To start, I own none of this...it's all Harmony Gold's world. I'm just borrowing it. As it is AU, yes, Ben is still among the living. Sadly, I couldn't bring Roy back for this one. Italics will usually denote thoughts in this. Anyways, hope you all enjoy!

Chapter One – It Was Supposed To Be A Simple Patrol

Approximately 2 years after the attack of the Zentraedi Fleet on Earth.

The wide open expanses of the prairie that resided in what was the Dakota Quadrant of North America remained much has it had over time. The quiet that dwelled in this area and the surrounding Black Hills usually was only disturbed by the wind or the occasional clap of thunder during the summer months. Every once in a while, the screech of a bird of prey such as a hawk or eagle would carry across the rolling plains.

Today, though, a much different sound resonated over the surface. The rumble of the engines of four Robotech Defense Force Veritech Fighters came from above and echoed over the expanses as they flew off to the Northwest towards their home. The fighters, some of the most technologically advanced creations of humans, were the backbone of the RDF and their defense of their home planet. They had proved their worth on Earth and beyond over the past years.

The lead fighter was distinctive in its own right. A solid white Veritech fighter with gold and black trim, only broken up by the distinctive shield emblem of the RDF in red and white on the side of the fuselage. The tail fin was a solid black with a white skull and crossbones, the Jolly Roger of pirating days. The fighter, officially called Skull One, but called The Old Girl by its pilot, was famed across the globe and feared by its enemies.

In the cockpit, its pilot, Wing Commander Rick Hunter, found himself not in much of a mood to take in the scenery around him. Rather, his thoughts were dwelling on some events that had occurred prior to the small patrol squadron flying over the quiet grassland below.

The patrol, as was explained in the briefing a few days prior, was laid out as a simple flight out to the Great Lakes Quadrant to check up on any possible Malcontent activity out around New Cleveland and New Buffalo. In the past, Rick would have pushed to have his XO, Max Sterling, and his two most experienced pilots, Ben Dixon and Miriya Sterling, with him on any patrol. However, there were some factors that prevented this from happening. The first was that if anything went wrong, there was a good chance Skull Squadron, and the RDF, would lose some of their most talented fighters. The second factor was that Max and Ben were both pretty close to running their own squadrons at this point.

The third factor was that Max and Miriya had been unavailable for the past few weeks after the arrival of their daughter, Dana. Miriya had still yet to be cleared to return to service by the doctors. It had taken a lot of persuasion and cajoling to get her to stop flying after she hit her third trimester. Threatening a pregnant micronized Zentraedi with a court martial wasn't exactly my idea of a good time, Rick remembered. Thankfully Max got through to her, otherwise she would have flown until her water broke.

The biggest factor was that the new class of pilots needed some practical experience outside of zooming around on the simulators. The three new pilots with Rick on the patrol were all fresh out of the Academy and were making their first real patrol flight this time around. To Rick's right was Jack Baker, who flew under the call sign "Plankton" due to his short stature. Off to the left was Amelia Niebauer, aka "Nibbler", who Ben Dixon had called "cute, but dangerous." Rick felt a smile come across his face as he remembered Amelia's reaction to this. Ben was right on both counts. She nearly had him singing soprano after that crack. Just below was Fred Malikowski, who earned his call sign of "Screech" for being really skinny and having a voice that sounded just like that. All three had done well in the eyes of their commander on this go around.

Thisis the kind of patrol to have a few of the new guys and gals into the swing of things, he thought. Easy little hop over to the Great Lakes, check out a few things, head home. Doesn't make for the most exciting after action report, but hey, I'll take mundane.

And for the most part, the Malcontents had cooperated as the patrol was, well, mundane. New Cleveland and New Buffalo were quiet and there wasn't much in the way of Malcontent activity to speak of in that sector. That all changed as the contingent was making their way back towards home.

A report had come into the RDF's Macross Command that there may have been a Protoculture matrix in the area of New Detroit. As Rick's patrol was the one that was the closest by to take a look to verify the report, it was pretty much automatic that they would be given the task. When they arrived to assess the report, it turned out that there was plenty of truth to the story.

The Protoculture matrix was not only in the New Detroit area, it was smack in the middle of the downtown area, residing in the ruins of a former football stadium. The small squad had been able to find the matrix rather quickly once arriving and Rick, in his capacity as commanding officer, was contemplating making the call over to an RDF Ground Forces detachment from nearby Fort Klinger over in New Toledo. A platoon of Destroids would have been enough to secure that area and keep that matrix safe.

Rick had been talking with the mayor of the city to see what could be done and had nearly gotten the blessing of the politician to have the platoon come in and guard the matrix from any Malcontent threat. This plan, however, started to unravel almost immediately.

It was all under control until the limo showed up.

A limousine happened to stop nearby where Rick, the other pilots, and the mayor were in discussions about what should be done. A lone figure emerged from the limo and came over to join the conversation. Rick recognized who it was immediately; Lynn Kyle, the manager and confidant of Miss Macross herself, Lynn Minmei. It turned out that the Voice Of Freedom had a concert performance in New Detroit the night before and was getting ready to head off towards her next appearance when they happened upon a growing crowd and saw the talks going on.

That idiot Kyle not only managed to convince the mayor and the locals that we were the true threat and not the Malcontents. Yeah, OK then. It's totally the RDF's fault that the matrix ended up there. Also, that matrix doesn't matter at all. Pay no attention to it. As long as you're nice to the Malcontents, they won't do a thing and won't take the matrix. Nope, not at all.

The discussion had turned tense after Kyle interjected himself into the issue. Not only had he been able to convince the mayor and the citizens that they would be better off without the RDF guarding the matrix, he nearly touched off a riot when the crowd around the discussion began to make it known that the four pilots were not welcome.

Deciding that four de-planed Veritech pilots against a large, agitated mob was not the best of odds, Rick did the wisest thing in the scenario and decided to pull out. Wasn't a fan of leaving the matrix practically unguarded, but it was either stick to a point and get lynched or cut my losses and keep my pilots safe.

What compounded the matter was that a few hours later, the same mayor that told Rick and the others that they weren't needed was trying to contact the RDF frantically as the matrix was stolen by forces loyal to Khyron himself. It had not been a pretty scene either as the Malcontents had been a bit deliberate in their causing chaos on the ground and, as it turned out later, were aided by Micronized Zentraedi that were yearning to go back to their old ways.

If there was ever a "told ya so" moment, that was it, he mused. By the time a detachment could be sent from Fort Klinger, Khyron was long gone with the matrix. The mayor's bluster was replaced with bitter accusations that he had intentionally taken his time to alert the RDF as payback for the events earlier in the day.

Fort Klinger's commander, a Major Pierce, stepped in quickly to keep the situation from getting further out of control. I have to thank the Major for that, otherwise I probably would have told the mayor off for his idiotic act. Then again, Pierce did light into the guy pretty good once he stepped in. As he thought of the more inventive terms the fort's commanding officer used to describe the thought patterns of New Detroit's mayor, a smile crossed Rick's face.

Shame I didn't include them in the report, he thought. Lisa probably would have gotten a really good laugh out of them, then gone on to lecture me about protocol.

Rick smiled at the fact he also managed to get the After Action Report off while the fighters were refueling at Fort Klinger. Sure beats spending a few extra hours in my office typing it up. Rick felt a yawn coming on and tried to stifle it. Bed is going to feel really nice once I get home.

He found his thoughts drifting towards the familiar face on the TacNet for all the patrols and missions. Sure, he and Macross Command's XO, Captain Lisa Hayes, had their moments where they fought like cats and dogs over trivial things and occasionally intentionally pressed each others buttons to get a reaction. However, Rick knew that he would take all the aggravation that came along. Lisa was the one constant during a stressful situation. She knew how to get the best out of him in most fixes, could guide him in the right direction, and could lighten the mood with a well timed joke or zinger.

If there's anyone I can count on, it's Lisa. She's been there. Hell, she was the one to break the news to me that Roy had been killed. And she stayed with me after it all hit me.

Rick's thoughts now turned in another direction, and were much darker.

It's quite a bit more than I can say about her.

It was one part of the incident in New Detroit he had not mentioned to anyone on the patrol or in the report. Rick had sent the others back to their fighters as a precaution, giving them orders that if they any move towards him, they were to leave and get to Fort Klinger. Just as they were going back to the Veritechs, he saw the limo door open and saw Minmei come out.

It wasn't exactly how I would have scripted our first contact in nearly two years.

However, Minmei wasn't in the mood for a reunion that day. She turned towards the group around Rick. It was then he heard and saw what happened next. In a slurred voice, she yelled out something in Chinese. Whatever it was, it wasn't exactly complimentary.

What sealed it was the sight of Miss Macross hurling a water bottle in his direction. The bottle hadn't even come close, but it did have a good effect. It made Kyle run back to the limo, screaming something dire at her.

Rick took a deep breath and sighed.

That wasn't exactly the best of situations to catch up on things..actually, more like hear about every little thing she had done since the day of the attack. But a nod or something would have been nice after 2 years of not seeing someone you supposedly care about.

But the reaction was what stuck with Rick more than anything.

I may not understand Chinese, but I know that it wasn't exactly a 'hey, long time no see' from her. At least I wrote down what she said. I'll have to check on that later.

He now found himself thinking back to the last time they had talked, which was on the Observation Deck on the SDF-1 right before the attack on the Zentraedi Fleet.

Somehow, that night, I had a feeling that was more of a goodbye than anything. I probably should have left it as such. Still, it's never fun to have your past re-emerge like that.

Rick's dwelling over his personal life was suddenly canceled out by a sharp buzzing coming from the TacNet pickup. Tapping on one of the buttons on the center console brought the screen to life. Rick did a quick double take as he noticed it wasn't who he expected to see on the screen.

"Wolverine Flight, this is Macross Command. Welcome home."

He nodded back in acknowledgment. "Macross Command, this is Wolverine Leader. Glad to be back home. Kinda surprised to see you running the show today, Sammie. Did Lis..I mean Captain Hayes give up the Monday shift?"

"Negative, Commander. She's just in a meeting at the moment. Something about some incident in New Detroit about 48 hours ago."

Rick felt his good mood fade quickly. If they pulled Lisa off the bridge for this…

"I see good news travels fast," he responded with a strong hint of sarcasm.

Sammie, to her credit, ignored the attempted joke and continued on. "Commander, you and Wolverine Flight are cleared for landing on Runway 14. Oh, I almost forgot. Colonel Leonard would like to see you in his office at 0900."

Rick felt his stomach drop. Whatever good mood he may have had about returning home completely abandoned him.

"Acknowledged, Macross Command. Wolverine Flight out."

He sighed deeply again. And this was supposed to be a simple patrol….