Robotech Rebels

When good vanishes, darkness reigns.
When evil vanishes, light spreads its wings
Ancient times, scattered in space,
temptations bought down to earth,
resulting in evolution.

-Unknown

"Blue blue rain in my soul"

-20th Century song lyric

Rebecca Bartley sat in a run-down bar, on the outskirts of a small town in what was once Germany, in central Europe, on the planet Earth, third from its sun in the fourth quadrant of the Milky Way galaxy. Her ligh blue-grey eyes were reflected off the pools of liquid on the bar, while her long black plait was now resting in one of those pools. She stared, depressed, into her drink. Was the glass half-full, or half-empty? She pondered this for a while, and resolved the question by making it completely empty. She sighed. Usually, by her third (fourth?) drink she felt a lot better than this. Why was it that today, at the same number as usual, she seemed so depressed?

It wasn't as if today had been any different to anytime in the last few years. Two years ago, the Invid had came, laying waste to much of the planet, destroying its defenders, smashing its cities, killing much of the already reduced population, and enslaving the rest. Then came the total breakdown in law and order that had followed. Power went from the district governor and military to the metrobosses and gangs, and anyone who had a gun, or mecha, or whatever. It was amazing (or at least to her), how quickly humankind had filled into this new existence, as if it had been like this for years. Maybe it was age? Twenty-six years old (soon to be twenty seven). No? Her millitary past? A former second lieutenant in the Army of the Southern Cross's Recon Escort Patrol, and the only survivor of her squad. Did she miss them? Not a chance. Her current status? A deserter who had turned to mercenary work for anyone with some money, protoculture cells, or anything else to offer. No. Did she miss her family? No. She hardly knew them. They had all died during the Zentraedi holocaust. She had been spared because she was at a day care centre across the other side of town on that fatal day. What did she have in the world now? the clothes on her back (a military jumpsuit), with a few spares. A couple of guns. And an REF armoured combat motorcycle that she'd "found", who's features she was still guessing at.

She checked her wallet. Empty. Maybe it was time to go off somewhere and curl up for the night. She wandered out of the bar, and staggered towards her bike. And then she was almost run down.

The guilty party had been riding on a green combat motorcycle, similar to her own. It swerved sharply to avoid her, skidding in the mud that made up the street. The bike crashed to the ground, its armoured rider coming up next to it, unharmed, but probably frightfully embarrassed.

Who does he think he is, riding like that? Rebecca strode over to give the rider a piece of her mind (and probably a few broken teeth), when she heard an all too familiar sound: the high-pitched buzzing of Invid flight engines. She turned, and saw a pair of Invid mecha, large, purple crab-like monstrosities armed with a mass of sharp claws and a pair of high-powered plasma cannons.

The rider had also seen them, but did something completely unexpected. He leapt back onto the motorcycle, and drove straight towards the Invid. Thrusters in its back fired, propelling it into the air. It's shape shifted, the bike sliding onto the rider's armour, transforming him into a small battloid, reminicent of the power armours used by some of the ASC's armies.

He landed in front of the first shock trooper, and fired a missile from one of the launchers mounted on its forearms. The missile struck the shock trooper in its small red sensor eye, sending it crashing over backwards, spilling a thick green liquid. The pilot turned on the second one, firing another missile. The shock trooper reacted by quickly blocking the missile with it's massive forearm. The battloid pilot then leapt backwards as the shock trooper sent a burst of plasma energy into the space where he was a few seconds ago.

He landed again, facing the Invid, lining up another shot. However, this time, the Invid was prepared. It swung towards him with it's giant armoured claw. The mecha jumped out of the way, but was caught by the claw. It sent him flying across the street, landing him in a heap by a derelict car. The pilot seemed to be stunned, he lay there, unmoving, but moaning a bit. The Invid mecha stomped towards him.

Rebecca knew what was going to happen, and she realised that someone had to do something about it. She also realised that she was spoiling for a fight. She leapt on her motorcycle, and sped towards the Invid mecha. As it turned to face her, she flipped a switch that she knew activated the missile launchers in the front of the bike. I'd been saving them for a special occasion. But hell, this seems to be it! The missiles leapt from their housings, striking into the Invid's body, gouging out huge chunks of armour, and sending globs of green liquid flying. The Invid staggered, and collapsed into the street, smoke rising from its inert form, the smell of something ghastly burning filling the air.

Rebecca rode over to where the downed mecha was. "urrrr", the pilot offered as she helped him to his feet, followed by "thanks".

"Don't mention it", Rebecca replied. "Now would you mind explaining who you are, and how you did that?"

The mecha kneeled down, and disconnected from the pilot's body. He climbed out, and pulled it up into it's cycle form. He removed his helmet, revealing a well built, sort of attractive face, with brown eyes and short, neat black hair. "I'm Lieutenant Steve Daley, formerly of the TASC's 512th tactical Fighter Wing stationed on the ALUCE II Moonbase."

"The moon?"

"Uh-huh. We're the 'reserve force' of the Earth's military forces. At present, we've got over a thousand mecha and several ships up there, and we plan to use them soon to attack the Invid headquarters, a massive hive known as Reflex Point."

"How soon?", Rebecca inquired, her eyes narrowing, an air of cynicism beginning to creep in.

"That's why I'm here. I was sent from the moon base to meet up with the heads of the European resistance movement, who had been setting up an underground military force to fight off the Invid when we gave the word. My Alpha fighter was shot down by the Invid trying to get here. I made it to the rendezvous site, but they never showed"

"You got that right. Just a day or two before the invasion, some ASC nut got control of the resistance. They went of half-cocked when the Invid came, launching everything straight at them, and got blown clean away. Buddy, you're probably the last resistance fighter on this whole crummy continent."

"Oh." Steve looked a bit downcast.

Rebecca tried to change the topic. "So what do you think you'll do now? I mean, there's not much chance of you getting back to the moonbase to report this, nor is it likely that you'll find too many other people around here who are willing to fight against the Invid"

"Somehow, I've got to get to the Reflex Point. Maybe I could hook up with the North American resistance movement. At any rate, I want to be there when the assault begins. It looks like they're going to need all the help they can get"

"Buddy, that is a moderately insane, totally wild, half-assed idea if I ever heard one." She yelled. "How about that small thing between here and Reflex Point, ie the Atlantic Ocean? What about all the hundreds of Invids or Sympaths that would be in your way, trying to do you in by any means possible? And do you know what state Europe's in? Between here and the Atlantic there's hundreds of kilometres of gangs, thuggers, cut-throat mercs and bandits? It's totally nuts! Do you need a hand?"

"You mean you'd help me?" he responded, more than a bit surprised.

Rebecca thought for a minute. This is what's been missing from my life! A good, solid goal to work to. "Sure. Just on the proviso that you explain how you did all that."

Steve was about to start, when Rebecca butted in. "But right now, do you feel like a drink?"

"For the tourist who wants to get away from it all, why not try Vietnam?"

-Newsweek Magazine, 1964

Rebecca had somehow been able to obtain a room in the hotel above the bar that she had been earlier wasting herself in, and a couple of beers to boot. She'd polished her own one off, and was now going through Steve's while she listened to his explanations. Their motorcycles had been bought up with them. Steve was pondering how Rebecca had arranged all this, while he explained and made a few minor repairs to his 'cycle.

"Up on the moonbase, we've got plenty of troops. Over one thousand Alphas, and several hundred other Veritechs, mainly VF-1s but a mixture of Logans and AJACS to boot. Add to that a few Corsair fighters, some Vultures, Vampires and Condor Destroids from the REF, and a few Hornets and Pirates that were in storage. But the real power's our fleet. We've got a couple of Pegasus and Predator assault shuttles, a couple of Banshee class escorts, two Battle Class destroyers and three new ships from the REF, called Garfish. The problem is the ground troops here on Earth. The original plan was that we'd have a simultaneous assault from space and on the ground. However, we lost contact with most of the prepared ground bases during the invasion. At first we thought it could be EM interference from the Invid attack or jamming. Now it seems that they were destroyed"

"You got that right" Rebecca stated, a bit loud. (It was probably the beer). "I don't know about the rest of the world, but I do know what happened to Europe. They were going along with the original plan, just content to hide in the ground, and wait until the moonbase gave the signal for the counterattack. Only, the plan failed to take into account human nature right?"

"Huh?"

"Well, a little before the invasion, the European theatre commander, Colonel Andrezj Slavaski fell foul of some 'accident'" (It's amazing how she can pronounce inverted commas) "And command went to one Colonel Nikols Stavopolis, a real foam-at-the-mouther, one of old Leonard's favourites. Now he wasn't going to let one single alien set foot on his planet, oh, no. So, when the aliens show up, he launches his entire forces at them, in the belief that they'd push them back. He'd piled on the bull enough so those pilots probably thought they would too. So there goes the planned European resistance group up in smoke. Of course, rumour has it that Nick himself was killed by his aide as they fled his command bunker."

Steve was amazed at how she could say all this while calmly cleaning her PR-30 rifle, as if the destruction of the entire European resistance was something that happened every day.

"But as I said, it's just a rumour. Pity though if it's true; I wouldn't mind having a shot at him myself." Then, suddenly, she changed from her casual indifference and coolnes to sudden bright-eyed, almost childish eagerness. "But now, I want you to tell me how you got that cycle to do that"

Steve sighed, amazed at Rebecca's mood swings. "First up, they're not cycles. They're Cyclones; designed manly as emergency vehicles for downed pilots, and for covert ops. yours is a VR-041H Saber, and mine's a VR-052R Battler. They're pretty much the same, apart from weapons & sensors. Your Saber has the twelve Scorpion mini-missiles, and a pair of Vibro-swords built in to the forearm shields- the large 'hubcaps' of the motorcycle mode."

"Neat"

Steve continued, in spite of Rebecca's interruption. "The Battler's only got it's four Bludgeon mini-missiles, but it's got a far more extensive sensor suite"

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. More weapons is fine with me. What I want to know is how do you do transform them, so I can get down to some crab-kicking action."

She's like some child with a new toy. He continued, a bit wearily. "There's a problem. The Cyclone rider needs to be wearing a suit of CVR-3 Cyclone body armour. It has the right connections for the Cyclone. And no, SCBA won't do in a pinch. And I don't have a clue where to get a suit to fit you from..."

"Hey! It's Europe! The remains of many great civilisations are buried here, and the last one through here has left plenty of ruins for us to sift through. Armour and weapons shouldn' be too much of a problem. And remember, the people they used to belong to aren't gonna be needing them any more".

With that, she swallowed the rest of the beer, and slammed the mug down to the floor. She belched, and relaxed back into sitting on the floor with her guns. "'Sides which, if we didn't get to it, some group of thugs would".

Steve was about to loose his temper at her, when he heard a vehicle pull up outside. Rebecca suddenly tensed, reaching for her rifle. Steve got up, and looked out the window. A battered AAT-30 jeep had pulled up across the street, carrying four less-than-pleasant looking types in it's back, with another two in the front. One of them wore a battered armour suit, the rest had no uniforms, and carried an assortment of firearms. The only markings came in the form of a wolf's head on a red background that had been hastily added to the AAT.

"Do you know a symbol with a wolf's head on a red shield?", he called to Rebecca.

"Nope. It's probably bad anyway", she replied, getting up, and coming over to the window. Most of them climbed out of the jeep, leaving only the driver. They began to move out, across the town.

"They're probably after whoever did in those two crabs. It's probably a good idea for us to get out of here quietly." Then she tensed. Through the floor, Steve could hear two people talking in German.

"Any idea what they're saying?" He asked her.

"Don't speak the language, but one of the thugs is probably hassling the bartender about the nuts they're after"

"Meaning us, right?"

Rebecca nodded. She picked up her gun and went over to the door. Pushing it slightly open, she looked out down the hall, and then ducked back in. "Sounds like a couple of them coming up the stairs. Hmmm.."

With that, she grabbed a large pistol from under the bed, that Steve hadn't seen before. "Stay here, and get ready to move", she ordered. And with that, she jumped out into the corridor.

The leader had just reached the top of the stairs, with several thugs behind. He was somewhat surprised when a woman leapt out of one of the rooms, and started blazing away at him with a large pistol. One of the bullets struck his armour's chestplate dead centre. While the armour prevented him from being harmed, the impact knocked him backwards, into the thugs behind him. The whole lot went down the stairs in an assortment of crashes and thumps.

Rebecca leapt back into the room, and yelled out at Steve. "Move it now!"

Down on the street, Hanse was waiting behind the wheel of the AAT. Herman, Franz and Anton had just gone into the bar, looking for the people they were after. Suddenly, one of the upper story windows exploded outwards, with some crazy woman on a motorcycle flying out. Hanse recovered from the shock, and then jumped out of the AAT as she opened fire with a laser rifle. Then, thrusters in the back of the bike fired, bringing it down to a controlled landing.

Hanse was about to grab his FA5 rifle, when something else came out of the same room; a small, human-sized Battloid. The Battloid leapt down, landing in the back of the truck, sending the front bouncing up, throwing Hanse to the ground. It then leapt into the air, and (much to his surprise) transformed into a motorcycle with an armoured rider, landing and speeding off like the first one.

He was still lying there gaping as Herman and the others came out of the bar, looking noticeably bruised and battered. Herman lent over him, and gave him one of those "Well, what are you doing there you moron?" looks. He gulped. There was going to be hell to pay.

Steve caught up with Rebecca just outside of town. She was grinning like an idiot. "See, wasn't that simple? Those clowns are probably still trying to figure out what happened back there. I bet you utterly boggled them when you transformed like that! Now let's think about getting me a tin suit.."

Steve grimaced under his helmet. She's enjoying this! Treating it as if it were some kind of game, not the fate of the Earth! "Yeah, whatever", he said, wearily, and just a touch annoyed.

"Oh, lighten up a little!" Rebecca snapped, and sped off.

Steve watched her go for a minute. Lighten up? Is she crazy or something? He stopped the bike. In the distance, the only person or thing in the past few days who hadn't tried to kill him was speeding off. The only help he had in this world. Possibly, the Earth's only chance. He groaned. Maybe she'll be different. Maybe it's just the beers.

With that, he kicked up the stand, and sped off after her.

"For death awaits ye all, with Nasty, big, pointy teeth"

Tim the Enchanter, Monty Python and the Holy Grail

That morning, the skies were alive with the buzzing of Invid scouts, incessantly searching for the humans that had slain two of their number the previous evening. These humans represented a threat, and must be eliminated. The Invid knew one thing that the humans didn't: The human's own, Protoculture-powered mecha would betray their presence.

A crab-like pincer scout ship landed by the bank of a small river. It looked around, scanning the area for protoculture. It had seen protoculture emissions in this area, and then they vanished. Now all that it could see were scrub, rocks and a small bridge. It reported this to the hive, then took off again to resume the airborne search.

Spluttering, Rebecca dragged herself from the river, and then helped Steve pull himself out. "Great plan of yours- jump in the river. I'm soaked now. We could have taken that little runt!"

"With what? Neither of us have any missiles, and our guns would have just made it mad." Steve pointed out. "It had seen us, and our only option was to hide while it was coming about." He picked up his Cyclone from under the bridge.

Rebecca growled. She hated it when she was wrong and other people were right, especially when it came to matters like killing things.

While they waited for their clothes to dry, Rebecca got talkative. "Why'd they send you down from the moonbase? Wouldn't someone who knew German or French as at least a secondary language be more useful?"

"I served with the TASC's European air corps during the war, flying Logans from New Farmborough in England. I didn't go 'up there' until after the war. So they figured that someone with a working knowledge of the ASC's European forces would be useful. For all the fat lot of good its done"

"Hey don't worry!" she said, slapping him roughly on his bare back. It stung. "No-one could have figured on what would have happened. I mean, who'd have guessed that one nut would put his personal glory ahead of the good of the planet after seeing what it got ol' AW Leonard. You're alive, and we can between us start a new resistance group. I mean, we can't be the only nuts in Europe."

"Well, it's good saying that, but at present we have only two Cyclones, one set of CVR armour and no missiles versus some ten million Invid."

Rebecca looked down for a minute, and then perked up. "I know! There's a town near here that may have supplies or people willing to join us. Serious. "

Steve gave her a "yeah, right" look. "You were the one who a little while earlier said that we were the world's only hope" he replied, but she wasn't paying attention.

"It should be right over... there. Oh crap."

Steve and Rebecca sped towards the town at high speed. As it came into view, Steve could see what she was worried about. Several pillars of black smoke rose from the town's east side, with a number of fires clearly burning in it. A good chunk of the town's east side had been demolished. They pulled up their Cyclones to survey the damage.

"It looks like someone wanted to give them a severe warning" Steve said in a low, sad voice. "We should see what happened, and see if we can do anything".

"Yeah, right", Rebecca replied, seeming numb.

They rode into the town, moving cautiously across the bridge that was the only remaining entrance from the east. All around them buildings had been destroyed, trees burnt, the ground blasted apart. There was no sign of the dead, or of any survivors for that matter. The only signs of life were a few birds, circling around overhead. Steve was staring at the destruction, shocked at what had happened. Rebecca looked at him, as if to say "I've seen it, it's like this everywhere".

As they looked around, their hopes of finding anyone shrank, and then vanished all together. After a long silence, Rebecca suddenly perked up. "See this wall here? It looks more like it was blasted by a large, explosive projectile than an Invid plasma weapon"

"So maybe a tank tried to blast one of them, and missed?"

"I'm not so sure. He must've been aiming at a pretty low-flying Invid, or maybe one on the ground. But I've seen nothing looking like the blast from an Invid landing, and trust me, I'd know it. Also, if there was a tank fighting the Invid here, we would have found it's wreckage by now. Our little friends are too through to miss something like that"

"So you're saying it was humans who attacked this place? But why?" Steve replied, sounding somewhat confused.

"Yup. Possibly connected to the bunch that came after us last night. But a bit better equipped. My guess is that the Invid know that we're still alive, and as you came from the Moon, they guess you're a real threat"

Steve grunted a response. "We might as well go, there's nothing left here. I reckon the survivors didn't hang around too long afterwards."

As they turned to go, something sent a few loose bits of rubble clattering into the street. Rebecca and Steve turned to see a small boy run off into the rubble, darting through the wrecked buildings.

"I'm going after him!" Rebecca yelled, tearing off through the ruins. "He may be able to tell us what happened here!"

"Rebecca!" Steve yelled in frustration, hoping that she'd use some sense. But she either didn't hear, or didn't notice. Damn her. Steve took off after her.

Rebecca darted through the rubble, after the boy who seemed to be an expert at this game. Steve was trying to follow her, but found it hard to keep up. Rebecca was faster and more agile than him, and the boy's smaller size allowed him to dart through smaller gaps. Eventually, they corned him against the wall of a still-standing house.

"Now tell us what happened here!" Rebecca barked at him.

"He's probably too frightened by us! He's just a child!" Steve yelled angrily at her. She turned towards him, looking ready to pounce. Suddenly, a voice rang out behind them in German. They both turned, to see a Vietnamese man in a battered jumpsuit pointing an assault rifle at them, with a very unfriendly look on his face. He yelled at them again in German.

"What's he saying?" whispered Steve.

"Probably something like 'get your hands in the air Yankee imperialist dogs' I'd guess" she replied "Probably has a five generation grudge against us"

"Very funny" he replied in clear English. "Now get moving before I blow you away on the spot for what your friends did!"

Rebecca and Steve were disarmed, and then marched towards the centre of town, which seemed to be (comparatively) undamaged. The Vietnamese man, and a number of others armed with a variety of primitive (put painful-looking) weapons turned towards them. "Now, what are you doing here? Is it not enough that you attack us, but you send scabs to pick over the ruins? Don't you think we've gotten the message by now? Or are you guys just pain daft?"

"Hey, in case you didn't notice, I'm from the Southern Cross! I'm on your side" Steve yelled, pointing to his uniform.

"Erm, that's not a good move. Those tank-thugs probably were probably ex-ASC as well." Rebecca whispered to him "In fact, renegade soldiers are one of this continent's bigger problems".

Steve gulped. "By the way" he whispered "Is that inverted 'L' shaped wooden thing with the bit of rope hanging from it and a stool below what I think it is?"

"You mean the bit of rope on the 'Noose' motif?"

"That one"

"Could be"

"Ah."

"You said it"

One of the villages barked something in German at Rebecca, and prodded her in the back with his pitchfork, marching her towards the inverted 'L' shaped wooden thing with a bit of rope hanging from it in a 'noose' motif and a stool below that. She closed her eyes, and walked forwards, not accepting fate, but trying to figure out a way out, and wondering what was the grinding, grating noise she could hear in the background.

This was answered when suddenly a nearby wall crashed down, sending chunks of brick all over the place. Rebecca and Steve dived for cover. As Steve looked up from his hiding place, he saw an Anaconda MBT roll through the demolished wall, crushing the inverted 'L' shaped wooden thing with a bit of rope hanging from it, and the accompanying stool.

The tank stopped, swivelling its main gun (Wow, Steve thought, 120mm cannons sure look big from this point of view) towards the Vietnamese man. Then the top hatch of the tank opened. A huge, blond man with a mohawk in a de-sleeved Tactical Corps uniform climbed out.

"Well, I'm sure glad to see that our little friends saved us the bother of finding the two we're after" he said, looking at Rebecca and Steve. "You're comin' down to the base with us, as the bosses wanna have a little word or two with ya. And you too" he said, turning towards the Vietnamese man. "I reckon your lot have had it too easy 'till now"

"Never give a sucker an even break"

Saint Francis of Assisi (attrib)

Rebecca, Steve and the Vietnamese man from the town (who had introduced himself as being Antoan Hai, apologised for his earlier behaviour, and then gotten some whacks around the head for not being quiet.) had been cuffed and bundled into a truck by the thugs, and were now being driven out of the town. Steve and Rebecca's bikes were on the back of another truck. The thugs didn't seem to know their value, and had been eyeing them for the parts. The thugs themselves sported crew-cuts or mohawks, and wore a variety of studs, leather jackets, chains and shredded ASC uniforms. Rebecca made some crack about the Sydney Madi Gras, and got another whack to the head.

"I bet he's a poof anyway" she added under her breath.

After about an hour (it was hard to tell as their watches were now behind their backs), the trucks reached a devastated Army Base. Most of the buildings had been reduced to rubble, and the place was littered with the debris of Tanks and battloids. However, a flag flew over the base, showing the wolf's head crest of the thugs, and several Anaconda tanks were parked around the base. And there were thugs milling about, fixing up the tanks, refilling their fuel tanks or loading up fresh ammo with military precision and form.

The truck pulled up in front of what looked like an old-west jailhouse. Rebecca, Steve and Antoan were bustled out of the truck, and confronted by the biggest, ugliest and smelliest thug of the lot. He had short, blond hair, a broken nose, sunglasses and a TC Colonel's uniform with the front open to show of his big muscles and hairy chest. "Velocme to ze Tactical Corps fivt mechanized division, ze Red Vovles." he said with a German accent that made Steve's eyes water.

He didn't want to laugh, but yet there was this acutely silly voice coming out of this huge man. It was the sort of silly German voice you get in bad World War II movies with actors pretending to be Germans. But if he laughed, he'd be reduced to mincemeat.

"Ve hav been expectink you for quvit zome time now. Now zat you are here, ve hope you will be. comfortable here unill ze bosses dezide vat to do vith you".

Steve couldn't take it any more. He bust out laughing. The boss thug looked somewhat upset, and slugged Steve in the guts, doubling him over. "Zat vill teach you zome manners, ya?" he yelled. Steve just kept on laughing. "Guards! Throw zem in ze brig!" Several large thugs grabbed them, dragging them into the jailhouse, and somewhat roughly hurling them into a cell. The big thug burst in again. "Helga! Vatch zeze three until ve decide vat to do vit zem!" he yelled at a small, blonde woman standing by the door. And then he stormed out, slamming the door.

Steve, Rebecca and Antoan picked themselves up and brushed themselves off. "Great work Steve" Rebecca commented cynically, slapping him on the back of the head.

"Yeah. I should have just hanged you when I had the opportunity" Antoan added. "Now, instead of killing us, they'll do unspeakable things to us first"

"Still, I bet he is a poof" Rebecca added. And then burst out laughing. Then Steve joined in. And, eventually, Antoan saw the joke and started laughing.

"Hey you crumb bums! Stop talking about Willie like that!" Helga yelled at them in a high- pitched whinny voice. This only resulted in another outburst of more hysterical laughing. "Hey! Stop it! Plee-eese.?"

Rebecca straightened up, and took a look at Helga. She was short, with blonde hair with dark roots. She had blue eyes, a band-aid over her nose, a leather jacket and a miniskirt. She looked seriously vacant. "Oh, sure. You're just saying that because you're to much of a wimp to tell him yourself what you think of him."

"Am not." She replied defiantly.

"Are too, you little wimp" Rebecca replied, smugly.

"You just come out here and say that!" Helga yelled at her.

"I would, but I can't" Rebecca replied calmly indicating to the bars of the cell.

"Right then". Drawing a gun, Helga opened the door of the cell and indicated for Rebecca to step out. She did, then Helga closed the door, uncuffed Rebecca, and backed off. She put the gun down on a chair, and adopted a fighting stance. A suddenly serious look appeared on her face. "I warn you, I used to fight for my gang before the war".

Rebecca adopted a similar stance. They circled each other, until Rebecca was facing the cell. Then she glanced at Steve, glared at Helga, picked up the gun and pointed it at her. "and I used to kill for the ASC during the war".

"Oops"

"Now let my freinds out of the cell now. And let them out of those handcuffs"

"Ok" she replied, somewhat submissively. She quickly opened the cell and removed their cuffs. "What now?"

"Steve, Antoan, I've got a plan. And this little bint is going to help us. Just put these cuffs on her and she'll be fine while the gun is pointed at her"

Antoan put the cuffs on Helga. Steve looked at him as if to say "you don't know what you're in for".

The left the jailhouse by the back door (a bit of tin roofing put over a hole in the wall), and snuck around the back of the buildings. Security didn't seem to be a big issue around here, Steve noticed. Maybe the tanks just scare intruders away.

After a short walk, they arrived out the back a large building with a pair of guards walking about it. Hiding behind a bunch of rusty iron barrels, observing the building. Finally Antoan pipped up. "What's so important?"

"The armoury. They keep all the guns here" Helga replied

"Well, that's normal for an armoury, you little twit" Rebecca sniped, slapping her on the back of the head. "There's a back door there. I wanna see what's in there" She waited for the guard to pass, then handed the gun to Steve. She snuck over to the door, and pushed on it. It fell in. She shrugged, and snuck in. Steve and Antoan looked at each other, and prepared to follow her. Then the guard returned. This one was wearing a TC uniform, sunglases and a World War II helmet. He noticed the fallen door, and walked in. Which was followed by a muffled thump.

Rebecca poked her head out. "Hey! Come in here! And bring bubbles with you!"

They found her inside hiding behind a bunch of crates, busy stripping of the guards outfit. Over the crates they could see rows of guns, several suits of body armour, lots of grenades, mini-missiles, explosives, Steve and Rebecca's Cyclones, a brown army truck and a tank.

"The tank's being repaired. It may be our way out of here. You speak German Antoan. So you're gonna join this gang. Just breifly."

Chief Technician (self appointed) Herman pulled himself out from underneath the Anaconda he'd been working on, to find a thug in sunnies and a WWII helmet standing over him. "What do you want now? It should be fixed now, so stop bugging me"

"The boss wants me to take it out for a test spin" the thug replied flatly.

Herman pulled himself up. "Sure, fine, whatever. Just take the supply truck with you, as it'll probably just brake down again. But don't come crawling to me for help." He snapped. "I'm going to get a drink. If you need me, tough"

He stormed out of the armoury. These thugs were so impatient. He wouldn't be at all suprised if the tank broke down. It's teach that moron Willie a lesson at least.

Antoan signalled the all-clear to the crates. Rebecca and Steve walked out from their hiding place, dragging the now gagged Helga with them. "So, what'd he say, Ant?"

Antoan winced a bit at the nickname. "We're in luck, as we've got the tank and the truck. I'd suggest you guys start loading up.

After dumping Helga in a corner, they went to work on the place, loading up on guns, ammo, missiles for their cyclones and a few spare Protoculture cells they found in a locked chest (A crowbar ensuring that it didn't say locked for long). Steve also found a set of battered CVR-3(F) for Rebecca amongst the armour suits. "Neat. Now I can change into a robot too!" She said, strutting around in the amour like a supermodel on the catwalk. "It's even the right colour"

Antoan whispered to Steve. "Is she always like this?"

"I've known her for the better part of a full 24 hours now. I'd say that the answer is probably yes".

"Oh dear"

"Hey guys!" Rebecca called out. "Lookit what I found!" She leapt out of the truck with a map. She spread it out on the floor, and they poured over the details. Several new features had been added to the map, including an Invid sensory tower.

"Hmm. We obviously want to avoid that area" Steve commented.

"Nope. We want to go straight for it" she replied.

They both stared at her.

Rebecca and lead the way along the forest road in the Anaconda, with Helga her unwilling passenger. Steve and Antoan followed in the truck. Rebecca had insisted that they stash the Cyclones in the back of the truck, and that they should get them ready for a "fast getaway"

Several times during the trip, Invid patrols had flown overhead. In each case, they had ignored the truck and tank. Rebecca took in this fact, contemplated it, and the delighted in the meaning of it.

Willie sat down in the mess hall for his end of the day beer. Opposite him, Herman the tech Fairy was reading an old car magazine. "You finished on that tank yet?" he asked Herman.

"Whadda you mean? You told some of the men to take it out on patrol to see if it worked earlier this afternoon"

"No I didn't." Willie's brow furrowed with confusion. Something odd was going on here.

Suddenly, a breathless guard burst into the mess hall, panting out a frantic message. "The prisoners have escaped, and Helga is missing".

Willie's mind suddenly clicked over.

The Anaconda drew up two kilometres from the tower. It was an enormous, odd construction of bizzare, almost organic-looking materials. Rebecca uncuffed and ungagged Helga, but pointed the gun at her. "Now do exactly what I tell you to, and I won't have to shoot you"

"ok" Helga replied meekly.

"Now, point the gun at the tower. We're easily within accurate range." Helga quickly did so. "Now fire it"

The tank rocked as the gun fired, sending a shell flying towards the tower. It hit on the side of the tower, sending chunks of stuff flying, but doing no real damage.

Helga looked up at Rebecca "Now what do I do?" she asked.

"Lean how to use the missile launcher, as the place'll be full of PO'ed Invid in a minute!" Rebecca yelled as she leapt out of the tank, shut the hatch, and ran for her Cyclone.

"Fine! Great! Claim victory in your heart and up your..."

Susan Ivonova; Babylon 5

They spent the night hiding in woodland about a kilometre from where they left the tank. The three of them alternated watches. For most of the night the sky was full of Invid scouts, buzzing out of the tower like crazy. They were cold, tired and uncomfortable. Yet they dared not move, lest they draw the attention of the Invid. By dawn, the Invid patrols had thinned out. At by eleven, the skies were clear.

"I'm going to assume this is all a part of your plan, Rebecca?" Steve needled her.

"Yep." She replied casually as she cleaned her rifle.

"And that is?" Antoan snapped. Steve looked at him as if to say "don't ask". Silence.

After a tense wait, probably no more than a couple of minutes, Antoan spoke up. "I'm going back to another town that I was supposed to be at by last night. There's someone there who may be willing to help us"

He looked at the two of them blankly, and then got up. Collecting up the stolen equipment that he had claimed as his own, he climbed into the truck and started it up. Rebecca looked at Steve. She shrugged. Getting no response, he got up, collected his stuff, and followed after Antoan on his Cyclone.

Rebecca sat there for a minute, staring into her coffee mug. To hell with it! She took one final swig from it, threw the mug over her shoulder, collected the rest of her gear, climbed on her Cyclone, and sped off after them.

After an hour over rough terrain, the three vehicles pulled up outside of a large, medieval-style stone wall. Behind it lay one of the better-looking towns that Rebecca had seen in months, which was an encouraging sign. Less encouraging was the signs of damage to the walls from combat, and a couple of wrecked trucks near the front gate. Antoan climbed out of the truck, and shouted something German up onto the wall. A second later, a reply was shouted back to him. Then silence.

"Any idea what they said?" Steve asked Rebecca.

"None whatsoever" she replied. "Probably something along the lines of `Hey you!'"

Steve just sighed. Just my luck to get stuck with a natural born cynic.

A couple of minutes later a man appeared on top of the wall. He was tall, wearing CVR body armour without the helmet, and carrying a LR-30 rifle, and had a decidedly unHappy look on his face. He shouted in German down at Antoan.

"That sounded like `Where the expletive deleted were you yesterday', although I could be mistaken".

Antoan did nothing for a moment, and then replied, vaguely indicating towards Steve and Rebecca. After another long silence, the gates opened. They advanced slowly into the town.

As Antoan's truck entered, the man from the top of the wall walked up alongside it. Antoan opened the door, and allowed him to climb in.

"Sorry I'm late Karl. My town was attacked by the Red Wolves, and I was taken prisoner by them. I got out though" Antoan stated flatly.

"I noticed. You've also got one of their trucks", Karl replied. "What's with those two?"

"Resistance fighters. I figure that being a roving mechanic isn't doing much good for the world, so I'm thinking about joining them"

"Yeah, right! You wouldn't last five seconds in combat. And if you go, who's gonna fix my Cyclone. It's busted again. And there's been dozens of Invid patrols since about dusk last night"

Antoan sighed. He knew what was going on. He chose not to let on though. "I'll fix you're bike for you, but then I'm leaving. You're going to have to find a new fixit man"

Karl muttered something under his breath. Antoan pulled the truck up outside of a small repair shop, parked it, and climbed out.

"The bike's in there", Karl said, vaguely pointing over his shoulder into the workshop. "I'll be in the bar. When you're finished, come get me". He then walked off towards the aforesaid without another word.

"Friendly guy" Rebecca commented in a very cynical tone. "What was all that about?"

"His Cyclone's broken down again. I'm supposed to fix it for him. I keep on doing such, but I'm beginning to wonder why I bother. He just gets it beat up again"

"Cyclone?" Steve asked, suddenly interested. "Would he be interested in joining us?"

"Fat chance. He's appointed himself as `Protector' of this town. And once he's made up his mind on something, he tends not to change it. It'd take an earthquake to shift him from here." He sighed. "I'd better get to work. You guys can look around here. There's not much to see. I'll be a couple of hours at least". He shrugged, and walked into the repair shop.

Rebecca and Steve spent a while wandering around the town, looking for supplies, equipment or even help. It was an old town, with several of it's buildings dating from as far back as two centuries. However, history and architecture were the least of there concerns. More interesting to Rebecca was it's condition- much better than many towns she'd seen in the last few months.

After about an hour of slow-paced wandering, they came across a rather interesting shop. The window had a large sign proclaiming in German, English, French and Polish that it was an "Electronics Shop". More interesting, however, was the large Satellite dish on the roof, apparently tied into an amazing collection of antennas, ariels and a wire coat-hanger bent into the shape of Australia.

Steve looked at Rebecca. "Ever seen anything like that before?"

"Nope. What's this guy trying to do, call up Mars or somethin'?" She replied casually.

"Maybe not. Hmm". Steve went into the store. Rebecca, noting that she was suddenly alone, followed him. It gave her something to do.

The inside of the shop was unusually rather dark, given the large front window. The problem was the immense amounts of electronic garbage piled around the place. Wrecked TVs, Videos in various states of disrepair, all flashing 12:00 on their clocks, a red toaster with plugs attached leading off somewhere, a microwave graveyard, a collection of vacuum cleaners seemingly cowering in a corner, a huge black screen shaped like an inverted triangle, mountains of electronic refuse. and a lone figure up the end, hunched over what appeared to be a scratch-built radio with wires leading up into the ceiling.

He was a short man, with a bit of a weight problem. He had thick, steel-rimmed glasses, pale skin, and short, scruffy brown hair. He had apparently neither heard or seen them, as Steve had to tap him on the shoulder before he noticed them.

Steve was about to ask him something, when he interjected. "Shh. I'm getting something". The radio's speaker's crackled. The man adjusted several dials. They crackled again, and a faint female voice could be heard. "..oonbase to Earth forces. ..osition. Invid.. Reflex Poin...tack will comm. 96 hour." It then went quiet.

Steve and Rebecca were quiet for a minute, contemplating. Steve ran things through his head. The Moonbase? Calling who? The Earth? And something happening in 96 hours. attack? "It was the moonbase! They're going to make their attack on the Invid base at Reflex point."

"In 96 hours" Rebecca finished. "Four days"

"It'll work. It must work. The moonbase is our last reserve force. If they don't succeed, well... We'll have to wait until the REF returns with more troops."

"If they return"

"I've heard the odd squawk out of the Moonbase before. They try to call the European Resistance movement, but they never get any replies" the man replied. "By the way, the name's Reg"

"Tell you what, Reg" Rebecca cut in. "We'll be in town probably until tomorrow morning. If you hear anything else, do tell. We'll be either in the bar, the repair shop or the cheapest hotel in town."

"Right" re replied without turning away from his radio.

Rebecca waved her hand in front of his face. Getting no response, she shrugged, gave Steve a "Weirdo" look, and then left. Steve stood over his shoulder for a few minutes, hoping for something to happen. It didn't. Giving up, he also left, and bumped into Rebecca who was waiting just outside.

"I'm heading back to the bar. Maybe we can talk Karly-boy into joining us" she said. Then, without waiting for Steve's opinion, she left.

The bar was one of the best Rebecca had seen in ages. But, aside from its (obviously considerable) liquor stocks, she wasn't interested in it's contents. Instead she went straight over to the table where Karl was sitting, and sat down in front of him. He looked up at her, and went straight back to his cigarette and newspaper.

"You know those things are bad for you" Rebecca commented flatly.

"Yeah, yeah. I know. Cancer et all" He replied in a gruff tone.

"That, and someone may break your nose if you blow smoke in their face".

"Touche". He stubbed out the cigarette, took a large swig of beer from his mug, and looked up at her. "So what do you want, mein leiben?"

"Your help", she replied, barely keeping herself from maiming him. "What are you doing with yourself right now?"

"Protecting this town"

"Bull. One man in a semi-functional Cyclone ain't goanna protect this town from anything more than a pack of boy scouts. Four people, three cycs. Who can tell? Already, me, Steve and Ant have taken the first steps in shaking the Invid control of Europe. And adding you to the team could only help us."

He gave her a short "Hmph" and went back to the beer.

"I'm sure that the REF soldier who used to have that cyc really appreciates what you're doing with it." She said bitterly, getting up to leave. "Think about it". She headed towards the door.

Just as she was leaving, a breathless man burst into the bar, nearly colliding with her. He blurted out something in German to Karl, which caused him to jump out of his seat and charge out of the bar.

Looking out over the front gate, Karl saw that the message was dangerously true. The Red Wolves are here! Lots of them! Three Anacondas and a pair of jeeps were parked outside the town, loaded down with gangers. It was grim. Karl knew that they had only four tanks, and they never used more than two at a time. The lead Anaconda's top hatch opened up. Out climbed the gang's huge leader, a particularly unsavoury ex-army type called Willie.

"Hey Karly-boy!" He called out. "Me and the boys wanna have a little talk with ya!"

"What do you want?" he shouted back, keeping his fear and rage under control.

"You got some friends of ours. And mebbie one of our Annies. We want `em back, now"

"I have no idea what you're talking about"

"Oh, come on, Karly-boy. You know who I mean. Your little gook friend and his chums, the broad and soldier-boy on bikes. And don't pretend you don't know what'll happen if you claim you don't know what I'm talking about"

"You don't frighten me" he replied, when they clearly did.

"Listen, Karly-boy. We've only left you alone `cause you're no threat to us, or the bosses. And you're kinda amusing to us, one little weed with a gun pretending to be defender of all things good". At that point a squad of Invid Shock troopers came into sight, buzzing through the air like giant insects.

"Whadda ya know boys! The bosses are gonna help us find what we're after. Let's trash this place!" he yelled, as the Anaconda charged forwards.

The lead shock trooper fired its twin cannons, not at the town as everyone had expected, but at the Anaconda, striking in its rear armour. The Anaconda's rear lit up in a spectacular fireball, which then engulfed the whole tank. The two remaining tanks as well as the jeeps suddenly decided to break off their attacks, and concentrate on fleeing, but to no avail. The Invid mecha destroyed all four vehicles, and thourouly chased up their occupants. And then they left.

"They attacked their own allies?" Karl said to Antoan, who had climbed up next to him. "Why?"

"Because we turned them on each other."

"That's what Rebecca meant about you taking the first steps in getting rid of the Invid. You'd gotten rid of one of their powerful allies in this area."

"Still want to stay here?"

"I'll have to think about it", Karl replied, looking out over the smoking debris.

At that point, Reg came running up to the wall, gasping for air. Gasping, he managed to compose himself enough to pant out a message to Steve. "I intercepted another transmission. The Ceres, one of the ASC's carriers, has been in contact with the moonbase, and has been trying to contact the resistance. It will be surfacing for fifteen minutes at reference point. GLC2965.. at 12 noon tomorrow to pick up any survivors of the resistance." He then collapsed into a gasping heap.