"Somebody wake me up," Annie pleaded, rubbing her eyes. "This has to be just some terrible nightmare."
Scott's signal came an hour later, and the seven team members gathered by the river to honor the dead. Scott had looked everywhere but hadn't found a single survivor. The smoky aftermath of the battle was beginning to disperse, but the stench of death lingered in the cool air.
"What now, Scott?" asked Lancer.
Annie grabbed hold of Rook's elbow. "Can't we just leave? I hate this place."
Rook had turned to answer her, but the ground beneath their feet was suddenly quaking and rending open. Everyone fell back as an Invid Pincer Ship pushed itself up out of the earth. No blasters were drawn, however,
because it was obvious that the thing was finished; it had been lethally shot and was leaking nutrient.
"Back!" Rand cautioned the others. The ship pitched forward on its face, spewing the viscous green fluid from its wounds. "You don't want to get any of that stuff on you!"
They all remembered when he had been slimed and couldn't get the smell off him for a week. Nevertheless, they were intent on watching the puddle spread and turned away only when they heard the sound of a muffled command ring out behind them.
"Hold it right where you are! Don't move!"
Scott swung around anyway, hand at his weapon, but stopped short of raising it. The source of command was a soldier who was aiming some sort of shoulder-mounted device at them, but underneath that shiny black helmet and gleaming body armor the soldier was Human, Scott was certain of that much.
"Who are you?" the soldier demanded in a curious voice, panning the device across the faces of the team. There was no hostility in the voice but a certain intensity Scott couldn't immediately identify.
"Are you with the Expeditionary Force?" he asked.
The soldier shushed him and fiddled with the controls of the device.
Scott realized that it was a video camera.
"Let's try it again-and no questions this time. Now: who are you?" The soldier swung the camera on Scott.
"I'm Lieutenant Scott Bernard, Twenty-first Squadron, Mars Division, but-"
"Teeming Tirol!" The soldier exclaimed, pausing the shot. "Mars Division? And the rest of you?"
"These are my personnel," Scott began. "We've been together-" "Freedom fighters! I got it, I got it!" the soldier said, recommencing to
shoot the team. "Lieutenant-Bernard, did you say?...Lieutenant Bernard and his ragtag band of freedom fighters, weary after their long journey to Reflex Point and disheartened by the devastating defeat suffered by the first
wave of Admiral Hunter's assault group, contemplate their next-"
"That's about enough of that, mister!" Scott interrupted, taking a threatening step forward. "Just who are you and what the hell do you think you're doing?!"
The soldier shut off the camera and doffed the helmet.
Scott's mouth fell open. Not because she was that beautiful-although her long black hair and piercing green eyes had been known to stop men in their tracks-but simply because he hadn't figured on confronting a woman.
"My name is Sue Graham," the photographer was saying. "I'm a photojournalist attached to the Thirty-sixth Squadron, Jupiter Division."
"Then you're with the Expeditionary Force," Scott said excitedly. "When is the rest of the fleet due?"
"Soon," Graham answered him absently, training her camera on the fallen Invid's leaking wounds. "Maybe I can get a shot of you and the admiral shaking hands. That's something that should be included in the archives: Hunter congratulates one of his officers on a job well done." Graham looked at Scott. "You have been doing a fine job, haven't you, Lieutenant? Where are the rest of the Twenty-first?"
"Dead," Scott said nastily.
Graham glanced at the nearby wrecks of Veritechs and troop carriers. "Guess that gives us something in common."
Scott glowered at her. "I don't think so, Graham. I didn't just stand around shooting footage while my comrades died."
"Oh, really? Just what exactly were you doing while your comrades were dying, Bernard?"
Rand snarled, "Listen, you," and started to move in, but Scott gestured for him to stay put.
Graham regarded Scott and his team. "Look, don't you think we should get out of here before the Invid show up? Or would you rather stand around and argue?"
"You heartless bitch," Scott seethed, bringing up his fists.
Lancer stepped between Scott and Graham. "Take it easy, Scott. If she
can watch her friends die without so much as flinching, there's nothing we can say to put a dent in her."
Graham snorted. "Bunch of soft sisters."
Lancer had to get Scott in a full nelson to restrain him. But he might have broken free anyway had it not been for another of Marlene's early-warning-system headaches.
"Scott," she said, pained. "They're coming!"
Rook armed her blaster and looked around for cover. "Let's go, boys, let's go..."
"Push over your Cyclones," Graham shouted, scooping up her helmet and gesturing to the mecha. "Deactivate the systems so the Invid will think the pilots have been killed."
Rand made a face at her. "Jeez, space cadet, you think we need to hear that from you? We've been fighting these-"
"Here they come!" Lunk warned. Everyone turned their eyes west: The sky was dotted with hundreds of alien ships, black spots on the face of the setting sun.
Scott tore himself away from the scene and glanced nervously right and left; ultimately he fixed his sights on the mecha. "We better do as she says. Then make for the trees, everybody!"
More than a dozen Invid ships put down where Scott and the team had stood no more than an hour before-Pincer craft mostly, seemingly under the command of a blue leader. Curiously enough, they didn't fan out to search the woods but wandered around the battle wreckage instead, as though searching for something. On several occasions they came close to crushing the overturned Cyclones, and a mindless pincer swipe almost sent the APC off the slope (where it was supposed to appear crashed) and down into the river below.
From the edge of the woods, Scott's team of irregulars watched the aliens' movements with growing alarm. The search party represented more collective firepower than any of them had yet witnessed, and Scott couldn't
help but wonder about it. He was saying as much to Rand, when Sue Graham suddenly stood up and began filming the Invid.
"Graham, what are you doing?!" Scott whispered from behind the fallen tree that concealed them. "You're going to give away our position!" It was getting dark now, but that was no reason to take chances.
"Every piece of footage adds to our knowledge, Lieutenant," she answered him calmly. "Besides, I don't have any decent shots of these things on two feet. Most of it's aerial sequences, and I'm not about to lose the opportunity now."
Scott reached over and grabbed her ankle, twisting it and forcing her to sit down. "You do that on your own time, Graham," he grated. "Not when there are other lives at stake."
A short time later, the Invid patrol left the area and the team began to relax somewhat. Lunk, Rand, and Lancer stole their way to the APC and returned with the sleeping gear and provisions. They made camp in a small cabin fifty feet into the woods.
Meanwhile, Sue Graham filled Scott in on what she knew about the Earth forces' imminent invasion. She had spent the past year aboard the SDF-3 as Admiral Hunter's personal photographer, and she couldn't say enough good things about the man. She didn't say what had made her join the ranks of Jupiter Division, but it was obvious to Scott that there was some intrigue connected to the move. They spoke of Tirol and Fantoma, of Rem and Cabell, and of other notable people they both knew. Scott felt himself growing strangely homesick for deep space if not for Tirol itself, and even his attitude toward the journalist was softening somewhat. The red bodysuit she was wearing in place of the armor helped.
"The third attack unit is in preliminary maneuvers at a base on the far side of the moon," Gra
ham was saying now. She had set her camera up to project some of the holographic footage she had shot, and everyone was gathered around. "Here's a shot of the site," she narrated as views of deep space and the warships of the Expeditionary fleet lit up the darkness.
"The admiral's fleet is due to rendezvous with the advance units any
day now. Squadrons of new-generation Veritechs will arrive with the fleet. They've been codenamed Shadow Fighters."
Scott, Lunk, and Lancer leaned toward the holo-image for a better view. The craft looked something like the standard VTs but were colored a nonreflective gray-black and had a more pronounced delta-wing design.
"Why 'Shadow Fighter'?" Lunk wanted to know.
Graham changed discs; technical readouts now filled the bolo-field, replacing the space footage. "The Protoculture generators of the new-generation VTs have been redesigned to include a fourth-dimensional configuration that renders the Shadow Fighter invisible. The Nichols drive, it's called."
Scott had a hundred more questions in mind, but once again it was Marlene who threw him off track. She uttered a low moan and began to sink into that posture of agony they had all witnessed so often. Sue Graham looked at the red-haired woman skeptically and asked: "What's with this one, anyway?"
Scott ignored her and crept to the edge of the woods to search the skies. Sure enough, the Invid squadron was returning, their thrusters blazing in the night. Scott ordered everyone forward, and silently they made for the valley floor to investigate the enemy's reappearance. Marlene, even though breathless with pain, was the first to notice that the cockpit of the blue leader was opening.
And out of the innards of the ship stepped what looked like a Human being: a young man with long blond hair in a tight-fitting broadly striped uniform of black and green. He issued a command the team strained to hear, and two of the Pincer Ships appeared to acknowledge him with raised claw salutes.
"Human pilots!" Graham said in amazement.
"Another turncoat," said Rand. "Just like that woman we saw...The Invid must have a thing for blondes."
"Quiet!" Scott told him. "I'm certain they know we're here. "
"Maybe not, Lieutenant," said Graham almost casually, the camera
perched on her shoulder.
Rook turned around to look up at her. "Then what? Some piece of Robotech mecha?"
"Exactly. A syncro-cannon."
Scott was the only one who knew what she was talking about; the rest of them were scratching their heads while he cursed Graham for not telling him earlier that the assault group had been equipped with such a weapon.
"It's a particle-beam weapon," he explained. "The cannon was developed by Dr. Lang for use against the Invid. "
"It must pack one helluva wallop if the Invid are bothering to look for it," Rand commented.
"It does," Sue told him, still filming the aliens' movements. "That's why I hid it from them."
Scott shot to his feet and yanked the camera out of Graham's grasp. "Where, Graham? And no games."
"In a cave." She gestured without looking. "About a click or so upriver." Roughly, Scott shoved the camera back into her hands.
"We've got to get that weapon before they find it." "Count me out, Lieutenant," said Graham.
"Ever hear of loyalty, or self-sacrifice?"
She smirked. "We've all got our jobs to do. For me, it's this." She patted the camera.
"Please, Scott," Marlene said, cutting them off, reaching up for his hand. "Don't try to go out there. You'll be killed."
Scott squeezed her hand and smiled thinly. "I'll see that weapon destroyed before I see it fall into their claws." He turned to glare at Sue Graham: "That's my job...but I can't expect you to understand."
Graham laughed shortly, patting the camera again. "Just give me some good footage, hero. I'll make you a star."
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
God knows Rick and I have had our share of difficulties, Max, especially during the weeks following his decision to join the Sentinels, as you probably recall. But this is worse than that, and it's beginning to prey on me. Sue's with him day and night lately, and Rick doesn't seem to mind it one bit-the lecher. He claims Sue sees him as some kind of father figure, but just who does he think he's kidding? She's infatuated with him, and I'm worried that he is going to fall for it one night-the loneliness of command and all that rot. Max, can't we just see about getting her transferred? Who'd be the wiser?
Lisa Hayes-Hunter in a letter to Max Sterling
Oddly enough, some of them managed to get a little sleep. Marlene had made Scott promise to wait at least until morning before making an attempt to go after the syncro-cannon. He had given his word, proverbial fingers crossed behind his back, if only to calm her down. She had appeared especially stressed out for the past week, and Scott was worried about her, so he wasn't surprised to hear her call out in the middle of the night. He slipped out of his sleeping bag and went to her side; she seemed to sense his presence and come around, smiling weakly up at him in the moonlight.
"I feel so strange, so alone, Scott... "
He reached out to stroke her luxuriant hair. "It's because we're so close to Reflex Point, Marlene. I was afraid this would happen; that's why I wanted you to stay with Simon... " He was suddenly aware that she wasn't listening to him but staring instead at the holo-locket that had slipped from his shirt.
"You'll never forget her, the woman in your pendant...She was very special, wasn't she?"
Scott held the heart-shaped memento in the palm of his hand and regarded it for a moment. "She was special, but so are you, Marlene." He placed his hand against her cheek. "I wear this to remind me...Sometimes
it's the only thing that gives me the strength to go on."
"I'm sorry I brought it up," she said sleepily, and rolled over in her bag. Scott heard the roar of thrusters and went to the door and looked up. Through the trees he could see three Invid patrol ships streak across the night sky. Lancer was beside him now; he had the watch and had returned to the cabin at the sound of Marlene's cries. "Everything all right?" he asked.
Scott led him away from the doorway. "Nobody has enough strength left to hold on to, Lancer. If we don't finish this thing soon..." Scott let it go and uttered a soft curse aimed at the stars. "What's keeping Hunter? Doesn't he realize-"
"Don't, Scott," Lancer said, cutting him off. "We just have to keep taking things one step at a time."
"I suppose you're right." Scott turned to look back at his sleeping friends and teammates. "We've just got to-Lancer, where's Rand?!"
Lancer swung around and saw the empty bedroll-then another. "Annie's missing, too."
Scott stepped deeper into the woods to whisper their names in the dark. "They're with Graham, I'm sure of it," Scott told Lancer angrily. "Wake everyone up. We've got trouble."
Ten minutes later, what remained of the team was ready for action; Lunk and Marlene were helping Scott, Lancer, and Rook into their battle armor. "My guess is that Graham is leading them to the syncro-cannon," Scott was saying now. They were gathered at the edge of the woods and could see that the Invid were still patrolling the area. "We have no choice-we have to get the Veritechs up."
"I can't believe Rand would be foolish enough to listen to that woman," said Lancer. "And to take Annie with him..."
Rook snorted. "Doesn't surprise me any. I think he's hot for that photographer." She disregarded the fact that Rand had tried to take Graham's head off earlier in the day.
"I know why he did it," Marlene offered, looking away from them.
"Because I made such a scene about Scott going."
Lancer flashed her an understanding look. "Still, why would he take Annie?"
"That was probably Graham's idea," Scott answered him. "Can't you understand what she's up to?" he continued, seeing their puzzled looks. "The whole idea is to try to get some terrific action footage for herself. Think about it: Annie and Rand, two freedom fighters far from home."
Scott was correct on eve
ry count, including his hunch that Sue Graham had set the whole thing in motion. She and Rand and Annie were picking their way across a steep, rock-strewn incline now, nearing the place where Graham claimed to have hidden the Robotech weapon. Neither Rand nor Annie minded in the least that Graham was getting it all down on disc; after all, this was a heroic undertaking, and who along the long road they had traveled had taken such an interest in their actions? And while it was true that Rand had been affected by Marlene's concern for Scott's safety, his motivations were more selfish than considerate.
What Graham had termed a cave was actually a kind of pocket in the hillside, well concealed and protected by a broad earthen overhang. Several Invid patrol ships had overflown the area, but the cannon had thus far escaped detection. Rand wasn't all that impressed by his first sight of the thing. But the weapon was massive, he had to admit, with a boxcar-sized barrel that had a kind of mitered muzzle. There was an adjacent drive unit, its front cockpit portion enclosed by a bubble shield. The whole arrangement was mounted on a three-legged circular base that housed the weapon's thrusters and hoverports. It reminded Rand of some of the artillery used by the Army of the Southern Cross in the Second Robotech War.
Rand and Graham scrambled down the slope while Annie waved good luck from the overhead ledge. The photographer trained her camera on the young girl, then swung around to catch Rand as he was seating himself at
the cannon's controls.
"On second thought, this thing looks awesome;" he said, grinning for the lens. "But I'm sure I'll be able to handle it. Why, when I think back to some of the spots we've-"
"Get started!" Graham yelled from the ground. "I want to get a shot of you coming out of the cave."
Rand's face reflected his disappointment, but a moment later he was pushing buttons and flipping switches, the cannon's thruster fires roaring to life beneath him. He had had limited experience with Hovercraft of any sort, but what he knew was enough to send the weapon free of its rocky enclosure and place it to strategic advantage on a high ledge overlooking the valley floor, the river a dark, sinuous ribbon below him. Infrared scanners told him where the Invid patrol ships were thickest, and without much thought as to the consequences, Rand slipped on a pair of targeting goggles and began to arm the gun.
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