Lt. Hart cursed as he dodged yet another annihilation disk
fired from the rather persistent Invid Armored Scout behind him. He
glanced to each side to make sure that his two team mates, Sgt.
Pepper, and Specialist Larson were still okay. They were, but a
glance behind showed that the armored scout had been joined by two
more scouts and a shock trooper. Definitely bad odds, even for three
experienced Cyclone riders in VR-041 Saber Cyclones. The Invid were
too close behind to risk changing from motorcycle mode to battaloid
mode. Fortunately, the Invid were displaying their usual poor
marksmanship.

"Yo, Lieutenant!" Called Pepper over the tacnet. "Up ahead
about a klick is that hive we were supposed to check on. The one
with the funny readings!" Laura Pepper sounded excited, but not
frightened by their predicament. Hart wished he felt half as
confident as she sounded.

"I know, but unless you have a better idea, we better keep
heading this direction. Maybe the terrain will change to our
advantage and we can lose our fan club!" Hart had already ordered
Pepper and Larson to quit firing their sidearms at the Invid, and
await a better opportunity. However, it looked like they were fast
running out of options. Larson chose that moment to interrupt with
some new information.

"Hey boss, I got a fix on those energy readings!" Jeremy
Larson sounded normal, without showing the strain of trying to read
the Cyclone's meager instruments while dodging annihilation disks at
top speed. "They are definitely protoculture based, but there seems
to be something extra intertwined, something almost like a fourth
dimensional sine wave!"

"A what?" Hart asked as he gunned his engine to jump a rock
just before it burst into a thousand white hot fragments.

"A fourth dimensional sine wave!"

"What in the blue blazes is a fourth dimensional sine wave?"
Snarled Pepper as she decided to ignore her orders, and loosed a
blast at the nearest armored scout. She was rewarded with a lucky
hit to the sensor eye, blasting the Scout apart with a single blow.
Hart chose to ignore her breach of his orders, since she had managed
to lighten their pursuit load a bit.

"It is a time or dimensional effect! There is a lot of
theories about it, but this is the first time I've ever seen anything
like it in this power range! I have no idea how they are generating
this type of energy!"

Hart looked back at their pursuers again, and saw that the
two remaining Scouts and the Shock trooper had been joined by another
pair of Shock Troopers and a Royal Command Battaloid. Things had
just gone from bad to very much worse. "Shit! We got an RCB on our
tails! Larson, we know the Regis is experimenting with evolution on
the Invid. Is this something she is doing with her own power, or is
this machine generated?"

Larson hesitated just a moment as he swerved to miss a tree
that had fallen into his path due to the heat beams from one of the
shock troopers. "I'm 99 percent sure that it is not of a biological
origin boss! Why?"

"Because if it is generated by a machine, and it is as close
as you say, maybe we can blow it up on the way by and give our Invid
friends something besides us to worry about! Project a course to the
source of the readings on our visors and we'll head right for it!"

"Roger Boss!" As Larson called up the course, Pepper made
another shot and hit the Royal Command Battaloid. The RCB simply
shrugged off the blow and ripped off a quick burst that forced the
female sergeant to dodge frantically. "Okay, I got it!" Called
Larson. "Just follow the green pipper on your helmet display!"

Hart looked at the distance marked on the display, and saw
that they were only half a kilometer from the location. At their
current speed they'd be their in seconds! "Okay everybody, lets arm
our mini-missiles. We only get one shot at this! If we miss or the
device doesn't blow, spread out and make your way back to Overwatch
individually!"

Hart twisted the throttle on his bike a bit harder, a little
worried about the power level he was being forced to operate on.
Fortunately, each team member had a back up set of protoculture cells
for their mechs. A moment later, Hart shot out into a clearing with
a bunch of surprised looking class IV Invid at the far side. They
were gathered around some type of electronic equipment. The only
thing separating them from him was thin air, and two short towers
half way between them and him. In other words, nothing of
consequence.

Almost at the exact same moment, he and his two team members
each launched a pair of mini-missiles. The missiles all fired
straight and true towards the Invid. The trio reached the tower just
as the missiles struck. The equipment started to blow up, and there
was a bright flash of light. Much brighter than anyone had
anticipated.......

******************

There are nights in Mega-Tokyo when there isn't a single
boomer incident. There are nights when the Knight Sabers aren't out
blowing up part of the city trying to destroy boomers and topple
Genom. There are even nights when the normal crime rate in the area
around Hot Legs is low enough for the night to be considered quiet.

Tonight, though it started out quietly wasn't going to be
one of those nights. Unusually , a rumor had gone around that there
would be some boomers in the neighborhood, and everyone who could had
left. Hot Legs was even closed, due to the knowledge that where
there were boomers, the Knight Sabers wouldn't be far behind. All of
this meant that there were only a few derelicts (who couldn't move
very fast or far, and in fact considered boomer bashing to be great
entertainment) to witness a spectacular sight.

Across the street from Hot Legs, the wall of a giant building
began to shimmer. It got brighter and brighter, and began to change
color throughout the spectrum. With an almost audible "pop" there
was a sudden flash of light, blindingly brilliant in the dark
Mega-Tokyo night. When the derelicts got their night vision back,
they saw something just a little different.

Three very hot looking motorcycles sat in front of the wall.
This was not unusual, for in Mega-Tokyo, motorcycles were the most
popular form of personal transportation. On the bikes sat
armored-clad individuals that were looking around in all directions,
as if expecting an imminent attack. This was only a little unusual,
for in Mega-Tokyo, hi-tech bandits and vigilantes abounded. However,
the bike riders weren't the Knight Sabers. That was very unusual,
for the Knight Sabers were the heroes (or heroines depending on who
you asked) best known to the public at large.

The armored figures seemed to be doing nothing but looking around, but then the derelicts didn't have com helmets capable of listening in on the conversation going on between the nearby members of the Robotech Expeditionary Force.

"I have no idea where we are boss!" Replied an exasperated
Larson to the question asked by his superior for the third time. "I
mean, yeah, I can tell about where we are on the globe, but not where
we are in a time/dimensional sense!"

"Listen, speak english, or I'm going to kick your ass up
between your shoulder blades when we get back to base!" Snarled Sgt.
Pepper.

"As you were Sargent!" Snapped Lt. Hart. "Still, you better
try explaining this in simpler language for us Larson."

"Okay, it's like this: we are still in approximately the
same place on the planet Earth. That is assuming that the magnetic
flux lines, the moon and the stars that I can detect from right here
are the same ones we know. That puts us right smack dab on top of
that Invid Hive we were going to investigate. They built that hive
on the remains of Tokyo, or at least where it was before Dolza's Rain
of Death. Therefore, the only rational explanation for the sudden
change in surroundings is either a temporal or dimensional
displacement of ourselves. To whit, either traveling through time, or
into some kind of alternate universe as it were." Hart almost hated
Larson at that moment. For the scientific specialist sounded almost
exactly like one of the academy instructors he had hated most.

"Okay, I think I follow you Larson. Do you think we moved in
time, or to an 'alternate dimension' as you put it."

"I'd put my money on the alternate dimension. I don't
recognize this building style from any of my textbooks on Earth
history." Larson was quiet for a minute. "However, we have other
things to worry about."

"Oh, like what?" Asked Hart.

"Well, like the fact that the sergeant is being targeted by a laser designator at this very moment." Larson sounded casual, but as soon as Pepper heard the word 'targeted' in conjunction with her name, she gunned the throttle on her bike. Though slightly slower, Hart and Larson also gave their Cyclones a goose, and then all three transformed at once.

The derelicts watching, felt their jaws drop in awe. As they
watched, the bikes came apart, and fixed themselves to the newcomer's
armor. The tires ended up on the shoulders, the back half of the
bike on the legs, the front half on the chest, and the front hubs on
the arms. The Knight Sabers were rumored to have bikes that could
act as extra armor, but nothing that integrated like these! When the
transformation was complete, the figures were nearly seven feet tall,
having a boxier look than the Knight Sabers, with strange looking
bulges on their forearms, and stranger looking guns in their metal
shod hands.

"What's the vector?" Asked Pepper as she checked the power
charge on her H-90 Gallant sidearm.

"Due east, about 250 meters down the street. Shows up like a
beacon on infrared."

"Got it!" Sgt. Pepper examined the human looking thing with
infrared on her visor. It looked much like a man, but was definitely
a machine. It had targeted her, so she returned the favor.

Down the street, a BU-55C Boomer ran the three new targets
through it's database. It had already engaged the Knight Sabers
earlier in the evening, along with three of it's brethren. It was
the only one left. It had somehow lost the Knight Sabers, and had to
find them again in order to fulfill it's programming. Though the
three figures down the street were unknown in detail, they fit the
basic parameters of the Knight Sabers. One of the figures raised a
strange looking weapon and pointed it right at it. With a roaring
scream (or is that screaming roar?) , the boomer kicked in it's back
thrusters and sped down the street.

****************

High above the impending duel, four figures watched in
fascination. They had been tracking the boomer, trying to figure out
what it's mission was, but had not been able to determine anything
beyond the fact that it attacked them on sight. These were the
fabled Knight Sabers, and they had watched the strange newcomers
arrive through a seemingly solid wall. They had also seen the
strange transformation/fusion of riders and bikes. To say the least
they were intrigued.

"Any luck on breaking their codes Nene?" Asked Sylia
Stingray of her electronic's specialist.

"Just a minute more, Sylia...........There!" As soon as she
spoke, three strange voices came over the speakers built into the
Knight Saber's helmets.......

***************

"Go ahead and blast it Pepper!" Yelled an excited Hart.
"We'll try to figure out it's motives later!"

The veteran sergeant took careful aim with her Gallant and
touched off a round. It struck the boomer square in the chest and
staggered it's flight. She fired another round, and it began to
smoke. Licking her lips with anticipation, she fired a third shot
into it's head. As it exploded into a satisfying fireball, she
smiled a tight little smile.

"Good shot!" Exclaimed Larson. "But you didn't leave me
enough to have a look at!"

"Well next time I'll let you get up close and interview
one!" Retorted Pepper.

"That's enough you two. I don't care if we run into another
one of those things or not. Anything that targets us get's spiked.
Period."

"What about people that are observing us?" Asked Larson.

"Huh?"

Larson simply pointed at a nearby rooftop.

*****************

"Uh-oh, Sylia!" Shouted Nene, "We've been made!"

"Well then let's go introduce ourselves!" With a rocket assisted
jump, the four Knight Sabers plummeted towards the pavement below.

******************

Hart, Pepper and Larson watched as four figures in light
power armor descended from the rooftop. Each figure was lightly
built, and curved in ways that made it obvious that the people inside
were female. Though each armor was slightly different, they were
obviously built with the same design philosophy. Almost in unison,
the four figures touched down.

"Hello, I'm Saber Prime," came a feminine voice over the
tacnet into the REF'ers helmets. "Who are you three, and how did
you manage to come through that solid wall?"

"I'm Lieutenant Hart of the Robotech Expeditionary Force,
Jupiter division." Hart didn't like this situation and was
uncomfortable giving out any information. However, humans weren't
his enemy, the Invid were, so he felt relatively safe with letting
out some basic information.

"These are my squad members Sgt. Pepper and Specialist
Larson. As to how we came to be here, I have no idea."

"~stress sensors say he is telling the truth, Sylia~" came
Nene's voice onto Sylia's private circuit.

"I'm the leader of the Knight Sabers. I'm sorry I can't give
my name as you did your's. We are sorry we were unable to prevent
the attack on you by the boomer. However, you seem to be able to
handle yourself well."

"~she's telling mostly the truth boss, but I think she might
have been able to prevent that attack, or at least warn us......also,
they seem able to monitor our conversations, and are talking
privately with each other, like I'm doing to you now...their leaders
name seems to be Sylia~" Larson told Hart over their private channel.

The figure in pink armor looked momentarily startled, then
looked straight at Larson. Though he couldn't see it, she grinned,
then mimed blowing him a kiss, which he did see. Though she couldn't
see it, he blushed madly then he shrugged in response.

"Well, we are soldiers. What was that thing anyways, and why
did it attack us?" The REF Lt. asked.

"That was a boomer, a nearly cybernetic, very advanced robot
that was supposed to make life easier for humans. However, that was
a combat model, and it was sent to destroy us. However, it seemed to
mistake you for us." Replied Saber Prime.

"Well.....Sylia...."Hart enjoyed her slight jump at the
mention of her name, "it seems that we have something in common. We
were also running from something trying to kill us. Where we come
from, an alien race has conquered the earth and enslaved most of the
people. We kicked them out once during a battle at their main hive
on earth, but they came back. Now, the earth we know is a
battlefield. We were gathering data on some suspicious activity when
we somehow ended up here."

"That is quite a story....Lt. Hart......"Sylia grinned inside
her visor, regretting the fact that the other could not see it, and
that she didn't dare raise her visor. "What we do is-"

"Sylia! We have ten Dobermans headed this way!" Yelled Nene
onto the Knight Saber's general frequency.

"Uh-oh boss! We have more company coming! Ten unidentified
objects coming down the same street as that last thing!" Reported
Larson.

"Saber Prime, it seems that there are 10 somethings coming
down the street. Care to tell us more?" Asked Lt. Hart.

"They are Doberman boomers. Straight security/combat models.
Only an idiot would release them onto the streets! They are usually
only used when an intruder on a base has been identified. Most of
them are on orbiting facilities. They are dangerous and tough to
kill. Ten of them is big trouble. If we don't take them out, they
could kill a lot of innocent people."

"Well, I'm still not sure about you, or if we should be
helping you, but that other thing tried to take us out. We'll fight
by your side if you like."

"We'd appreciate that. Go, Knight Sabers!"

With a battle cry over the radio, the four Knight Sabers
leapt in different directions. The pink one leapt away from the
battle, and the other three towards the oncoming Dobermans. "Well,
let's help the ladies out squad!" Called Hart.

"How do you know they are ladies?" Asked Pepper as she
started to run down the street. "Female I'll give you, but you can't
be sure about the lady part until you meet them!"

"Well, the one in pink seemed nice," responded Larson. He
too was running towards the oncoming boomers, and flipping his
Gallant onto it's highest setting.

The Knight Sabers, being lighter, faster and more used to the
terrain got to the first few dobermans just ahead of the REF team.
The leader started by firing a beamed weapon at the leading doberman.
It shrugged off the blast and continued to charge forward. The dark
colored Saber fired several long darts into the knee of another
doberman. It fell and she followed up to a kick to it's nominal
head. It tried to regain it's footing as she spun around to fire
again. The third Knight Saber got very close to a doberman and
whipped her head forward. Two ribbons that had been trailing behind
her flashed forward and ripped long cuts into her opponents upper
chest. She then slammed her palm into the boomer and there was an
explosion. Her boomer went down, out of commission and she leapt
toward another target.

As the reached the fight, the three REF fighters joined with
a vengeance. Pepper blew a doberman away with a volley of two
mini-missles. It exploded, knocking two others down. She gleefully
unlimbered her Gallant to target another boomer. Larson stayed just
out of reach and fired a long burst into a doberman that was trying
to get by the melee towards the 4th Knight Saber that he realized was
jamming the doberman's communications. It's chest turned cherry red,
then slagged into itself, a molten mess. Hart had extended the
CADS-1 vibrating blades from their housings on each forearm of his
power armor. He leapt at a doberman, slashing at waist height with
one arm, and at head height with the other. The doberman screamed as
it fell to the pavement in three pieces.

Sylia looked up just in time to see Hart's doberman fall down
dismembered. Smiling she extended her own blade and slashed her
opponent. It opened it's mouth and fired it's heat cannon, but
missed, only bubbling the finish on her shoulder slightly. She
punched flat palmed into the slash she had made, and set off her
knuckle buster. The boomer exploded from the inside out in a shower
of sparks.

Priss was getting upset. She fired three more rail gun darts
into her boomer opponent, but it refused to shut down. Here she was
in front of her own stomping ground, Hot Legs, and she couldn't even
kill the bloody boomer! Very upset, she pulled back and punched very
hard with her armored gauntlet. The dobermans chest flexed, then
gave way. Priss and the doberman were both startled to find a flaw
in the doberman's armor. After a mere milliseconds hesitation, Priss
fired her rail guns again. The boomer took a dart into a major power
conduit and it began to short. Priss pulled her arm out and watched
as the boomer began to crackle with electricity, then fall down,
smoking out of all of it's joints.

Pepper snarled in joy as she blasted both knees on another
target. "Wow, these things are easy to kill compared to a Invid! No
where near as much armor!" Just then, the doberman she had knee
capped fired a long burst from it's cannon, ricocheting several slugs
off of Pepper's armor. Ticked off, she extended her left CADS blade
and slashed at the head of the doberman while rapping off a quick
burst with her gallant. The CADS blade connected, and demonstrated
that it could cut through a boomer like a hot knife in butter. The
doberman slumped over twitching.

Hart dodged a burst of cannon fire from a doberman and
struggled to close. He liked the way the CADS system worked on these
foes, and was anxious to use it again. However his new opponent
wouldn't let him get close enough. He was just reaching for his
Gallant when his arms were pinned from behind. He struggled and
tried to break free as the doberman he had been trying to close with
took careful aim athim. Suddenly, his left arm broke free and he was
able to twist out of the grip of the doberman. He had a sudden
vision of the green Knight Saber jumping out of the way, and saw the
doberman's left arm hanging by a thread. Then the other doberman
opened fire and blew the one that had trapped him away. Sparing a
quick thumbs up at the Knight Saber that had helped him, he leapt
towards his adversary again.

Larson was in trouble. A doberman was running straight at
him, firing it's cannon. The shells were missing, but he had just
run out of power in his Gallant. Dropping the now useless weapon, he
extended both CADS, worrying that he wasn't very good with them.
Suddenly, the doberman fell forward, long darts protruding from both
of it's legs. Before it could get up, he ran forward and began to
hack at it's back. It tried to struggle up, but he continued
slashing madly until the thing quit struggling. Getting up, he saw
that it looked like a twisted pile of scrap.

Hart and Sylia both closed on the final boomer. The doberman
couldn't decide which to engage first, so it stood it's ground and
extended an arm towards each. The two leaders circled around the
boomer as it tried to keep track of both of them. Then suddenly,
both jumped forward with their blades extended. The doberman howled
as it suddenly lost power due to the severing of all of it's major
power conduits. It collapsed sliding off of the two blades.

Hart and Sylia stood momentarily regarding each other over
the body of their fallen foe. Hart flipped up his visor and grinned.
Sylia did the same. Slowly they looked around and began to take
stock.

"Wow, that was fast!" Exclaimed Nene as she walked up
towards the now gathered fighters. "I figured that many boomers
would take forever!"

"Like a lot of help you were little Ms. Cyberpunk!" Snarled Priss.

"Nahh, she did good!" Retorted Larson. "If she hadn't
jammed their communications, the would have been able to coordinate
better and we would have had a tougher time of that!"

"I must say Sylia, that your suits are very fast. They would
be very useful recon units in Invid territory."

"Well Lieutenant, I'm impressed by those blades you people have!"

"Oh, CADS? Yeah, it's a pretty nice weapon."

Pepper and Priss grinned at each other, and reveled in their
victory. Linna was the only member of the group not either in
conversation, contemplation, or making goo goo eyes at someone. She
was the first to notice the wall. It was changing colors again.

"Uh, guys?" She waited a moment, and the wall continued to
exhibit the same signs it had earlier. "HEY!!!!" She screamed.

"What is it Linna?" Asked Sylia. Linna merely pointed.
Everyone looked at the wall. It shimmered and changed colors through
the spectrum. With an almost audible "pop" there was a brilliant
flash of light.

When everyone's eyes adjusted, there were three hulking
figures standing before the wall. The wall itself had a shimmering
hole in it that showed a jungle and daylight on the other side. The
three very tall figures standing before the wall looked almost
confused. Hart was the first to recognize them.

"Shit, a Royal Command Battaloid and two Shock Troopers!"
Shouted Hart.

"Well boss, that portal seems permanent now. Maybe we can
get home!" Said Larson.

"Well Knight Sabers, looks like we get to return the favor!"
Sighed Sylia.

"Is it always this busy?" Pepper asked Priss.

"Well, Quincy, Mason or Largo haven't shown up yet, so it's
been a pretty calm night so far." Responded Priss.

Just then the Invid noticed the Saber Cyclones and the Knight
Sabers. And so the battle was joined......