Blue Max Combined Arms Mecha Squad

2nd Lieutenant Michael Connors - Blue Max Commander, VT Pilot

Sergeant Major Hans Muller - 2nd in Command, Battler Cyclone Pilot

Sergeant Robert Duncan - 3rd in Command, Alpha Pilot

Lance Cpl. Steven Walsh - Saber Cyclone Pilot

Private First Class Ann Watson - Hovertank pilot

Private First Class Patrick McCrimmon - Beta Pilot

Private Wendy Thomas - Gladiator Pilot

Private Kelli Halle - Light Cyclone Pilot

Private David Mitchell - Excalibur Pilot

Private Thomas Black - Battler Cyclone Pilot

Lance Corporal William Donovan - Field Scientist, Battler Cyclone Pilot

Black Arrow Combined Arms Mecha Squad

Captain Pavel Sorin - Black Arrow Commander, Alpha Pilot

Yellow Jackets Combined Arms Mecha Squad

1st Lieutenant Anthony Brown - Yellow Jackets Commander, Alpha Pilot

White Knights Destroid Mecha Squad

Captain David Hynes - White Knights Commander, Alpha Pilot

UES Bismarck

Captain Niles Ramsey - Captain of UES Bismarck

Lieutenant General Edmund Forester - Commanding Battlegroup Bismarck

Colonel Dietrich Hartmann - Commander, Combined Arms Mecha Wing

It could have been any moon, orbiting any planet, circling any star, hurtling through any galaxy in the universe. But this moon was only a short fold away from Tirol, former homeworld of the Robotech Masters. And four of the thirty vessels orbiting the green moon were warships of the Robotech Expeditionary Force.

We had been on station at REF Base Ganymede for nearly a month. Things were in a state of confusion at that time. The Invid had been defeated in the quadrant several years before and the buildup for the second mission to retake Earth from the Invid was foremost on many minds. The first had ended in disaster by all accounts. The observers on Moon Base Aluce had reported nearly 100 percent casualties. We had also heard that all the Invid prisoners on the planets liberated by the Sentinels; Karbarra, Garuda, Haydon IV, Spheris, Peryton and Optera, had vanished. That may have been true but there were still Invid forces in several of the outlying systems, which was why we had been assigned to protect the base being built by REF and Sentinels engineers on the third moon of a very Jupiter like planet. The moon had a thin life supporting atmosphere and REF command decided that it was an excellent place for a military base and perhaps a colony for the increasing number of refugees following the destruction of Praxis and the upheavals on Haydon IV and Spheris. The planet had been named "Jupiter 2" because of its resemblance to the real Jupiter back home and the moon became know as Ganymede, the most notable of Jupiter's moons. The naming of the planet and moon also tied in with an effort to link the REF to Earth again after sixteen years. The latest thing was naming the fighting ships and shuttles after famous Earth ships from various wars throughout history. Morale was high in our battle group despite being left out of the second wave. A small Invid hive had been discovered on the second planet of the system and the force sent to take out the hive had done so with spectacular success. That was the first battle experience the troops in my mecha team had had and we took no casualties. We may have been shunted from the second wave but our exploits in the following days brought us more attention and combat experience than we ever wanted.

Excerpt from the collected journals of Colonel Hans Mueller, circa 2058.

 

It arrived in a blinding flash of light, and waited. In the vastness of space, It waited. Silent and immense, It waited. Time slipped away and still, It waited. Finally, in the blinking of an eye, It was gone.

May 17, 2038, REF Base Ganymede.

The sudden blaring of alarms and claxons broke the concentration of a tall, blond haired, grey eyed soldier. He looked away from the huge gas-giant slowly rotating below as soldiers and technicians began running by, heading to their stations. His mecha squad was on stand-down following the success against the Invid hive and Sergeant Major Hans Mueller had little to do until their next assignment ground side, so he had been killing time exploring some of the immensity of the ship. His uniform and unit patches marked him as a mecha pilot and member of the 57th Combined Arms Mecha Squad, the Blue Max's. Sadly, he gave the planet that so resembled the Jupiter he had never seen a last look and hurried off to the mecha bays.

Weapon crews and ready-reaction mecha squadron pilots raced to their stations as the Robotech Expeditionary Force Ikazuchi Command Carrier UES Bismarck broke orbit. The REF Tokugawa class cruiser, UES Scharnhorst, and two REF Garfish class troop carriers, UES Prinz Eugen, and UES Tirpitz also left orbit and formed up on Bismarck in attack formation, all aimed at an intruder that had suddenly come to visit.

Two hours later, aboard Bismarck, the PA crackled to life, "ATTENTION! ATTENTION! - Captain Pavel Sorin, Captain David Hynes, First Lieutenant Anthony Brown and Second Lieutenant Michael Connors, assemble your mecha teams and report to briefing room A. All other combined-arms mecha squadron leaders report to briefing room C. All secondary weapons crews stand down. Yellow Alert, repeat, Yellow Alert."

"I wonder what's up," Lieutenant Connors said to Lieutenant Brown as they entered briefing room A. "No idea," the other pilot answered, "but it can't be as bad as they thought if they called off a red alert."

Connors nodded, "We must be hitting a ground target or boarding a ship if they're calling the combined-arms mecha teams instead of the pure Veritech squadrons," Mike surmised, both men smiling. The VT squads were always fast to put down the mixed squads and Destroid units.

The two soldiers entered and Michael sat down next to Sergeant Major Mueller. Colonel Dietrich Hartmann, commander of the combined-arms mecha squadrons, entered and walked to the front of the room and stood before a large video screen. The room quickly filled with soldiers, some already outfitted in CVR-3 armor.

"Gentlemen," he began, despite the presence of a fair number of women in the room, "this is what sent everyone running a couple of hours ago." The screen behind him winked on to show a Robotech Factory Satellite in orbit around the second moon. The Satellite was immense; consisting of a large central pod, measuring twelve miles across, with four smaller pods, each five miles wide, extending from the main part of the factory. It was an overall dark green color and had a very organic look to it, much like Zentraedi warships.

"This is live footage, that thing folded right into our defenses and everyone assumed we were under attack. That is a Robotech Factory, but it appears to be unmanned and that this is one of its rendezvous points for Zentraedi fleets. General Forester wants that factory, and you're going to get it. Its capture could give us a serious edge against the Invid and the Robotech Masters. Command has decided to use the combined-arms mecha teams to take the factory. Three of the mecha teams here will enter the Factory on the eighth level, and deactivate the fold system and main computer. Plans from our Zentraedi allies indicate that these objectives are on this level." A floor plan of the eighth level of a Robotech Factory appeared on the screen. Various areas were numbered with a corresponding key below the diagram.

"The factory is defended by an army of robot drones of varying capability." Schematics of several robots flashed up on smaller view screens around the main screen. Most of the drones appeared to be spherical in shape with various appendages. One large drone, standing on reverse articulated legs, closely resembled a Zentraedi battlepod. "The teams are to avoid contact if possible and limit combat when it occurs. We want as little damage to the factory as can reasonably be expected. The main computer will not see small teams of mecha as a serious threat. However, inflicting large amounts of damage to the superstructure will make them a threat and the computer will increase its defenses and may execute a space fold. The mission commander will be Captain Sorin. He will be leading his Black Arrow squad. Lieutenant Brown's Yellow Jackets will be the second squad. Lieutenant Connors' Blue Maxs will be the third team. Captain Hynes' White Knights will be mission backup. The Blue Maxs and White Knights will be at full strength, the Black Arrow and Yellow Jacket teams will only be at half to two-thirds strength. Black and Yellow will be the main assault teams, their assignment is to deactivate the fold system and main computer respectively. Blue will be a diversion, their job is to attract most of the active defenses, they will only go after the objectives in the event of an emergency. White will go in only if things get very desperate. Each team will be assigned a field scientist who can handle the fold system and computer. Any questions so far? Good."

"Entry will be the easy part, Horizont shuttles will carry all the teams right up to the factory where cobalt mines can blast entry points. Black and Yellow teams will enter here." Colonel Hartmann indicated two areas on the outer hull of the factory floor plan. "Blue team will enter here," He indicated a large airlock on the eighth level. "The use of explosives will bring repair drones, avoid combat with these! The main computer won't know your full capabilities so don't show off right away. The fold system is the primary objective, if the computer is hit first it can fold away to contain the threat. You must be careful not to destroy the system, or the factory will be a sitting duck for the Invid. The field scientist will know what to do and will only need a few minutes, but the rest of the team must protect him. Once he touches the fold system the computer will initiate the fold sequence, he will have ten minutes to disable it. The computer will do everything it can to stop you and you will be quickly outnumbered by defense drones. Don't mess around! Knock these droids out fast! Once that's done you'll have to move quickly to knock out the computer. It will be able to figure out what the scientist did to the fold system in about ninety minutes. If the computer isn't down by then, you're right back where you started! The scientist will know how to deactivate the computer too, he'll need less than five minutes to shut it down. But the defenses will be extremely heavy by that time, so do what you have to in order to get in to the computer. Remember! We need the computer intact! Without it the factory is useless! Every team member will be have a map like this one in their mecha's computer. Other information we have on these factories will be included for you to look at on the way in. Any questions?"

"How will we know if the computer activates the fold system?" a Veritech pilot from Jacket team asked.

"When the computer activates the fold system, a very distinctive siren will sound, like this," Hartmann pushed a control and a speaker somewhere emitted a high pitched siren.

Captain Sorin asked, "Will we get jet packs for the Destroids?"

"Yes, Anything else? Very well, remember to pack what equipment you need, sending in more troops after you could provoke the computer to fold. Once Black and Yellow teams are loaded on your shuttles you'll be turned over to Prinz Eugen and Tirpitz . They'll accompany the shuttles to the proper attack positions and wait for you. Bismarck will escort Blue team in."

No one said anything else so Hartmann finished up, "All right, get moving, your mecha are being prepped already, you have one hour to get the shuttles loaded!"

At the door Mike said to Hans, "Wait here, I want to talk with the Major."

"Sure Lieutenant." As he waited by the door watching soldiers file out he glimpsed a small group of black suited VT pilots out in the hall looking in. Three Max soldiers walked by just then and Hans heard Private David Mitchell quietly say, "All those Zentraedi on the Knights...how can they be trusted?" Hans frowned at him and started to open his mouth but then another squad member was standing by him.

"Who are they?" said Pfc. Ann Watson, nodding at the black uniformed VT pilots.

"Skull Squadron, they're gettting transferred back to the SDF-3 this week, probably wish they were in on this mission." One of the pilots saw Hans looking at them and stiffened, then spoke to the others and they sauntered away.

"Think they could look less high and mighty?" Ann said.

Hans smirked, "They're just miffed at being left out of the fun."

"Hey, were they Skull Squad pilots?" asked Sergeant Robert Duncan, looking eagerly out the door after the pilots and jumped back as Hans kicked his foot. Robert gave a surprised look, "What? Whaaat?" Hans just shock his head as his teammates left.

As the rest of the troops filed out of the briefing room, Mike walked up to Colonel Hartmann, who was studying the factory floor plan.

"Might I have a word, Colonel?"

"Of course, Connors. What's up?"

"Sir, I was just wondering if using my mecha team was appropriate for this operation. Most of my troops have had very minimal combat experience. My sergeants and I..."

Hartmann cut him off, "I realize that your soldiers are nearly green. However, of our new mecha teams, your troops have the highest scores in the combat simulators. Plus, your performance against the Hive was exemplary."

"Yes sir, but wouldn't seasoned troops be better for this? The other teams are predominantly experienced troops."

"Lieutenant; should the Invid attack while this operation is underway, command feels that we need as many skilled mecha pilots as we can get to fight them. That means that we can't afford to send in teams comprised of mostly experienced soldiers. Your team stands the best chance of getting out alive."

Mike's voice grew hard, "Colonel, that sounds like a kind way of saying that we can get the job done but that we're expendable if need be. Sir."

Hartmann's back stiffened and he said, "I don't think I like your attitude, Lieutenant. Are your troops cowards? Or are they just bad soldiers? Some of them probably won't come back. In fact, I'll bet you a thousand credits you lose over half of your squad. I'll gladly take your money when you get back, if you get back!" Hartmann wasn't trying to be malicious, he knew Connors was a good officer and soldier and that his squad was competent. But he suspected that Connors was being overly protective of his young soldiers, and that could spell disaster in battle; he needed a fire lit under him, and by the scowl on his face, Hartmann knew he had succeeded.

Mike had grown angrier and angrier at Hartmann at each word until he could barley contain himself. He gave the Colonel a stiff and precise salute, "Permission to go... Sir!"

"Permission granted Lieutenant."

Mike turned away quickly and stomped off, blowing past Hans at the door. Had he turned around quickly, he might have caught Hartmann's smile.

Hans hurried to catch up to Mike, anxious to know what had gotten him so upset. They walked for several minutes with Mike grumbling under his breath, he even stopped and turned to go back but then continued on. Every question from Hans was met with a furious glare. Finally, at the door to Mike's quarters, Mike said, "Did everyone get their new armor?" Referring to the new boots for the CVR-3 body armor every soldier wore, the boots had a holster for a small automatic pistol on one boot and holders for clips on both of them. R & D was experimenting with ideas to provide soldiers with emergency firepower in case the soldier ran out of ammunition for his primary weapons.

Surprised, Hans just answered that they had.

"Good, I'll see you in the hangar in twenty minutes," Mike said and entered his quarters, leaving a very confused Hans in the corridor.

A tentative knock halted Mike's dressing in his CVR armor. Expecting to see Hans, he said, "Come in!" He was still angry at the Colonel but suspected why Hartmann had said what he did.

The door opened to let in a very tall, dark haired, young man clad in scarlet and white armor. "Lieutenant Connors? I'm Lance Corporal William Donovan. I've been assigned to your squad as your field scientist."

"Yes. . . , right. Kinda young for a scientist aren't you?"

"I'm 21. I'm fully qualified for the mission requirements. Don't worry about that sir."

"Any mecha training?"

"Light Cyclone, and some recon Alpha, sir."

"Combat experience?"

"Only simulators and qualifying runs in the mecha."

"OK, get your gear together and take it to docking bay 1, level 11. I'll be down shortly." After William had left, Mike thought, rather glumly, of course they wouldn't send an older, more experienced scientist, he's as expendable as we are. He shook his head and resumed dressing. On his shoulder was the Orden Pour Le Merite, the Blue Max.

Half an hour later, Hans was observing the loading of the team's mecha into the Horizont shuttle/dropship Deutschland. The ship sat in the middle of the launch bay like a huge predatory bird. Its long thin neck connecting the large squat head and immense body that was all engine. Armored cargo bunkers under each wing yawned open to receive their loads. Off to one side, techs were fitting the Excalibur and Gladiator Destroids with large jet thruster packs so that they would be able to space walk to the factory independently. The Excalibur was a walking arsenal, sporting a large particle beam cannon in place of each arm, missile launchers in the shoulders and legs, and a variety of machine guns, cannons, lasers, and flame-throwers. The Gladiator was more conventional looking but still packed a lethal assortment of weapons; laser cannons on each shoulder, missile launchers in the chest and legs, and a chin mounted twin barreled laser turret as well as a hand held GAU-11 gun pod.

Hans watched as the Second Lieutenant carefully inched his fully loaded, VF-1J Armored Veritech into the left cargo bunker. The VT's size required an almost kneeling position. On the other side Hans could see Ann walking her Veritech Hovertank, in Battloid mode, into the other bunker. His own mecha, a VR-052 Battler Cyclone that matched his turquoise and gray body armor, was sitting next to the bunker Mike had just entered along with the other four cyclones, Private Kelli Halle's forest green and gray VR-038 light Cyclone, a navy blue and white Battler Cyclone, a jet black VR-041 saber cyclone, and the field scientist's scarlet red and white Battler Cyclone. They would load last in Cyclone Battloid mode for the shuttle ride and short EVA trip to the factory. The VT Battloids would carry the cyclone's cargo box saddle bags in their hands.

On the other side of the same hangar, Hans could see the White Knights heavy mecha team loading into its own Horizont, Graf Zeppelin. The Knights were regarded as an elite unit by most. That they had their own Horizont just reinforced that. The heaviest mecha in their team, and the heaviest in the RDF/REF arsenal, the MAC III, was already loaded between the cargo bunkers from specially designed carrier pylons in place of the usual Alpha/Beta fighter combination, or Legios. The rest of their gleaming, white mecha was waiting in neat lines to load. That they were painted white instead of the standard color schemes was another indication of their elite status. Three of the Knights drove RDF Excaliburs, three more drove REF Gladiators, opting for the smaller but better armed model. Two other Knights drove REF Raider Xs; essentially an anti-air mecha equipped with tri-barreled rapid fire laser cannons on each arm and missile launchers. Their last Destroid was an REF Spartan; the oddest looking of the Destroids with two huge drums for arms, loaded down with light, medium and heavy missiles. They also had air support with an Alpha Veritech fighter, flown by Captain Hynes, and four Beta Veritech fighters.

A light tap on Hans' shoulder broke into his train of thought. He turned to see a diminutive girl with short dark hair, Pvt. Wendy Thomas, the Gladiator driver, standing meekly next to her light cyclone.

"Sergeant Major? Um, I was wondering if, uh, if I can take my cyclone, you know, um, just in case something happens to my Destroid." She spit out the last few words quickly.

Hans assumed a stern look and stance and said, "Private Thomas. Are you expecting any company up in your cockpit?"

"NO! I mean, I don't think so . . . , I don't know!" She waved her free hand in exasperation.

Hans waited a moment and then chuckled and said, "Yes, Wendy, you can take your cyclone."

"Thanks, Sarge," she smiled with relief and pushed her cyclone toward the Destroids. Hans couldn't help shaking his head at the thought of that shy, 16 year old girl driving a 30 foot tall war machine that packed more firepower than a turn-of-the-century tank regiment.

Warfare had changed a lot since the Global Civil War of 1993-99. Back then, the fighting troops were predominately male in most countries. Women seldom fought and rarely came close to the battlefield. However, the fighting that lasted for seven long years and covered most of the planet had reduced the six billion strong population by nearly a third. The arrival of the Super Dimensional Fortress, or SDF-1, and the astounding Robotechnology had stopped that war, but it ushered in a new era of war. War fought by the giant transformable and non-transformable mecha of the Robotech Defense Force against 40 foot tall Zentraedi invaders from another part of the universe. Even in the Robotech war, except for special female Zentraedi Quadrono units, human and Zentraedi males had been the principle combatants but when more than three billion humans and countless Zentraedi perished in the final battle for Earth, women had been called on to fill the holes in the ranks of the RDF. Consequently women also constituted a significant portion of the REF fighting troops. Also very different from the Global Civil War days was that at least half of the REF was made up of soldiers under the age of twenty.

The blaring of thrusters announced the arrival of Sergeant Duncan's Alpha VT. Robert hovered his Guardian mode VT off the mecha elevator and the across the hangar bay to the nearly loaded shuttle. The rush green Alpha then transformed to Battloid mode to enter one of the bunkers. Almost time, Hans thought. He walked over to the line of Cyclones and put his helmet on and straddled his motorcycle mode Cyclone. Kelli had already started her mecha and was waiting for the other cycloners. Kelli saw Hans, "I can't believe those jerks in maintenance wouldn't repaint my Cyclone and armor Kelly Green! I think it would be so cool to have my mecha the color of my name, don't you?"

He just nodded and said, "Yeah, I suppose so." The other Cycloners in the team ran up a moment later, followed closely by Donovan, and they hopped on their mecha.

"Let's load up!" Hans ordered, powering up the bike. He flipped the mechamorphosis switch which engaged the transformation and stood up straight, allowing the Cyclone to reconfigure around him. Components of the Cyclone detached and moved apart; the front axle weapon mounts disengaged and moved up to connect to Hans' forearms. The front cowling split and attached to his torso armor, the front tire swung around to the rear and attached to the thruster pack that rose up and connected to Hans' back. The transformation complete, he hurried over to the shuttle, followed by the others, also in Cyclone Battloid mode, seven foot tall knights in bright, shining Robotech armor.

Five minutes later, Lieutenant General Forester stood on the observation deck of Bismarck, watching the factory as it orbited the second moon, almost a thousand miles away.

Below, on the main bridge, the crew was finishing preparations to depart. Captain Ramsey strode to the center of the Bridge and asked, "Have the shuttles formed up on Prinz Eugen and Tirpitz ?"

"Yes sir, everything's ready," came the reply.

"Very well, give them the green light. Helm, move us in to a range of one hundred miles. Comm, inform Scharnhorst that everyone will hold position until the conclusion of the operation."

The Ikazuchi Command Carrier, two of the Garfish troop carriers and the Black and Yellow team Horizonts, Komet and Graf Spee, left the high orbit they had assumed over "Jupiter 2" and spread out as they advanced on the factory.