Doomsday Page 21

  Rick had witnessed the counterstrike leveled against Khyron's vessel and had naturally anticipated its complete destruction. But the cruiser had survived and was locked on a collision course with the dimensional fortress. The Veritechs began to pour everything they had toward it: missiles, armor-piercing depleted transuranic rounds, heat-seekers, and the rest. Phalanx guns of the SDF-1's close-in weapons system were similarly engaged, challenging the gods with their volleys of thunder and blinding

  light.

  All at once Rick knew in his gut that all the firepower in the world wasn't going to slow that skeletal ship's suicide descent...

  The cruiser was a fiery javelin in a ballistic fall, called by the Earth's own inherent powers to deadly rendezvous with its techno-savior.

  On the bridge of the Zentraedi ship, Khyron and Azonia stood hand in hand facing that divine wind in a way only warriors could, victorious in their final moments as much for destroying the object of their years-long pursuit as for the strength of their extraordinary bond, their marriage in death.

  Gloval, in his place, hugged his crew to him, stretching his long arms around them all, courageous and loving father, while the Destoyer's warship eclipsed the sky.

  The mile-long cruiser rammed into the main guns of the fortress, splintering the twin booms as it continued its dive. Metal shrieked against metal, shafts, connectors, and joints snapping and roaring in protest.

  The bow of the leviathan ship forced the booms apart and impacted against the main body of the SDF-1, shearing off the head and going on to crash and explode once, twice, and again. The fortress took the full power of these against its back and itself exploded, blowing the supercarriers from their mountings and ripping away the battle-scarred armor that had seen so much violence.

  The lake boiled, releasing massive clouds of steam into the cold air, and lightning storms appeared spontaneously in the skies overhead.

  A fireball rose and mushroomed there, announcing the event to the rest of the world...

  When the smoke cleared, three ruins stood in the much shallower lake: the burned-out hull of Khyron's cruiser, the remains of the ill-fated SDF-2, and the blackened, headless torso of the original dimensional fortress-monuments to madness.

  Most of the city along the lakeshore had been obliterated.

  Veritech teams swept the littered waters and frontage lands for survivors but found none.

  Rick made a pass over the leveled suburbs where his quarters had once stood-where Lisa and Claudia, Sammie, Vanessa, and Kim had lived; then he flew over the heart of downtown, where survivors were already leaving the shelters.

  But there would be no rebuilding this time-not here at any rate. Rick guessed that the area would remain hot for decades to come. Evacuation and relocation of the thousands who had lived through the day would have to commence immediately. No simple task given the extent of the destruction, but there were nearby cities that would lend a hand, and the Earth would prevail, rid of its enemies at last.

  He tried not to think about Gloval and the others; this was what waited for all of them at the end of the rainbow.

  He piloted his fighter past the lake hulks, circled, and put down in Guardian mode at an intact landing zone not far from the shore. People

  were beginning to gather, many in shock, others staring at the fortress in stunned silence. He raised the cockpit canopy and climbed out, only to hear a ghost call him by name.

  Lisa was walking toward his ship.

  Rick approached her cautiously, more than willing to settle for hallucination but worried that real emotion might frighten it off. But the quaking shoulders he touched with his equally anxious hands were flesh and blood, and the feel of her brought him close to fainting.

  "At the last moment," Lisa was saying, "Admiral Gloval and...Claudia forced me into the ejection module." She regarded the fortress for a moment, silent while tears flowed freely down her cheeks. "They wanted me to live..." She turned Rick and studied him intensely. "They said that I was the only one who still had something to live for!"

  Rick held her while she cried, her body convulsing in his arms.

  "I thought I'd lost you," he whispered. "Just when I realized how much you mean to me." He tightened his embrace. "You do have something to live for-we both do now."

  Neither of them heard Minmei approach. Reflexively, they separated when she spoke; but Rick, in a rush, began to stammer an explanation.

  Minmei spared him that.

  "You're in love with Lisa," she said quietly. "I knew that."

  "I would have told you sooner, but...I don't think I knew until today." Rick reached for Lisa's hand. "Forgive me, Minmei."

  Now Minmei faltered. "Well, uh, only if you can forgive me, Rick. For trying to make you into something you're not. And, uh, for pretending to be something I'm not." Rick and Lisa looked confused, so she continued. "You see, I wasn't really that eager to get married. I realized that my music means as much to me as the service does to you."

  Lisa seemed to stiffen, somehow able to locate just a hint of anger through her heavy sadness. "Oh, really?" she said flatly.

  "My life is music," Minmei said innocently.

  Lisa smiled to herself and gave Rick's hand a squeeze. Minmei couldn't

  bear to admit that she had lost Rick; and why bother to think that when it was so much easier to rearrange the facts? Looking around, Lisa wondered if she could do the same: just pretend all this hadn't happened, see blue skies instead of storms ahead.

  "Good luck on your mission, Lisa," Minmei said straight-faced. As though all this hadn't happened!

  "I know you'll be a bigger star than ever by the time we return," Lisa told her, willing to give Minmei's blinder game a try.

  Rick, too, wore a slightly puzzled look. But this began to fade when Minmei turned to him, wishing him well and kissing him lightly on the cheek.

  "Don't forget me, Rick-you have to promise me you won't!" "I'll never forget you," he said, meaning it.

  She spun on her heel in an almost weightless turn and walked away, stopping once to wave to him before rejoining the crowds of survivors, already welcoming her with open arms.

  Snow was beginning to fall. Lisa put her arm through Rick's elbow and snuggled up against him.

  "What about our mission, Rick? Is there a chance-even without the SDF-1?"

  Rick nodded slowly. He had already given it some thought.

  "There's still the factory satellite and Breetai's ship. With his help, and Lang's and Exedore's, we'll make good Admiral Gloval's assignment. We'll reach the Robotech Masters' homeworld before it's too late. This time peace comes first."

  Mesmerized, Lisa watched the snow begin to blanket the devastated city, the ruined warships that were to be its massive grave markers.

  Perhaps Max and Miriya would sign on, she said to herself. Even Minmei! What did she care now? It was going to be a diplomatic mission, a proper meeting of two cultures bound to each other by a mysterious past and separated by nearly the breadth of a galaxy.

  She looked over at Rick and managed a smile, which he returned

  though tears filled his eyes.

  And if their plan failed for some reason, if it wasn't possible for Breetai's ship to undertake the journey...then other solutions would present themselves. Earth would rebuild itself and prevail. Perhaps, she speculated, the Robotech Masters would come here instead...

  And as it turned out, new solutions would present themselves. Earth would rebuild and prevail. And as for the Robotech Masters...come they would!

  End RTUCN.COM

 

 

 
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