RDF Life, The Tiger Chronicles.
Disclaimer: I do not own Ranma, nor the bits of Robotech continuity I am nicking for this story.
Warning: This is the sequel story to another fic of mine, called RDF Life. It wasn't a terribly great fic, but knowledge of what happened in it is neccessary for comprehension of this one.
One other note.. This fanfic will not even ATTEMPT to follow Robotech continuity. The technology and events are a hodgepodge of Robotech and Macross elements, and the events are going to be at least semi-original. You have been warned.
Now, I shall shut up. On with the show.
Chapter 1, Grey 33 is missing.
The afternoon sky was clear, as the birds flew gracefully through the air. Their quiet and un-hurried flight was interrupted, however, when a high pitched whining sound pierced the air. Several of them swooped around to see what the disturbance was, but could see nothing. This was unsurprising, as that shrill whine was coming from several Kilometers away. Even so, it was closing fast and getting louder.
All of the avians in the area quickly decided that sticking around was a bad idea, just before a sleek, silver colored dart rocketed through where they had been at close to the speed of sound. Unfortunately, they weren't quite fast enough, as the quickly moving craft soon broke the sound barrier, letting off a sonic boom that sent many of them careening out of control.
Inside of the Veritech, its pilot was hidden behind a heavier than normal flight helmet and combat suit, making their face and figure hard to make out. "Genesis to control, YF-11 seems to be performing well." He said, sounding bored. "It looks like the modifications to the reflex engines are holding."
A few seconds later, the aircraft's radio crackled to life. "Control here, Affirmative Genesis. Procede with rapid maneuvering sequence.."
The figure nodded, and seemed to gain a little enthusiasm. "Roger that, beginning the next stage." He said, pulling back slowly on the stick and hitting one of the foot pedals. As he did so, the small plane nosed up and to the left, going through a long, slow loop. Breaking off half way through, it swept back the other way slightly more quickly.
HR.
In an observation building on the ground, several people sat studying consoles. In the middle of them, RDF captain Roy Fokker stood, watching a camera that was focused on the fighter above. He'd been the commander of the RDF's testing facilities in Hokkaido for over ten years, ever since he'd finally been permanently taken off the flight line, and his graying hair showed it. Still, sometimes he couldn't help but feel a little jealous when he saw someone take a Veritech up for testing. "How's it doing?" He asked, looking over at someone who was monitoring the stress levels on the airframe of the new fighter.
"She's holding together, sir. Everything's within parameters." The subordinate reported, calmly.
Roy nodded. "Good. At least this time its engines didn't fail on takeoff." Around him, several people held back soft chuckles, until he walked over to a microphone that was sitting on the console in the front of the room and picked it up. "Okay kid, let's open it up."
"You've got it, control." The pilot's voice came through, noticeably annoyed. "And it's been over twenty years, ya think you could stop callin me that?"
Roy smirked. "Afraid not, Genesis." He said, before setting the Mic back down and watching in approval as the plane went through several more complex maneuvers, including switching the machine through all three of its combat modes several times. The tech who was looking over the machine's stress levels was looking pretty stressed himself by the end of it, but nothing truly bad had happened, in-spite of the pilot's seeming best efforts to cause the plane to disintegrate.
After another ten minutes of high speed maneuvering, Roy nodded. "Okay, call him back." He said, shortly, before walking out of the room.
HR.
As the pilot of the test aircraft brought it to a slow stop, he saw that Captain Fokker was waiting for him on the edge of the runway. Smiling inside of his helmet, he ran through the Veritech's pre-shutdown checklist, before popping the canopy and jumping from the edge of the cockpit to the ground in one movement.
"Showoff." Roy muttered, just loud enough for the pilot to hear as he removed his helmet.
Ranma Hayes grinned back at him, still looking startlingly like he had when the two had first met. "Aw, you're just mad 'cuz ya can't do it anymore." He gibed, casually.
"Be careful, I still out-rank you, Lieutenant Commander." Roy joked back, the two men walking slowly back to the testing range's main building. "So, how does the new 11 series handle?"
Ranma inclined his head to the side a little. "I'd still much rather have my VF-4R." He said, simply. Seeing Roy's annoyed look, he continued. "But it's passable."
Roy sighed. "Come on kid, I'll buy you a drink and we can go file the reports." He said, shaking his head.
"Can't." Ranma said. "Going to spar with Ryoga later."
"Oh yeah, you have to make sure to stay ahead of him, eh?" Roy said, understanding.
Ranma grumbled. Though his Chi control had been greatly increased through his piloting of Veritechs, Ryoga had been busy with his own unique brand of training while doing his duties as a spacecraft engineer. That of course, meant that he'd been busy carrying incredibly heavy loads and getting hit by things that men weren't meant to survive.
"He just got a lucky shot last time, that's all." Ranma complained. Though this was the truth, the lost boy had managed to dislodge a very large rock with one of his breaking point strikes accidentally, it still sounded like a defeated fighter trying to cover for his pride.
Roy just snickered. "Yeah, sure kid." He said, casually. "I still want that report by tomorrow morning, though."
"I'll get it to you." Ranma said, waving it off and heading off. He truly hated paper work.
HR.
Admiral Ben Dixon looked levelly at the person on the other side of the table from him. This was, quite possibly, his worst nightmare come true. "No." He said, simply.
"Why not?" She demanded, angrily. "I've passed all of the qualification tests, I've gotten my wings… what do you want? You know what this mission is going to do, and you know I have the scores to entitle me to go on it."
Ben rubbed his forehead. "Dana…" He started, slowly.
"I know why you don't want me on it, you think I can't handle it, don't you?" She asked.
"That's not.." Ben started, before shaking his head. "I promised Max that I'd look after you, and…"
"And what?" She asked. "I've got the qualifications for the post, The ship's CAG approved me, and then I'm shut down by a 'request' from the admiralty! I've got a right to do this, and you know it!"
"Lieutenant, I suggest you remember who you're talking to." Ben said, desperately trying to dodge the issue by pulling rank.
"I'm talking to someone who pulled me off an assignment for purely personal reasons, which he can't possibly justify to the rest of the RDF's top brass if I push this, which I will." She said, glaring into his eyes angrily.
He chuckled, though it sounded slightly bitter. "You're exactly like your mother, you know that?" He commented, softly. "I suppose it was inevitable that you'd want to be on the mission to find the Expeditionary Force. I will revoke my objection."
"Thank you." Dana said, nodding. "…and I'm sorry about the desk." Ben only nodded back as she turned around and left, pretending not to notice the papers that she'd scattered around when she'd marched into his office angrily.
After she'd left the room and closed the door quietly, he sighed and leaned back. Now what was he supposed to do? When Max had left his daughter with him before departing for the Tyrol Expedition, he'd made him promise to look after the girl until he got back. That, of course, wasn't supposed to be for most of her life, but since the small Zentraedi ship and her escorts had vanished off of the face of known space, that was what it had turned into.
Now, though, he couldn't exactly protect her. She was going to be aboard the ship that was going after the missing exploration vessel, and he had important responsibilities on earth to take care of.
As he thought of that, he glanced over to the side to see one of the several pictures he kept on the side of the desk. One was of Dana, and another was of his family, before they'd been killed by the earth bombardment. The last was a picture of the Wild Horses, right before the squadron was disbanded. Now, everyone in the squad had gone their own way. Max was gone, and most of flight two had dispersed over the planet somewhere. His eyes returned to the middle of the picture, where Ranma grinned back at him.
'Well, if I can't go, he's the closest thing I've got.' He thought, pondering. 'Plus, I'd bet he wants an excuse to be on that ship.' Smirking, he picked up a telephone and started dialing.
HR.
"Hey, Nabiki." Ranma said, walking into the central RDF Records office. "Got the final report on the VF-11 upgrades for you."
"Great." Nabiki Tendo said, wheeling her way over to her old friend. "Today was getting boring."
Ranma shrugged. "Still don't get how you can like being a glorified file clerk so much." He muttered, as she took the papers from him and guided her motorized wheel chair back to her desk.
"Why Ranma-kun, it's because I get access to all this neat information." She said, sweetly. "Plus, I get paid a lot."
"Shoulda figured." Ranma said, sighing. "You got the latest report on that new project? Lisa wants it."
Nabiki nodded, typing something in on the computer terminal at her desk and grinning. "Still can't say the name of the ship, huh?" She asked, smirking as she waited for the machine to finish processing.
Ranma just grumbled a bit, and, after several things had happened that he couldn't quite follow, a small disk popped out of a slot on the computer and Nabiki handed it over. "So, the flight's only a week away." She said, casually.
Ranma stiffened. "Yeah." He said, shortly.
"Did I hit a nerve?" The Tendo woman asked, her smirk decreasing slightly. "I'm sure she'll be fine."
Ranma didn't say anything, simply leaving. "Hmph, he's still as rude as ever." Nabiki said, though she supposed she couldn't blame him for his reaction. Kasumi was in a similar state, since Tofu had been assigned as the ship's medical officer.
It was at times like this when she was glad she hadn't gotten married. As she thought this, her phone rang. "Hello, Records, what can I… Admiral Dixon?"
HR.
Several hours later, Ranma dragged himself into the small apartment that he and Lisa shared, his body covered in bruises. Flicking the front hall light on, he dug the disk he'd brought for his wife out of one pocket, dropping it on a small wooden table.
After doing that, he staggered the rest of the way in, slumping on the couch.
Leaning back, he stared up at the ceiling. "Beat him this time." He muttered, happily.
"So that's what happened to you." Came a woman's voice, causing Ranma to raise his head. His wife was standing in the door to the kitchen, still wearing her RDF Captain's uniform. "Given how you look, I'd hate to see the other guy."
Ranma laughed. "I think Minmei wants to kill me." He confided, simply.
"Just a second, I'll go get the first aid kit." Lisa replied, sighing. As she walked back into the kitchen, she looked back. "Did you get the new Veritech tested before you went to beat up Ryoga?"
"Yeah." He said. "It's not a bad design to have loaded on the ship, I guess."
"Good." Lisa said, returning to the front room with the first-aid kit. "That makes me much more confident of our fighter squadrons."
"Yeah, well they won't do much good if they go through with putting all green pilots aboard." Ranma snapped back, angrily.
"Not my idea." Lisa replied, as she began cleaning several of the cuts on Ranma's face and arms.
"I know." He grumbled. "I just wish I could go with you."
Lisa smiled. "We both know you're only still allowed to test-pilot due to a loop-hole in the rules, they won't let you back on the flight line. You would go crazy as a passenger on a trip like that."
"Yeah, I know." Ranma admitted, "But I'm thinking about doin it anyhow."
"Did anyone ever tell you that you're really sweet when you're not being a jerk?" Lisa asked, grinning down at him.
"Hmm, I think so." Ranma replied, grinning back. The two moved in for a kiss, before they were interrupted by the sound of the phone next to the couch ringing. "Damn." Ranma muttered.
"We'll finish this later." Lisa said, getting up and quickly retrieving the handset. "Hello?" She asked, sounding slightly annoyed. "Oh, hi Ben. Yes, he's here." Looking at Ranma questioningly, she held out the phone.
The martial artist reluctantly took it, holding it up to his ear. "Yeah?"
"Ranma, I wanted to talk to you about something." Ben said, getting straight to the point.
"Yeah, I'd figured that's why you called." Ranma replied, annoyed. "What's goin on?"
"Well, um, I don't want to talk about it over the phone." Ben continued, and then the phone moved as if he'd taken it away from his ear for a second. When he put it back, he spoke quickly. "Can you meet me at the café near the base tomorrow?"
"Erm," Ranma said, surprised. "Yeah, I guess."
"Thanks, that's great. Good bye!" Ben said, and then the phone went dead.
"Damn, that was weird." Ranma muttered, hanging up the phone. "I guess I'll find out what he wants tomorrow." Getting up, he headed for the kitchen. "So, who's cooking tonight?"
Lisa just laughed. 'Figures he'd forget what we were doing in favor of food.' She thought, before following him into the kitchen.
HR.
The next day, Ranma walked down a street in New Macross City, headed towards the massive form of the SDF-1 that rested on a hill above it. The ship had been landed there about fifteen years before and hadn't moved since, though Ryoga insisted that she'd fly just as well as ever if she was needed. He wasn't going there, but to a café nearby. The place was named the Cat Café, though he'd checked and made sure that there were no amazons involved. It was a pretty safe bet, since they mostly served different types of coffee and a very few food items.
As he walked into the Café's doors, he saw that Ben was already sitting there, not wearing his usual RDF Uniform, but a casual suit.
"Any reason you don't have the rank pips on today, Ben?" Ranma asked, slipping into the seat across from him.
"I didn't want Dana following me." The man said, quickly.
Ranma raised an eyebrow. "And why, exactly, didn't you want Dana following you?" He drawled.
"Well," Ben started, before explaining the girl's desire to go aboard the ship that was assigned to try and find the Expeditionary Force. While he'd talked, a waiter had come and taken their orders. He'd gotten a cup of extra strong black coffee, while Ranma just got water.
"Okay, so I don't see the problem." Ranma said, sipping at his water. "She wants to go on the mission, and has the clearance to do it. Why'd you call me?"
Ben sighed. "I'm worried about her safety." He said, bluntly. "You know what happened before, and…"
Ranma's eyebrow twitched. "Ya mind not talkkin like that about a ship that's got my wife on it?" He growled, angrily.
Ben waved a hand. "Hey, I didn't mean that. Look, I've got a way for you to go aboard the Tiger, and I want you to help out with looking after Dana while you're there."
"You know how to get me aboard the ship?" Ranma asked, leaning forward and brutally supressing a flinch. The Tiger was one of the UN Spacy's new Liger Class Battlecruisers, and it, along with two ARMD class carriers, were going to be leaving orbit later in the week.
. He knew that he was technically too old to be an active member of the RDF's airforce, and that he was only test-piloting because that position had different entrance requirements. Test pilots merely had to pass a physical every year to stay in service. "So, how do I do it?"
"Well…" Ben said, knowing that Ranma wasn't going to like the next part. "You're pretty well known , especially to pilots, but.." As he said this, he reached out a hand quickly and knocked over Ranma's water glass. As usual, the contents found the Jusenkyo victim, changing him into her. "YOU aren't."
"What'd you do that for?" Ranma asked, glaring at her old friend angrily.
"Simple." Ben said, smiling. "We register you as a pilot, and give you command over Dana's squadron. That way, you can go on the mission and help watch her at the same time."
Ranma was about to start complaining about how stupid that idea was, when she thought about it. Quite frankly, it could work. Most people didn't believe the story of the curse, and she'd been mistaken for his and Lisa's own daughter enough times. "This is gunna mean I'm gunna have to stay a girl mosta the time, ain't it?" She said, sighing.
She'd had the curse for a LONG time by this point, and it wasn't likely to go away, especially since Jusenkyo had been atomized by the Zentraedi bombardment, but this trip was going to take a minimum of six months, and probably more.
"Afraid so." Ben said. "So, will you do it?"
Ranma contemplated for a moment. She HAD said that she'd be willing to go the whole trip with absolutely no productive activity the day before, and this was a marked improvement over that. Besides, Lisa was going to be on the ship, and she'd feel much better if she was there. "Fine." She said. "Though you do realize, if you're caught, we're both gunna be stripped of rank for this."
Admiral Ben Dixon nodded. "Yup." He said, simply.
END.