Chapter 4

[Reality Check - Saturday Jun. 27 2009, 1543 hours, Macross Island SDF-1 Base] 

Thallin did not even think before getting VX-001 moving. Forcing the Veritech Battloid to move so fast its servos groaned in protest, he shoved the other Valkyrie aside, grabbing its GU-11 in the process. He had not even managed to raise the gun when the ammo from the Zentraedi rifle ripped through the mecha's armour. Two beams sliced the left laser emitter from the Battloid's head, barely avoiding the optical systems contained in it; the last three shots penetrated the chest of the Veritech, about cockpit-height, and blasted a hole some two meters wide all the way through from front to back, exposing circuitry and completely destroying the control areas of the Battloid. 

Back on the SDF-1, Thallin groaned as the feed-back caused two displays on the console to spark, then implode. <I should have used crystal displays> he mused before turning his attention towards the body lying prone on the floor. He targeted it and pressed the firing button, not letting up until the gun-pod ran out of ammo. Of what was left on the floor by this stage, the less said the better. 

"Thallin," called Eve, "we have a situation on our hands here. Would you please stop acting like Rambo and get your ass in gear?" 

"What's the problem?" he asked her, handing the gun-pod back to the other Valkyrie, trying to move the damaged VX-001 out the gigantic door. The mecha responded sluggishly but nonetheless managed to turn around before the left leg froze. 

"That," responded Eve smugly, "is what I meant. The plane is shot to Hell Thallin. Lang's gonna have your hide for this." 

"No problemo. I'll just.... err..." Lights flashed red and amber as system after system was shutting down. "OK, maybe I won't do that, I'll just..." More red light. "Not that either, huh?" 

"We are loosing containment in the left plasma coils. Plasma containment will fail in ten minutes if we don't shut the engine down, five if you continue to jerk this plane around." Thallin stopped his attempts at moving the Veritech. "Most of the control equipment got blasted with those three shots in the chest, there isn't much left there." 

Thallin was gazing at the other Veritech, who had moved to his front and was studying the hole in VX-001's chest quizzically. "I guess not." He touched to com-screen, opening a channel to the other mecha. Only then did he realised the pilot had been trying to contact him. 

"...ll right?" the voice was asking. Thallin looked at the panels, the soft blues of the indicators quickly changing to red all over the board. <No, not really.> He cleared his throat. 

"Excuse me, err..." He glanced at the Veritech's call-sign, "VF-117. Could you help me back to the Macross? I'm afraid I'm going to pass out soon." No sooner said than the controls to the Veritech went slack and the screens turned black all around him. 

The SDF-1 changed orbital momentum and started to loose altitude as it plunged back down towards Macross Island. Energy readings inside the ship were building up as the Fold engines were brought up to potential. 

"So what do we do now?" asked Eve in a oh-so-innocent voice. "Do I space you myself or leave that pleasure to Emil?" 

"Quit being so high and mighty, would you. At least I didn't muff up my landings like some people I know" 

"That's not fair!" exclaimed Eve. "You try piloting a ship through Fold with Invid on your tail and Zentraedi breathing down your neck. Then we'll see who does a better landing." 

"Invid? Wazzat?" asked Thallin absent-mindedly as he surveyed the damage his sortie had caused. The floor was a good foot deep in fire-retardant mush and one of the Veritechs that had been stored in the Bay had disappeared. <I hope I didn't push it out the lock by accident.>"Nothing you should be concerned with." replied Eve quickly. "The ship is about to Fold any moment now and I really should be out of their computer to give them their processing power back. Just remember that you need to-" Her voice was abruptly cut off as the ship gave a sickening lurch three seconds forward in time, causing after-images to form all around every objects in the hangar bay. All colours shifted into the red end of the spectrum as a grating, whistling sound filled the air, giving Thallin an instant headache. 

Suddenly the effects stopped and Thallin scrambled back to his feet. "What the hell was that?" he screamed as he ran towards one of the view-holes next to the gigantic air-locks. He took the outside view in, then closed his eyes for a second. He re-opened them. The pattern of stars outside was still there. "Eve, do you know where we are?" There was no answer from the Deck. "Eve?" he turned around, realising she had said nothing since the light-and-sound show. "You still here?" Still no answer. 

Thallin turned back towards the view-port where the frozen remains of Macross Island drifted idly past the dark shape that was Pluto. "Oh boy." 

Forward to Chapter 5.
Back to Chapter 3. 

Return to the Thallin Braywater contents page.