Macross Frontier

The Song of Redemption

Chapter V

All Roses Must Die

Tick-tock, tick-tock, tick-tock... the grandfather clock now indicated that it was 10:25PM. Kurisu was still flying his sortie and Sage knew not to expect him home for another two hours at the bare minimum. It mattered not for the young spouse; she would wait for him in the living room of their home, curled up on the couch, sleeping lightly. Having always been a light sleeper, she knew that the sound of Kurisu opening the front door would be more than enough to rouse her from her cat-like slumber, where she would then greet him with a hug and a kiss, warm his dinner up, initiate small talk, and accompany her man to bed, where she would surely fall back asleep in short order snuggled up against him. That was the plan, at least.

Sage's nap was interrupted not by the growing sound of distant thunder, but by a knock on the front door. Eyes snapping open as she sat up promptly and glanced to the clock. 10:26PM. This was too early for Kurisu to get home, and he would never knock on the door- it had to be a visitor, but at this hour...? Slender hands reached up to rub at her eyes as she slowly rose to her feet, calling out at the possible visitor, albeit keeping her voice low enough to negate waking Jade up, "...Just a minute." Still, this was peculiar- they had never had unexpected visitors at this hour. Perhaps it was simply a neighbour who was requiring assistance with something?

Another knock rapped against the door- so impatient! "...I said just a minute!" Sage lifted her voice slightly louder before muttering beneath her breath, "...you have got to be fucking kidding me at this hour..." Sage couldn't help but feel a slight bit of surprise towards herself. Since the birth of Jade, she had almost completely ceased using such language, but something about this unidentified visitor seemed to rattle a sense of unease within her. The uncomfortable tingle that seemed to pulsate down Sage's spine was only momentarily interrupted by a vibration hailing from her pocket as she received a text message. Pausing by the front door, she reached into her pocket and glanced at her mobile phone, which was shaped like a cat, only to see a forwarded chain message from one of her friends that was immediately written off in her mind as silly superstitious nonsense.

A third knock came, all while Sage was standing directly next to the door, which certainly began to irritate her to no end. Narrowing her eyes and fearing the noise would wake her daughter who slept upstairs, Sage returned her phone to her pocket and grabbed the door handle, rotating it all while she lost her composure and slipped into one of her tangents that she had often been known for due to her rather short temper,

"Are you fucking deaf? Or are you fucking retarded? Or is it that you're crazy? Or maybe it's a combination of all three? Don't you know what time it is? If my dau-" Sage barked,

However, her words seemed to cut themselves off and she went silent the moment the front door was opened. Having expected to see a needy neighbour who wanted to borrow something, or who wished to gossip, she saw a different familiar face.

Standing before Sage was a slender man in his early-forties. Roughly 185 centimetres in height with a well-groomed beard, dyed-raven hair that was cut short and combed over, hazel eyes hidden beneath thick glasses; dressed in a pair of gray business slacks, a baby-blue dress shirt with a black tie, and of course, his white lab coat with an identification badge clipped to it that had the name 'DR. YURI ORLOV' printed on it... Sage's old director from when she was involved with the Project at Turner University. This did not seem right...Yuri had never visited Sage's home, so why would he visit it now after she had not only left the project, but at such an hour? To compound the situation, Yuri did not appear to be alone, either; standing behind him were three others, two men and one woman, all wearing black military-style uniforms that had the words 'TARSUS SECURITIES GROUP' printed across their hats, and all three appearing to be armed with pistols.

For some strange reason, the woman seemed to stand out the most from the other two. Soldiers? No, these were mercenaries. Eyes like ice almost felt like they were piercing Sage's soul from the woman, while her silver-blue hair cascaded down her back from beneath her hat. Her black uniform seemed as if it had been custom tailored to accentuate her form, while the nametag across her breast had 'POLYANSKY' printed on it. Strapped to her right thigh was a pistol, while oddly enough, hanging from the left side of her belt was what appeared to be a rapier... perhaps it was a family tradition to carry such an old weapon? By all appearances, she was clearly younger than Sage, in her early-twenties at the very most, yet the look in her eyes was that of an ice cold killer that had seen her fair share of combat. Another crash of thunder indicated that the storm was getting closer.

Sage could not deny the fact that her heart seemed to jump from her chest, racing as she stared in silence at the four whom had decided to pay her a visit at such a late hour. It was like a lance of anxiety had pierced her breast, but why? As farfetched as the idea was, she could not deny that she was experiencing that mental event that her mother had always called 'women's intuition.' Having spent the majority of her adult life as a scientist, belief in such superstitious or spiritual mechanisms were thought to be nothing more than primitive mumbo jumbo for which the blame was passed unto for that which was not clearly understood; however, much to her surprise as she approached her thirties, she found herself actually fancying the possibility that her mother was right. She no longer wrote off the intangible and metaphysical. Lord knew, if the ARCHANGEL Virus was capable of creating what she had begun to suspect, then she felt that her entire dismissal concepts such as the spirit, the soul, and even God were no longer justified and valid. Had she been wrong for mocking the project name?

Dr. Yuri Orlov was indeed an accomplished and brilliant researcher, but the fact of the matter was that he was a business man first and a scientist second, something that he would even openly admit. Silver-tongued and shrewd,

"Sage, I didn't get the opportunity to see you off and wish you goodbye before you left the project. Is this a bad time...?" Yuri flashed his signature half-grin and half-smile.

"...Is this a bad time? Are you serious...?" replied Sage with dumbfounded look on her face, resisting the urge with all her reserves to simply give in to her anger and initiate a screaming match. Of COURSE this was a bad time!

But did Yuri address Sage's response in an appropriate manner? Certainly not! Rather than dismissing himself, he did the exact opposite! Instead, he simply invited himself, along with his company into Sage's home, an overinflated sense of purpose clear in his every action. Rude was not the description for Yuri's actions, and this infuriated Sage. She was undoubtedly justified in her attempt to slam the door in Yuri's face, but her attempted protest was immediately denied by the three soldiers who followed Yuri like obedient lap dogs, easily pushing the thin woman of the house back as if she were not even there.

Sage felt her heartbeat increase as an adrenaline spike temporarily clouded her thoughts, for which she then attempted to force herself back into a state of calm. Due to her natural complexion, Sage's face had a tendency to redden rather clearly when she felt embarrassed or angered, which often betrayed her when she tried to hide her emotions. Yuri was notorious for taking advantage of this inability for Sage to maintain her composure during conflict, and as a result, he could often manipulate and push her around without any protest. It was true that Sage had an extremely fiery temper and a lippy mouth on her, but her ability to debate when the situations called for eloquence was lacking at best. Sage often found herself berating her inability to articulate her own thoughts properly during altercations and periods of stress, "I should have said THIS," or "I should have said THAT!" She could always articulate the proper words that would have been dictated by a situation in hindsight, but never on the fly. This very moment was no different- she was a tizzy of emotion, and it was her adrenaline's fault!

'Get a grip and take charge of this situation, Sage!' she thought to herself. She was smarter than Yuri, she knew that much. She knew that she had to face her former boss like an adult, and had to remain firm on her convictions. Surely, he was there to try and convince her to return to the project. It was the only explanation! Where Yuri had failed on Project ARCHANGEL, Sage had succeeded. She had discovered so much in such a short span of time, and knew that Yuri was far too stubborn to see that the answers had been in front of them all the entire time. Sage knew that the virus worked due to its adherence to the 'soul' of an infected host, not just the physical body. They had been working on such a micro scale that it was no longer as simply as splitting molecules manipulating and atoms- they were now dealing with the very fabric of life... of what separated sentient life from mindless microbes, lie particles of the soul. Logical deduction had forced Sage to open her mind, and what she was seeing had begun terrifying her. Yuri could never have possibly understood such a concept, which was why he was doomed to fail on his own project, whereas Sage was able to succeed. Still, if this logical reason for Yuri's visit was accurate, why were the three soldiers accompanying Yuri? Something simply was not adding up. No bother,

"Doctor Orlov- my daughter is asleep. It's late at night and I'm waiting for my husband to get home from work soon. Of course this is a bad time..." Sage was nearly biting her tongue to remain cordial rather than shifting into a blind rage, "If you're trying to convince me to return to the project, you already know the answer. I am not interested, and that is final. I want to focus on being a mother and a wife... on raising my daughter with my husband. This is far more important to me than a countless hours of research and a paycheck."

She was proud of herself... she articulated her words to get the exact message across that she had aimed for; no doubt, a major accomplishment for Sage.

Yuri shook his head slowly while he absently straightened his tie, which seemed to be the result of his OCD (Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder), which he was notoriously well known for.

"Forgive the intrusion, Sage. You know, you always were my brightest student, even prior to coming aboard the project. You surpassed your fellow subordinates in ways that you could not even begin to imagine. I'd just hate to see a brilliant, young visionary such as yourself simply let your mind go to waste and throw your future away so senselessly," Yuri exclaimed while shaking his head, "I just have a brief matter that we need to discuss, and then I can be on my way."

Yuri always did have a way with words. No matter what the topic of discussion was, whether it be recapping the research from a previous week, or be it him directing an intern on how he preferred his coffee, his speech methodology was simply menacing- not so directly the result of his choice of words, but rather his mannerisms when he spoke. Still, the three soldiers remained behind Yuri in silent obedience; the female soldier's eyes were locked directly on Sage's face, temporarily diverting her attention while Yuri cleared his throat and led himself into Sage's dining room.

"Without you, this project has ground to a stand-still. It pains me to be forced to let you go, especially after the recent news..." Yuri exclaimed while he reached his right hand up and removed his glasses, all while his left hand lifted his tie up, using his tie to clean his glasses, "...Our opportunities have just expanded in the ways we needed them to. We can finally take this project to the next level. Certain parties aboard the Macross Galaxy Fleet have taken interest in this project, and have offered to assume funding. I do not mean a slight increase in our funding and research... I mean a virtually unlimited budget to take this project in the direction that is necessary to make it a resounding success. Is there ANY way I can convince you to return to the project, Sage? I'll be departing for the Galaxy Fleet tomorrow..." clearly, the concept that Sage was a mother and a wife was a foreign concept to this man.