Chapter Six: All Hands on Deck

[Purr]

You are still our Colonel, and I think I speak for all the Wild Cards when I say that we will always be turning to you for advice and leadership."

She looked hopefully at Colonel Sharp, Professor Stein, and Hitomi, all the same. Their broader and longer experience surely could come up with something more than the Wild Cards had managed, right? Or at least new ideas to brainstorm.

Shirley pointedly walked up beside Toph and nodded to the room, backing everything Toph had said. Colonel Sharp looked up at the Wild Cards, Toph especially. Then he sighed and grinned in admiration.

With a look that showed he believed you and believed in you, Colonel Sharp said, "Now that's what I call a pep talk. I wish Hiroshi were here to see how powerful a speaker his daughter has become. I think I needed to hear that."

Professor Stein agreed. "He would have been proud of you, Muppet."

HItomi gave you a smile. "We'll find a way to help your families. Maybe more than one."

Meanwhile, Reggie could not help but stare up in awe at Iris who in turn could not help but stare down at him, her insectoid expression unreadable but the green in her eyes was clear. Reggie shifted in his wheelchair and asked Murphy. "Sir? Do you really see creatures bigger than her in your nightmares?"

"Yeah," Murphy replied. "But this one? She seems all right. Bugs can be your buddies, too."

* * *​

As the door to the elevator sealed behind you, Sam picked up a beaming MechaKitten and perched him on his shoulder. As the elevator levitated you, Shirley stood in the corner, her arms and ankles crossed with irritation and tenseness.

"I don't give a damn if we have to fly the veritechs to wherever your families live - we're fixing this!"

The elevator opened revealing the corridors to the quarters you had slept in before. Sam explained via tablet.

"THE CRYOGENIC AWAKENING HAS BEGUN. IT IS NOT A SHORT PROCESS. THERE IS TIME FOR YOU TO PREPARE YOURSELVES, THUS MAKING YOUR BEST FIRST IMPRESSION. PLEASE LEAVE YOUR ARMOR AND WEAPONS INSIDE THESE ROOMS."

Shirley tried to relax, but failed. "Just what are we geting ourselves into here, Sam?"

"YOU WILL WITNESS HYPERSLEEP AWAKENING OF R.E.F. ACTING-CAPTAIN PIPER, CHIEF PILOT AND THIRD-IN-COMMAND OF THE BROADSWORD ALONG WITH WWARLOCK, HER ASSISTANT. YOU WILL WITNESS OUR VERY FIRST DISCUSSION TOGETHER. THEN YOU WILL MEET.

"ACTING-CAPTAIN PIPER AND WWARLOCK WERE PLACED INTO HYPERSLEEP ALONG WITH THE REMNANTS OF THE SURVIVING CREW PRIOR TO OUR TIME TRAVELLING HERE."

"So, she's in charge of you?"

"AFFIRMATIVE. ACTING-CAPTAIN PIPER IS NOT AWARE OF HER POSITION NOR OF THE CIRCUMSTANCES THAT LED TO IT."

Shirley fidgeted. "What can we expect from her?"

Sam pondered. "WE ARE NOT CERTAIN. THE BROADSWORD WAS BEING DESTROYED WHEN SHE WAS PLACED IN HYPERSLEEP."

"Why show us this?"

"YOU HAVE DEMONSTRATED GREAT FAITH IN US. WE WISH TO DISPLAY THE FACTS WITH HER POINT OF VIEW AS AN ADDITIONAL SHOW OF TRUST BETWEEN THE BROADSWORD AND THE WILD CARDS."

After a warm and removal of post-mission sweat and crud, you left your gear and armor in the rooms and, wearing new jumpsuits provided by the Broadsword, you met Sam back at the elevator where he waited for you patiently.

Shirley, freshened up and looking less tense, examined you.

"Any other questions for Sam before we do this?"

 

[Kaerri]

"I don't give a damn if we have to fly the veritechs to wherever your families live - we're fixing this!"

"Shirley," Elinor began by using her squad leader's first name to show she was speaking on an equal level, "I want my family's worry and grief over at least as much as you do, but I do give a damn how it happens. If we break Broadsword's cover, all of their suffering will have been for nothing, and we'll have jeopardized the entire planet's wellbeing -- including the part my family's farming. If it comes down to choosing between them still thinking I'm dead and us keeping a chance at completing Broadsword's mission, the mission has to come first. I won't go along with any plan that doesn't keep that in mind." Her eyes showed how much it hurt just to speak the words, but they also showed her unshaken resolve.

"Any other questions for Sam before we do this?"

Cleaning up felt awful good. Positive first impressions in mind, Elinor washed her hair as well as the rest of her, toweling it more or less dry afterwards and smoothing it down neatly just as she had for that tarmac briefing. Was it really only a couple days ago? It felt like ages. So much had happened, so much had changed since then. She made sure all was neat and tidy about her person before rejoining the others in the corridor. She shook her head in response to Shirley's question, having none of her own. She hoped the poor acting-captain wouldn't mind too much that they were witnessing her revival. It sounded like this Piper and her assistant Wwarlock had a lot of hard news to wake up to.

 

[Sherwood]

Mario has been quiet for a while, trying to absorb the thought that his parents and sister were about to be getting (or have already have gotten) word that he has been killed in action. This really troubled him. He could still clearly remember the day that a pair of smartly dressed officers came to their door one day on the SDF-1 to tell them that his older brother Stan had been lost in the battle over Ontario. It felt like a part of his own self had died that day. For a long time, he was lost in his grief, but he had to suck it up for his sister, and his mom and dad. He was now the oldest, and he had responsibilities for the family to follow.

Stan's death took something from all of them. Mom was never quite the same. She eventually would smile and laugh again, but some of the sparkle in her eyes was just . . . gone. Marie just cried a lot. I think she really hated the military from that day forward, but never dared to say so, because of dad being a Destroid pilot. Dad was very stoic at the news. He seemed to understand the risks of being in combat better than any of us. At least, at the time.

He thought about it a lot. How can I put my family through that again? But, if we do try to get in touch with home, that could put the entire Broadsword at risk. We have the whole planet to protect. <sigh> We have to make the bigger decision here, and let the big brains of the team come up with some kind of plan to slip a message out without alerting General Steele. Who knows what he would do to our families to try and put pressure on us?

 

[Purr]

"Shirley," Elinor began by using her squad leader's first name to show she was speaking on an equal level, "I want my family's worry and grief over at least as much as you do, but I do give a damn how it happens. If we break Broadsword's cover, all of their suffering will have been for nothing, and we'll have jeopardized the entire planet's wellbeing -- including the part my family's farming. If it comes down to choosing between them still thinking I'm dead and us keeping a chance at completing Broadsword's mission, the mission has to come first. I won't go along with any plan that doesn't keep that in mind." Her eyes showed how much it hurt just to speak the words, but they also showed her unshaken resolve.

"Elinor," Shirley replied in kind, "I have no intention of risking the discovery of the Broadsword. But we still have two functioning Valkyrie fighters, each of which seats two. If our only recourse were to ask that Sam and crew painted the Valkyries in neutral colors, we could get dropped off and cross the continent in them if we had to. Aren't your family members in Georgia?" She reasoned. "That's not that far for a Valkyrie. And depending on where Mario's family lives and the circumstances of both journeys, we wouldn't be jeopardizing the Broadsword at all. Would we?" She turned to Sam.

The letters on Sam's tablet spelled out the words, "INSUFFICIENT DATA. YOUR HYPOTHESIS IS SOUND TO A DEGREE, BUT WE RECOMMEND WAITING FOR THE SOLUTIONS PROPOSED BY YOUR FRIENDS IN THE BRIEFING ROOM. THEIR IDEAS ARE MANY, SOME OF THEM POSSIBLY FRUITFUL."

Shirley turned to Elinor with a positive expression that seemed to say, "There we have it!" Then she turned her gaze to Mario. A frown crossed her thin lips. She didn't like the Italian-American's silence, but nor was she about to go demanding answers out of him. Shirley trusted Mario enough to feel he would voice his feelings when the time came. She waited for Toph and Cera to speak.

Sensing her human leader's eyes upon her, Cera glanced back at Shirley. She spoke evenly and without any of the fear or self-doubt that she had prior to the Broadsword completing her mental training at your direction. "I have little concept of family and no experience," she stated. "I do not know what I can do to assist, but assist I shall." Cera turned to Sam. "Sam? Acting-Captain Piper is from the timeline you and I share? I do not recognize her name."

"AFFIRMATIVE."

Cera unconsciously ran a troubled hand through her hair while her red-brown eyes stared ahead unblinking. Memories of her time before coming here to this year and place filled her; memories were provided and lessons given for ten years before she was placed inside the body she now resided in. She imagined this human leader of the Broadsword and what she could be like. Then the memories came upon her in force. Cera admitted, "I hope she is very brave."

The elevator stopped. The doors released open and Spaceman Sam guided you outside of the elevator down strange reinforced halls with odd numbering and directional colors. With no voices of movement or background chatter, the ship once again took on a feeling of great emptiness. Ships were meant for people to live in. But now, it still seemed almost as if you were the only ones onboard. You seemed to be heading into an engineering facility you had not seen before. You traveled down corridors made up of thick walls and nearly blank gray halls, your footsteps echoing with every step. Not far before you, a door slid open without you having touched it. Sam escorted you into a 20 foot by 20 foot room that lit itself with overhead lamps, six computer stations built into the walls, with twice as many integral monitors came to life, one by one. In moments, the would be ready. Four chairs appeared out of the floor, unfolding like blossoms of metal and cushions. The door you entered from sheathed shut. Another door opposite you provided the only other route out of this room. It was marked with red and yellow warnings written in strange numbers and codes you did not fathom beyond their obvious meaning of possible life-threatening dangers just beyond the door.

Sam raised his tablet. "PLEASE REMAIN HERE. THE DOOR WILL OPEN WHEN YOUR TIME TO PRESENT YOURSELVES COMES." From Sam's right shoulder, MechaKitten looked at the far door with all of the exuberance kittens possess, cybernetic or otherwise. His tail lashed about and his golden eyes remained on the door expectantly. It was clear he was going in with Sam.

There was still time for Mario or Toph to state their thoughts if they so chose to.

 

[Psychie]

Toph is feeling sad for her team mates. "I can't even begin to think about how you guys must be feeling right now. I don't have any family here on Earth anymore. My dad is already dead, and mom is Lord only knows how many light years away from us right now. So its not like I have anyone here significant to me that I have to worry about that's not already in this room. But, I can help to try and come up with a plan of action on how to let your families know you are ok without compromising the mission of the Broadsword. We have a lot of smart people here, and with all of us putting our minds to it, I'm sure we can come up with a plan."

 

[Sherwood]

Mario lets out a sigh. "Thank you, Lieutenant. It is a hard thing to think about, what my family must be going though, all because of the General. I am not a very violent man, but right now, I am just about ready to mete out some battlefield justice of my own on that bastard." He clenches his fists in rage at all that has been done to them by General Steele: the betrayals, the unjust orders, the arrest of Colonel Sharp, all of it. But if I do something like that, am I any better in my heart than he is? With some effort, he lets his hands relax at his side.

"You are right. We will find a way though this, one way or another. Now, lets wait and see our new Captain and pay our proper respect!"

 

[Psychie]

Toph can see the struggle going on inside the man, and her heart goes out to him. Without a word, she goes over to him and pulls him into a gentle hug, holding him close for a moment. "Mario, you are a good man, and I know you are angry. Just be careful not to go down that dark path. It can seem very enticing at first, but soon it becomes harder and harder to turn back to the light once more. Remember we are all here for you."

She steps back, but continues to hold his shoulders for a moment, looking at him. "Always be the best you can be, and if you ever feel weak, we have Mechakitten here to cuddle with to make us feel better. Right, little guy?" She gives Mario a grin, then lets him go, hoping that she has made a difference in his mind.

 

[Sherwood]

Mario is a bit surprised when Toph pulls him in to a hug, but he doesn't resist. It feels good to have the simple comfort from his team mate. As she steps back, he gives her a smile. "Thank you, ma'- Toph. I am angry, but trust me when I say that I am just venting, and I am not actually planning on committing murder. Maybe a good beating? Just kidding! And I will not forget that I have a new group of family here in the Wild Cards to turn to when I need help of any kind, and that includes Mechakitten."

 

[Psychie]

Toph grins. "Why, Mario! I think that is the first time you have ever used my first name. This is a breakthrough! Mark this day down in history!" She giggles under the look that she is getting from the corporal. "Its ok. In times like this, we can let our hair down and just be people, not soldiers."

 

[Purr]

From Spaceman Sam's shoulder, MechaKitten shot a stare at Mario. For a moment, the little creature truly seemed less of a natural feline and instead like something out of a science fiction novel for the way his golden eyes gleamed and his hide reflected in the soft internal lights provided by the ship. "Reeewr! Yaaawrrrr!" he meowed in a loyal and spirited fashion. In the polyphonic nexus, which had been rather quiet, the Wild Cards felt MechaKitten's brief surge of agreement. "Yesss! We iz Wild Cards!" Then he became silent again as if his exclamations had said everything that needed to be said on the matter.

Cera shifted uncomfortably watching Toph and Mario hug. The Ura-Meltrandi watched, not certain what to make of what she saw, but not questioning it either.

Shirley responded. "Toph, since the ASC considers us dead, I think we are soldiers in name only. Unemployed corpses as far as the registries will be concerned." She sighed. "Just what in the hell are we, now? Lost sons and daughters on a spaceship from the future trying to save Earth?"

Cera's firm voice entered the conversation. "We are a team."

 

[Purr]

(Heya friends! It's storytime, so dig in and enjoy! =) )

As you conversed in the observation room outside of the Broadsword's cryogenics chamber, the sound of the Broadsword's engines hummed all around you in constant reminder all that you were not on the ground on Eglin base, but aloft in a vessel that had crossed the reaches of time and outer space to get to you.

The doorway opposite you slid open. Spaceman Sam and MechaKitten nodded to you and entered it, They disappeared down the corridor as the door quietly and smoothly separating you.

Above and around you, six large and wide monitors built into the walls flared to life, each viewing the dark cryogenics chamber, a large room adjoined to yours some 40 feet by 40 feet by 15 feet high with three doors leading from it. Small bits of light appeared. Each of your viewpoints came from half-a-dozen cameras all facing the middle of the room, providing you with live video of most everything in the dimly-lit, spartan room. In the center of the room, a great square monolithic slab some 20 feet in length and width about 5 feet high seemed to rise out of the floor. This highly-intricate-looking machine dominated the room. Dark navy blue with small white lines, it was built like a bank vault for all of its thickness and so few were its control panels that it may as well have been some futuristic square-shaped sculpture from some artist's dreams.

One of the doors opened and Spaceman Sam and MechaKitten emerged from it. They crossed the room together to the machine. Without their having touched anything, several lights suddenly encased them in a soft very-easy-on-the-eyes purple glow. Sam stopped about five paces from the machine and waited. A hissing sound carried through the room as a pair of ten-foot-long tube-shaped containers appeared out of the machine like magazines slowly being ejecting from a giant gun. The containers were lit in soft blues and purples. There were no bright lights anywhere in the room. The shrouded glassy containers appeared whole, undamaged, and not empty. You saw movement inside of each of them. One monitor showed a good shot of the shadow of a human-like form lying on her side, apparently asleep, on a cushioned slab. Inside the container, her short hair blew wildly about by some drying mechanism that was quietly operating near her head. The second cyndrillical container beside her was even more shrouded by walls of slowly-fading ice, but there appeared to be a great deal more drying happening inside there. Then the drying mechanism ceased on the first individual and the glass slowly parted disappearing into the machine.

Cloaked in the soft blue and purple lights, an average-sized woman lay quietly. She was dressed in a fresh-looking flight suit and laceless shoes like the suits the Wild Cards currently wore. Long, long moments passed as Sam and MechaKitten quietly watched her still form. Both automated mega-suit and enigmatic kitten stared down upon her with seemingly limitless patience.

Finally, she woke.

A deep breath left her lungs as she lay there as if waking from a strange and nigh-endless dream. Her eyes were wide open, but they did not appear to register the room around her, so they shut again. She moaned again and stirred drowsily.

"Rrrrrowwr..." MechaKitten grinned at her.

Instantly, her head turned toward the sound and her eyes opened again trying to identify where the meow had come from. Spaceman Sam took a couple of steps toward her and knelt at her side on the slab. Blankly, she looked at her reflection in Sam's helmet.

"Ohhh," she reached up to her head and tried, very slowly, to sit up. Sam helped her. She flinched at his metal touch at first, but relaxed. As she sat up on the slab, the camera zoomed in on her face.

Spoiler: Piper

(Image credit: Josh Nizzi)

Deep lines of stress and worry were etched into her normally attractive face making her look older than she probably was. She seemed kind of thin like someone who needed to eat more. Her hair, though freshly cleaned and dried, was a tousled, unruly mess, just like she appeared to be.

"S... Sam?"

Spaceman Sam nodded, but she didn't see it. She saw just enough of "his" megasuit. Her voice was low and shaky, but otherwise as clear as a bell like someone used to projecting her voice across radio airwaves.

"We're... alive?" she gave a hint of a bright smile. "So, uh, when and where are we?"

Sam held up "his" tablet and it displayed letters in comforting waves of light. "0020 HOURS (12:20 A.M.), MONDAY, MAY 19TH, 2025. EARTH. LOCATION: NORTH AMERICAN CONTINENT ABOVE THE GULF OF MEXICO. 60 NAUTICAL MILES FROM THE COASTLINE OF FLORIDA."

"Earth?! 2025? You mean we made it?" She looked up at Sam and was handed a MechaKitten. MechaKitten licked her face with his pink tongue, purring as if reuniting with an old friend. In return, she cuddled him in a grip that told of frayed nerves and bad times. You noticed some of the nails in the hand she petting with were cracked. "Hello, Trouble."

"Mrrrrooow!" ("Piper!")

"Oh my God... We made it! We're here! We're here..." Her head rose as she struggled to break away from her sleepiness. "What's Bro's operational status?"

"99%"

"And you're not speaking, why?"

"1%"

She rolled her eyes with a look that told herself, she should have known. "Ohhh... and your Robotech Factory?"

"OPERATING AT 100%. HOWEVER, WE ARE CRITICALLY LOW ON ALL RESOURCES."

"Figures. It's amazing we're in one piece at all. What's fleet status? How is everyone doing?"

"UNKNOWN."

"What do you mean?" Sam's reply sunk in. It wasn't an answer she was ready for. Piper sat up straight and stared at Sam then back at the tablet again as reality hit her like a particle beam cannon. "'Unknown?'" she half-cried. "Wait! Is the SDF-3 with us or not?"

"NEGATIVE."

The news struck her like a physical blow. She gasped and stared unblinking at Sam. She started to shake, her fear and rage building like a rocket lifting off. "Wh-- Whaaat? Wait, if we made it, they had to have made it... After all we went through! The Queen! The Black Binary! They had a Clamshell for our every Garfish! We were screwed! Captain Drake Traversed with the SDF-3 and got the last big shot off before--" Her angry shout rang through the chamber. "How can they not be here, Sam?!"

"THE BROADSWORD WAS THE FIRST VESSEL THROUGH THE BLACK BINARY VORTEX. THE SDF-3 AND THE OTHER SHIPS ENTERED THE VORTEX JUST BEHIND THE BROADSWORD. ONLY THE BROADSWORD ARRIVED AT THIS TIME AND PLACE."

Piper clutched her shoulders despite MechaKitten's attempts to calm her. "Oh no, no... Attempts to contact?"

Sam continued. "ALL EFFORTS TO REACH THE FLEET HAVE FAILED."

"No, no, no, no...." Piper stood up and stomped the floor. Her wide eyes filled with tears and her hands cupped her troubled face. "Even after Captain Drake's sacrifice? And all of Flight Nine? We're the only ones who arrived here?! No SDF-3!? No Admiral Hunter? Not even a single Ikazuchi to fall back on?!"

"CORRECT."

"No! This can't be! Just one ship? How in hell are we supposed to stop the Invid Invasion with just one ship?!" Then she froze as another thought rose in her mind. Her dripping eyes slowly, dreadfully looked around the cryogenics chamber. "Wait..." she trembled. "I don't see-- Sam, why am I the only one awake? Where's the commander?"

"THE COMMANDER SUSTAINED INJURIES DURING OUR ESCAPE. THERE WAS AN EXPLOSION ON THE BRIDGE AFTER SHE PLACED YOU IN HYPERSLEEP. HER CONDITION HAS BEEN RISEN TO STABLE BUT SHE REMAINS IN COMATOSE CONDITION."

"So... you woke me first because I'm... Ohhhh, fuck us!!" Piper crumbled back onto the slab like an old piece tinfoil inside an iron fist. She looked as if she wanted to crawl back inside to hypersleep and never come out again. She wept freely now, and for one long and bad minute, that was all she did. Sam reached out and touched her and MechaKitten quietly tried to comfort her but she didn't move until yet another realization hammered her.

"Wh-- What about... I... I need my Wwarlock. Sam, if you tell me he bought the farm, I'll--"

Sam quickly interrupted the dark thought. "WE TOOK THE LIBERTY OF WAKING WWARLOCK WITH YOU. HE HAS FINISHED DRYING."

"Then... what in God's name are you waiting for?!"

The second cylinder opened. Something heavy and large dropped to the floor and landed easily on its feet. The creature sniffed once and came around to Piper's side, licking her feet and open hands. Piper dropped down to the floor and hugged him fiercely. "Oh, Wwarlock!!"

Spoiler: Wwarlock

He was, by far, the largest German Shepherd any of you had ever seen. He weighed more than either Toph or Elinor when he should have been at least 30 pounds lighter. Standing at 30 inches tall, this canine's movements were eager, happy-looking, and full of life. He looked about those gathered and recognized them with a very fluffy wagging tail.

(Image credit: the extremely-talented Karie-Ann!)

What the Wild Cards probably didn't know in-character (yet) is that Wwarlock was a King Shepherd - a mix of German Shepherd and Shiloh Shepherd. Let the canine-cuteness and fuzziness begin (with this excellent video of a puppy-to-adult King Shepherd video)! =)

After spending long healing moments with Wwarlock and MechaKitten, Piper's soul seemed to mend a little. She looked up at Sam from the floor. "Okay... Okay... I'm the Acting-Captain now. Oh boy..." she wiped away her tears and geared herself up for the big question she had kept inside until now. Bracing herself against Wwarlock, she asked Sam. "So... was it worth it?"

Sam hesitated.

"Sam! Don't play dumb with me!" she stood up and fixed him with a stern expression. "After all this... we came back here to find another Traverser. Are there any here? Was it worth it?"

"WE HAVE FOUND SEVEN TRAVERSERS."

Piper gasped, staggered, and caught herself against the slab. She looked around the room as her mind spun like a dime in a clothes dryer. "There are seven of them? Uhh, okay! So... like, where are they?"

"IN THE CRYOGENICS CHAMBER'S OBSERVATION ROOM."

"Excuse me?"

"WE HAVE ALLOWED THEM TO VIEW YOUR AWAKENING FROM HYPERSLEEP."

Piper gawked and screamed at Sam but neither Wwarlock nor MechaKitten recoiled. Instead, they greeted each other with playful batting and happy faces and tail. "So they're watching us right now? You mind fucking telling me why?!"

"BY DIRECT ORDER OF THE COMMANDER. WE ARE TO DO EVERYTHING NECESSARY TO OBTAIN THEIR TRUST AND REMAIN WORTHY OF IT."

Piper let out a long, heavy sigh and looked right at the very camera you were watching from. Wwarlock followed her gaze. Like a soldier in the trenches of a never-ending war, Piper looked so very wounded and tired just then. "Fucked..." she mumbled. "We... have any alcohol on board?"

"ONE BOTTLE OF JAMESON IRISH WHISKY."

"Bring it to me on the rocks with a glass. Have the Traversers meet me on the bridge. We have a lot to talk about..."

She snatched up MechaKitten like she owned him and stormed out of the room toward a different doorway while Wwarlock followed with his fluffy wagging tail. Sam turned back toward the doorway "he" had entered from. In moments, Sam rejoined you.

"OUR APOLOGIES," he bowed from the waist as a Japanese person would. "OUR MEETING PLACE HAS BEEN CHANGED. PLEASE ALLOW US TO ESCORT YOU TO THE BRIDGE."

He opened the door you had entered from and led the way toward the bridge. As you walked, Shirley and Cera were quiet as both human squadron leader and Ura-Meltrandi auxiliary specialist tried to digest all that they had just discovered, and worse, get over the shockwaves from it all.

This provided you a few minutes to talk amongst yourselves while you made your way there. In moments, you found your way on the elevator again. The Wild Cards - Traversers from the modern age - were on their way to the bridge to meet Acting-Captain Piper and Wwarlock - soldiers from an entirely different time and place, one very, very distant from above the waters of Earth...

 

[Psychie]

Toph thinks to herself, So, there is at least the possibility that there will be more reinforcements coming. That is a good thing. But whatever this Black Binary is, it seemed to have been able to fight the UEEF to a standstill, and that includes the SDF-3 and the Fleet! We will have to get as much info on what to expect from both the Robotech Masters and the Invid from them as possible. Forewarned is forearmed.

 

[Purr]

After a quiet but thought-filled stroll out of the elevators, Sam led you to the massive door to the Broadsword's bridge. The door hissed open and you saw...

Spoiler: Bridge Visuals

I have three things to show you. The first here is the original Garfish bridge post-refit (there is a pre-refit). This is just too bland and it doesn't work for me, but it's the Garfish as seen by Macross's point of view. The second is the link to MechaJournal.com. It shows a great deal of concept art for Macross's Garfish back in the day. =)

(Image credit: Mecha Journal)

The third is the bridge layout from Alien: Covenant, along with the third, a link there under Image Credit that will give you probably the best images one can get of a starship bridge without actually being on it. Click that link if you'd like a bit more immersion. In my head, this comes closest to the Broadsword's bridge, so we'll use it. This is about this size and detail of what I want but, like Star Trek bridges, there is definitely a Captain's chair dominating the room, probably in the place of the center table is. As the Wild Cards enter the bridge, Piper isn't sitting in the Captain's chair but in the 3rd seat from the left (pilot's chair). =)

(Image credit: Steve Burg - Concept Artist)

The room was filled with the low hum of engine noise and the soft beeping and chirping of computer monitors and sensors all over. It was head-and-shoulders above any tech available to the Army of Southern Cross and indeed made present-day 2025 technology look dated by comparison. This UEEF/REF bridge alone made your "top of the line" ASC technology look the way the Robotech Defense Force-era did for the ASC - in a word, "old."

Piper sat slumped in her chair, staring at a datapad in her hand, looking weary. The bottle of whisky stood in an iced container alongside a basket that contained at least half a dozen shotglasses. Around her, sitting the chairs and standing at attention nearby, were eight of the Broadsword's robotic crew. Spaceman Sam made up a ninth as he guided you in. MechaKitten and Wwarlock were together on the floor beside Piper. They stopped playing and watched you enter. The silence that hung around the room was uncomfortable.

Piper faced the viewscreen. It displayed a beautiful midnight view of the Gulf of Mexico, a vast swath of dark blue water flowing underneath several huge patches of clouds that hid the moon's light behind them. You could see nothing else and no one else out here on the water. Piper seemed to stare in amazement. She sniffed and poured herself a glass of whisky. She raised it into the air. As she did, the Broadsword's robotic crew including Sam raised their right hands with hers. She proclaimed in a croaking voice, "To Horatio Winston Drake, captain of the SCL-107 Broadsword, traverser, and..." she paused and gasped for breath, "...the most amazing man God ever put into the stars. Rest in peace, sir." She emptied the shotglass and almost gagged from its shoe-polish taste and afterburner-potency.

Recovering, she looked up at you grimly, sadly. She filled her glass again and just held it. She nodded to Sam. Sam fetched the basked and brought it toward you. It was a tall bottle of Jameson's Irish Whisky, hardly touched.

Piper said, "So... Anyone you want to toast to?"

"Yeah." 1st Lt. Shirley didn't have to think long. She reached down and grabbed the bottle and filled her own glass then motioned the basket to the rest of you. Cera poured herself a glass and didn't even question the contents, but made ready to follow Mack's lead. Shirley waited for the rest of you to follow suit. When the Wild Cards were ready, she fulfilled the promise she made and prepared to toast to him.

"Here's to Sergeant Oceanus Booty, Alpha Tactical Armored Corp. A ganja-smoking, reggae-loving, father and Master Armsman. A, tough, brave son of a gun who went down fighting the Zeki-Zentraedi on their own ship, taking their forces with him so they wouldn't get us. Here's to you, Booty. Rest in paradise, big guy." Mack waited for each of you to have a say before taking the shot. Meanwhile, Piper kept studying you from her chair, watching your every move with a look of shared loss and duty.

 

[Sherwood]

When it came to Mario, he nodded. "Yeah. Here's to Stan Zuko. The best damn big brother that a guy like me could ever know. He went down swinging against Dolza's forces, died saving lives. I miss you, buddy." He then takes the shot and waits to down it, not bothering to hide the tears that start to flow down his face. The sheer amount of raw emotions in the room were just too much to overcome, even for the rough and tough tanker.

 

[Psychie]

Toph looks around at the marvel of the control room, wondering what other advances of high technology have come to pass that they have not had the chance to see yet. Then, her eyes turn to Piper. She seemed to be almost defeated, facing an almost impossible mission without the tools to make it happen. So much loss, so much destruction. Why can't the Earth catch a break?

She then takes a shot glass and raises it up. "To Hiroshi Kirin! My father. My daddy. What I wouldn't give for just one more day with you, to be able to show you the woman that I have grown up to be. To get just one more hug, to tell you in person that I love you, just one more time. I miss you so much, dad. We lost you over the Control Zone so long ago, and I had to grow up without you. I just hope you would be proud of the person I have become."

 

[Kaerri]

Shirley responded. "Toph, since the ASC considers us dead, I think we are soldiers in name only. Unemployed corpses as far as the registries will be concerned." She sighed. "Just what in the hell are we, now? Lost sons and daughters on a spaceship from the future trying to save Earth?"

Cera's firm voice entered the conversation. "We are a team."

Elinor nodded. "That we are."

"What's Bro's operational status?"

"99%"

"And you're not speaking, why?"

"1%"

She rolled her eyes with a look that told herself, she should have known.

Elinor couldn't help snorting in amusement at that. Maybe it was all the emotional content of the rest of the conversation, but for some reason, that "1%" just struck her as funny.

She wept freely now, and for one long and bad minute, that was all she did. Sam reached out and touched her and MechaKitten quietly tried to comfort her but she didn't move until yet another realization hammered her.

Elinor glanced away, feeling awkwardly intrusive. It seemed somehow wrong to spy on someone in such an intimate moment. She didn't look back at the monitors until Piper started speaking again.

This UEEF/REF bridge alone made your "top of the line" ASC technology look the way the Robotech Defense Force-era did for the ASC - in a word, "old."

Pure engineer's envy filled Elinor as she walked into the Broadsword's bridge. She wanted to inspect (and take apart) every console she saw, to say nothing of the systems they were connected to. Distracted by the shiny new "toys," she didn't notice the silence until Acting-Captain Piper spoke up, and then Elinor quickly directed her full attention to her.

Mack waited for each of you to have a say before taking the shot.

Elinor listened with quiet respect as each of them raised their toast to someone they had lost. Each of the others had lost someone to combat, it seemed. Elinor hadn't, aside from Booty, and with all respect to his memory, Mack had brought him up already and he would get his share of the toast. On the other hand, it took no time at all to remember who she missed most.

"To Will Hall," she said simply, raising her glass. "I hope I'm making you proud up there, Grampa. I think you'd understand what we're doing better 'n anyone else back home."

 

[Purr]

He then takes the shot and waits to down it, not bothering to hide the tears that start to flow down his face. The sheer amount of raw emotions in the room were just too much to overcome, even for the rough and tough tanker.

Cera looked at Mario as he toasted, then she did a double-take. Though Cera had witnessed Piper crying in the cryogenic chamber, she did not recall seeing a male cry quite like this before. That it was happening to one of her squadron-mates made the situation different for her.

Shot-glass in hand, she said in a low voice, "Er, Mario-male. Your... ah... face is leaking." Then from a slim pocket, she withdrew a high-quality, clean "shop rag" and reached up to pat his face dry. Cera did not consider this affection, for being Ura-Meltrandi, she had no real definition of the word. How was he going to identify his enemies if his face leaked like that? And how did one make this odd male behavior stop? This did not happen to Ura-Meltrandi. Humans were so strange...

Elinor couldn't help snorting in amusement at that. Maybe it was all the emotional content of the rest of the conversation, but for some reason, that "1%" just struck her as funny.

Elinor noticed that Piper too had, for one brief moment, grinned when Sam had made that statement.

* * *​

Wwarlock crossed from Piper to your group, his head tilted in curiosity. He sniffed at each of you, but paused at Toph and Cera.

"Don't pet him," Piper ordered. Mack nodded respectfully.

Cera did not touch him but calmly asked, "What is this creature?" Wwarlock watched each of you for a long time and almost seemed to be asking the same question of Toph and Cera.

Spoiler: Another shot of Wwarlock

(Image credit: The highly-talented Laura Alton )

* * *​

Once Mario's situation was concluded, Cera raised her shot-glass. To toast was to honor the dead. This, she could understand. Whomever Sgt. Booty and Stan Zuko and Will Hall were, they were special to her dentella and squadron-mates. Of course, she did not need to have such thoughts about Captain Drake. Cera watched Piper closely. During Toph's toast, she found Piper staring confusedly at her Lisara-Meltrandi squadmate. But this Acting-Captain Piper would understand things with Cera's toast. Oh, yes. This human would understand quite well.

She looked directly at Piper and spoke boldly. "I toast to the 2,000 warriors who never received the opportunity to serve their Empress across the stars. As the last of our kind, I will continue to honor you all with my battle-creations."

"Bottoms up!" Shirley exclaimed. And you did. And the Irish whisky punched each of you in the throat and traveled down into your gut as if you had just inhaled pure gasoline straight from the pump. It was quite tastier though. You almost saw fumes leave your mouth as you exhaled. (Game Master note: How your character handles the shot is entirely up to you). Shirley gasped and took a few moments to breathe again, but to her credit, Cera, perhaps galvanized by her toast, downed the whisky and kept an iron composure.

"Empress..." Piper thought. She repeated the word slowly. Piper grasped her chair and stared back at Cera as if she had been punched. Wwarlock paused. Piper glanced back and forth between Toph and Cera, her worry increasing.

"Wait... But your eyes! Your behavior! You're... micronized... but... you're not Lisara-Meltrandi?"

In response, Cera's smile widened into a likeness of the Cheshire cat from Alice in Wonderland. She turned and faced Piper like a true predator like her predecessors. She declared proudly without raising her voice. "The Robotech Masters created Commander Lisara, but Empress Ura created us! All glory to War-queen Taniya!"

At the mention of that name, Piper's eyes widened in abject fear. She began shrinking back into her pilot's chair. Sam approached her and held out a tablet that read something you could not quite see.

Piper exclaimed. "Im-- Impossible! No Ura-Meltrandi would submit to micronization!" She looked at Sam as if betrayed. "You idiot! You let an Ura-Meltrandi onto the ship!!"

Sam pointed mutely at the message on his tablet. It read, "WE ARE ALLIED." But Piper's shock and fear at Cera were too great to read or register any kind of writing.

Piper looked like a woman cornered. Wwarlock hurried to her side but did not act aggressively. MechaKitten mewed and pawed at her but Piper was not to be calmed. "You're goddamned Ura-Meltrandi, the predators of the known universe! And you're on my bridge! Why are you not killing us?!" She slammed her chair with both hands in terror as if she expected to die, and fury for only now realizing that she had a single Ura-Meltrandi on board the bridge of the only REF ship to arrive in 2025.

"Someone tell me what in the hell is going on!!"

What do you do?

 

[Kaerri]

Elinor stepped between Piper and Cera. Which of them she was protecting was entirely up to the viewer's best guess, as she immediately turned so that she could see both, putting Cera on her left and Piper on her right. She kept her voice calm and steady, hoping that would help Piper calm down also, though she didn't expect the other woman to register what she was saying right off. "Acting-Captain Piper, I am Lieutenant Elinor Hall. Cera is my--" oops, I still haven't gotten the right word yet "--ward. We met her Taniya while infiltrating a Zeki-Zentraedi warship, which we have since destroyed with Cera's help, and Taniya entrusted Cera to me. She is a full member of our squad, and has already proved a valuable ally."

 

[Purr]

"Ally?!" Piper freaked. "Lieutenant, do you know what they do for a living?!"

Cera made no move toward Piper but stayed where she was. "They do."

"Wait... You met Taniya?" Piper stopped shaking and stared at Elinor as though one of the two of them had lost their minds (possibly both). "How are you not dead? How is... 'Sarah' here a member of the REF?" She remembered what time she was in and corrected herself. "I mean, Army of the Southern Cross? And... she's your ward?"

 

[Kaerri]

Elinor relaxed slightly now that Piper was thinking about what she (Elinor) had said. "Well, 'ward' may not be the right word, but it's close enough for government purposes." That last was a quote from her grandpa. "Yeah, we met Taniya, but we had a common enemy at the time -- the Zeki-Zentraedi whose ship we were on -- and Cera had a problem Taniya thought we could fix, when her own people couldn't. And Cera's a Traverser, like we are, only she knows a wee bit more 'n we do about how to go about it, so she's been teaching us as it comes up." She smiled. "She's not ASC. That'd be just... well, you know. Then again, I don't think we're ASC at the moment; we've all been reported KIA and can't correct it unless and until Broadsword and her mission no longer require operational secrecy."

 

[Sherwood]

It was a strange thing, having Cera come to him and try and wipe away his tears. Mario gently takes her hand and shakes his head, wiping his eyes on his own. "Its ok, Cera. I'll be fine."

Elinor stepped between Piper and Cera. Which of them she was protecting was entirely up to the viewer's best guess, as she immediately turned so that she could see both, putting Cera on her left and Piper on her right. She kept her voice calm and steady, hoping that would help Piper calm down also, though she didn't expect the other woman to register what she was saying right off. "Acting-Captain Piper, I am Lieutenant Elinor Hall. Cera is my--" oops, I still haven't gotten the right word yet "--ward. We met her Taniya while infiltrating a Zeki-Zentraedi warship, which we have since destroyed with Cera's help, and Taniya entrusted Cera to me. She is a full member of our squad, and has already proved a valuable ally."

Elinor relaxed slightly now that Piper was thinking about what she (Elinor) had said. "Well, 'ward' may not be the right word, but it's close enough for government purposes." That last was a quote from her grandpa. "Yeah, we met Taniya, but we had a common enemy at the time -- the Zeki-Zentraedi whose ship we were on -- and Cera had a problem Taniya thought we could fix, when her own people couldn't. And Cera's a Traverser, like we are, only she knows a wee bit more 'n we do about how to go about it, so she's been teaching us as it comes up." She smiled. "She's not ASC. That'd be just... well, you know. Then again, I don't think we're ASC at the moment; we've all been reported KIA and can't correct it unless and until Broadsword and her mission no longer require operational secrecy."

Mario nods in agreement. "Ma'am? We may not fully understand the dynamics between the UEEF and War Queen Taniya, but if it were not for her, we would all most likely be dead at the hands of the Zeki-Zentraedi in their Assault Scout and their Beastmaster. Taniya helped us, and in turn, we helped her, and in the end, it helped us all. Cera showed us invaluable tactics on how to face the Beastmaster and win, or else his wargoth-missile-things would have tore us apart before we would have devised a counter of our own. She also has designed the two new hover mecha in your hangar bay, code name Mjolnir class Hover Tanks, made for use by Traversers using the advanced tech from your time. Over and over again, Cera has proven that she is one of the Wild Cards."

He gives the woman a look. "The two of us may never be more than uneasy allies, since I'm just a 'silly male' in her eyes, but she has proven her worth to all of us. Ma'am, please don't judge her by her race. There is too much prejudice in this world without having any here. Give her a chance," he urges.

 

[Purr]

If having an Ura-Meltrandi on the bridge of her ship was like being punched, hearing Elinor's account was like being run over, but it drew Piper out of her terror. She sat there, trembling in her chair, and tried very hard to digest this new data. Elinor had truly succeeded in getting her to think more and fear less, a thing that kept test pilots like Elinor alive when others died.

"You... you said 'Sarah' is a... Traverser?" she gulped. "How is that possible? And why is she teaching you?"

Cera attempted to explain without moving a muscle lest she further frighten the shell-shocked human. "This is because I am a new generation of Ura-Meltrandi; I am the first and the last of my kind. The Zeki-Zentraedi destroyed the body banks that held the rest of my generation. My war-queen and the best minds she could bring formed my very being in a gene-tank for 10 years. They fed me everything I needed to know, including Traversing. I am the first full-blooded Meltrandi Traverser in history while Toph Kirin is the first half-blooded."

"So... you were taught before you had a body?"

"Correct."

"And how is it you're with the Wild Cards?"

Cera shrugged. "Non-aggression pact."

Piper deflated. "Non-- You people do that?"

Cera grinned in reply.

"Surprise," Shirley added.

* * *​

"The two of us may never be more than uneasy allies, since I'm just a 'silly male' in her eyes..."

(ellipsis mine)

Cera grinned at Mario with a look that seemed to say, "And you always will be, squadmate."

"Ma'am, please don't judge her by her race. There is too much prejudice in this world without having any here. Give her a chance," he urges.

Piper gave a look to Mario that seemed to question his sanity. "Prejudice? You think this is a matter of stupid prejudice? I'm basing this on their record! Listen, the Ura-Meltrandi are universe-wide predators! They fight and kill for the fun of it! These aren't Lisara's people. The Ura-Meltrandi are masters of technology, subterfuge, and space warfare!" She glared at Cera. "Hey! You tell them of the time two squads of yours took over the bridges of a pair of Lord Dolza's Quiltra Queleual Battle Cruisers, and ran them into each other? An estimated 40,000 Zentraedi dead - just to see if they could!" Piper threw up her hands. "Or how about not-so-long-ago when Taniya in one of her cruisers suckered one our Ikazuchi-class carriers along with its escorts and got them to chase her ships until they found out they were playing chicken inside of a dark and flammable nebula with a good-sized force of unsuspecting Invid Clamshells?"

Cera grinned at hearing this. "What? Your force survived."

Piper pointed at the Wild Cards. "Do you see, Traversers? You don't know what they're capable of!" To Cera she asked, "You don't move without a goal! Why are you helping them?"

"I was incomplete. They 'fixed' me. Is not the more-important problem that of the Zeki-Zentraedi who have joined you in this fragile time in human history?"

Piper thought hard. "No, no, no... Both of your forces came here to... My god! You're after the Broadsword!"

"Of course! The SDF-3 was never our target. It was a race between us, you, and the Zeki. But no longer," Cera wiped her hands. "The Wild Cards beat us to it here in Earth Year 2025. The humans won the race. Now I am here as an Ura-Meltrandi Traverser and my actions have saved human lives. Understand, Acting-Captain of the Broadsword, if my War-queen wanted you dead, she could have killed you during our arrival when the Wild Cards slept. All it would have taken was a call from me."

"Then... why do you stay?"

"To see this through! Human, you must understand - the Wild Cards are the first force I know of to truly entertain and make curious my War-queen Taniya. Your people and mine have mutual enemies, some of whom do not even know we are here. Can you imagine the looks on their faces when they arrive here on Earth?"

Piper covered her face. "Oh my God. So besides killing your favorite enemies, you're here for the fun of it!"

"Correct." Cera indicated Toph with a wave of her hand. "Now are you going to tell her or do I?"

"Oh, oh!" Caught off-guard, Piper gasped. Fear and doubt turned to anger in her. She rose from her chair. "I... I was getting to it, dammit!" Piper stormed past you with MechaKitten clinging to her shoulder and Wwarlock in tow. "I've got an Ura-Meltrandi that's made buddies with the ASC, plus using our Robotech Factory to make tanks, and now I'm being guilted into... You people are such bitches, you know that?!" You boarded the elevator together while Piper steamed. Then the elevator descended.

"Better a 'bitch' than a jerk-face," Cera continued to grin, amused. Cera looked to you. "Wild Cards? Acting-Captain Piper, indeed her entire crew, has every right to despise us, but do not expect us to be sorry for any of it. We are a proud people who are what we are." Cera smiled with a mischievous expression at Piper. "Oh..."

"What is it now?"

"Did Sam tell you we have a Scrath on board?"

"AAAAGH! How did you get a--" Piper's face was turning about as red as her hair.

This caused Shirley to step in. "Cera! Stop... messing... with Acting-Captain Piper like that!"

"Yes, Leader Mack."

Still squirming in anger, Piper tried to change the subject by asking, "What is this about you being dead? The ASC isn't supposed to be dead yet. So... how can you be dead and still talking?"

 

[Psychie]

Toph rolls her eyes as she listens to the play by play. "And to think that the fate of the world rests in the hands of this team. Oh Lord. To answer that last question, the whole of the ASC is not dead, just the Wild Cards. After the Assault Scout was destroyed and the squad did not check in afterwards, we were declared MIA by the High Command, listed as probable KIA in the blast that took out the ship. At the moment, we have not tried to set the record straight in order to maintain operational security for the Broadsword and to keep her out of the hands of General Steele, the very person that called off the normally mandatory twenty-four hour search and rescue effort after just two hours."

She then looks between Cera and Piper, and says, "It sounds like there is something more about my own personal heritage that you are not telling me; something that you feel that I won't like very much. Please. What is it? Is there something about my mother, Zyorna, that you know that I don't?"

 

[Purr]

Shirley offered. "I thought Colonel Sharp said the media thought we were MIA while the ASC pronounced us KIA?"

At Toph's question, Piper clammed up and crossed her arms while Cera took on a similar posture. Finally, the women had something they could agree upon. Cera's unnerving stare held itself on Toph as the Ura-Meltrandi decided on how to answer. "Toph Kirin," she frowned. "Some things are best shown."

The elevator ceased in its descent. You exited together, the Wild Cards along with Acting-Captain Piper and her assistant Wwarlock. Spaceman Sam unobtrusively, perhaps meekly, followed behind you. All around you, your footsteps echoed back at you. You had seen these corridors before. In moments, you realized you were headed back to the Broadsword's cryogenic chamber where Piper and Wwarlock had awoken from, except this time, Piper led you straight through the observation room and into the cryogenic chamber itself. The huge square-shaped machine sat like a flat monolith in a realm made up of reinforced hypercarbon (mega-damage) material. The entire room was bathed in soft blue and violet lights, the kind of lights one would want when waking from the long, cold endless drifting of hypersleep through the dark reaches of space.

"Stand over there," she ordered you near the spot where she and Wwarlock had emerged. Sam gestured like a host in a restaurant, easy and welcoming, and escorted you there. Behind you, you saw eight more of the Broadsword's animated suits standing as still as statues, their purpose unclear. These had not been here when you had last seen this room via camera.

Fist clenched, Piper stormed up to the machine with dread purpose while Wwarlock took every opportunity to sniff and examine you. He looked up into your faces, each now drenched with an azure glow, and studied them. MechaKitten yawned and pretended not to be interested. Piper handed MechaKitten to Sam. "Sam, carry Trouble and stay with me." The feline at once protested as this was not his idea, but what could he do? The Piper-goddess had the will, rank, mass, height, strength, and most-enviously, opposable digits.

Piper stepped before a computer console and stared into it. The console whirred to life and a quintet of monitors opened like the petals of one big mechanical flower and glowed softly at her command. The lines in her troubled face stood out in the illumination. She was, perhaps purposely, in a position where only she, Sam, and MechaKitten could see the data before her. Without touching the console, Piper kept her hands still and maneuvered her fingers in a strange game of pantomime. The computers responded. Piper put her hand on her forehead and groaned.

"So... many lost..."

Acting-Captain Piper took a moment to think and compose herself. Then she faced Toph squarely. "Kirin," she stared at you, "I want to make one thing absolutely crystal clear - you try anything, anything with your technopathy and you'll wind up in Medical or worse, okay? You can't change this! Okay?" Piper's bloodshot eyes scanned the rest of the Wild Cards. "I'm trusting you to stop her if she tries something stupid!" Shirley glanced at Toph uncertainly; the last thing she wanted to do was hurt Toph even if only to restrain her. Cera, on the other hand, glanced at Shirley for guidance. When Shirley nodded, Cera turned back to Toph fully prepared to act.

Piper returned to her finger-waving at the computer console. Before the Wild Cards, a long cyndrillical tube emerged from the floor. It was encased in mega-damage glass and iced over, its contents unknown. Piper turned to Sam. "Go." Sam stepped on the opposite of the container. His right forearm housing transformed into a small computer with strange controls and lenses. Sam stood above the container and aimed "his" lens. A soft red light cascaded on the container appearing to warm it. Then it ceased.

"There," Piper waved at Toph and sniffed. "See for yourself already."

Spoiler: See For Yourself

In an REF jumpsuit, not a Zentraedi uniform.

There was an inscription above her head stating her rank, name, position, and assigned vessel. It read: "Commander Zyorna Kirin - Second-in-Command of SCL-107 Broadsword"

Toph's mother looked older than Toph had ever seen her. Her hair was now white, but otherwise she was as beautiful as ever. Except...

(Image credit: LeElf@DeviantArt.com)

...she appeared in hypersleep for her own safety.

Commander Kirin was clearly critically-injured. Most of the left side of her head, arm, and her entire torso, were sheathed inside of some kind of high-tech medical binding that kept everything absolutely still and protected. There were about a dozen smaller bandaged wounds all over her body. Three-dimensional holographic medical data floating above her. In short, Commander Kirin looked halfway between life and death with the Broadsword's cryogenic and medical technology being the dividing factor.

Of the Wild Cards, Toph alone understood the futuristic computer readings above her. Zyorna Kirin's life-signs were critical, but stable. She had suffered severe abrasions and lacerations to her left side. The entire left side of her head except her left eye, from front to back, were shrouded in the binding. Toph's medical knowledge suspected she had been caught in an explosion, possibly mega-damage in nature. Had this happened in the time and tchnology of the Army of Southern Cross, Toph also strongly-suspected her mother would not have been resting in a cryogenic medical chamber, but a casket.

(Image credit: "Crystal Sarcophagus" at KnowYourMeme.com )

 

[Sherwood]

Not quite knowing what to expect, but having a strong suspicion, Mario nods at Piper's orders and stands ready to physically restrain Toph if she looks like she is about to do anything stupid.