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