Macross Fan Fiction ❯ Legend of Megaroad -- Book One ❯ Chapter 3: The Big Guns ( Chapter 3 )

Chapter 3: The Big Guns

February 25, 2016

--13:12--

Two months had passed since the Megaroad had defolded into this system. Work on the SDF-102 was proceeding well ahead of schedule, and the ship's innards had already come to resemble the Macross. It was fully capable of supporting at least 50,000 people now, with all its systems up to spec. The bridge section had been completed first, and all of the ship's systems had finally been hard wired to the command center. Several bulkheads were strategically removed to make room for a planned city block, and once the hazardous programming had been scrubbed from the computers, the main cannons had been re-connected as well. It was all ready to fly. But there were two important elements still lacking from the new ship: a crew, and a name. No one was sure who would be the captain of the new ship. Corina was the best candidate, but she and Misa were the only ones opposed to the assignment. They thought of assigning one of the more experience Zentradi to command, but none of them seemed willing to give up their own commands for a new ship, and the same went for their qualified junior officers. While the assignments for the ship's crew were filled rather quickly, the list of qualified officers to command was a very short one. And the jury was still out on what to call this ship.

Corina stood at her station as usual, looking over the ship from stem to stern. It looked exactly the way it had when they first discovered it, though a bit more solid after the repair work to her hull, and the whole ship had been repainted in battleship-gray. It was a very beautiful ship, she had to admit it.

Lieutenant Douglass was likewise looking out the window at the ship, but her mind was focused on other matters. "Broli still not talking to you?"

Corina considered Sara to be the sister she never had...or wanted. The ship's tactical officer had a notoriously short attention span, but she had proven that she could always be counted on when it mattered. This, Corina decided, was one of those times. "He's not ignoring me or anything. He just seems really nervous around me. If I didn't know better, I'd say he's terrified of me."

"Maybe he is. You probably scared him off during your last date. Don't forget, that type of emotion is a whole new ball game for a Zentradi. Just be patient."

For a woman almost 4 years younger than her, Sara was quite the fountain of wisdom. "How long do you think it'll take him to recover?"

"How long did it take him to get used to seeing men and women kiss each other?"

Corina saw her hopes rising again. "That was one of his first surprises when he transferred from the Bacta-Quedrali last year. He happened to see Captain Ichijo with Hikaru in the officer's club one night. It only took him about three months, but they make a pretty cute couple so it probably wasn't that hard." Corina giggled, as did Sara

On that note, the hatch opened and Misa walked onto the bridge. She took a few steps forward and then stopped suddenly, looking around the room at her crew. "I know when someone's been talking about me. What did you say Corina?" She said in a mocking tone.

"Nothing sir! Actually, we were talking about Broli."

Misa nodded. "Don't worry about it, he'll be fine in a few weeks once he gets used to you again." Misa sat in the Captain's chair on the far port side of the bridge and rubbed her temples painfully. "I've gone over EVERY service record on this ship and I still can't find anyone qualified to command the new ship. Commander McCarthy WAS the best candidate, but she can't very well command a warship form her grave, can she?"

"Maybe I could be Captain!" Sara chirped exuberantly.

At least 4 people in the room responded in unison. "NO!"

Sara grunted indignantly. Misa looked through the windows at the SDF-102 as it rested along side the Megaroad. It was beautiful, she thought. As much as it resembled the SDF-1, it was still quite an experience to see it as it was originally designed. "We have a whole crew assembled for this ship but no captain for it."

"We also need a wing commander, sir. We're transferring ten squadrons of fighters over there, but they need leadership just like anyone else." Corina was reading the SDF-102's crew manifest again.

Misa sighed. "And with all this, we don't even know what to name her." Misa stood up and walked over to the huge radar screen on the starboard side of the bridge, exactly opposite to her chair. "Ensign Cartwright, show me the star charts for this sector, expanded to include the galactic center."

"Yes ma'am." She said, accessing the necessary data. Misa looked at the charts and started to think. They were only a few hundred light years from the center of the galaxy, which presented a very interesting target for exploration. But there were other objectives she had hoped to achieve before she risked the entire fleet on such a dangerous venture. Objectives she had kept to herself and never told anyone about before. But this new ship made all the difference in the world; now was her chance. Not that the Zentradi ship's weren't powerful enough for the job, but the SDF-102's main cannon was more powerful than any weapon in their current arsenal and the ship itself was far more versatile. And besides that, it was also expendable. It was essentially a little jalopy they picked up on the side of the road, and now they could use it to draw some heat away from the Megaroad when the time came. At this moment, looking at the star charts, she decided it was time to speak to Varcus in depth about proto-culture. But first, she had to find a new Captain for the ship without a name.

--18:45--

"This is Viper 100 calling Delta, area 12 is clear. Proceeding to our final patrol zone." Broli reported. He had to figure that this last patrol zone was where the enemy must've been hiding; Broli had known for a long time what awaited him on one of the little planets. For the past two months his squadron had scoured the worlds of the system, one by one, until he was satisfied that they were cleared of any Supervision presence. He had quietly passed on his concerns to Captain Gouraz of the Bacta-Quedrali, who had whole heartedly agreed. An entire division of fighters and shock troopers in powered suits had discreetly searched the mini-worlds one by one before the survey teams had arrived. He was relieved that the Supervision Army had not been spotted down there, but he was disappointed that none of the surveyed worlds had any hope for colonization. They were utterly uninhabitable, and most of them couldn't even be terraformed. And now they came to their last little world, a moon so small it didn't even have an atmosphere, and Broli's worst fears were beginning to manifest. An entire squadron of battlepods had ceased communications while checking a deep ice valley near the north pole, and there had been signs of struggle and energy reaction. Viper Squadron neared the area in question now, and Broli let his finger dance over the targeting controls for the 4 reflex warheads. He was less than two seconds from unleashing a nuclear fury that could wipe out a small city, but he would wait until he was sure he had a target.

And then that target appeared. As the squadron neared the deep valley in set into the ice sheet, something began to rise up from it's concealment. No one knew what to make of it; it certainly didn't look Zentradi. But when a hail of cannon fire lanced out from the hull of the vessel, striking down Viper 104 with one of it's beams, the entire squadron broke formation and scattered for their lives. All except Broli.

He knew that there was no time to explain the situation to anyone on the Megaroad, they just wouldn't understand. The other Zentradi units on this little moon had undoubtedly seen the flare from the plane they had just shot down, and even if they hadn't they were sure to see this... all four of his reflex warheads streaked from beneath his wings and detonated in unison, illuminating the valley and most of the face of the moon with a false dawn.

On the Megaroad, everyone on the ship cast their gaze toward the face of the moon below, staring in wonder at the blinding nuclear fireball which had carved a massive section out of the moon's surface. Corina and Misa stared at the explosion with growing anxiety. They didn't know what was going on, but they could see 10 Valkyries rising from the moon as fast as their engines could carry them. Broli's fighter was still down there, and there was nothing left of Viper 104. "Viper 100, report at once! Viper 100!" Corina was screaming into the radio at the top of her lungs. There was no reply.

Misa didn't like where this was going at all. She thought to send reinforcements, until Broli's Valkyrie suddenly appeared on the radar, tailed by a swarm of Quodrono powered armors and several small warships she had never seen before. "This is Viper 100 calling Delta! Looks like I've stirred up the hornet's nest! They're right behind me!"

A new signal broke through the commotion, one Misa knew too well. "This Skull Leader to all fighter groups, Launch when ready! Repeat, Launch when ready! Viper Squadron rendezvous with the Zentradi attack group at defense point alpha..."

Misa sprang to the radio control so quickly she almost knocked Corina through the wall. "Hikaru, what the hell are you doing?! You don't have any scramble orders! We don't even know what's going on out there!"

"We don't have time, Captain! You won't be able to arm your warheads fast enough! So you might as well sound the scramble horn, because we're going out!"

"Hikaru you're in big trouble when you get back here mister! I mean it!" She screamed. She looked over the port side of the bridge and she could see fighters blasting away from their hangars far astern. At least four squadrons passed by the bridge as she watched, all armed with reflex weapons. And beyond them, the entire fleet was beginning to move to support the attacking fighters. It was utter chaos. "This is Delta to all ships, alter course immediately to 140 minus 18! We'll fire broadside if we have to, just get out of the battle zone as fast as you can!" Most of the Zentradi fleet seemed to comply, but the command battleship Bacta-Quedrali and three destroyers were making a wide arch in the opposite direction, putting themselves between the Megaroad and the attacking fleet. "Delta calling Eagles Nest, fall back with the rest of the fleet! We have to regroup before we get in over our heads!"

The commander of the Zentradi battleship, the unusually tall Zentradi warrior named Captain Gouraz, hailed the bridge of the Megaroad is his usual booming voice. "We have no idea what their soldiers will do to you if they get close enough! We must protect the civilians!"

A flare appeared up ahead now, telltale sign that someone in Viper squadron fired one of their small tactical nukes designed for anti-mecha warfare. Misa saw from the situation boards that a massive groups of battlepods had appeared out of nowhere and opened fire on the Valkyrie/Zentradi counter attack group. A savage melee of missiles, beams and shells now danced back and forth in the distance, marked by the occasional explosion of either space craft or tactical nuke, or sometimes both. Corina was worried about Broli, who was leading the counter attack with his squadron now, but everyone on the bridge was worried for all the soldiers fighting out there no matter who they were. But as they looked on at the chaos of the battle, their gaze was drawn to the SDF-102 as it passed in front of their line of sight. Apparently, it had been moving away from the Megaroad for several minutes and was already close enough to the battle zone to open fire with it's laser cannons. They could only hope that the guys in the ship's navigation bridge knew what they were doing.

Again, Misa looked at the situation board, still totally unaware that she was crushing Corina against the bulkhead with her shoulder. "Delta to all ships, maintain forward formation at all costs! The enemy's patrol ships are charging under fighter cover!"

As the Zentradi ships began to comply, Corina discretely shoved Misa out of the way and went back to her duties. For several minutes they could do nothing but wait until Hikaru's wing was in position to attack. Sara was looking at the situation board in front of her and she started to get nervous. "Sir, their destroyers are pulling back to the rear! Viper squadron reports enemy units are superior and they can't hold them off much longer!"

Misa clenched her fists. "Corina, spread them out and tell Hikaru he's cleared to deploy his reflex missiles."

Corina again looked out the window to where Viper and Thor squadrons were fighting the attacking fighters along side their Zentradi allies. "Zentradi attack group, reset for long range combat! We're going to attack with reflex warheads in a moment, so give them a wide berth!"

"Roger!" Replied Broli. He passed the order on to the others, but found it was alot easier said than done. He was able to play keep-away with a squadron of battlepods for several minutes by firing his missiles in combination with the double action beam cannon on his right booster pack, but they had charged in like mad boars no matter how many of them he destroyed. Now they were back to close combat, and he was getting more and more anxious to get out of the way of the reflex missile attack. And then, as if by divine intervention, several blasts of laser fire began to streak past around and through the battle that raged between fighters, forcing the enemy pods to spread out from the Valkyries and Zentradi forces. Broli covered the last of his men with his beam cannons and head lasers as they retreated, making sure that he would be the last one to leave today.

Misa watched with disbelief as the SDF-102 fired a massive barrage from her laser turrets at the enemy fighters. She knew that much of that fire was coming from the destroid battalion that had recently been moved there, but it was still amazing to think that a warship so new that it didn't even have a name could put up that kind of fight. "What's the status of our Skull and Iron Chief Squadrons?"

"Sir, our fighter units are now approaching missile range!" Sara reported.

"Get bearing and distance from the nearest Cat's Eye!" Misa yelled.

Corina looked at her tactical board and frowned. "The nearest Cat's Eye is too far out of position. We'll have to wait for them to catch up to the fighter wing."

As the UN fighter group fell back to safety behind the wall of suppression fire from the SDF-102, Broli's fired the last of his micro missiles from the FAST packs in his legs before switching to battloid mode and cutting lose with his gunpod. The combination of shells and missiles destroyed more than a dozen battlepods at once. "Don't bother with that Cat's Eye!" He shouted, "I've got their positions for you... Enemy fighter group is approaching at course 227 minus 18, range 500, speed 11, spread pattern Sigma 397!" Broli dove quickly to avoid fire from two Quodrono suits that had pulled in behind him, and then emptied his gunpod into both of them before continuing. "They've got about 80 Quodrono fighters and at least 200 battle pods, supporting 6 to 10 corvette type ships and two destroyers!" Broli locked down the beam cannon over his shoulder and dropped two battlepods one after another before burying his fist in the third one and crushing the pilot's skull. "We can't keep this up for long, hurry up with those missiles!"

In his fighter, Hikaru could see the enemy clearly on his scopes. It wasn't all that much bigger than a large Zentradi attack group, not counting the number of small warships. "Skull Zero to all units, fire on my command!" All of the fighters were in range now. With this many fighters, all armed with reflex weapons, this could be a very short battle. "Ready..." He said as his computer programmed and checked the spread pattern. As he watched, Broli's squadron suddenly boosted away from the battle, followed closely by the friendly Zentradi mecha and finally by Broli himself, who actually flew backwards in gerwalk mode so he could keep the enemy fighters at bay. Finally the computer was programmed and the missiles had their targets, making sure all the friendlies were out of the kills zone. "FIRE!" He shouted. Nearly 50 reflex warheads plowed into enemy formations like angry bees, passing the friendly fighters ahead of their targets and detonating in the midst of the onrushing enemy craft, vaporizing most of them instantly. Hikaru was blinded for a moment by the flash from the explosions, but he quickly recovered and started scanning for any fighters the bombs missed.

As he scanned ahead, Broli's Valkyrie pulled up along side him. "Captain Ichijo, we have to get those warships! If they get away, they'll come back with reinforcements!"

"Right. All squadrons, engage the enemy! Skull Squadron, follow me! We're gonna have to take down those ships before they blow the whistle on us!"

"How sir?" Asked Lieutenant Harper of the Iron Chief's squadron. "The others are launching, but there's no way they can get there in time, not with all that's going on out here!"

Hikaru had an idea. "Hey Broli, I need you for a very special assignment." Hikaru switched to battleoid mode and pointed with his finger. "You think you could fly THAT?" Broli stopped in space and saw that Hikaru was pointing towards where the SDF-102 was blasting away with it's laser cannons.

"If all we have to do is fire the main cannon, it should work fine. But do we even have that much time?" He asked, checking the distance to the ship with his radar.

"It's the quickest way I know of! Hurry up!" Broli didn't have to be told twice. As Hikaru and the other Lightings tore into the enemy fighters with their gunpods, Broli quickly set his fighter down on the hull next to the bridge. He entered though an airlock in the command tower and rushed past several crewmen to secure the bridge. "Who's the XO here?!" He shouted as he burst into the room.

A young officer turned around from his consol in the front of the room."Lieutenant Mike Gallow at your service, Commander!" Broli noted with satisfaction that the kid looked like some kind of shrunken Roy Fokker. He decided maybe this was a good sign.

"Get the main cannon ready for firing! We have to take out those ships before they can fold out of the system!"

"Right sir!" The young ensign seemed overjoyed, and Broli could tell he had been waiting quite some time for such an opportunity to fire the cannon. He ran over to the radar screen on the side of the bridge and checked the status of the enemy ships. 8 of the corvettes were charging the Megaroad, but the Zentradi escorts were wiping the floor with them as they come into range of their laser cannons. There were two destroyers behind the main battle zone that had yet to do engage in fighting, and Broli noticed an energy buildup in their furnaces. They were getting ready to fold. "Set your target to that second destroyer at the far side of the formation! We have to fire before they fold again!" Broli recognized the thin redheaded girl standing at the tactical officer's station as Ensign Amelia Ryder. He had met her before on the Megaroad when he had first arrived, and she had given him a tour of the ship. Now she was inputting target information for the navigation bridge, who's duty it was to orient the ship so the main cannon could be fired accurately. But she was in complete control of the weapon itself.

"This is Gunsight Two, calling all Valkyries! We're firing the main cannon! You now have 30 seconds to clear the line of fire!" Even as he spoke, the forward hull of the ship divided itself into two separate halves in preparation for firing. The main cannon was now open, but Broli hoped they could get off the shot before those ships refolded out of the system. "Systems ready! Energy level rising! Taking aim..." Lieutenant Gallow reported from his consol. Electrical energy began to arch between the two hull sections of the main cannon as reflex energy began to condense between them.

Broli watched Ensign Ryder flip up a large metal safety switch and place her hand on a leaver in the recess of her consol. A light on the weapons display screen stared to flash yellow, and then it glowed a steady green. They were ready. "Open fire!" He yelled.

The Ensign Ryder pushed a button on the leaver and slammed it forward. Outside, Broli could see the arcs of energy suddenly increase intensity before coalescing into a massive wave of reflex energy that exploded from the ship toward the enemy fleet. As the Valkyrie fighters cleared a path for the blast, a wave of energy cascaded over the remaining fighter pods and powered armors, disintegrating all of them in less than a second before sweeping onward towards the destroyers. The beam struck the first destroyer at it's midpoint, destroying it completely as the energy wave tore it apart. The other destroyer, though not sustaining a direct hit, buckled and collapsed as the wash of energy from the cannon crushed it's hull to bits. Both destroyers were now gone, as were most of the corvettes that had been around them. The other ships that had been charging the colony fleet were blasted into stardust a moment later by a combined salvo of laser fire from the gunners on the Bacta-Quedrali and the Megaroad.

"Direct hit, sir!" Reported Ensign Mike, stating the obvious.

"It's not over yet! Navigation, come to 149 minus 73. Prepare to fire a second burst from the main cannon!"

Amelia checked the power levels on her consol. "Sir, we'll need about three minutes to recharge the capacitors before we can fire again!"

"That's all the time we need! Full power to engines!"

On the Megaroad, the bridge crew had watched the firing of the SDF-102's main cannon and Misa had gasped in awe as it swept away the enemy ships. "It's beautiful isn't it? You'd never know that it just destroyed a small fleet with that blast."

Sara yelped in panic. "Captain, the SDF is changing course and heading toward the 3rd moon!"

Misa ran to the front of the bridge and activated the com system to the SDF-102. An image appeared on the huge dome outside the bridge showing the ship's commander, and to everyone's surprise it was none other than Broli himself. "Megaroad, this moon is a base for the Supervision Army! I don't know how, but they somehow managed to conceal their energy signature from our scanners!"

"I figured that. What can we do about it now? We're just going to have to fold and hope they don't follow us..."

"But I already know they WILL follow us! There aren't many of them left, commander! If that base has a Proto-Deviln commander than they can rebuild their forces using our crewmates!"

Misa raised a brow. "I don't have a clue what we're talking about, but there isn't time to explain now if that's true. Do what you must for now, and the fleet will cover you!"

"Yes sir!" Broli said, closing the com line. He went to the front of the bridge and cast his gaze out into space. The moon was growing closer as the ship closed in, and some of the ground-based laser cannons that had survived his earlier attack started to open fire. The SDF-102 returned fire with it's own guns, and Broli noticed that Thor squadron had gathered around the command tower to protect it from the clusters of missiles that rose up from the surface. "Thanks you guys..." He thought as he watched his comrades pick off missiles with their head lasers and gunpods.

"Main cannon at full power! We can fire when ready!" Said Lieutenant Gallow.

"This is it. Set your target to that crater in the northern ice sheet, and reset the discharge field to minimum oscillation."

Ensign Ryder started making the adjustments, but stopped halfway through. "But sir, if we do that the firing angle will be greatly reduced..."

"I know! But most of that base is underground, so we have to narrow the beam so we can dig it out of there!"

"Then I'll just have to aim VERY carefully!" Amelia punched up the adjustments to the system and, once again, she activated the fire control circuits. Gallows monitored the energy level from his station, but Broli could see from the lightshow between the parted hull sections that the condenser field had been properly adjusted. "Locked and ready!" reported Gallow.

"Ensign, RCS thrusters at your discretion. Take your best shot!"

She adjusted the ships attitude slightly and then pulled back the leaver. "Now firing!" Once again, she pushed the button and slammed it forward. For the second time that day, the main cannon unleashed a wave of reflex energy that destroyed everything in it's path. It vaporized the missiles and fighters that rose up from the base to attack the ship before flash-boiling the ice over the base instantly on it's way to striking solid ground. Deeper and deeper it tunneled until it reached the hollowed out factory block once used by the Supervision Army in wars against the Galactic Republics. The blast tore through everything in the base, causing a chain reaction that igniting all of it's reflex furnaces at once. The explosion underground was evident only by jets of hot gas that erupted in geysers from beneath the ice, and the fact the entire surface of the moon over a 10 kilometer area heaved and sank several hundred meters lower.

Broli stood up from the captain's chair and patted Amelia on the back. "Great shot, Ensign Ryder!" He said warmly.

She turned around and simply beamed at him. "Thanks Captain. It's an honor to serve under you!"

Broli blinked heavily. "Uhhhhh... actually I haven't been assigned as this ship's captain. I'm in command of the Viper Squadron right now, and the only reason I'm here is because we needed the big gun."

Lieutenant Gallows was grinning like a cat. "Well maybe you SHOULD be captain! Aren't you a commander type Zentradi?"

Broli shrugged. "Yeah, but I was engineered for field command, like a fighter squadron or a shock trooper's division. I'm not exactly cut out for command of a battleship like Britai." With that, Broli turned and left the bridge, heading back down to the airlock where he had landed his fighter. He was feeling tired now, almost depressed for some reason. While he couldn't explain it, and he couldn't seem to shake it, the feeling just wouldn't go away. Only after he'd reported in and saw Corina's smiling face did he realize why he was so gloomy.

On the flight back to the Megaroad he realized he had missed her company, and he began to wonder if this feeling was what the micronians called love. He decided he would have to get back on Corina's good side again at any cost, but he still felt uncomfortable about her romantic interest in him. Thought he knew he couldn't avoid it forever, he was dreading the possibility that sooner or later she would force him to sleep with her. He brought his fighter around behind the ship and hailed the bridge. "This is Viper 100 calling Delta Control. Request bay clearance."

Corina appeared on his monitor again, still smiling proudly. "Broli, set down near docking bay 12. And once again, nice work out there!" She winked at him, and Broli nearly folded in on himself.

"Crazy micronians! It's a wonder they're not extinct by now!" He said to himself. His mind began thinking of ways to manipulate Corina in not mating with him. "C'mon, THINK Broli! There's gotta be a way out of this..." He thought as he brought his fighter in for a landing in docking bay 12. He decided that there was only one man alive who could help him now.

___________________________________________________________________ ___

The SDF-102 is based on the specs and picture from the Macross Mecha Designs, although the actual appearance at this point in the story is a bit closer to the SDF-Macross. (http://www.steelfalcon.com/Macross/ass1.shtml)