A/N:

Ugh! This chapter really got away from me! I've had parts of this chapter written for years and it has just been kicking my butt! I finally finished it today with a lot of changes to what I had originally planned. At some point I decided to cut my loses with it and I cut out a huge chunk of what I had planned to include here. I hope that starting fresh in another chapter will energize the story (and me) a bit more.

I also decided to stretch the some of the situations that I had planned originally as they felt that they would be happening too fast and it would not be a good option for the character development and interactions of the characters. That translates to more chapters so I don't know how I feel about that. On one hand, I think that it will make the story better as I am planning to add a lot more detail and flesh out the story more. Of course that also means that I have more work to do, lol.

As always, please let me know if you are still enjoying this story, Comments, PM and reviews are life. If there is something hard to understand about the story, characters, etc, please let me know so I can fix it or clarify.

As always, thanks for reading. This story has no beta so all mistakes are mine.

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Chapter 11 - An Accident

Life had to go on during the war, so everybody tried to do their job to the best of their abilities. Some did it with conviction, some did it for a cause and some just did it because they had no other choice in the matter. Everybody though, understood that the times they were living were rather dire and regardless of what their personal feelings were, they had to do whatever it took to defeat their enemy.

Roy, who had been mostly grounded while in Macross, had been tasked with flying during this mission. Although highly qualified, his last bout with the enemy years ago had left wounds that would prevent him forever from flying combat ever again. And although he could fly, he did only for short reconnaissance missions that were easier to handle by his afflicted body. While in this mission, he had been tasked to fly over the invaded town to get a sense of what the enemy was doing. His information, while not expansive because of the challenges of flying over the enemy camp, was still valuable to strategically plan for future attacks and to understand what they were up against. In this fight, they were weak on air attacks because of the limited area that they had to work with.

Vince on the other hand was having his own challenges. He had been working with Commander Barry Hawk to develop new strategies in which both their forces could join in the battle. While both commanders were really cooperative with each other, the problem was the forces under them. The Macross troops followed along because they were well trained but it was obvious that they distrusted the other troops. Unfortunately in the heat of the battle this could cause their lines of communications to break and their missions to fail, which is why the two commanders were so frustrated with their training missions. That frustration made them push their respective groups harder and harder. Commander Hawk had taken into training the Macross soldiers in the close combat that was used in the desert and to adapt to the desert's temperatures. Vince on the other hand had taken into instilling some discipline into the voluntary corps. It wasn't that Barry was a bad commander or too soft but Vince, by being a total unknown and with his rather big size, was really good at intimidating them into following along. As they worked together, Barry and Vince found that their training and commanding styles were very similar and complemented each other really well.
For some others, though, it seemed like it was a case of two steps forward and one step back. Rick, who had found himself with the almost impossible task of reigning in the Special Forces, had his hands full. Not only did he have to train people that had no military experience, it was also the ones with the biggest personalities in the whole team. Granted, he was no easy cookie himself, and he had given his squadron leaders and his CO a lot of proverbial gray hairs because of his attitude but he found himself struggling with being able to mesh their personalities and fighting styles into something cohesive.

Everyday brought different challenges and Rick counted his victories in the training field differently than he would have done back in Macross. A good day for him would be when he actually got all of them to cooperate and not fight amongst each other while training. Some days he thought rather ruefully that maybe he had some bad karma to work through.

Today was a victory day for him. The training drills had not gone that bad. Rick was always glad when they could get through a day without any major fights or disasters. The addition of Daigo to the team turned out to be more helpful than what he expected. At least he was another one that was on his side.

After the drill, as was his usual routine, he waited for his team to return and give them feedback on their individual performance. Rick turned to see his notes on Jan Kogo, the lone warrior with the smallest spaceship. Kogo's strength was his speed. The small size of his vessel allowed him to weave through the bigger robots and deliver debilitating attacks to them. He could also help the ground forces or the air forces if needed. The last thing about Jan Kogo was the fact that he could use his weapon, The Astrolance, to grow to the size of a Zentraedi which was impressive in its own right. After seeing the Micronization process, he knew that even the zentraedi were not capable of such a swift transformation In size. Unfortunately, there were a lot of downsides to him too. Kogo was unpredictable, arrogant and too strong for his own good. His temper was as fiery as the red trim of his spaceship. He also used to be the leader of his own group so taking orders from somebody else was not an easy feat. Rick felt that much of the time he was just indulging him or playing nice for the time being. The only saving grace was that whomever was really telling him what to do was on their side.
Today Jan had been entertained by sparring as a giant with Daigo who had given him a run for his money. At what point it had degenerated from a real practice to children tussling with each other, he had no idea. But as soon as Rick realized that Jan was trying to give Daigo a metal nookie on his robot's head, he called the end to the mockery of a practice. Rick shook his head in exasperation at their antics. As annoyed as he was by Jan's levity, he at least was glad that he and Daigo were getting along and up until that point they'd had a rather good practice.

At his orders to rest, the Super Magnetic Robot piloted by Mai and Takeru returned to the training grounds followed by Sayaka who had been training with them. The three of them were working rather well together. Rick believed it was the influence of Mai on Takeru that actually kept that combination in check. When he tried to separate them to their smaller individual robots, Takeru did his own thing but as soon as he had to combine together to control the bigger robot, they were forced to work together as one person. It seemed that in that case, Takeru just followed along with what Mai did unless he felt really strongly about going against her wishes and then he would take the lead.
The only one who didn't respond to the end of the training and staunchly stayed in his robot was Koji, the scientist turned warrior. Rick didn't really know what to do with him and he had started to regret including him in the training. He had truly believed that he would be another helpful ally and that his presence would not only benefit the whole group but would also benefit their initiative of merging their individual technologies to benefit all. To be truthful, Koji had been as sullen as Takeru used to be and worse, would pick on Sayaka all the time, hampering her performance. At least Mai seemed to have a thicker skin when it came to Takeru and although they fought constantly outside of the robots, they had apparently learned to work mostly together when they created the one combined robot. Sayaka on the other hand was a bit more emotional and needed more positive reinforcement, which Koji was not providing, and she obviously craved. Rick was going to have to talk to Lisa and Roy about handling that situation since he was a little bit at loss about how to handle this particular relationship. It was one of the weirdest non-relationships that he had ever seen.
For now, he couldn't do much until he analyzed this new complication and mulled it over with Roy and Max. He was hesitant about bringing it up to Lisa since he had been the one to advocate for Koji in the first place. He knew that she had not been totally onboard about his decision but respected him enough to let him get away with it. Man, he hated it when she was right about something! It was as if she had a sixth sense or something. He decided that until he resolved this new puzzle, he would keep doing what he had been doing until now and ignore the situation for the time being. So when Sayaka finally dismounted from her cockpit and was on ground next to him, he turned to talk to her, commending her on the work that she had done. Giving her positive reinforcement as well as what aspects that needed to change.


Koji was watching the group as they started to wrap up from their training of the day. As the others came and went, he studied them from his cabin. His shoulders were hunched almost to his ears and he couldn't help but feel like a sullen teenager again. His fingers shook slightly on the handlebar like controllers and it took an effort to slowly gentle the grip he had on them.
He gave a shaky exhale as he tried to relieve the tension he felt. He tried to do the relaxation exercises he had taught himself months ago but nothing was helping. His body felt coiled as if he was ready to do battle but he knew the battle was not with an outside threat. No, this threat was more insidious, as it was a battle of wills between himself and the powerful robot he was connected to. Fleetingly, he recalled the conversation between the Macross crew about the pilots that could not handle the connection with their mecha. Before, the first generation of his robot, he would have scoffed at the idea of anyone not being able to control a mechanical robot but after he had been given the newer, second generation robot, he finally could understand why they would not be able to deal with the strain of keeping their power under control. It was a battle of man vs machine and he was struggling to stay afloat.
Koji's mind and body were exhausted from the stress of handling his robot. It had been months since he had gotten in its cockpit and it had been as hard to handle it as the first day when he had come across the powerful robot. A strong feeling of inadequacy filled him and he felt all the things that he had taken for granted being torn away from him. He used to be the strongest fighter with Mazinger and was used to that robot to the point that it was almost an extension of his own body but this robot, Mazinger 2.0* was different. He could feel the robot's sentient being fighting him constantly, trying to take over his consciousness and he knew that if he would let the robot take over, hell would come to Earth.
A small movement outside caught his eye and he relished the distraction, hoping that it would let him achieve control once again. He commanded the camera to zoom in to the tarmac and realized it was Sayaka rapidly approaching the young Captain of the Macross forces. Sayaka, the girl that confused him and made him yearn for things that he could not have right now. Not now, when he was finally free to achieve some of the goals that he had only dreamed of. Not now when he felt like he was not needed anymore.

On one hand, he was impressed with all that Sayaka had achieved under the Captain's tutelage. On the other hand, he hated how she lapped his attention and followed everything he said to a T. He zoomed to her face even further to see Sayaka looking at the man intently, hanging on to every word he was saying like it was Gospel.

And what was Hunter's problem? He was always looking out for her and giving her instructions. It was as if he didn't care about any of the other ones but her. It was HIS job to look after her damn it! Not anybody else's. His thought spiraled darker and darker, same as his vision but he was too far gone to notice. He could hear the whisper of something or someone in his mind, taunting him for his failures. Was it himself or was it Mazinger, laughing at his failings? He felt his rage mounting and his despair washed over him until he knew no more.

Mazinkaiser jerked, as if it had been a puppet with its strings cut. And then his weapons geared up to fire...
Jan Kogo was about to descend from his vehicle when he noticed the abrupt movement from Koji's robot. The young scientist had not really participated much but from what he had seen, this was not how Koji controlled his mecha. There was something off with Its jerky movements. A high pitched sound reached his sensitive eardrums and he knew exactly what that kind of sound meant. Still, his eyes widened when he saw Mazinkaiser aiming his weapons towards Rick and Sayaka, not expecting that action from the normally affable man.

"Hunter, Sayaka, watch out!"

Rick was still talking to Sayaka when all of the sudden he heard The cyborg yell at them. Rick and Sayaka turned to see what the problem was. Rick noticed the big robot's threat first and instinctively pushed Sayaka out of the way. Sayaka fell to the side, unharmed. Rick on the other hand got caught in the backlash of the blast and fell to the ground, dazed. He shook his head to clear it and got up to face the pilot.
"Koji what is you problem? Stand down now!" He ordered but the pilot ignored him.

Sayaka screamed as she watched Koji deliver another blast to the defenseless man. Thankfully Rick was a battle hardened soldier with quick reflexes and he avoided the majority of the hit but the after shock sent him flying like a discarded doll and he landed heavily, unmoving.

"Koji! Koji, stop! You are going to kill him." She screamed at him. She ran towards Rick and stood in front of him, protecting the fallen man with her body.

Everything happened too fast for the rest of the stupefied pilots to do anything. They could not believe that one of their own would attack them. Jan was the fastest to act. He transformed back to his giant self. That spurred the other two robots, Gordian and the Super Magnetic Robot to distract the rogue robot from its human target. As they struggled to neutralize him, Jan took a second to analyze the threat of the powerful ally turned to enemy. The robot's movements were not as fluid as they had been before. Granted, he had not seen Kabuto train for too long, since he had been paired with Daigo but still the movement did not seem normal.

"Kabuto! What are you doing?" Jan calls out but he gets no response. He sees the big robot take another menacing step towards the injured Captain.

But by now, Koji was in the thrall of the robot. There was nothing of Koji's consciousness left. If he would have been aware of what he was doing, he would have been horrified. Koji was not a violent man, he fought to protect those he loved, his brother, his friends, the woman he secretly loved… but he did not revel in violence. So his actions, to someone who did not know him, might not have seemed strange but Sayaka knew that there was something wrong. This was not the Koji that she had come to care for. Unfortunately, she was too preoccupied on staying alive to really think about what was happening. That realization would come later, after all the craziness was taken care of.

Without thinking about it, Jan jumps to deflect a new attack aimed at Rick. Daigo comes to help him but before he gets closer, Jan says to him, "Forget about helping me! Take the Captain and the girl to the infirmary." He said it with such a commanding tone that Daigo didn't hesitate to do as he was told. He doubled back and gently cradled the, by now, unconscious Rick and a tearful Sayaka and took them back to Santore.

"Hey you two, some help here…" The space cyborg asked. If this would have been any other type of enemy, he would have wasted no time in decimating the threat and he would have been done with the whole thing but this was a human being and he needed to be careful with this life. This was not a space monster created by space debris and shaped by the galactic energy, this was a person that he knew. Regardless of what he had done, his life was still valuable.

The other robot seemed to hesitate and Jan didn't care if they were having one of their fights in there, wherever they were housed when they created their robot. He needed their help and he needed it now! This robot was stronger than what he had ever experienced. And although he was powerful on his own right, the fact that he was only trying to neutralize the threat instead of blowing it up to little pieces was proving to be quite a feat.

"Move now! Or so help me when I'm done with this guy…" Jan barked and something about his tone convinced the pilots to rush to help him.


Lisa was in the briefing room, deep in a debate with Commander Hawk and Commander Grant when the door flew open from its hinges and violently bounced off the wall. Vince and Barry, battle hardened soldiers, jumped to face the threat, their handguns drawn. Lisa had managed to make it halfway out of her chair before they were both blocking her view of the intruder as they had moved in front of her to protect her.

"Captain Hayes…" A breathless voice gasped as if she was trying to catch her breath. The voice seemed somewhat familiar but she didn't put a face to the name until…

"Rosette, what are you doing barging in like that?"

Commander Barry Hawk moved a bit towards the blond haired girl, allowing Lisa to see the worried and slightly out of breath form of Saori's Communications' technician.

"Captain Hayes, there's been an accident in the training field." Rosette hurriedly informed her.

"An accident?" She asked alarmed. "What kind of accident?" Her concern mounted when she saw Rosette's face.

"It's Captain Hunter." The younger woman replied, not mincing any words but going straight to the point. "He was involved in some friendly fire and now he's being rushed here to the infirmary."

Lisa's blood froze at her words. For a second, her senses shut down and she truly could not say what happened or what was said, except she snapped back to see them looking at her with different levels of concern. Her head was bent, she realized with detachment, and her hands were clutching at her desk as if to gather strength to stand.

Two beats, two painful heartbeats was all it took for her to gather her composure but then she asked, "How bad is it?" Her manner as professional as she could manage.

"Daigo only said he was caught in a blast, he didn't give any specifics."

"Where are they now?"

"They are on their way. They will be landing in Landing Bay 2-B"

"Thank you Rosette, that is all." Lisa dismissed her.

"Yes ma'am."

"Rosette…" Lisa called out as the younger blond was leaving. "Please keep this to as few people as possible."

"Yes ma'am". The other woman nodded and left.

Lisa sat heavily on her chair, her mind conjuring images of the last time that Rick had been caught in friendly fire and how close to losing him she had come. Vaguely she noticed Vince talking in the phone and from what she could gather from the conversation, he was letting Jean know so she could prepare herself from whatever eventuality would come her way.

Barry Hawk on the other hand was looking at her with concern. Lisa tried to gather her ragged feelings so that she could put them aside for when she was alone but she was too scared to do so. Her mind just went around in circles, envisioning different scenarios, each more disturbing than the last. She knew that she had to get it together, she willed herself to move but she couldn't even stop gripping the desk in front of her.

"Captain Hayes, do you want me to escort you to the loading dock? If Daigo is bringing him, I know where he usually lands in cases like this so I can take you there swiftly." Barry said.

Lisa just looked at him, silent for a moment. She was glad that he was not acknowledging her feelings, instead , his voice had the same professional tone that he had been using when discussing their battle tactics. In that moment, she knew he would tell no tales of her weakness.

His calm tone had another effect, it helped to put her at ease. Something about his professional tone comforted her in his familiar tones and it helped her remember her place and her duty. Yes, she was Lisa, a woman worried for her friend but she was also Captain Lisa Hayes, the soldier that had a duty to perform. The reminder helped her to finally gather herself and she found the strength to get up from her desk and approach the young Commander.

How she made it to the landing bay, she had no idea. She just had quick impressions of winding hallways and multiple staircases. Her mind was too preoccupied with regrets and fears. All of the sudden, she heard frantic voices calling out and her footsteps hurried towards the noise. She burst into the landing bay to see a small medic team prepping to move the injured man. Lisa could not tear her gaze of the white unmoving sheets, her steps hesitant now. After hurrying to the dock, she now found that she had to force herself to approach him. The sound of soft sobs reached in her ears, echoing the sounds her heart was making. She didn't look towards the distraught female that was making the sounds and she refused to catch the eyes of the young man that was trying to console her. Her narrowed focus was on reaching him.

She made sure not to get in the way of the medics and she waited on a pause between their prep to get near him. She needed to touch him, to make sure that he was alive, to make sure that he would be okay, to make sure that he would still be there with her, even if he would never be hers.

Paleness, that was the first thing she noticed. His face was so pale, probably made more pronounced by the contrast of his inky black hair and the dark red of the blood that seeped from a gash by his hairline.
"Lisa." Jean Grant said. "I need to take him to triage. He will be okay." Her soft voice held a promise.

Lisa acknowledged her words with a sharp nod. She took a step away from the gurney as her eyes swept over the still form. Her fists clenched, driving her nails into her palms, the pain gounding her. Remember your duty… a mantra, words that had kept her going when she had been ready to give up. Because regardless of her feelings, she still had a job to do. People depended on her, a whole world depended on her and she could not afford to fall apart now.
She was about to turn around to talk to both Daigo and Sayaka when an alarm sounded.

"Are we being attacked?" Sayaka's voice rose in a panic. Lisa's body tensed as she expected the announcement.

"No, that's a different alarm. We have incoming aircrafts." Commander Hawk responded.

"It's probably the others, they stayed behind to stop Koji…" Daigo said absentmindedly but he abruptly cut off as he realized what he was going to say and who was his audience.

Lisa's sharp eyes speared the two of them as they warily looked at each other. Her eyes quickly took in the details of their appearance, from Sayaka's disheveled hair, to the torn sleeve to the bruise that was starting to blossom on her thigh to Daigo's guilty face. She was about to ask for an explanation when Barry's communicator beeped with an incoming message.

"Barry Hawk."

"Barry, are you still on the landing zone?" Rosette's voice rang clearly in the quiet. When Barry responded with an affirmative, she continued. "The rest of the robots are about to land there. Please stand by for the medics, one of the pilots is unconscious."

"One of them is unconscious? Who?"

Lisa suspected the answer before she got confirmation. "Koji it seems." A wince from Daigo and a whimper of distress from Sayaka and she knew that there was more to this story. She would demand an explanation but she knew that she would get nothing right now so she bade her time. They didn't have long to wait before the sounds of rushed footsteps heralded the arrival of the medical team and the sharp whine of engines brought the rest of the team to land on the deck.

Her clinical gaze swept the scene as the rest of the pilots dismounted and Jan Kogo handed over the unconscious man to the medics. In the meantime, the combined robot of Mai and Takeru was gingerly depositing the massive robot in the deck, like a soulless puppet. Lisa approached the Magnetic robot and they turned to her.

"Where is Sayaka's robot?" She questioned.

"Still in the field." The combined voices of Mai and Takeru answered.

"Go and retrieve it." She ordered and before they could acknowledge her command she added, "after that, report to my office. We will meet in 15 minutes. Is that enough time?"

"Yes."

"Good." She responded and turned to Jan Kogo who was warily watching her.

"I take it you want to meet with me too." A raised eyebrow was his only answer. He gave a resigned sigh and he nodded.

"Sayaka," She said, finally turning to the last two members. "Take the time to freshen up and change your clothing. Are you hurt aside from your thigh?" The woman looked down at herself as if she had just realized that she was hurt.

A soft shake of her head answered her. "Go then, I will expect you at the same time as everybody else." Lisa's gaze speared Daigo's crystal blue eyes and he understood that he had been included in that command.
"Do you need me in that meeting Captain Hayes?" Commander Barry offered.

With a soft shake of her head she declined his assistance. He would need to be informed but not now. She needed to get to the bottom of what had happened first.


Quiet, subdued footsteps were the only thing that could be heard in the hallway that lead to Captain Hayes' office. It seemed like the whole base was on tenterhooks, after the latest fiasco. Jan Kogo had not expected the day to end like this. The day had started like any other, he had woken up in the foreign room, the Earthly gravity weighing down his body in an unfamiliar and slightly uncomfortable manner. While he knew logically that the fake gravity field created by the massive ship he travelled in was not the same as Earth's gravity, it was a rude awakening every morning. He had not realized how much he would be affected. Maybe he could ask Dr. Dodge to make some adjustments to his suit so he could not feel gravity so heavily…
His thoughts were derailed when he heard rapid footsteps coming behind him as if trying to catch up to him. He also heard another pair of heavier, slower footsteps coming sedately after. From the sounds, he determined it was Takeru and Mai. Those two were never far apart from each other. He often wondered about their relationship but he never let himself dwell too long in it. What others did on their own time was their problem. He had too much to worry about. He just wanted this whole thing to be done with so he could move on with his own mission.

He neither sped up nor slowed down to allow the girl to catch up to him. Without turning to see who it was, he knew that it would be Mai to try to talk to him. Takeru didn't seem to talk much unless it was to complain or to throw some snide comment.
"Jan, wait…" the girl said as she suddenly reached him and lightly touched his arm. He turned abruptly towards her, making her stumble back a couple of steps. Takeru's steps sped up then, protective of his partner as always. "Sorry, err… Mr. Kogo" She amended her address, watching him warily. She not interacted with him much and although she was not a shy person, there was something about him made her wary. He seemed to be as caustic and distant as Takeru was when he first started in the team but she never felt that much of a dangerous aura from him as she was getting from the cyborg.

Jan just watched her silently, giving her his attention but she could tell that he was well aware of Takeru's approach.

"What?" He asked at her continued silence. "You stopped me for a reason. I don't want to keep the dragon lady waiting for much longer. Not that I care too much about what she thinks but I have people that do." he grunted as an afterthought.

Mai mentally rolled her eyes, another one that didn't care about the rules. She could almost see Takeru smirk beside her as he agreed with the cyborg. Maybe it her exasperation at the "boy's club" she was surrounded with that made her lose her reticence and she asked, "What are you going to tell them?"

The cyborg crossed his arms as he considered his answer. "The truth." He answered simply. "I have nothing to hide. Do you?" He added with an arrogant smirk. He couldn't help himself, he had a natural tendency to turn to sarcasm when questioned.

Takeru could feel Mai's temper rising. She had held back from the stranger because she didn't know him but he knew how sharp her tongue could get. He didn't want to have to fight the cyborg to protect his foolish partner.
"Easy there Mai. He's just playing with you. And he's right, we should tell the truth. We don't have anything to hide."

"That was not my question and you both know it." She said with a narrowed eyed glare. "Are you telling them what we think? Even though it's… quite bizarre?"

Jan looked at the other man but he avoided his gaze. He could tell they were remembering what had just transpired and he did not disagree with them. He couldn't help but recall in vivid detail what had happened right after Daigo had left with the injured Captain and the other girl.

…..Flashback…..

Even with the help of the other robot, Jan was struggling to hold Mazinger's arm behind it's back.

"Quick, grab his arm! I don't want another one of his torpedo arms trying to hit me." Jan commanded. He was used to being a leader of his own accord, so giving orders was more on par with him than taking orders. Plus, he had never been good at taking orders on the first place. The other robot on the other hand, seemed to be more used to direct orders so they scrambled to obey.

The cyborg grunted as the robot made another abortive attempt to get free. Regardless of the fact that its movements were uncontrolled and erratic, it was still a powerful robot and they were struggling.

"Kabuto!" He called out. "Koji. Can you hear me?" Only silence was heard. That into itself was weird. There was no grunting, no vocalization of any kind. He knew from his own fights that controlling the robots created its own kind of exertion so to not hear anything was strange. Also the fact that Kabuto was not moving his head to acknowledge any of his attackers, regardless of the fact that he might not want to talk to them...

Jan decided to change tactics and went after the pilot himself. He finally found an opening created by Mai and Takeru's Gakeen robot and forced open the canopy of the Mazinkaiser. The sight that greeted him made him stop cold on his tracks. His suspicions were right. The reason why Koji had not answered was because he was unconscious in the cockpit. His body hung limp as if boneless, like only the relaxation that unconsciousness could bring.

"Kogo, what is the problem?" Takeru and Mai spoke in their eerie combined voice.

"He's unconscious." Jan said as he carefully extracted the limp body out of the cockpit. 'How was he able to control the robot while unconscious?' He thought dazedly but then the answer slapped him in the face. He hadn't. Koji had not been in control of the robot, the robot had somehow tapped into him and had manipulated him as a puppet. A cold shiver shook his frame slightly. Was the robot sentient? Could it control itself? How dangerous was it? Jan was not one to get spooked easily. He had seen and done too many things in his past but this was too eerie, even for him.

"He's out? But how?" They grunted in unison as Mazinger suddenly went limp on their arms. Now that the pilot was out, it seemed that the robot had no more force to tap into.

"You tell me… Let's just take him in. The bosses can deal with this shit. Grab the robot, will you?"

Jan could feel the hesitation of the other two pilots, the stillness for a moment as they seemed to debate internally wherever those two were inside of the robot. Did they speak telepathically? Were they connected? Were they one? Ugh, just thinking about it made him squeamish, like when you think of other people having sex…. And he just had to go there… He might need to bleach his brain after all this.
Thankfully the other robot seemed to have reached a decision by then and they moved to gather the by now immobile Mazinger. Jan deposited the man carefully in his own ship. Hurriedly he reduced his size and jumped in the space behind his cockpit so he could pilot his own ship. At this point he didn't know if the unconscious man was possessed or if he had some sort of unnatural talent to drive things even in his sleep so just to be on the safe side, he wanted to be the one in charge.
The other two robots had already taken off and so he hurried up to catch up with them.

Just looking at their faces showed him that they were also remembering what had happened hardly half an hour ago. Half an hour that had tossed his sanity down a black hole. An easy mission they had said, he thought with a grumble.

The cyborg could understand their trepidation. It was one thing to be the defenders of what was "right" and to fight against the invaders but when their own instruments turned against them…? That was quite a different matter.

He let his guard down a bit and decided to give them a simple answer. "Let's tell her all that we know, we'll let her decide what to do. After all, isn't that why they pay her the big bucks to do?" He said with a levity that he didn't really feel. Mai looked like she was not as convinced but she agreed that their captain would be the best suited to figure out what was going on. After all, she had a feeling that Captain Hayes knew more about this whole mission than she was letting on.


When the trio came in they realized that Daigo and Sayaka were already there. So was Captain Hayes, who stood behind her desk, arms crossed as she waited for them to enter.

"I want to know exactly what happened on the field." Lisa's voice rang with the force of steel.

And she went straight to the point, Jan Kogo thought. There was one thing that he admired about this lady, she did not mince words. After having so many people he trusted try to "protect" him by serving him lies or half-truths, he could appreciate honesty. Still, he might admire her but he was not going to turn into anybody's lackey. He would see how this played out. He crossed his arms and leaned back in the chair, waiting to see who would be the first to crack. He didn't have long to wait.

"I'm so sorry Captain, I have no idea what Koji was thinking…" Sayaka started to apologize in a rush but Lisa was having none of that.

"I do not want to hear excuses." Her voice was ice cold as she cut off the bubblering female. With her tone, they all could see why some of her own people would sometimes call her the Ice Queen behind her back. "I asked for the facts to be reported." Hard jade eyes swept across the room and all of the people in it. "This is an official investigation. A superior officer was seriously injured and could have been killed." Sayaka turned pale at the ramifications of what the woman was saying. As much as she appreciated her superior officer, Captain Hunter and wished him no harm, she felt very strong emotions towards Koji and she feared for what would become of him.

Mai and Daigo also looked nervous at the face of their leader's words and serious face. Jan had a poker face, he seemed to be studying the woman as he tried to evaluate, how much of her anger was caused by her concern over a subordinate or if it went deeper than that. After all, he had seen them together before and had his own observation about them. Takeru was the only one that was totally unfazed by the whole procedure. For him it was clear, he had no guilty conscience so he knew the woman's anger was not directed to him. So Takeru just laid back and waited for this whole production to finish.

"Captain, I can tell you what I saw and hopefully the rest can fill in." Daigo stated, he had a much better understanding of the Captain than the rest of them and a much better relationship because of the conversations they'd had before. So he took it upon himself to tell what had happened as clinically as possible up until Jan had told him to leave.

"Thank you Mr. Otaki. And you said you left when Mr. Kogo asked you to bring Captain Hunter to us?" She asked as she looked at the other man. Kogo stared at her, knowing he would be questioned next. You just don't take command and expect to have no responsibility attached to it.

Lisa cleared her throat delicately and asked, "Does anybody have anything to add?" Mai gave an imperceptible shake of her head and Takeru simply shrugged. Lisa directed her
"The only thing I know is that I had already dismounted from my robot and Captain Hunter wanted to talk to me about my training of the day." Sayaka started. "Jan… I mean, Kogo warned us about the attack and Captain Hunter threw me aside to protect me from the attack."

"You warned them of the attack?" Lisa addressed the man directly, since he'd decided to keep his silence until now.

Everyone turned to the cyborg, curiosity burning in their gazes.

"I'm a cyborg." He said with a shoulder shrug. At the majority of their blank faces, he sighed and explained. "Super hearing? I can pick up sounds that regular humans cannot." He said, his eyes shifting a bit, like he was a bit embarrassed to admit his superhuman status. He then looked directly at Lisa, adding. "I heard a high pitched whine that I come to equate to weapons when they are about to discharge. I guess you can call it a perk."
Lisa just studied him impassively, neither impressed not put out by that admission. The other people in the room didn't seem to look disgusted either. But then again, the majority of the people in that room were not that normal either.
Jan sat up straight then and decided to pick up the story from where Daigo left off.

"You are not getting what I'm trying to tell you Captain." Jan Kogo realized that Lisa was not understanding the most important aspect of what had happened. She was too focused on the fact that Koji almost killed Hunter to really realize the implications of what he was saying. "When I said he was unconscious , I meant he was knocked out the whole time. He didn't faint after I held him back or after I forced his cabin open, he had been unconscious the entire time." Kogo said.
That made her pause. Finally, it seemed that she had understood what he was getting at.

"What? How can that be?" Her eyes shifted to everyone in the room. Daigo and Sayaka, who left first, were as surprised as she was at hearing what Kogo was saying but Mai and Takeru were somber. She could tell they were a bit spooked by what they had seen.

"I realized that there was something wrong when he didn't answer our calls but when I was close to him, I noticed that although his robot reacted to my nearness, he did not."
"Oh no…" Sayaka whispered and Lisa turned laser eyes to her.

"I take it this is not the first time that this happens."

"No, but the last time this happened, he had been seriously injured when his other robot, the Mazinger was destroyed in battle. He found this new robot that had been built by his grandfather as an upgraded version of the Mazinger but… it proved to be too strong for him."

Lisa's analytical mind ran through the puzzle pieces rather quickly. The fact that he seemed so reticent about using his robot, the fact that Dr. Lang had told them that Koji was looking for better ways to connect with the robotechnology, that single minded dedication... He had know that he could lose control over the Mazinkaiser anytime!

"You mean to tell me that he could not control his robot and yet he was using it?" Lisa's voice dripped venom. All the other occupants on the room were shocked by the admission from the brunette.

"No, not exactly! I mean that was the first time he transitioned from Mazinger to Mazinkaizer and he was hurt… After that, he practiced and trained and he could control his robot. This is the first time after then."

"Yet he hesitated in using his robot." Lisa remarked knowingly. Sayaka knew she was right. She remembered her last fight with his a day ago where she accused him of not acting and hiding behind the guise of science.

Lisa sat heavily on her chair, the events that had unfolded bearing more weight than what she had thought possible. This was not a simple case of negligence, although there was a small part of that, or intentional sabotage. She would have to talk to Kabuto and get to the bottom of what had happened. As much as she wanted to rage against him, there were a lot of things stopping her. One was her professionalism, the other was her sense of fairness.

She raised her eyes to the rest of the people in the room who were waiting on her decision on the matter.

"I will speak with Mr. Kabuto when he is awake. Sayaka, I want you to be seen by the medics." The other woman was about to object but she raised her hand. "I know you told me that you were not hurt. I want to make sure that there is nothing that was missed. As for the rest, starting tomorrow, you will all train under Captain Fokker and Lieutenant Commander Sterling until Captain Hunter recovers." They didn't dare groan but Kogo and Takeru were not happy.

"What will happen with Koji?" Sayaka asked, fearing for him.

"For now, he will not train anymore. I will not make a decision until I have heard his side of the story. You are dismissed."

Sayaka hesitated at the non answer but one look at the face of their leader made her understand that she shouldn't push it. Captain Hayes seemed like a less forthcoming person than Captain Hunter so attempting to get any information when she didn't want to provide it might prove counterproductive. With some difficulty, she rose of her chair and she decided to play along. Maybe if she was in her best behavior she could intercede in Koji's behalf in the future.

After she left, the rest of the group disbanded. Lisa's gaze lingered after Kogo's figure as he left. She briefly wondered about his actions of that day. There was a lot more to him than what he was trying to project. As if this whole mission was not hard enough, this whole group was a small powder keg. Lisa felt the crushing weight of leadership more keenly now that she was alone. She had no Admiral Gloval to rely on, and now she didn't even have Rick. Her eyes darkened as she thought of the last time she had seen him.

As exhausted as she was by the extent of the events that had unfolded that day already, she knew that she was far from done. Again, she had too many responsibilities to just give in and curl under the covers as she wished she could do. She vehemently wished she had the luxury of hiding from the world but she knew that was not for her. It took some effort but she forced her her hand to reached for the phone. After she was done getting an update from Jean Grant, she would have to meet with the rest of the command staff and inform them of what had happened. If there was something she had learned from her time in the SDF-1 when they were stranded in space was that in a small contained community such as this, gossip would flare faster than a grass fire and she had to do some damage control before it would flare out of control.

With a click, Lisa concentrated on her task at hand. One task at a time, after all was done, she could then go to her room and fall apart.

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