Macross 1/2
Part 1
By Tailkinker
[email protected]
VALKYRIE
The black-haired pig-tailed man approached the front gates of the U.N. Spacy base. He was dressed in the standard U.N. Spacy uniform (Male, temperate, long, casual). On the uniform's breast was the insignia of the Robotech Defense Force, opposite the name tag reading SAOTOME. On his lapel was a pair of silver bars.
A guard stepped out of the booth and approached him.
"Orders, sir?"
The young man pulled a sheaf of papers out of his duffle and handed them to the guard.
The guard perused them for a moment, then nodded and handed them back to the lieutenant. "All right, sir. The shuttle departs in about half an hour. Docking Bay Five." Lieutenant Saotome had made himself quite popular with both enlisted men and officers; quite an accomplishment for such a young officer. Impulsively, the corporal bowed. "We'll miss you, sir."
"Thanks, Corporal. Take it easy."
Twenty minutes later, Lieutenant Saotome was strapped into an acceleration couch, awaiting takeoff. He grinned a bit; the old VC-37 Tunny transport aircraft had nothing like the acceleration he was used to. After a year of intensive training in the UF-14 Falcon Jet, his heavily muscled body was hardened against multiple G's.
He was looking forward to his new assignment. His basic training had been at Macross Base, as had his initial flight instruction. The last year he had spent at Kadena AFB, in OCS, dealing with gaijin and learning to fly the UF-14 Falcon. He considered the Falcon the last word in air power. Sleek and sexy, the multi-role fighter could engage in the worst furball, bomb an armoured column, conduct a supersonic recon mission, provide forward air control and serve as an ECM vehicle - all on the same warload. In his mind, no vehicle could possibly match, let alone exceed, the Falcon in versatility.
He had little idea how wrong he was shortly to be proven.
The Tunny's engines rose to a roar, and the big transport began to roll down the runway. The Tunny was capable of vertical takeoff and landing, but there was no need for such fuel-wasting maneuvers at a full-scale airbase. Soon the Tunny lifted off and began to climb, slowly banking to the northwest.
Saotome Ranma leaned back, put his arms behind his head, and closed his eyes. He was going back to Macross. And his new assignment was exactly what he'd been hoping for - second in command of a Squadron.
Maybe he'd get a shot at command of the squadron before he was rotated out.
* * * * *
Saotome stepped out of the VC-37 and blinked in the harsh sunlight. Overhead, he felt more than heard a pair of fighter aircraft pass overhead. The sounds of the engines were impossibly deep, shaking the tarmac beneath his feet. He watched the fighters pull off overhead, turning into the sun.
"Admiring the new jets?"
Saotome blinked, and looked at the man before him. Incredibly tall, lean, with blond hair rakishly pulled over one eye. A cocky grin sat naturally on his features. Two gold bars glittered on his lapel. He didn't see any wings, but he didn't have to. ~This guy's a fighter jock.~
"They look okay, but they seem a bit slow compared to the Falcon."
"Oh, don't worry about that, Lieutenant. You'll grow to love them." The man's voice was jaunty, and his Japanese only lightly accented.
Saotome already had his orders produced, and handed them to the Captain. RDF used English names for the ranks, despite the fact that it was supposed to be a bilingual force. The other man glanced at them, then began paging through his own clipboard.
"Second in Command for Blue, eh? Looks like you'll be flying in Valkyries after all. You qualified for Valkyrie operations yet?"
"No. I assumed that I would be flying Falcons. They didn't tell me anything about Valkyries."
"Well, they probably wouldn't, the Valkyrie is still incredibly classified. I see you have Lieutenant Geroux listed as your flight instructor. Take my advice, file for a new instructor. Geroux is a good pilot, but his English is rotten, and his Japanese non-existent. Makes it hard to learn from him."
"Who do I see to file for a new instructor?"
"Me." The blond man extended his hand, then withdrew it quickly. "Sorry." He bowed, then said, "Captain Roy Fokker, Commander, Air Group, Macross Island. Pleased to meet you."
"Saotome Ranma, Lieutenant. Pleased to meet you." Saotome returned the bow.
"Now then...as to your new instructor...might as well be me." Fokker grinned. "I don't get nearly enough air-time as it is. Trust me, once you get used to the Valkyrie, you'll never go back to the Falcon."
* * * * *
"The first thing we'll cover is the gross motor controls."
"Gross motor controls? Hey, what about the flight manual?"
"Oh, you'll get that, but I've always held that it's better with this particular bird to get hands-on experience first."
"And if I screw up, and flame us out, or do something else stupid?"
"Don't worry, it's actually really hard to crash a Valkyrie by accident. Now then, the gross motor controls. In this configuration, the right hand stick acts as your yoke, and the left hand stick as your throttle. The foot pedals act as a combination rudder control and vectored thrust control."
"Why manual control for vectoring?"
"This bird's been made deliberately computer-light. More on that shortly. You feel the trigger under your right finger? That fires the main gun. GU-11 external gun pod, fifty-five mike, fires about three thousand rounds per minute. A little on the slow side, if you ask me. But of course, they didn't. You've got about a thousand rounds in the gun, plus an additional two thousand in reloadable clips."
"Huh?"
"Trust me, you'll love this. Now then, see this switch? Primary arming mechanism. Selects one of nine firm points. You've got four soft points on the wings, two on the fuselage. This unit's configured light. Twelve GR-30 Jackhammer medium range missiles. So firm points three and seven - the fuselage points - are clear. Jettison button's here. If you select point four and jettison, you can kiss your gun goodbye. Select five or six and jettison, and you'll get an error message from Betty.
"Your engine instrument clusters are here and here."
"They look just like the Falcon's."
"Yeah, the bean counters figured it would save us money. Didn't help a hell of a lot, except for training purposes. Here's your third engine cluster."
"Ah...Captain, I don't recognize any of these instruments."
"It's covered in the manual. Don't worry about it now. I'll have duplicate instruments in the back seat. Flip up that lid. Right. That's your missile pickle. It will only release when a pylon is armed. Flip up that other cover, on the throttle. That one controls the laser turret." Fokker grinned. "The turret is on the underbelly, just behind the seat. It tracks to your helmet gyro. You have to select firm point five with the Primary Arm, then pickle that left button once. That brings the laser online. There's another trigger on the throttle; that fires paired high-power laser cannon, one mounted on each engine nacelle, just below the wing glove.
"Now we come to the important part. See those three levers on the left console, just before the throttle?"
"Yeah...S, G, F. What are they for?"
"Manual configuration controls. They allow you to reconfigure the airplane in flight. Not actually neccesary, but nice for a newbie. Which you are. Don't touch 'em until I say so. Here's your helmet."
Saotome caught the helmet Fokker pitched at him. "Uh, this isn't my helmet. Just a second and I'll grab it, it's in my duffle."
"Your old helmet will be completely worthless in this bird. That one's yours now. You can customize it later. Put these on."
Saotome caught the gloves. They seemed oversized and bulky, and had leads trailing from the cuffs.
"Plug the gloves in here and here, on the HOTAS."
He put his gloves on, plugged them in, and was surprised to feel the faint vibration of gyros spooling up in them. He glanced at the HOTAS, and found the calibration controls for the glove gyros. He donned the new helmet, adjusted it for fit, plugged it in and calibrated its gyros as well.
"A lot of these controls are from the Falcon or the Tomcat."
"Yeah, there's enough new tricks with this bird to keep anyone on his toes. Some of the old tricks are there to stave off overload. Heads up; I'm dropping the canopy."
Two technicians completed the jet's pre-flight, and Roy powered up the jet's fusion engines.
"Okay, listen, Saotome, here's where it gets weird. This airplane is not just piloted; it's lived."
The jet taxied to the runway, then accelerated to takeoff.
"The helmet and gloves you're wearing are studded with sensors and electrodes. It knows what you want the bird to do before you do. In addition, there's the reflex energy cells. Reflex energy gives the bird the ability to bind with the pilot. But it's not something that's easily done."
The jet was now over the water. Saotome glanced at the instruments in front of him. The Valkyrie was just supersonic, and fairly close to the deck.
"If, and I mean IF, you can get the bird to figure out what's going on in your puny little brain, you get a whole new level of control. You see with the Valkyrie's sensors, in addition to your own. You can feel the wind under your wings. And you can fly like you were born to it."
Ranma grinned. This sounded too good! He closed his eyes...
"NO, DAMMIT! Keep those eyes open!"
He snapped his eyes open. And tried to see, with the radar.
He had it! He could sense things further away than he could see, and he could feel the jet responding to Roy's piloting, but at a far more instinctive level. He felt the wind at his face as the jet pulled up, cutting through the clouds, reaching for altitude.
"I'm giving you control. Feel her out, Saotome."
"Front seat has the airplane."
"Pilot's airplane."
And the jet was his. A light nudge with the yoke, and he could feel the elevons shift, sending the fighter into a light bank. He pulled it into a broad turn, monitoring his heading on the Heads-Up-Display.
He grinned, and deliberately tuned out the HUD. Instead, he simply called off the heading to himself as he turned. When he glanced up at the HUD, he was pleased to see that he had properly tracked the heading.
Roy grinned to himself. He was monitoring the kid's Delta and Alpha waves on his instruments. This kid was good! He'd already sublimated the bird to his will. Completely azended.
"You a martial artist, kid?"
"Yeah...Saotome School of Anything Goes."
"Really. Sounds neat. You martial artists tend to have an easier time merging with the plane. Ready to get really wild?"
"Uh, sure."
"Pull the lever marked G."
Ranma reached forward, and pulled the manual reconfiguration lever. Suddenly, the aircraft lost a lot of speed. Roy glanced out the cockpit and saw the arms extending, the G-Pod held in the right hand.
"What the hell?"
Roy grinned. "You like? We call this configuration Gerwalk. It was originally designed for vertical takeoff and landing only, but we've found some nice uses for it."
"This is...impossible."
"No, this is Robotechnology. Watch and learn. Back seat has control."
"Uh...Copilot's airplane."
Under Fokker's expert hand, the now-reconfigured jet shot back towards Macross Island.
"In this configuration, the Valkyrie performs basically still like a fighter. But this is where the mental link with the pilot becomes very important. The rudders are gone, folded up on the back. Your foot-pedals now control the legs. Direct elevon control is also gone; your yoke and throttle control the arms. You'll note that the gun pod is in the right hand. The left hand can carry and fire the GU-11, but you have no manual controls to do so. The only way you can fire it is through direct manipulation. The G-Pod also reconfigures; it now has a trigger." Roy grinned. In fact, the yoke trigger was now disconnected. Pulling it just gave the pilot the psychosomatic reaction of pulling the GU-11's trigger with the mecha's hand. But he wasn't about to tell a newbie that.
"So without controls, how do I fly the jet?"
"Same way you were before. Just go where you want to. You actually don't really need the gross motor controls; they just make your life easier. For fine motor controls, like the hands, you rely on your link to the bird and your sensor studded gloves."
The Valkyrie was slipping between buildings on Macross Island. Ranma noted that the buildings were obviously fake.
"This is a live-fire range. You won't be making use of it today, but I'll give you a bit of a demonstration. Armoured column at ten o'clock."
The Valkyrie's right leg leaned out, and the fighter spun on a dime. The large rifle in the right hand came up, and barked four times. Four tanks went up in flames. As the Valkyrie passed overhead, the laser turret on the underside opened up, both beams striking and destroying a fifth tank.
"All of that was done much the same way you'd do it if you were physically holding the rifle. Except the laser turret. That's a hard one to learn right away. You'll find you're really glad for those pickles. Pull the S lever."
Saotome did so, and was amazed to feel the jet shift under him again.
"Welcome to Soldier mode. In this configuration, the Valkyrie is fully humanoid and can perform as such. Your missiles and high-powered lasers are disabled, but the head lasers are still active. What do you think?"
There was no answer from the forward--now top--cockpit. Roy grinned. This boy was hooked.
ENIGMA
"That was incredible! You were right, the Valkyrie is a lot more advanced than the Falcon. And it handles sweet!"
"You don't fly mecha, you wear it." Fokker grinned, then gestured at the ship outside the restaurant's window. "You recognize her?"
"Uh, not really. Wait! Isn't that the alien ship that crashed? The one that put an end to the Global Civil War?"
"Yep. We're just about done rebuilding her. You did boot here, and you didn't recognize the visitor?"
"Well, I was on the other side of that mountain..."
"Oh, right. Forgot you can't see the ship from that side."
"Hello, can I take your order?"
Ranma glanced up at the waitress. She was young and quite pretty, and seemed out of place in the Chinese robe she was wearing. Probably as out of place as I look in my own Chinese garb, he mused. "Uh, sure. Combo Plate Three."
"I'll have just two egg rolls." Roy grinned at her. "You busy after work?"
"For you, Roy...yes." She grinned and left.
Roy grinned at Ranma. "Not that I really want to catch her...she's jailbait. Of course, you're a little younger..."
"Huh? Actually, I'm engaged."
"Really? Congrats. What does she think of you being posted here?"
"Uh...I dunno. It's an arranged marriage. I haven't even met her yet."
"Oh! What's her name?"
"Her name's Akane. Apparently my father and her father engaged us before we were even born. I was supposed to meet her a couple of years ago, but a couple of years ago was the first I heard of it."
"Oh. Well, good luck with it and all."
"Yeah..."
"By the way, I want you transferred to my squadron. You're damn good, kid, and Skull Squadron is for the best. Now if you're really set on being Two-I-See for Blue, I won't push it-"
"Are you kidding? I don't know what the hell Personnell was thinking. There's no way I could take even a second position in a squadron! I just don't know these jets well enough."
"Give it time. When I think you're ready for it, I'll push you into a full squadron command slot."
The waitress returned, carrying their orders.
* * * * *
Ranma climbed out of the Valkyrie, sweat dripping off his forehead and speed jeans plastered to his body. It was incredibly hot, and being cramped into the Valkyrie's cockpit was no fun.
Well, the flying was fun. But the cockpit was small, and the air-conditioning scanty at best.
He had been at Macross for three months now, and had mastered all three modes of the Valkyrie. He despaired of ever becoming as skilled as Roy, who seemed to wear the mecha like a tuxedo, but he considered himself the equal - or better - of anyone else on the island.
Roy walked towards him from the direction of his own Valkyrie. The two had been playing hide and seek in the firing range, both in Gerwalk and Soldier Mode. Roy had proven to be a master of stealth in the Valkyrie. Ranma had only successfully haloed him once, but it seemed that his own RWR was pinging him constantly. And he had learned the hard way why the pilots referred to the on-board computer's irritating voice as "Bitching Betty."
"Not bad, kid. I've not had a challenge in quite some time. Good news, by the way. The new cockpits are being shipped in today. The technicians will start retro-fitting the Valkyries tomorrow. With the exception of the D model, that is." He grinned. "Just think. No more jury-rigged instruments, no more thirty thousand foot ceiling, and no more sweating off a gallon in the tank."
"I am definitely looking forward to it."
"Oh, and more good news. We've got a new CAG."
"Huh? They replaced you?"
"Not really. Island's fighter complement has gone way up, and they're putting me just in charge of Skull, instead of Skull, Blue, Red and Green Squadrons. Six new squadrons being formed, so they decided they needed a full bird to be CAG. So they brought in an old war hero. This guy's been flying since 1994, and he saw service completely through the Global Civil War. Hell, I once flew with him. He's good."
"Better than you?"
"Don't be silly. Funny thing is, though, I thought he retired some time back."
"I couldn't stay away from the flying."
"Sir!" Roy saluted the man who had just spoken.
"At ease. Good to see you again, Roy."
Ranma appraised the man. He was tall, though still shorter than Fokker, and his hair was much longer than regulation. RDF went a lot easier than JSDF on hair, but this guy had hair to the middle of his back. He sported a neatly trimmed mustache. A golden eagle perched on his lapel. Below it was the insignia of the RDF. Opposite that was the name TENDO.
Ranma started. Tendo? Wasn't that the name of the family he was engaged to marry into?
The Colonel glanced at Ranma. "Lieutenant Saotome, is it?" His greeting to Roy was English, but he switched to Japanese to address Ranma. "Your father spoke to me about your calling off your engagement."
Ranma winced. This was hardly the time or place for this sort of discussion. "Um. Sir, I did not call off the engagement."
"Oh?"
"Uh, no sir. I merely stated that I was not ready for marriage at that time."
"I see."
An uncomfortable silence grew between the two men. Roy decided to break it.
"Ah, guys? Let's go over to the Dragon for something to eat, why don't we?"
* * * * *
"You are engaged to the daughter of the Colonel?"
The two pilots, having left Soun Tendo at the Dragon, were returning to the BOQ. Roy was shaking his head, partly in disgust, partly in amusement.
"You watch, you'll have your own command before you know it. Probably be working as a test pilot within two years. Man, you are on easy street!"
"If you did not notice, the Colonel seemed less than pleased with me."
"Yeah, but still, you're like family to him, right?"
"In a way. But--"
"I'll drop it, Saotome. I can take a hint." Roy grinned. "I saw a picture of the Colonel's family once. His wife was really pretty. I bet that his daughter takes after her."
"I thought you were going to drop this subject?"
"Okay, okay...By the way, you've drawn Hendrikkson for Destroid Training. Thought about what way you're going with them?"
The Destroids were large, non-reconfigurable mecha. They were less humanoid than a Soldier-Mode Valkyrie, but each packed more firepower than a company of tanks.
"Yeah, the Spartan. It's basically similar to the Soldier Mode Valkyrie. More weapons and armour, but less mobility. But it's the closest there is."
"Yeah, I did Spartan myself, and Tomahawk."
"I don't like the looks of the Tomahawk, it's tooOOF!"
Ranma, upon rounding the corner, had collided with another person. Both were knocked down. Ranma shook his head and stood slowly.
"Clumsy oaf!"
"Huh?"
Ranma looked at the person he had collided with. It was a Japanese girl, rather short, with long hair. She was dressed in a jogging fleece set, and was scowling at him from the ground.
"Sorry 'bout this. I should have been watching where I was going." He held out a hand to help her up.
She ignored it. Her scowl deepened. She stood and glared at him, then resumed her jogging.
"What a wonderful, cheerful person. Such a marvellous personality." Roy glanced in her general direction. "Nice ass, too."
"Whatever."
* * * * *
He saw the girl the next day, in the chow line.
"Hi."
She looked over at him. The scowl returned.
"Look, I'm sorry for running into you yesterday."
The scowl remained.
"Uh...you weren't hurt or anything, were you?"
"Let me make this simple for you, flyboy. I'm not interested."
"HUH?"
"You guys seem to think that just because you're wearing a uniform means that all the girls will just come flocking to you."
"NO! I mean, I think you've got the wrong idea! About me, that is. I'm engaged! I'm just trying to be friendly!"
"Oh really?"
"Yeah! Calm down already, okay?"
She glared at him for a moment more, then seemed to deflate.
"All right. I'm sorry for being so mad at you. But I've been hit on by almost every guy since I came on base."
"Ah. Are you RDF?"
"No, but my dad is. He's posted here."
"Oh. So that's why you're here."
"On base?"
"More specifically, in the chow line." He held out his tray, and the cook dropped some so-called food on it. "Of course, you could eat at the Dragon, rather than here."
"Can't afford it tonight. Normally my sister handles the cooking, but she's sick, and Dad doesn't get paid until tomorrow. But him and his family get meal rations like anyone else. Normally, it's put into fresh food, and Kasumi cooks."
They had reached the table, and sat down opposite one another.
"Can't you cook?"
She glowered at him, then relaxed. "I'm...not very good." She looked down, and picked at her food.
"Oh."
"So, what's your name?"
"Saotome Ranma. And you?"
-CLATTER-
He looked up, and saw that she'd gone pale as a ghost. Her fork had dropped out of her hand and landed on the floor.
"I...I've gotta go...nice meeting you."
And she was gone.
Ranma frowned. "What the hell...?"
* * * * *
"Hi, Minmei!"
"Hi yourself, Saotome!"
Ranma dropped into the booth bench in his customary corner. Roy dropped into the seat across from him. Normally, they shared this booth with two other pilots from Skull, but today it was just him and Roy. Ranma had just completed a series of complex maneuvers as part of the Launch Day Celebrations. Roy had run into an old friend as well, a young man he had referred to as "Little Brother". Despite the fact that Rick Hunter was half Japanese, and not even related to Roy. Rick was a good pilot though, and had paced Ranma's Valkyrie in his little turbofan airplane.
"The usual?"
"Yep."
"Sorry, I'm off today. I'm going to catch the rest of the show!"
She ran out the door.
Roy chuckled. "One of these days she's gonna make a really good waitress...but she ain't there yet." He tossed a thumbs-up to Ranma. "Shit-hot out there today, kid. But what the heck were you doin' out there? Rick coulda shot you down if he'd had a gun on that firecracker of his."
Ranma shrugged. "He was obviously no threat, so I kept formation."
"Yeah, right. More likely you were just taken by surprise. Rick's the only guy I know brave enough to put solid rocket boosters on a fan jet. Oh, I got your performance evaluation from Hendrikksen on your Destroid training. He says he might have a spot for you in the Third Armoured Cavalry if you ever get bored with Valkyries."
Ranma snorted. As if a fighter pilot would ever condescend to join a mud-mover brigade. "No thanks. I like the Skull far too much. Especially now that I'm a flight leader..."
"It ain't official yet, hot shot. Not until Lieutenant Hayes clears it. But I think you got it made."
Ranma looked up as another figure dropped into the seat next to Roy. Roy glanced at the older man sitting next to him. "Sorry, old-timer. That seat's reserved for Skull Squadron pilots only."
Ranma grinned. "He can sit there, Roy. Hey, Pop. How's it going?"
"I am well, son."
"This is your father?"
"Yeah. Roy Fokker, this is Saotome Genma. Father, my commanding officer and best friend, Captain Roy Fokker."
Roy bowed. As best he could from a seated position.
"You're Ranma's CO? The legendary Roy Fokker?"
Ranma's eyes shot through to his hairline.
"Waddaya mean, legendary? Something you're not telling me, sir?"
Roy grinned. "Well, I kinda lead the first mission into the visitor."
The elder Saotome grinned. "Yes...I was also on that mission."
"Really? Oh, yeah, now I remember you! I didn't recognize you without hair." Fokker grinned at Ranma. "You're lucky, kid. Your old man is the only one besides me and Lang that got out of that alive."
"Pop? You, in the military? In the Global Civil War?"
"Yes, I was part of the Japan Self Defense Force, Marine Division. I was posted to the Kaneda. Damndest thing you ever saw. We had a Russian Captain, an American CAG -" he gestured at Roy "- My CO in the marines was Japanese, the Chief Engineer was British and the Scientific Envoy was German. All five of the major powers from World War II, on one boat."
"Hey, Genma. Captain Gloval's been put in command of the Macross."
"Really? He runs a very tight ship. He's a good choice for that thing."
Roy chuckled. "Yep. And Emile Lang is still around as well. Always thought that was a damn silly name for a German."
"I think his family originally came from Belgium, in Flanders."
The bells above the door rang. Roy glanced up, then gestured across the room. "There's your mystery girl again, Saotome."
Ranma looked over, and sure enough, there was the girl. She had just stepped into the White Dragon, but upon spotting Ranma, turned and fled.
Ranma had seen her three times in the last month. Once in the chow line again, once at the Dragon, and once in the shopping district. Each time, he had tried approaching her, but she had run off. Usually insulting him as she ran.
Genma had turned and looked to the door. "Oh, her?"
Ranma looked up. "You know her?"
"Yes. Actually--"
-BOOM-
Roy glanced up. "Uh...they weren't scheduling to test fire the Macross' guns today, were they?"
Moments later, the air raid sirens began to blare.
"Oh, damn. Kid, they're playing our song. Nice to meet you again, Genma, but get to a shelter."
The two pilots jumped and ran from the restaurant.
INVASION
"Skull Flight, we are tracking three inbound bogeys at Angels three zero. Your vector for intercept is zero eight five for sixty. Do not fire unless fired upon. We are vectoring reinforcements your way."
"Skull Six. Close it up. You're drifting to right."
"Sorry, Skull Leader."
"Go active."
"I've got contact. They're at Angels two five now, and I think they're launching small craft."
"I see them, Four. Range is fifty three. Lock Jackhammers, but do not launch."
"Two."
"Three."
"Four."
"Five." Ranma grabbed his missile-arm control and armed pylons one, two, eight and nine. He tapped the Master Arm switch, and the left-side VDU confirmed: twelve Jackhammer missiles armed and tracking.
"Six."
"RWR warning! Lead, the enemy are using active radar. Microwave radar, looks like J-band."
"Jammers on."
"Enemy have launched missiles, Lead."
"Roger that, Three. Skull, pop chaff and flare. Range is forty six. Launch Jackhammers."
"Fox two!"
The six Valkyries emptied their pylons of the Jackhammer missiles. Each Valkyrie's battle computer interfaced with Skull Leader's, directing every launched missile to a unique target. The GR-30 Jackhammer was a semi-active radar homing missile, but instead of a conventional warhead, the missile carried four short-range heat-seeking rockets. Upon reaching the target, or if a missile failed to guide properly, the Jackhammer would fire off its heatseekers, each of which would seek out and target any heat source in the area.
"Impact in twelve. Eleven. Ten..."
"Vee Tee One Oh Two. Why are you still grounded?"
"Huh? I, uh, I think there's been some mistake. I'm not supposed to be here."
"You're right, you're supposed to be up there. Get airborne, now."
"Um, Okay, if you insist..."
"Five seconds. Oh, fuck. Ah, Saotome, take lead. I've gotta go help out a friend."
"WHAT? Uh, Yes sir. Five has lead."
"Two."
"Three."
"Four."
"Six."
Roy's Valkyrie peeled off and headed back to the island. Saotome's battle computer took up the missile load. The machine twitched at the extra load, but managed to keep up with the realtime data.
"Impact!"
"Confirmed. I have multiple detonations."
Ahead of them, the sky turned molten as over a hundred warheads detonated. Ranma checked his radar.
"Ah, there's still lots of them. I estimate about sixty kills from that salvo. Three and Four. Shift to Gerwalk. The rest of you get ready to tango. Two lead Six."
"Two."
"Three."
"Four."
"Six."
And the furball was on. There were literally hundreds of the alien fighter pods. Tactical computer had come up with nothing on them; they were fighting blind.
Ranma pulled the Valkyrie all over the sky, using high-powered lasers, laser turret and tri-barrelled cannon on pod after pod. The alien fighters were remarkably poorly armed and armoured. Although their nose guns could--and did--make hash out of the Valkyries.
"Four's hit. I've gotta break off--"
"Four, punch out. Four! Damnit, Archer--"
"Skull Squadron Second and Third Flights are inbound."
"Thanks, Commander."
Ranma's gun ran dry, and he shifted to Gerwalk to jam another clip home. Without changing configuration, he spun and blasted six pods one after another. Then one of the aliens got lucky and tagged his wing.
The left wing was sheared off at the halfway point. Ranma's Valkyrie lost too much lift to remain at his current altitude.
"Damn! Two, take lead, I have to break off."
"Two has lead."
Ranma allowed his Valkyrie to drop towards the island. He saw the giant Super Dimensional Fortress struggling to lift off as he dropped into the city.
This ain't the range, he reminded himself. People have to live here when we're done.
"Skull Flight, one of the enemy dropshuttles has gotten past you. It appears to have landed in the water. Break off and prepare to defend the city."
"Roger that, Commander." Roy was back on the Tac Net. "All right, ladies, you heard the Commander. Let's go play, shall we?"
Ranma watched as the remainder of Skull Squadron dropped into the city and reconfigured to Soldier Mode. Ranma kept one eye on his scopes and one on the Tac Display.
The small craft, whatever it was, had hit the water to the west of Macross Island. The SDF-1 had dispatched a Comanche attack helicopter to recon the site. In addition, the Sixth Cavalry had been rushed to the beach, in case the enemy decided to come ashore. Sixth was a light unit, consisting of four Spartan close-combat Destroids, two Tomahawk support Destroids, and six Defender anti-aircraft Destroids.
Ranma tapped the Tac Net, and dialed for the Comanche's freq.
"We're approaching the drop zone...No sign of the intruder."
"Keep your eyes peeled."
"Ah, roger that. Ah, something's breaking the surface. Looks like some kind of pod. Ah...Oh hell. Base, we are under att--"
"Eyes Front, come in. Come in, Eyes Front!"
Ranma's Tac Display lit up.
"Base to Skull Squadron. Expect company. Western edge of the island."
No response from Roy.
"Skull Leader, report in."
"Ah, Skull Leader. I've got a bit of a problem here. Five, do you still have lead?"
"Passed it to Two."
"Don't do that. Five, take Lead."
"Ah, Roger. Five has Lead."
"Two."
"Three."
"Six."
"Kramer, how's your flight?"
"We've been better, Roy. And Jackson's still upstairs. They're latched but good."
"Damn. Ranma. Go play hide and seek."
"Yes sir. Skull, move out."
Ranma glanced at the Tac Net. A total of eight Soldier Mode Valkyries, from both Fokker's flight and Kramer's flight, made up the portion of the Skull under his command. The group made their way further into the city.
"Vampire! Vampire!"
"Whose call was that?"
"Base, this is Sixth Lead. We're at the beach, and the enemy is coming ashore. They've launched multiple vampires." Vampire was the call-sign for surface-attack guided missiles. "We've engaged them, and the Defenders are doin' a number on them, but we're gonna have some leakers."
"Roger that. Skull, state your position."
Ranma clicked his mike. "Base, we are two miles east of Sixth."
"Roger that. Be advised there are vampires inbound on your position."
"Base, roger that. Skull, keep your eyes peeled. Go to FLIR if you've got it."
"Two."
"Three."
"Six."
"Vampire!"
Ranma trained the gun pod up and snapped off a short burst, destroying the missile. He glanced down at his FLIR display. "I read eleven more missiles over our position. Engage and destroy." He triggered his head laser, and slagged down another missile. Around him, the Skull pilots were opening up on the missile flight, one yelling "Pull!" before blasting a missile. Ranma grinned, then clicked his mike. "Base, we knocked down seven more for you."
"Roger that, Skull. Fourth Cavalry, stand by for intercept."
Not that Fourth could do much about missiles. It was mostly composed of Phalanx and Tomahawk Destroids.
"Saotome. I'm passing what's left of my command over to you."
"Roger that, Kramer. You're Five. Fill in my gaps."
"Roger. Four, Seven and Eight are yours."
"Bogey! Bogey at eleven--"
Ranma pivoted and haloed the pod. The alien Mecha looked remarkably like a headless ostrich, except for the two large cannons on the carapace that tracked towards his Mecha...
Ranma hosed the target down with his gun pod. The alien proved to be as flimsy as the fighter pods, and went down in seconds. The GU-11 spun on empty, and Ranma ejected the clip.
"Thanks, Three. Move ahead."
"Roger."
Ranma dug out his last clip and jammed it home. "I'm on my last. How are y'all doing?"
"Two's got one left."
"Three's empty."
"Four's got two."
"Five's got one, and four Scorpions."
"Six has two."
"Seven has one."
"Eight has one."
"Damn." At least the Scorpions were good news. The nasty little short-range missiles were carried in packs of two, one on each arm. They were still being beta-tested, but already the techs were talking about making them standard-issue. "Six, toss one of your spare clips to Three. Base. What are the odds of us getting some heavy metal in here?"
"Roger that, Skull Leader. Fourth Cavalry will be dispatched to your location."
"Hear that, guys? Let's keep 'em busy until the Destroids get here."
The Valkyries began to play a deadly game of cat and mouse with the alien Battle Pods. Valkyries would pop out of alleys, step around corners or fire from hiding places in buildings. Ranma's GU-11 ran dry quickly, and he was forced to go hand to hand. Luckily, his martial arts translated very well into Mecha combat.
But it couldn't last. Despite his best efforts, a Battle Pod got the drop on him, blasting away most of his left leg. The crippled Valkyrie dropped to its side, and Ranma panicked. He reached overhead for the eject handle, but paused when he realized that punching out would put him through the building behind his head. He watched as the pod closed in for the kill...
And was demolished by a long-range particle cannon blast.
Ranma whooped, and patched into the Tac Net. "Fourth Lead, this is Skull Leader. Welcome to the front line. Skull Five, my Valkyrie is toast and I am out of this fight. You've got lead. And the Cavalry has arrived."
"Amen, brother."
Ranma popped the cockpit and dragged himself out of the Valkyrie. He looked at it sadly and shook his head. The fighter would never fly again.
There was a sound of metal on metal, and the blasted Battle Pod began to stir.
Ranma panicked again. He backed away from the pod.
The pod's main hatch opened, and the occupant emerged. He looked remarkably human, save for the bluish tinge on his skin, and the fact that he was thirty feet tall.
Ranma had been on board the Macross. He'd seen the skeletons, and the powered armour suits. He'd seen the living quarters, twin to his own, but ten times larger in scale. He knew exactly why the Valkyrie had been given its forty foot tall Soldier Mode.
He knew about the Giants.
But all of this had not prepared him for the sheer emotional shock. It's one thing to stand before an elephant or a rhino, and know that the creature was strong, that it could crush the life from you with little or no effort. It's emotionally acceptable, to see an orca or a blue whale, and to know that humankind is puny and weak compared to such as these.
It's another thing entirely to see a creature, equally the size of an elephant, but standing on two legs, eyes mirroring the intelligence behind them. A creature that cannot be 'it'.
Ranma swallowed, and reached for his sidearm. For all the good it'll do me, he mused.
The Giant seemed not to notice him, however. Instead, he simply staggered up to the fallen Valkyrie and gave it a good swift kick.
"Hey! That's my plane!"
Ranma realized a bit late that it was a bad idea to get a Giant's attention.
The alien turned and drew a sidearm.
Kramer's head laser blew the Giant's chest out from the back. It fell, and Ranma had to jump to avoid being crushed.
Kramer dropped his spent GU-11, and picked the Giant's sidearm up in one metal fist. His voice boomed out over the Valkyrie's external speakers. "Good, I was running on empty. You owe me, Saotome. Get your ass to a bomb shelter now."
* * * * *
"Take us down! Right to the deck!"
"Aye sir!"
The Super Dimensional Fortress had launched in an attempt to battle the alien armada that had encircled Earth. However, a salvo from one of the alien battlewagons had crippled her, and she was forced to break off. Now she was attempting to put the bulk of the planet between her and the fleet.
"Sir, I read one alien ship, medium sized, probably a cruiser. It is closing on this location. Bearing Three Forty Nine, Azimuth Twelve."
"Damn! Program a Fold from here to Lagrange Two."
"Sir, the Fold system is untested."
"Get ready to test it. We need altitude for this. Helm. Positive Z, fifty meters per second."
"I can give you thirty..."
"Good enough."
"Sir, alien cruiser is firing."
The dimensional fortress shook as it was struck by the enemy vessel's guns.
"Fire main gun."
"Sir, the Reflex Cannon is still off-line."
"Engage the Fold system. Now!"
"Sir, Macross Island is in range of--"
"Now, dammit! While we still have time!"
Space warped around the ship.
* * * * *
*He's insane!*
The Commander of the alien fleet gaped at the viewscreen before him.
*He's attempting a space fold while in atmosphere!*
* * * * *
A massive bubble of space/time distortion rippled across the Macross, and the massive Dimensional Fortress vanished.
"Fold Operation complete."
Gloval sat back in his seat. "Bozhe Moi."
"Sir, I am detecting a large mass directly below us."
"Were we followed?"
"No, sir. It's Macross Island..."
SHELTER
The blast shelter was airtight.
Ranma was very glad of this fact.
There had been considerable noise outside the shelter, until about six hours ago. Then, all noise had ceased. Not even the sound of wind, or the omnipresent hum of the generators reached inside the shelter.
The power had gone out, and the shelter had gone completely dark. Eventually, someone had tried putting the shelter's backup generator online, but had had no luck. The generator turned over, but refused to start.
The generator was located outside the shelter.
There was a tertiary power supply, a set of Reflex energy cells. Ranma had brought these online, and that gave them limited lights in the shelter. It also brought the external viewers online.
All the viewers showed was the star-studded blackness of space, the frozen land all around them, and the Macross hanging over them.
Ranma paced nervously. With the Protoculture cells powering life support, they could survive in here for quite some time. There was enough food for a thousand people for six months. With only four hundred or so in the shelter, that would last much longer than the best projected time for the air purifiers.
Now all they had to do was to hope that the Macross could launch some sort of rescue operation.
A rather large, heavyset man in a Hawaiian T-shirt walked up to Ranma.
"Hey, Lieutenant. You're the ranking officer here, right?"
"Uh, I guess so. Only other U.N. Spacy personnel here are enlisteds."
"Good. Listen, this sort of situation, the military's supposed to be in control."
Ranma remembered who the man was. "Uh. Mr. Mayor, I think you give the orders in this situation. I mean, I'm just a Lieutenant, and most of these people are civilians."
"Maybe so. But look." The Mayor waved a hand across the crowd. "These people are worried. I mean, we're stranded in space. We know we'll be rescued. But waiting is gonna drive them nuts. So we need to do something--anything--to keep them occupied."
"Uh, okay. What do you suggest?"
"I recommend we take a head count. Get names, too. It'll be sure to help whoever's coordinating the rescue mission. I imagine the other shelters are thinking of this as well, especially any of your boys among them."
Ranma considered this. It did make a fair bit of sense. "I think you've got a good idea, Mr. Mayor." Ranma grinned at the thought of something useful to do. He grabbed a clipboard that was floating nearby and drifted towards the crowd.
"Okay, listen up. We're going to do a quick tally and get everyone's name. I'm gonna write these down here, and when we're rescued, we'll, uh, have a list of names for them." He repeated himself in English, jotted down his own name, then turned to the mayor. "Uh, sir, what's your name?"
"Thomas Luan."
He wrote it down and proceeded to the next person.
* * * * *
"Negative, Skull Leader. We need you for the rescue operation."
"Damnit, my friend is somewhere out there. I got him into this, and I gotta pull him out of it."
"I say again, Skull Leader. Negative. You can look for your friend on your own time."
"Yes, SIR!"
"Don't worry, Fokker. He's probably in one of the bomb shelters. We'll bring him in."
* * * * *
"Name?"
He glanced up from his clipboard, and into the face of his mystery girl. She looked trapped, and was glancing about her, as though searching for an escape. Another girl floating next to her, a very tall girl with long hair bound into a ponytail, put her hand on the smaller girl's shoulder, as if to offer support.
"Uh, your name is...?"
She sighed, as though in resignation.
"Tendo Akane."
* * * * *
Ranma set his clipboard on the desk and sighed.
And then grabbed the clipboard as it started to float away. Glancing around, he found a clamp, and secured the clipboard.
"Hi."
He glanced over at Akane. She was drifting slowly towards him, her skirt billowing out behind her. She put out a hand to stop herself as she reached the desk, then spent a couple of seconds trying to stop her spin.
"Uh, hi, Akane."
"Um..."
"Ah...I guess we're engaged, huh?"
She scowled. "It wasn't my choice."
"Mine either. But Pop and your father decided to make that choice for us, didn't they?"
"I guess."
They floated for a second, neither looking at the other.
"So...how do you feel about it?"
He shrugged. "It's gotta be done. Family honour, and all that."
"Honour? Is that why you tried to break the engagement?"
"Huh?"
"Damnit, Ranma, you didn't even try to contact me or Dad! Your father came to tell us about your decision. Dad was heartbroken! He nearly had an emotional breakdown!"
"The Colonel? Emotions? Feh."
"You idiot! You think he goes around putting his feelings on display for the whole world to see? Do you know why he retired?"
"Not offhand."
She quieted her voice. "When Mom died, Dad nearly died with her. He left the base on Grievance Leave, and didn't go back. They sent MPs around looking for him, and they had to pry him from his room to court martial. They gave him a medical discharge, with option to re-up if he wanted to.
"For the last five years, he's been in emotional shock. The only thing that kept him going was the fact that before Mom died, she had agreed to our betrothal. But he wouldn't run the dojo. We had to rent the space out to another master, just to keep the bills paid. Kasumi kept us all going, and Nabiki kept the books balanced, but it was hard."
Ranma scowled. "Thought you didn't want this."
"I don't. I just wanted you to..." She sighed. "Ranma...I'm not gonna ask you to marry me, or anything. But you told my Dad that you didn't break the engagement, just...put it on hold. Did you mean that? I mean, I'm not going to break off the engagement unless you want to. Do you want to end it?"
Ranma considered it. "No."
She nodded. "All right. We'll keep on as we are now."
They floated in silence. Akane realized she was still turning very slightly on spot. She cursed quietly, and struggled to stop her spin.
Unfortunately, Akane was not at all experienced with zero-gee activity. The more she struggled to stop, the faster she ended up spinning.
"Want a hand?"
She glared at him. "No, thank you. I can manage."
"Are you sure? I mean, a skirt's not the best thing for zero-gee..."
"What are you talking about?"
"I mean, the whole shelter must know about those polka-dotted--"
"HENTAI!"
He wasn't sure where she got the mallet. But it connected with the side of his head with all the power of a Valkyrie's punch, and he found himself sailing through the air until he collided with the bulkhead.
"Hey! I stopped spinning!"
She quickly adjusted her skirt.
* * * * *
Ranma drifted back to consciousness to find himself face down on the floor. There was a light pressure on his back, that he was guessing was a hand. He rolled over, and felt the hand leave his back.
"Oh, good, he's waking up."
Ranma blinked, and managed to focus on the speaker. It was a girl, with short hair and a healthy build.
"We were starting to wonder if maybe Akane'd hit you too hard."
"Does she do that a lot?"
"Only to guys." The girl handed Ranma a bottle. "Here. Tylenol. Fifty yen each, please."
Ranma scowled at her, then reached into his pocket and flipped her a hundred yen coin. He swallowed two of the Tylenol dry, then looked around for a drinking bulb.
Another girl floated over, a bulb in her hand. Ranma recognized her as the girl he'd seen with Akane earlier. She handed the bulb to Ranma. "Here. Drink this."
Ranma looked at her suspiciously. "What's it gonna cost me?"
"Oh, no, no charge."
Ranma accepted the bulb and drank deeply.
"I hope you won't think less of Akane. She's really a very sweet girl. It's just that she has an uncontrollable temper."
"I'm pretty sure he's figured that out already, Sis."
"Yeah." Ranma rubbed his head. "Man, try to help someone out, and this is what I get?" His fingers encountered cloth. "Hey, who bandaged my head?"
"Oh, that was me. There was a small cut that was bleeding, and I thought it would be best to bind it."
"Thanks." He blinked. "Nabiki and Kasumi, right?"
"Yep." The short-haired girl grinned. "Who told?"
"Nobody. Just sorta figured it out." He didn't mention that he couldn't remember which was which. "Where's Akane?"
The short-haired girl jerked a thumb over her shoulder. "Over at the other end of the shelter. Probably still sulking. Something else she does a lot."
Ranma nodded. "So she's down on guys, eh? Why?"
The girl shrugged. "I'm not really sure. I think she mentioned once that one of the pilots on base was...pushy."
Ranma gulped. Hopefully, it was one of the other pilots on base that she'd been complaining about...
* * * * *
*THUMP*
Ranma had been stretched out on a desk, trying to sleep. They'd been locked inside the shelter for almost a week, and many of the civilians were starting to go stir crazy. Like most soldiers, Ranma coped by catching up on his back log of sleep. Now, he jerked awake and looked around, surprised by the sudden noise.
*THUMP*
"Docking rig...Everyone!" He struggled ot a more upright position. "Everyone, get towards the floor. We're gonna--"
Gravity returned. Ranma crashed down, stumbled, and fell onto his side. All around him, people dropped like stones. There were cries of pain as some people landed badly. Ranma stood up, rubbing his shoulder.
There was another *THUMP*, and a clanking groan as the massive cams that operated the doors began to turn. Cheers arose throughout the shelter as the doors opened into the light.
Colonel Tendo strode into the shelter and raised his voice. "You are the last shelter in. Congratulations are in order to civil powers. Not a single life was lost during the mis-fold. Everyone on the island made it to a bomb shelter on time."
Saotome stepped up to the Colonel. "Sir. Here is a list and count of every person in this shelter. Sorted by name, family then given."
"Thank you, Captain." Tendo quickly flipped through the list. He grinned. "Thank you very much. I was hoping to find them here. Kasumi! Nabiki! Akane!" He handed Ranma the clipboard and waded into the crowd.
Roy pushed his way into the shelter. "Ranma! Thank God you're here. I was starting to get worried."
"Hey, no problems, Captain!"
"Have you seen Rick?"
"Who? Oh, Rick Hunter! No, he wasn't here. Maybe one of the other--"
Ranma stopped, remembering that this was the last shelter to be brought in. Roy was flipping through the clipboard.
"Looks like Tendo's little speech was premature. We found no bodies on the remains of the island." Roy's voice was bitter. "But it looks like both Rick and Minmei were out there."
REUNION
Ranma sat in the dining room of the White Dragon.
The entire town of Macross was being rebuilt inside the Super Dimensional Fortress. Many of the buildings had been undamaged by their little jaunt through space. It was simply a matter of pulling them into a cargo bay, repressurizing the bay, and moving them to their destination inside the ship. Sometimes, thawing the buildings would damage them to the point of irrepair. Then, the building was torn down and rebuilt.
The White Dragon had survived mostly intact, save for one corner where a Valkyrie had crashed into it. But the owner was not himself.
"You were always her best friend, Ranma. I mean, you were always kind to her, and you never hit on her. She liked the attention she got from the pilots, but she always wanted someone just to be her friend."
"I know, Max-san. I miss her, too."
"Miss who?"
Ranma looked up to see Akane walk in. "Oh, Max-san and I were talking about his niece. Lin Minmei."
"Oh? A girlfriend of yours?"
"WHAT? No way! Minmei and I were just friends!"
"Please. Don't be jealous of Minmei." Lin-san smiled. "Saotome-san never did anything inappropriate to her. He was just her friend."
"Well..."
"Akane..." Ranma stared at his plate. "Minmei is missing. She and Rick Hunter were never found."
"Oh...I'm sorry, Lin-san."
He bowed to her, and moved towards the kitchen.
The door opened again, and Roy Fokker walked in. He collapsed into his customary seat and glared at Ranma.
"You're out of uniform."
"Huh?"
Roy pulled a small cardboard chit from his breast pocket and tossed it to Ranma. "This is only a field brevet; it won't be official until we hit dirtside again, so you won't get any more pay. But it IS for real. Congratulations, First Looie."
"Hey, thanks, Roy!" Ranma wasted no time pinning the silver bars on his lapels.
"Hey, you earned it, kid. All I did was point that out to old man Tendo. Oh, and more good news, Saotome. We're both on duty at seventeen hundred. Construction work, oh joy, oh joy."
Ranma frowned. "A Valkyrie for construction work?"
"Nope. We'll both be in Spartans. You might not believe it, but the Crow Hands on the Spartan are actually better for this sort of job."
"Oh, I believe it. I mean, the Spartan can rip zortrium armour plating like tissue paper."
"In this case, it's a combination of the strength and accuracy. Valkyrie hands are too clumsy, and the little manipulators built into the arm are too flimsy."
Max returned from the kitchen with three menus and three glasses of water on his tray. He set the tray on the table and began handing out the menus. Unfortunately, he hit the glasses.
-SPLASH-
Where Ranma had been sitting, there was now a petite redhead, the RDF uniform hanging off of her.
"Oh, damn..."
"What the bloody hell?" Roy sat bolt upright in his seat. Akane stared at the girl in shock.
"Well, I suppose you had to find out sometime."
"Ranma...is that you?"
She scowled, and started to wring out the uniform. "Yeah. It's me."
Max beat a hasty retreat to the kitchen.
"Lemme explain here. About three years ago, me and Pop went to this place called Jushenkyo. It's supposed to be a training ground. In fact, it's a cursed training ground. Anyone who falls into one of the pools takes the body of whatever drowned there. I fell in Nian-ni-chuan. Spring of Drowned Girl."
Ranma reached for the small teakettle on the table. She upended it over her head, changing back to male, then set it down.
"As you can see, hot water reverses the effect, but only until next time I come into contact with cold water."
Roy frowned. "How much cold water?"
"I think it's a matter of how much of my skin is contacted." He picked up the third glass, and poured it over his hand. "As you can see, this isn't enough. If I dumped it over my head, it would be."
Akane was still staring at him, her mouth hanging open.
Roy rubbed his chin. "How the hell did you survive boot camp? I mean, the first time you had to shower--"
"Ever been to the boot camp at Macross?"
"Ah...no. I was already commissioned by the time the Visitor arrived."
"It's the only boot camp with partitioned showers. And at Kadena, we actually had heated showers." He grinned. "It was almost civilized. And of course, the Macross BOQ had a shower for each room. It was just a matter of not letting Ben in while I was showering."
Roy rubbed his chin. "This is too weird. As your commanding officer, I should report this. But first off, no-one would ever believe me. And second, I think we could turn this to an advantage."
"Whaddaya mean?"
"Well, it's been known for about twenty years now that women make better fighter pilots than men. And I'm sure the same goes for Valkyries."
"Hey, I'm a guy, got it?"
"But only part time! So you just take a canteen of cold water and a thermos of hot into the cockpit with you..."
"Forget it!"
"For now, I will."
Akane closed her mouth with a snap. "I was right the first time. You ARE a pervert."
"WHAT?"
She turned to Fokker. "Women make better fighter pilots?"
"Whaddaya mean, I'm a pervert?"
Roy shrugged. "Yep. Higher pain threshold, higher G-force threshold, better spatial sense and situational awareness."
"I ain't a pervert!"
"Not to mention better padding, and they look much better in these skin-tight uniforms than us men do."
Akane stood, and picked up the glass of water. "I stand corrected. All men are perverts." She dumped the glass over Ranma's head, then turned and walked out of the restaurant.
Roy watched her go. "Y'know, Saotome, you could do a lot worse. As I said, she does have a nice--"
"Ya tryin' to prove her right?"
"--personality." He tried his best to look innocent. "What?"
* * * * *
"Keep it going, Saotome."
Ranma was strapped into the Spartan Destroid. The machine's weapons bays were empty, as it had been pressed into duty in construction. Opposite him was an ADR Defender, its anti-aircraft gun arms dismounted and replaced with twin boom-cranes. The cranes were hoisting a two-storey house. Ranma's job was to align the house with its new foundations.
"All right...stop there. Bring it a little to the left. Your OTHER left, shithead! All right. Bring it down...There. Okay boys, back off. Smith, unhook. Looks good." The construction boss, an RDF Gunnery Sergeant, took off his helmet and mopped his brow. "There's one more family able to sleep at home tonight."
-GROAN-
"Aw, fuck! Smith, hook back up!" The boss jammed his helmet back on as the ADR stepped forward to re-engage the crane. Unfortunately the added strain on the floor caused it to buckle.
"Jesus Christ! Get out of there, Smith. Saotome, back as well. Thirty meters, minimum."
The Mecha and humans scrambled away from the building as the deckplates slowly caved in. The ADR pilot slung a hook onto the building, keeping it from falling in. The deckplates came completely loose, cascading down into the bowels of the ship.
"Fucking great! Just fucking perfect! Saotome! Have you got a floodlight on that thing?"
Ranma clicked on the externals. "Sorry, Gunny. It's blown. Smith has a pair."
"Smith! Light up those floods and give us a look-see down there."
"Sure, Gunny. Gimme a second..." Smith brought the ADR's boom-crane around, and dragged the house to a more stable location. He then walked up to the hole in the deck, and swivelled both searchlights down into the hole. The Sergeant walked up to the hole.
"Yeah, looks like a bad support gave out here...fairly contained, we can work around it until we can fix it."
"Hey, Gunny? I've got two small heat signatures down below. Human, I'd guess."
"Human? What the fuck? Saotome! Get a lift platform over here!"
Ranma marched his Mecha over to the supply truck, got a lift cage, and connected it to the Defender's free boom-crane. Over the Tac Net, he heard Smith calling for a medevac team.
Then Smith lowered the cage into the hole.
"They're moving away from the drop point...okay, they've stopped. I guess they were just getting to a safe distance. Cage is down. They're getting into it. I'm bringing them up slowly..."
Ranma fiddled with the Destroid's optic systems and zoomed in on the rising cage. As it entered the flood's range, he gasped in recognition.
"Saotome to Fokker."
"Huh? What's up, kid?"
"We just found Rick and Minmei. They're alive!"
* * * * *
"So, what did I miss?"
Hunter sat opposite Fokker and Saotome at the Skull's table of the White Dragon. Minmei, for the moment, was wrapped around him. Minutes before, she'd been wrapped around Ranma, much to his discontent. And Rick's.
"Well, the SDF-1 made an unscheduled jump from Earth to here. Last I heard, we're two and a half months from home on subluminal drive."
"Why can't we just 'jump' back?"
"I'm not sure. Something about some piece of machinery being destroyed down in the engine room. Also, we can't currently fire the main gun. Dr. Lang is working on a fix for that problem. Rumor has it he's solved it, but the Captain didn't like his answer, and sent him back to the drawing board."
"How many people are on board?"
"About sixty thousand. We're rebuilding the city, but we can't put too many of our raw resources into housing. So whenever a house can't be salvaged, we pull it apart and build a new one. Usually with more bedrooms."
"That's actually what I was doing when I punched a hole through the floor..."
"C'mon, Ranma, that wasn't your fault. I mean, the structure was probably weakened beforehand. That house probably weighed less than your Destroid or Smitty's, so it's just a matter of you reached that beam's limits."
"Yeah, well, now some of those raw resources that we have too little of now has to go to patching up that hole."
Rick stood and stretched. Minmei hopped up to allow him out of the booth. "Well, I gotta head. I'm still really tired from all that. I gotta see the quartermaster for a place to crash."
"Rick, why don't you join the U.N. Spacy? I mean, you're a natural pilot, even better than Saotome here."
"Yeah, right..."
Fokker slugged Ranma's shoulder. "Shut up, you." He turned back to his friend. "Listen, Rick. The Service is really hurting for pilots, and there's not too much call for non-military work around the ship right now. So right now you're supercargo; you're doin' nothing. If you sign up, at least you'll be working towards givin' everyone on board a ticket home."
The bell on the door rang as Akane entered. Unnoticed, she stood and watched the scene before her.
"Roy, you know how I hate the military--"
"Does that include me, little brother? Dammit, do you even know why I'm here in the first place?" Roy seemed genuinely angry.
"No, Roy, I don't. What happened? What made you willing to kill?"
"Damnit, Rick! I signed up because there was a cause to believe in. At first it was the damn Russkies bombing the eastern seaboard. Pop died there because he wouldn't fight. I wanted to make sure that didn't happen again. And I stayed in, and transferred to U.N. Spacy, because I saw what was in this ship. I saw the fucking Giants, and I knew they'd be coming for us. I knew they'd want this ship back. And I knew they weren't just going to ask." He waved his hand towards Sol. "They're still out there, and they're hostile, and I still have to protect the people here. Like it or not, little brother, I have to kill."
"Don't try to make me into a killer, Roy. I won't let it happen." Rick was standing, fists clenched, teeth bared.
Roy sighed. "Okay, Rick. Forget I mentioned it, okay?"
Rick stood stock-still, then slowly relaxed. "Okay, I will. I gotta go." He turned and left the building.
Akane walked over and sat down across from Ranma. "Who was that?"
"Hm? Oh, Rick Hunter. Roy's little brother."
"Really? No family resemblance."
"Well, it goes back to when he and I were in his pop's flying circus." Roy gulped his coffee. "We flew as a pair, and we understood each other pretty well. My parents had died ten years before the Global Civil War, so Pop Hunter kind of took me in."
"He's cute."
Akane realized that she was getting fishy stares from both Minmei and Ranma.
"What? He is!"
Ranma snorted. "He's lucky, too."
"Why's that?"
"He doesn't have an uncute tomboy for a fian--"
-WHACK-
"What was that, Ranma? Would you care to repeat that?"
Minmei blinked. "Oh, you must be Ranma's fiancee!"
"Huh? Oh, yeah. I'm Tendo Akane. Pleased to meet you." She bowed to the smaller girl.
"Lin Minmei. Pleased to meet you."
"Ranma's told me all about you."
Minmei began to sweat. "Nothing bad, I hope...?"
She grinned. "Don't worry. He told me you're one of his best friends on board. And nothing more." She glowered at Ranma. "Of course, he only saw fit to mention you yesterday..."
DISCOVERY
"Sir, I'm picking up large amounts of Reflex Energy discharge at zero two two azimuth zero three. Looks like a Fold operation."
Gloval pulled his pipe from his pocket and clamped it in his teeth. "On screen."
The visual came alive, displaying the area of space radiating the disturbance. Space lit up, as a huge globe three hundred kilometers across sprang into being. The globe faded, leaving a large fleet of warships in its wake.
"Damn, they've finally caught up with us. Well, we couldn't expect it to last. Kim, plot a course to slingshot us around Uranus. Maybe we can gain some speed as well as some cover." He dug into another pocket and pulled out a Zippo lighter. "Lisa, order Valkyrie crews to ready five."
"Yes, sir."
"Sir!"
Gloval swiveled to face Sammie Porter. "What is it?"
"Regulations prohibit smoking on the bridge."
Claudia Grant shook her head in disgust.
Gloval pocketed the unlit pipe. "I wasn't going to smoke it...I was just holding it."
* * * * *
Commander Hayes' voice echoed throughout the vessel.
"All Valkyrie crews report to briefing. Ready Five in effect."
Roy stubbed his cigarette. "Fuck. So much for time off. C'mon, kid, there's work to do."
"Sorry, Akane, duty calls." Ranma jumped up, dropping a thousand-yen note on the table, and followed Roy at a dead run.
* * * * *
"Twenty five minutes ago, Bridge reported four thousand alien vessels folding into this area. The SDF-1 will be attempting a slingshot maneuver around the planet Uranus in an attempt to slip past the alien fleet. However, we know for certain that the aliens are aware of our presence. For all the good it will do us. Lieutenant Saotome."
"Sir?"
"You are in command of Green Squadron. You will patrol Quadrant One. Skull Squadron, Quadrant Two. Red Squadron, Quadrant Three. And Vermilion Squadron, Quadrant Four.
"The remaining eight squadrons will remain on Ready Five, except for Gold, which will be on Alert One."
Groans were heard throughout the briefing room.
"Stow it. This is not a pleasure cruise. We will rotate one Squadron per hour, the team on Alert One replacing one fielded team, which then goes to the back of the list to be fielded. Each of you will be up for four and down for eight hours. We do not know how much breathing room the aliens are going to give us, so this schedule will prevail until further notice."
"Colonel, you're a heartless prick."
"Blue Squadron will now replace Gold on the catapults."
-GROAN-
"That's all. Deploy. And good luck."
* * * * *
"Macross, Green Leader. Reporting contacts, vector...oh seven five azimuth negative three three from your direction of travel. Oh, and they're closing. Request instructions."
"Green Squadron, Macross. Close and attack. Skull Squadron has reported contacts and is engaging, so we're vectoring Sepia to support you. What's wrong with your voice?"
"Uh, must be a change in the helium mix in the cockpit..."
"Sepia Leader, Green Leader. Mind if we mix it up?"
"Colonel?"
Ranma stared at the Tac Net Screen. Somehow, it had slipped her mind that Soun Tendo commanded Sepia Squadron.
"Ah, no, I don't mind at all."
* * * * *
Akane stood before the U.N. Spacy recruiting center, debating whether or not she should be there.
~Doing this will not make Dad happy, and Kasumi will probably be very disappointed. And there's no guaruntee that they'll let me do what I want to...And Ranma will probably be angry.
~And since when do I care what Ranma thinks?~
She set her jaw and walked in.
* * * * *
Quadrant One was one gigantic furball.
Ranma had her Valkyrie in Gerwalk Mode, and was ripping into fighter pods and battlepods with the GU-11 and head lasers. The aliens had fielded a small force by their standards, but Green Squadron was still outnumbered six to one. Sepia was still ninety seconds out, and Ranma knew that that might be too far out to save her own squadron.
As she watched, five Green Valkyries were ripped apart. Despite the RDF's best training, and mecha more powerful and better armoured than the opposition, sheer numbers could still weigh them down.
And just in case by some miracle they survived the furball, looming behind the enemy Mecha was a massive spacecraft, of the sort Intelligence had dubbed a cruiser.
"Green Twelve, go to Gerwalk! They can outmaneuver you in Fighter Mode."
"Roger, Green Leader."
Ranma brought the GU-11 around and hosed down another fighter pod, then paused to reload. She glanced at the Tac Display, and grinned. "Green Team, heads up! Incoming friendly missiles!"
Green Valkyries all through the furball disengaged and pulled away from the alien mecha as a hail of missiles descended into the furball.
"Sepia Squadron, break and attack!"
Ranma watched in amazement as Colonel Tendo dived into the firefight. Although he remained in Fighter Mode, he was pulling stunts that Ranma knew she could never emulate. He mostly ignored the battlepods, but fighter pod after fighter pod fell before him.
Ranma grinned. Maybe they'd get out of this after all.
Her Tac Net flickered, and Roy came on. "Ranma, we've discovered that reconfiguration tends to confuse the aliens. If you switch modes often enough, you'll keep them off their edge. Oh, you're using your own secret weapon, huh?"
"Shut up, ah, Major."
"Yep, reconfiguration can really throw them off."
"You're a dead man, Fokker."
He laughed. "Later, later."
"Okay, Green, listen up. A bit of advice just came through from Skull. Reconfiguration can throw them off. So let's get wild."
Ranma reached over to her console and pulled the S lever. The Valkyrie reconfigured around her, and she spun to fire the GU-11 at the battlepod on his tail. She allowed the Valkyrie's wings to remain extended in order to improve maneuverability; the wingtip-mounted thrusters allowed the reconfigured Mecha more control in space. She fired the leg thrusters and rammed a pod, punching through its thin armour and depressurizing the pilot's compartment. Then a quick shift to Fighter Mode to close on the next target.
* * * * *
"We have to fire the main gun! It's our only way out. Prepare to execute Dr. Lang's modular transformation sequence."
"Sir! The city will be destroyed!"
"I know, Kim, but better that than the entire ship. Lisa, warn the people to the shelters."
"Aye sir. Modular transformation will begin in forty-five seconds."
* * * * *
"What the hell?"
Ranma watched as the Macross began its transformation sequence. The two supercarriers attached to the side began to swing outwards, and the twin booms of the Main Gun slid back along the fuselage. The overall effect was similar to the Valkyrie's reconfiguration. And the result was the same. The Macross was becoming a massive Battloid. The supercarriers were held before it like arms, and the massive engine thrusters protruded downward like legs and feet.
The alien Mecha broke off and began to retreat. Shouts of victory rose from the remains of Green and Sepia Squadrons.
"Good work, team. Let's head for home."
The Macross' main gun fired, the beam stabbing through the approaching enemy cruiser. In the silence of space, it exploded, sending debris flying in all directions.
* * * * *
Green and Sepia Squadrons, less than a full squadron in Valkyries between them, landed on the Promotheus. As soon as Ranma touched down, she removed her helmet, pulled out the thermos and poured some of the water inside over her head.
It was lukewarm. Even a thermos can keep water hot for only so long. She groaned, then donned her helmet and taxied to the liftlock.
Ranma climbed out of the fighter as a tractor rolled up to pull it to its berth. ~Yo, next thing to do is get back to my quarters and take a hot shower.~
"Lieutenant Saotome?"
She grimaced, and turned to see Lisa Hayes looking at her. Hayes was a Commander, equivelant rank to a Major, and was the Flight Officer for the entire Dimensional Forterss. Ranma was very glad that she was wearing her body armour. As bulky as it was, it hid her body's more obvious features.
"You reported a gas imbalance in your cockpit."
"Ah, no ma'am, I think I mentioned that maybe a helium increase in my cockpit was responsible for my voice..."
"Remote monitoring of environmental conditions is built into every Valkyrie. I checked your fighter's gas mix. No increase in helium was indicated. Furthermore, there was your exchange with Captain Fokker. What was this 'secret weapon' he mentioned, hmm?"
"Ahh...I'd rather not say at this time."
"Dammit, take off the helmet. It's muffling your voice."
Ranma cursed inwardly. She unclamped the helmet and removed it.
"I thought we had an imposter. Who the hell--"
Ranma fidgeted. "Tell you what, Commander. Why don't I explain this over a cup of tea."
* * * * *
Much of Macross City had been damaged severely by the modular transformation. Even now, teams of Destroids were working to rebuild the ravaged community. The White Dragon had survived untouched, as had several other buildings. Word was that the buildings would be replaced on segments that were stable during transformation.
At the moment, the Dragon was empty, save for Lin Max and Minmei. Max glanced up as Saotome and Hayes entered.
"Hi, Ranma. Lemme guess: You want some hot water."
"Good guess, Max. Hi, Minmei."
Minmei stared at her.
Lisa also stared. "So you really are Saotome."
"Yeah." Ranma sat down in his usual seat. Lisa sat down opposite him. "Lemme tell you all about Jushenkyo."
"Hey, Ranma! Thought you took a thermos into the cockpit with you?"
Ranma glanced up to see Roy Fokker walk in.
"Jackass! This is all your fault!"
"Hey, is that any way to greet your superior officer?" Roy grinned and wagged a finger at Ranma. He dropped into the seat next to Hayes.
Ranma scowled. "It was my second patrol. After fifteen hours, the water in the thermos was nice and cold."
"OKAY! Someone tell me what's going on?" Commander Hayes looked very confused and very upset.
"Trying to. Uh, Minmei, I don't think you know about this yet either. You might as well sit down and listen in."
Max returned with a teakettle. Minmei sat down next to Ranma.
"Okay, Roy already knows this story, but...About three years ago, when I was still training in martial arts, my father and I went to a place called Jushenkyo to train. Jushenkyo is full of one thousand small pools, and each one has a curse."
"Curse?" Hayes looked at Ranma oddly. "Are you feeling okay?"
Roy grabbed the teakettle and poured water over Ranma. Hayes stared at Ranma in disbelief.
Ranma looked down at his folded hands. "Believe me now?"
"Captain Fokker, how long have you known about this?"
"Oh, about a week now."
"And you didn't report it?"
"Would you have believed me?"
Hayes paused. "Well...no." She turned back to Ranma. "So what causes you to turn into a female?"
"Cold water."
"And you deliberately used cold water to transform before entering combat?"
"Uh...before launching, actually."
"Why?"
Roy spoke up. "Actually, Commander, it's my fault. During the Global Civil War, we found that women actually make better fighter pilots than men. It's just the social stigma attached, the idea that only a man can be a warrior, that kept it from becoming practice."
Hayes thought about this for a moment. Then she addressed Fokker. "Do you believe that only a man can be a warrior?"
Roy grinned. "'Warrior' conjures to mind someone dressed in armour and waving a sword. Men do tend to be stronger than women, so they can wear heavier armour and wave bigger swords. I think what you mean to say here is, can a woman be a better soldier or fighter pilot. Personally, I think so. Women have higher pain thresholds, can pull more gees and have a better grasp of spatial perceptions."
Hayes turned back to Ranma. "Saotome, you're the only one here who's been in both positions. What do you think?"
Ranma considered. "Well, I'm not sure. What Roy's talking about isn't really something I can pick up on. But I do know that I was interfacing with the Valkyrie better as a female."
The door opened, and Rick and Akane walked in. Both were wearing ROTP cadet uniforms. Roy glanced up in surprise.
"Rick! What happened?"
He grinned a bit. "I figured that maybe you were right. And at least, it's better than moping about here."
Ranma was equally surprised. "A-Akane? Are you crazy?"
Akane frowned at him. "Oh, you disapprove of my joining up?"
"People get killed out there! Why are you so anxious to put your neck on the line?"
Akane clenched her fists. "For the same reasons you do! My sisters are here, and I'm gonna do whatever I can to protect them. Why are you so concerned anyway?" She stopped, and grinned suddenly. "Are you actually worried about me?"
"No way!"
Akane noticed Commander Hayes suddenly. "And while I was off joining up, you're sitting here collecting more girlfriends?"
Roy guffawed.
"HUH? Commander Hayes is my commanding officer!"
"Well, that's one way to get promotions!"
Lisa was blushing furiously. "Excuse me, Major, I need to get back to the bridge."
Roy stood to allow her to escape.
Rick grinned at the still arguing Ranma and Akane. "Boy, you can tell they're really in love."
Ranma and Akane whirled on Rick. "Stay out of this, Hunter."
Lisa paused and glanced at Rick. "Hunter? Rick Hunter?"
Rick seemed surprised. "Uh, yeah, that's me. Oh, no..."
Roy grinned. "Oh, yeah, you two have spoken before, haven't you?"
"Don't remind me," chorused Lisa and Rick. They glared at each other, then Lisa poked Rick in the chest. "You owe me a beer."
Roy laughed again. "Well, little brother, I know you're going into Valkyries. What did you sign up for, Tendo?"
Akane seemed to deflate. "Well, I wanted to fly Valkyries as well, but they pushed me into communications."
"Really?" Lisa raised an eyebrow. "Well, it just so happens that I've recieved some information that suggests that women make good Mecha pilots. This information warrants investigation. So we'll need to train some female Valkyrie pilots to investigate. Care to volunteer?"
"You bet!" Akane glanced at Ranma. "She knows...?"
"Yeah...Um, Commander? I'd appreciate it if word doesn't get around about my curse. You, too, Minmei."
"No problem, Captain."
"Okay, Ranma."
Rick looked confused. "Curse? What are you talking about?"
Lisa grinned. "Sorry, Cadet. That information is on a need to know basis. And you don't need to know."