Chapter 1

RISING

Three months after the destruction of the space satellite and the dissemination of former Kisaragi, peace on the Eurasian continent is kept by the Earthian Arch Ravens. A dangerous criminal task force, one of the many cells of the Corporate Sector Authority. They work in a covert manner and take on missions such as putting an end to serious criminals, suppressing major incidents among the corporations, and controlling public knowledge of these events. Arch Ravens always conduct their investigations alone. Many lose their lives during their assignments; the survival rate stands at less than 30%. One could say they might be equals to Martian "Nine Breakers."

Among this elite group of ravens lies Roihclem. His true name remains unknown, his age and origin are obscured even more. This information, if any gets out, he silences the educated himself.

During his search for one Gustave Macross, he felt like collecting his thoughts at a nearby public house. He sat at a corner booth, his scotch on the rocks sat there at the table in front of him. No lighting was present at the booth, a red curtain covering each one individually. The bar was almost vacant; there were a few bums and MT pilots looking for work. Ergo the lack of noise to disturb his thoughts.

Roihclem thought about the past, three months ago. After his former agent, Fiona Tierney, suggested the assassination of the Kisaragi CEO, he immediately left for space in his light-medium weight Gemfire. He had heard Macross and Ramirez give their declarations to the planet as he headed for the space satellite.

However, as soon as he reached orbit and headed for the satellite, it was already descending into the atmosphere. A little closer, and the steel fortress began to break apart. Roihclem couldn't believe that his quarry was already taken care of... by another raven. Before the satellite completely detonated, he saw a small segment break away with great velocity headed to outer space. As well, he also saw another AC fall down to the planet's surface. Roihclem had his doubts that the pilot could survive reentry, but...

His thoughts were interrupted, however, by another being enter the shadowy booth. The man sat down across from Roihclem as he ordered his own drink at a distance from any waitress.

Roihclem unsheathed his pistol and held it under the table at the intruder, "You have five seconds to leave, or my current counts of manslaughter will once again increase."

The man motioned towards the curtain opening, where Roihclem saw a fine-dressed agent at the bar holding his pistol under his right arm, which was resting on the counter.

The intruder slipped a card towards Roihclem slowly. It was the emblem of the Arcadia of LC 386. Roihclem withdrew his pistol, "So... how've you been? I thought you finished business with me long ago."

The elderly AC pilot, aptly named Ace, shrugged. "It appears that you haven't changed . . . in all respects."

"Yeah? And you?"

"You can see for yourself. Forty years seem to have an effect on normal pilots..." Ace put his arms over the table, a grin on his wrinkled face, "Anyways, perhaps you might be interested in details pertaining to your only failed mission."

Roihclem suppressed an angry smirk. Ace continued, "You know. The space satellite. It was actually built by the Martian corporations before they left prior to the Great Destruction. It wasn't protecting LC 086. It was keeping the Layered Cities separated from reintegration, keeping the world from resurfacing."

Ace paused. Roihclem finally took a sip from his drink, "...Continue. I'm interested."

"It was a first line of defense."

Ace kept a solemn and sober look. Roihclem raised an eyebrow, "To what?" then it occurred as a ridiculous thought. Ancient Martian humans, building a satellite to keep Layered citizens from resurfacing... "No, you can't be suggesting-"

"Yes. Deep space scans indicate increased radio activity from Mars." Roihclem's eyes widened, "They're planning on taking the Earth back!"

"Impossible," stated Roihclem. "Even if the Martian inhabitants wanted to come back to Earth, they simply couldn't. Their muscle density would've decreased over the years, and they couldn't handle a gravity increase such as Earth's. The only way would be constant conditioning as they head here."

"What makes you think they wouldn't do that?"

"It's just too unlikely. Besides, I can't trust your sources."

"Then see it for yourself; Mars has Ravens. The natural satellite of Phobos was recently destroyed. It was also rumored that the old megalomaniac corporation of Kisaragi had connections to Martian corporations Emeraude and Zio Matrix. The technology Zio Matrix developed gave rise to the Controller, and... if you've forgotten... the Controller was the reason behind our secluded and imprisoned life in the Layered Cities."

Memories flooded into Roihclem's mind. He gave a shiver, "And what about the LC 086 AI? Wasn't the override signal coming from there?"

"Yes, but the satellite was just a convenient relay station."

"And... IBIS?"
Ace sat up straight, "Nah, that was a creation made soon after we sheltered ourselves in Layered Cities. An AI branch to simultaneously work with their Controller mainframe."

"Do you know who made that?"

"No, I don't."

Roihclem calmed his nerves down, "And... what else?"

"The one who defeated Gustave Macross, you're searching for him?"

Staying silent with clenched teeth, Roihclem nodded his head.

Ace continued, "His name is Raven Cross."

That name... Cross? Is that possible, considering that there aren't that many Cross's? "And where is he from?"

"LC 086."

Roihclem's thoughts were pierced. HIM?! 'She' seems to haunt him wherever he goes. So that mechanical monstrosity was human. Her legacy will end. If the great Gustave Macross lost to him, Raven Cross will be the greatest challenge he will ever face. A fitting last match, he thought. The haunting images will end if the last link from the past is eradicated.

***

Three months... it took Kylia this long to finally find the Tenlos Syndicate headquarters. It hadn't even been days since she recovered when Raven was kidnapped. Reese and Lexington were caught off guard. Raven came to see her in the hospital of Paradigm Layered, but he was taken before he could reach the main lobby. She gathered information from the vague number of witnesses, and they could only say that the automobile belonged to the Tenlos Syndicate, Raven's former employers.

For her quest she hired the help of Roger Smith. A past acquaintance that saved her from dying completely... twice. The syndicate was looking for skilled ravens for a secret assignment.

Roger was a negotiator, after all. So it would only seem necessary to ask for his help. Reese and Lexington were more than happy. Lexington was working on a viral program that would allow Roger to hack into their mainframe at any time.

Their dropship came within range at the appointed coordinates given by the employer, the president of the syndicate named David Saitoh.

This was an empty forest in South Africa, no civilization within miles, but there was something awaiting them; a barrage of comm. messages. They flooded the communication waves, repeating variations of the same message, overlapping one another.

Roger shook his head, "That's a mess. Let's see if we can lock them down to a single transmission." His hands moved over the communication consol. It was a simple clearance message.

At the sight of the massive base, Roger willed his stomach to stop crawling around, "All right. Here's your last bit of advice. Remember, we're just as arrogant as they are, but nowhere near as strong. So respond appropriately to bad manners, but not so appropriately that you get us killed. We're here for the job, so they don't know this is a rescue mission."

Reese mimed entering data on an imaginary keyboard. "No get killed," she said. "I'll try to remember."

"I'd like to say leave all the talking to me, but that's not going to work; we're here to impress them with our individual skill and readiness. Just keep all your responses in character, and refer any question about our unit strength, tactical readiness, that sort of thing, to me."

"Understood," Kylia said. Her voice was a little nervous, far different than the insinuating purr he was used to from her.

Kylia brought the armored aerial transport into the designated hangar. Within already were a pair of MTs, another transport, and three ACs.

And a reception committee. An officer and a half-dozen soldiers. One of the soldiers hand-guided Kylia to a landing pad marked off by red paint. Kylia set the transport down expertly.

"Show time," Roger said.

They descended the boarding ramp in proper form; Roger first, Reese and Kylia to either side of and behind him. Roger stopped directly before the officer. Neither that man or any of the soldiers reacted to his suit, not very common for a raven mercenary, the first time he could remember such a lack of response.

The officer before him was not what Roger had expected of a terrorist. The man was tall and lean, with features that might have been bland had they not been twisted into such a predatory smile. He seemed to glow with an inner light, and Roger suspected that it was a dangerous light. The man liked to win, or to kill, or to inflict pain... Roger wasn't sure which, but he did know that this was a man to watch.

Roger cleared his throat, "I am Roger Smith, negotiator of the Crimson Tide." He put on an urbane smile and lowered his voice, "I believe I have an invitation."

"Indeed you do. General Menniker. I am in charge of the Tenlos assault forces, and I welcome you to Tenlos HQ." The general shook Roger's hand. Firm grip, fast shake... he made no effort to conduct a contest of grip strength to demonstrate dominance. "Your associates?"

Roger gestured first to Kylia, then to Reese. "Captain Kylia, LC 386 Arena contender. Lieutenant Reese, my bodyguard."

"Delighted. Before we continue, though, there is a bit of bureaucratic unpleasantness to accomplish."

"Oh?"

The general looked regretful. "Lord Saitoh is a man with many enemies. For this reason, many policies surround him, policies that I do not let him overrule, for his own safety. One of them leads me to insist that you turn over all weapons to my men for the duration of your stay."

Roger shrugged. Then he drew his pistol with such speed that the soldiers present were caught off guard, their weapons out of line; he could have shot Menniker and one or two others before they would have been able to react. But just as quickly he flipped the pistol in the air and caught it, then handed it, butt first, to the nearest soldier. "I have no fear of treachery here," Roger said. "Alive, I promise additional strength to Saitoh. Killed, I would cost him very dearly."

Menniker gave him a polite nod and shrug, neither agreeing to nor denying Roger's assertion. Reese and Kylia handed over their own pistols in a less dramatic fashion.

"The second part of this unfortunate protocol," Menniker said, "is that you must be scanned for additional weapons you might have forgotten to hand over, because of your habitual wearing of them almost as clothing rather than weapons. Please."

Obligingly, Roger and the others raised their arms and let a soldier specialist run a handheld scanner around them. Roger came up clean, then Kylia.

Then it was Reese's turn. His accoutrements also failed to trigger the scanner, but the soldier behind her obviously thought her arms needed to be a little higher; with the barrel of his rifle, he tapped the underside of Reese's arms to raise it.

Reese stepped back so that the soldier's barrel protruded beneath her right arm. She clamped her arm upon it, then twisted, simultaneously yanking the rifle out of the man's hand and bringing her elbow up under the armored soldier's helmet. A slight change to the angle of her attack and the blow would crush the man's windpipe, but Reese instead brought her elbow up into the man's chin. Everyone heard the crack of the man's jaw snapping shut.

The soldier dropped to the floor, his armor clattering.

The other soldiers aimed at Reese. With admirable aplomb, Reese slowly reached over to switch the rifle's safety on, then lowered the weapon onto its fallen owner. "Is there a problem?"

General Menniker's mouth twitched into what looked like an amused smirk. "You appear to be punishing one of my men."

"Punishing?" Reese looked down at the soldier as if seeing him for the first time. "Oh, I assure you, no punishment was intended. That was simply reflex. If I'd intended to punish him, he'd be begging you to kill him now."

Roger turned back to Menniker, "My apologies."

The general shook his head, "No need to apologize. The soldier was not instructed to behave this way towards honored guests. I think a little experience with electricity will do him some good." He gestured for another soldier to attend to the unconscious man, then for Roger to fall in step behind him. "How much do I pay for this woman's services?"

"I'll never tell," Roger said. "If you want to try to hire her away, you'll have to offer a bribe without knowing my own economies."

Menniker offered a little sigh of vexation.