Note to Robotech Fans:
I've been getting confused e-mails from people, so this is to clear up some continuity details--
This story is based on the original Japanese series, "Superdimensional Fortress Macross" one which Robotech was based. The difference between the Macross timeline and the Robotech timeline is almost non-existent, except that in the Macross timeline SDF-2 was not destroyed by Kamjin's (Khyon's) suicide run and Misa Hayase (Lisa Hayes) took command of SDF-2 shortly after the conclusion of the series on a colonization mission.
Characters are mostly the same, but the names are different, as listed here:
- Rick Hunter = Hikaru Ichijo
- Lisa Hayes = Misa Hayase
- Max Sterling = Max Jeinus
- Lynn Kyle = Lynn Kai-fun
- Lynn Minmei = Lynn Minmei
- Khyron = Kamjin Kravshera
- Azonia = Lap Lamiz
- Dolza = Gorg Bodolza
The rest of the characters are all original, and do not appear in any Macross or Robotech continuity beyond the confines of this fic.
Hope that clears things up for those of you who were confused. Any more questions, please e-mail me. Anyways, on with the fic...
LEGEND OF MEGAROAD: BOOK II
Superdimensional Fortress Victory
Every war has a clear beginning and an end, a point at which a state of war officially begins and a point in time at which that conflict is said to be resolved. Conflicts without declaration are rarely called wars, and conflicts without a clear ending are commonly referred to as farces--or disasters, for the force which initiated the hostilities. The 1st Space War and 2nd Supervision War, though they both did have a clear beginning and ending, shall be forever be counted among history as one of the great catastrophic debacles of all time. For the Stellar Republic and the descendents of protoculture it ushered in a new age of civilization, while simultaneously giving birth to an adversary that would menace them for generations that would follow.
In the aftermath of the First Space War, a handful of humans climbed out of their bomb shelters and wrecked space craft to find the planet Earth devastated. Mankind all knew then that he had been lucky, that he had dodged the bullet of extinction by a narrow margin of just under a million survivors out of a population of six and a half billion. Mankind knew he could not afford to remain grounded on Earth any longer, and it was time to move outwards and find his place in the universe.
SDF-2 Megaroad-01 was designed to do just that. The famous colony mission commanded by Misa Hayase Ichijo left Macross City in August of 2012 on a course that would take them in a loop around the galactic core in hopes of finding remains of the protoculture. 80,000 humans and Zentradi went with them along with a small escort fleet. We followed their progress with high hopes, even as the Megaroad-02 and 03 were under construction.
In 2016, shortly before the launch of Megaroad-05, the Megaroad-01 colony ship deviated from its planned course for reasons unknown and moved towards a location on the opposite side of the galactic core. Following the reports of this course correction, all contact with SDF-2 Megaroad-01 was lost forever by the UN Space government, and that famous colony ship proceeded alone to face it's now historic destiny.
Most historians agree that the 2nd Supervision War began in the Acheron system, ironically the same place where the 2nd Space War would begin three decades later. The first shots of the war were probably fired by a hapless Regult pilot in a now non-existent ice crater, but the first kills of the war were scored by then Megaroad-01 squadron leader Commander Broli Kidronik with a pair of reactive missiles fired from his VF-1S Super Valkyrie. The battle over that tiny moon was short and small, and ended when SDF-102 Phoenix fired its main cannon for the first time, destroying the Supervision Army's underground base and almost splitting the planetoid in half. Many weeks later, when the SDF-2 Megaroad-01 arrived at the planet Gallaron and rescued a besieged Zentradi fleet from annihilation at the hands of the Supervision Army in a battle that would become a national holiday. It is said that the Stellar Republic was forged of the fires of that very first battle.
UN History books do not record the establishment of that Megaroad-01 colony on the planet Gallaron. The overuse of fold weapons in the Arturo sector half a million years ago has made that region a subspace deadzone where fold navigation is difficult and long range communications are next to impossible. The formal declaration of independence from the Megaroad City Council and Misa Hayase Ichijo was carried to Earth by a stealth cruiser, and in order to keep the UNG out of the conflict, the existence of Megaroad-01 was erased from the history books. Like its historic predecessor of the First Space War, the Megaroad was sacrificed by its superiors to keep a rampaging enemy away from Earth, so that mankind might be spared of another catastrophe. for years afterwards, the colony mission was written off as a martyr, as SDF-2 stood alone against the hordes of Supervision Army warships massed at their very doorstep.
But the expectations of the UN Spacy--and the Megaroad colonists--never reacted fruition. Instead of being anihilated, the colony flourished. Instead of being overun, the Megaroad beat them back. Instead of being isolated and alone to their fate, the Soldiers of Gallaron found in the darkest places a host of allies of all shapes and sizes to aid them in their darkest hours. The doomed expedition became a triumph of willpower.
The newly independent Megaroad Colony immediately built itself an army and space fleet that soon rivaled its UN counterparts. Several old protoculture warships were salvaged, including Thor class missile destroyers and a half dozen Superdimensional Fortresses (redesignated "superdimensional cruisers"). SDF-2 was even modified for frontline combat, with part of its city block cleared out and moved to the surface and the empty section in the front of the ship replaced with a powerful energy cannon. The first true battles of the Second Supervision War, the Battles of Kaderak-Three, Zjen-Kari, Mishalla, and Soccoro-Delcaan set the standard for the scale of warfare against the enemy. Even outnumbered and outgunned, victory was never far from their grasp. They suffered devastating blows at the hands of their enemies, and responded by dealing out humiliating defeats. At Soccoro-Delcaan the Supervision Army had routed the GSDF if open combat, but in the Christmas Offensive of the same year, the GSDF avenged their fallen comrades with the massacre at Bolo-Delcaan. Now the Supervision Army wiped the blood from its nose.
By March of 2017, the morale of the Republic had reached an all time high. Despite a growing number of enemy forces and military setbacks, Gallaron had become a world of optimism and positive energy. In support of the war effort, privateers took to discarded Zentradi space craft and flung themselves into space, settling on border worlds near the front to build ports of call for weary soldiers to stop for repairs, supplies, or just purchase a brief respite from the day-to-day reality of their ships and mecha. Construction teams built massive facilities, docks and airfields, and where the workers went the merchants followed, bringing their families with them, and behind them a host of school teachers for their children, carpenters, artists, singers and actors... soon a hundred border outposts along the frontier of combat had sprung up out of the un-tamed dust of interstellar words, and around each outpost a new Gallaron city, and each city soon to be the capital of a new Gallaron colony. And more and more, even as new hardships arose and new difficulties challenged both soldiers and pioneers at home and abroad, the spirit of the people reached the highest peaks.
And underneath all of it, the entire platform of public support for the war effort had really started with just one person, a young singer and actress named Lynn Minmei. In years past she had been an icon with a powerful fan base, now she was a media goddess to whom prayers were offered in talent shows. The public announcement of her romantic misfortune with her late and not-so-great husband Richard Powel had directed new attention in her direction. The first impulse to the public eye was one of scorn, as if the great Lynn Minmei had fallen from grace in a most humiliating fashion. But on the Tonight Show with Jamis Merrin, in a thorough but mercifully vague account, the entire world was made aware of what had happened, who it had involved, and why after almost a year of public absence she now stood before a studio audience in her seventh month of pregnancy. All of Gallaron collectively shed a tear, then as one people rose to their feet and applauded her courage and spirit.
And when she was finished, she closed the story with an otherwise innocent statement. "Well anyway, the gloves are off now, it's time to get my hands dirty again." The audience roared at the statement, and the papers ran the quote on the front page of the newspapers for two weeks calling her a "Role model for our colony." By the end of the month, the statement was printed on bill boards and posters all over the city, "Time to get your hands dirty," and country singer Gary Martins quickly produced a patriotic tune of the same name. The result of all this was a mass migration of inspired protoculture and Zentradi workers to the factory satellites to help with the war effort, working to build ships and mecha as quickly as possible and to repair the damaged facilities in the two planet-sized space stations. The pioneer exodus to the colony worlds flew Minmei's picture on its flags, and thousands more joined the space forces as recruits, manning the new ships and fighters almost as soon as they could be built and sent into action, all of them repeating the phrase to themselves, "I'd better get my hands dirty."
Even the smallest victories were celebrated and even the largest defeats were overshadowed by a coming victory on the horizon. A kind of standoff had emerged between the two great armies, neither of them able to advance, but with Gallaron slowly digging their trenches deeper and their walls stronger than ever. It was in this period of optimistic uncertainty in the war situation that a new constitution was drafted by the Megaroad City Council and the ruling body of the protoculture known as the "Elders." In the presence of Lynn Minmei and with the signature a paraplegic Misa Hayase Ichijo, the Stellar Republic of Gallaron was born on December 1, 2016 at 2200 hours, Gallaron Standard Time.
During an interview on a taping of the Marian Crane Show only four days later the entire Republic first stopped to hold its breath. After a few innocent jokes and idle chit chat for the entertainment of the studio audience, Marian asked plainly what Minmei was going to name the twins. Minmei was about to answer, then stopped and stared down at her stomach, then, turning to the camera, and screamed at the top of her lungs: "If any of you viewers are in the South Emerson neighborhood of Hantu City, call me an ambulance right frickin now!" Needless to say, this was followed by one of the longest commercial breaks in television history. Eleven minutes later, a four pound baby named Lynn Yu was born into the world in the back seat of Marian Crane's limousine after approximately eight seconds of labor. The second twin was stubborn, holding out not only for the duration of the ride to the hospital but persisting for over twenty agonizing hours in the delivery room. In mid afternoon the next day, Lynn Taosan was born at six pounds ten ounces. Four days later, Minmei walked out of the hospital with her children in her arms to see a new billboard in the walls, a picture of two babies with rattles in one hand and ark-welders in the other, each thinking "It's never too early to get your hands dirty." (She once mentioned to me that after seeing this, Lao Kai Chan had to take her back to the emergency room before she died laughing.)
Midway into the year, the media goddess took her seat atop a pantheon of patriotic heroes. The old brand of celebrities--the sports stars, the religious leaders, singers and actors--were quickly supplanted by new faces. Fighter pilots replaced baseball players, Admirals replaced actors, even marines had replaced super models in magazines and literature. Like never before in history the Republic of Gallaron became enamored with the deeds of heroes and the exploits of the brave, some following the call of duty even to their deaths, some going on to triumphs of epic proportions. Legends and myths were being written in the stars above their heads until, before long, even Minmei faded to the margins as all eyes cast to the heavens in search of new war heroes to place on a pedestal; the heroes of Gallaron were the only salvation for protoculture.
But the separation between public opinion and reality is a gulf that is often impossible to bridge. Despite the rallying of the people, the leaders of the GSDF knew the Supervision Army would not be held back forever. They knew it was only a matter of time before the protodeviln warlord came raging through the defenses with his armadas and his death squads, and all the hero worship in the universe wouldn't not be enough to stay his wrath. Yet the leaders of the GSDF had been infected by the high hopes of the Republic. They too sought new heroes in which to invest their faith, they too looked to the warriors on the front to save them from extinction. From their efforts, a new hero was about to take the stage on the Gallaron front, a new champion of symbolic purpose, but acting also as a symbol and larger than life. What Gallaron needed was a Titan that could, as Minmei had so innocently put it, "get it's hands dirty," in the fight for survival. So they set out to create their new hero; an old design plan was taken off the back burner, a ship that would soon become as famous as it's older sisters the SDF-2 Megaroad-01 and the SDF-1 Macross. It was the first of a new breed of legends, the first chapter of Gallaron's rise to power.
It was given the number "09." It was given the name "Victory."
Some who have lived in Macross City will remember the ship but not the name, and some who have fought on the front lines of the Second Space War eighteen months ago will remember the name but not the ship. It is a powerful vessel by any standards, able to engage space craft three, even four times its size. I've seen this ship tear through Zentradi battleships like tin foil, watched it overcome doomsday-scale firepower and continue on with a smile. On more than a few occasions I have watched the battlecruiser burning in space from a nightmarish pounding, yet never yielding and never surrendering no matter how impossible the odds. The Republic of Gallaron was looking for a symbol, what greater symbol is there than the Superdimensional Fortress Victory?
I am told that this ship was actually one of the last in the Gallaron fleet to bare and English name until the end of the war some years later, which is ironic considering the ship's commander was former Queadlunn-Rau pilot with a thick Zentradi accent. The ship has changed very little since its launch from Alpha Factory thirty four years ago, and it would surprise a few people here in the United Nations to learn that this ship actually had the same appearance on the day it was built as it did on that fateful day over Macross City, even despite all the things it and its crew have been through over those three decades. Throughout the 2nd Supervision War, the Victory came to be known as the symbol of the Republic's Space forces, just as the Megaroad came to be known as the symbol of the Republic itself. Much has been made of the Republic's "warlike nature" in paying reverence to a weapon of war and destruction as a national icon, rather than adopting more peaceful symbols or icons as a "cultured" society should. I for one find such sentiments puzzling, considering that the the entire human race owes its continued existence to a single ship and a crew of forty thousand men and women.
We are quick to forget what we have in common with the Republic. By entering the age of space travel we have opened Pandora's Box; new threats can and will materialize on the horizon that can easily wipe out our entire civilization. Never before have the possibilities been so extreme--or so deadly--nor have the efforts to safeguard our future been won at such a high cost. As survivors of humanity, and citizens of the Unity Government, we must be dilligent and pay homage to our own heroes who have fought and died to secure our futures. We too have an icon that bears a striking resemblance to Gallaron's; it stands waist deep in the center of Lake Gloval where it always has and probably always will remind us of how close we came to disappearing forever. Unlike our beloved Macross, Gallaron's symbol remains in active service even to this day, and is not scheduled for retirement now or in the near future.
When I think about it, I imagine SDF-Victory will probably always fly, jut as I imagine that Minmei will always sing. Even after both have passed away into history, the things they have done for our universe and our people will last a thousand generations before they are forgotten.
- Fleet Admiral Maximillian Jenius
37th Colonization Fleet
Author's note:
Alot's changed in this story, and alot's been moved/added/removed/redesigned out of general "been so long since I wrote that part" bitterness. This won't quite be as comprehensive a revision as other stories I've done, but most who are familiar with this story WILL notice the changes. (Kinda like the Star Wars special editions, only cooler.) I'm posting chapters regularly, every Tuesday and Saturday from now on, so you won't have to wait to see the mind-boggling conclusion and--of course--the pitch to the upcoming Book III .