Disclaimer: This story contains various characters from different anime used for the purpose of both the reader and author's entertainment. Characters of these anime and Robotech/Macross are the property of ADV, Harmony Gold, Shoji Kawamori and/or their respective owners.

Semper Fi: The UN Marine Corps

By Bud

Chapter 10: Battle of Saturn's Rings

"This is Delta-One to Black Knights, course correction to three-zero-eight plus zero-five. Enemy force estimated to be within firing range in ninety seconds. Prepare to intercept!"

"Knight-Lead to Black, Gold, Gamma and Delta flights. You heard the lady, Marines! Assume interception formation seventeen."

"Knight-Gold, roger.

"Knight-Black, copy that Colonel."

"Knight-Gamma, roger."

"Knight-Delta, roger."

Lt Colonel Kusanagi switch on her main armament. "Lock and load, Knights. Switch to Jackhammer missiles and relay your targeting information to your flight leader. Flight leaders transmit to my system. Designate individual targets and prioritize artillery, recon and command pods."

"Knight-Gamma to Knight-Lead, enemy pods are within range. Transmitting now."

Each Black Knight VF/A-3E transmitted their lock-on information to the flight leaders, who beamed it forward to Ayame's computer. Each fighter was armed with a total of six AMM-30 Jackhammer missiles - two on the outer hard-points on each wing and one on each hard-point on the left and right ventral fuselage of the fighter. They were also armed with three AMM-1 Stiletto missiles on the central hard-points of each wing and a UMM-5 armored missile pods that held 10 GA-100 Starfire missiles on the inner wing hard-points.

"Knight-Lead to Delta-One, engaging enemy in fifteen seconds, mark."

"Roger, Colonel. We're launching Vikings and vectoring to your location, Buster. Ten minutes out, over."

"Roger that. Knight-Lead to squadron. Fire at will, I repeat, fire at will."

"Knight-Black, Fox-Three!"

"Knight-Eight, Fox-three!"

"Knight-Twenty, Fox-three!"

Colonel Kusanagi pickled the Jackhammers and watched as they launched toward the distant enemy pods along with the rest of the squadrons own. She looked down at her console, watching the display showing the approach of the missiles to the enormous amount of enemy units directly in their path. When the missiles neared the half-way point, she saw a few of them disappearing off the display and she immediately knew they were being shot down. The missiles smart-guidance systems kicked in and began taking evasive maneuvers to reach their targets. More were being shot down. Then impact. The space ahead of the Black Knights lit up like fireworks as the Jackhammers released over five-hundred Starfire missiles in close proximity to the enemy.

"Got them!" someone exclaimed.

Ayame narrowed her eyes. "Don't celebrate so soon! Match their speed before firing. Now break formation and reverse acceleration!" She pressed one of the buttons on her throttle control and lifted it up. The legs of the Strike Eagle swung forward and completely stopped the fighter. "Major Hiller, I'm your wing. You take lead."

"Yes, sir!"

"Knight-Gold, copy!"

"Knight-Gamma, copy!"

"Knight-Delta, copy!"

Major Hiller, along with the rest of the Knights, followed the Colonel, engaging Guardian-mode and reversing acceleration. Steve looked up and his targeting computer picked up three pods. He smirked as he switch to the UMM-5 pods.

"Knight-Black, come on baby, sweet-lock, fox-one!"

GA-100 missiles streamed out of the missile pods as his Strike Eagle rocketed backward when he engaged the throttle. The GA-100, the same missiles on the Jackhammer, were not just heat-seekers, but active-homing missiles. They darted through the vacuum and tracked out the enemy pods. Just as they arrived, the enemy quickly took evasive maneuvers, setting off the warheads close-proximity sensors and managing to remain intact. They moved to close in on Hiller.

"Damn it! These fucking jokers really are good out here." he cursed loudly. "Oh hell no! You did not shoot that blue shit at me!" He quickly pulled his fighter back when the enemy got to close, quickly maneuvering out of the way to get out of their targeting box. "Colonel, they're yours!"

"Roger!" said Ayame.

Missiles erupted from her pods and she moved in to engaged the enemies. Her fighter danced within short-range forcing the pods to break up only to get chased by her missiles. She played round-a-bout on a pod, nailing it several times with her GU-12 gun-pod. Another salvo of missiles released, chasing down a second pod while she switched to soldier mode and attacked the third, her sensors confirming enemy kill from a direct missile hit. She powered her thrusters and closed within mêlée range of the last pod, slamming a her battloid's left fist into the pod and tearing off the armor to expose the cockpit. She attacked with a hammer blow with her left, but the enemy blocked and struck with his left at her Strike Eagle's head. She blocked and grabbed his offending fist with her left hand, grabbing his shoulder with her right, then aimed with her head and fired a short burst of the twin REB-20B converging energy cannons. She blasted open his helmet, instantly killing him and exposing his flesh to the vacuum of space.

"Three down!" she called out.

"Woah!" exclaimed Hiller. He was surprised at how skilled the Colonel was.

"She's a genius!" someone said.

"King-Lead to Knight-Lead, can we party?" came a sexy female voice.

"Knight-Black to King-Lead, Knight-Black has Lead. You can party any time with me, baby!" joked Hiller.

"I don't know about that hot-shot. You're wife will be mad at me." King-Lead replied. "We have another round of pods coming in from point two-two-four-niner. Vikings will intercept, over."

"Roger, King-Lead. Call if you need back-up, over."

"This is Delta-One. A large battle vessel has just materialized out of a fold operation and his near the vicinity of our cover area. Scanners detect a large number of enemy battle pods being launched. Skull, Blue and Red squadrons intercept!"

"Shit!" Ayame cursed. "The battle pods were just decoys!"

SDF-1 Macross - Bridge

"Confirmed, enemy vessel is what intel calls as a destroyer. The same type that we destroyed two months ago." Vanessa inform the Captain.

"Has the enemy showed any sign that we have been detected?" Lisa asked.

"Negative, Commander. ECM is still enabled and should still be effective since we are taking cover on the southern side of Saturn's Rings. The enemy seems like they can't find us." Vanessa added.

Sesshoumaru nodded "Claudia, calculate a targeting solution. I want our weapons hitting it non-stop."

"Aye, Captain." Claudia began her work.

"Sir, contact! Enemy pods have broken through Red squadrons pickets and are closing rapidly."

"Delta-One to Alpha, Juliet and Mike companies. Prepare for incoming enemy pods from Q2 sector." said Sammie.

"Captain Naydall to Delta-One. Roger, Sammie. We'll give them hell."

Sesshoumaru smirked. "Drop ECM and prepare for evasive maneuvers. Claudia, do you have that targeting solution yet?"

"Yes, sir! All batteries are set to two-five percent output and are ready to fire."

"Fire!"

Mk1 and Mk3 particle cannon turrets aimed up at a positive angle, zeroing in right onto the enemy destroyer that lied past the ice fields that made up Saturn's rings. Every turret that could aim open fired on the ship, their particle blast tearing through the ice fields until they finally connected with the underbelly of the ship. Unlike at full-power, which would of easily destroyed the vessel with one salvo from all cannons, at 25 percent the particle blast caused minor damaged. But because of their lower firing setting, the cannons could fire rapidly. Salvo after salvo smashed into the under belly of the ship, tearing through it's armor repeatedly. Internal explosions occurred as the salvos damaged critical internal systems.

"Claudia. Change course and take us above the rings." Sesshoumaru commanded.

"Aye-aye, sir!"

Vanessa gasped! "Oh no! Sir, two enemy fold reactions to our port and aft. One is another destroyer-class and the other is what intel has designated as a cruiser!"

Lisa moved over to Vanessa's screen. "Damn. Sammie, launch Alert-One and Two."

"Delta-One to Prometheus. Emergency! Launch Yellow and Ghost squadron to intercept enemies in Q3 and Q4, Buster."

"Ghost-Lead, Roger."

"Yellow-Lead, Roger."

Claudia turned to the Captain. "Sir, SDF-1 has just cleared the ring zone."

"Enemy ships are following, sir." said Lisa.

"Good. Claudia, finish off the destroyer and target the next one. We're going to single out the cruiser. Sammie, status on Colonel Kusanagi's squadrons?"

"Sir, they're just finishing mopping up the decoys."

The ship shuddered.

"Enemy cruiser is firing on us, sir!" exclaimed Megumi.

"Activate the pin-point barrier." he stated.

Megumi nodded. "Bridge to Pin-Point control. Captains orders, activate and begin defensive procedures." She looked back at him. "Barrier activated, sir."

"This is Captain Naydall to Delta-One. Tell those barrier controllers to concentrate on the laser weaponry. Our Riflemen will shoot down the missiles!"

Megumi nodded at Sammie. "I copy that. Relaying now."

The ship shuddered again from another salvo from the enemy, but it wasn't as strong as the first time. Sesshoumaru smirked. "Sammie, contact Kusanagi. Have her two squadrons return and begin strafing missions along the cruiser. I want their weapon batteries disabled."

"Aye-aye, sir!"

"Claudia, adjust course ninety degrees. Target the smaller ship. Full power!"

"Attention gunnery crews. Set weapons to full power. Relaying targeting solution." The weapons chief looked back. "Ready, sir."

"Fire!"

"Delta One to Black Knights and Vikings, priority recall. Target enemy cruiser and coordinates five-five-two-seven. Orders are to begin strafing runs along it's hull and disable their primary weapons. The Captain has designated that ship for capture."

"Knight-Lead to Delta-One. Roger, were vectoring to five-five-two seven. Launch Green Knights and Red Devils to get a head start on us!"

"Copy that, Colonel."

Ayame checked the squadrons location in relation to the SDF-1. They were approximately five minutes out and the cruiser was on the ships flank. "Hiller, I'm taking lead."

"Roger, Colonel."

"Knight-Lead to all Knights and Vikings. We're heading back. Priority recall by the Captain. Were going to vector to coordinates five-five-two-seven and start pounding the shit out of an enemy cruiser and disable their weapons so our assault teams can get in an do their job! Move it, Marines!"

"Knight-Black, Roger!"

"Knight-Gold, Roger sugah!"

"Knight-Gamma, copy that!"

"Knight-Delta, Roger!"

"King-Lead to Knight-Lead, we're right on your tail, Colonel, lead the way."

The Black Knights and Vikings immediately regrouped into formation and vectored toward the designated coordinates at full-throttle. Right now it was a race against time. The faster they reached the enemy ship, the less time their fellow Marines has to endure the brunt of the enemy counter-attack. If they didn't make it in time... that scenario was something they were trying to prevent.

Flight Deck
SDF-1 Macross - Daedalus

"Delta-One to Daedalus. Green Knights and Red Devils are to launch immediately and intercept enemy cruiser at coordinates five-five-two-seven, Buster. Primary targets are enemy turret and missile batteries. Black Knights and Vikings are vectoring to location to assist and provide cover. ETA five minutes."

"Green-Lead to Delta-One, copy orders. Green Knights are taking off."

"Devil-Lead to Delta-One, roger that." replied Captain Smith. "Red Devils are now being lifted to the flight deck."

Elevators along the port and starboard dorsal sections of the Daedalus lifted several VF/A-3E's onto it's flight deck. Even as a giant fur-ball was occurring around the whole ship, while Marine Corps destroids stood on the flight deck of the Daedalus firing their weaponry at attacking enemy battle pods and fighters, plane crews were arming the Strike Eagles and finishing last minute inspections to ensure the pilot's safety. In the middle of battle, these brave men and women risked their lives to make sure their pilot's lives wouldn't be lost. Plane captains gave the signals to their pilots that they were ready for take-off.

"Red-Lead to Devils Good, Bad, Ugly and Evil. Launch!"

Unlike the VF-1 that launch using the Prometheus catapult system, the VF/A-3's launched directly from the elevators like AV-8B Harriers, rising vertical from the deck in fighter-mode and throttling forward to follow the Green Knights path to the enemy cruiser.

"Green-Lead to Devil-Lead, we'll clear a path. You guys take the first whack at them."

"Devil-Lead, roger that, Green Knights. How nice of you. Ladies first, huh?"

"Yes ma'am!" Green-Lead replied.

The fighters bobbed and weaved throughout the gigantic fur-ball between ships. Both squadrons passed up and destroyed battle pod after battle pod in their path, passing Valkyrie fighters engaging with the enemy and debris from both enemy and friendly forces. The sight of seeing destroyed VF-1 Valkyries just made the Marines resolve to complete their mission more stronger.

"Devil-Lead to all flights. Spread out into attack formation Whiskey-Two-Three. Lock Firebirds and prepare to fire."

"Devil-Good, locked and loaded."

"Devil-Bad, armed."

"Devil-Ugly, armed."

"Devil-Evil, we have lock!"

Captain Smith flipped up the switch and pickled her arsenal. "Fox-Three!"

Firebird missiles streamed from the outer and middle hard-points of the VF/A-3Es. The AMM-54 Firebird missile is what UN Spacy calls the successor to the AIM-54 Phoenix missile developed by the US Navy in the later sixties. By using the airframe of the RMS-1 Angel of Death nuclear stand-off missile, the warhead was replaced by a high-explosive fragmentation conventional type which was better suited for assault engagements were friendly forces could be near the blast radius of the nuclear missiles. The conventional warhead, though not a one-hit killer like the RMS-1, could deal decent damage to an enemy ships armor.

The missiles homed in on their targets and smashed into enemy particle and missile turrets, exploding in multiple bright balls of energy along the ships hull. Enemy guns turned onto the fighter squadron and the fighters banked and broke formation, performing evasive maneuvers to dodge the enemy anti-aircraft fire.

"Green-Lead to squadron. Sword and Shield flights lock onto my targets. Axe and Dagger flights fire at will."

"Green-Sword, roger!"

"Green-Axe, roger!"

"Green-Dagger, roger!"

"Green-Shield, gotcha!"

Another swarm of Firebirds struck the cruiser, silencing many of it's guns.

"Knight-Lead, fox-two!"

"King-Lead, fox-two!"

Captain Smith was surprised to hear those voices. She grinned. "Colonel! Welcome to the front lines!"

Ayame watched as a huge salvo from both the Black Knights and Vikings slam and detonate against the aft section of the ship. Secondary explosions erupted from the aft followed by a large explosion in what seemed to be the ships main engine nacelles.

"Colonel! Welcome to the front lines!"

"Enough chatter Devil-Lead. Close in onto the ship and touch down on the surface. Destroy any targets of opportunity. Green-Lead, provide air cover for the Red Devils."

"Green-Lead, roger. Moving to provide air cover."

"Devil-Lead, copy that Knight-Lead. Red Devils, get down and get wild!"

"Skull-Leader to all squadrons. Reconfiguration seems to throw off the enemy pilots. Let's get fancy on these guys!"

"Knight-Lead to Knights and Kings, let's get down and dirty. Shoot anything that moves or looks really important!" Ayame commanded, pushing her fighter down into a power dive right at the enemy ship.

"Knight-Black, roger! Let's have fun, Knights!"

"Green-Lead, Ooh-Rah!"

"Ooh-RAH!"

The Black Knights and Vikings attacked the cruiser and joined the Red Devils. Fire-fights erupted all along the surface of the ship between the Marines, turrets and enemy battle pods. The Marines used the enemy ships features to their advantage, hiding behind damaged turrets, using what seemed to be radar and sensor mounts as cover, even going as far as picking up disabled enemy pods and dead enemy bodies floating in the vacuum and using them as shields.

Lt Colonel Kusanagi seemed to be the one fighting with the most intensity. Once she contacted the enemy ship, she switch to guardian mode and matter-surfed along the surface, releasing missiles from her pods one after the other. She took Commander Fokker advice to heart and was constantly switching modes, actually confusing the enemy while laying as much weapons fire as she could on anything that came between her reticles. She switched to fighter-mode and riddle an enemy command pod with her single REB-20B nose cannon, then switched to battloid and brought the GU-12 into play, scoring two killing hits to the cockpit. Running up to the enemy pod, she ignited her thrusters and literally kicked it back, watching it explode against a turret it was trying to protect. She went into guardian-mode, evading a group of missile that impact the enemy ship instead of her. She then ejected her spent missile pods and switch back to battloid, firing her gun-pod at several targets successively until her ammunition ran dry.

"Colonel! Watch out!"

Her battloid quickly turned around as she ejected the spend magazine of her weapon. Thinking quickly, she dashed forward and slammed the butt of her gun-pod against the enemy pod in a powerful mêlée attack that seemed to stun the enemy pilot. Quickly grabbing a new magazine from a leg compartment, she re-armed herself and fired three shots into the enemy pod.

"Thanks, Devil-Four. I owe you one."

"Deduct it from the two I owe you, sir."

"This is Delta One to all Valkyrie and Strike Eagle squadrons. The Macross will be making a pass of the cruiser. Bug-out! I repeat, bug-out!"

"Let's go, Marines! Flight leaders, get our people out of here!"

"Here she comes!"

"What the hell is the Captain doing?" muttered one of the Black Knights.

Ayame realized what Sammie meant by a pass.

"He's gonna broad-side the ship!"

SDF-1 Macross - Bridge

"Fighters are moving from the area, Captain!" informed Sammie.

Sesshoumaru stood and moved for the forward section of the bridge, observing the battle through the viewing port. "Claudia, take us down negative-z, 35 meters per second."

"Megumi, contact the Daedalus and have the ATADs Marauder assault boats ready for deployment." He looked at Sammie. "Inform all all destroids on the ship to direct their fire to the enemy cruiser. Claudia, prepare to open fire."

"Aye-aye, sir! Mk3 particle turrets and Mk1 rail guns are ready, sir."

"Delta-One to Juliet and Mike companies. Redirect fire twelve o'clock high. Fire at will!"

"Captain, main particle turrets are still down." exclaimed Lisa.

"Disregard. Claudia, open fire!"

The SDF-1 dropped down under the enemy cruise and open fired against it's vulnerable under-belly. Particle blasts from the Mk3 turrets, huge hyper-velocity slugs from the rail guns, 406mm armor-piecing shells and AMM-54 Firebird missile from the HMR-00 Monsters and Rapier ATM-01 missiles from Tomahawk destroids ravaged the enemy cruiser from bow to stern of the two mile long vessel. For several long seconds that it took for the SDF-1 to complete the maneuver, the enemy vessel's weapon systems ceased-firing.

The Captain narrowed his eyes at the enemy ship when the SDF-1 made a 180 degree turn for another pass. "Claudia, cease-fire but take the ship on another pass."

"Aye, sir."

"Captain, sensors are showing a large tear in the lower section of the enemy vessel where our rail guns hit repeatedly. I'm detecting some sort of large bay or storage area inside." said Vanessa.

"Lisa, begin the boarding operation. Launch all assault boats."

She nodded. "Attention all Marine Corps drop-ships. You are go, I repeat, you are go!"

Sammie started directing air traffic to cover the drop-ships. "This is Delta-One to Skull, Red Devil and Green Knights, provide cover for the Marauders!"

"Skull-Leader, roger!"

"Devil-Lead, roger!"

"Green-Lead, Ooh-RAH!"

Vanessa turned to Lisa. "Commander, my scanners pick up multiple levels of the ship. I estimate nine main decks and several sub-decks."

She nodded. "Relay information to Platoon and squadron leaders."

"Yes, sir."

Thuverl Salan Heavy Cruiser

ASC-1 Marauder Assault Drop-Ships departed from one of the SDF-1's huge hangar bays and headed directly toward the large hull breech on the enemy vessel. Valkyrie and Strike Eagles from the Skull, Red Devils and Green Knights provided an escort, paving the way for the vulnerable Marines inside the ships. An armor-piercing salvo from the Heavy Howard's on the SDF-1's hull slammed into the side of the cruiser's hull, ripping open a new breech. Many pilots found satisfaction of seeing enemy soldiers being pulled out into the vacuum without protection.

Two Marauders split from the group along with the Red Devil squadron. They vectored their course toward the new opening that a few Black Knights were now guarding. The two ships turned and landed on the side of the hull, the magnetic gears locking on to secure them in place. Riflemen and Tomahawks piled out of their bays and dropped right down into the hull breech. The other two Marauders, along with a Skull Squadron flight, entered the lower breech.

"This is Skull-Leader, our flight will secure the bay. You Marine boys and girls hurry and unload."

Roy turned his fighter into the back, switching immediately to battloid mode. He targeted his GU-11 gatling gun-pod on enemy soldiers and scored two quick kills. The rest of his first flight soon joined him, attacking any enemy soldier of mecha in sight that would pose a threat to the Marines.

Behind him, the two Marauders enter and landed on the enemy deck, unloading their two platoons of destroids.

Zentraedi Fleet Command Ship
Nupetiet-Vergnitzs Class Flagship

Breetai continued to observe the Micronian tactics and how they countered Captain Zureal's offensive plan. Not even his best Captain in his fleet could capture Zor's battle-fortress. Next to him, Execedor was thinking along the same lines.

"It seems, Commander, that Zureal was not truly prepared for this mission."

Breetai shook his head. "No, he was prepared. The Micronians somehow anticipated our plan and changed tactics accordingly."

"Commander Breetai, urgent message from Zureal's ship. Micronians have boarded and are attacking troops inside!"

"What?" Breetai shouted, shocked.

Thuverl Salan Heavy Cruiser

"Thanks for the cover, Fokker. We'll take it from here." Ukyou said to Skull-Lead. "Snowball to Echo-Two and Echo-Three. Second platoon is with me. Lieutenant Amada, you take third. We'll split right here and work our way up. Kill any enemy in sight, but try to keep the collateral damage down. We need this ship intact!"

"Copy, Snowball. Third Platoon, time to get some kills."

"Sanders, you take point."

"Got it, Gunny."

Three Tomahawks and four Riflemen of second platoon moved past a doorway into a long passageway. Since the Tomahawks were slower, the Riflemen didn't reply on their skating ability which gave them their incredible speed. The passageway was wide enough for three of each destroid to stand shoulder to shoulder and still have elbow room, but the Marines under Ukyou's command knew better. They hugged the walls as they ran, training their eyes to search for anything suspicious.

"I've got heat signatures around the corner. Their closing fast!"

"Confirmed, enemy units!"

"Second squad, cover our flank. First squad, direct point fire at that corner." shouted Ukyou.

Weapons open fired on the enemy soldiers, quickly felling each one that was brave enough to come directly into their line of fire. They hugged the wall while moving ahead, holding a constant stream of fire until they took position at one corner of a T-intersection.

"Second squad, move up." She turned to her squad. "Sanders, take a peek around the corners."

One Rifleman moved up. "Clear."

Ukyou radioed second squad. "Ditomatsu, we'll split here. You take left, we'll head right. Watch your backs."

"Copy that, Snowball."

Ukyou's squad moved quickly down the right passageway. Enemy soldiers appeared at every corner and they were easily dispatched by either a simple burst from a LAR-01 Rifleman or from any of a Tomahawks weapon arrays. They never gave the enemy soldiers a chance to get a decent angle on any of them. Riflemen laid down covering fire while Tomahawks finish the enemy off with a missile, a mortar shell, or moved to a angle to gain a hit with the particle projection cannons.

"These guys aren't so tough once you get them out of their mecha!" said one of the Marines.

"Yeah, same thing with us compared to them. But just don't tell those bastards that!" Sanders added. He turned his Rifleman and shoulder-rammed one of the giants coming around a corner before eliminating him with a quick burst of 40mm shells. "One for your mother too, asshole!" He fired another burst at the dead body.

"Do they even have mothers?"

"Why don't you ask them!" Ukyou snapped, aiming her cannons at an incoming group of enemy soldiers.

The first thing Captain Schmid noticed when he dropped into the enemy ship was the tall enemy alien charging right at him. "Shit!" He brought his gatling cannons up quickly and fired a small burst aimed right at the giants head, instantly killing him. "Phew!"

"Damn! Cappy already got a kill." someone whined.

"Stow it, Leather-neck!" He dashed forward, stopping at the end of the corridor. "Echo-Four, take your squads and work your way toward the ships aft, then work your way up. First platoon will work our way toward the bow. You copy?"

"Roger, Echo-One."

First platoon made a right past the T-intersection and traversed down a corridor. Enemy units began popping out of corners, firing their rifles at the Marines, but their armored destroids seem to just shrug off the rounds. They continued forward under enemy fire, returning the favor in kind. Enemy giants fell easily from their concentrated fire, ripping their bodies into pieces and splattering the walls with blood.

"RPG!" someone yelled.

A missile from an Opp-For (Opposition Forces) soldier flew right past three destroids and slammed into the cannon arm of one of the Riflemen. The explosion ripped off the Rifleman's arm and shoulder section and caused plasma scarring all over it's right torso. The destroid fell to one knee.

"Johnny!" another Marine called out, moving to defined the down destroid.

One Tomahawk moved to take point, blasting away with auto-cannons, lasers and PPC's. Giants fell like flies, many retreating into a hatch and sealing it. "How's Johnny?" asked the pilot.

"...I'm okay.." Johnny replied, managing to get his Rifleman upright. "I still got one arm left. My right leg is shot but I can still move, though I'm getting no response from the roller system. Targeting is still up but it's sort of spazing out and my radar is down. Someone will have to designate targets for me."

"I'll give you some targets right now." Captain Schmid linked his targeting system with Johnny's, painting a laser designator right onto the middle of he door. "Karen! Blow the hatch!"

"Yes, sir!"

The Tomahawk at point opened it's missile racks, releasing a large salvo of Rapier ATM-01 anti-mecha missiles. They followed the Captain's laser designation and slammed into the hatch in a huge cluster of explosions. Even with the smoke shrouding their vision, enemy tracers flew from out of the hatch forcing the platoon to kneel down. Schmid and Johnny returned fire while two other Riflemen stood behind the kneeling pair and joined in for more concentrated fire. A fifth Rifleman skated forward along the wall near the hatch and took position next to the hatch.

"Hold your fire." commanded the Captain. "Karen, Yui. When Mike gives the word, you two rush with your 'Hawks and cause some havoc. Epps and Davey will be right behind you."

"Gotcha."

The Riflemen at the door swiveled it's cannon arm in reverse so that it would aim toward the rear. Mike put his arm out into the open through the hatch, blind-firing at the enemy soldiers that they all knew were inside. "Go, go, go!" Mike yelled out.

Karen and Yui in their Tomahawks charged into the large hole in the wall while Mike pulled his arm out of the way. They came in guns blazing, firing at any enemy soldier that was caught by surprise. The room they were in was huge and had what looked to be computer systems. The two pilots knew that firing missiles in such a place would cause too much collateral damage and they had orders to preserve whatever technology that was on the ship for their engineers. PPCs, auto-cannons, lasers and flame-throwers killed enemy after enemy in their path. Soon Captain Schmid at the rest of the platoon came, firing their 40mm gatling cannons at enemy soldiers at the far side that were streaming in through another hatch.

"Fire a mortar into that door!"

"Sir!" Twin mortars on Karen's Tomahawk let out a loud report. The shells soared through the air and connected with an enemy soldier that just walked right into their path. Upon contact the explosion ripped his body and blew it up into little pieces which coated a 20 meter diameter from his position. "Whooo! Extra points for that!"

"And I only thought that happened in cartoons." exclaimed Johnny.

"Secure this room." ordered the Captain. "Johnny and Epps, stay here and play sentry. Second squad, Karen and I will move on ahead."

"Sir, yes, sir!"

"Hey, I think we got a live one here." said Epps, gesturing his gatling arm at an enemy soldier's legs. He fired a single shot into his leg, making him scream in pain and say something in some sort of language. "And they have their own language, too." He fired another shot, blowing out the soldiers knee cap. He formed an evil grin on his face.

SDF-1 Macross - Bridge

Fire-fights between the Marines and the opposition forces occurred throughout the whole ship. Enemy small-arms seemed to be nearly useless against the hardened destroid Chobham Laminar armor, which would occasionally bounce enemy rifle rounds like they were flies. The Marines took advantage of this, killing every single enemy soldier as if it was their God-given right. They showed no mercy to the aliens. Some Marines going as far as torturing them while they screamed in their unknown language for mercy. They were ruthless to the core. The Marines knew already, that anyone watching what they were doing on that ship would look down on them and shame them for such use of brutality. They knew that very well.

But the aliens had it coming. That was a fact.

The Marines patrolled the ship from bow to stern, port and starboard. Bodies of enemy soldier littered the passageways, their vile blood painted the bulk-heads and anywhere a Marine destroid stepped, they left bloody trails. There was no stone un-turned, no deck patrolled and no bay that wasn't infiltrated and searched. Echo company squads went everywhere possible and if their path was blocked, they made a new one by any means necessary. Soon, units began securing locations that seemed important and transmitted their findings to the SDF-1.

"This is Echo-Command to SDF-1. We've secured what looks to be a command section of the vessel."

"Echo-Two to SDF-1. Second squad found what appears to be an engineering section. We can't really tell, but there are a lot of fancy gizmos in here that Doc Lang would have a field day with."

"Echo-Four, upper decks are secure. We found what seems to be crews quarters."

"Echo-Three has secured lower decks, over."

Sesshoumaru sighed in relief. "Very well. Vanessa, status on enemy units?"

"Our fighter squadrons as just finishing mopping up the last of the battle pods, sir. No reaction from the enemy fleet at all."

He nodded. "Reduce alert status to condition yellow. I want a full damage report on all sections." He sat back down on his chair, removing his hat and releasing a sigh of relief. "We have done very well today. This a big victory for our side."

Lisa nodded in agreement. "Indeed it is, sir."

"Sir, message from Colonel Kusanagi." Megumi giggled. "She wants to know when we can celebrate the victory."

He snorted in amusement. "Inform the Colonel she can do so after we strip that vessel of anything we need." He sighed. Crazy bitch. "Claudia, move the ship within docking range of the enemy ship. Extend the Daedalus for boarding."

"Aye, sir."

"Sammie, what's the status of all squadrons?" Lisa asked.

The young red-headed Tactical Officer frowned when she checked the ships fighter compliment. "I'm showing heavy casualties in all squadrons, except the Marine Corps Wing and Skull Squadron. Marine squadrons have several damaged fighters but they have returned to ship, pilots and all." She looked back at Lisa. "I'll have full confirmation of Spacy and Marine Aerospace Wings after debriefing."

The Captain stood up. "Lisa, you have the bridge. I'll be in my radio-room for the time being. Inform me when the ship is docked and when Doctor Lang and his crew are ready to inspect the vessel."

"Aye-aye, Captain. XO has Con." Lisa turned to the crew. "Well ladies, let's get everything finished up so we can get some much needed rest."

Zentraedi Fleet Command Ship
Nupetiet-Vergnitzs Class Flagship

Commander Breetai eyed the Micronian battle-fortress with extreme distaste. If it wasn't for the fact that his orders were to specifically capture the vessel, he would of blow them into atoms. The fact these... humans, as they are called, captured one of his own ships was a direct insult toward him.

"It seems we'll have to call for reinforcements." he grumbled.

Execedor nodded. "That it seems, Commander."

End of Chapter 10
Author's Notes:

The chapter may seem kind of short, but I did that intentionally. This chapter takes place in Episode 6: Blitzkrieg where the SDF-1 battle Zureal's battle-cruiser in the rings of Saturn. I know people we wonder, what about the Daedalus attack? Well, how could they do that when they are not even in attack-mode? I like the move also and I'll figure out a way to put it into the story were it will appropriately fit.

The first few scenes were taken from the movie "Macross: Do you Remember Love?". I chose to use that template for the Saturn battle because it seemed more in tune to plot setting that I placed. Zureal was told to come up with a plan, so his plan was to use a swarm of battle pods as decoys while his ships folded in and attacked. The scene where Colonel Kusanagi takes down three enemy pods is the same scene with Maximillian Sterling (Jenius) in the movie.

The UMM-5 pods were never in the Robotech time line. They are actually from the Macross time line. If you have seen Macross Zero, they are the same pods used on the VF-0, which were the base model for the UMM-7 armored container used for Super/Strike Valkyries. No, I'm not introducing those babies this early in the time line. I'm trying to be a little uniform in mixing Robotech and Macross with the storyline I am trying to create.

Edit: I'm changing the designation of the Strike Eagle to VF/A-3 because I'm a bone head.

Next is Chapter 11: Titan