Disclaimer: Don't own it. If I did, I wouldn't have left the ending so open.
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Alto fought off wakefulness as long as he could. He was warm and comfortable and content, and didn't want to leave any of those states. The only time he felt anything like this was when he was flying, not in combat, but just flying free. He felt movement in the bed and that dragged him out of sleep. He opened one eye to see the beautiful, sleeping face of Sheryl. Her arm was thrown haphazardly over his bare torso, while he could feel a smaller, slenderer arm wrapped around his waist. The body against his back moved again, and he realized he could feel bare skin move against his, and gradually the whole evening filtered back into his mind. He glanced down, and only the rosette's other arm preserved any modesty as it crossed her chest, as Sheryl appeared to be bare at least to the waist, confirming his slightly hazy recollections. The three of them had split a bottle of champagne after dinner, despite being underage, and his bolder love had soon gotten, well, bold. They had sat, talking of inconsequential things, when Sheryl had excused herself from the room for a moment.
She had walked back in, five minutes later, wearing a turquoise micro-skirt and tube top with red suspenders, black gloves, and the officer's hat she often wore on stage. Alto remembered the stunned look on both his and Ranka's faces. Sheryl had actually been blushing, and then she had started to sing. It wasn't any song either of them had heard before, and listening to the words, they both realized that this was a song that they'd never hear on stage. This was the song that Sheryl had been working on, off and on, all day. It was sensual, it was sexual, and the two of them were mesmerized as their love poured herself, and her emotions, into the song. She had beckoned them both toward the bedroom, leading them in, and like the pied piper her music drew them. She let the last line of the song die out, and then had pulled first Alto, and then Ranka, into crushing kisses, asking without words for them to let her lead.
Alto's cheeks heated as he remembered all that they had done the night before. He was damn sure that they wouldn't have been so bold without the champagne, but he was glad that they had had it, for it had gotten them through the first time, and now they would be more comfortable with it. They hadn't had sex, but there hadn't been much else they hadn't done.
Ranka had surprised them both, as under that shy exterior, she most definitely had a wild streak. Emboldened by alcohol, it had been Ranka who had peeled Sheryl's top off and then suckled at her breasts, and her tiny, delicate hands had roamed all over. He was sure that the vernette would have feel hugely embarrassed once she woke up, which was likely to inspire Sheryl to seduce her again, for the singer had claimed that seeing Ranka blush inspired her.
Seeing Sheryl and Ranka stripped bare had inspired him.
The rosette let out a slight moan and her eyes slowly fluttered open. "Hi," he said softly, staring into those eyes.
"Hey," she replied softly. "I think I like waking up naked in bed with you."
He gave her a small but honest smile. "It think I like it too," he replied.
"'S too early," Ranka muttered. "If there's no kissing then shut up…"
An amused look crossed Alto's face. "She's not awake yet," he whispered.
Sheryl nodded in agreement. "I swear we need to record her when she talks in her sleep. She might turn a whole new color of red."
"She just might at that."
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Sheryl sat up on her arm, leaned over and kissed Alto's cheek, then turned and tried to get up. Her head was throbbing slightly, her mouth tasted awful, and her bladder was screaming at her to relieve herself. She lurched up and immediately fell to the floor, the tangle of limbs in the bed pulling her off balance. Cursing, and listening to Alto try not to chuckle, she shambled to the bathroom and took care of the most urgent of her needs, then popped a couple of pain pills and brushed her teeth.
She moved back to the doorway and stood there, looking at her loves and just enjoying the quiet and the domestic bliss the view brought about. After a minute or three, still feeling tired, she ambled back to the bed, wicked thoughts coming to her as she watched Alto's stunned and lustful eyes follow her every movement. She stopped at the bed and lay back down next to Alto, putting her arms around him, then leaning in and kissing him good morning in a more thorough and proper way.
They were both kissing and giggling when they hear Ranka moan as she sat up. She still wasn't totally awake, apparently, because she made no effort to cover herself as she shuffled over to the bathroom herself. She wore only a pair of white high-leg panties with a rainbow carrot on the front. The both paused to watch their love, and Sheryl thought that perhaps Ranka was starting to fill out a little more, as her breasts had a bit more of a bounce to them than they did when they had first met.
Ranka made it out of the room and the two of them went back to kissing and giggling, knowing that Ranka would be back soon.
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Ranka, for her part, made it all the way to the bathroom before even beginning to wake up. Alto and Sheryl had been making cute cuddling noises, and that had woken her, but she still wasn't really processing things yet. Only after relieving an urgent need to pee and then brushing away her morning breath did she realize that a.) She was practically naked, and b.) She had gotten quite frisky with Alto and Sheryl last night.
Her nipples grew taut and she blushed, remembering all that she had done the night before, before she smacked her face with both hands twice, waking herself up and bracing herself. "You can't act like a little girl, Ranka," she told herself. "You're going to marry both of them." She remembered most everything that they did, and how much she had enjoyed it. She would have never thought she would enjoy having a female lover, but she had liked pleasing Sheryl just as much as Alto did. She found the differences between herself and Sheryl fascinating. She wanted to learn more. She turned and walked back to the bedroom.
"Shouldn't you wait for me?"
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Sipping on a latte, Miranda Merin watched the traffic go by. Heavy trucks full of supplies, cars driven by people in a hurry, and people walking about, going to mundane jobs and doing mundane tasks. If she didn't feel so pathetic she'd sneer in disdain.
She wanted to hate Ranka Lee. The girl was cute, but she was just a girl. She hadn't thought that she would be any competition at all, and had sneered what she had seen as a silly little girl. Ranka Lee was short, slight, and slightly clumsy, and she hadn't seen her to be any sort of threat. Still, her heart had almost stopped when she had heard the girl's musical number announced; a Lynn Minmay song. For a moment, she feared that she was living in some kind of space drama, where the cute heroine wins despite the odds, repeating the events of the past.
Her grandmother had lost to Lynn Minmay in the original Miss Macross contest, and had never forgiven the idol. Miranda had never met her grandmother, as she had never left Earth; her mother and father had saved up and joined the Frontier fleet long after it had launched, her father serving in UN Spacy and then NUNS to help pay their way. The reason her parents had left Earth was because, by all accounts, her grandmother was an unmitigated bitch. It was public record, as her grandmother had been a fairly well-known figure, and it had been a tabloid scandal that she had thrown a party on learning that the Megaroad-01 colony had disappeared with all hands, including her rival, Lynn Minmay. Her mother was ashamed to be Jamis Merin's daughter, and wanted to get as far away from her as possible.
Apparently, bitchiness was genetic, it just skipped generations.
Miranda knew she was a bitch. She didn't like to think she was on the scale of her grandmother, but she was fairly bitchy. She had cattiness down to a fine art form. She had never wished Ranka Lee ill, though. Okay, she might have had a hysterical episode when the girl ran off, but that was Ranka's choice. It wasn't like her whole colony fleet disappeared, or something.
When she had won the Miss Macross Frontier contest, Miranda had felt that she had made it, that her years of dance and acting lessons, of interminable hours in the gym, and working multiple jobs to pay for it all (for her parents weren't rich) had finally paid off. Then things went all wrong again with Bird-Human.
First, there were all the production issues. Her co-star was a total jerk and a prima-donna who wouldn't do anything that even smacked of stunt work. She herself hadn't had much stunt work, but she was willing to do it. She had run into Ranka Lee again, and was a total bitch to her, which didn't earn her points with many people. How was she to know that all the pilots were friends with the girl?
Then she had made a total ass of herself in front of Sheryl Nome. And what's worse, the singer hadn't even noticed her, preferring to talk to her friends, Ranka and Saotome Alto. And she felt like a total waste, not only had she looked stupid in front of Sheryl and Ranka, but also in front of the director, the assistant director, and an acting legend like Saotome. She had wanted to die.
"Ano, excuse me…" a shy, quiet voice brought her out of her musings. She looked up at the source of the voice…and up, as the voice belonged to the tallest girl Miranda had ever seen. A rosette-haired meltran girl, by all appearances.
"Yes?" she replied, letting more than a little disdain drip into her voice. It was petty, but she was not a morning person.
"Aren't you Miss Macross? Miranda Merin?" the girl asked.
She quirked an eyebrow. Not many people cared about her title after Bird-Human came out. "Yes I am, and you are?"
"Uh, Nene. Nene Rora. I wanted to ask some advice…"
"If you're looking for advice on how to win the Miss Macross contest, don't bother. You're too tall, too shy, too muscular, and I've yet to meet a meltran that has any artistic talent other than singing, and you don't sound like you have a good singing voice. And I don't know why you'd want to ask my advice on the matter anyway, seeing how well I've done since the contest, after all. And thank you so very much for reminding me about it, like I don't do that enough myself. So I doubt I can help you." She took another sip of her coffee, and picked up the magazine that she wasn't really interested in. After about thirty seconds she realized that the meltran hadn't moved, and she looked up to see a very peculiar expression on the girl's face. Almost like…hope?
"That!" the girl finally squeaked. "That's what I need help with!"
Miranda cocked an eyebrow. "What, insulting people?"
The girl, Nene, nodded. "Yes!"
She turned away. "Not interested. You're too mousy and nice to learn to be a proper bitch, anyway." She turned the page of her magazine, and was about to actually start reading the article when the tabloid was plucked out of her hands. She shot a glare at the rosette.
"Look," Nene said, a little more forcefully. "I…I know I can't be a proper bitch. I don't really want to be one. But I need to pick a fight."
"Oh really?" Despite herself, Miranda was intrigued. "And why do you need to pick a fight?"
"May I sit down?"
She shrugged, and the girl sat down. She realized that the girl must be a pilot of some sort, as she was wearing an SMS jacket, and suppressed a groan. The last thing she needed was word of her bitchiness making it back through the channels to Sheryl or Ranka, and if this girl was an SMS pilot, then she probably knew either the girls themselves, or one of their friends. She was trying, she really was, but she had years of practice being a bitch to everyone.
Nene explained to her, quickly, what her issue was. She had a meltran friend who was depressed and in mourning, and nothing seemed to be getting through to her. She was down to resorting to a good old-fashioned head-smashing meltran brawl to get through to her, but she had no idea how to start such a fight. Plus, she had to fight the girl macronized, because of a size issue as a micron, and she needed a way to macronize the girl as well.
"Wait," Miranda stopped her. "Your friend has Pariya's syndrome?"
The rosette looked stunned. "You know what Pariya's syndrome is?"
She huffed. "I'm a bitch, I'm not ignorant. And Pariya was a friend of my mother's before my parents joined the Frontier colony. Was her maid-of-honor and everything."
The pilot looked impressed. "I'm surprised; you're not as self-centered as I was led to believe. You're still as catty as Matsuura-san says, though."
Miranda couldn't help but laugh. "Nanase-chan says the nicest things! Alright, I think I know what you're up against. I think I can help you, so I'll make a deal. You spend the day with me – I'm doing some shopping and could use help carrying things – and buy me lunch, and I can give you some advice. Sound fair?" The meltran nodded, and she suppressed a sigh. The things she agreed to sometimes…
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Ranka and Sheryl sat looking at Elmo with wide eyes. He had dropped several bombshells on them, the first being the amount of money their single had earned. There were millions of copies going to Zentran battle fleets, hundreds of thousands going to different colonies all over the galaxy…it was quite amazing. The second bombshell was his idea for a mini-tour, during the school break, using the new fold-drive. He had already confirmed that a retrofit astroliner would be available if the "Sirens of the Frontier" tour (Elmo had jumped on the name when Sheryl suggested it) became reality. There were still several issues, including getting the government to let Ranka leave for a two months, but with the fold-quartz drive, there would be very little lag time, and their limit would mostly be due to set-up and tear down time. Maybe if they had two astroliners and leapfrogged them? Logistics for this tour would be interesting. The third bombshell, the one that truly blew Sheryl's mind, was that the two of them had received and invitation to appear on Kunoichi. Ranka just looked confused.
"What's the big deal about that?" the vernette asked, confirming her ignorance.
"It's super ultra mega big!" Elmo exclaimed, and Sheryl gave him a look that said 'I haven't had enough time to wake up yet to deal with that.'
"Ranka," Sheryl said, "Kunoichi is one of the most exclusive programs in the galaxy. With the sheer number of colonies, and meltran fleets, getting one of the one hundred slots is almost impossible. Twenty slots go to regulars, and seventy go to fleet and colony champions, leaving only ten at large slots available. They have two groups that alternate, due to travel times, so there are actually twenty slots overall, but for any one competition there are ten, and the competition is fierce. The last person to get an open invitation was Mylene Flare Jenius, and that was after the defeat of the Protodeviln."
Ranka looked at Sheryl. "How do you know that?"
The rosette snorted. "I tried out right at the beginning of my career. It's easier to get on the show from Galaxy because you can't have any implants except a net port and still compete, and most people on Galaxy exceed that. I got stomped all over by a meltran girl, though, never stood a chance. The zentran and meltran love Kunoichi, even more than they love Sasuke, and any singer worth the name would want to get on to get that kind of exposure."
Her fellow singer nodded. "I can see that. I don't think I'd do any good though, I've watched it, and it's really hard."
"It's also on Eden, which is a lot of travel time, even with the fold-quartz. I was going to go as part of my tour, if I made it." Sheryl added. "Still, we should think about it."
"If you say so…"
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"Wolf-2, this is Wolf-5. Is this not the most boring duty, over?"
"Wolf-5, Wolf-2, that's a roger. There's nothing out here but a few Vajra, and they're behaving themselves."
"That's a good thing, Wolf-5, I don't think we could scratch them with half the weapons on this old crate, anyway."
"Still better than flying the Brick down here in the atmosphere, I think."
"I suppose that's true, Wolf-5," Wolf-2's pilot, Takakura Takeshi replied. He looked at his radar (again) which showed absolutely nothing out of the ordinary (again). He was about to comment on that fact when his radar display suddenly went berserk, with huge clouds of noise and an overwhelming number of contacts. "Wolf-5, are you having trouble with your radar?"
"That's affirmative, Wolf-2, it almost looks like –"
Takeshi never heard the end of Wolf-5's reply, as his VF-11 suddenly exploded in a huge fireball, the fighter reduced to scraps of metal in an instant. "What the hell was that!" he cried, putting his fighter into evasive maneuvers. He tripped the transmit button on his radio only to be greeted by the harsh hiss of static. "Jamming?" he spat. "Who the hell?" He scanned the sky and saw nothing, but that just meant they were in a blind spot. He flipped the fighter to soldier mode and went crashing towards the surface. His threat warnings were screaming at him now…laser lock, radar lock, infrared lock. He had just a glimpse of a wing and the roar of a cannon, and his Thunderbolt shook from the impacts, while damage warnings popped up. Whatever the hell it was, it was fast, and it was a human design. He turned jerkily, trying to find a target as he slammed heavily to earth. Another mech came down next to him, and he had just a moment of recognition before the missiles coming from in the sun blew him away.
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Ranka and Sheryl were discussing merchandizing with Elmo when they were suddenly and abruptly jerked into the fold-mind. The junior queens were highly agitated and confused.
// Not/QueennotVajraRanka/hive/metal/fast/large/hivekillers attack/intercept/kill QueennotVajraRanka/hive/metal/fast/large/hivekillers attack/intercept/kill Vajra/subset/dandiform attack/intercept/kill Vajra/subset/Victor.// came the thought of the hive mind. //Vajra/subset/Queens/interrogative origin/home/hive Not/QueennotVajraRanka/hive/metal/fast/large/hivekillers?//
//What?!// Ranka asked. //What's going on?//
// Not/QueennotVajraRanka/hive/metal/fast/large/hivekillers attack/intercept/kill.//
//I think,// Sheryl replied, //They're saying someone has attacked. But someone not of our hive, not from Frontier.//
//Yes/affirmative/correct.//
//Oh no!// Ranka said. She couldn't always jump directly into understanding the hive mind. //How bad are the losses?//
// 010 QueennotVajraRanka/hive/metal/fast/large/hivekillers 01010 Vajra/subset/dandiform 01000 Vajra/subset/Victor.// Part of the fold-mind helped her do the conversion.
//2 fighters, 10 dandiform, 8 Victor,// Ranka said.
//Yes/affirmative/correct.//
She turned to Sheryl. //Tell Alto, have him call in. They probably already know about the fighters.//
//Alright,// the rosette replied, and she dropped from the fold-mind. The numbers weren't huge, but it was upsetting that anyone had attacked. Who were they? //Did any dandiforms or Victors see what killed them?//
//Visual/visual/visual/visual.// Ranka was bombarded with images, some fleeting glimpses, of a fighter different from any that she had seen before, images of it in soldier and fighter and gerwalk modes, do it was defiantly some sort of Valkyrie, but not any of the ones currently used by NUNS or SMS. She would have to go and talk to Cathy or Ozma-oniisan and figure out just what kind it was.
//Thank you, I'll find out what happened.//
//QueennotVajra/Ranka good/kind/loyal/responsible.// Ranka smiled at that, and dropped from the fold-mind.
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Alto realized what had happened as soon as the girls had stopped talking. He knew it was probably something important for the queens to drag them into the fold mind without asking first, and Sheryl soon dropped out and told him what was going on. He winced, then called in to Macross Quarter.
"Macross Quarter, Ensign Hoa speaking, this is an unsecure line," the bridge operator answered as his call went through.
"Ram, this is Alto, go scramble," he said. He pulled the phone away from his ear and hit the scramble button, then put it back to his ear and waited for the tone to tell him the systems were synchronized. Once he heard it, he began. "Lt. Saotome reporting Vajra hive-mind contact with Ranka Lee and Sheryl Nome reporting attack by unknown parties on NUNS and Vajra elements."
"Understood Lieutenant, stand by for command," Ram Hoa replied.
"This is Lt. Commander Brunet," a strong baritone voice came over the phone a moment later. "What do you have for me, Saotome?"
"The hive-mind contacted Sheryl and Ranka and reported unknown fighters killing 2 of our mechs, and 18 Vajra, mixed Victors and dandiforms," Alto replied.
"Understood. We were getting a query from NUNS, but our radar systems aren't up yet, so we have no information on anything of that nature," the officer replied.
"Am I on recall?" he asked.
"Not yet. We have no command and control for around another 10 hours, and we're not willing to put our fighters under NUNS control. They might not want to give them back." Alto could hear the wry grin on the commander's face, and nodded. NUNS was increasingly becoming a bother over the existence and separation of SMS. Luckily for Alto, it was way over his pay grade, he just had to worry about flying.
"Should I call in to NUNS, sir?" he asked.
"I'll call Lt. Glass and let her know, since she's technically still our liason. Other than that, you've followed chain-of-command, we can take it from here. Don't go anywhere, though, I'm sure they'll have questions for Ranka Lee and Sheryl Nome as soon as they get their heads out of their backsides."
Alto chuckled. "That would be a first sir. Saotome out." He hung up the phone and looked at Sheryl and Elmo, and saw Ranka shiver slightly as she came out of the fold-mind. "Looks like we're stuck here for a little while, they'll contact us as soon as everyone's been notified in proper channels."
"That sucks," Sheryl commented.
"Alto," Ranka said, "The queens showed me the fighters that attacked the Vajra, but I didn't recognize them. They were defiantly human designs though. The queens are very upset, but they know its not us that attacked."
Alto nodded. "Once they get back to us, we can go and talk to your brother, have you look the database over and see if you recognize anything." The three looked at each other, and both girls got up and walked over to Alto, wrapping their arms around him and drawing comfort. He looked at Elmo and gave a slight shrug.
"I'll work on setting up some studio time," Elmo said, gather his papers and getting up. "No sense planning a tour if we're being attacked, they won't let you girls leave."
Sheryl shook her head. "Start looking into it anyway, Elmo-san. The government doesn't own us." The plunette zentran nodded, then saw himself out.
"Why does it have to start again?" Ranka whined, and Alto had no words, but agreed. Why did it have to start again?
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Authors Notes:
I'm a big fan of Sasuke and Kunoichi (Ninja Warrior on G4TV for those of you in the U.S. and not in the know). I think that it would be the sort of contest that would really appeal to the zentran and meltran mind. A contest of mental toughness and sheer physical ability. I have the whole back story of how it survived in my head, but it's not that important.
Takakura Takeshi is one of the mechanical designers for Macross Frontier.
Commander Brunet is named for another staff member, Stanislas Brunet, the set director.
Miranda Merin made a surprise appearance, I wasn't planning on using her, but the idea popped up and I ran with it. I like the idea of Nene needing help to start a fight with Klan, because she's just too nice to do it otherwise. Don't expect to see Alto's family until the relationship between the girls and him goes public. Kanaria should appear soon.