"All you need is love." Title of a popular 20th century song by The Beatles
Fireworks exploded from the decks of the Prometheus and Daedalus.
All across the SDF-1 there was a party atmosphere.
Nobody would have believed it only a few days ago, as it was there was still trepidation and even outright anger.
But all in all everyone aboard was caught up in the celebrations…it was the perhaps the biggest Wedding ever.
But after all it was also the first wedding between a human and alien.
In the middle of it all was Captain Gloval.
Pipe in hand and brow furrowed he watched the preparations as they were kicked up into overdrive.
Events Planner Extraordinaire (or at least that's what he styled himself as) Lincoln Metz was marching about shouting orders as confidently as any five-star Admiral.
"More chairs! Come on now, we've got a thousand people coming to this Wedding! I don't want a single one of them having to stand up!"
Workmen, among them the twenty-three Zentraedi defectors hauled about the chairs as fast as they could. It didn't help that Metz had changed his mind about how many should be in a row at least four times in the last ten minutes.
"Hey, you over there with the flowers! Spread them out more! We're trying to get a nice trellis effect here."
The harried looking florist, who had been so happy to be called upon by Gloval a couple of days ago to provide the flowers, was looking very regretful of her enthusiasm now.
Gloval took a long draw on his pipe and opened his mouth to tell Metz it would be in his and everyone else's best interests if he calmed down a little, but he never got the chance.
"Where's that baker?! Arnold! Where's the baker?! I want to see that cake! It better have been made to our specifications…this is serious, I don't want any layabouts ruining it." And with that Metz hurried off, yelling at Arnold all the way.
Gloval sighed and shook his head. Why did I agree to preside over this?
But as he caught sight of the Zentraedi fleet massed just out of firing range from the observation window he remembered.
Today was going to, if everything went according to plan, change the course of the entire war.
At that very moment a number of MBS cameras were been set up, to get every single angle of what was to take place. Not only that but the camera men and directors were in contact with Claudia, up in the Bridge, who was making preparations to send out a wide-ranging broadcast signal. One that would be picked up by every communication and visual device within a thousand mile radius.
Elsewhere, the bride and groom were having last minute fittings of their clothing.
And of course the fireworks were going off and the Veritech squadrons, with Fokker leading for the first time since the attack were out there getting ready to make the most impressive of honour guards.
Gloval checked his watch. Fifteen minutes to go.
"What's all this, why aren't our radars working?" Breetai demanded in annoyance, striding onto the bridge.
Exedore was all ready there, a strange long on his misshapen face.
"Well?! What is it?" He demanded when his advisor made no comment.
"It's a transmission, sir," Exedore replied, turning to look at his Commander over his shoulder, eyes wide. "From Zor's fortress."
For more than 120 lon no communication had been attempted with Zor's fortress and more than that, not once during the conflict had the micronians ever communicated with them.
"What are their demands?" Breetai demanded, then added somewhat curiously. "Though I cannot imagine why they would believe themselves to be in a position to make any."
"It does not seem to be a standard transmission, sir…it is definitely directed at our fleet, but they are not speaking to us. Rather…they seem to be showing some…strange sort of ritual." Exedore waved a hand at the comm. screen, which Breetai looked for the first time.
On the screen was footage of one of the 'arms' of Zor's fortress, which the micronians had added of their own accord.
On it was one of the micronians mecha, with what appeared to be two strangely dressed micronians inside.
"Surely they don't plan to attack us with that one mecha," Breetai mused, shaking his head. "What could they hope to achieve?"
But when the mecha was launched it made no move towards the Imperial Fleet, instead it followed a strange path that shot out from the bow of its launching vessel. It was a path of light, but it wasn't a weapon, at least it didn't appear to be, although it was made up of the amazing colours.
As the mecha flew down the path more micronian mecha appeared, but they did not make a move towards the Imperial Fleet either, instead they lined up, either side of the strange path of light.
"What -?" Breetai began, but cut himself off, it seemed useless to ask, Exedore was just as bemused by the whole thing as he.
The other micronian mecha had changed into the second mode and each lifted their guns, but instead of rounds of bullets, light shot from the muzzles of those as well!
It was so completely bizarre, Breetai wondered if perhaps the micronians, not used to prolonged warfare had buckled under a collective insanity. Do they honestly believe we will be scared by this?
He certainly wasn't afraid, but he was intrigued…instead of ordering the signal blocked, he continued to watch, not thinking that throughout the ships of his fleet just about every Zentraedi was also watching the spectacle.
"This is pathetic, I mean, what are these things for? Warfare, or bridal parties?"
"Shut-up, Gibson," Roy snapped, annoyed. He certainly hadn't missed his second-in-command while he had been off-duty, the man was a complete idiot.
Well, maybe not an idiot… Roy decided, but a complete pain in the ass.
He and Gibson were the last Veritechs in the honour guard for Sterling and Parina and Roy watched as the two of them completed the circuit of the SDF-1 and landed again on Prometheus.
"Lower Gatlings," Roy ordered, the guns weren't really manufactured for lightshows, and they were beginning to overheat rather badly.
The rainbow road faded away as well as the blue VF-D descended below decks.
"All Veritechs return to hanger bays."
Roy was surprised, though he really shouldn't have been to see Lisa's face in the corner of the comm. screen, looking pale and tired. Then again, why let a little thing like almost getting killed get you down. Roy thought, resisting an urge to roll his eyes, since she could certainly see him.
"Roger, Bridge," he said instead and headed back to his assigned bay.
Every pilot had been invited to attend the wedding, no doubt as a show of solidarity to Sterling. Which Roy sure didn't mind, although the same couldn't be said for a few members of the Veritech squadrons. Roy had had to break up a few tense stand-offs that threatened to escalated into full-blown fights, there were still plenty out there who'd rather be killing Zentraedi than making peace with them.
Roy could on one hand understand where they were coming from, there was not one soldier aboard who hadn't lost a close friend to the Zentraedi onslaught, Roy included.
On the other, grudges had to be buried, something humans should have learned during the aftermath of the SDF-1's arrival on Earth over ten years before.
Once all the Veritechs were in their assigned bays the pilots fell into line by squadron and at the command from, of all people, the events planner who had taken over the entire gig, they made an impressive, albeit embarrassing entrance.
"I feel like a complete moron," Gibson grumbled from beside him.
"What a change," Roy returned, dryly.
He was well aware of Gibson glaring at him, the man almost stopped marching to do so, but he obviously wasn't stupid enough to take him on.
The pilots took their assigned seats, Roy wishing he was sitting beside Claudia, or Rick, or even the events planner.
In fact, Colonels Maistroff and Caruthers might have been preferable.
Seloy's first instinct had been to demand the switching off of the broadcast that the micronians were forcing on the ships of the Zentraedi. Part of her sensed danger, some sort of trap…
Another part of her, however, wanted to keep watching, she had a strange desire to try and see if Miriya appeared in any of those images. She had been gone so long now, that the rest of the Quadronos had given up, certain that the greatest of them had finally met her end. The realisation had been a hard one, and Seloy had for once in her life had been relieved that there had been no call to combat. The past lon had been spent in drills and manoeuvres and attempts to boost the morale of the once proud group.
Now here they were crowded around the largest of the screens aboard the cruiser.
"What on earth is all that light?' Kazianna Hesh demanded from her position at the front of the group. "I can't see any strategic purpose to it."
"I don't believe the micronians know what strategy is," Vividine Chodra declared, tossing back her black hair. "They are hopelessly pathetic at warfare."
Seloy was pleased to hear them all in such good spirits, but wondered if perhaps she had overdone it with the morale boosting. It will not do if they are too over sure of themselves…
She was about to comment on it, when suddenly there was a collective gasp from the Quadronos around her.
"No…"
"It can't be…"
"It must, we'd know her anywhere…"
All thoughts of strategy and micronian failings fled from Seloy's head as she stared open mouthed at the screen before her.
For who was on it, dressed in a long, cumbersome, utterly unwarlike outfit?
But Miriya Parina herself.
There was no doubt, her long green hair and bearing was the same as the Miriya Seloy knew. Despite the fact that there was a bizarre covering atop that green hair and a look in her eyes that Seloy had never seen before and could not identify.
In her hands, Miriya held some sort of…life form, not an animal, but plant matter. It had been nos since Seloy had seen a plant, and she could not for anything understand why Miriya would be carrying some.
And then…the most shocking of things happened.
Miriya had been walking, a stately pace, but now she stopped…
Right next to a male.
"What is she doing?!" Lolea Kren almost screamed. "That- that's a male!"
"Perhaps she means to kill him," Kazianna breathed, her eyes wide.
But when Miriya laid a hand on the male it was not to strike him down, rather it was to take his arm.
There was another gasp from the Quadronos.
"What-what is this?" Vividine groaned, there was a look of disgust on her face, but at the same time it was clear she couldn't tear her eyes from the transmission. "Seloy, did she say this was part of her spy mission…it is… it is horrible!"
Seloy could only shake her head.
Miriya and the male now walked together down an aisle, micronians sitting either side of them, males and females mixing freely.
It was the most horrendous thing Seloy had ever seen, had ever imaged. It's some sort of…of torture… she decided.
But as the transmission closed in on Miriya's face, Seloy saw her look up at the male, with a smile on her face.
Max's heart was pounding with sheer joy and excitement, he caught Miriya's look and smiled back, albeit nervously. Never in his whole life had he expected to marry in front of so many people. He had always envisaged it more as a quiet service…
With Ben as his best man and the Dixon's…
Max mentally shook the thought away, he had of course invited Ben's parents, how could he not? He knew though, that they were not among the well-wishers.
But there would be time enough later to face the rupture of that relationship, right now he was about to cement a new relationship, surely the most important of his life.
"Going all right," he whispered in his bride's ear, it was a long walk down the aisle, even though they were only going down half of it together.
"Fine," she whispered back, then gave a surreptitious wink. "I am not wearing those ridiculous shoes, I put on boots instead."
Max suppressed a laugh, knowing the boots Miriya was talking about, heavy black ones, just imagining them under the frills and delicate lace of her dress.
Finally the two of them reached the stage, where in his dress uniform, cape and all Captain Gloval waited.
The Captain had been more than happy for Max and Miriya to write words of their own vows, in fact he had encouraged it. Max knew that the Captain was going to begin the service with his own speech to the Zentraedi fleet – which was to be translated over the airwaves by the Zentraedi spies. Max could only hope that his words too would speak to the aliens.
Captain Gloval smiled at them both before beginning. "Citizens of Macross, soldiers of the RDF and all watching us today, you are all witnesses to an event of great importance, of a magnitude that has never been seen by us as a species before. Today, two people are marrying, but not just any two people, a human and an alien." He paused, letting that idea sink in and Max could see that it was.
The Captain took a deep breath and then continued. "When we think of aliens we imagine a species so far removed from our own, one with attributes that we cannot possibly sympathise with. But we have discovered that this is not the case. Just before the ceremony today these two people had their blood tested and as a result I can stand before you and say that there is no significant difference between Zentraedi and human blood. We are, for all purposes, the same."
There was a collective gasp from just about all of the guests, there was but a select few who would have had an idea just how similar the two races were.
"This is not a war with a species we cannot fathom, that we cannot understand, it is a war with a species like ourselves. Humankind has fought amongst itself for our entire history, at the dawn of the new millennium just after this fortress arrived on our planet, we believed that we could turn a corner, and live peacefully with one another. But now we face a new challenge, to make peace with these aliens, who we thought of as monsters, but who are in fact more properly described as members of our own human family."
Silence had fallen over the cavernous room, everyone was hanging on the Captain's every word.
And Max could only hope not just on the SDF-1.
"What is this?" Khyron snarled sickened by what was unfolding on the comm. screen on the bridge.
But he was even more thrown off by the fact that Grel and the techs seemed intent on what was going on. It was disgusting and time wasting beyond that.
"Turn it off!" He ordered, furiously.
Grel jumped as if shocked that the Commander of the ship would be giving an order.
"We…uh...Lord Khyron…"
"Turn it off," he growled again in a dangerous tone, unable to believe the order had not been followed immediately.
The techs, who had seemed to be almost in a trance, seemed to shake themselves out of it and the comm. screen faded away.
"Uh…I…uh…" Grel gulped, tugging on his uniform collar to loosen it.
"That was a transmission from the micronian ship," Khyron began, rather unnecessarily. "Why were you so intrigued by it?"
"I wasn't! That is…uh…"
"Are you finding something that…interests you in the micronian society, Grel?" Khyron's eyes were almost narrowed into slits.
"No, no…I…uh…"
"And what of the rest of you?" Khyron shouted down to the techs.
"We were just -" began one.
"It was an accident, Lord Khyron –"
"The transmission was on all frequencies and –"
"Quiet, the lot of you!" Khyron demanded, clenching a fist. "Grel, that was First Officer Miriya Parina."
Grel gulped again and gave a jerky nod of his head. "Yes, Lord Khyron."
"Why is the self-proclaimed ace pilot of our fleet standing next to a male micronian?"
Grel had no reply.
But Khyron hadn't really expected one, instead he turned back towards the techs and pursed his lips thoughtfully. "Turn the transmission back on."
"Uh…what?" Grel blurted.
"Do it!"
The techs jumped to do so and the comm. screen reappeared, showing yet another close up of the micronian male and First Officer Parina.
Could it be? Khyron thought to himself, recalling how some lon ago now he had had quite the confrontation with that overbearing, overconfident female. It had not be anywhere near as satisfying as fights with Azonia, but his final words to Parina on that occasion still brought a smile to his face.
"I'm telling you, my experience shows that the micronians possess but one superb pilot! One even you cannot best!"
There had been rumours that Miriya Parina had indeed come up against that pilot and been defeated…going so far as to be micronised and sent to Zor's Fortress.
And this is where she has ended up? Khyron mused, but felt ill as onscreen First Officer Parina reached out an actually took the male's hand.
"Ugh!" He groaned, and turned away. "Disgusting!"
Grel looked pale and the techs also looked stunned.
"Cut the transmission, I've seen enough," Khyron ordered, not turning back until the comm. screen had gone.
"So then, the micronians have managed to defeat the ace pilot of the Quadronos hmmm…?" He folded his arms. "No doubt she is now been tortured by them." He laughed, cruelly. "And if it is sickening for us to only watch it I imagine she is suffering beyond measure." Khyron's grin widened even further. "How…unfortunate for her."
Lisa blinked, realising for about the tenth time she had almost nodded off. Perhaps the Captain and Claudia had been right…she wasn't ready to return to her post.
But what else is there for me? Lisa asked herself, shaking her head to chase the sleep away. If I wasn't here I'd be part of the ceremony and I just don't think I could take that.
Not of course, that she wasn't, like everyone else on the Bridge glued to the transmission of the wedding.
"Do you think the alien fleet is picking this up?" Kim spoke from her console.
"They should be," Claudia remarked over her shoulder, "we've just got to hope they're finding it interesting enough not to switch off."
"Well, they certainly aren't moving to attack us," Vanessa switched over to the threat board quickly before changing back to the video transmission of the wedding on her giant screen.
"Oh, I hope it stays that way!" Sammie put her hands together. "Maybe then we'll get off duty earlier enough to be able to go to the reception."
"Always got your mind on the important things, huh, Sammie?" Kim asked, poking her tongue out.
"Hmpf! You wanted to go too, especially when we saw the cake-"
"Hey, come on now," Claudia held up her hand for silence. "This is an historical event, we should be listening to what the Captain's saying."
The Bridge Bunnies fell silent and turned their attention back to the transmission.
Captain Gloval had finished up is inspiring speech, one Lisa hoped her father was listening to back on Earth not to mention the rest of the idiots on the UEC.
"Lt. Max Sterling and First Officer Miriya Parina will now exchange vows written by each of them to express their feelings on this day. Feelings that all of us here assembled will known and appreciate."
Max went first, Lisa gave a small smile at the nervous look on his face as he glanced briefly towards one of the cameras then just as quickly looked away, back to Miriya.
"Um…well…Miriya, before I even met and talked to you face to face, I knew you were someone I wanted to meet. It never even occurred to me that you might be one of the enemy, and when I found out you were, I didn't know what to think…But I knew that I couldn't just turn away from the feelings I had for you. I didn't think of you as alien, only as someone I wanted to get to know, to be with. Miriya, I promise that that will always be the way I'll see you, as someone, not the enemy, not an alien. I promise to be there to support you and help you. Most of all I hope that you will take me as I am, because I'll take you as you are."
"Awww," Kim sighed, putting her clasped hands to her heart. "How romantic! I want my husband to give a nice speech like that to me on our Wedding day!"
"Better start saving to pay him off now," Sammie teased and Vanessa burst out laughing.
Kim frowned and then poked her tongue out. "Shut up."
"Girls," Claudia said warningly, then looked over at Lisa and gave a wink. "It's like babysitting, isn't it?"
Lisa managed a smile, but secretly she agreed with Kim, the idea of having a romantic speech dedicated to her was something she would definitely love.
She suppressed a sigh. Keep on dreaming, Hayes, she told herself, rubbing her forehead since she felt a headache coming on. Maybe one of them will finally come true.
Miriya Parina had never been more excited and anxious in her life…no battle or medal honour could compare with this.
Across from her was Maximillian, who had just read to her a speech that only fifty lon or so ago would have sickened and angered her. But now…
Although, she had to admit she wasn't sure how she felt about having such a wide audience observing the ceremony. Maximillian certainly hadn't explained a wedding to her like this.
But of course, hearing the Captain's speech told her that this was something special and knowing that gave her the courage to speak words that no Zentraedi had ever or could ever have imagined they would speak.
"Maximillian, I will." She spoke strongly, thinking of the fact that her former squadmates, the Quadronos would be watching this. Briefly she wondered what they'd be thinking, probably that she had lost her mind or been brain washed…
But she found she didn't really care, all she cared about now, was Maximillian, who had broken into the widest smile at her acceptance of his vows.
"As a Zentraedi, I have never known love and I know that I don't know everything about it yet. But there is no one else I would rather discover these things with then you." She brushed her hair back nervously and with a quick glance at those assembled continued.
"I'd also like to say something to everyone who is listening and watching this…I was once the finest pilot of the Quadronos, the greatest of the Zentraedi combat squads. I gloried in the thrill of battle, in victory and in killing. It is in fact why I came aboard this vessel. But Maximillian has shown me in short time that there is much more to living then killing. That is why I am here beside him and why I will always be so. This I vow."
Maximillian was smiling at her and he squeezed her hand, she squeezed back and then turned to look directly at one of the many cameras that were in the room.
Drawing a deep breath she spoke in Zentraedi, a speech she had not planned on making, but now she felt she had to. "I speak to all Zentraedi, I am sure you are watching and I am sure you are thinking I have been brainwashed, or tortured into saying these things. I have not. It is you who have been brainwashed, by the Robotech Masters, by those in High Command. I have no doubt that you will all be ordered to attack the micronian ship, perhaps even to destroy it. I urge you, though, to think about what you are doing, what our warring nature brings us before you do."
There were gasps from the twenty-three Zentraedi in the crowd, the only ones aboard who understood her words.
Except, of course, for those in the fleet, Miriya thought, turning her head to look out the observation window, where the Imperial Fleet stood, as threatening as ever.