Macross Fan Fiction ❯ Above Reflex Point ❯ Fleet ( Chapter 2 )

Robotech: Above Reflex Point

Chapter II: Fleet

The REF main fleet announced its presence with an ineffectual volley from orbit at the Reflex Point Protoplex energy shield in support of Harrington's ground forces. Now we're truly committed- it's do or die, General Reinhardt thought to himself. He was as aware as anyone that the REF was committed long before this moment; it was just a matter of swinging the hammer at the nails long placed…

"Sir," one of Reinhardt's bridge techs interrupted his musings, "we've established contact with the ground forces."

"Punch it up."

A tense man in Cyclone armor materialized on Reinhardt's comm. screen and saluted. "Lt. Amert, Fifth Cyclone Division reporting, sir."

"Where's Harrington?" the commander asked.

"He's up holding the line, General," Amert said, glancing nervously from side to side as though half expecting to see Shock Troopers homing in on his signal. "We, uh, penetrated the barrier with Destabilizers about an hour ago. Unfortunately, a side effect we didn't predict was that because of the damage, the shield is disrupting communications from inside. The captain has been using the Shadow Fighter contingent to hold open the barrier and we're using Cyclone infantry as runners back and forth to the makeshift communications center I'm transmitting from."

"Has there been any progress breaching the central hive itself?"

"Uh, last I heard was negative sir," Amert replied. "The Invid scrambled about two dozen of those new command mecha that intelligence warned us about. We're taking them down, but it's taking a long time." The lieutenant seemed to gaze off absentmindedly for a few moments.

"Is there anything else, lieutenant?" Reinhardt inquired impatiently.

"Yes sir, though, it uh, is unconfirmed," the Cyclone rider answered. "Lt. Commander Bernard was contacted as per your orders and agreed to take part in the battle. Some Alpha pilots thought they saw Bernard enter the hive through a portal of some kind. We're not sure, though whether he managed to get inside, or was destroyed in the attempt."

"Well, have you attempted to exploit the entry point?" demanded the commander.

"Apparently General, it vanished immediately after Bernard made his penetration. We threw everything we had at the point, but the central hive just seems to absorb it all without a scratch. Now if the fleet firepower can be brought to bear- wait a second." Amert put his hand to the special high-powered transmitter on the side of his helmet. "Reconnaissance teams report the Reflex Point peripheral hives have just launched Troop Carriers and booster Scouts. I expect they'll be heading your way, sir."

Reinhardt glanced at his tactical officer, who nodded grimly.

"We have them on scanners already. We'll just have to hope Bernard survived to take out the Regis," the General replied. Please succeed. Lest I be forced to order all your deaths. "Keep me informed. Out."

The Garfish-class cruiser Gloval, holding station just behind the embattled outer picket of the REF fleet discharged Captain Gempshaw's 27th Shadow Fighter squadron into the fray.

"Squadron leader 27 to Shadow Wing: Orbit the inner defense line perimeter. Don't let anything through." Acknowledgements echoed across the net. "Two-Seven, form up on me. Let's see what can be done to help out that vanguard. Stay upside; we don't want to get caught in that crossfire."

"Roger that, sir," Gempshaw's second-in-command, Lt. Rita Glancev responded.

"Let's kill some slugs," Lt. Carl Reitnour, Gempshaw's erratic third section leader, replied approvingly.

Gempshaw guided the twelve fighters up to a vantage point ahead of the fleet and rotated 180° on his Alpha's axis. Astonishingly, despite the debris of Invid Carriers which littered the low orbit beneath the REF cruisers, there were still enough booster-equipped Invid Scouts to form up for a strike against the fleet. He caught sight of an strange looking fragment that was appearing to grow larger by the second. In an instant, his brain recognized the distinctive discus shape of an Invid Troop Carrier rising swiftly from Reflex Point.

Gempshaw turned onto an intercept course and accelerated. "Inbound Clamshell Carrier, squad, and I guarantee when that thing opens up there is not going to be a pearl inside for you. Full power to Destabilizers, aim for their engine deck."

"This is section leader, target acquired and locked," Glancev growled.

Beads of sweat floated freely inside Gempshaw's helmet. The Destabilizers might punch a few holes through and disable the Carrier, but it was doubtful if even that would prevent the Invid from loosing its cargo of 400 lethal stingers. Suddenly, an indicator on his instrument panel turned bright red and a piercing shriek resounded through his ears. A moment of raw panic passed before Vice Admiral Da Cruz's face flashed onto the right side of his communications panel.

"I appreciate your enthusiasm, Squadron Leader 27," she said calmly but strained, "but you'll probably want to get out of the way."

"Two-Seven, up 45, left 60. Full thrust!" Gempshaw ordered. In a matter of seconds, the paint tone died away. "This is Squadron Leader 27; We're clear."

With that, the cruisers unleashed a fusillade of blue energy, ventilating the Clamshell Carrier and blowing it to pieces. When the blinding flash of white light diminished, Gempshaw glanced over his shoulder and did a double take. The explosion had taken every Invid ship with it over a mile radius.

"Well, that sure beats sprinkling salt on them," Reitnour laughed over the net.

"This is command, Squadron Leader Two-Seven: Gamma-One-Sigma. Redeploy your wing to the fleet's left flank," Lt. Sparks relayed with the correct prearranged code.

"Acknowledged."

Gempshaw's six squadrons rendezvoused behind the cruiser pickets. Beyond them a cloud of Invid fighters was closing alarmingly. The cruisers were concentrating all their firepower on the powerful Enforcer ships which led each column, but their progress was taking too long. Gempshaw realized in horror that the Invid were going to break through no matter what.

"Shadow Wing, hold them!" he barked over the communications net, gritting his teeth together. The first wave of Invid slipping between the REF cruiser line was met with a deluge of missile and Destabilizer fires that cut giant swathes of destruction like rail-guns clear to the back of their columns. The survivors loosed streams of annihilation discs in apparent confusion at their invisible enemy. But a second, and then a third wave broke through more successfully than the first. Half Gempshaw's Veritechs had already fired off all their missiles and a few even had burnouts in their Destabilizers.

"Squadron Leader 27 to control. Emergency assistance, Theta-7-Niner requested," Gempshaw managed.

"Roger that."

A single Invid Scout collided with and destroyed two of Gempshaw's fighters. With their incredible speed, the enemy was nearly as deadly just flying blindly in a straight line. At that moment, three dozen fresh Shadow Drones swept in from behind, raking the Invid columns with fire. Gempshaw sighed with relief and sent a silent thank you to MIA Dr. Lang for inventing those gorgeous automatons.

The tide had turned for the REF's pickets in the skirmish; but it was becoming clear that the tide was also turning in the battle itself.

And not for the better.

Reinhardt skimmed through the analysis of the Invid strengths compiled since the beginning of the battle. The battle fleet's individual shields were rapidly diminishing, and the estimates of the Invid troop capacity were higher than even the most alarmist REF intelligence officer had been willing to predict. Even if he deployed the fleet's reserves, it was only a matter of time before the cruisers were simply overwhelmed and collapsed like dominos.

The general was desperately thankful for small favors; the Shadow Wing's remnants had managed to take advantage of a minor lull to refuel and rearm.

"General Reinhardt, Admiral Da Cruz is hailing us," the comm. officer informed him. The Jupiter Division commander was on Reinhardt's view screen before he could even acknowledge. Smoke obscured the bridge section behind her. From the look on Da Cruz's face, it was somewhat extraordinary that smoke wasn't emanating from her ears as well.

"Sir, the odds of our surviving another blow like that are not particularly encouraging," Da Cruz told him with a glare. "Scanners reveal that the last wave of mecha was launched from Invid hives in Australia and Southeast Asia. General, I must request again that our perimeter be extended to cover these bases, before we're completely annihilated!"

"Now you listen to me, Da Cruz!" Reinhardt responded angrily. "The perimeter is already in danger of collapse, and there's no way we can simply extend it without turning every ship into cannon fodder!"

General Grant's face materialized next to Da Cruz's on Reinhardt's display. "General Reinhardt, I've been monitoring and I have to say I agree with Vice Admiral Da Cruz. Let me bring up my reserves; I have enough to shore up the line and then some. The Angel can cover the Southlands and keep the Invid off your back while Da Cruz takes care of the Pacific Basin."

"Vince, you've got the council on board to think of," Reinhardt said with concern.

"They have unanimously agreed to take the risk, sir. I await your decision," Grant responded with a faint smile. Reinhardt understood; he hadn't expected the Plenipotentiary Council members to have such backbone either.

"All right," Reinhardt said after a moment of deliberation. "Da Cruz, deploy your wing to cover the Pacific. Try to draw out the Invid fighters that you're engaging, and we'll sweep them off your back with the last of the fresh Shadow Drones we have. Vince, you've got my okay to cover the South American quadrant. Good luck."

The commanders saluted and signed off.

Gempshaw vaulted back into the cockpit of his replenished Alpha Fighter in the hanger of the Gloval and checked the pressure seals on his slate gray battle armor. He watched with satisfaction the effect the last of the new Drones was having on the hapless Invid ghosting the Jupiter Division cruisers. The AI Alphas were programmed with a variety of impressive maneuvers; spinning sideslips, even the Fokker Fake. Regardless, the AI Alphas were taking heavy losses.

"Captain Gempshaw," Lt. Sparks signaled. "The Drones we have left must be conserved. The Gloval has been ordered to assign its Drones as a backup for your squadron."

"Acknowledged."

"Be advised," Sparks continued, "things are deteriorating planetside. General Reinhardt has decided to start siphoning off Shadow squadrons to try to break through into Reflex Point's central hive."

"This fleet doesn't stand a chance of surviving up here without every single fighter we have available!" Gempshaw fumed.

"If General Reinhardt had been interested in debating this decision with you, Captain, I'm sure he would've let me know," Sparks said dryly. "Out."

"Sir, three cruisers wiped out!" a tech exclaimed.

"Blast it!" exclaimed the general. "Why in heaven's name haven't those troops taken Reflex Point yet?"

Sparks interrupted the general's venting with more bad news. "Sir, the Second, Third, and Fifth divisions report extremely heavy casualties and I can't raise the fourteenth at all."

The commander closed his eyes in frustration. "At this rate, we won't be able to hold out against them for more than a few hours or so. Send a squadron down for a head on attack against Reflex Point."

"I'm ok!" Glancev was saying, but a quick glance at her fighter revealed this was anything but the case. A fragment from one of the battle cruisers that just exploded nearby had sheered most of the right side of her Alpha clean off. In spite of the fact that Da Cruz and Grant's cruisers had destroyed over half a dozen Clamshell Carriers within seconds of their launch, the number of Invid fighters managing to reach orbit was continuing to increase. Gempshaw was starting to believe that the carriers were being launched as a gambit to draw the fleet's fire away from those Scouts achieving orbit on their own power.

Sparks's precise voice came over the net before Gempshaw could respond to her. "Squadron: Two-Seven-Niner. Detach from present coordinates and proceed to Reflex Point. Over."

"Roger, command," Gempshaw answered instinctively before he could think of a snide comment to add. "This is squadron leader; we're on our way."

He didn't even need his instruments to lay in a course. The fleet's fire had boiled away the cloud cover above the unmistakable crimson hemispheres of Reflex Point.

"Sir, let me come with you," Glancev pleaded.

"Out of the question, Rita. There is no way at all your Alpha will survive reentry. Get to the nearest transport you can and stay there. Two-Seven, form up on me."

Glancev dropped her fighter's remaining wing in salute and slowly pealed off for the fleet. Already the nose of Gempshaw's fighter was glowing with friction. He pulled the lever for Guardian configuration on his control panel to bring the Veritech's main engines into play against the tug of the planet. A moment later, his five remaining Alphas followed suit. Behind followed eight Shadow Drones already programmed by the Gloval bridge crew to penetrate Reflex Point or die trying. Die trying? Gempshaw mused. It made about as much sense as anything else that had occurred this most memorable and wretched of days.