Table Of ContentRobotech: Force of Arms
Book Five of the Robotech Series
Copyright 1987 by Jack McKinney
PART I: SHOWDOWN
PROLOGUE
In the 1990s, a global civil war swept across the planet Earth; few wanted this
war, but no one seemed to be able to avert it. It absorbed all the smaller disparate
wars, rebellions, and terrorist struggles in the same way a huge storm vacuums
up all the lesser weather systems around it.
The War was fought with conventional weapons for the most part, but by 1999 it
was clear that its escalation pointed directly to an all-out nuclear exchange-
planetary obliteration. There seemed to be nothing any sane person could do
about it. By then, the War had a life of its own.
As the human race prepared to die-for everyone knew that the final phase of the
War would surely exterminate all life on Earth, the fragile lunar and Martian
research colonies, and the various orbital constructs-something like a malign
miracle happened.
A damaged starship-a super dimensional fortress created by the dying alien
mastermind, Zor-appeared in Earth's skies. It crashed on a tiny Pacific island
called Macross. Its descent wreaked more havoc than any war: there was
tremendous damage and loss of life and numerous natural disasters. The human
race was compelled to pause and take stock of itself.
Zor had served the evil Robotech Masters, but he had resolved to serve them no
more and had hidden his ultimate secrets concerning Protoculture-the most
powerful force in the universe-in the fortress. The Robotech Masters needed
those secrets not only to conquer the universe but to protect themselves from the
vengeful attacks of the savage Invid, a race of creatures sworn to destroy them.
Thus, the focus of an intergalactic conflict came to bear on the formerly
insignificant Earth.
The super dimensional fortress was Earth's first inkling of the greater events
taking place outside the bounds of human knowledge. Earth's leaders saw at
once that the wrecked SDF-1 could be rebuilt and become a rallying point that
would unite a divided human race.
A ten-year project began, incorporating the brains and energies of the entire
planet. But on the day the SDF-1 was to be relaunched to guard humanity from
alien attack, disaster struck again. The Zentraedi-the Robotech Masters' giant
race of ferocious warrior clones-struck, bringing devastation to the Earth in an
effort to recapture the SDF-1.
The desperate crew of the SDF-1 attempted a spacefold jump to get clear of the
attack. Yet a miscalculation resulted in the ship's reappearance far from its
intended destination: The SDF-1 and most of the civilian population of
MacrossIsland were suddenly, transported out to the orbit of the planet Pluto.
And so the long, perilous voyage back to Earth began. The SDF-1 battled for its
life, hounded by the Zentraedi armada at every turn. Returning after more than a
year, the crew found that it was no longer welcome on the homeworld-in the
view of the ruling powers, they constituted too much of a danger to Earth's
safety as well as the rulers' own authority.
A renewed Zentraedi offensive resulted in horrendous casualties on Earth and
reinforced the Earth leaders' determination to refuse haven to the SDF-1-even
though it had waged the only meaningful resistance to alien invasion.
So the great star battleship was forced to ride an orbit to nowhere, its crew and
civilian refugees struggling desperately to stay alive. The Zentraedi continued to
plot new war plans, determined to have the ship and the secrets of Protoculture.
Alien agents were planted within the ship, reduced from their fifty and sixty-foot
heights to human size. These spies found themselves strangely affected by the
experience of human life as their long-dormant emotions were awakened by the
sight of humans mingling and showing affection and in particular by the singing
of Minmei-the ship's superstar and media idol and the mainstay of its morale.
Upon their return to the invasion fleet, the spies' stories and souvenirs of their
experiences among the humans led to the defection of a dozen and more of the
Zentraedi and disobedience in the ranks of those who remained behind.
Aboard the SDF-1, human life fell into patterns of conflict and emotion.
Lieutenant Rick Hunter, fighter pilot in the Robotech Defense Forces,
experienced constant confusion and turmoil over his love for Minmei and
simultaneous attraction to Commander Lisa Hayes, the SDF-1's First Officer.
This triangle formed the core of a larger web of loves and hates, the sort of
human emotional blaze that the colossal Zentraedi found so bathing and
debilitating.
Nevertheless, the Zentraedi imperative was battle, and battle it would be. The
aliens deployed a million-plus ships in their armada, restrained from all-out
attack only by their need to capture the SDF1's Protoculture secrets intact.
Breetai, commander of the invasion force, moved in his own intrigues against
two of his rebellious subordinates: Azonia, the female warlord, and Khyron the
Backstabber, psychotic demon of battle.
But the Robotech War proved to be far more complex than any of them-
Zentraedi or human-could. have ever imagined.
Dr. Lazlo Zand,
On Earth As It Is in Hell:
Recollections of the Robotech War
CHAPTER ONE
I guess Max was the most conspicuous example of the growing war weariness
and hunger for peace. As the top VT pilot, he was revered by all the aspiring hot-
doggers and would-be aces.
When he came back from a mission, his aircraft maintenance people would
always stencil the symbols for his latest kills on the side of his ship; that was
their right. But like a lot of us who had been in the eye of the storm for too long,
he began avoiding the jokes and high-fives and swaggering in the ready rooms,
barracks, and officers' club. He was still top man on the roster, but it was plain
that his attitude was changing.
The Collected Journals of Admiral Rick Hunter
"Ya ain't so big now, are ya, ya freakin' alien?" the big bruiser said, shaking a
scarred fist the size of a roast in his face.
Well, no, he wasn't. Karita had been a Zentraedi soldier some forty feet tall. But
now, having been reduced to the size of a human and defecting to their side in
the Robotech War, he was only a medium-build, slightly less-than-average-
height fellow facing three hulking brawlers eager to split his head wide open in a
Macross alley.
Even as a Zentraedi, Karita hadn't excelled at combat; his main duty had been
tending the Protoculture sizing chambers, the very same ones in which he had
been micronized. The situation looked hopeless; the three ringed him in, fists
cocked, light from the distant streetlamps illuminating the hatred in their faces.
He tried to dodge past them, but they were too fast. The biggest grabbed him and
hurled him against the wall. Karita dropped, half-stunned, the back of his scalp
bleeding.
He cursed himself for his carelessness; a slip of the tongue in the restaurant had
given him away. Otherwise, no one could have told him apart from any other
occupant of the SDF-1.
But he could scarcely be blamed. The wonders of life aboard the super
dimensional fortress were enough to make any Zentraedi careless. The humans
had rebuilt their city; they mingled, both sexes, all ages. They lived lives in
which emotions were given free expression, and there was an astonishing force
called "love."
It was enough to make any Zentraedi, born into a Spartan, merciless warrior
culture with strict segregation of the sexes, forget himself. And so Karita had
made his error; he had gone into the White Dragon in the hopes of getting a
glimpse of Minmei. He didn't realize what he was saying when he let slip the
fact that he had adored her since he had first seen her image on a Zentraedi
battlecruiser. Then he saw the hard looks the trio gave him. He left quickly, but
they followed.
During the course of the war, everybody aboard had lost at least one friend or
loved one. The Zentraedi, too, had suffered losses-many more than the SDF-1, in
fact. That didn't stop Karita and the other defectors from hoping for a new life
among their former enemies. Most humans were at least tolerant of the Zentraedi
who'd deserted from their invading armada. Some humans even liked the aliens;
three of them, former spies, had human girlfriends. But he should have known
there would be humans who wouldn't see things that way.
The three closed in on him.
One of the men launched a kick Karita was too dazed to avoid. It was not so
much a sharp pain he felt as a tremendous, panic-making numbness. He
wondered woozily if his ribs were broken. Not that it mattered; it didn't look like
his attackers were going to stop short of killing him. They didn't realize that they
had picked on one of the most unmilitary of Zentraedi; given a different one,
they would have had more of a fight on their hands.
