A Day in the Life of a Destroid: Spartan

The moonlight glistened off the deep blue ocean. Salt water lapped against the awesome hull of the super carriers Prometheus and Daedelus as they floated effortlessly in the midnight sea. A cool ocean breeze wisped across the deck of the super carriers making the air the perfect temperature. It had been a long time since any of us had seen such a beautiful site.

"Lieutenant, you okay boss" I had not heard my second walk up to me.

"Yeah Mb," short for Micah Brian. "I just had forgotten how beautiful the Earth was."

"I'll drink to that, here. I have been saving this for this very moment." Mb pulled a bottle of 1932 Cognac from his side with two small glasses.

"You really are a life savior Mb. Can you believe it? We are back on earth. Over a year of fighting in space and now we are home."

"Yeah. It's too bad we cannot stay. I can't believe that Earth Gov. is making us leave."

"Well, this race for life will all be over some day. I just hope it is soon."

We lifted our glasses and drank to long lost friends, Earth, and to our mighty home, the SDF-1. The Techno Knight that had protected us, housed us, and carried us from the rim of our solar system back to Earth. Mb and I, Lt. Commander Roustoff Kondiek, or The Kodiak as I have come to be called, were the only surviving original members of our Spartan Squadron, the Iron Fists.

The night grew cooler and we soon retreated to the warmth of our mech hanger. The night was calm and I was not a social bug so I preferred the silence of our hanger to the hustle and bustle of Macross City. We sat on some storage crates near our battered war machines and reflected on the year past.

Being a Destroid pilot was one of the most dangerous of all piloting jobs. The Veritechs were fast and well armed and could usually hold their own against any of the Zentraedi mecha we had seen thus far. But the destroids were slow in comparison. While heavily armored and well armed we were still no match for the deadly speed and massive numbers of our enemy. And our mechs showed it.

Beaten and run down it was all the Robo technitians could do to keep our mechs operational. Even with the ships replication technologies the crews had been over worked trying to keep out mechs running. My squads' mechs had all just been overhauled and refitted with all new components and armor plates. They were about as good as new as they were going to get.

We sat drinking and remembering all those who had fallen in combat. Our friends, loved ones, even the ones we didn't know. Now that we were back on Earth it felt as if this whole war now had a conclusion. If only we could stay, if only. We finished the whole bottle and retreated back to our quarters. Sleep came easy that evening. The familiarity of Earth brought peace to everyone.

The next morning the destroid squads assembled there crews and began a joint effort of reconditioning their mechs. Pilot and mechanic working side by side. Mech maintenance was difficult because there was always a risk of attack so no one wanted to disengage the main drive units or main weapon systems. Maintenance on these had to be done on the fly.

Our squad of Spartans being newly refitted had little to do as far as major maintenance. We were all tuning our targeting systems and making small adjustments to all our motor control systems. After a good mornings work our mechs were re-armed, re-armored, and ready to rock. Now all we need was a new paint job. Yeah right.

We all headed into town for lunch, splitting up and going or separate ways. I decided to head over to the White Dragon. As I was walking I ran into another good friend of mine.

"Hey SunDown. How's it going?" SunDown was the commander of Siege Squadron. A Squad of MAC II Monsters. Probably the best Monster pilot/commander ever to sit in a Monster cockpit.

"Hey Roustoff. How is The Kodiak today?"

"Not bad, not bad. Just got done with our Spartans and decided to head down to the White Dragon for some food. Want to join me?"

"Sure I could use some chow. I just got done making some fine tuning adjustments to my Monster too." With that we headed in the direction of the White Dragon, pausing to listen to the public service announcement that brought the bad news to the people of Macross that no one was being allowed to leave the SDF-1.

By the time we got the Dragon there was quite a crowd gathered outside. All we could make of it was that some military types where trying to defend themselves against an aggressively mad crowd.

We managed to push our way to the front of the crowd and into the restaurant just in time to see the ships second officer, Commander Hayes, reaching to give a cloth to a young man only to have him turn his back on her. She looked hurt. We stood ready to jump in if things kicked up again but the crowd soon dispersed and we decided to grab something to eat elsewhere. It did not look like the White Dragon was going to be serving anyone else today.

Unfortunately we did not get the chance. The Earth once again had un-invited guests.

Klaxons rang through the ship. A song that we had all heard sung many times in the past year. Pilots scrambled through the streets and civilians ran to the shelters. Disappointment flooded over everyone. Since our splash down on earth people had hoped that they could put this whole war behind them. But now they were trying to bring this war back to our turf. As the pilots saddled up they turned their disappointment into a new type of aggression. Defend the Earth. Not just survive in space but now we were home and we wanted to stay. We needed to drive the attacker away.

Veritechs screamed off the super carriers, thrown into the atmosphere by the deck catapults. Afterburners kicking in to accelerate them to meet the enemy. Fighter after fighter was launched. An endless stream of death flowing from the SDF-1.

The destroid pilots lit the initiator switches on their consoles and began the short system power up and initialization process. Dawning the "thinking caps" that made Robo-technology possible the mechs and the pilots became one.

"Iron Fists this is Iron Command. Sound off and complete your system checks."

"Kodiak this is Iron Fist 2. Systems powered up and ready to rock."

"Mb, lead the charge. You have command of this one."

"Copy that Kodiak. Okay Iron Fists. Lets Rock."

I thumbed the throttle on my command stick and urged my mech to take its steps forward. We lumbered out of the hangers to see an orgy of death. Crescent explosions lit up the daytime sky. Battle Pods swarmed everywhere. Energy blasts rocked the hull of the SDF-1 as the enemy swooped in and let loose with their main cannons.

"Okay boys. We have seen this before. LETS LAY IT DOWN!" Mb new how to rally the moral of our squad. And with that our mighty Spartans posed themselves and let loose a volley of death that consumed everything in its path.

Rapier and Hammerhead missiles leapt forth from their holding chambers hiding the Spartans in their smoke trails. Screaming forth a war cry of death they impacted their targets. Pods blistered and split open erupting in crimson fire. The number of attacking pods was cut in half in an instant. It did not take long for more pods to take their places.

The next wave of pods leapt in at our position.

"Break formation. Stay in pairs and defend your positions." Mb's voice began to tremble.

The pods dove at us striking into the center of our position. Plastron cannon fire came in from all angles. I took my mech into side step and raised my cannon cluster door. Cannon fire impacted where my mech had been standing just moments ago. I parried my mech and opened up with my Astra 32mm gun cluster throwing hot lead at two incoming pods. The armor piercing high explosive rounds eat into the frontal armor of the first pod ripping into its internal circuits. The pod tumbled and burst into flames as it impacted the deck. Two more pods came in from behind their fallen comrade. Pivoting slightly to the left I loosed a 180mm mortar into the lead pod. The mortar impacted the pod and blasted through the backside catching the second pods leg cluster. The two pods impacted each other and melted in a hell furry of burning plasma.

Explosions rocked my destroid as I finished off the last two incoming pods in my air space. Falling back and pivoting to the left I saw the smoldering remains of Iron Fist 7. I did a status check and found that IF 8 and 12 had been finished off as well.

"Kodiak, this is Second. We are being overwhelmed. I think you had better take command." Mb was one of the finest Spartan pilots I knew of but lacked the command experience. He would make a great commander someday.

"Iron Fist's we are too spread out. Close in on my position and lay down suppressive fire at my 9 o'clock." My squad began to move it. But so did the enemy.

They seemed to be driving for total annihilation instead of the soft attacks that they had been giving us in the past. We had always thought they had intended to recapture the SDF-1 but now they seemed bent on utter destruction.

Another flight of pods swooped down raining death upon us. My mech took several hits on its lower torso but nothing critical. Mb and I loosed another volley of ATM-01 Rapiers and Hammerheads into the on coming pods. Smoke trails led our eyes to find the crescent fire rings that showed the fruits of our attack. It did not matter though. More pods dove in to take there place.

My entire squad, which was now whittled down to 7 of us left, loosed the last remaining missiles in our bays. Again death streaked forward and pods fell from the sky as our missiles claimed their targets.

My mech was hit again. This time in the leg. Still nothing critical. Just a little more sluggish. Our armor was slowly being pealed away and our ammo was running low. The enemy however, still had plenty of pods.

We were formed up in a crude firing line now and firing everything we had into the on-slot of pods. No room to maneuver and no time left to give orders we stood our ground. Running low on ammo pilots reverted to using their mk3 laser cannons and FN DFT flame-throwers.

The pods touched down about a hundred meters away. My squad read my mind. Without speaking a word we thought our mechs into a dead charge. As we charged we again thought our mechs hands down to the side of our mechs where the batons were mounted. Pulling them free we met the pods head on. Those of us who had ammo left opened up with all we had. Flame-throwers, mk3 laser cannons, 180mm mortar rounds, and 32mm armor piercing high explosive rounds leapt from the Spartans chests and ripped into the pods. They kept coming.

Three pods moved on me and I watched as one erupted into a ball of flames as it leapt at me. Mb had been watching my back and came through once again. I swung my baton at the first of the remaining two smashing it dead center in its cycloptic eye. The pod stumbled as it flew by and crashed into the deck. The second pod must have been out of ammo too. Its main cannons were no longer firing. Its secondary lasers cut into my mechs armor plating and severed a servo connection to by left arm actuator. The arm its self fell loose to the side, hanging by actuator wires. I ducked my mech under the pod as it flew over and fired a high energy burst from my Mauser RoV-10 twin laser turret. The hot energy cut into the pods starboard thruster and ruptured its fuel cell causing it to explode in close proximity. The shockwave threw my mech to the deck and stunned me. The sky was spinning as I tried to shake it off.

I thought my mech back to its feet in time to face off with a pod I had only seen a few times. An officer's pod. I swung my mechs right arm into the left check area of the pod but he was ready for that. My mech shook violently as he cut into my center torso with his arm cannons. I stumbled my mech backwards trying to maintain its balance but my main gyro was gone and my motor control for my legs was unresponsive. My commo gear was fizzing in my ears, dead from the last blast. Smoke poured into my cockpit as I reached for the ejection handle. I was to late. The Officers Pod followed through with its right arm cannon crushing my cockpit and driving my mech to the deck.

Darkness started to overtake be but I shook it off. It was not my time to die. I tried to climb from my seat but my legs were pinned. If we had not re-armored our mechs I am sure that last blow would have killed me. Smoke poured out of my cockpit and I tried to see what was going on around me. My mech was down so I was not considered a target but there was always stray fire to fear.

I could see Mb's mech. He too was down but his mech seemed fairly intact. My cockpit was getting hotter and I hoped my Spartan would not explode. My radio commo systems fizzled and cracked with life. I tried to raise Mb but got nothing so I tried a command channel instead. It was hard to make out but I thought I heard them calling for all Civil Defense mecha. Enemy had broken inner defense ring. Darkness tried to overtake me again but I had to hold on. I was not going to die today.

Something about MAC II Monsters… Siege Squadron. SunDown's unit. Were they still alive? I had not noticed it before but there were no MAC II's during this latest conflict. I heard someone say open fire.

Explosions rocked all around me and I watched as battle pods fell to the ground all around me. I could not see what was going on but my guess was that some MAC II's came to the rescue and caught the enemy in a cross fire. My mech jolted suddenly as a pod crashed into its backside sliding it along the deck. This moved my mech out of the burning fuel that was causing my mech to heat up but now I was afraid of secondary explosions. I tried to free myself again. I was still pinned.

The deck of the SDF-1 began to shake and I could see one of the super-carriers being lifted out of the water. It was the Deadliest. The last thing I remember was an intense light from an explosion, a massive shockwave that crushed my mech even further, then blackness….

 

***

 

"Is he going to live?"

"Yes, but…"

"But what? Just tell me Doc. He's not only my commanding officer but my family as well so don't tap dance around it."

"When his cockpit was crushed it compacted his spine. He is paralyzed from the waist down. We might be able to repair some of the nerve damage to his left leg but there is no medical way to fix them completely. That is all we know for now."

"He is never going to be able to pilot a Destroid again is he?"

"Not for the military. With a little more development of the "thinking cap" he might be able to for a Civil Defense unit but that is only if they will take a cripple."

"Thanks Doc."

"Get some rest. It has been a long day for everyone." The doctor began to retreat down the hall.

"Hey Doc…"

"Yes."

"When being a pilot is the only thing you have, and then that is taken away from you, what do you do?"

"Some people cope, some move on, some take it out on the world or the ones they love, others die. Lt. Kondiek might be one of the few that recover. You never know. All you can do is love them. And never, never forget them."

Kodiak, you never gave up on me. Please hang on. You are not only my commanding officer but also my friend. My family.

 

Next: The Destroid Chronicles: The Circles End