hands over his head. "I guess that means I'm not going to be allowed to
deactivate the scrambling device and warn everyone that I disabled this
ships engined and activated the self-destruct, which will destroy
everything within a radius of ten thousand kilometers. Oh, well- I guess
that means no-one will survive this battle."
Yamada chose that moment to show up. "We're clear guys- what's goign on
here?"
* * * * *
Tylor wasn't feeling very good at all. He had a headache, he couldn't see
straight, he felt short of breath, and his arms and limbs seemed to be
giving out on him. He didn't know why, either- he didn't THINK he was
sick. Were the stims wearing off? That didn't make any sense- they were
supposed to last twenty four hours each, and his last one was less than six
hours ago.
"Captain," Katori shouted urgently, "The enemy fleet is withdrawing- fast.
Correction- the enemy fleet minus the Kalu- she seems to have been
disabled. Guess our marines managed to disable her."
Tylor nodded. "Begin pursuit of-"
"Captain," Kim interrupted. "Um, the jamming is cleared up... and you
might want to hear this."
"-TES LEFT! REPEAT, THE KALU HAS ENGAGED ITS SELF DESTRUCT, IT WILL
VAPORIZE EVERYTHING WITHIN TEN THOUSAND KILOMETERS, AND WE'VE GOT JUST OVER
THREE MINUTES LEFT! TSUNAMI, DO YOU READ ME? YOU'VE GOT TO GET OUT OF
HERE!" Cryburn's voice blared.
Tylor stood up in shock, staggered a little when his legs almost gave out
underneath him, and said, "Cryburn, we read you- how long will it take for
you to make it to the transport?"
"I... I think no fewer than five minutes. Captain, just get out of here.
Don't wait for us," Cryburn answered, sighing. "We're toast."
"Damn," Tylor cursed. "Lt. Kim, recall the fighters... at least maybe we
can save someone."
"The fighters have been damaged," Katori noted. "It will take them some
time to get here, but we should have enough time to escape if they hurry."
"What about the Colony?" Yamamoto asked.
"Checking... we were able to pull the battle twenty-thousand kilometers
away from the base, it should be fine."
"Good," Tylor sighed. "At least we were able to save someone."
"Captain!" Andersson's voice called. "I've got an idea- I can get the
marines out in two minutes; can you pick me up and escape in that last
minute?"
Tylor looked to Katori.
"No good, sir. It'll take thirty seconds to pick them up, and a full
minute to get enough distance to not be affected by the blast."
"What if we were to execute a jump?"
Katori thought for a split second. "It'd be risky, but it might work.
It'll take a few seconds after pickup to execute the jump, however, so
we'll be cutting it close."
"Andersson, go ahead! Have we picked up Kojiro and the twins yet?"
"Not yet, captain," Kim answered. "Twenty seconds."
Tylor sighed. "So what's Andersson got in mind?"
* * * * *
Andersson looked back to where Charly, Bunta, and Angel were waiting.
"Airlock closed... everyone strapped in back there?"
"Yes, sir!" they chorused.
"Good- hang on!" With a ferocious movement, he thrusted the marine
transport off of the Kalu's hull and violently turned it ninety degrees, to
travel straight along the hull. Ten seconds later, he slammed the ship to
a stop, spun, and connected once more with the destroyer. "Seal
established. Opening airlock. Charly, Angel- blow a hole in that ship.
If our boys can't come to us in time, we'll go to them...."
As the marines that had been in the engineering room started pouring in,
Andersson grinned roguishly. "Ya know, maybe you don't really need to
pilot a mecha to be part of the action on these missions, after all."
* * * * *
"The marines are securely aboard. Approximately fourty five seconds until
detonation on my mark. Mark!" Katori said.
"Good work, Andersson," Tylor said tiredly from his chair. "Katori, get us
moving and activate the jump drive."
"Yes, sir."
"Sir!" Kim said. "I'm picking up an incoming ship from jump space... it's
the Doraeme! And she's within the blast range!"
"What!" Tylor said standing up. The blood all rushed from his head, and he
started to fall. "No, not now," he whimpered before collapsing to the
ground, passed out.
The bridge crew all stared in shock at Tylor's limp form. Yamamoto, who
had been worried something like that would happen, was the first to come
back to the situation. "Time to detonation!" he cried.
Katori blinked, then looked at his monitors. "Thirty five seconds and
counting."
"Lt. Kim, raise the Doraeme, and hurry!"
"Yes, sir!" she replied. In record time (seven seconds), she'd opened a
communications link with the Raalgon vessel.
Dom and Azalyn's face appeared. "Ah, Mr. Yamamoto. We appear to have been
quite lucky to-"
"No time for pleasantries!" Yamamoto shouted. "Jump out of here now! The
ship behind us is about to self destruct!"
Dom's face looked shocked for a second. "Riska, recharge the j-" The rest
of his words were cut as the transmission ended.
"Mr. Katori, punch it!"
The Tsunami entered a hyperspace jump, followed almost a second later by
the Doraeme. In space, where they were just seconds before, a brilliant
light shone as the Kalu, named for an African god of thunder, detonated.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sir Desaix, member # 116 of the Knights of the True Fiancee
desaix@sysnet.net
http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Acropolis/7872
fanfics available at
http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Acropolis/7872/fanfics.htm