Chapter 21:  The French Connection

The tunnels were just as scare as the last time we entered.  There was very little open ground and too many nooks and turns that something could hide behind.  The shadows themselves were alive...things were constantly moving just out sight of us.  The fact that we had the latest in body armor and weaponry was of cold comfort to me. 

Taking point, as always, was Jimmy.  I always wished he did not do that, but he craved adventure as much as I did.  Kai, the TC guy and only trained infantry man among us, took the second position.  He was ready to immediately assist Jimmy should any trouble occur.  The Doctor took up the middle position, ready to help out the group wherever an ambush occurred.  Robert was the next person in line, staying out of the way as knew little about firing a gun.  I took up the rear of the group, much out of fear of whatever monsters are down here as much as to protect the group anything sneaking up on us.

We traveled through the tunnels for quite a distance.  Despite everything against us, things were going well…too well.  We eventually got to a T in the tunnels.  As we turned to head down a corner, we heard a low growl.  Directly ahead of us was a pair of red eyes.  We hesitated for just a brief a second, but that was all it took for them to attack. 

Dead ahead came one of those mechanical Cougars the Invid had.  Two more came from the only other unoccupied entrance to the T.  One immediately took a single swat at Jimmy and cut him in half.  The second Cougar jumped on Kai and pinned him to the ground.  The third Cougar took a swipe at me but I managed to get out of the way. 

The Doctor fired on the Cougar that killed Jimmy, and disintegrated it.  It turned to dust in front of our eyes.  Kai tried firing into the Cougar on him, but it kept him from getting a good shot.   The Cougar on top of Kai bit, Kai for his effort and killed him.  I was in a rage over the death of Jimmy, so I called upon Charles and Joan they  lit up one of the two surviving Cougars until they ran dry.  I do not even remember reloading the two as I continued firing.  As they fired, I could also here Robert firing his revolver into the one of the Cougar.  Augusta managed to cripple one of the Cougar with a shot to the leg.   

One of the Cougars turned and killed the Doctor with a swipe while another took out Robert.  I began backing up all the while Charles and Joan were firing hot death into the Cougars.  A few bullets penetrated the Cougar it sounded like it bounced around inside the Cougar like it was hallow.  I had little time to comprehend it as one of the Cougars was upon on me.  It took a swipe at my face, and the world went green…

I woke up in a cold sweat.  It was just a dream, a horrible dream.  But I had to make sure, I had to check on Jimmy. 

It had been three months since we tried to blow up that hive on the Eiffel Tower.  Diego turned out to be a collaborator with the Invid, and tried to set up an ambush.  He managed to kill my fellow Frenchmen in the Comrade’s group, but the Comrade managed to finish him off.  The Comrade said his organs was all bionic and his blood all green.  I shutter and what that must have looked like. 

My team survived a bit better, but Jimmy was badly injured in escape.  We managed to hook up with the Comrade and begin one of the wildest chases I been in.  We barely managed to stay a few steps ahead of the Invid.  We went through one of our Hummers and managed to barely keep the second Hummer working thanks to some quick thinking by the Doctor.  We escaped through Spain, across the Mediterranean Sea, to Algeria.  We decided to split the group into two groups.  Annika, Jelovich, Robert, and Kai took the boat we used to get to Algeria and took around the coast of Africa. The rest of us took the remaining Hummer into Sahara Desert to ensure that the Invid couldn’t catch all of us.  We planned to meet again in Fort Hope.

It had been a long three months, but we think we had finally lost the Invid.  We finally were able to get a good night sleep, well until that nightmare woke me up.   The Doctor and the Comrade just woke up as well.  The nightmare scared me, it was so real I had to go and confirm Jimmy was okay.  He was still asleep in the back of Hummer. 

I checked his injuries while he sleeping.  Not being trained in medical expertise like Jimmy is, there was little I could do but make sure he was bleeding anywhere.   I also took away the remains of the rations I gave him a little while ago.  The Comrade has enforced strict rationing of food, since we had so little of it.  While it was just enough to sustain us, Jimmy was going to need more if he going to get healthy.  I had, for the last few weeks, been giving a little of my food to help supplement his own rations.  The Comrade caught me doing it a few times, and scolded me for it.  However, I didn’t care as long as Jimmy got better.

While I was checking on Jimmy, the Comrade and the Doctor had gotten into another argument.  This time it was over where we should go.  The Doctor wanted to go to an E.B.S.I.S. base known to be located on the Nile river.  Her argument was that it may have some equipment, some aircraft, and some nukes.

The Comrade was against the idea.  We would have to travel more desert and we were having enough trouble gathering enough food.  Also, the Comrade pointed out that the base is most likely looted.  And if there was anybody still there would not be happy to see us.  The Comrade favored us going straight to Fort Hope and hit any abandoned old RDF bases on the way.

However, the Doctor pointed out that the Defense Forces bases were abandoned a long time ago even before the Masters came.  The Defense Forces probably have taken anything of value with them to Tirol.  Looters probably took anything else.

Still Fort Hope was our best chance, so it was decided to go to directly there.  Having lost this round, the Doctor went to go check on the truck.  As she headed over to the truck, I saw her pull her knife out and cut herself. She looked at the wound and then bandaged it up.  That made no sense to me.  I made a note to ask her why she did that.

I went to the oasis to get some water for Jimmy, it was there I noticed there were animal and people tracks.  I alerted the others.   We could tell we were being watched but we couldn’t tell by whom.

We waited until that night, when it was cooler and safer to travel.  However as we traveled we noticed we were being followed.  We tried to get a better look, but everytime we got close to whoever was following us, they disappeared.  After a few hours of it, I realized he was deliberately leading us somewhere.  The Comrade asked if there was a way we could lead whoever it was in a direction of our way.

We began doing that, but the people following us broke away.  The Doctor managed to use her Ferret to listen in on their radio frequencies.  She said she heard them say that the Captain would have to handle us.  Don’t know what to make about that, the “Captain” could be anybody.

The next morning we stopped at a sand dune and bedded down for the day.  At some point during the day, somebody snuck up to our camp and left food for us.  The Doctor was impressed and decided to cook up some of the food and leave it for our hidden benefactors.  We still did not see any sign of them, but we knew they were there.

That night we headed south again.  Again our mysterious pursuers were following us and playing their little game.  This time the Comrade decided we should just let them lead us to wherever they are intending to send us.  After awhile, the while they showed themselves to us.  It appeared to be a couple of men on ATVs.  At least that explained how they kept up with us.  Still they kept their distance and only allowed a couple of glimpses of our mysterious pursuers.  We followed them over the next sand dune, and were surprised to see the lights of a town off in the distance…

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Chapter 20:  In Harm’s Way

We arrived back at the underground airfield without any hitches.  Our group had grown from the a weary six survivors to twelve capable resistant fighters.  By now you are already know six of us, but we now had six new and determined people to help us fight the Invid.

The first was Diego, the CDFC who lead the Maquis in Monaco.  Kai was a survivor through and through.  He had survived flying helicopters during the War against the Masters.  He survived the initial onslaught of the Invid Invasion, and although he did initially worked with the Invid, Diego used his knowledge to aid us in our failed assault on the Militia base.  We had thought he had died when our TC Battloid exploded in the Militia castle, but he proved to have as many lives as a cat.  He would definitely be able to aid the Doctor and the Comrade on any planning we needed to do.

The second was Kai, a Tactical Corp soldier who was an expert in demolitions.  He had also worked with us during the assault on the Militia castle.  We had gone our separate ways after the failed assault, but now once again our group found itself working with him again.  His knowledge of how to use the explosives were going to key to our plans in Paris.

The third was my own brother Robert.  Like most of family, he wanted to live up to the reputation laid down by my father.  He had joined the Merchant Marines to help out in the war against the Masters.  You see not everyone can be a figher pilot or a tank crewman, it was his duty to ensure that supplies make it to the troops on the ground and to rescue downed pilots or crewmen from wrecked ships.  He was very good at his job and felt it was his duty to assist the Southern Cross soldiers in their attempt to resist the Invid.

The remaining three were, Francis, Marc, and Pierre.  Prior to the Invid Invasion, they were all civilians.  Each had decided to take up arms against the Invid when they realized that there was no else left to stand up against them.    What the lack in skill and training they made up for in heart and bravery.

So the twelve of us began finalizing our plan for Paris, the first part was how to get there. The Comrade and the Doctor weren’t too keen on us bringing the Cyclones as their protoculture engines would attract the Invid like how you say “ants to a picnic.”  However, we didn’t to be far from the Cyclones, just in case we needed them.

The plan the Comrade, the Doctor, and Diego came up with was to travel by Hummer to Paris.  We would take both Hummers with the Cyclones stored on board.  Each Hummer would travel to one of three rally points outside Paris.  Each team would then travel on foot to Paris.  The smaller teams would be less suspicious and would be able to continue on if the other team was stopped or had to abort.

We organized the two teams.  One team would have Jimmy, the Doctor, and Kai, and Jelovich.  The other team would consist of the Comrade, Diego, Annika, and Francis.  The remaining four of us still needed to be assigned to team and I didn’t make it easy for us. 

Robert and I was supposed to be assigned to the Comrade’s team, the firepower I bring to the team would be more valuable to the Comrade’s team than it would be to Jimmy’s team.  However it was going to be a week to Paris, and I couldn’t be guaranteed that I would see Jimmy again until we got back from the mission.  And that was if everything went well!  After going back and force for a few minutes before finally going with Jimmy’s team.  Marc and Pierre went with the Comrade’s team. 

The Doctor noticed that I had trouble going back and forth between which team I was going with.  She harassed most of the trip about whether I loved Jimmy or not.  I managed to change the subject most of the trip. After my recent issues with Dion, I really didn’t want to admit to myself, much less the Doctor, I was truly and honestly in love again.

After a week’s travel, we finally arrived as our rally point.  It was the abandoned town of Bondoulfe.  Like many of the towns near Paris, it was no longer sustainable when the Masters invaded.  It was the perfect place for us to stash our Hummer until we headed back.  Sergeant Jelovich stayed behind to keep an eye on the Hummer and to make sure it was the ready to go in case we had to leave in the hurry.

Finally, we headed into the on foot.  We managed to go a pretty close without being scene.  Unfortunately we got to the point that I liked the least, we were going to have to go back into the sewers again to get under the Eifel Tower.  As we entered, we thought we saw someone observing us go in.  But they disappeared before we entered the abyss…

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Chapter 19:  Dead Man’s Folly

We got back to the base and I went about gathering up the ammo.  As I was going through counting the ammo (Viktor was always very precise about his goods), the rest of the group went about planning the meet. The Doctor and the Comrade would ask questions about the meet.  Where we going to meet?  How likely Viktor would double cross us?  Would the site have good ambush places for Viktor?

Well of course, I provided answers.  The place was a café in Monaco that Viktor like to meet at.  It was relaxing quiet outdoor café out near a lovely fountain in the circle out in the middle of nowhere.  A peaceful place where Viktor can meet his clients and his bodyguards to could hide in the crowd waiting to pounce at a moment’s notice.  If Viktor thought it was in his interest he could take us down in a second with his bodyguards.

Of course when Jimmy got word of the plan he was against it.  He was sure that my, how you say, colorful contacts would eventually get me (and by extension everyone else) into a lot of trouble.  However, it was too late argue now and we had to fulfill our end of deal.  You never double cross the interesting merchants and you never late for a meeting.  How do I know about such things?  As I say I am not a nice girl.

We made up a plan just in case something went wrong.  Jimmy, being our ace Cyclone pilot would be waiting nearby the meet.  Since Viktor has met Jimmy yet, we hoped Jimmy would be a surprise if things turned ugly.  The Doctor would also be in her Ferret.  The Ferret has a bunch of sensors which would let the Doctor notice any amiss at the meet.

The Comrade would be manning the Hummer’s gun.  He would be wearing his CVR-3 just in case.  His Cyclone had been positioned in the Hummer so that if need be, he could pull it out to use it.  We headed off to meet.  We once again took a long roundabout route to Monaco as to prevent someone from tracking us.

When we arrived at the meet, I parked the Hummer near the café as the Doctor and Jimmy took up positions on the opposite sides of the street.  I headed over to table where Viktor was sitting.  I thought it was odd that he apparently brought his girlfriend to his meet.  They were both leaned over to chat with each other.  Viktor didn’t strike at me as type to bring his girlfriend to a meet.

As I got close, I realized they were both dead.  Viktor and the woman had been posed to look like they had an intimate conversation.  It was a trap!  Before I could do anything, our ambushers were on the move. 

I heard shots from Jimmy’s position as he engaged, what from my position was an unseen enemy.  Jimmy transformed into Battloid and jumped into the middle of the street.  A small group of men moved up and began to firing on me.  At that distance, I had plenty of cover among the tables of the café.  A second group of men, rounded group of men rounded the corner of a building next to the café and opened up on me.

I just barely managed to get out of their fire.  I was wearing under my clothes the undergarment of the CVR-3 armor. This would have provided me some protection, but those Bushmasters were still quite fatal.  I swear I felt a bullet part my hair.  Joan and Charles barked at the lead attacker but failed to drop him.  I began running back to Hummer when I noticed a young woman in the line of fire.  I dragged her to cover behind a building near the Hummer.

As we moved to cover, I noticed three more men moving towards the Doctor.  The Doctor noticed them too.  She transformed her Cyclone into Battloid mode and charged the group of attacker at the end of the block.  She took out one of the attackers at the end of block.

It seemed like an eternity to me getting to that cover.  We passed a guy in the alleyway between the café and the building we were running to.  He was wearing a coat hosing down what appear to be yet another group of attackers with an automatic rifle. 

We finally got to cover as the Comrade began pulling his Cyclone and getting transformed into its motorcycle mode.  More gunfire was happening elsewhere on the street.  I didn’t really know what was going on, but I knew it didn’t involve us.  I probably will never hear the end of it from Jimmy.

In the meantime, Jimmy decided to take out the group across the street.  With a kick of his boosters, Jimmy took off to the other side the street.  Jimmy slammed into one of the attackers and sent him through a wall of a nearby building.  Jimmy then shot one of the remaining attackers leaving just one attacker across the street.  That one attacker shot at Jimmy, but Jimmy was too quick for him. 

The surviving attackers down at the end of block moved away from the Doctor and threw grenades in attempt to injure her.  The Doctor deliberately took one the grenades as to shield a nearby bystander. 

I then felt something behind me.  I began to instinctly dodge as a burst of gunfire erupted behind me.  The young lady I just saved went down in explosion of blood.  One of the attackers in the alley way had doubled back around the building and laid down a burst on us.  He put a second burst into her just to make sure that one of us was quite dead.

The poor lady had nothing to do with this and she was killed for the mere misfortunate of being next to me.  I went into a blind rage.  From the time Joan and Charles came up to bear on the attacker, I don’t remember anything.  I don’t remember Joan and Charles emptying into the attacker.  I don’t remember reloading Joan and Charles.  I don’t remember Joan and Charles firing again into the attacker.  All I remember is the splash his body made when fell into the canal behind the building. 

As I headed under cover of a wall along the roadway to provide supporting fire, the original group of attackers near the Doctor jumped over a divide in the road and threw more grenades at the Doctor.  They did manage damage the Doctor’s Cyclone, but not much else.  The Doctor for her part closed on the attackers at the end of the block and knocked out one of the attackers with a Cyclone-assisted punch.  She then convinced the remaining attacker to run.

The Comrade eliminated two of the attackers at road divider as Jimmy wiped the remaining attacker across the road and hoped over to me.  That is when he told me that some of the gunfire that I heard came from my brother, supporting us.  I was surprised and began heading in that direction.  As I headed that way, Charles briefly came up and put a bullet into the remaining attacker’s gun, destroying it.

The Doctor grabbed the remaining attacker and wanted to know who he was.  He confessed he was the city’s militia and was sent to kill anyone who showed up for the meet.  Fortunately, Robert and his resistance group were there to help out.  They had gotten wind of the militia’s plan and chose to show to see what was going on. 

Robert had joined the resistance when hear the Dion and the Council had collaborated with the Invid.  He had managed to hook up with some familiar faces.  He had found the surviving TC soldier that had helped us in that failed raid on the castle as well as the CDFC soldier who apparently had used one of his nine lives to escape that inferno.  The group had done well for itself, they had a quite a few members and had managed to stockpile a fair amount of explosives.

We discussed our plan with Robert’s group and together we began preparing for a trip to Paris…

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Chapter 18:  On the Waterfront

The Comrade had returned Annika from the Doctor Issac’s.  The Doctor had ordered Annika to just bed rest.  However, Annika was highly resistant to the idea.  She was the type who never liked to be idle long.  She liked feeling useless even less.  However, the Comrade managed to convincer to stay still for now.

The Doctor and I presented the plan to collapse the Eiffel Tower.  The Comrade was hesitant about the plan with good reason.  However, we did have use of the sewers and the Comrade was just as eager to the get back at the Invid as the rest of us.  So he agreed to go along with the plan.

Now the next step was trying to find an expert who could make the maximum effect with explosives.  The only one who we knew was the Southern Cross soldier who helped out on the failed raid of the militia base.  The last person who saw the soldier was the Comrade, who let him out of the Hummer in the outskirts of Monaco.

So this left us with a dilemma, how could we going to find this soldier.   We decided that we would have to start with Monaco at the very least and see where we could go from there.  The next step was how to begin our search.  I suggested we start with getting in contact with the Black Market.  It would be very likely they would have at least heard of some of his skills. 

I recommended that we should purchase some demolitions as a way to get leads on the soldier. Anyways it would be safer to work with professionally made satchel charges instead of making improvised explosives out of those missiles in the fighters.  I at least knew a guy who could at least hook us up with explosives. 

Besides Doctor Issac and my Mother, Viktor was probably the only the person in Monaco who didn’t want me dead.  As I had stated in pervious chapters, I had freelanced before for Viktor as a guide to help him get goods to and from our Russian neighbors.  And I knew where to look for him.

So the Comrade, Doctor, and I took the Hummer and headed to Monaco.  The ride its self was pretty uneventful if somewhat long.  It took 14 hours to make the trip back to my hometown.  We stopped outside in the woods and camped for the night as to avoid any militia or Invid patrols.

The next morning we headed out to find Viktor.  I knew a restaurant that was how you say “a little hole in the wall” down in the restaurant.  It served the best Russian food I have ever had.  Also the Viktor liked to do of his business.

We headed in to restaurant where we were met by the maître d’.  Of course, few restaurants would hire a maître d’ that look liked he could rip you in half if you looked at him funny.  The maître d’ was there to prevent anybody from wandering in on any of the interesting business that happens over lunch.  How do I know these things, as I say I am not a nice girl.

Anyways I digress, the Comrade must have indeed looked at the maître d’ funny because he immediately ejected the Comrade from the restaurant.  The maître d’ then ordered us the Doctor and I to take a seat, while he went outside.  As we waited for the maître d’ we could see through a window a club going up and down like it was hitting something.  I hoped it wasn’t what I thought it was.

The maître d’ came back in as if nothing had happened.  As he approached us he told us to stay where we were as someone would serve us soon.  As headed back, the Comrade burst into the room warning there us there was a patrol of the little Invid nearby.  Everybody got real quiet as the maître d’ shut the door to keep the Invid from noticing us.

The Invid came up to the door and for a while we heard nothing.  Were they getting ready to burst through the door, we didn’t know.  Then after what seemed like an eternity.  Then slowly, steadily, the Invid marched away. 

It was then Viktor showed up from the back room.  He invited us to the backroom and we discussed business.  Viktor ever being the astute businessman, had done his homework.  He knew that wherever I go the Invid were always nearby, that the Comrade was a tank crewman, and that we had access to Protoculture.  I was really concerned about how he emphasized Protoculture.

Nonetheless we preserved.  The Doctor requested satchel charges, the Viktor made a counter offer of ammunition.  We almost had enough ammo for what he is requesting but I was able to haggle it down enough that he was willing to accept an offer of 10,000 of rifle ammo and 2,000 rounds of pistol ammo. 

He told us it would take him a week to get the charges, and he demanded that we pay half our portion up front first.  I told him it would take us a few days to gather that up and he seemed content with that.  With our business concluded we headed out to make our long about route back to the base…

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Chapter 17:  Land and Freedom

As we headed out, we got a call from Sergeant Jelovich.  Unfortunately, Annika had a relapse and needed medical attention.  We returned back to our base and the Comrade took Annika and our Hummer to see the Doctor Issac.

This left just the Doctor, Jimmy, and I to go on the how you say “stake out”.  We had to be a bit more choosy about our equipment as we were limited to just our Cyclones now.  We took the typical supplies you would need to survive out in the wilderness. 

Still each of us, took a big rifle with us for extra protection. The Doctor took the Viper Grenade Launcher.  Capable of dumping a burst of grenades down range, the Viper can easily decimate a group of people.  Jimmy took a Southern Cross particle cannon.  The particle cannon would have fetched a good price on the black market.  And when somebody like Jimmy had his hands on one it was easy to see why it was so highly valued.  Me, I chose to stick with the good ol’ dependable Bushmaster.  It has a high rate of fire, perfect for forcing people to keep their heads down as we make our get away.

Anyways I digress, we left the base in Sergeant Jelovich’s capable hands and headed out.  Jimmy recommended that we go observe a huge hive he saw out near Bordeau and the Atlantic Ocean.  The only other place nearby that had Invid Hives was the Alps.  Since it was middle of November, it was rapidly agreed upon that we would head to Bordeau.

For me it was a trying journey, I tried to ration the few remaining cigarettes but the cravings kicked and smoked my last cigarette before we started the trip. The next few days were very aggravating.  I had constant headaches and I couldn’t sleep very well for most of the trip.

The only relief I got came in a very macabre way.  As we were traveling, we came across a bombed out small town.  It must have been destroyed by the Masters in the last war.  Guarding the road stood a single guard post. 

As we approached the guard post we noticed, that it was still guarded by a police officer or soldier who had died a long time ago.  He still in his pockets four good cigarettes left.  He no longer needed them, I was desperate for a smoke.  So I made a quick prayer asking for Saint Maurus for help for my weakness, and then I took the cigarettes.  As I say I am not a nice girl.

Anyways I digress.  We traveled by cyclone until we got about 20 km from the Hive.  At this point it became too dangerous for us to travel by cyclone as we stood a good chance of being detected by the Invid.  So we buried our cyclones near an abandoned mansion.

We proceeded to hive by foot.  We took a trail that paralleled an old railway.  It took us past a couple of small towns near Bordeau.  In each of the small towns, the townsfolk saw us approach and all of them quickly hid.  They were fearful of us in the armor and whatever trouble we could bring.

We skirted the towns trying to avoid any trouble in the town.  However, as we cleared the second town, we notice that we were being followed.  Jimmy and I turned to try to see if we could sneak up on whoever was following us.  The guy managed to spot Jimmy sneaking up on him right away, but his eyes couldn’t be everywhere I was able to sneak behind him.  If he tried anything I would be ready.

The man was in his 60s and was sneaking through the woods in a hunter’s garb.  He sported a hunting rifle and although he didn’t have pointing at Jimmy, I felt like he was quite capable of using it.  The Doctor came up and talked to him.  Her French is getting quite good.

The old man wasn’t really interesting in knowing why we were here.  He was more interested in making sure we didn’t cause any problems for his town.   Before he let us go he made us promise to avoid the town if we had to make a sudden retreat.

We continued on to a hill that overlooked the hive.  As we found a good spot to over look the hive.  The hive was huge, according to the Doctor it was 2km in size.  Surrounding the hive was pillars which apparently enable the hive to protect itself with a force field. 

Inside the pillars were humans guarded by the human sized Invid.   The humans were being force to farm the Flower of Life, which has grown pretty much everywhere since the end of the Second Robotech War.  Also there were weird sort of mecha cats pulling around carts.  Jimmy called them Hellcats, and apparently they are used in combat.  With teeth like that, I could see why they would not be feared.

The Invid worked the people all day without break.  When night finally arrived, Lobsters arrived and escorted the people to Bordeau.  Before dawn the next morning, the Invid had brought back the people so they could begin working again as soon as it turned daylight.

We wanted to strike at the Invid but really didn’t know how.  The force field of the hive was up all day, only at night would the shields be down.  Attempts to find a way in would also prove useless according to Jimmy, as there only the Hive’s engine down below.

Having learned what we could, we headed back to base. The trip back was uneventful except the Doctor was able to procure a few packs of cigarettes in exchange for a dress.  That was great, because the headaches were really getting bad.  Still I really need to start pulling my own weight, I feel like that person that gets voted off that old British show—the weakest link.

Once we were at base, we were trying to figure out how we could strike at the Invid.  We didn’t have much as it was hard to strike at the Invid.  Their hives were impregnable.  After all even the small hives, proved to be impossible for the Comrade’s tank company to destroy, what chance did we have?

That is when I made a hesitant suggestion.  We could blow up the Eiffel Tower and take that hive with it.  If we could use the sewers, we could get underneath the Tower and collapse the ground underneath the Tower.  That would cause the Tower to fall over. 

The Doctor took idea and ran with it.  She wondered if there was a way to put a display of a giant Loraine Cross to let the Invid and the world know that there was a resistance movement.  She recommend that he make a giant banner for it to be displayed, I recommended that we use Ecole Militare to display the banner.

We had the explosives, but we didn’t have the expertise.  We did no one person who would know what to do, the Southern Cross soldier who we left behind in Monaco.  We would have to find him, to be able to have a chance of making this work. 

Unfortunately, every government official in Monaco would be looking for me.  I asked the Doctor to help dye my hair to help hide my identity.  The Doctor was able to use a make shift bleach for me, but told me afterwards that the bleach was more or less permanent.  I wish she had told me before, but I guess you have to make sacrifices for freedom…

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Chapter 16:  The Big Parade

As we made our escape we saw that the Marseilles had sent its militia out.  The Fiddler Crab took off and headed north for a hive in the Alps.  The militia came out in a truck escorted by a Logan fighter.  Apparently, the militia wanted to show their new masters how loyal they were.

Jimmy immediately volunteered to lead them off.  I really didn’t like that idea, but there was no persuading Jimmy when his mind was made up.  He took off to draw off the Logan and the militia while we got away.  The rest of got easily away while, the militia chased after Jimmy.

We stopped once we got safely away to see if Jimmy managed to get away okay.  At that point we heard an explosion and our answer, he was still engaged with the militia.  Immediately, the Doctor and I raced in with the Comrade following closely behind. 

We found the ruins of the truck the militia was riding in, apparently it’s destruction was courtesy of Jimmy.  We looked around to see if we could find any trace of the militia or Jimmy.  A quick scan by the Doctor, found the militia’s Logan in a holding pattern over a small village to the east of Marseilles. 

As we headed to the village, we hid the Hummer for safety.  No need to lose the only remaining Hummer we have to the militia.  We traveled the rest of the way in on Cyclone. 

Very quickly we found the first militiaman, but Jimmy got to him first.  The militiaman had a big ‘toy rifle’ blast in his chest.  The Doctor was able to surmise what direction the blast had come from as we headed that direction.

As we headed in the new direction, the Doctor began trying to listen in on the militia’s chatter. As she finally broke into the militia communications we came across a second militiaman who just like before , had a ‘toy rifle’ blast in his chest courtesy of Jimmy. 

The Doctor reported that the militia was very disorganized and largely scattered in the town.  Jimmy was jumping around and picking off militiamen as he came across them.  The Logan above couldn’t track Jimmy, the ground clutter was just too much to try to spot a Cyclone in.  Then the Logan withdrew when Jimmy fired missiles at it.

As we were determining where to go next, Jimmy landed in the middle of us.  He demanded to know why we haven’t escaped yet.  We told him we were concerned about him, but he wouldn’t have any of it.  He was confident that he could hold off the militia and the militia had done little to disprove him.  Jimmy took off down the road to hunt down more militia.

Reluctantly we headed back of town and left Jimmy to his work.  We decided that we would check out the airfield where the Invid met the militia.  Maybe the militia would have some equipment they would no longer be needed.   More importantly for me, we would not be too far away from Jimmy if he got into trouble.

As we drove into the airfield, we saw two people run into one of the storage buildings.  We moved over to investigate. The Comrade immediately took charge of the situation.   He moved in position and was about to kick in the door when the door exploded.

The Comrade just barely got out of the way as the door went flying out.  Behind it sat a militiaman with a heavy weapon ready to unload on those us caught unawares.  Fortunately, the Comrade was quick on the draw. He unloaded into the militiaman, turning the man into swiss cheese.  The Comrade then began searching the doorway for the final militiaman.

Unfortunately, the militiaman was ready to spring his final trap.  He had two claymore mines set near the doors.  They went off just shortly before we were about to enter the building.  The Doctor and I were able to jump to the side to get out of the way, although the Doctor’s Cyclone took a little damage. 

The Comrade attempted to clear the claymore by jumping up on to the building.  And while he was able to clear the claymore, the forced split-second reaction did not allow him to notice the building overhang. He slammed into the overhang then crashed into the ground below taking most of the overhang with him.

I jumped into the building, chasing after the fleeing militiaman.  Joan sprung to my hand and laid a burst into his right leg, blowing out most of his kneecap.  The militiaman dropped to the ground unconscious. 

The Doctor came in and bandaged up the militiaman.  We then all began searching through the crates to see what the militia had.  We found the typical supplies you would expect:  weapons, ammunition, cigarettes, that kinda of stuff.  However they also had these weird looking protoculture cells.  It must be what the militia got from the Invid for helping them.

We gathered what supplies we could and got ready to take our prisioner with us.  Unfortunately, he had disappeared.  He apparently had regained consciousness and had quietly snuck away while we were busy loot…acquiring goods.  I left our now signature Loraine Cross to ensure that everyone knew that not all of us were willing to give in to the Invid.

After we gathered up the supplies, we recovered our Humvee and took the long route back to base.  There Jimmy was already waiting on us, wondering what took us so long.  I was relieved that he was unharmed during the fighting.

At the base, we all went about doing different things.  The Doctor began experimenting with the Invid Protoculture Cells and modifying them for use in our Cyclones.  The Comrade met up with the Doctor and began discussing what our next strategy should be.  Meanwhile, Jimmy and I quietly celebrated my 21^st birthday. 

Eventually we gathered together and all agreed we want to strike back at the Invid.  However we knew so little about them still, why are they here?  They don’t really seem to want to conquer us, its almost like they only deal with us when they have to.  We really needed more information on them. So we decided that we needed to observe them.  The Comrade, Doctor, Jimmy, and I headed out to go observe an Invid Hive to see what makes the Invid tick…

Tags: Memoirs Robotech Mekton

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Chapter 15:  Target for Tonight

Eventually, the Comrade and the Doctor came back with Annika and the Sergeant.  The two look how you say, “no worse for the wear.”  The Comrade immediately set-up them up in rooms near him.  He then declared that portion of the base as the “Russian wing.” 

This is of course, led to the Doctor getting in a huge argument with the Comrade  about it being everybody’s base.  The Comrade then countered with how he couldn’t trust the Doctor and I.  He could not trust the Doctor because she had no respect for authority, and he could not trust me because as I say I am not a nice girl. Only the Marine he trusted, because the Marine would follow orders.

Eventually, the conversation turned to what to do about the Invid.  That was good, when we focused on the enemy, our personal problems tended to go away.    The first thing we wanted to try, was to prove out the Marine’s theory to that the Invid could sense protoculture.  We gathered up our Cyclones, loaded them into the Hummer and headed to a remote area to test out our theory.

We went to a hill a little ways away.  There the Marine tried his little experiment.  He put on his Cyclone and powered the Cyclone up.  The Marine then began jumping up and down and dancing around trying to get the Invid’s attention. 

I didn’t like this plan at all.  Jimmy was prancing around like he was the celebrity at a dance party trying to get some Invid to take potshots at him.  But Jimmy thought up the plan, and Jimmy wanted to be the one to test out the theory.  I could have argued against it, but he would have done anyway with or without me.  So I decided to go along with it, and made sure that I would kill any flying crustacean that tried to shoot my Jimmy.

For the next few hours, the Marine danced a jig, but his dancing did not net any Invid.  Apparently, the Invid did have to be somewhat close to notice our protoculture.  Or the Marine had his theory wrong.  Either way we had to go to the Invid to test our theory instead of the other way around.

So we decided to head to Marseilles to see we could, how you say, russle up some Invid.  They might not have been in town, but we might find clues on where we could look for some.  The only thing the group was really concerned about, was whether somebody wanted me in Marseilles.  As far as I knew, I wasn’t really wanted in Marseilles so we were okay.

We travelled to Marseilles using the highways and just as reached a major junction outside the city, we could see the airport.  That when we saw some commotion at the airport.  There stood some two dozen collaborators, three of the armed lobsters, and some huge four armed creature we had never seen before. It looked kinda like a giant armed fiddler crab.

Well the Doctor, was determined to find out what the new Invid was.  She climbed into her Cyclone and jumped up on the highest overpass to get a good view of the Invid.  I did not like Doctor being the new target, but only slight less than Jimmy being the target.  I probably would feel the same way of about the Comrade, so I should volunteer in the future to save myself some grief.

Anyways I digress, the Doctor began scanning the Fiddler Crab with all those fancy sensors in her Cyclone.  The Fiddler turned immediately to face the Doctor, but it did not move.  Instead the Lobsters raced over to attack us. 

As the Lobsters closed the distance, the Comrade and the Marine suited up for battle.  I prepared the Hummer so if we needed to get a quick getaway we could.  I didn’t like it, but somebody had to make sure our surviving Hummer stayed safe.  Jimmy gave a quick kiss and in a flash he was off to face the Lobsters.

The Lobsters begin firing the Comrade and Doctor hitting them both.  Fortunately, neither was not hit to badly by the Lobsters annihilation disks.  I moved the Hummer to underneath an overpass, grabbed my rifle and headed over to a guard rail.  The Lobsters were out of my range for now, but I waited for my shot.  I would back up my comrades in battle…especially Jimmy.

The Marine dives into combat with reckless abandon.  He easily dispatched one of the Lobsters with a shot to the eye.  The Doctor in the meanwhile continued concentrated on scanning the Fiddler Crab.  The Comrade fires a shot that almost hits the Lobster in the eye, but the Lobster barely manages to parry its claw. 

The two Lobsters closed with the Marine and the Comrade, and just in range of my Gallant Rifle.  I fired a shot and killed the Lobster with a hit to its eye.  The remaining Lobster strafed the Marine and the Comrade.  Jimmy managed to get out of the way, but the Comrade was not so lucky.  His Gallant H-90 was melted by an annihilation disk.

I tried firing on the Lobster but missed.  The Marine was able to finish the Lobster off with a shot to eye.  As the Lobster fell, the Doctor finished up her scans of the Fiddler Crab.  Our mission accomplished we escaped, all the time the Fiddler Crab kept an eye on us as we escaped…

Tags: Memoirs Robotech Mekton

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Chapter 14:  The Gift Horse

For the next few days we stayed on the run.  We traveled back in the Alps in Southern France to hide out. We settled on Vanoise National Park.  Vanoise was a remote national park where few people would bother us. 

The cold weather was already make it difficult for us.  We spent the next few days trying to gather what we could in the way of food.  For the most part we could only find berries, nuts, and herbs and barely enough to sustain us.  Only the Doctor managed to find any significant food, she shot and killed a buck.  I had not tried deer meat before that day, but after a few days of roughing it…it was the best meat I had ever tasted.

After having finally having a solid meal in our bellies, we began to decide on what are next move would be.  I remembered there were two airfields nearby.  Back in the day, the airfields were used to smuggle in goods in out of the E.B.S.I.S.  All that changed late in the war, when the Southern Cross converted one of the airfields for use with their military aircraft.  The other airfield being that close a military airfield, all smuggling operations quickly ceased.  How do I know this, as I say I am not a nice girl.

Anyways I digress, we headed out to the airfields to see if hopes to find some parts, or weapons.  As we headed up to the airfield, the Marine realized something.  Everytime we were in the Cyclones the Invid seemed to sense where we were.  After to some discussion between the Marine and the Doctor, it became clear that the Invid could detect the Protoculture systems that the Cyclones used and they could probably detect anything else that was using Protoculture.  As a result, we realized we could only use the Cyclones when the situation absolutely demanded it and we could accept the Invid tracking us.

So as the approached the shorter of the two airfields, we stopped in the nearby f