Neqel Amherst stood alone on the side of the road.
Under a grey, cloudy sky, the Meltrandi warrior-become-TacCorp soldier looked over the hilly, lovely, forest-strewn land that was Anniston, Alabama. The wrecked Greyhound bus stop she stood before was not far from where the old U.S. Army post Fort McClellan used to stand before the First Robotech War had gutted the place. Still, Anniston had survived and its people were friendly enough.
Fort McClellan was as close as the ASC pilot could get Neqel for a bad tornado was very recently cutting through Alabama and into Florida. No sane pilot would fly under those conditions, so the best that could be done to get Neqel to Eglin ASC base in Florida was to drop her off here and go the rest of the way by road.
This detour meant that Neqel was stuck with all the time in the world waiting for a car-ride all the way to Eglin ASC base. She had received notice that a girlfriend of an Eglin ASC A.T.A.C. Private First Class living in Anniston would drive Neqel the rest of the way. The girlfriend's name was Nicole Straight. Neqel was told to await her silver Camaro sometime this morning to drive her there.
That left Neqel alone with only her packed bags as company. And the letter and music player, of course. It was Aunt Myrtle's letter that had started this whole journey.
This letter was different than all of her previous in that it was attached to a micro-USB music player. The short letter (for Miss Myrtle) read, "Neqel, I'm going to give this a try. Please forgive me if I screw it up. If Joy and I did this right, then you'll hear my letter. Joy says just turn this thing ON. Go to TRACK ONE. And touch PLAY. Then TRACK TWO follows that. Makes sense, right? One follows two. Then finally, there's TRACK THREE. Three's the really important one. Oh, I'm going to be so embarrassed if this doesn't work! Tell me if this doesn't work. You will, won't you? Oh, I know you will. We can count on you."
The USB player did indeed function and from its tiny speaker, Neqel clearly heard Miss Myrtle's words all spoken with her New York accent. Her voice were slow and creaky like her rocking chair, but Time, for as long as it had accompanied her, had done little to still the old woman's unquiet mind and gregarious personality.
Neqel's request for leave to Eglin ASC base, Florida from Fort Benning, Georgia had all come from this tiny little device upon which were heard the spoken words of an elderly lady of great faith. Neqel had the time, so she turned the machine on and pressed PLAY again.
Once again, Neqel heard:
Not long after this in Fort Benning, there was a chance meeting between Neqel and a TacCorp grunt who was just going on and on about this old gentleman who had saved her butt on the road. On her way back to Fort Benning, the grunt's car had broken down on side of the highway. She was on leave. She was very much in danger of being counted A.W.O.L. if she was late to base. Her phone had died and she had no way of calling ahead. This was serious.
There she was in a panic when this black BMW sports car pulls up and out comes this heavyset, well-dressed fellow who spoke "kind of British." He asks what the problem is. She said she didn't know. Something electric. All of the juice in the car went out and it died right there.
He explained he was in a bit of a rush himself, so he put his hand on the dashboard and said, "My dear, you have a loose battery connection." She popped the hood. He had the necessary tool apparently up his sleeve. He fixed it quickly and asked directions to Eglin ASC base in Florida's Panhandle. There, they parted ways and she made it back to Benning with time to spare.
Thus, Neqel, learning that the one man in perhaps all of the universe that might help her daughter was not only on this side of the planet, but only a state away, decided to put in for some leave of her own and make for Eglin ASC base in the hopes of contacting this fellow.
Anniston's clouds moved drearily overhead as Neqel waited at the stop. No sooner had it started to sprinkle that a low, wide silvery Camaro pulled along the road. It was a sharp car as most sports cars of its like were and the droplets of rain tapping upon its frame made the car sparkle. The car window rolled down. Neqel was suddenly blasted by loud rock and roll and a tremendous amount of chattering from the two women dressed in racy civilian clothing inside.
The first thing Neqel noticed is that both young human women had brightly-colored hair. "Corporal Amherst?" said the driver from under her closely-cropped-yet-spiky fireball of red and orange. Upon Neqel's confirmation, she replied rapidly. Very rapidly. "Hi! I'm Nicole! My soon-to-be husband's PFC Steven Straight. We're going to Eglin to see him so I've been asked to pick you up and take you with us as a favor. You ready? You are ready, aren't you?"
Before Neqel could reply, the other woman with her long shining green hair put her painted nails to her mouth in shock. She too spoke with the apparent lack of needing to breathe between sentences. "Nicky, look! Look! She's a Melly! Omigaaaawd! We get to take a real Melly to Floridaaa! WaittileverybodyfindsoutwetookaMellytoFloridaaa!"
"Omigod!" shrieked the highly-caffeinated Nicky. "With a name like Neqel, we were expecting somebody head-to-toe in black wearing one of those burka-thingies! Missy, isn't that funny? I think that's funny! She's not Eskimo or whatever they call them after all! C'mon, let's get you inside!"
Before Neqel knew it, her bags were stuffed into the trunk of the Camaro and tall Neqel was equally-stuffed into the back of a black leather-clad sports car. Gymnastic ability was required to access the backseat - Neqel's seat.
With her hands on the wheel, Nicky explained, "Yanno, there's no way I can drive all the way to Florida without a partner and Missy's boyfriend is waiting at Eglin so that way I've got someone to drive back with, youknowwhatimean? Hope you don't mind, corporaaal!"
Without waiting for an answer, these two Starbucks-coffee-ingesting chattering hens sped off down the road in more ways than one. The only thing running faster than the car's engine was their mouths.
"So, Missy, like I was saying, do you find that he always wants attention? It's always him, him, him, him... I can't take it..."
For the next four hours, rock music blaring, crammed inside the small backseat of a speeding Camaro, traveling southbound down Interstate 65 through Alabama...
Neqel had to endure... this...
(Mood music)
Four hours of cacophony, of the roaring car engine, the sensation of terrific motion, the non-stop rock music, and the seemingly endless conversation between Nicky and Missy was enough to deaden the senses of any warrior from any time. Lord Dolza himself could have joined Neqel in the back seat Neqel's senses might not have noticed. The passing sky and swiftly-moving scenery were the only things of beauty to be found on the journey.
Certainly, in this post-apocalyptic America, there was wisdom in driving quickly down the highway. Bandits and raiders with their ramshackle vehicles and occasional mecha threatened the roads as did Malcontent Zentraedi carrying 15-foot rifles of particle beam-firing destruction. Worse still, Zentraedi and Meltrandi aircraft still sometimes could be seen in the skies. Tales told that these would shoot anything that moved. Though most of the danger still lay to the west in the Arkansas Protectorate, Alabama and Florida were not without their terror-laden tragedies.
So it was best to move fast, remain undetected, with senses and sensors wide open and alert to danger.
Nicky only had the first part covered...
ZAKOW!!
Even being a civilian mother of well over a decade, Neqel's senses and memory immediately knew the report of a Z-PR Mk. VIII Zentraedi Particle Assault Rifle the moment she heard one.
Neqel also knew the sudden flood of adrenaline as the whole world exploded all around her. Nicky and Missy's screams filled the car as all four wheels of the speeding Camaro left the highway. The car lifted up into the air. It spun dream like in a counter-clockwise spin until Neqel was upside-down and airborne.
Then came the horrible crash as the Camaro came down followed by a terrible, sense-crushing, spinning sensation as the car flipped and rolled over and over and over. The radio ceased to blare. Crunching sounds ripped through the car. There came the sounds of shattering glass, bouncing bodies, and the smell of blood on leather. Smoke. No more chattering.
When it finally came to a stop, somehow, Neqel knew - once again, she was alone.
As her mind and body struggled to make sense of this new and sudden reality, old feelings perhaps thought long dead suddenly awoke inside Neqel as she felt something making contact with her left shoulder. More smoke. The feelings inside her roared for her to rise, fight back, survive. Then she saw it.
The clothing on her left shoulder was on fire. She was upside-down, belted into a burning car that was also upside-down and damaged perhaps beyond repair. But there came a sound she had not heard in a very long while... and it awoke another sensation inside of her...
"Meltrandi!! Destroy them!!"
Male Zentraedi voices. Booming, giant, inferior.
For the briefest of moments, something inside of Neqel forgot her clothing was on fire. She forgot she was only six feet in height instead of six times that. She even forgot, for just a moment, all about the R.D.F. and A.S.C. She was, for a flicker in time, a pure Meltrandi woman again.
"No! No, we're not Mellies!!" It was Nicky. "She's... don't kill us! Don't--"
"Face your death with dignity, females!"
"Please! No--" Missy cried.
ZAKOW!!
With that, the warrior in Neqel knew then that both women had been atomized. She did not have to see it. Being a true warrior, she simply trusted the Death in the air when it spoke.
The car could not withstand her skill and rage. She disconnected her seatbelt and kicked the driver side door open with one leg. The door creaked open as if she were emerging from a metal coffin. There was concrete everywhere and the horrible machine-smells of a car that would drive no more. Armorless and weaponless, the veteran Meltrandi rolled out of the car, extinguished her left shoulder, and used the car as cover lest she be seen.
With her hands on the car, she felt something... Though it was a message, it was not a voice. She felt it in her mind as clearly as if it were one of her own thoughts. It was just as she had when she experienced the thought in the hospital with Richard three years ago.
Move away. I am about to explode.
Without hesitation, the galactic Meltrandi warrior, this slayer of the stars, raced away from the flaming car toward the nearest cover.
KABOOM!!
The Camaro exploded spectacularly sending silvery bits of flaming metal in all directions. The Meltrandi dropped prone and suddenly Neqel was herself again in every way. As plumes of black smoke rose into the air, Neqel rose to her feet.
A large, terrible shadow fell over her, blotting out the late morning sun. Finally, her mind and senses were her own again. She looked about to see the flaming wreckage of the Camaro, the steaming wreckage of the blast-hole were Nicky and Missy used to be, the long blackened Floridian road... and the trio of male Zentraedi that towered over her like scraggly mountains over a burned flower.
Malcontents.
She could see the hunger-lines pulling against the gaunt faces of three Zentraedi foot soldiers, each with a poorly-maintained Mk. VIII rifle. Their battered heavy armor failed to hide their starved and sickly bodies. Denied proper maintenance, this was what remained of Lord Khyron's legacy. Though their faces burned with hatred, they stumbled in their steps as they approached her, rifles aimed down upon her. She could see down those long green barrels.
For most Meltrandi, this was an awful way to die. Weaponless. Armorless. Helpless against the lowest of the lowest male Zentraedi. Better to be killed by anything else than this.
But this was Neqel, known for many years as Neqel Amherst, recently become TacCorp Special Forces. Perhaps the Malcontents saw something different in her unbattered stance, her unfaltering will. For whether one were Zentraedi or Meltrandi, both had but one purpose - to serve the Robotech Masters.
And when that failed...
...to die properly.
Perhaps this is why the three Malcontents hesitated. Yes, in their eyes the death-lust bore, but now there was something more.
"You." Their leader said in a voice that was tremendously loud even given his size, "You are not like the other two. Still, you must follow them. Speak! Speak your final words that we may savor your terror, you disgusting female!"
What does Neqel do?
(Game Master note for Epiphany)
Under a grey, cloudy sky, the Meltrandi warrior-become-TacCorp soldier looked over the hilly, lovely, forest-strewn land that was Anniston, Alabama. The wrecked Greyhound bus stop she stood before was not far from where the old U.S. Army post Fort McClellan used to stand before the First Robotech War had gutted the place. Still, Anniston had survived and its people were friendly enough.
Fort McClellan was as close as the ASC pilot could get Neqel for a bad tornado was very recently cutting through Alabama and into Florida. No sane pilot would fly under those conditions, so the best that could be done to get Neqel to Eglin ASC base in Florida was to drop her off here and go the rest of the way by road.
This detour meant that Neqel was stuck with all the time in the world waiting for a car-ride all the way to Eglin ASC base. She had received notice that a girlfriend of an Eglin ASC A.T.A.C. Private First Class living in Anniston would drive Neqel the rest of the way. The girlfriend's name was Nicole Straight. Neqel was told to await her silver Camaro sometime this morning to drive her there.
That left Neqel alone with only her packed bags as company. And the letter and music player, of course. It was Aunt Myrtle's letter that had started this whole journey.
This letter was different than all of her previous in that it was attached to a micro-USB music player. The short letter (for Miss Myrtle) read, "Neqel, I'm going to give this a try. Please forgive me if I screw it up. If Joy and I did this right, then you'll hear my letter. Joy says just turn this thing ON. Go to TRACK ONE. And touch PLAY. Then TRACK TWO follows that. Makes sense, right? One follows two. Then finally, there's TRACK THREE. Three's the really important one. Oh, I'm going to be so embarrassed if this doesn't work! Tell me if this doesn't work. You will, won't you? Oh, I know you will. We can count on you."
The USB player did indeed function and from its tiny speaker, Neqel clearly heard Miss Myrtle's words all spoken with her New York accent. Her voice were slow and creaky like her rocking chair, but Time, for as long as it had accompanied her, had done little to still the old woman's unquiet mind and gregarious personality.
Neqel's request for leave to Eglin ASC base, Florida from Fort Benning, Georgia had all come from this tiny little device upon which were heard the spoken words of an elderly lady of great faith. Neqel had the time, so she turned the machine on and pressed PLAY again.
Once again, Neqel heard:
"--talk into this thing, right? Thank you, Joy. You are such a little sweetheart you know that? O.K. Go on and play. I'll take it from here.
O.K. Neqel, I'm pretty certain it's Friday. Why? Because everyone is so happy here. Everybody but me. I'm sorry for starting this off on a downer, but I just gotta tell you. It's yours and Dick's wedding anniversary! And you know what? No one seems to remember it! Nobody! That makes me sad.
So... I hope you don't mind, but I remembered it. So I put this song in here. For you and Dick. Just listen to it whenever life gets you down. It'll pick you back up. That's what Dick would want, right? His lovely wife standing tall?
I remember when this song was new. I remember when you and Dick were new. You two looked so darned good together! You still do. I can tell. I keep your pictures here with me and the kids. You're ageless. Just don't think you're forgotten here, O.K.? As long as you have me, you'll always be remembered. And you'll have me forever. I'll make sure the kids remember too. Why? Because God said to love thy neighbor, that's why. I'm not going to argue with God. If you think I got this old without knowing my limits, you're crazy.
Oh. Anyway, here's your song, Neqel. For you and Dick. Happy Anniversary.
O.K. Neqel, I'm pretty certain it's Friday. Why? Because everyone is so happy here. Everybody but me. I'm sorry for starting this off on a downer, but I just gotta tell you. It's yours and Dick's wedding anniversary! And you know what? No one seems to remember it! Nobody! That makes me sad.
So... I hope you don't mind, but I remembered it. So I put this song in here. For you and Dick. Just listen to it whenever life gets you down. It'll pick you back up. That's what Dick would want, right? His lovely wife standing tall?
I remember when this song was new. I remember when you and Dick were new. You two looked so darned good together! You still do. I can tell. I keep your pictures here with me and the kids. You're ageless. Just don't think you're forgotten here, O.K.? As long as you have me, you'll always be remembered. And you'll have me forever. I'll make sure the kids remember too. Why? Because God said to love thy neighbor, that's why. I'm not going to argue with God. If you think I got this old without knowing my limits, you're crazy.
Oh. Anyway, here's your song, Neqel. For you and Dick. Happy Anniversary.
"Neqel? Neqel, can you hear me? I hope so. Listen, a thing happened! No one's gonna tell you, so I'm going to tell you. But it's strange, so don't think I've lost it or anything, O.K.?
Joy almost got hit by a car today. Almost, O.K.? She's O.K. She was just playing this music thing here with her headphones on and she was walking across the street outside. I yelled at her but she didn't hear me. So, the car, which was going about 40 in our 25, hit the brakes and slammed on the horn. Joy shrieked and just about jumped out of her Sunday shoes.
So there I am on the porch trying to get to her. I'm cursing out the driver with my cane in my hand. There's Joy on her hands and knees on the street, shaking like a leaf. The darned driver just rolled down his window long enough to give me the finger. So I gave it back. Blessed be the giver, right? Then she screeches off. I can still smell the fumes.
So, Joy sees me and she gets up and runs to me and we just hug and hug and hug. And she's crying and crying. And I'm crying too. You know, I just about lost my grand-niece here right before my eyes!
And then... suddenly she calms, gets real quiet, and looks me in the eye. She says, 'What did you say?'
And I says, 'I didn't say nothing, dear! What did you hear?
Then she says all serious-like...
'High levels of volume can result in hearing loss and accidents.'
And we just stare and stare and stare at each other. Finally, I says to her, 'Honey, I didn't say anything.'
Then, real slow-like, we both look at her USB player like it's something outta Harry Potter...
Now here's the part I'm going to tell you and nobody else. I knew a guy. O.K., I knew lots of guys when I was younger, but there was this one guy, a real card. Mister Arthur Stein was his name. What a treat! Well, machines would talk to him. I mean talk to him! Really!
I know how crazy it sounds, but one time right before the turn of the century, when I was teaching college, I had this student. He figured out what was wrong with my car. You know how? Just by putting his hand on it and closing his eyes! I swear to God! I have my hand on my Bible right now! You hear me thumping it, right?
Then all manly-like in that James Bond accent of his, he turns to me and he says, 'My dear, you know you have to put oil in the car or you kill the car?'
He didn't even pop the hood, Neqel. He didn't even pop the hood! Honey, he was outside the car! Here I was in the driver's seat in my little Porsche 911 coupe. Oh, how I miss that little car. It was so good to me. So I asked him, 'Arthur, how did you figure that out?'
He says, 'Oh, it is just what one gets for being an engineer and a scientist, my dear. With all of the studying I do, I had better be getting something out of it or I am going to be mad as hell! Ha ha!
Oh, we had some good laughs! That's how we met. What a student.
So anyways... Joy would just kill me if she knew I tattled and told you... but really! This talking with machines thing? It's a thing! So... if you ever run somehow into Mister Arthur Stein, oh he's got to be in his 60's by now, I think you'd be doing Joy a big, big favor. I was thinking maybe he could write her a letter saying how he hears them too and she not crazy, you know what I mean? Oh, you always do.
Do it for Joy's sake? I'll be praying for you both.
O.K. Now how do I shut this darned thing off? Joy? Joy, can you help me? I can't seem to--"
*message ends*
Joy almost got hit by a car today. Almost, O.K.? She's O.K. She was just playing this music thing here with her headphones on and she was walking across the street outside. I yelled at her but she didn't hear me. So, the car, which was going about 40 in our 25, hit the brakes and slammed on the horn. Joy shrieked and just about jumped out of her Sunday shoes.
So there I am on the porch trying to get to her. I'm cursing out the driver with my cane in my hand. There's Joy on her hands and knees on the street, shaking like a leaf. The darned driver just rolled down his window long enough to give me the finger. So I gave it back. Blessed be the giver, right? Then she screeches off. I can still smell the fumes.
So, Joy sees me and she gets up and runs to me and we just hug and hug and hug. And she's crying and crying. And I'm crying too. You know, I just about lost my grand-niece here right before my eyes!
And then... suddenly she calms, gets real quiet, and looks me in the eye. She says, 'What did you say?'
And I says, 'I didn't say nothing, dear! What did you hear?
Then she says all serious-like...
'High levels of volume can result in hearing loss and accidents.'
And we just stare and stare and stare at each other. Finally, I says to her, 'Honey, I didn't say anything.'
Then, real slow-like, we both look at her USB player like it's something outta Harry Potter...
Now here's the part I'm going to tell you and nobody else. I knew a guy. O.K., I knew lots of guys when I was younger, but there was this one guy, a real card. Mister Arthur Stein was his name. What a treat! Well, machines would talk to him. I mean talk to him! Really!
I know how crazy it sounds, but one time right before the turn of the century, when I was teaching college, I had this student. He figured out what was wrong with my car. You know how? Just by putting his hand on it and closing his eyes! I swear to God! I have my hand on my Bible right now! You hear me thumping it, right?
Then all manly-like in that James Bond accent of his, he turns to me and he says, 'My dear, you know you have to put oil in the car or you kill the car?'
He didn't even pop the hood, Neqel. He didn't even pop the hood! Honey, he was outside the car! Here I was in the driver's seat in my little Porsche 911 coupe. Oh, how I miss that little car. It was so good to me. So I asked him, 'Arthur, how did you figure that out?'
He says, 'Oh, it is just what one gets for being an engineer and a scientist, my dear. With all of the studying I do, I had better be getting something out of it or I am going to be mad as hell! Ha ha!
Oh, we had some good laughs! That's how we met. What a student.
So anyways... Joy would just kill me if she knew I tattled and told you... but really! This talking with machines thing? It's a thing! So... if you ever run somehow into Mister Arthur Stein, oh he's got to be in his 60's by now, I think you'd be doing Joy a big, big favor. I was thinking maybe he could write her a letter saying how he hears them too and she not crazy, you know what I mean? Oh, you always do.
Do it for Joy's sake? I'll be praying for you both.
O.K. Now how do I shut this darned thing off? Joy? Joy, can you help me? I can't seem to--"
*message ends*
*
Not long after this in Fort Benning, there was a chance meeting between Neqel and a TacCorp grunt who was just going on and on about this old gentleman who had saved her butt on the road. On her way back to Fort Benning, the grunt's car had broken down on side of the highway. She was on leave. She was very much in danger of being counted A.W.O.L. if she was late to base. Her phone had died and she had no way of calling ahead. This was serious.
There she was in a panic when this black BMW sports car pulls up and out comes this heavyset, well-dressed fellow who spoke "kind of British." He asks what the problem is. She said she didn't know. Something electric. All of the juice in the car went out and it died right there.
He explained he was in a bit of a rush himself, so he put his hand on the dashboard and said, "My dear, you have a loose battery connection." She popped the hood. He had the necessary tool apparently up his sleeve. He fixed it quickly and asked directions to Eglin ASC base in Florida's Panhandle. There, they parted ways and she made it back to Benning with time to spare.
Thus, Neqel, learning that the one man in perhaps all of the universe that might help her daughter was not only on this side of the planet, but only a state away, decided to put in for some leave of her own and make for Eglin ASC base in the hopes of contacting this fellow.
*
Anniston's clouds moved drearily overhead as Neqel waited at the stop. No sooner had it started to sprinkle that a low, wide silvery Camaro pulled along the road. It was a sharp car as most sports cars of its like were and the droplets of rain tapping upon its frame made the car sparkle. The car window rolled down. Neqel was suddenly blasted by loud rock and roll and a tremendous amount of chattering from the two women dressed in racy civilian clothing inside.
The first thing Neqel noticed is that both young human women had brightly-colored hair. "Corporal Amherst?" said the driver from under her closely-cropped-yet-spiky fireball of red and orange. Upon Neqel's confirmation, she replied rapidly. Very rapidly. "Hi! I'm Nicole! My soon-to-be husband's PFC Steven Straight. We're going to Eglin to see him so I've been asked to pick you up and take you with us as a favor. You ready? You are ready, aren't you?"
Before Neqel could reply, the other woman with her long shining green hair put her painted nails to her mouth in shock. She too spoke with the apparent lack of needing to breathe between sentences. "Nicky, look! Look! She's a Melly! Omigaaaawd! We get to take a real Melly to Floridaaa! WaittileverybodyfindsoutwetookaMellytoFloridaaa!"
"Omigod!" shrieked the highly-caffeinated Nicky. "With a name like Neqel, we were expecting somebody head-to-toe in black wearing one of those burka-thingies! Missy, isn't that funny? I think that's funny! She's not Eskimo or whatever they call them after all! C'mon, let's get you inside!"
Before Neqel knew it, her bags were stuffed into the trunk of the Camaro and tall Neqel was equally-stuffed into the back of a black leather-clad sports car. Gymnastic ability was required to access the backseat - Neqel's seat.
With her hands on the wheel, Nicky explained, "Yanno, there's no way I can drive all the way to Florida without a partner and Missy's boyfriend is waiting at Eglin so that way I've got someone to drive back with, youknowwhatimean? Hope you don't mind, corporaaal!"
Without waiting for an answer, these two Starbucks-coffee-ingesting chattering hens sped off down the road in more ways than one. The only thing running faster than the car's engine was their mouths.
"So, Missy, like I was saying, do you find that he always wants attention? It's always him, him, him, him... I can't take it..."
For the next four hours, rock music blaring, crammed inside the small backseat of a speeding Camaro, traveling southbound down Interstate 65 through Alabama...
Neqel had to endure... this...
Game Master note: If you have the time, take a moment to sit back and listen to this. It's less than 4 minutes and funny! But, oh, do I feel for Neqel... =)
"Shut Up Shuttin' Up" by Victor (Alex Lifeson of Rush on his single album)
"Shut Up Shuttin' Up" by Victor (Alex Lifeson of Rush on his single album)
*
(Mood music)
"M4 Part 2" by Jack Wall and Sam Hulick (performed by Faunts) for the Mass Effect (One) Soundtrack
Partial Lyrics:
Fight your foes you're on your own
Holy war is on the phone
Asking to please stay on hold
The bleeding loss of blood runs cold
And I need you to recover
Because I can't make it on my own
(Here is the 17-minute Part 1 & 2 version if you like... =) )
"M4 - Parts 1 & 2" by Faunts
Partial Lyrics:
Fight your foes you're on your own
Holy war is on the phone
Asking to please stay on hold
The bleeding loss of blood runs cold
And I need you to recover
Because I can't make it on my own
(Here is the 17-minute Part 1 & 2 version if you like... =) )
"M4 - Parts 1 & 2" by Faunts
Four hours of cacophony, of the roaring car engine, the sensation of terrific motion, the non-stop rock music, and the seemingly endless conversation between Nicky and Missy was enough to deaden the senses of any warrior from any time. Lord Dolza himself could have joined Neqel in the back seat Neqel's senses might not have noticed. The passing sky and swiftly-moving scenery were the only things of beauty to be found on the journey.
Certainly, in this post-apocalyptic America, there was wisdom in driving quickly down the highway. Bandits and raiders with their ramshackle vehicles and occasional mecha threatened the roads as did Malcontent Zentraedi carrying 15-foot rifles of particle beam-firing destruction. Worse still, Zentraedi and Meltrandi aircraft still sometimes could be seen in the skies. Tales told that these would shoot anything that moved. Though most of the danger still lay to the west in the Arkansas Protectorate, Alabama and Florida were not without their terror-laden tragedies.
So it was best to move fast, remain undetected, with senses and sensors wide open and alert to danger.
Nicky only had the first part covered...
ZAKOW!!
Even being a civilian mother of well over a decade, Neqel's senses and memory immediately knew the report of a Z-PR Mk. VIII Zentraedi Particle Assault Rifle the moment she heard one.
Neqel also knew the sudden flood of adrenaline as the whole world exploded all around her. Nicky and Missy's screams filled the car as all four wheels of the speeding Camaro left the highway. The car lifted up into the air. It spun dream like in a counter-clockwise spin until Neqel was upside-down and airborne.
Then came the horrible crash as the Camaro came down followed by a terrible, sense-crushing, spinning sensation as the car flipped and rolled over and over and over. The radio ceased to blare. Crunching sounds ripped through the car. There came the sounds of shattering glass, bouncing bodies, and the smell of blood on leather. Smoke. No more chattering.
When it finally came to a stop, somehow, Neqel knew - once again, she was alone.
As her mind and body struggled to make sense of this new and sudden reality, old feelings perhaps thought long dead suddenly awoke inside Neqel as she felt something making contact with her left shoulder. More smoke. The feelings inside her roared for her to rise, fight back, survive. Then she saw it.
The clothing on her left shoulder was on fire. She was upside-down, belted into a burning car that was also upside-down and damaged perhaps beyond repair. But there came a sound she had not heard in a very long while... and it awoke another sensation inside of her...
"Meltrandi!! Destroy them!!"
Male Zentraedi voices. Booming, giant, inferior.
For the briefest of moments, something inside of Neqel forgot her clothing was on fire. She forgot she was only six feet in height instead of six times that. She even forgot, for just a moment, all about the R.D.F. and A.S.C. She was, for a flicker in time, a pure Meltrandi woman again.
"No! No, we're not Mellies!!" It was Nicky. "She's... don't kill us! Don't--"
"Face your death with dignity, females!"
"Please! No--" Missy cried.
ZAKOW!!
With that, the warrior in Neqel knew then that both women had been atomized. She did not have to see it. Being a true warrior, she simply trusted the Death in the air when it spoke.
The car could not withstand her skill and rage. She disconnected her seatbelt and kicked the driver side door open with one leg. The door creaked open as if she were emerging from a metal coffin. There was concrete everywhere and the horrible machine-smells of a car that would drive no more. Armorless and weaponless, the veteran Meltrandi rolled out of the car, extinguished her left shoulder, and used the car as cover lest she be seen.
With her hands on the car, she felt something... Though it was a message, it was not a voice. She felt it in her mind as clearly as if it were one of her own thoughts. It was just as she had when she experienced the thought in the hospital with Richard three years ago.
Move away. I am about to explode.
Without hesitation, the galactic Meltrandi warrior, this slayer of the stars, raced away from the flaming car toward the nearest cover.
KABOOM!!
The Camaro exploded spectacularly sending silvery bits of flaming metal in all directions. The Meltrandi dropped prone and suddenly Neqel was herself again in every way. As plumes of black smoke rose into the air, Neqel rose to her feet.
A large, terrible shadow fell over her, blotting out the late morning sun. Finally, her mind and senses were her own again. She looked about to see the flaming wreckage of the Camaro, the steaming wreckage of the blast-hole were Nicky and Missy used to be, the long blackened Floridian road... and the trio of male Zentraedi that towered over her like scraggly mountains over a burned flower.
Malcontents.
She could see the hunger-lines pulling against the gaunt faces of three Zentraedi foot soldiers, each with a poorly-maintained Mk. VIII rifle. Their battered heavy armor failed to hide their starved and sickly bodies. Denied proper maintenance, this was what remained of Lord Khyron's legacy. Though their faces burned with hatred, they stumbled in their steps as they approached her, rifles aimed down upon her. She could see down those long green barrels.
For most Meltrandi, this was an awful way to die. Weaponless. Armorless. Helpless against the lowest of the lowest male Zentraedi. Better to be killed by anything else than this.
But this was Neqel, known for many years as Neqel Amherst, recently become TacCorp Special Forces. Perhaps the Malcontents saw something different in her unbattered stance, her unfaltering will. For whether one were Zentraedi or Meltrandi, both had but one purpose - to serve the Robotech Masters.
And when that failed...
...to die properly.
Perhaps this is why the three Malcontents hesitated. Yes, in their eyes the death-lust bore, but now there was something more.
"You." Their leader said in a voice that was tremendously loud even given his size, "You are not like the other two. Still, you must follow them. Speak! Speak your final words that we may savor your terror, you disgusting female!"
What does Neqel do?
(Game Master note for Epiphany)
In my prologues, each character is not at all likely to die - that is only possible in actual play. Still, your character does not have to know this. How Neqel faces her "end" is up to you. =)