Chapter 21

[Reality Check - Friday Feb. 12 2010, 1453 hours, Mars Base Sara Airspace] 

<I should have stayed on board.> He could see the charge building inside the Pods' weapons - time trickled down to a stand-still from his viewpoint. As the weapons where discharging, a large black shape interposed itself between Thallin's VT-205 and the three pod. The beams slammed into the black Battloid's back, smelting alloys and frying circuitry. Thallin focused his eyes on the Battloid's ID numbers and cried out. "Izi!" 

Tamara looked on dumbfounded as the VX-001 'Night of Gold' wrapped itself over and around the canopy and vitals of the Guardian, crashing the both of them to the ground. Throughout it all, she and Thallin could see the sparks and molten slag given off by the VX as the Pod's beams and mass- throwers ate at its armour. "What is she, crazy? She's gonna get killed!". 

"You have a better idea?" shouted Thallin. "I don't!" Already, some of the VX's front armour was running down the VF's canopy, and indication that the beams themselves were about to punch though the last of the protective cover. "Oh, shit. We are going to die." He felt a sudden calm envelop him as the realisation struck home. <No reason to panic when there's nowhere to run.>Three short explosions were felt through the Guardian's metal skin, then the pyrotechnics of the 'Night of Gold's melting armour died down. The shell of the Battloid was pulled upright by another of its cousin. The newcomer held the VX by its shoulder for a while, two other Battloids surveying the area. <Damn, I wish the radio hadn't been knocked out.> As the brief discussion ended, VX-001 mechamorphed clumsily to Guardian and proceeded slowly towards the SDF-1, accompanied by one of the other Veritechs. 

"So what happens now?" asked Tamara. 

"I have a sinking feeling I'm going to be raked over the coals." Thallin answered. His fears were soon realised as the Battloid in charge knelt next to the VF and initiated 'skin-talk'. 

"I OUGHT TO KILL YOU MYSELF!!!" 

"Hello Kay. Nice to see you too." answered Thallin calmly. He would have liked to think that his calmness came from strength of character. In reality, though, it came from the fact that his sense of fear had blown a fuse. 

"Don't you 'Hello Kay' me!" continued the screeching voice. "First I hear your Mayday call, next thing I know Izi's throwing herself in front of three pods doing full barrage." 

"Is she OK?" 

"I just sent her back to the ship. Her Veritech is shot." 

<groan.> "Well then, we'll be on our way. Wouldn't want to interrupt your party." 

"Thallin, I swear, if you get out of this one alive, I'm going to track you down and punch your lights out. Now git! We're falling back." The Battloid raised itself back onto its feet and motioned the Trainer to move. Thallin wasted no time and righted the Guardian before lifting off the ground. 

"You know," Tamara stated from behind him, "she took it better than I thought she would." 

The Veritech swayed slightly as Thallin swerved to avoid an exploding battle-pod. 

"Look!" Thallin focused his attention towards the direction Tamara was pointing in. Slowly, step-by-step, the RDF's forces were retreating towards the SDF-1. "It doesn't make sense." Sam'di remarked. "Why fall back towards the ship? It can't go anywhere." 

"I don't know, but I fully intend to follow their example." Thallin banked the Veritech towards the Prometheus and flicked his I.F.F. signal to 'Mayday' mode. The laser signal started flashing codes to the Prometheus's control computer which, in turn, signalled the deck-crews to stand ready. Thallin was coming in with damaged Valkyrie in the middle of a ground-and- air battle - the last thing he wanted was to suddenly find himself on the same approach as another jet. 

"Do you know what you're doing?" came the question from behind him. 

"No, do you?" 

"No." 

"Then we'll both learn to crash a VF together, won't we?" With the plane's engines on the verge of giving out, Thallin almost slammed the Veritech onto the landing surface of the Prometheus, grabbing an arrester cable and finally coming to rest just before the crash net. "phew. Made it in one piece." 

Under the directions of the deck crew, Thallin manoeuvred the plane onto one of the lifts and waited patiently as the Veritech was lowered to the hangar deck. 

"We're not out of the woods yet." stated Tamara. "We still have an advancing horde of aliens out there." 

"I trust Gloval. He wouldn't call a retreat unless he had something planned. Check you air-supply, I'm popping the canopy." Thallin opened the canopy manually and hit the switch which would release the Veritech's ladder. Turning around, he threw himself over the side of the cockpit and onto the first rung. 

"Where are you going?" 

"The deck crew's too busy to look after us," Thallin replied, "so I'm going to have to secure this jet myself. Hang tight until I get back." He had taken a few steps when a thought hit him. He ran back to the plane, popped open the cargo panels and retrieved both sacks. Loaded up, he moved as quickly as he could to the airlock an cycled through it to the pilot's ready-rooms. <Landers, Landers... Damnit Kay, where's your locker?!>A few doors down the line, Thallin finally found what he was looking for. <Kay Landers. Good.> He looked at the swipe-card lock for a few moments, then produced a make-shift card. <It's a good thing Kay sat down on that table in the club. I wonder why Tamara ordered card-readers for the tables though. And why the computer in the office produced a duplicate of the card.> He filed all those questions for later perusal. A quick swipe of the make-shift id-card and Kay's locker popped open. He shoved both sacks into the locker and closed the door, triggering the magnetic lock. <Phew. Safe for the moment.>The entire procedure had barely taken thirty seconds. Certain that no-one had noticed his side-trip, Thallin came out of the airlock and reached for two coils of cabling, grabbing one in each hand, before running back towards the Veritech. Upon reaching the jet, Thallin proceeded to secure it to the anchoring points around it. 

No sooner had he started on the port side that a gigantic explosion shook the ship, throwing him to the ground. The Veritech slid a meter or so before finally coming to a halt. Beneath him, Thallin felt the tell-tale vibrations of the Gravitic Engines coming on-line. <We're moving. God- damn it, we're moving! Gloval found a way!> Above him, the shriek of returning Veritechs told him that the SDF was bugging out very quickly. <I wonder what the explosion was about? Oh well, first things first.>Thallin finished securing the plane, then stepped back up the side-ladder to the cockpit. Upon reaching it, he bent over to Tamara and initiated 'skin-talk'. "Sergeant Sam'di, we're secure now. Let's move out." There was no reply. "Sergeant?" When there was still no reply, Thallin leant a little more to peer through Tamara's faceplate. "Oh, Jeezus H. ..." 

He pulled Tamara from the cockpit and brought her to the ground in one fell swoop. Again, he tried to get a response out of Tamara through 'skin- talk', but to no avail. Fumbling about, Thallin spotted something and opened Tamara's suit, revealing her chest. 

There, on her left breast, was a small clean hole with blood surrounding the edge. The blood had stopped flowing, the heart having stopped. "Tamara, no!" He scrambled up to reach a comm-panel, but was stopped by someone before he could take a step. 

"Lieutenant Braywater?" 

He looked up at the new arrival. It was Kay's mechanic, Sergeant Demh. The young woman had a taser pointed at him and was reaching for something in her pocket. She produced a small leather wallet which she flipped open to reveal her UOF badge. "You are under arrest Lieutenant." 

Thallin looked at Tamara's body, then at the taser levelled at his chest. "oh boy." 


Forward to Chapter 22.
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