Epilogue
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Two weeks had passed since Tommy and John had rescued Kina. Tommy stood before a large door, wearing his dress uniform. He sighed, and looked down.
"This is it. It all ends here…" Straightening up, he took a deep breath, and went inside. The room was vast, with a large series of desks in the center. Seated at the desks were several high-ranking U.N. Spacy officers, as well as Commander Ironsides. He walked up to the brass, stopped, and saluted.
"Ensign Thomas Edward Rickenbacker, reporting as ordered."
The admiral serving as judge nodded. "At ease, Ensign. This official inquiry into certain…actions taken two weeks ago has the purpose of determining the necessity of a full court-martial. Lieutenant Peterson should be arriving…now." Sure enough, the doors opened. John entered the room, sitting in a motorized wheelchair.
"My apologies, sirs. Lieutenant Junior Grade John Nicholas Peterson, reporting as ordered." He saluted.
"At ease, Lieutenant. Now that we are all here, let us start from the beginning…"
As the inquiry moved forward, John and Tommy answered seemingly endless barrages of questions.
"Ensign Rickenbacker, are you saying that the safety of this woman was more important to you than your career."
"By leaps and bounds, sir."
"You regret no part of that belief?"
"No, sir…"
"…Lieutenant, you say it is true that, at first, you were opposed to this impromptu rescue attempt. What made you change your mind?"
"Because I was not seeing the whole picture, sir."
"That's a fairly evasive answer, Lieutenant."
"If I may be frank, sir, it is still the truth."
"Very well…"
"Ensign, you cannot deny that you used government property for personal reasons not sanctioned by your superiors!"
"I deny nothing, sir."
"And you understood the penalties that would come from such an action?"
"Yes, sir."
"Then why did you still go through with it?!"
"…With respect, sir, I have already answered that question."
"Fine…"
Sometime during the questioning, a beep emerged from an intercom in front of the presiding officer.
"Yes?"
"Admiral, Captain Fernandez is here."
"Ah, yes, he requested to be present at these proceedings. Send him in at once."
"Yes, sir." The doors opened, and an aged man walked into the inquiry chamber, holding a briefcase.
"Captain! It is good to see you again."
The captain chuckled. "You too, old friend."
"You will have to state your name for the record before you can make any statements, Captain," said another admiral.
"Sorry, sir. Fernandez, Captain Antonio L. Currently in command of UNSS California."
Tommy blinked upon hearing this. "So it really is him…!"
"Right. Now, you claimed to have extremely important information relevant to this hearing."
The captain nodded. "Yes sir, I do. After we destroyed the Hammerhead base, we sent in some survey teams to scan the area. We found a small ruin right on the edge of the crater our cannon created. If I may, sir?" He held up the briefcase. The admirals nodded. "Thank you." He opened the briefcase, and produced several photographs. He gave them to the admirals.
"Hmm…these are shots of the destroyed structure you mentioned?"
"Yes, they are. We examined it, and found it to contain the remains of technology…associated with generating and projecting pinpoint barriers, sirs."
"Ah. This was what gave the Agincourt and Manchester so much grief, then?"
"Yes, it was. However, that is not the end of the story. We examined the wreckage closely, and determined that it was destroyed by missiles…U.N. Spacy missiles."
The admiral raised an eyebrow. "I think I know what you're implicating, Antonio."
The captain smiled. "Just keeping an important piece of evidence from being left out, sir."
"…Very well. Ensign Rickenbacker?"
"Sir?"
The admiral handed the pictures to an MP, who handed them to Tommy.
"Do you recognize these structures, Ensign?"
Tommy looked at the photos carefully. "…I believe I do, sir. This building was being guarded by a missile turret of some sort. When I tried to destroy it, my sensors also targeted this building."
"I see. To make absolutely certain, though, I shall order a check of the aircraft's flight recorder."
The captain stepped forward. "I have one final thing to add, Admiral."
"Go ahead."
"Thank you. If that shield hadn't gone down, sirs, I don't know whether or not I would still be standing here. Now, I won't pretend to understand all the nuances of what happened with these young men two weeks ago. But I will say this: If it is true that the ensign here destroyed that shield generator, then I say he deserves a medal, not a court-martial…"
After the inquiry had ended, Tommy went straight home. He threw himself on his bed.
"I need a serious break…" He sighed, and recalled an event at the base's loading area, before the inquiry…
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Tommy had taken a quick trip there, to see if Kina had settled back into her normal routine there. When he arrived, he could not find any trace of her. Before he left, Aivea caught up to him.
"Tommy? That you?"
Tommy turned around. "Yes, it's me."
"Good! Kina wanted me to tell you that she's going to be gone for a few days. She doesn't know how long, but she'll be back."
"Oh, okay. Thanks!"
"Of course. Take care!"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The next day, he was back on the base. He was headed to the commander's office. It seemed that the top brass had reached a decision. As he went in, his heart was racing.
"Ensign Rickenbacker."
"Sir." Tommy saluted.
"At ease. Have a seat, son."
Tommy nodded, and sat down.
"The decision has been made, Tommy. They reviewed the flight recorder in the VF-11C you used. You did indeed destroy that shield generator. Needless to say, that's had an effect on the decision."
"Sir?"
"Don't worry, I'll get to the point soon enough. Whether it was an accident or not is irrelevant. You saved quite a number of lives, other than that of Miss Revdirgea. The bottom line is this…you and Lieutenant Peterson will not be brought before a court-martial."
Tommy raised an eyebrow. He couldn't believe what he was hearing!
"Hard to believe?" said Ironsides upon seeing Tommy's reaction. "It's true. Neither of you will be discharged from the service. However, you also will not escape punishment."
Tommy sighed, and nodded. "I didn't expect to, sir."
"Good. Ensign, your flight status is revoked for a period of four months. Lieutenant Peterson's is as well, but his time does not start until after his leg heals. He has already been informed of this."
"And I'll bet he's madder than a hornet," thought Tommy.
"You must be aware, though, that if something like this happens again, destroying three whole pirate fleets won't keep you in the service. That is all, Ensign. Dismissed."
"Sir." He got up, saluted, and turned to leave.
"Ensign," said the commander before Tommy could leave.
"Yes, sir."
Ironsides gave a small smile. "I'm glad you three made it out of there alive."
"…Thank you, sir."
Later that day, Tommy and John were at the local seaport. Aivea had told them earlier that Kina was supposed to show up there that day, as she had gone to the planet's other continent.
"I still cannot believe they're not letting the time it takes for this damned leg to heal count towards my grounded time!" grumbled John.
"Yeah, I'm sorry about that. But at least we didn't lose our jobs."
"Yeah, yeah…oh, hey, we're here!" They stopped at one of the boat terminals. The place was set up more like an airport than a seaport, with terminal tubes leading to each boat. They stopped by the only attached one large enough to support Zentraedi passengers. They watched as they disembarked, expecting Kina to show up any minute. Surprisingly, she did not appear.
"That's odd…" said John. "Are you sure this was where Kina was supposed to show up?"
"Positive. Maybe Aivea got the time wrong…" Tommy sighed.
"No, she was right," came a voice from behind them. They both turned around. It was Kina, wearing her usual T-shirt and jeans combination. However, something was definitely amiss.
"She…got herself micronized!"
John poked Tommy in the side.
"Tommy, what the hell are you doing? That's your girl over there! Go get her, that's an order!" said John with a smile.
"Aye, sir…!" He headed over to Kina.
"Hi!" She ran up to him as he walked up. Suddenly, she slipped. "Ah!"
"Kina!" Tommy ran forward, and caught her before she fell. "Are you okay?"
"Yes. I guess some things never change, huh?" She wrapped her arms around him, and squeezed.
"Uh…yeah, I guess not…" gasped Tommy. Kina hadn't been kidding about micronized Zentraedi retaining a strength advantage. "Uh…Kina?"
"Hmm? Oh!" She let go of him. "Sorry!" she said with a sweatdrop.
Tommy took in some air before responding. "It's okay." They looked into each other's eyes. By some fluke, they stood at the exact same height now. Their eyes were perfectly level.
"You're giving up working at the loading docks?" asked Tommy.
"Mm-hmm. I'm going to get another job, something a lot less boring." She laughed. "And hey, if it doesn't work, the micronization process can always be reversed…" She said this last part slyly.
Tommy chuckled. "Well, you can be as you are now, or as tall as the sky. It doesn't matter, because I'll love you just the same."
"Tommy…" They looked into each other's eyes again, and they drifted into a kiss.
John smiled as he watched. "You're the man, Tommy…" Suddenly, a hand came down on his shoulder. Startled, John turned. It was Commander Ironsides.
"Hello, Lieutenant."
"Oh…hello, sir."
Ironsides chuckled. "You know, Lieutenant, although you are currently off flight status, I would still like to know when you are going to send in your reports of the pilots under your command."
John sweatdropped. "Uh…well, Commander…it'll take me a while to compile all the important data, but…I feel that Ensign Rickenbacker, for one, is going to be just fine."
They both looked over. Tommy and Kina held the kiss for one more second, then broke it and smiled at each other.
John sighed, and smiled. "He's going to be just fine…"
[Ending Theme: "Find A Way To My Heart", by Phil Collins]
Find a way to my heart, and I will always be with you
From wherever you are, I'll be waiting
I'll keep a place in my heart, you will see it shining through
So find a way to my heart, and I will, I will follow you
This journey's not easy for you, I know
If your footsteps get too faint to hear, I'll go
'Cause you know, questions are never that easy
And never the same
You have the answer believe me
If you have the faith
Find a way to my heart, and I will always be with you
From wherever you are, I'll be waiting
I'll keep a place in my heart, you will see it shining through
So find a way to my heart, and I will, I will follow you
Time may come, and time may go, I know
If you should call out for me, I'll go
But you know, there is a code to be broken
I wrap it around
Without a word being spoken
Without a sound
There's a reason I hide my heart
Out of sight out of mind
And when I find out just who you are
The door will be open for you to..
Find a way to my heart, and I will always be with you
From wherever you are, I'll be waiting
I'll keep a place in my heart, you will see it shining through
So find a way to my heart, and I will, I will follow you…
Super Dimensional Fortress Macross and all related material is copyright Studio Nue and Big West. Macross Plus and all related material is copyright Manga Video.