Chapter 4

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The Veritech started shifting under my feet, throwing my balance off. <Help!> I thought as the mecha's left knee buckled and its shoulder disappeared from beneath me. A moment later, gravity realised it had missed something, and I started falling too. Flailing wildly, with time moving in slow-motion, I tried to grab for the stairs as I fell. <I'm gonna die!> I thought as my outstretched fingers passed millimetres from the handrail. 

Then someone caught my wrist, stopping my fall and almost ripping my arm from its socket. Hanging there, I looked up at my saviour, the technician who had signalled me. He obviously didn't think holding me up by my wrist like this was easy, so I grabbed a support strut with my free hand and swung my leg up onto the stairs. Then, with his help, I pulled myself the rest of the way onto the stairs. 

"Whew, that was close," I said, breathing heavily, "Thanks!" 

"Not a problem,... er...," looking at my civilian flight jacket and jeans. 

"Landers... Lieutenant Landers." 

"Sir," he replied, saluting me. Then he looked over the steps at my fallen Veritech and the technicians now surrounding it. "Looks like the hydraulic servo linkage has given out. That plane isn't going to be flying for while, and we need you out there now. There's some unassigned Veritechs on deck 5b. I recommend you head down there and use one of those. By the way, where's your flight suit?" 

"Um... I wasn't on duty when the attack started," I replied as I started down the steps. Then I paused, turned around, and asked, "Err, how do I get to deck 5b?" He gave me a strange look, but he told me. 

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Following the technician's instructions, it only took about forty-five seconds to reach the proper bay. It would have taken only thirty I hadn't had to run through a room filled with fire-foam. The bay wasn't very large, and only had three Veritechs in it, along with various other equipment. All of it was ankle deep in foam. 

As I was running towards one of the planes, I noticed somebody over in the corner, surrounded by airplane controls and with a bunch of wires running from his head... no, that was his helmet. <Weird> I thought, climbing into the nearest cockpit and closing the hatch. 

After I strapped myself in and powered the mecha up, I changed to hybrid form and walked to the already open bay doors. Looking around, I saw we were flying above the city, and I could see that things had really become a mess. Veritechs and eggs and pyramids were flying and running after each other, shooting each other and the buildings that got in their way. The comm channels were full of chatter about protecting the SDF-1 and obeying orders, with an occasional mention of the civilian shelters and how they were in trouble. <I think that's where I'm needed. Hmmm, I think they're that way...> I activated the thrusters, flew out the bay doors, changed back to plane form, and flew off to the East. 

I flew over the city, dodging the occasional blast fired at me from the streets, but stayed low enough that the flying pyramids would ignore me. As I reached the edge of the city proper, I changed back to hybrid form and started looking for the shelters. <Not here... maybe further North...> I thought as I turned my mecha. After flying over several hills, I saw a fighter appear from around a rock outcropping and fly to the east. <He must know where he's going... Oops!> I flicked at the targeting computer. It had just formed a missile lock on it. <Strange. The computer must not think it's a Veritech... Stupid machine.>Suddenly, he changed into battloid mode and dropped into the trees. Curious, I turned and started in his direction. By the time I could see him, I could also see why he had landed: a giant ship was resting there. As I flew closer, the mecha stepped inside and started looking around, then raised its gun pod and tried to fire at something inside... but nothing happened: the gun didn't fire! 

<Here comes trouble!> I said as I boosted toward the door. I changed to battloid mode in mid-flight and flew past the other mecha, gun pod blazing. I brought the spray across two humanoid shapes, but most of the burst was scattered around the room. One of the two staggered and fell, and the other raised and fired an energy rifle at me. The shot grazed me as I skidded across the deck, turning around for another shot. I released a short burst and the remaining figure dropped, clutching at its wounds. <Blood? Those guys dropped like people... > My thoughts were racing as I walked over to the other Veritech. "Are you all right, buddy? What's going on?" I checked this guys mecha over. It was undamaged, but it didn't look quite right. 

Then I noticed he wasn't looking at me... he was looking behind me. 

Forward to Chapter 5.
Back to Chapter 3. 

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