The Protoculture Wars
Aubry Thonon
Robotech:
Alternate Points
Of View
Thallin
Braywater
This book is dedicated to the following people:
K. Wiley kkwiley@uccs.edu Lieutenant Kay Landers
Alex profnut@nyongwa.montreal.qc.ca Warlord Agar
Derek Magic09@aol.com Sergeant David Marshall
Steve epustay@aol.com Augustine Rassimus
Kirstin adathono@cc.uq.edu.au Sergeant Tamara Sam'di
This work is c 1994-1996 Aubry Thonon, except for those names,
songs and concepts copyrighted to the appropriate owners (how
do *I* know who they are? They know, that's good enough).
Feel free to copy this book and distribute it as long as:
A) The copyright notices are left in;
B) If it is printed in a fanzine or any other free,
non-profit publication, could you mail me a copy
please?
C) It may *not* be printed in a commercial publication
without the prior assent of *all* the copyright
owners, myself included.
[Reality Check - Saturday Jun. 27 2009, 1517 hours, Macross Island SDF-1 Base]
Thallin gazed up in stunned awe as the super-fortress
lifted up into the sky. He barely registered the
explosions around him or even the enemy Pod that stood
above him. All he could do was stare at the departing
fortress with a blank look on his face. <I gotta be
dreaming.> But he knew this was a reality that could
kill him, not a dream he could wake up from.
Above him, the fortress gave a shudder, then another.
Pylons detached from it and continued their skyward climb
as the fortress hung precariously in the heavens for a
single second before falling back towards the ground.
<Oh, shit.> Thallin scrambled for cover as fast and as
far as he could. Behind him, the pod had barely begun to
turn around and follow him when the falling super-
fortress crushed it without pause as it settled in a
cloud of dust onto the tarmac.
Thallin paused for a moment, to see if the pod would
explode. When it showed no sign of doing so, he got up
and ran for the lock he had previously tried to reach
without success. This time there were no surprises and
the door swished aside and permitted him entry.
"What the hell happened?" yelled Thallin to one of the
technicians, trying to get his voice heard over the
klaxons.
"The anti-grav worked too well. The struts couldn't
take the strain and snapped. We've lost power to half
the AA systems and are still moping up damage from the
energy surge." Thallin nodded and kept on moving towards
the bay where VX-001 was stored.
The bay was a shambles as fire-retardant foam had
spilled from a near-by compartment. Thallin rushed
towards the assembly of tubes and boxes that sat quietly
beneath a tarpaulin in a corner and ripped the fabric off
it, revealing a seat surrounded by controls. On the seat
was a helmet that fully encompassed the wearer's head,
blocking all vision. Thallin grabbed several thick
cables from the assembly and dragged their ends towards
sockets in a nearby wall. As he finished plugging them
in, he slapped home a power switch and the assembly came
to life.
He sat down in the seat and let his eyes roam the
controls, checking each in turn, waiting for the lights
to turn from orange to green as the deck went through its
warm-up checks. Eventually, all lights turned green and
Thallin breathed a sigh of relief - the deck had not been
damaged. He strapped himself in and wiped his sweaty
palms on his jacket before speaking.
"Computer. Open priority channel to Luna Research
Facility."
The computer lights flickered ever so slightly as its
internal status was modified. "Channel open." responded
the deck's tinny voice.
"Thallin to Bahamoud system - requesting level 7
access. Eve, you in there?"
The status lights on the deck turned red as the
communication bandwidth was saturated. Outside the
Macross, half a dozen Valkyries lost contact with ops as
the Macross' computer re-routed their bandwidth to
accommodate the demand from the deck. "Hello Thallin."
said a female voice. "I have not heard from you in quite
a while. How are things on Macross Island?"
"How are thing? Here, take a look for yourself." He
typed in a few commands into the deck, routing outside
surveillance cameras to the Luna Research feed.
There was slight pause from the other end. "Initial
analysis indicated Zentraedi presence. Current estimates
are 120 Regult of various types, 3 Glaug, 5 Nosjaedul-ger
and one Quel-Qualie Recon Craft in geo-synchronous
position above the island."
"You *know* these guys?" blurted out Thallin.
"Yes. Projected strategy on their part will be the
assault of the Macross. Secondary targets will be major
centres of population density."
"Major centres of..." <Oh shit, the shelters!>
Thallin pressed controls on the deck in a hurry. "Eve?
The Neural Net in this deck is not operational yet. I'm
gonna need your help flying the plane."
"I must remind you that I do not have practical
tactical experience. I would be of little use to you in
combat."
"Just you make sure you keep the plane together."
replied Thallin as he donned the helmet. Screens lit up
inside, giving him a view of the hangar from the VX-001's
perspective. "System checklist, please."
"Reaction mass, check. Lasers, check. Reactor
starboard, check. Reactor port, check. Gun pod,
loading... check. Thallin, did you wish to utilise the
MMLs?"
Thallin glanced at the four box-like shaped sitting on
automated loaders, two to a wing. Missile cones could be
seen protruding from their front. "Yeah, might as well.
If you're gonna do it, might as well do it whole-hog.
Load the suckers."
"Multi-Missile Launchers; Launcher 1, loading...
check. Launcher 2,..."
Thallin left Eve continue with her checklist as he
conducted a few test on the comm-link between the deck
and the Valkyrie. A few seconds later, Eve's voice
interrupted him. "All checks completed. Will this be a
submergence sortie?"
"I'm afraid not, Eve. We still haven't managed to get
a neural interface working. I'll be using the helmet."
"Affirmative. All systems check. You have control."
Thallin blinked a couple of time and reached out to
grab the controls surrounding him. He eased the throttle
forward and brought the plane around to face the bay's
door. "Open bay doors please Eve."
The doors opened onto a scene of utter chaos.
Veritechs going toe-to-toe with pods, buildings erupting
in flames as laser and other rays strafed their sides,
and all around, people dying.
Thallin eased the plane out of the hangar and
mechamorphed to Guardian, allowing him to take-off even
though the runway was damaged beyond recognition. The
plane responded to his controls smoothly and efficiently,
as though he himself were in the cockpit. He kicked the
after-burners on and took height to survey the area.
No sooner had he cleared the top of the SDF-1 that a
voice came in over the tac-net. "This is Vee Tee One
Three Three to anyone who can hear me." The sound came in
distorted, washed over by magnetic interference. "I'm
being pursued by an enemy...uh, an enemy `egg' and I need
help." A slight pause, punctuated by the sound of laser-
fire. "I'm at angels three, heading 224, speed-" The
tac-net squealed as the signal was lost.
"Eve, you got a bearing for me?"
"Heading 153, he's on radar."
Thallin mechamorphed back to plane and flipped around
at over 9G, a manoeuvre he knew the on-board computer of
a normal Valkyrie would have denied to protect its pilot.
He glanced at the tactical radar and immediately spotted
VT-133. The Valkyrie was plunging headlong towards the
ground, trying desperately to manoeuvre away from a
pursuing pod. Thallin line up the VX-001 and kept on
accelerating towards the pair. He waited for the
computer to acquire a lock on the enemy pod, a Fighter
according to Eve, before pressing the missile stud. Two
missiles detached themselves from the wing and raced
ahead for a split second before the still-accelerating VX-
001 caught up with them.
"Shit!" Thallin banked between the two missiles to
avoid them, then had to bank again as he passed between
VT-133 and its hunter. A split second after he cleared
the conical pod, the two missiles impacted with it,
turning it into a ball of flame.
Thallin looked over his shoulder at the receding VT-
133. "Shit!" He pulled the throttle back to slow the
plane's headlong race. "Eve, memo to myself and whoever
else it applies to. We either have to speed up the
missiles or slow down the plane. I can see a few people
shooting themselves out of the sky otherwise."
"Affirmative, Thallin. I noticed you used your two
regular missiles. Why didn't you use the MMLs? Are they
faulty?"
"I wasn't prepared to fire an experimental missile pod
in the general direction of a friendly, that's why."
Thallin looked around, trying to find the civilian
shelters amongst all the ruin. He felt himself shake for
a moment and wondered if the plane had been hit. "What
was that?"
"The SDF-1 is taking off on conventional thrusters.
Veritech squadrons are being recalled to defend it."
"What about the civilian shelters?"
"A handful of Valkyries are disobeying orders and
remaining behind to protect the shelters. However, they
are now outnumbered."
"It never rains..." Thallin banked and brought his
plane low over the ground, skimming rubble as it raced
towards its target.
"Warning." Eve said in his ears. "You are driving
above the prescribed speed limit for this area. Please
slow down to 80 klicks."
Thallin smiled. "Is this your attempt at a joke?"
"You know me better than that. I never joke." <Oh,
yeah?> thought Thallin. <Then why do I hear a smirk in
your voice?> "Thallin, what is your plan?"
"I want you to override the missile lock controls."
"These controls have been put there for a reason,
Thallin. They are to stop you from firing without prior
acquisition of a lock."
Thallin yanked the stick hard to jump a fallen
building. "Quit yackin' and start hackin'."
"Override completed, Oh Mighty Overlord." Eve sounded
miffed.
<Oh great, just what I need. A pissed-off co-pilot.>
Thallin did not have time to reflect on this. As he
crested another rise, the civilian shelters came into
view, surrounded by a large contingent of Regult and
defended by a handful of Valkyries. As Thallin
approached, one of the Veritech was hit four or five
times and collapsed in on itself as its generator
exploded.
Thallin thumbed the missile-select wheel to full and
pressed the firing stud. The four boxes underneath the
VX-001's wings spat out missiles, three volleys of five
each. The missiles twisted and turned. Lost and
wondering aimlessly without a computer targeting lock,
each missile sought a target of its own, covering a wider
area than the computer ever could. Thallin charged in
after them, his finger pressing tight on the firing
mechanism of the GU-11 gun pod, send round after round of
trans-uranic slugs into the fray.
The missiles impacted on the pods, wiping most off the
surface of the shelters. Valkyries dove for cover but
two of the small missiles impacted on the left side of
one of them, blowing its arm clear off. The rounds from
the GU-11 impacted with yet another pod, causing it to
blossom into a fiery ball. The VX-001 swooshed past the
carnage and around an outcrop of rocks.
"How'd we do?" asked Thallin.
"Sixty missiles fired in total. Eighteen Regult
destroyed, one Valkyrie hit - damage unknown. Gun pod
took out another Regult pod on the way out. You really
should be more careful next time, you could have killed
that pilot." admonished Eve.
Before Thallin could respond, a warning light flashed,
accompanied by a buzzer. "We got company."
"It's a re-entry platform. Probably what transported
all the pods down to Macross from orbit." reported his co-
pilot.
Thallin mechamorphed to Battloid and landed near the
platform, gun-pod at the ready. The platform looked like
a large upturned pasta bowl with a gigantic door on its
side. All was quiet on this side of the cliffs, all the
fighting was confined to the city-side of the island.
"Thallin. If you're thinking what I surmise you're
thinking, I'd like to point out that this is a *BAD
IDEA*!" shouted Eve over the com-net.
The Battloid peered around the door, then stepped
inside the platform. "Relax." answered Thallin. "See.
It's empty." As if on cue, two shapes emerged from the
darkness, wearing armour and wielding what looked like an
organic version of the GU-11. They were only slightly
shorter than the Battloid - but what they lacked in size
they made up in stature. Thallin whipped up the nozzle
of the GU-11 and pressed the firing stud.
The weapon clicked empty.
"Oh boy."
Neoculture (Crash-Test Dummy On The Information SuperHighway)
-------------------------------------+------------------------------------
Dans le froid glace de l'Olympe noir | Dans le vide de l'espace infernal -
Les Dieux malins ont en vain | Fatigue, lasse, vainqueur -
Use de leur puissance, leurs pouvoirs| Ulysse pres d'une Aurore Boreale
Contre Ulysse 31. | Rechauffe un peu son coeur.
-------------------------------------+-------- Aubry.Thonon@qed.qld.gov.au