Keywords: Ch., Invasion, 01, Invid,

"A note from the author: More chapters will be coming but the speed in which I write will most likely be directly proportionate to how much feedback I receive. So if you like it and want the next chapter, drop me a line and let me know.

Also, just a side note for those hard core Robotech fans out there... This story really has NOTHING to do with the Robotech or Invid Invasion shows. It may be set in that world, but the characters are original, not contrived from TV. As for all the new people: trust me, the understanding will come."

Chapter 1

"Salt Lake City"

"Andrea Robertson loved riding her cyclone. It was a brilliant piece of machinery. In it's current form it looked more like a motorcycle then anything else. She wore special riding armor on top of her white tank top and tight blue jeans. The riding armor was dual purposed. It's first and obvious use was to deflect any bullets or energy beams that may be heading her way. But in times of crises, with a simple flick of a switch she could cause the cyclone to transform around the riding armor into a sort of mini-battleoid. An extremely useful device for armored or heavy weapon combat.

That form of course was much more useful and took quite the skilled driver to operate. It was often necessary if an Invid scout were to fly by and discover her presence.

The Invid were insect like creatures that arrived on Earth about three years earlier. They came with no warning. The Robotech Expeditionary Force (REF) had recently left to battle the Robotech Masters and therefore left the planet nearly defenseless. All the Invid had to do was mop up. And mop up they did. After the first week every major city was destroyed and left in ruins. By the end of the first month they had set up "hives" in countless locations mostly around North America. No one knew why they came. Only that they did and they weren't going away.

Negotiation was impossible due to their unwillingness to communicate with any Human. They saw Humans as a viral infection upon the planet. One in which the planet would function better without. Obviously, the Humans disagreed but it didn't matter to the invading race. They forced people to work as slaves if they were lucky enough not to be experimented on first.

Quickly small resistance cells started to pop up to fight the Invid. Unfortunately, the people were too busy fighting amongst themselves in gangs to do any real damage. Some barony cities were set up ruled by petty (and sometimes not so petty) dictators.

Andrea was born in Calgary, Alberta but was forced to depart when the Invid first came at age 16. Both parents were killed in the attack and Andrea left to go do what damage she could to the invading race. She could never go back to her home city due to the fact that a rather large hive had been built there. It had been three years since she left home. A long time.

She was nearing Salt Lake City, travelling on one of the old roads. The whole terrain around her had been irradiated during the first defense against the alien attackers. Little grew here now but a few farms became apparent as she got closer to the old town. What buildings remained were no more then two or three stories. Any higher and they became in risk of being destroyed by an Invid passerby. The old Downtown had been destroyed and now there was only a pathetic town of maybe 10,000 people left in its wake. All these people clustered around some of the safer building in the south and that's where Andrea was headed.

People stared as she moved into town, driving down Main Street. A cyclone was rare in this day and age and a beautiful female driver even more so. Andrea pulled over in front of a bar/diner. Every town had plenty of bars. Alcohol was probably one of the few things still in abundance. She took off her helmet and riding armor strapping them onto her backpack. Armor was rarely welcomed in a hotel or restaurant.

Before she could even get inside three men wearing yellow and black gang colors approached her. The leader was a large gruff man missing a few teeth with breath that smelled like rotting fish. They all had knives strapped to their belts.

One of them spoke, "That's a nice bike. I wouldn't mind having one of those."

The leader looked at Andrea as if sizing up a piece of meat, "I know what else I wouldn't mind having." The man drew the knife off his belt.

"Come on guys, give me a break. I've got better things to do." Andrea moved to push past them but the leader was quicker then he looked. He reached out with his free hand and grabbed her on the shoulder, turning her to face him.

"Where do you think you're going?" The man barely had a chance to finish his sentence before Andrea quickly span, freeing herself from his grasp. In mid turn she twisted the man's knife hand and she heard the chunk as it imbedded itself in the dirt roadway. Continuing in one fluid movement she brought up a leg and kicked one of the other men in the head, quickly flooring him. She brought her own knife up to the leaders throat.

"I'm going to get something to eat. Do you have a problem with that?" The man shook his head nervously and briefly, Andrea was tempted to put him out of his misery. But the thought quickly faded and she let him go. The two took off helping their dazed friend off the ground.

Andrea turned to head into the bar when a middle aged man in blue jeans and a thick blue jacket came up to her. "That was very impressive. The way you handled those men."

"Thank-you." She decided to leave it at that, not wanting to get involved any more then she all ready was.

"Can I buy you diner?" The man grinned a trustworthy grin and opened the door for her.

"I'm not looking for a date. Thanks."

"No, you misunderstand. I want to talk to you about recruitment"

'Hmm.... Even worse,' she thought. 'Now they want to get me involved in all this gang crap.' But for some reason she didn't suspect he would take no for an answer. "Alright, but I'm not promising anything."

The two sat down in a booth. It was mid afternoon so the place wasn't very busy yet. Only a few hard core drunks were left sitting around at some of the stools. A few looked at her briefly but quickly went back to their drinks. Shortly, a waitress approached.

"What can I get you?" The waitress was a fairly young woman with a scar on her cheek. Probably from a fight she didn't win.

"Do you have steak?" Andrea asked.

The waitress nodded and looked over to the middle aged man beside her. "And for you?"

"The same. Bring some beer with the order." The waitress nodded again and disappeared into the back. Andrea turned her attention back to her diner partner. "My name's Sean. It's nice to meet you." He extended a hand and she quickly took it.

"Andrea." She shook and withdrew her hand. "So what's this about Sean? I'm not really the gang type."

"I hope that you'll make an exception with us. We work less like a gang and more..." He took a minute as if rolling the words around in his mouth. "More like the police did when we still had them. We protect people that aren't in the gangs and try to prevent them from doing anything too serious."

"I see... I don't really stay in one place for too long though." She still wasn't sure about the offer. They seemed to have a good cause but... Before she could finish her thoughts she was interrupted by his response.

"That would be fine. We always appreciate having members on the road to let us know what's going on outside. And you could help out while you're in town. We would give you free food and a bed to sleep in."

Now that was a tempting offer. She didn't have any money with her and didn't like the idea of sleeping in her tent with such a dangerous group around. "That sounds good actually."

"We do have a sort of initiation. To make sure you're loyal to us and so on. It could be disastrous to have one of the reds or greens join up with us."

Of course. There was always a catch. "What would you want me to do?"

"Simple really... Just bring us three scarves from the reds. Do that and you're in."

Thoughts began flying past her mind. Three scarfs have sounded easy enough. She may have to beat up a few guys but she was taught how to fight by the best. She could take a few gang members. And for a resource like this could be.

"All right deal. I'll get them for you."

The man smiled obviously happy about his new potential recruit. Before an awkward silence could set in, the food came and the two began eating.

* * * *

It was about 8:30 making everything gloomy in the just setting sun. Andrea had gone back to the blue's headquarters to see where the red's base was. She also left her cyclone; weapons and riding armor behind so she wouldn't be too suspicious. She put on a white tank top with no bra (bra's were mostly a thing of the past due to the limited manufacturing facilities available). She had changed her pants and now wore desert camouflage. She didn't want to give any misleading signals by wearing gang colors.


As she approached the building she began to get more and more nervous. The old warehouse looked run down. It had a large metal door at the front and was painted in imposing shades of red and black. Andrea approached the door and knocked on it loudly. Soon after she heard a "chunk" sound and a metal eye slit moved aside to reveal a pair of brown male eyes behind it. The man had a fairly nice voice but sounded angry.

"What is it? Who are you?"

Andrea was nervous. "I'm Andrea Robertson. I was thinking about joining the gang but I wanted to take a look around inside first."

"Sorry, not aloud."

"Come on," Andrea pleaded, turning on the charm. "There must be some exceptions."

"Look lady, there's only one way people get in here on my watch."

"I'm sorry, I don't really have any money."

"That's not what I mean bitch. Think harder."

Now she knew what he wanted. But was it really worth it? She could use the room and board and did want to stay in the city for a while. Besides, it was for a good cause.

Keywords: Ch., Invasion, 01, Invid,