Chapter 5: Britai City

For the past hour Rion and Aisha had explained to Mina the events surrounding her release from the strange capsule. To their surprise, the more that they spoke around Mina, the more that she understood them. This, combined with the strange nodules on her temples lead Aisha to believe that Mina might not be human, Zentradi or any other race previously encountered. Aisha also ran some basic medical tests on Mina to see if there was some physical cause of her amnesia.

"EEG and all vital scans are showing up normal, or what I assume is normal for her species," she added.

"I'm sorry," Mina said shyly.

"Don't worry about it, Mina, it's fine," said Rion, kindly, "So Aisha, do you think there's anyone else we can talk about Mina and the ruins?" asked Rion.

"There are others that know some more about the ruins than me… but I'd rather not hand Mina over to more strangers without her memory."

"Agreed. Mina, you're sure you don't remember anything? Your family, your people?" asked Rion.

"No… I'm sorry, the only thing I can really remember is my name…"

"Not even why you were in suspended animation in those ruins?" asked Aisha.

"No… why was I in such a place?" Mina said, more to herself than the other two.

"Well, that settles it!" said Aisha, jumping to her feet and clapping her hands in front of her, "Mina, would you like to live here with us?"

Mina blinked, clearly not expecting Aisha to have said that.

"Are you sure? I don't want to be a bother…"

"Aisha's the boss here so if she says it's fine, don't worry about it." grinned Rion.

"But… oh, I know! If I stay here, then I'll help you with your work," replied Mina.

"You really don't have too, it's fine," said Aisha.

"I may not be able to remember anything about myself but I should be able to help with something."

"Well… it's hard to say no to that. OK then, I'll hire you on here at SMS Ouroboros as an intern."

"Thank you, Ms. Aisha!" said Mina happily, hopping out of her infirmary bed.

We'll have to get you some proper clothes though, Mina-chan. You don't want to go walking around like that or certain males might start getting ideas," Aisha said coyly.

"Hey!" shot back Rion. Mina, who was climbing out of the bed, looked down at the metallic gray bodysuit she was clad in. Realization dawned on her, causing her cheeks to flush pink. She gasped and frantically tried to wrap the bed sheet around her.

"Now, that means we'll have to head out again," said Aisha, a mischievous glint in her eye.

"Go out? Go out to where?" asked Rion, feeling he knew the answer that was coming.

"Shopping of course! Mina will need clothes of her own and plenty of other things the place that happens to have the latest fashions from just before the Aura hit!"

"I guess I'll just stay here then since there are a lot of things that need to be done on the ship, like Valkyrie maintenance and…"

"Nice try, Rion, it's bag carrying for you," said Aisha with a shark-like grin. "Alright, it's settled then! Let's shop until we can't carry any more!" cried Aisha happily.

"You mean until I can't carry any more," grumbled Rion under his breath.

Soon enough, their Valkyries were back on the deck and about launching into the bright blue sky.

"I still can't help but wonder why Mina has amnesia," Aisha commented as their Valks were placed in position for launch.

"I wish I could help…" Mina said morosely.

"Don't worry, Mina, I'm sure you'll remember soon enough," said Rion.

"Although if you could remember soon, that'd be great," replied Aisha.

"Oy, Aisha, you're not thinking of doing anything weird to try and get her to remember, are you?"

"Of course not! I just can't help but want to know! She could tell us so much, especially if her people directly interacted with the Protoculture…"

"Standby to launch!" called Gerrol over the radio, cutting off anymore conversation for the moment.

Fore her part, Mina, who had seemed so quiet and demure up until now, let out a loud whoop from the back seat of Rion's VF-0D as it had taken off.

"So this is a Valkyrie. Amazing…" she said, watching the islands pass below them and sometimes beside them.

"She almost sounds like she wants to be a pilot," said Aisha from her VF-19E.

"Why not? Being a pilot is the best feeling in the world," replied Rion, "If she used to be one, then that feeling might help her remember again."

"That's the kind of thinking that'll make people think you're an idiot," said Aisha, a little irritably.

Soon, Britai City, which lay at the rough center of the archipelago, was in sight. But it wasn't quite what Rion had been expecting. What looked like a giant, city-sized robot poked up from the water with huge, flat arms and twin spires over its head.

"Amazing… is all of that really a city?" asked Mina, in awe of the sight.

"Originally it was ship that sailed the stars. This was the SDFN-8 Britai Kridanik, one of the twelve Macross-class ships built to pave the way ahead of the Megaroad-class colony ships and named after the Zentradi General who sided with the SDF-1 Macross during the First Space War," explained Aisha.

"Awesome!" replied Rion, equally in awe of the massive ship, "I've only ever seen pictures of one!"

"The Britai Kridanik was originally part of a small scouting fleet that stumbled onto Ouroboros a few decades ago. They landed to investigate all the strange fold phenomena that appeared around and on the planet and ended up staying so long that they just decided to found a new colony. The SDFN-8 became the new capital and is now commonly known as Britai City," explained Aisha, as they banked their Valkyries towards the city-ship.

Once they had landed and stored their planes in the massive ship's ARMD carrier sections, they travelled into the interior of the city-ship. To Rion, it was like the history videos he had seen of the First Space War had come to life. Or maybe like that old movie, Do You Remember Love? For Mina, it was an exciting wonderland, filled with things she had never seen before or at least, couldn't remember.

"Incredible…" she murmured as they stood beneath two massive windows that showed an incredible underwater vista. The city sections of the ship proper were located in the Macross-class ship's legs, which were underwater.

"Hey, there's the store I was telling you about! Let's go in and see what deculture they have!" cried Aisha, pulling Mina along with her.

Sometime later, Rion sat inside the shop, surrounded by bags of clothes and assorted purchases.

"This is why I don't like going shopping," he moaned. He closed his eyes and let his mind wander and almost immediately, thoughts of Mia floated to the surface.

"Mia loved to go on trips like these, dragging me along with her and making me carry all her stuff…" he thought. Just then, the sound of footsteps approaching brought him out of his reverie.

"Rion-san! Rion-san! What do you think of this outfit?" asked Mina excitedly.

Rion turned to look at her and his breath caught in his throat for a moment. Mina had changed out of the SMS regulation flight-suit she had been wearing and was now wearing a teal shawl, almost the same color of her hair over a shoulder-less white blouse, with a yellow scarf wrapped around her shoulders. A pleated teal skirt, brown stockings and white, stylish boots completed the ensemble. Rion blinked a few times and then realized he ought to say something before he made a fool of himself.

"You look very pretty Mina," he said, causing her to blush slightly.

"Thank you. Aisha wanted me to wear something a little different, but I thought it was too, erm, revealing…"

"Don't worry about that. Aisha has her style and you have yours. And it works! By the way, where is Aisha?" he asked, looking around the shop and to the door outside.

"Oh, I think she's gone to another store. 'The real battle begins here!' I think she said," replied Mina.

"I can't figure her out sometimes. One moment she's all in-charge and a total gear head and the next she's a typical teenage girl," said Rion with a laugh. "Well, we better go catch up with her."

They collected the various bags of things that were lying around Rion and headed out into the streets. As they were standing at a corner, waiting to cross the street, a holographic billboard lit up on a building, showing Sheryl Nome singing "Sagittarius, 9 PM, Don't Be Late." (This would be where you would want to start the song, particularly at the chorus.)

Motteke! Ryuusei chirashite date.

koko de kiyuu na faito ekusutashi-kogashite yo!

Tondeke! Kimi no mune ni sweet.

Omakaseshinasai

Motto yoku shite ageru ageru

Iteza gogo kuji Don't be late!

"Who is that?" asked Mina, entranced by the image.

"That's Sheryl Nome, a famous singer they call the Galactic Fairy," replied Rion.

"Sheryl Nome… it sounds like a wonderful melody. She must be really famous if she can sing like that," said Mina.

"Yeah, Sheryl's sometimes called the Galactic Fairy because of how famous she is. My little sister loved her music and bought all of her albums," replied Rion, a touch of wistfulness in his voice.

Just then, Aisha walked up to them, shopping bags in hand.

"Oh Rion, Mina there you are! What are doing? Watching a Sheryl Nome music video? Somehow, I'm not surprised you'd like her, Rion," she said with a mischievous wink.

"Hey, don't lump me in with weirdoes. I like her just fine. And it's a good one… this song I mean," he replied.

Noticing how enraptured Mina was with Sheryl's singing, Rion felt a wave of nostalgia wash over him.

"Hey Mina, would you like to get one of Sheryl's CDs?" he suddenly asked.

"Huh? I guess I would like to, but we've bought so much already! And wouldn't it be somewhat expensive…?" she trailed off, not quite sure how to respond.

"Don't worry about it. Consider it something of a present for joining the company," said Rion, smiling warmly at her.

A few minutes later, they were in a music store and the freshly purchased disc was in Mina's hands. Strangely enough, physical media was still present, even at this point in time. It was especially prevalent amongst the Zentradi.

"Congratulations, Mina!"

Mina looked up at Rion and felt a sudden warmth of… something towards Rion.

"Thank you so much, Rion! I'll treasure this!" she said.

"You're turning into such a lady-killer, Rion. I think your stock with Mina just went way up!" said Aisha, smirking devilishly at Rion.

"Oh, shut up," Rion shot back, somewhat embarrassed.

They were just walking out of the store when they heard a strange roaring noise. Rion's eyes widened as he recognized it.

"Aisha! Mina! Get Down!" he shouted, grabbing the two girls around the shoulders and pulling them to the ground. Not a moment too soon as an explosion rocked the entire street and a Valkyrie swooped overhead in GERWALK mode.

"What the-? Where did that Valkyrie come from?" spluttered Aisha. The roaring of engines continued as more Valkyries swooped low over the buildings, the low flight ceiling causing the sound of their turbines to be ear-numbingly loud.

"Are they bandits?" cried Rion, "Doesn't this city have any police Destroids? Oh well, I guess it can't be helped."

Rion began to run, but was stopped as Aisha grabbed hold of his arm.

"Rion, the airport is this way!" she said, pointing in the opposite direction of where he'd been running.

"Rion… are you going out to fight?" asked Mina, wide-eyed. It was the first time, that she could remember, something like this happening to her and she felt a deep, primal fear that Rion and Aisha were going to wade into the thick of this.

"If the city has no defenses, then this is something we have to do," he replied, grimly, "Let's go, Aisha!"

"Right behind you! C'mon, Mina, we'll find you someplace in the hangar to take shelter!"

(Here's where you should start "Fate's Arrow") Aisha's VF-19E and Rion's VF-0D roared into action, bursting through the entry hatch into the city sections of the ship.

"Look, they're just destroying things!" cried Aisha, "They don't seem to actually be taking anything."

"We still have stop them," replied Rion grimly. He transformed into GERWALK and swooped down on a pair of Valkyries that were smashing up a movie theater.

"What are these? SV-51s? What are those?" he asked as he blasted the legs out from under one.

"It was a design used by the Anti Unification Alliance during the aftermath of the Unification Wars," explained Aisha, "They didn't see much use and pretty much were completely destroyed when the Zentradi Rain of Death happened. These are likely replicas; the design is pretty popular with the low-budget bandits since it's 'Anti-establishment.' They could be very tough since you're piloting a VF-0, so be careful."

Rion and Aisha didn't need to worry too much as the pilots really were just attacking and smashing anything in their way. They fought with a strange kind of frenzied madness. Rion blasted the arms off of one but it charged him in battroid and he used his head lasers to slice through its legs. An alarm sounded in his cockpit and he looked towards the source to see a pair of civilians, a man and a woman, being chased by an SV-51 battroid colored in purple. It was about to overtake the couple; Rion wheeled his battroid around, lining up his gun sights with the enemy machine, but he was too slow. Suddenly a blast of gunfire took the SV-51 full in the chest and toppled it backwards, fire and shrapnel pouring from the wound. Something white swooped overhead and Rion heard a loud "YAHOO!" over his radio. The new plane performed a tight loop, almost brushing the ceiling and arrowed down towards the streets below. At the last second it transformed into a battroid, mostly white but with black and yellow stripes.

"Hey you two!" the pilot called to them in a rough voice, "If you're fighting these guys, there's more down this way," he said, his battroid pointing down the street. His image on their monitors showed a man dressed in an old UN Spacy jumpsuit, colored grey and black with blue trim. His helmet was grey with black ridges and his visor was lowered, obscuring his face.

He then took off, the battroid pounding down the road. Rion and Aisha, bewildered but grateful, followed after him. As they ran after him, Rion recognized that the Valkyrie the new pilot was flying as a VF-1S Valkyrie, one of the original variable fighters from which the Valkyrie nickname had sprung. Whoever he was, he was good, transforming into GERWALK as they came into a square to dodge a pair of missiles fired by a green and yellow SV-51 and then shredding it with his gunpod. Another enemy Valkyrie fired some missile at him and Rion and Aisha watched in amazement as he used his quartet of head lasers to frag the missile and his gunpod to blast the SV-51 who fired them.

"He fights like Roy Focker," murmured Rion.

The invading SV-51s were all down and Rion, Aisha and the mystery pilot had climbed out of their GERWALKs to investigate a pilot who had crawled out of the wreckage of his fighter. Rion grabbed him roughly by the lapels and hauled him up so he could look the man in the face. He noticed the enemy pilot had pointed ears, marking him as a zentran.

"What's your deal, huh? Why were you guys wrecking the city?"

"Ow! That hurts! What's happening! How… how did I get here?" the zentran asked wildly looking back and forth.

"Don't let him fool you Rion. Let's get the police and let them sort this out," said Aisha, looking contemptuously at their captive

"The Police?! What do you mean, I didn't do anything!"

"You wrecked the city with your SV-51 back there," snarled Rion, pointing at the wreckage of his plane.

"What are talking about?!" the zentran cried, almost hysterical, "The last thing I remember is climbing into my cockpit and then I felt kind of funny…" he trailed off, his eyes becoming unfocused.

"Huh? Memory loss?" said Rion, confused.

"I wonder if this is the same thing that afflicted that one zentran that we found in the cave," said Aisha, "The situation is almost the same."

"I wouldn't believe him, if I were you. Guys like him will say just about anything to get out of trouble," said the mystery pilot, the visor on his helmet obscuring his face.

"Trust us, this may not be what you think," said Rion, letting the zentran crumple to the ground.

"Thanks for the help back there, you pilot that VF-1S really well. What's your name?" asked Rion.

"Oh! Sorry, forgot about the helmet," said the man, reaching up and pulling his helmet off. Rion and Aisha sucked in a gasp of air as the man's blond hair fell wildly around the crown of his head and his rough face split into a grin. He held out a hand and said, "Major Roy Focker, UN Spacy Skull Squadron Leader, at your service. Especially yours, " he said, winking at Aisha.