Chapter 10

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My body moved by reflex alone, pushing the mecha's legs forward and boosting away from the mecha bay as quickly as I could. The pods within it had noticed me, however, and the entire front line was taking aim. I flipped and spun my mecha quickly to the left, hoping to dodge the worst of their fire, but it never came. 

When my mecha finished its rotation, bringing the bay back into my line of sight, I saw that that entire section of the ship had been vaporised. Nothing remained of the bay, nor the mecha that had been within. Apparently, the SDF-1 had fired one of its cannons over my shoulder. I was lucky the blast hadn't atomised my mecha too. 

That thought never occurred to me though, so I let out a jubilious whoop and turned to find more targets. I had also come up with a plan. Since my targeting systems were no longer functional, I would have to come up with a new way of hitting my opponents. The lack of a combat computer would make coordinated limb movements all but impossible, which meant most of my new programs were worthless, and moving the gun pod with any degree of accuracy difficult. So, rather than get myself killed because of a lack of grace, I quickly changed to fighter mode and changed all controls over to vernier functions. 

Now I was ready. Radar indicated a group of three pods approaching from above and to my right, so I popped two front vernier to spin myself in that direction and fired as my nose crossed their paths. Two exploded and the other started into a dead spin. <Perfect... Well, as perfect as can be...>I used this technique to great effect, changing directions randomly and applying actual thrust in order to quickly dodge enemy fire. This meant I could slide sideways past a cluster of pods, strafing the hell out of them and then rotate so I was flying backwards and could leisurely fire at the survivors that chased me. If anything fired at me or looked like it might decide to, I'd kick the thrusters and twist myself out of that location. Worked like a charm, most of the time. Every now and then I got nicked. I even took a direct hit to my left wing. Not that I really needed it anymore. 

I also surprised the hell out of some of the other pilots. I overheard at least fifteen surprised comments on the order of: "What the hell?" and "She can't do that! These are planes, they're supposed to fly like planes..." 

After a couple of minutes of this, a general message came in over the comm net, "All units clear sector 133-B. SDF-1 is preparing to fire the main cannon. I repeat, all units clear sector 133-B." 

I checked my tactical display. As I expected, the sector display was blank. That was a combat function, and, thusly, was handled by my non-functional combat computer. So I looked for the SDF-1, to see which way the cannons were pointed and to make sure they weren't pointed at me. 

What I saw could have turned a turtle white. The SDF-1 had changed, much like a Veritech, into a giant, humanoid form. The bridge formed the head, the primary engines formed what looked like legs, the main hull was formed the chest, and the super carriers, Prometheus and Daedalus, formed arms. The bow had split apart into two cannon on the shoulders, each of which were now glowing with lethal energy. 

Unfortunately, they were pointed directly at me. 

I spun my Veritech so it was 'vertical' to the plane of battle and hit the afterburners. I had to get out of there fast. This maneouver attracted a good deal of attention from the battle pods in the area and a group broke away to follow me. I dodged as best I could as their blasts passed me on every side. One shot removed my other wing and another struck my right engine, killing it. Once I decided I was safe from the fortress' blast, I shut down my remaining thruster and flipped my mecha around so it faced the pack of approaching battle pods. What worried me most was the officer's pod flying with them. Something about it scared me. A lot. 

They were a good distance away, so there wasn't much chance I could hit any of them with my gun pod. Instead, I armed my missiles. I wouldn't be able to lock onto any mecha myself, but once these missiles launched, they would find their own targets... <I hope!>I waited for a full second, and then I launched the entire rack. 

My canopy immediately blacked out to protect my eyes from a blinding flash crossing the battlefield. <At least the polariser is still working,> I thought as I blinked the spots from my eyes. The canopy was still black when my eyes recovered, and my radar was blind, as were all of my remaining pickups. Another few seconds passed, and, suddenly, I could see stars again, as well as the fifteen battle pods still trying to catch me. 

<This shouldn't be too hard,> I thought. <At least that officer's pod decided it had more important things to do.> I lined up a pod with the spot where my GU-11 usually fired and pulled the trigger. Nothing happened. I had run out of ammunition. <Damn computer... supposed to tell me these... Oh, yeah.>The battle pods were slowly gaining on me, and, pretty soon, they would come into firing range and rip me to pieces. I swallowed and opened a general channel, saying, "This is VF-117. I've currently got fifteen bogeys on my nose... er... chasing me, and I have no ammunition left. Requesting assistance. I repeat, requesting assistance." 

A voice answered, "I can see ya, 117. Don'cha worry your pretty little self one bit, 'hear? Sergeant Jack Malone is a comin' to yer rescue." 

<I'm touched,> I thought as several pods exploded and others were ripped open by heavy uranium shells from Sergeant Malone's weapon. His mecha was in battloid mode, and I could swear he was 'standing' like a Texan cowhand. Malone said, "All clear now, turtle dove... Now why don't you fly back on to the Macross and leave all the fightin' to me." 

<I'd rather knock your block off, you asshole> I thought as I said, "Thanks for the save, Sergeant. Go get 'em." Then I started back to the Macross for a reload. 

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After a bit of mop-up work after the remaining part of the alien fleet was driven off, I flew my mecha back to bay 5B. Tom Charter, now one of the squadron's techs, would take care of the damage and would find out what had gone wrong with my computer systems. Meanwhile, I figured I could use a shower. A nice, long, hot shower. 

The bay was empty as I taxied back into place. <Thallin's probably taken that slut back to his quarters for some 'private technical consultation.'> I thought as I opened the canopy. I didn't have enough energy to jump from the cockpit, so I actually used the ladder to get out, for once. 

I took a few steps back from the base of the ladder, taking a good look at the damage my mecha had taken. <It's significant, but it's superficial,> I thought, removing my helmet and shaking the sweat from my hair. Right then I noticed one of the access panels on my Veritech was missing. It hadn't been shot off, because it wasn't in a damaged area. 

I was pondering this when I took blow to the head from behind, knocking me out. 

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The first thing I felt was the pain: a dull, throbbing pain that filled my whole body. I felt cold, especially all along my back, and could see a pale light behind my eyelids. Then the pain localised on the top of my head, forcing me closer to consciousness. <Ooooh... that hurt.> I groaned. <What happened? Did I get shot down? No... I remember landing...>A voice said, "Oh boy." 

I opened my eyes. I was lying on my back, and Thallin Braywater was leaning over me, looking nervous. I said, "Hi Thallin... What happened? You look like you've seen a ghost." His eyes strained as he did his best not to look at my feet. 

I looked down too. They were bare, as was the rest of my body. "I'm naked!" I screamed, rolling quickly away from Thallin. I pulled myself into a seated position and did my best to cover myself. 

Looking around, I saw I was still in bay 5B, and Thallin was still kneeling where I had been. He looked like he was afraid for his life. Behind him, I saw that easy woman casually walk into the bay. She was now wearing a flight suit and was munching on a carrot. 

"Thallin... What happened? Where's my flight..." Then I glared at him, pointing over his shoulder at the woman. "Thallin?! Is that my flight suit?!" I stood up and stepped towards him. 

I continued walking toward him, and he started to step backwards, stammering apologies. I caught up to him in two steps, but he quickly stepped out of the way. I didn't follow him. I just gave him an evil look as I passed him, and then turned my attention towards this woman who was now wearing MY clothes. 

"Is that my flight suit? Why are you wearing it? Why don't you wear your own clothes? WHY DID YOU KNOCK ME OVER THE HEAD?" I started screaming, moving closer with every frantic question. 

She calmly stood her ground and replied, "In proper order, the answers would be: Yes; because Thallin requested that I get suitable attire; I have none; and I had to knock you unconscious so that you would not struggle when I removed your flight suit." 

I had lost my patience for this hideously rational female, so I did what I usually did with my sister when we argued: I tackled her. 

Well... I tried, at least. Half a moment before I got my hands around her pretty little neck, she grabbed my wrist, slipped out of the way, and used my own momentum to throw me to the ground. The impact jarred my bruised head and knocked the wind out of me. She almost instantly had her knee on my back, using her weight to keep me down. <So much for my own Aikido... Sensei would be so proud,> I thought, sarcastically, as I struggled to catch my breath. 

She started to speak again, close to my ear, in a calm, soothing voice, "Your violent behaviour is not appropriate at this time. I am going to make you sleep now. And, hopefully, when you wake up, you will be more civilised." She applied pressure to a point on the back of my neck, and darkness came rushing back at me. 

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I woke with a start. Looking around, I saw that I was still in the bay. I was sitting with my back against my Veritech, and the woman was sitting in a chair not ten yards away, watching me. I had my flight suit back on, and she had covered herself with a blanket. 

I tried to stand up slowly, carefully, so as not to disturb my aching head, but I couldn't. She was looking at me with that same sweet expression on her face, as if absolutely nothing was wrong or ever could be. Deep inside, I felt a need to rip that face right off, but I suppressed it. She could probably knock me out again if she wanted to, and my head was still spinning about from the last couple of times. 

I decided to take her suggestion. "Hello," I said. "My name is Lieutenant Kay Landers, and I'm currently commanding officer of the Nighthawks." 

She continued looking at me, but her smile broadened slightly and her eyes softened even more. "My name is Izabelle, but you can call me Izi." I nodded and she continued, "I'm working with Thall... Lieutenant Braywater in an experiment on full-immersion virtual interfaces. I am sorry I was forced to knock you out again, but you were becoming irrational. It was the course of action that involved the least risk to all parties involved." 

"Say what?" I said, confused. 

"Pardon me. I mean that it was the fastest way to calm you down so you wouldn't hurt anybody. Including yourself," she explained. 

Thallin walked in the bay door at this point. He was carrying a tray with several mugs on it and had a duffle bag under his arm. He said, "Ah, you're awake. I'm really sorry about that... about everything." He tossed the bag to Izi and set the tray down in front of me, it carried three mugs of something hot, a cold compress, a small dish with some pills on it, and a glass of water. 

He picked up the dish and handed it to me with the glass of water, saying, "These should help with the pain. I would imagine that you would have quite a headache, considering." He paused, watched me swallow them, and continued, "This compress should help keep the swelling down." He picked up the ice bag and handed it to me. As I took it, my fingers brushed his, and he recoiled violently, pulling his hand back. 

For a moment, his eyes were wild, as if he was deciding whether to break my neck or run away. But he calmed down quickly, and sat down on the floor on the other side of the tray. 

After gently placing the cold bag on the bump on my head, I looked around the bay, the VX-001 was still in pieces, but it was in far better condition. Toolboxes and electronic testing equipment were anchored to the deck around it. The control console was sitting over in the corner, covered by a tarp. Everything was shut down except for my own Veritech. I could still feel it humming slightly. 

I noticed Izi had disappeared for the moment, and I let my eyes fall on Thallin again. He was still sitting there, waiting for me to speak. 

I picked up one of the mugs and took a sip, hot chocolate, and said, "Izi explained the situation to me... to a point. I think that recent events are going to need some explanation. I don't care about security clearance. I'm Commanding Officer of the Nighthawks, so my clearance levels are higher than you think. Let's start from the beginning, shall we?" 

Forward to Chapter 11.
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