Secrets of the Flower
DeadPhrog@sinewave.com (DeadPhrog)
Here's the 1st chapter of Secrets of the Flower, N-joy!
Notes: This story takes place near the end of the New Gen saga, on the meaning of the battle at Reflex Point, before the REF arrives. Since I haven't seen the New Gen eps in some time, I've gone with the novels on this one.
BTW, I wrote this with win95's Wordpad, in Word 6 format, and it's formatted much better there, with itallics and everything. If you have a computer that can read Word 6 documents, I will gladly send you that file instead of this one. Thank you.
Robotech: Secrets of the Flower
By Jeremy Kaufmann aka DeadPhrog
email: deadphrog@sinewave.com
Robotech is a trademark and copyright of Harmony Gold. This document is in no way intended to infringe on Harmony Gold's rights. This document is copyright 1996 Jeremy Kaufmann. It may be only transferred in any form if it is not modified. It may not be included in any collections without the author's
permission.
Chapter One
It was nearing dawn, and Ron struggled to keep his eyes from closing. He had gotten very little sleep the pervious night, but of course, it's what he'd been expecting. Well, Ron thought, the cockpit of an Alpha was never the best place to sleep. Ron started powering up the Alpha, and the HUD came up. He turned on the comlink. "Bill! Wake up!" he yelled. William was startled awake. "Ronald! I told you to call me William!" he yelled in response, in a rather groggy version of his usual English accent. "Sure, Bill. What's the condition on that old bird? "My Veritech is in amazingly good condition considering what that Invid did to it." he whined. "Oh come on Bill. I blew that thing's arm off before it could get too deep. Stop crying about it already!" Ron countered. "Anyway, how come YOU got the Alpha and I got this old VF-1? This thing looks like it got stomped by the Zentraedi, Masters, AND the Invid! And that Shock Trooper's claws almost ripped the arm of this old VF!" William continued to whine. "Bill if you don't shut up I'm gonna blow the OTHER arm off that Veritech! Now listen! If you haven't already, power up your Veritech, turn on your HUD, and start looking for targets! I'm gonna try and see if I can find any other REF groups out here. While I'm doing that I want you to try and find a good place to snipe at some Invid. Find some trees or something. Our job is to try and hold the fort down here and wait for the REF's main fleet." Ron said, calm, and in control of the situation. "But Ronald! What if they come after me! How long are you going to be?" William said, his voice pleading. It was quite apparent that he was looking for a way out of it. "Will you stop whining?! I'll be along shortly!" With that, William sullenly turned his VT (in Guardian mode) towards a small clump trees. As William's VT stomped off Ron muttered to himself "Well, that should keep that slacker busy.... Like there's any Invid over there.... Glad he never thought to check his sensors...." Ron thought a minute and started trying to conctact other members of Mars Division, sliently cursing at the memory of the failed invasion. William did his best to hide in the forest, and look for Invid, but suprise, suprise, no Invid showed their faces. As William sat there he began sulking. Why does he get the good Veritech? Just because he was in that crappy try at foiling those Invid slugs, he gets the good VT, AND he's always telling me what to do.
On the other hand, I suppose he was in the REF, and it's not like I was more than just a civilian. I could barely handle this thing in Battloid mode. It's lucky I took such an intrest to flying in my younger days. During our short-lived peace before the Invid. What a stroke of luck it was coming across that old jet! It didn't take long for Wally to teach me how to fly it. Well, I daresay he was a good pilot. He certainly knew his way around a Logan! What about Ronald, though? It's obvious he knows how to handle that Alpha well enough... I wonder... A REF pilot... Maybe... No. He's almost gotten me killed quite a few times. I suppose the next logical thing to ask is could I do any better? Ridding the planet of those loathesome Invid does have it's cost. I wonder... Is my life part of that cost? I once heard somewhere that a long-dead man once spoke of liberty or death. How many have to die for earth's freedom?
*****
Meanwhile, Ron began to get frustrated. He ran a hand through his short, wiry, black hair. This radio wasn't getting him anywhere, and he knew it. His anger rising, he eyed the gleaming metal radio control. Without so much as a thought he brought his hand down on it swiftly. The slight pain that accompanied the slam jarred him back to reality. He remembered William, and William's protests to going on his little quest. Ron turned the radio back on, and told William to come back. As he waited for William's return, he began to hum. Ron eyes unfocused, and he was soon lost in thought, still humming vaugely. Ron slowly became aware of a rising tone in the air. Somewhere in Ron's mind it registered that the tone sounded familiar... Suddenly Ron's mind snapped to attention, and Ron threw the Alpha to the right, narrowly avoided a barrage of anni dics. As Ron struggled to reorient himself a giant claw loomed into view, a claw Ron knew belonged to an Invid Shock Trooper. Ron threw a nearby switch marked 'B', and the Alpha, in it's Gerwalk, or Guardian mode suddenly straightened up, and became a gleaming robot. The Invid seemed almost awed. Almost. Ron took this oppertunity to blow a gaping hole in the purple, crab-like Invid's sensor. Instantly the craft was engulfed in a ball of flame, and a sticky green liquid covered all nearby objects, including the Alpha in it's Battloid mode, standing over it's kill. Ron imagined the green goop was already beginning to eat through the Alpha's white and red paint. It occured to Ron the leaving this area probably made sense, not only because of the green liquid, but in case the Invid brought any of his buddies along. Ron fired his thrusters, and the Battloid rose above the ground. The Battloid's head turned left and right, and inside the cockpit Ron searched for William. What he found was something else entirely...
*****
William cursed as his Veritech attempted to rise above the treetops, taking a large portion of a particularly tall Oak with it. With the added weight William was having a hard time stabalizing the VT. William pulled a switch that brought his Veritech to it's fighter mode, and started speeding off to where he saw Ron last. The tree seemed determined to become a permanent part of the Veritech, but as William increased the fighters speed, the tree could no longer take it. With a satisfying crack, a large limb broke and William smiled as he heard the tree's descent begin. William was so pleased to be rid of the trees that he put the Veritech through a triumphent roll. He flew on for several minutes, and as he reached the place where Ron had been, he put his VT back in it's Gerwalk mode, and started to descend. This turned out to be an unwise descision, because the VT jerked suddenly, and William was dismayed to see the the arm that had been earlier damaged fall to the ground. William dove towards the ground, and he heard several anni discs wizz by overhead. He leveled the VT moments before it reached the ground and flew directly towards the source of the discs, a Shock Trooper, desperatly trying to hit William with an anni disc. Just before impacting with the Trooper, William brought the Veritech's feet up, reversing his motion, and scorching the confused Trooper. It was then that William brought GU-II gunpod to bear, tearing throught the Invid mecha, and after a moment, holing it's sensor, causing it to burst into flame, spewing green liquid everywhere. William climbed and yelled on the comlink, "Ronald! Where in god's name are you?!" Just then another anni disc flew by, grazing the VT's leg. Again William pulled a switch, and the Veritech's legs straightened out, it's arms turned out, and the nose area folded down over the front area, exposing a one-eyed metallic head, which began waving back and forth furiously as William searched for his assailant. He located it, yet another Shock Trooper, and moved some controls, causing the VT's arms to reach out towards his target, with both hands gripping the gunpod. William began emptying round after round into the Trooper, which finally gave an exasperated hiss, and exploded, indignantly. William mentally kicked himself, when he noticed he was out of ammo. William landed, and began searching for more enemies. Seemingly out of nowhere an Invid Scout charged towards William, claws outstretched. William parried the Scout's first blow of it's claws, using his depleted GU-II. He then took careful aim with the laser located on each side of the Veritech's head. The head tuned to face it's enemy, it's lasers looking for all the world like anntenae, or rabbit ears. The lasers themselves dispelled this illusion by firing, and shattering the Scout's sensor. The ensuing explosion sent William's VT into the air, but William stabilized the VT using his thrusters. Thankfully, no more Invid showed their faces, hiding behind shell-like mecha. William tried to raise Ron on the com again, but got only further silence. William wondered what to do, when suddenly the decision was taken out of his hands....
*****
I would appreciate all questions, comments, and critism, so please don't hesitate to mail me at deadphrog@sinewave.com. Thank you.
----====DeadPhrog====----
