Chapter 2: The Family Business

--August 22, 2017--
--28:18 GST--
It didn't take long before Lynn Minmei got right back to doing what she loved doing, the woman could not stay off the stage for any period of time. By day, she was a volunteer worker at the military hospital in the Megaroad City airfield, and by night she was Ling Powel, the brightest star of the now legendary Galaxy Boulevard Theatre. After the birth of the twins, Minmei's alias returned from the woodworks, this time as nothing more than a transparent pretense at a secret that by now was known to the entire city. Even so, whether she wore the pink wig and coke-bottle glasses to work every day or not, Ling Powel was her name, her persona, her background; it was a role within a role. Starting in early February, the theatre began to alternate between plays and musicals, starting with three weeks of "Julius Caesar", then two weeks of "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest," and by late March it was time for another musical, casting Minmei as the leading role in "The Mikado." Almost every night, the audience was practically eating out of her hand, and Minmei showed up to the shows every night to see the theatre seats packed solid. She had even began writing her own project, a much anticipated Lynn Minmei Production called "The Legend of Shao Pai Lon" with some plot points borrowed from all of her favorite Jet Li movies. It was a project three years deferred, but she was patient enough to work with it day by day.

On this night the theatre was packed solid, and she knew it would mean another bonus for herself and the entire cast. The tickets for the Mikado had sold out weeks ago, and from the crowd's reaction it seemed like the people had got their money's worth. On so many levels this satisfied her, and as usual Minmei offered a ride home to the first four actors who were ready to leave when she did. It always took about half an hour to drop all of them off, and now as always Minmei came back to her house, the house vacated by Hikaru and Misa when they returned to space.

Pris was asleep on the couch when she came in, and from the relative silence in the house the twins were clearly in the same state. She started to count her blessings, but first tilted her head to one side and listened for a few seconds. Right on cue there it was; Taosan wascrying again. Pris sat up on the couch like a switch had been pulled, but seeing Minmei in the doorway she waved a curt "hello" and immediately went back to sleep. Out of routine, Minmei went straight back into the kitchen to get two bottles, one for each of the twins and went upstairs to feed them. The two cribs were on opposite sides of what used to be Miko's room, and as usual all the noise came from the crib close to the window. "Taosan, why do you always have to make such a fuss?" She said, picking up the screaming child and shoving a bottle into his mouth. "If you don't loosen up you'll end up just like your father." Taosan was quiet now, perfectly content for the time being. Minmei placed a chair in the middle of the room and picked up Yu from the other cradle, then sat both of them down on her knees. "And Yu's the quiet one. Not a peep out of him..."

Minmei felt something vibrating in her pocket, and she reached down to pick up a rattling mobile phone she'd used to replace the now disconnected phone lines of the house. Only six people alive had her phone number, and four of them were off the planet. Only one person on Gallaron had any reason to call her at this time of night, and as usual Minmei answered the phone in Cantonese. "Hi Fei Chan."

"Hey Minmei!" Fei Chan said on the other line. "How're the kids."

Minmei sighed. "No change since the last time you called. Taosan was colicky this morning, but he seems okay now."

"Ugh! That boy's always fussin about something."

Minmei giggled. "He's charming in a way. Actually, he kinda reminds me of my cousin Kaifun."

Fei Chan grunted thoughtfully. "What about Yu? I keep running in there to see if he's still ALIVE and then I see him sitting there with his toes in his mouth."

Minmei laughed. "Yu's gonna be a famous philosopher some day. That's why he's quiet..." Minmei looked down to see Taosan already asleep on her lap. He would stay asleep for a few more hours before he woke up and started fussing again, so she set Yu down on the rug and put the other baby back in the crib. "The Mikado finishes up in a few days and then the theatre closes for renovation. Can I work for you part time until it goes back up?"

"You know you don't have to ask, but why don't you just stay home with the kids?"

"Well, I need money..."

Fei Chan groaned. "Forget it, I'll spot you a weeks pay. I really think you should take some time off, I mean you spend all day working in the airfield and all night at the theatre, and then you have a three hour window between jobs and twelve hours every night and morning to spend with them. I know it's a 33-hour day, but you should at least take a few nights off."

Minmei thought about it, and nodded to herself. "Well if you insist..."

"I do insist. If you don't take at least two days off every week I won't let you work for me."

She picked Yu up from the rug and carried him on her hip down the stairs and through the living room into the kitchen. Priss was awake by now, searching through the living room for her shoes for a moment before realizing in sleepy confusion they were already on her feet. "See you tomorrow, Minmei," She said with a yawn.

Minmei nodded in appreciation and stalked through the kitchen for a snack. "How's your brother? Any word on him yet?"

Fei Chan hesitated. "About that... the Macbeth and their battle group took really heavy casualties. They're calling it the worse defeat by the defense forces in over a year. I mean REAL bad... we haven't been hit like this since Soccoro-Delcaan."

Minmei looked at the newspaper on the counter telling of yet another retreat by Broli's advanced fleet. "I heard about that on the news. Is he okay?"

"He's alright, but he's alittle upset. He said he lost alot of good men out there. Including two of those young fellas who used to work in the restaurant, you remember?"

"Are you serious? Which ones?"

"Hans and Rao."

Minmei saddened, remembering the stammering East Indian rifleman who had almost passed while asking her for an autograph the first time they met. "Poor Rao... God, his sister was getting married this weekend..." Minmei set Yu down on the counter while she refilled his bottle, and smiled as the child's toes went strait into his mouth. "Fei Chan, I'm worried. Hikaru told me the other day that the enemy keeps charging the defenses and overrunning the shore batteries."

"Kai Chan said the same thing. But don't worry, if it comes to that I'm sure we'll find some way to drive them off."

Minmei pulled Yu's feet away from his face and put the bottle back in is mouth. "I really hope so. I don't even know how to use a gun."

"Kai Chan could teach you."

"If he's around." Minmei said scornfully. "He last came to see me two months ago."

This took Fei Chan by surprise. "Two months? I haven't seen him since Christmas! How come he hangs around you so much?"

Minmei giggled. "He just wants to get into my pants."

"You should go out with him. He's a good guy."

Minmei sighed. "Gimme a break Fei Chan..."

"Okay, okay. Listen, I gotta go. Talk to you later."

"Yeah, see ya." She took another look at Yu for any requests, but found the child a living model of contentment. "Poor Rao," She said again, a tear rolling down one cheek, "And Hans too... God, I hope Kai Chan's alright."

--07:40 GST--
Imura rubbed her eyes again, slightly dizzy from almost three hours of staring at holographic projections for so many hours. No matter how she came at the situation, there was no way to avoid it, and there was nowhere left to run. Kai Chan was looking at the same holographic display in the ready room on the macron level, as were the other captains of the fleet ships. Imura had made it clear that anyone who had any idea what to do next was welcome to speak freely, and everyone else made it clear with their silence that no one had any clue what to do. She was growing impatient with herself. "Look, we've explored all the options already. We need to develop some kind of plan to get out of here alive." She looked out of the viewport of the command bridge as she spoke, gesturing to the extensive ring system and the gas giant planet bellow. They'd been hiding in the rings of this planet since the retreat from the Gulara Corridor as a temporary measure to make repairs, but the Supervision Army had set up a fold mine field around them and would not allow them to leave. The entire GSDF defense line was shifting position to compensate for the loss of their strategic position in this part of the sector; their window to escape grew increasingly smaller every minute.

Kai Chan gave up on it and slouched back in the giant chair in the ready room. "Obviously, we have to take out the fold mines. I mean we can't just sit here and wait for them to find us, can we?"

"Why can't we?" Imura said. "It's only a matter of time before reinforcements get to us..."

Lieutenant Gouraz piped up unexpectedly. "Captain Broli won't send anyone if he thinks we're DEAD! We have to move the fleet out of this system so we can reestablish contact with the main forces!"

Imura knew that was their only choice, but she also knew it was the most dangerous. "They outnumber us four to one, and we can't go head to head with them in our condition anyway. And even if we relied on fighter attacks to take on the enemy fleet, it would take at least two weeks to fight our way out of here and by that time we'll be so far behind the lines we'll never make it out."

Kai Chan sighed. "Well our only other choice is to sit here and gripe about it. The Supervision Army doesn't accept surrender."

Imura knew that was only too true. "Do all of you feel the same way? Even knowing that our chances for getting through them in one piece are about one in ten?"

No one else complained, some of them even seemed enthusiastic for it. "This is getting boring commander. We better do SOMETHING." said one of the destroyer captains.

"Agreed. But we still need a plan of attack to breach their lines and get started. Anyone have a suggestion?" There was a round of sad, defeated groans from around the fleet as one by one all the senior officers gave in to apathy. Imura rubbed her fingers through her hair and tried to think again. "I figured as much. Well sit tight, we'll think of something..."

--September 2, 2017--
--14:50 GST--
Shikari pinched the end of her strange discovery between two wooden sticks, not quite sure what to make of it but curiosity brimming over the edge. It appeared to be organic or at least some carbon based compound, combined with a strange concoction of vegetable matter for what purpose she couldn't be sure. Without the standard lab equipment, a detailed analysis was impossible, but this substance most certainly qualified as one of the strangest things she had ever seen in her short conscious life. "Odd... why is it wiggling like this?" She pulled the long yellow strands out of the mixture and looked at them more closely. "It looks like some kind of worm, but I don't see any oraphace. But the fibers don't look like plant life either... why is it so hot? Is it... still alive or...?"

Lieutenant Matt Harper had been watching her like this for several minutes, and all this time he couldn't help but laugh. Some of the other people in the food court had already taken a passing notice, especially the two Chinese cooks in the corner of the room who had noticed her fascination with the dish when they first served it to her several minutes ago. "You think too much. Just eat it already." Harper said chuckling.

Shikari stared at the noodles again, then back at the Lieutenant. "Are you sure it's safe?"

Harper chuckled again. "People eat this all the time." He scooped a lump of out of his own bowl and swallowed up a long patch of noodles in the time it took for Shikari to raise aneyebrow.

"Well... okay." Shikari angled the chopsticks and scooped up some of the noodles, swallowed nervously, then stared into her bowl in surprise. "Hmmm..." She shovoled another mouthful and swallowed, then stared at him with a smile. "It's... good!"

"Told you." Harper said with satisfaction. "It's called Miso Ramen. It's just noodles in onion broth with some seasoning. You like it?"

Shikari scooped up another mouthful of noodles in a few seconds, emptying just under half of her bowl in what could have been two strong inhales. She swallowed again, then picked at the bowl with her sticks to find more floating near the bottom. "I like it alot! Definately an improvement from the Zentradi meal pack... though it's probably not as nutritious."

"Who cares? It hits the spot, doesn't it?" Harper smirked. "Besdies, you're going to find that micronian culture has about a million different kinds of noodles and a million different ways to cook them. This just happens to be one of my favorite."

Shikari picked up the bowl and drained the rest of it's contents in one massive gulp, not spilling even a single drop from the corner of her mouth. Harper found this whole ordeal odd; he was two feet taller than this woman, who had just put away a massive bowl of ramen noodles like a glass of water. Shikari set the now empty bowl down on the table, belched loudly, then started reaching across the table for his bowl. "You gonna eat that?" At the risk of maybe loosing a limb to her appetite, Harper shook his head. With one deft movement Shikari snatched the bowl off the table and quickly unloaded it's contents into her own stomach in much the same way as her own, now leaving two empty bowls sitting on the table next to two empty glasses of beer. "Thank you for that..." She said at last, wiping her mouth with a napkin.

Harper felt cheated, but more than anything he was amazed. "How much do you weigh?"

"On this ship? Uh, about a hundred and two."

"I figured. How can someone so small eat so much?"

Shikari seemed confused. "How much do YOU usually eat?"

"I don't even eat THAT much and I'm twice your size!"

Shikari smiled brightly. "Size can be deceptive. Especially when genetic engineering is involved...."

"No shit." Harper looked at his watch. The fleet was scheduled to arrive at the front in a few more hours, at which point they would again be plunged into battle against the Supervision Army. All of the other fleets were taking efforts to cover the defense outposts to buy time for the factor satellites to build up more ships and defense systems for the planet Gallaron, but Shikari's 2nd fleet was the only battle group in the GSDF that was actually going on the offensive. "Anyway, what's so important that you'd come all the way over here from the Defiant just to talk to me? Am I all that interesting?"

Shikari smiled again. "Not really, but you're right, there was a reason for this meeting."

"Well?"

"Well, I've been doing some research into human behaviors and customs, more than anything I've been watching some of your movies and such. I've found there's one thing they all seem to have in common and I can't figure out why."

Harper could guess where this was going, and he didn't like it at all. "What?"

"Sex."

"Sex?"

"Yes. The most common expression of male and female interactions in these kinds of presentations are what people call romance, and it almost always involved men and women kissing each other, or sometimes physically mating. I've watched dozens of films on the subject, but I'm sure there's something I'm missing. I mean... well it doesn't seem pleasurable at all, especially to be..."

"I get the picture." Harper said, cutting her off for the benefit of his peace of mind. "No wonder you're confused. What do you want me to help you with?"

"I'd like to know what purpose it serves? It doesn't really cause any kind of serious physiological changes, although much of the literature ties it in with the human reproductive process, though I'm pretty fuzzy on THAT too... I think what I'd like to know is why is it so prominent in human fantasy?"

Harper looked around nervously, planning his escape route from what he now knew to be some kind of trap. "So what'd you have in mind?"

Shikari's cheeks started to flush. She didn't quite have the nerve to ask him in his own language, so she tried first in Zentradi, "Amana ugenosto talni jih'jadel?"

Harper flinched. "What?"

Blushing profusely, Shikari leaned forward and whispered the request in his ear in English.

Harper's eye bulged in shock, then his face turned a deep shade of purple to match hers, "I was afraid you'd say that..."

"You don't like the idea?"

"Like it? Shik, I barely know you. Besides, we're comrades on a battlefield, we don't have time for this sort of thing, even if it weren't completely improper." Even as he spoke, a tiny voice in the back of his mind urged him to take the offer for what it was.

"Why not? Is it... something about me?"

He couldn't be totally certain, but she almost looked disappointed, maybe even alittle offended. "Well there's... well there's a social understanding that's supposed to go with it. It can't really be reproduced experimentally, even for gathering data. Even something as simple as a kiss has alot of... well, consequences."

Shikari squinted at him. "But... Colonel Ichijo and his wife kissed each other to confuse the Zentradi during the war. And that was at a time when they hated each other."

"That was just a demonstration, it was only meant to represent the act. You see there's a bit of a psychological aspect involved."

"But can't you demonstrate... umm... you know?"

Harper shook his head. "Sorry, Admiral, I'm... I'm not the kind of person who 'demonstrates' that sort of thing. Besides, alot of the humans in your... films... were actors anyway. It's not an accurate representation."

"I know. That's why I wanted to experience the real thing."

"Shik..."

"Mathew, something really weird happens to me when I watch those movies... something... I can't really understand it but I feel like I'm missing something."

This he could relate to. "I know how you feel, Admiral, really. But trust me, you're going about this totally the wrong way," He considered his words carefully, remembering the social age of his comrade, "You can't produce it in a lab, you have to wait for it to happen. You'll meet someone, and the chemistry is just right, and you find out this person is really special to you and makes you feel good about yourself. That's what humans call falling in love, and THAT's what leads to... the other stuff you're interested in. But for now, just be patient, okay?"

She felt a weight of disappointment sitting on her shoulders, but at the same time a boost of encouragement, "So you're saying I should go through the whole process naturally, right? I mean... try to develop a relationship and whatnot?"

Harper nodded. "Now you've got it."

"And how will I know if I meet that person? The RIGHT person?"

"Like I said, that person will make you feel really good about yourself."

She smiled at the idea, her eyes lighting up like a pair of floodlights. Before Harper's bewilderment her feet seemed to loose contact with the ground as she walked out of the food court, floating away towards the door with her head in the clouds. He watched her disappear on her way to make the crossing back to the Defiant and chuckled to himself, "I'd hate to the the object of HER affection..."

--19:40 GST--
Hikaru rolled the fighter over in a high-G maneuver just to give Miko something to squeak at. Her reaction was disappointing; she didn't even break the rhythm of the old Shiar children's song she'd been humming since the moment they left the ship. With the asteroids in the rings of this planet zipping past the cockpit as they were, everything seemed to move so much faster, even he found himself excited by the feeling of soaring through space. But then he remembered what Koru had mentioned to her a few weeks prior. I see what he means now, he thought, Miko's not taking it all in as a big picture... she's reacting to things but not interpreting them... Something about this understanding brought him a degree of comfort. Clearly the little girl in the seat behind him understood everything that was happening, but hers was a truly unique perspective: no matter where she was or what she was doing, she was always perfectly comfortable. "You okay back there?" Hikaru said, glancing over his shoulder.

Miko was staring out the window, taking in the amazing sights around them as they maneuvered through the rings with a bewildered expression. "We're kinda slowing down." She said softly.

"Kinda, yeah..." Just for fun, Hikaru corkscrewed around in space, zigzagging between chunks of ice the size of houses to apply G-forces on the fighter in every way possible. Miko, as always, didn't seem to notice or care. It was as if every move the fighter made was just a wave of her father's hand, moving her around in a gravity free paradise. "Hey Miko, I'm giving you the controls now. Try and fly between those two asteroids right there."

"Right where?"

"Right there."

"Eskes."

Hikaru blinked suddenly. "What'd you just say?"

"I said I know!" Miko said, taking the controls in hand.

Hikaru looked at her for a long moment. "I could have sworn you said..." he turned back to the front and watched Miko's progress in his cockpit. All he had to do was flip the switch in his cockpit back to front controls and he would again be in full command of his fighter, but not before Miko had a little practice with her favorite toy. The two asteroids were massive, and the way they drifted together they made an kind of floating canyon in the spaces between them that seemed perilous to navigate even for an experienced pilot. "Right in through there." Hikaru said slowly.

"How do I make it go again?" Miko said, craning her head around the cockpit curiously.

"The throttle, the thing on the left..."

"I see..." Miko pushed the throttle forward... she added too much thrust at first, and the fighter blasted off towards the asteroids at full afterburner.

Miko seemed satisfied by the reaction and took to barreling around in space just for the fun of it, apparently forgetting about the two larger asteroids she was supposed to be flying through. "Miko, you watching where you're going?" Hikaru said, trying to keep from laughing.

"Right there?" Miko turned the fighter in space and started rolling around, trying to line up the approach to slip in between the two rocks. "I don't think I'll fit."

"It'll fit, don't worry just try it."

Miko eased back on the throttle and pulled in closer to the rock, but at the last moment she pulled the stick back and cut their velocity down to nothing. "Uh uh! Gonna cwash!"

Hikaru chuckled playfully. "Alright, alright. I'll take control again. You just sit tight and have fun."

"Kay."

Even after Hikaru took control of the fighter again, Miko still held the control stick and the throttle, trying childishly to imitate her father's movements with the movements of her own controls. From what we could see in his mirrors, she seemed to be succeeding. "You'd be proud of her Roy..." He whispered to himself, smirking at in remembrance at something Roy used to say to him all the time at the flying circus, You think it's all fun and games, Hikaru, but one day you'll have a kid JUST LIKE YOU! We'll see who's laughing then! The statement was almost always followed by Roy's half-villainous laughter, and now Hikaru couldn't help but wonder if his Sempai was even now laughing at him from beyond the grave and shouting...

"Daddy, daddy, lookit!" Miko was pointing off to the port side of the fighter were a group of tiny lights was flickering in the distance. Hikaru squinted at them for a moment, trying to make them out, until at last one of the lights blossomed into an explosion in the distance.

"That's KL-19." He said, checking his charts. "Must be an attack..." He checked the radio transponders and scanned around for other fighters. There were 8 other Lightings on patrol in the area in range of his radio. "Skull Zero to all fighters, enemy activity confirmed in the KL-19 sector. Possible enemy radio jamming, proceed with caution." Hikaru knew they wouldn't reply to him on an open channel, lest they give away their position to any enemy mecha in the area who planned on ambushing them. Anyone who got the message would join him at the KL-19 listening post that was probably being attacked, and if they could divert the attackers the base and its defenses would be able to send for reinforcements from the main group. "We're gonna have to do alittle fighting Miko. You okay back there?"

Miko nodded in her space suit. "Mommy's gonna be mad at you."

"That's true..." Hikaru thought about how emotional Misa had been acting lately, not that he could really blame her considering all she'd been through in the past couple of months. And he knew it wasn't just the usual frustration either; through Christmas and new years, and then Miko's birthday and their anniversary, and every time Hikaru took the girl to play at the park or to the movies, he had seen Misa screaming inside herself, trying to get up be what she used to be again. It was murder for her just to not be able to carry her daughter anymore, to be half of what she had been. A lifetime of this would have destroyed her completely, but Hikaru knew it might take years for those deeper wounds to heal. Not that THIS was helping things much... "Tell you what sweetie. If anyone asks, we didn't go near any of the bad guys today. In fact, we didn't even see anybody out here. Can you remember that?"

"Bad guys? What bad guys?"

Hikaru smiled. "That's my girl."

--20:10 GST--
It was clear to all on the command ship that Lacul was not in the best of moods. Admiral Bennet's gamble for the Gulara Corridor had provoked the expected response, and the micron officer was now staring blankly at the protodeviln across the monitor like a child facing an angry parent. "I'll give you one chance to explain your actions, Admiral. I am holding a report in my hand that you lost over three hundred front line warships taking the Gulara corridor from a contingent less than seventy enemies. Is there a way for you to explain this without using the words 'I' and 'incompetent?'"

Bennet already seemed bored with this conversation. "I already explained to you in my report, My Lord. The enemy has established large scale particle cannons on the surface of many of their outlying planets and has supported them with dedicated airfields, population centers, mine fields, even dry-docks for starships. The Gulara system has been a major staging area for their fleet since after Soccoro-Delcaan, so they've had much time to build up their defenses around it. The only way I could take Gulara was to use our superior numbers and overrun them, and in any case, Gulara is worth far more to Gallaron than three hundred of our ships. You understand, don't you?"

Lacul smiled. "Of course I understand. You think a little mudball planet without a name is worth 15% of our current fleet strength, and were more than willing to sacrifice MY army for your own foolish victories."

Bennet seemed startled. "Now wait just a minute...!"

"Admiral, it is clear to me that your expertise in fighting these people is not as extensive as I would have hoped, not to mention the fact that we project Misa Ichijo has been replaced as the high commander of the enemy space forces. I'm moving you back to the rear line and placing Kraken in charge of the Gallaron front until further notice."

Bennet snarled in rage. "But Sire, this is MY campaign! Surely you can't give this to Kraken...!"

"Kraken has never failed me before, which is more than I van say for you. Return home immediately, over and out." Lacul closed the channel and chuckled to himself over Bennet's disgruntlement. "He reminds me of myself, half a million years ago. I used to argue with Gepernich the same way..."

Kraken looked up from his position along the giant's side, staring up at him with wide eyes. "Why me Sire? Why not dispatch Sarride or Jinai?"

"Because of Jinai's condition, I like to keep him out of the direct line of fire. He works best only when he has a buffer between himself and his enemies. And Sarride has her own problems, I wouldn't want to give her an opportunity to screw up such an important mission as this one. She can stay on the Botoru front for now."

Kraken nodded. "Then I will join the front with Lazuli and Jinai?"

"That's the idea. One your way, Kraken. Jinai will reinforce you from the rear when asked, and Lazuli will act as your reconnaissance unit." Kraken saluted and started for the gravity platform to his ship. "One more thing, Kraken." The Zentradi stopped the platform and turned to face his master. "About Jinai. I should tell you the rumors about him are incorrect."

"Eh?" Kraken turned all the way on the platform and faced Lacul completely. "I heard he had some kind of mental handicap..."

"Not quite. More accurately, he's slightly autistic. I found him on a protoculture colony hundreds of years ago that was attempting to resist our fleet. No matter how many times I drain spiritia from the man, he just keeps regenerating."

Kraken found this somewhat disturbing, though he wasn't sure why. "You mean he's fully conscious?"

"Yes. He is free of all mental conditioning, but as far as I can tell he's a strategic genius. The only way I manage to keep him in control is through his family. His mate and three male offspring are in stasis within this base ship, hidden where even I can't always find them."

Kraken understood. "Then this changes nothing. One way or another, his loyalty is assured."

"Yes. His home colony has been wiped out, and he is a somewhat fickle man. Keeping him in line has always been easy. I just want you to know this so you'll be able to rely on his abilities, he's a strange mind but quite intelligent."

Kraken nodded. "Thank you My Lord. I will sortie at once."

--22:01 GST--
A VF-4G Lighting fighter maneuvered into the fighter bay of the SDF-Monitor in gerwalk mode and set down on the deck with a clumsy thud. There was a flame out in one engine, with one FAST pack blasted to bits and most of the main body pitted and scarred from small caliber auto-cannons and micro missiles from enemy powered armors. One of its arms had been blown off along with the wing on that side, and metal around the cockpit was slightly dented up from direct impact with an enemy mecha's fist. Misa had seen this fighter in far worse condition since the Monitor left Gallaron, and she had come to accept that a great many fighters had been hauled back to their ships with their pilots passed out or worse at the controls only to be repaired and sent back into space only a few hours later. But things were different this time. Hikaru wasn't alone.

The Colonel climbed down from the cockpit ladder and took of his helmet to take a much needed breath of fresh air, but when he turned around he found himself staring down at a very displeased woman in an Admiral's uniform in a wheelchair. They stared at each other for a few moments, Hikaru too petrified to say anything and Misa to angry to speak; any technicians and fire crews who had been working to secure the fighter discretely decided to keep their distance at that moment. Finally, Hikaru gathered his courage and decided to break the awkward silence between them. "Misa I..."

"Just what the hell were you thinking?!" Misa exploded, rolling up to him and staring strait up into his face. "Goddamit Hikaru, how could you?!"

"Misa, I'm sorry, I just didn't think--"

"You're damn right you didn't think! It's bad enough you'd go off and leave me here on this goddamn ship, but how DARE you risk the life of my child! I want you to stay away from her from now on! No more joyrides, no more games, just stay away!!" Miko slowly and quietly poked her head over the edge of the cockpit, watching the scene bellow shyly and trying her best not to be noticed.

"Look, I'm apologizing, okay? Miko wanted to go flying, so I took her with me on the patrol like I always do. Then KL-19 was attacked and the Hykomba was taking heavy fire. I had to follow orders..."

"Nobody ordered you to go get my daughter killed! You should have known better! If I ever catch you joyriding around with her again like that, I'LL KILL YOU!"

Miko started trembling. She couldn't quite understand why her mother always went so crazy whenever Hikaru took her flying, but it terrified her all the same every time they landed. The last three times they had gotten away with simply not telling her when he took her up, but after all the explosions and enemy ships that had been blown up in the last battle, Miko was sure she was in for at least a very thorough spanking. "Mommy..." She squeaked out, half expecting Misa to reach up with a thirty foot arm and snatch her out of the cockpit to tan her hide. "Daddy wanted to go home, but I din want to and I got trouble with the bad guys. I'm sorry..."

This only seemed to make Misa more angry and now she started charging him in the chair as if trying to run him over. "Oh, and now you're getting HER to cover for you too?! What the hell kind of father do you call yourself, risking the lives of other people just for your own...?!" the front wheels snagged on one a fuel line and the whole wheel chair tipped over in its side, spilling the Admiral onto the deck in one tumultuous heap. Hikaru was at her side in half a heartbeat to help her back up, but almost as soon as he got there Misa pushed him away from her. "Don't touch me dammit! I can do it!" She clawed her way along the deck to get back to her chair, and to much to Hikaru's total lack of surprise she found herself completely unable to pull herself back into the seat with the dead weight of her legs pinning her down. "I can do this myself!"

Hikaru moved next to her again to help her back up, and in the effort of pushing him away again Misa collapsed on her face right in front of the wheelchair. She tried for a moment to push herself up again, but when her arms couldn't handle the load she collapsed into tears on the deck. Miko climbed down the ladder from the fighter and came up right beside her father, and the two of them lifted her up into the wheelchair again to take her back home. "Are you alright, mom?" Miko said softly.

Misa took a deep breath and tried to control herself. "It's not fair!" she croaked, embarrassed at her display but sill unable to maintain her own emotions. "It's not fair... I can't even walk on my own..."

Hikaru kissed her forehead and started pushing the chair out of the hanger, back towards their waiting apartment and what would be a hot bath for his wife. He knew what it was that was eating away at her, that bizarre disapproval in herself as if by being injured she had somehow failed her daughter, as if she had somehow dishonored Miko by not being all she thought she was supposed to be. Hikaru's flights with her made her feel inadequate, redundant, as if she was already dead and she didn't even know it. Add to that the fact that she had probably been drinking again this morning during their patrol shift, and the great Admiral Ichijo was now churning in an emotional blender. Hikaru could think of only one other thing that could possibly cheer her up now, but Miko somehow beat him to the punch. "Mommy, how much longer until your legs are better?"

Misa sighed and wiped the tears off her face. It was the kind of question she obsessed over in the long hours she had nothing to do and no other companion but a glass of wine and a TV set. "I'm sorry honey, I don't know."

Miko pressed closer to her mother this time with more urgency. "When your legs are better, could please you make a little brother?"

Hikaru stopped dead in the passageway and both of them stared at her in wonder. "A little brother?!" Misa said amazed.

"Yeah. Sara said a long time ago that you have to make babies between your legs, so when your legs are better can you make one for me?"

"Uhhhh..." It seemed to take Misa and Hikaru both totally off guard, and when they tried to think of something to say they both drew a blank.

"Or you could buy one at the store. That's okay too..." Miko went on shyly.

Misa smiled at her daughter and patted her on the head. "Okay Miko, just for you I'll think about it. As soon as my legs are better, your father and I will get together and we'll make you a little brother or a little sister."

Miko jumped up suddenly. "What?! Really?! I can have a sister?!"

"Maybe... IF you're good."

"Rau-ta!" Miko quickened pace and ran off ahead of them towards the apartment, probably to start thinking up names for what she hoped would be her new little sister.

Misa watched her fly off down the hallway, then looked up at her husband. "Hikaru, what did she just say?"

Hikaru shook his head sharply, signaling her not to ask. "Ignore it, we're hearing things."

"Oh, okay. By the way, I'm still royally pissed at you for taking her on that flight. That was irresponsible and..."

Hikaru smirked at her. "If I bought it on the field, I'd expect you to die of grief anyway."

Misa returned his smirk in kind. "Aw, who needs you? I'd just move on and clone me someone less clumsy."

"You see, I knew it."

"Knew what?"

"I should have just left you in the Grand Cannon."

Misa chuckled. "And then you'd be married to Minmei, and she'd make you give up flying."

"Then I take it back. I should have just STAYED in the Grand Cannon." Hikaru pushed his wife the rest of the way down the corridor where the city block awaited. First he would drop this woman into a hot bath, then he'd message her shoulders for an hour, and then just to make Miko happy, he'd set up the bars in the living room and start teaching Misa how to walk all over again.

--September 3, 2017--
--03:20 GST--
The next wave of fighters took off from the Phoenix and the other ships of the fleet against the enemy battle group approaching from high orbit, Lightings escorting heavily armed Electric Valkyries for a massive air strike. Broli was comfortable from here, he could fight this entire battle well out of range of even his most powerful weapons, trading punches with Variable fighters at just beyond the edge of the enemy ships scanner ranges. The inbound fighter wing returning from their mission had reported several direct hits on the flagship and a few other ships with RMS-1 reaction missiles, so the follow-up strikes from the Phoenix would be against the carrier ships with tactical nukes intended to destroy the defensive capabilities of smaller support vessels to clear the way for a second heavy strike with the main weapons. Ideally, the E-Valks would take out the radar and communications towers or even the main bridge of enemy ships, then move on to the mecha hangars and main engines. This would leave them sitting ducks for the final strike wave that would finish the battle for good, assuming of course that reinforcements didn't arrive in the area to help defend the fleet and Broli knew that was more likely than not. "I wonder..." Broli thought, trying to picture the dozens of enemy ships floating in space among the stars, some of them with massive craters in their hulls from nuclear missiles. Something had been bothering him about enemy forces for many weeks now, the fact that they seemed to have thousands of ships to spare even with the Botoru fleet attacking from the opposite flank, but that every time there was an opening they only ever seemed to attack with the minimal numbers of ships. Broli was starting to see a pattern. "Maybe we're overlooking something? They might not have such a huge advantage after all..."

Broli's radar officer almost jumped out of his skin from the data scrolling onto his screen, but before he could open his mouth to utter a warning the entire bridge crew was blinded by the flare of a starship's defold halo barely a hundred meters to port of the them. Next thing anyone knew, there was a Macbeth class command ship alongside them in cruiser mode and two dozen badly damaged cruisers and destroyers that had been part of Imura's 4th fleet when she moved to support Broli's forces at Gulara. Half of them were missing from the formation, all were heavily damaged. The Macbeth itself was pitted and scarred over most of the outer hull and belching fire from small hull breaches that refused to be sealed. From the look of her, Broli would have thought even the Titanic was more space worthy.

The Phoenix's first officer could barely believe what he was seeing, but he wasn't all that surprised when a contact signal came in on the standard frequency. "Sir, the Macbeth's hailing us."

Broli stared at the ship for a moment, then turned to the front of the bridge. "Put it on the main screen." He said flatly.

The holoscreen in front of the command bridge crackled with static from a blown transmitter and then started to clear up once the computers automatically boosted it through. An image appeared on the screen of Captain Imura Elensh standing in a shroud of smoke on the bridge in a blood stained uniform. "Sorry we're late Captain." She said tiredly. "We got alittle tied up at Lina-131."

Broli looked at her for a moment to try and size up the situation. Imura looked like a mess, there was a line of blood running down her face from underneath her cap and one of the sleeves of her jacket was tearing off. And behind her, the command bridge had likewise seen better days; two officers were just putting out an extremely large fire in one of the blown computer consols in the back of the room. "Tied up huh? Are there anymore coming?"

Imura shook her head very slowly. "We're reduced to eleven destroyers and three cruisers, and I've lost all but three fighter squadrons and fifty powered armors. My ship's running on s single reaction furnace and emergency batteries right now and half of my destroyers are actually being towed so..."

Broil looked again at the hulk of the SDF-07 and whistled in amazement. "So you're out of the fight, is what you're saying."

Imura nodded sadly. "A thousand apologies, Captain. I wish there was more we could offer..."

"Don't apologize, Imura, just get home safely. General Hallas is about to join the front with the 6th fleet, so we can take up the slack while you're gone." Broli could see Imura swaying on her feet as if the room was moving around her and she was trying to keep her balance. "Captain... are you okay?"

"Yeah... um..." Imura stared at him, started to say something, then shook her head. "One of my legs is broken. I haven't had time to fix it. Our entire medical staff was killed in the firefight."

"I see. You need a hospital ship to go with you?"

Imura shook her head. "We both know you can't spare any. Most of the crew's in the same boat. Field dressings will have to do until we can put in."

"Alright then." Broli didn't want to close the channel on such a low note, so he pulled up a question he had hoped could wait until later. "Just out of curiosity, how in the hell did you get through that blockade at Lina-131?"

Imura smiled slightly as if the answer was a subject of personal pride. "One of these, if you get me drunk enough, I just might tell you."

Broli smiled slightly. "Sounds good. I have a bottle of Kyshien stored up for just such an occasion."

"Kyshien's okay. Good luck out here, Captain." And she closed the channel again, her ship and fleet powering up fold drives once again for the final trip home.