Prepare yourself for the lamest love story in the history of fanfic, and a half decent battle, considering what I was writing at the time.

All this and more on today's episode of Buck Roge... I mean RDF Life. Enjoy!

PS: I am quite aware that Minmei's singing is considered weapons grade crap, especially in the Harmony gold version where she could only sing two songs. Having said this, in order to follow Robotech's plot in this way, and because I did NOT know this at the time of writing, do me a favor and pretend she's half decent? It's kinda like how we pretend that Priss's singing was actually good enough to get her a gig in BGC, even though she doesn't sound that great in the dub.

ANYHOW, On with the show!

Chapter 11, Boarding Action.

Roy had been lying in the med lab for the past 20 hours, with Ranma asleep next to him. He still didn't know what was wrong with the kid and the doctors hadn't come to tell him what was wrong with him either. At that moment, his thoughts were interrupted by one of the doctors, walking in with a clipboard.

"Captain Fokker, Captain Saotome?" He asked, looking at Roy and Ranma's beds.

Roy nodded but Ranma didn't move.

"Captain Saotome?" The doctor asked, raising his voice. Ranma kept right on snoring.

Sighing, Roy picked up a glass of water from next to his bed. Dipping his finger in, he determined that it was still cold. As the doctor looked on, confused, Roy chucked the contents of the glass at Ranma, who woke up sputtering.

"What did you do THAT for!" Ranma complained, wiping the wet hair out of her eyes.

Roy shrugged. "Sorry kid, had to wake you up."

The doctor just looked confused before clearing his throat. "Well, I have your reports here. Captain Saotome was only suffering from extreme fatigue and may return to duty as soon as he...er... she? Is ready."

Ranma grinned. "Thanks doc." She said, swinging her legs over the side of the hospital bed. Getting up, she only swayed a little bit before regaining her balance.

The doctor continued. "Captain Fokker, your injuries are slightly more serious. I'm afraid that when your Veritech got hit a piece of debris pierced your stomach, going upwards. It passed through one corner of the stomach and into your left lung. We have managed to repair the damage, however it will take several months for it to completely heal. Until it does, you are off the flight roster by Commander Lang's orders."

Roy cursed softly. "Damn... I can't be off for that long. What about the Skull?"

Ranma, who had not yet left, spoke up. "They'll probably assign a new CO until you get out. I could put someone's name in for you if you want."

Roy looked thoughtful for a moment. "Rick hunter." He responded, flatly.

Ranma nodded. "A pretty good pilot, I'll go talk to captain Gloval. See you later Roy."

Roy nodded as Ranma walked out of the med lab, tightening the strings in her uniform on the way.

HR.

Rick hunter and the rest of skull were sitting at a table in the white dragon, looking worried. They had heard about their CO being stuck in the med lab and hoped he was alright. Minmei was sitting at the table next to Rick. Ever since Reko, Brun and Kunda had disappeared somewhere (Ryoga said that they had probably gotten lost,) she had been running the Dragon by herself. Fortunately the Skull pilots were the only customers around at the moment.

"I'm sure Captain Fokker will be alright." Minmei said, trying to cheer up the depressed pilots around the table.

Rick sighed. "I don't know. The way Captain Saotome was talking over the radio...it sounded serious."

Just as Rick had mentioned her name, Ranma walked into the dragon, still in female form.

"Ranma!" Minmei called.

"Hey Minmei." Ranma said, waving at the waitress. Then, she caught sight of the entire Skull squadron sitting at the table with her. "Wow, talk about a lucky break."

Rick blinked. "What do you mean, Captain?"

Ranma shrugged. "Roy asked me to talk to you guys."

The squadron perked up. "Is He alright?" Five questions came at once.

"He's fine. He's in the med lab recuperating right now." Ranma said, smiling at the relieved looks on the pilots' faces. "He got pretty banged up out there and the docs say he can't fly for a couple months. He asked me to recommend Rick as a replacement CO for Skull. Any objections?"

The squadron members looked at each other and shrugged. Rick spoke up next. "Me?"

Ranma grinned. "You're a pretty good pilot, hunter. Unless you don't want the squadron, Gloval will probably approve my suggestion. I figured I'd check with you guys first though."

"Oh, that's great Rick!" Minmei said, hugging her boyfriend. Rick blushed, as everyone else in the squadron nodded their agreement..

Ranma grinned. "Hunter, you're one lucky man." This sounded rather odd coming from Ranma's female voice and only got the rest laughing at the new soon to be squadron leader.

HR..

Ranma walked into Captain Gloval's ready room, surprised at seeing the older man holding his head and shaking it. "Sir?" She asked, thinking that she might want to come back later.

Gloval looked up. "Ah, Captain Saotome, what can I do for you?"

Ranma shrugged and sat down at a chair across the desk from Gloval. "Well sir, Captain Fokker got taken off the flight line by Commander Lang for medical reasons and I was wondering..."

Gloval interrupted. "You want to suggest someone as his replacement."

Ranma blinked. "Um... yeah. Roy asked me to recommend Rick hunter."

Captain Gloval raised an eyebrow. "Hunter? I was sure that you wanted to assign one of your pilots."

Ranma laughed. "No, I ain't lettin the pilots I spent six months training go and join another squadron unless I have to."

Gloval nodded at that comment. "I see. So you feel that Lt. Hunter is qualified then?"

"Yeah, He's a good pilot and Roy seems to think that he can do it. Roy suggested me for command after all." Ranma's smirk was very evident.

Gloval shrugged. "Suggestion approved. Tell Mr. Hunter of his promotion and assignment next time you see him."

Ranma nodded. "Thank you sir. Um, this is none of my business but... What had you shaking your head when I walked in?"

Gloval sighed. "It is none of your business Captain Saotome...but I'll tell you anyway. I understand that you and Commander Hayes have... something between you and this is relevant to you as well I suppose."

Ranma blushed slightly at that and scratched the back of her head. "Erm..."

Gloval continued. "The UEG wants Commander Hayes assigned to the grand cannon project in the arctic."

Ranma blinked. "What?"

"That's what I said. It was apparently her father's idea. I said we needed her here, but they didn't seem to want to listen to me." Gloval explained.

Ranma's mind was going in circles. 'Lisa's going to the arctic? No way.' Then she spoke up. "Well, the UEG hasn't really done anything but get in our way so far, and we do need Lisa aboard the ship. Why not just take off without offloading her?"

Gloval started laughing. "Captain Saotome, even as a girl you have more balls than most of the admirals in the UEG military."

Ranma looked confused. "Uh... Thanks?"

Gloval just shook his head again. "Dismissed Captain, I just might follow through on your suggestion."

HR.

Ranma had found some hot water and reverted to normal form. Walking into the building that housed the ship's officers' quarters, he found Lisa's apartment number and walked into the elevator.

HR.

Lisa Hayes sat on her bed, thinking. Her father had arranged for her to stay on earth when the SDF-1 launched. This was not a good thing in her opinion. She was needed onboard, and she didn't want to leave her commander, crew... and Ranma. As if the thought had summoned it, a knock came at Lisa's door. Getting up, she opened it.

"Hey Lisa." Ranma said, smiling.

Lisa smiled back. "Hi Ranma. What's up?"

He shrugged. "Well, Rick's got command of Skull and I figure they're gunna celebrate. I thought you might want to come."

Lisa blinked. "Rick's in command of skull? since when?"

Ranma sighed. "Roy got hurt pretty bad last mission. He'll be alright, but he can't fly for the next couple months. He asked me to suggest Rick and Captain Gloval agreed."

Lisa's smile got wider. "Well, in that case, I guess I'll have to come and help him celebrate his command."

The couple walked off down the hall, holding hands. Lisa banished the thoughts of her father and Grand Cannon base from her mind.

HR.

As it turned out, Rick did have one hell of a party for his promotion. All of skull joined in, including Roy who had been released from the hospital to light duty. As for the issue of Lisa and the Arctic base, Captain Gloval just ordered the Macross to depart the atmosphere and 'Forgot' to offload her. Admiral Hayes was not amused but couldn't really do much about it.

HR.

Brun, Reko and Kunda stood in a hall, in front of a crowd of twenty or thirty other Zentraedi. Ever since they had been demicronized they had been telling other Zentraedi about what it was like inside the SDF-1. There was now quite a group, on their ship and dispersed through the fleet, that had joined the "Macross Fan Club." Very few Zentraedi actually knew what a "Fan Club" was, but they did like the singing of Minmei and Ranma. "Wild Horse 1" Had gone over very well as well, even if some of the concepts in the film didn't make much sense to some of them.

Brun started speaking. "This meeting of the Macross Fan Club will commence."

A person at the front spoke up. "We've heard all of your stories about Miss Minmei and the other micronians. When do we get to see the Macross?"

Nods of agreement ran through the room and the people from other ships transmitted cheers of agreement.

Reko spoke up. "Minrai, who works in the micronization facility, says that he can sneak us in some time next mega cycle. From there, we can use battle pods to get to the Macross and seek "Asylum." That's like protection. The Micronians will surely let us stay."

The room full of Zentraedi began to cheer and chant, raising their hands to the gigantic pictures of Minmei, Ranma's Female half and Ranma himself that were put up on the walls.

HR.

Miriya Parina was preparing for the toughest mission she had ever undertaken. The fact that she had still not been able to learn much of the Micronian language wouldn't stop her. She was going to kill "Vermillion 2." for humiliating her, no matter what the cost. Looking at the rather odd scrap of red fabric in her hand, she shook her head. 'It's hard to believe Micronians are small enough to ware this as clothing.' she thought, pocketing it as she walked to the micronization chamber. The Zentraedi had pulled off a spying mission so why couldn't the, inherently superior, Meltraedi do the same thing?

HR.

Rick Hunter sat nervously in his Veritech's cockpit as he prepared for Skull's first patrol since the battle at Toronto. It had only been a few hours since the SDF-1 had regained orbit and it had started heading away from earth. Gulping, Rick closed his canopy and taxied towards the catapults.

As Skull squadron launched off the deck of the Macross, Rick spoke through his radio. "Alright. Take standard patrol formation. Close in for the gap left by the captain...er... I mean Roy." he was finding it hard to get used to the fact that he was now a captain.

The squadron acknowledged and split into patrol formation. About half an hour later, the first Zentraedi attack since the Macross had come back to space began.

For the most part, the force was composed of normal battle pods. There were a few of the newer and harder to kill pods but not enough to call Wild Horse out over. Rick was flying better than ever. Apparently the knowledge that he was responsible for the squadron motivated him to new heights. He was nowhere near as good as Roy or even Max but it didn't really matter. He was holding his own.

There was something strange about this attack. The battle pods were flying in a standard smash and run formation accept for one or two of the newer ones that seemed intent on breaking through to the Macross. Rick let them through on the way in and a few minutes later, the squadron came in on them and destroyed them. Unfortunately, they had already done their job.

HR.

Miriya Parina climbed out of her Pod, grumbling about bumpy rides and incompetent soldiers. She was inside the Micronian Battle Fortress. wearing a red Chinese dress that had been copied off of one of the contestants in the Miss Macross Pageant, she went "Vermillion 2" hunting.

She began this hunt by walking down the streets of Macross city, randomly asking people where the pilots were. This was rather unusual, but for the people of Macross, who's star pilot was also one of the stars of a beauty contest, they took it in stride.

Walking up to one man, who was wearing some sort of Uniform, Miriya tapped him on the shoulder. "Scuse sir. Where pilots of Mecha at?" Inwardly, she cursed her inability to pick up the Micronian language. She had only been studying it for about two weeks, but it was annoying to speak so stiltedly.

HR.

Ranma shivered slightly at the voice of the woman that had just tapped him on the shoulder. She sounded so much like Shampoo. Turning, he noted that her hair was green as aposed to Shampoo's purple and it wasn't as long. "Erm, the pilots? Well, I'm one and we usually hang out at the Dragon or in the military section. That's usually off limits to civilians though."

Miriya nodded. "Thank much. You take Miriya to Dragon?"

Ranma shrugged. "Well, I got nothin else to do. I guess so. Hey, just one question, are you by any chance a Chinese Amazon who's going there to kill or marry any of the pilots?" He finished with a laugh.

Miriya blinked. "Marry? What that? Miriya just want see pilots."

Ranma noted that the woman had not seemed to bat an eye at the "Kill" part of his question but shrugged. "Alright. I'll take you to the dragon. C'mon."

HR.

Ranma and Miriya walked into the white dragon to see Rick and Roy sitting at a table. Ben was walking over with some food that he'd just gotten from Minmei.

"So which pilot are you lookin for?" Ranma questioned, looking at the woman who he assumed was a Chinese Amazon.

"I look for Vermillion 2." She said, a strange note of hostility in her voice.

Ranma seemed not to notice the hostility. "Oh, You mean Max Sterling? He's Wild Horse 2 now and I don't think he's around right now. He mentioned something about a Video Arcade over in the center of town. You might want to look for him there."

Miriya nodded, said "Thank you." and turned to leave.

"Hey, You wanna have lunch first?" Ranma asked. "You did come to the dragon after all."

Miriya shook her head and walked out.

Ranma just shrugged before walking over to the table with Rick, Roy and Ben at it. "Hey guys. What's up?"

Rick shrugged. "A whole lot of nothing captain...er... Ranma."

"Still not used to that rank badge, eh Rick?" Ranma asked, chuckling.

Rick shrugged. "I'll get used to it. Flying lead in skull is fun though."

Roy spoke up. "Yeah it is, especially if you don't got an annoying little brother on your wing."

Rick laughed. "Thanks Roy. I'll remember that."

"So, how's light duty treatin you Roy?" Ranma asked, accepting a special from Minmei that he hadn't even ordered and automatically starting to chow down.

"It's pretty good so far, just a bit boring." Roy responded. "I got posted to the flight deck. I'm on engineer Hibiki's team. The only problem is that I spend more time pointing the right way to a plane than working."

Ranma started laughing. "Good ol' Ryoga, couldn't find his way out of a wet paper bag."

Ranma's laughter was cut short by a tap on the shoulder. "What was that, Ranma?"

Looking up, Ranma saw a familiar yellow and black uniform. "Hey Buddy. I was just talkin about you. Wander in from the kitchen again?"

Ryoga growled. "Yes."

Everyone started laughing.

HR.

Miriya walked into the "Video Arcade" and looked around. The place was a large room filled with some sort of consoles. People were standing at the consoles, frantically pressing buttons. It reminded Miriya of a combat simulation room. The group of what appeared to be Flight Simulators at the back of the room supported this theory.

"Max Sterling?" Miriya called out, looking around the room. She repeated her call. "Max Sterling. I want challenge you!"

Max looked up from his game console to see a green haired woman looking around and yelling that she wanted to challenge him. Blinking, he shut off the EVA street fighter knock off that he had been playing and walked over to the woman. "I'm Max Sterling. You wanted to challenge me to a game?"

Miriya blinked. "Game?" She asked, questioningly.

"Yeah, that's what you wanted to challenge me to right?"

Miriya thought for a moment. She couldn't just attack Max here. There were too many other people around. She could however, use this opportunity to humble him a bit. "Yes, that what I want. I defeat you in flight training game."

Max blinked at this rather creative use of Japanese but caught the idea. "You want to play Ace Combat 6 against me then?"

Miriya nodded and grinned evilly. "I show you real warrior."

HR.

Miriya slammed her hands down on the console of the flight simulator as the words "Critical Hit" flashed on the left side of her HUD. Growling, she climbed out of the simulated cockpit and glared at Max. "You win." She reluctantly admitted.

Max grinned. "That's what you get for challenging a fighter pilot to a dogfight." He liked this girl. She took the game so seriously and was a really good player. She was really cute and that odd pidgin Japanese was starting to sound nice to him. He couldn't put his finger on it but there was just something about her.

"Well, I challenge to other game?" Miriya asked. She was feeling anger at being beaten by this Micronian as well as shame for the same reason. For some reason, there was something else. It reminded her of the feeling she got after a successful mission... but she had been defeated. This did not make sense. She hoped it would when she finally wiped the smile off of that damned Micronian's face.

HR.

Miriya cursed again as her final mecha on the screen blew up.

"I told you not to use the GMs in Super Robot Wars." Max laughed, seeing the scowl on Miriya's face.

"Gundam too powerful. That not fair." Miriya groused, scowling.

Max just smirked, before glancing down at his watch. "Aw man, I let the time get away from me. Captain Saotome isn't gunna be happy if I'm late reporting. I have to go. Oh, can I meet you again some time? Like maybe tomorrow?"

Miriya nodded. "We meet at White Dragon, yes?"

Max nodded. "Great. Thanks. See you there!" He then ran out of the arcade towards the Wild Horse briefing room.

Behind him, Miriya smiled. 'I will get you Max Sterling, you just wait.' A gleam of metal was visible for a second in her hand before she slipped the small knife into her sleeve.

HR.

As Max flew his Veritech, he couldn't get thoughts of the strange girl out of his mind. He didn't know why but it seemed like she was familiar. Not her looks but her voice. Something tickled at the back of his mind. He was interrupted in his deep thinking by Ben, coming over his comm.

"So Max, Did you see the Mystery girl?" His voice had evidence of a grin in it.

Max blinked. "Mystery girl? Oh, you mean the girl I met at the arcade. Hey, how do you know about her?"

Ben responded. "She came into the dragon looking for you. You should really thank Captain Saotome. He rerouted her to you."

Ranma's voice cut in on the line. "Cut the chatter, Dixon. What Max does on his free time is none of our business, although I'd like to know what was up with that girl too."

Max sighed. "She just wanted to challenge me to a few video games, that's all. I am meeting her at the dragon tomorrow though."

Ben gave an appreciative whistle. Ranma and Max winced as the whistle had been echoed straight into they're ears. "That girl looked pretty good, Max. I think you're a lucky guy."

Ranma butted in before Max had to respond to that one. "I said cut the chatter Ben."

Ben sighed and went back to the monotony of patrol.

HR.

Aboard a ship in the Zentraedi fleet, another meeting of the "Macross Fan Club" was going on. Brun, Reko and Kunda were once again standing at the front of the large room, the posters still on the walls.

Reko spoke up. "Minrai has confirmed that he CAN get us into the micronization chamber. His only condition is that we take him with us."

Everyone cheered at this.

Brun was next. "We will leave the next time an attack is launched against the Macross. The eighth squadron's Mecha will be loaded up with Micronized Zentraedi and we will attempt to make it to the Macross."

The crowd cheered more loudly.

Kunda finished the speech. "We will probably lose a few mecha in the flight over to the Macross so only the people who are absolutely sure that they want to attempt this mission should come. We will prepare for the mission as soon as the next attack time is announced."

The cheering continued.

Reko muttered to the other two at the front. "Do you think we'll make it?"

Kunda shrugged. "We have to try. Miss Minmei is over there."

Brun just nodded.

HR.

As Ranma walked into the dragon the next day, he noticed Minmei looking very happy at the cash register. "Hey Minmei." he said. "What's up?"

Minmei grinned. "Great news Ranma, Captain Gloval called me up to his ready room earlier. Apparently he wants me to do a concert tomorrow to cheer everyone up."

"A concert?" Ranma asked. "Live at the big hall or somethin?"

Minmei nodded. "Yeah. You are going to come right?"

Ranma thought for a minute. "When is it exactly?"

Minmei checked a small piece of paper in her hand. "7:30."

Ranma groaned. "Sorry Minmei. Me 'n Wild horse are on flight duty then." as Minmei looked sad, he continued. "At least you know Rick'll be there."

Minmei cheered up. "Yeah, you're right. You'll tune me in on your radio right?"

Ranma grinned. "Sure thing."

Just then, Max walked into the restaurant. "Hi Captain, Minmei." He said, walking over to a corner table and sitting.

"Hi Max." Minmei said. "What can I get you?"

Max shook his head. "I'm waiting for someone. I probably won't order until she gets here."

Ranma raized an eyebrow. "She, eh? Something you should be telling your CO?"

Max blushed. "No sir, not that I know of."

Ranma just laughed. Now he knew why Nabiki had kept teasing him and Akane... It was fun.

Ranma decided to ease up on Max and turned to Minmei to order his usual. He didn't have to as it was set on a table already. "Minmei, you know me WAY too well, or at least my eating habits."

'Which is pretty well his whole life.' Minmei thought, giggling slightly.

As Ranma sat eating, that Amazon from the day before walked into the Dragon. Sure enough, she walked over to Max's table and sat down with him. Ranma didn't bother to listen in to their conversation. Their body language said it all. Max really liked the woman and she seemed to like him, as well. The only problem was that she seemed not to want to admit it. Judging by her tensed posture, she looked like she was either going to fight or flee. Shrugging, Ranma just continued eating.

HR.

Max ordered his food, having just heard Minmei's exciting news. The girl also ordered. Strangely, she just requested exactly what he had.

Picking at his food, Max started the conversation. "So, what's your name anyway? I never thought to ask."

"I Miriya. Best fighter of my... people." She said, trailing before she accidentally said 'Of the Meltraedi.'

"Your people?" Max asked, curiously. "Where are you from?"

Miriya thought frantically. What had that man yesterday said, "I from China. I Amazon."

Max blinked. "And here I thought the Captain's Chinese Amazon stories were just jokes." He said, unsure of how to react.

The two bantered back and forth, Max talking about his life on the Macross and Miriya telling a slightly 'Modified' version of her own life story.

Max was having a great time. This girl was great. She wasn't much for conversation but he could tell that under the bad grammar she had a very intelligent mind. She was also, as he had thought many times before, very cute and her smile did something to him that he couldn't put his finger on.

Miriya didn't know what she was feeling. It was a lot like the feeling of Victory in battle... only without the battle. She knew there was a word for this in Micronian. It wasn't happiness, but what was it?

The two talked for the next little while before they had finally finished dinner. Remembering Minmei's comments earlier, Max asked Miriya if she would come to the concert tomorrow with him. Miriya accepted.

Later, Miriya wondered why she hadn't killed Max at the restaurant. She managed to reason out that there were still too many witnesses, not even realizing that she was trying to come up with reasons to let him live.

HR.

Ranma Saotome sat in the Wild Horse briefing room, doing the one thing that he hated about being a squadron leader. That is, Paper work. He only had to do this once or twice a month but to the man who fell asleep in GYM class because it was too boring, this was a good test of self-control.

Ranma's torture was interrupted by Max Sterling walking in the door. Putting down a report on Wild Horse 4's flight performance, Ranma sighed. "Hey Max. You've saved me from paper work for a while. What can I do for you?"

Max grinned as he sat down at his normal place. "I was wondering if I could ask a favor, Captain."

Ranma quirked an eyebrow. "What is it, Max?"

Max continued. "I was wondering if I could get leave for the concert tonight. I kinda forgot we had patrol duty and asked someone out on a date." His blush was very evident.

"A date? That's not really an incredible reason to ask for leave but..." Ranma smirked. "Sure. Why not? You never ask for leave. You've got it coming."

Max smiled thankfully. "Thanks Captain."

Ranma nodded as Max walked out of the room. Then, in a burst of sudden good humor, he shouted "Good Luck Sterling!"

Max walked down the hall, laughing.

HR.

The Zentraedi of the "Macross Fan Club" were excited. The time of the next attack had just been announced and they were all being micronized. They knew that they would only have to wait a few more hours. Only a few more hours until they could see the Macross, Lin Minmei and Ranma Saotome.

Reko, Brun and Kunda were the most excited of all. Maybe Miss Minmei would let them work at the restaurant again. That had been very enjoyable.

HR.

Warlord Kyron plotted. He had been the one responsible for most of the attacks against the Micronian Battle Fortress up to this point and this one was to be his last chance. He had to succeed this time. He had decided to go with overwhelming force and to go along with his troops in order to assure success. One way or another, this raid would succeed. It was really too bad that the seeds of this defeat were already planted in the middle of his forces.

HR.

Ranma Saotome, Ben Dixon and a pilot from blue by the name of Joe Fenton were about to launch for a four hour patrol. When Ranma had asked for a temporary replacement for Max, half a dozen pilots from the smaller squadrons had jumped at the chance to fly with the Wild Horses.

Taxiing towards the catapult, Ranma thought about the concert. He just hoped Max had a good time with his date. Ranma had to restrain a snicker at a mental image of the green haired Amazon chasing Max around yelling "Airen!" 'I don't know if he's lucky or unlucky...' were Ranma's thoughts as his Veritech flew off the flight deck.

HR.

Max knew full well, he was lucky. Miriya was still wearing the red dress from a few days ago or a very good copy. She was one of the most beautiful things he had ever seen.

"So, do you want to get going?" Max asked, offering his hand to Miriya at the Dragon. Minmei had taken off about 20 minutes earlier saying something about getting prepared.

Miriya grabbed Max's hand. "Yes, Miriya ready. Where we go?"

Max blinked. "The big hall, we're going to hear Minmei sing. Remember?"

Miriya nodded and the two walked off towards the center of town.

HR.

Minmei looked nervously out of the curtain back stage at the hall. It hadn't seemed this bad at the pageant. Maybe that was because of Ranma's constant jokes. This time, she was alone in front of all these people. Gulping, she walked out onto the stage to thunderous applause.

Walking up to the Mic, Minmei began to speak. "Hi. Welcome to the first Minmei concert. I'm Minmei and I'm going to be singing a collection of the songs from my first CD. I would be singing some from the second one except that Captain Saotome went and ran off to do a patrol."

The audience laughed.

Minmei continued. "But first, one for a very special guy. Rick, you out there?"

Rick hunter waved from his position next to Roy and the Skull. Yelling, "Right here!"

"Well then." Minmei continued. "This is for you." She then launched into a rendition of a song that she had specially written for this concert.

HR.

Miriya listened to the Micronian girl singing, confused. This didn't seem to have any purpose at all. She had heard the transmissions from the Miss Macross contest of course, but she had just assumed that there was some purpose to them. Now that she was listening to this singing live, the only thing she felt was confusion and some sort of strange happiness. Not too dissimilar to the feeling that she got when looking at Max Sterling, in fact.

Speaking of Max, he was tapping his foot. "Good music, huh?" He asked, looking over at Miriya.

"Yes. Music sound good." Miriya responded, truthfully.

HR.

Ranma sat in his Veritech, tapping his foot on his rudder peddles. This had the rather odd effect of making his plane bank from left to right in time with Minmei's singing. Since it wasn't hurting anything, he didn't bother stopping. "Pretty good, eh Ben?" Ranma said, over the comm.

"Yeah Captain. Still think your singing is just as good, though." Ben Dixon said, chuckling. "I still say you should have stayed on the ground tonight and sang."

"Shut up Ben." Ranma growled.

Then the new guy spoke up. "Flying in Wild Horse sure is interesting."

The two other pilots laughed. "Just you wait until this patrol gets old. It's just as boring as blue, I assure you." Ranma said.

Just as he finished saying that, Ranma's chi sense flared. "I shouldn'ta said that. OK flight, prepare for hostiles."

"Aw Man." Ben complained. "And I was getting into the music, too."

Lt. Fenton looked confused. "How do you know we're going to get hostiles?" his question was quickly answered as several Zentraedi battle cruisers came out of fold space, launching fighters.

"That good enough for you?" Ranma asked, arming his missiles and selecting targets.

"Yeah, that's good enough." Fenton responded, doing the same.

"Ben, keep the rookie safe. I'm going in after the leaders."

"Yes sir, captain!" Ben Dixon responded, keeping close to Fenton.

"I resent that rookie remark." Fenton complained, being ignored by the two other pilots.

HR.

Captain Gloval, on the bridge of the Macross, was chuckling at Pilot chatter when he heard Ranma's comment about incoming enemies. "Great. Just what we don't need right now."

Lisa Hayes nodded in agreement. "Should we call the other squadrons?"

Gloval shook his head. "The pilots are enjoying the concert and that's Wild Horse out there. We don't need to worry right now. We should switch to battle mode though."

Lang, sitting at the back of the bridge, took this as an order and began preparing the ship for the transformation. "We're ready sir." He said,

Gloval nodded and the ship shook slightly as it switched modes. "Switch Complete sir, no casualties and very minor damage." Lang reported, proudly.

HR.

The people in the hall, listening to Minmei's concert, felt a slight shaking. Dismissing it as the ship maneuvering, they continued to sit and listen.

HR.

Ranma flew his Veritech into the largest concentration of Zentraedi. They were almost all old style battle pods and this battle wouldn't be all that bad. Spraying the pods with fire from his Gui-11, Ranma smirked as they exploded in flames.

Ben sat in his usual bombardment position, covering Ranma. The Blue squadron Pilot was next to him, both blazing away with Missiles and Gui-11s into the enemy battle pods.

None of the three pilots realized the enemy's tactics until it was too late. The enemy battle pods were intentionally distracting them. A large number had made it past the Veritechs and to the Macross. These pods were using any entrances available to get into the ship. Through the hangars and the airlocks, and even through supply loading bays, the Zentraedi blew off hatches and flooded in.

Several seconds later, Ranma received an urgent message from the ship. "Captain Saotome. Get back here! The enemy has managed to gain access to the inside of the Macross and is now destroying the city."

"What?" Ranma muttered, quickly relaying orders to his wingmen to follow him as he flew at full speed back to the ship.

HR.

Warlord Kyron laughed as his men walked through the Macross. It had been all too easy to overwhelm the fighter defenses with numbers and get inside. Unfortunately, he was still running into resistance in the form of strange Micronian Mecha that he had never seen before. They looked almost like the humanoid forms of the normal Mecha, however they couldn't transform and had much more powerful main guns. For the most part, they did not have missiles but they were still a formidable force.

HR.

At the concert, Minmei could hear the sounds of explosions in the distance. Deciding that she didn't want to panic the people in the building, she kept singing and attempted to look calm. For the most part, this worked. People were listening to her song and not the explosions. The only exceptions were a group of Fighter pilots, composed of Skull squadron, Roy, who knew he couldn't fly but had to try and help, and Max, who was followed by Miriya.

Max finally noticed his tail as he was running out the main entrance of the concert hall. "I'll catch up guys!" He shouted, turning back around to talk to Miriya. "I gotta go now. The enemy is attacking."

Miriya grabbed his arm. "Miriya come too!" She said, vehemently. "Miriya fight." This was all part of a plan to get Max alone to kill him... or so she told herself.

Max groaned. "Look Miriya. I gotta get out there. Please just stay here and..." He was cut off by the sight of a small knife appearing in Miriya's hand. "What the?"

Miriya jumped forward, slashing downwards with the knife. Max threw himself sideways and grabbed Miriya's upper arm. Breaking free, Miriya snarled. "I Miriya Parina of Meltraedi Quadrano group. You shoot me down once, it lucky. You shoot me down twice, it your last victory!" Saying this, she lunged forward again. "I not take loss again!"

Suddenly, something clicked in Max's mind. Miriya's voice sounded familiar because he had heard it before, in his Veritech's radio. He couldn't believe it. This girl was the ace pilot that he had faced off against in the air twice? The one that had almost shot him down twice in a row. His thoughts were interrupted by Miriya's next lunge. Deciding to end this, he relied on his superior strength to tackle Miriya to the ground. Grabbing her arm, he twisted her wrists until Miriya was forced to drop the knife with a soft cry of pain.

If Miriya had been standing up, her body language now would have been described as slumped. As it was, she just bore a resigned look on her face. "You kill now yes?" She asked.

Max blinked. "Kill?"

Miriya sighed. "You win. I lose. I deserve die. I not take failure again."

Max was astonished. "I'm not going to kill you Miriya... I... I love you." He almost laughed at the absurdity of the situation. He was telling the woman that had just tried to kill him that he loved her.

Miriya blinked. "You...love?" She asked. "What you mean?"

Max made a snap, and many people would say insanely stupid, decision. "I love you. I want to spend the rest of my life with you. Will you...marry me?"

Max let Miriya's hand go and rolled off of her. He still had her knife but other than that he was leaving himself open for any attack. Miriya tried to hit him. Really she did, but she just couldn't. "Miriya not know what Marry is but if that what you ask me for losing, I will."

Max smiled, relieved that his insanely stupid decision hadn't backfired on him. "I have to get going to help protect the city. Stay here alright?"

Miriya nodded dumbly and Max ran off.

HR.

Ranma's Veritech came flying into the landing deck and straight out the rarely opened door on the other side. Flying inside Macross city was a rather new experience. It wasn't exactly like flying on earth, as the flight ceiling was quite literally a ceiling. Switching to Battleoid mode, he descended to street level.

Seeing a group of Zentraedi Battle Pods, walking on two legs, he opened up his Gui-11 and destroyed them. He had never fought a ground war, except for in the simulators, but true to form, He was adapting and inventing tactics for it. He would hide around corners and pop out for surprise attacks.

Ben was somewhere near the central area of the city, the Blue squadron volunteer in tow.

HR.

Warlord Kyron scowled as he saw a few of his troops wandering randomly. Calling them up, the face of a soldier that he recognized as a low level pilot named Brun appeared on the screen. "What are you doing? Get back in formation and continue with the destruction of the Micronian fortress." Kyron ordered, sharply.

"We're looking for Minmei. We can hear her singing." Brun responded.

"Well, stop looking for Minmei and get back to work." Kyron ordered, getting angry.

"I apologize, Warlord. We will not." Brun's face blinked off of Kyron's display as he closed the channel.

'I will stop this.' Kyron thought, kicking in the thrusters on his pod and heading for the disobedient Mecha.

HR.

Minmei stood, still singing as the battle raged around the hall. She had completely tuned it out, only concerned with keeping the people calm. About half the crowd had already left, in an orderly fashion thanks to Minmei's calming influence, and the other was still sitting and listening. Just then, the back of the hall caved in, revealing two Zentraedi Battle pods with laser cannons aimed at Minmei. Just as they were about to fire, they heard her singing through they're external audio Mic units and froze, Just as a missile from Rick hunter's VF-1J slammed into the back of each.

Rick flew into the hall, landing his Veritech in an empty area. "Are you alright Minmei?" he asked, through his speakers.

"I'm fine Rick. Good timing there though." Minmei responded.

Rick took up a position, with the rest of skull to help, defending the hall.

HR.

Ranma walked through the streets of Macross city, scanning for more enemies with his Chi sense. He got a very odd reading about two blocks ahead. It was like twenty or thirty Zentraedi squeezed into the space that six or so would normally occupy. Worried about the sheer number of signals that he was getting, Ranma snuck up on his targets, hoping that the element of surprise would help him.

As he got close to the odd Zentraedi signals, a new one approached and then joined the large mass. He stuck his Veritech's head around a corner to get a look.

There were six Battle pods standing in a row. a seventh, looking like a leader, was standing in front of them, pacing from left to right. Ranma could pick up Radio Signals from the seven pods and the pacing one seemed to have a very angry pilot. Suddenly, the pacing pod stopped, turned and pointed its laser cannon at one of the six stationary pods.

'What the hell?' Ranma thought, still observing from behind the building. 'He ain't gunna...' He was interrupted by the leader's pod shooting one of the six others, causing it to topple over.

Having had enough, Ranma ran out from behind the building. It didn't matter if these were Zentraedi, he had to help them. "What kind of commander shoots his own troops?" Ranma yelled into his comm as his Veritech came hurtling at the command pod with a leg extended. Slamming it into the pod's central section, the pod disintegrated with its pilot inside.

Ranma turned to the remaining five pods and tried something. "I assume that you aren't going to shoot me?" He asked, broadcasting on all frequencies.

A Familiar voice came through the comm. "No. Thank you, Captain Saotome."

Ranma blinked. "Kunda?" he asked, puzzled. He hadn't known the three Hibiki brothers very well but could still recognize they're voices.

"Yes Captain, It's me. I am a Zentraedi who was formerly sent to spy on the Macross and its crew. I and my friends now wish to seek "Asylum" aboard the ship."

Ranma blinked. "You're Zentraedi? Boy, Ryoga sure can pick 'em." He muttered, before switching over to the command frequency. "This is wild horse lead to bridge."

Sammy responded. "Bridge here, go ahead."

"I got a bit of a problem down in Macross City. There's a buncha Zentraedi down here askin for asylum n' I don't know what to do with them."

Sounds of confusion were heard before Captain Gloval's voice came over the radio. "They what?"

Ranma sighed. "They say that they want asylum on the Macross... That's protection right?" He was clueless about politics. "I don't know what to do with them and they're sitting in the middle of the city in a buncha battle pods."

"Understood, Captain Saotome. We will send a security force to deal with them. Get back to the fighting." Gloval responded, sounding confused.

Ranma looked back over at the battle pods. "A security team'll be here to help you guys in a few minutes. I gotta get back to the fight." He then Ran off to fight the next Zentraedi unit, which was apparently near the Hall.

TO BE CONTINUED.