Chapter 3: The Icebreaker and the Dinosaur

Akiza groggily got up off the ground. Her head hurt like hell and there was a large thrumming echoing through the room. The twins were still out cold next to her as she poked her head up above the crate they were behind. The room was home to a massive machine that Akiza was dumbfounded about it's purpose. It appeared to have six canisters lined up in a circle, much like a revolver. On the other end of the room was what looked like a breach for a gun. Was this some doomsday cannon or something?

Suddenly, the air became shrill with the loud wail of an alarm and the flash of red lights.

"Security Alert! Security Alert!" the announcement system blared. "Man your Security Alert stations. All hands not involved stand fast. Security Response Team lay to Main Engine Room. Reason for Security Alert: Possible intruder."

"Dammit," Akiza swore, noticing the security camera that was fixed on her position. The racket caused by the alarm had awoken the twins who rubbed their eyes in confusion. Six armed personnel burst into the room, wielding assault rifles and shotguns.

"Akiza... what's going o-" Leo froze as his drowsy eyes noticed to muzzle of a shotgun a few feet away from his face.

"Hands up where I can see them," the weilder of the shotgun ordered. "Come out of there slowly."

"Dammit, Kamijou, can't you show a little restraint against children?" a seventh man who just enetered the room asked. He was garnished in a long black cloak and woar a combination cover with gold frills. "You'll have to excuse the rudeness of my crew," he continued as he reached out his hand. "I'm Captain Susumu Kodai, commanding officer of the Yamato. Please, come with me."

Kodai led the trio through a maze of corridors for what seemed like an eternity. Leo seemed uncharacteristically quiet as he followed along. Not a single "What is this?" or "What's that do?" questions emanated from his mouth, which began to get Luna a little worried. Truth was, Leo was actually too focused to asked these question. He was constantly glancing over his shoulder, watching Kamijou follow from a distance, the shotgun still firmly grasped in his hands. There was also the single name bouncing around in Leo's head that Kodai had said: 'Yamato'.

"This would be the bridge," Kodai informed them as they stepped out of an elevator.

"Captain, are these the so-called "intruders"?" a man sitting at the nearest console asked.

"That would be correct," Kodai replied.

"Ah, allow me to introduce myself. I would be Commander Oomura Kousaku, the executive officer." Kousaku stood up and reached out to shake hands. "It's my fault for the rough greetings. I couldn't catch the general announcement system operator in time. I realized that while our knowledge of teleportation systems is limited, the lack of any form of addressing code in the energy signature mean that you were literally sent here by accident, and therefore, had no harmful intentions."

"'By Accident' barely covers it," Luna sighed. "All we were doing was flying in a shuttle, then next thing knew, we woke up in your engine room."

"As if we weren't confused enough already," Kodai mused. His attention turned to Leo, who was staring blankly off into space. " You okay, kid?"

"Captain... You said that this ship was named Yamato, right?"

"That is correct."

"I think then that maybe our being sent here was 'by accident'." Leo pulled his deck out of his duel disk and handed Kodai the card 'Space Battleship Yamato'. Kodai looked over the card, obviously puzzled.

"A card from a card game... But I don't recognize the format of the card at all, and I do know my fair share about card games..."

"Leo, are you pussibly trying to imply that the card of 'Yamato' was able to somehow redirect us to the real 'Yamato' when 'Key to the Infinite Dimensions' was activated?" Akiza inquired.

"Well, doesn't it make sense?" Leo protested. "Yamato was one of the warships chosen by Aphos to protect mankind! I think that if that's true, it's power extends beyond being just a card!"

"Okay, okay, calm down," Kousaku pleaded. "I think that there's a lot of details you're leaving out, but-"

"Sir, all systems are green. Launch preparations complete," the chief engineer reported.

"Understood," Kodai replied. He turned back to Akiza and the twins. "Fill me in with the rest of the details as soon as we are caught up with the rest of the fleet."

"Yamato, undocking," Kousaku reported from his terminal. The ship began to shudder as a giant lift raised Yamato out of it's cradle. Kodai sat down in his chairs, reviewing the mission reports.

"Activating auxilary engines and power nexus," chief engineer reported.

After approximately 20 seconds, the shuddering stopped as the lift came to a halt. Akiza and twins moved up to the front of the bridge, peering out the windows.

"Is something wrong?" Akiza asked. "There still appears to be ice above us..."

"Nothing's wrong according to lift diagnostics," Kousaku replied. "Yamato is in launch position."

"Enable the first and second flywheels," chief engineer ordered down to the engine room.

"First flywheel connected!" crackled over the radio. "Second flywheel connected!"

"Releasing the gantry locks," Kousaku announced.

"Yamato, take off!"

"Wait! What about the ice?"

"Franco..." Henry mused. "When I said "Keep them entertained", that doesn't mean "light Klan's hair on fire"! I'm actually glad she broke your nose, because now I won't have to. Go sit in the corner. Now."

"Alright," Franco sighed as he slumped away.

"I apologize for my idiot friend. I should've known better," Henry consoled. "But I have good news. Everyone's been located."

"Really? Already?" Ranka inquired.

"Yeah. I guess those warships have more power than just being cards. Akiza, Leo and Luna are safely onboard the Space Battleship Yamato, and everyone else is still in the vicinity of Neo Domino City. The warships must've used their own warp drives of fold boosters or what not to redirect you to these locations for some reason."

"Okay... Then why are we here? There's nothing here that can really help us..." Klan sighed.

"I dunno if we can say that there's nothing that can help us..." Henry replied as he stared at a poster hanging on his wall.

"What... That dinosaur of a ship?" Alto scoffed.

"Oi, I won't let you talk shit about the ship I'm assigned to. The Fitzgerald may be low-tech compared to the warships from where you come from, but she's state-of-the-art in this realm and she's won every award that I can think of. Granted, the lack of any sort of fold travel or warp or whatever makes that kind of a mute point... But then again, everything's been turned on it's head recently, so who knows? I have to go back to Japan, where the ship's based, tomorrow, and right after I get back, there's a "Friends and Family Day Cruise", which will allow me to get you onto the ship."

"So... your saying that if we get the Macross Quarter card onto this... "Fitzgerald"... it'll transport us home?"

"I never said that... But, there is no logical solution to solve this matter... Therefore, any remaining option, regardless of how illogical or improbable, must be the solution... So, why not? It's worth a shot."