"What was that?" Yelled Leia at Captain Dumkof.
Dumkof just stood silently, his face was stone as Leia tore into him for the "loss" of 2 X-wings.
"We already have a limited number of those fighters and now because of you, we've lost two of them." Said Leia, finishing her tirade.
It was only then that Dumkof opened his mouth.
"I merely did what I deemed necessary to the defence of this base." He said.
Leia was nearly ready to break this man down even further but deciding to be more civil about it, she bit back a retort.
"Do not give the order to launch fighters without passing it through me first. Am I clear?" She said to him in an authoritative tone.
Dumkof's face remained stoic as he gave her a nod before Leia walked away to attend to other matters.
Meanwhile, in his office on the Macross Horizon, Admiral Halsey looked through the reports that were coming in from the recon flights. So far, most of them have reported the same thing minus Adler 1 and 2.
The two unidentified craft and their pilots have, so far, been fairly cooperative. Although they still looked somewhat apprehensive, as if they were waiting for something bad to happen to them. Given what had actually happened to them, Lucan couldn't blame them.
As he flipped through the papers, there was a buzz on his phone.
He picked it up and answered.
"Hello?"
"Admiral Halsey? The two 'guests' are here, as you requested." Said his Secretary.
"Ah yes, bring them in."
The door opened and in came a pair of what appeared to be humans in bright Orange flight suits. Behind them entered a pair of Marines. Their rifles ready in case these visitors pulled anything.
"Good day, Gentlemen." Said the Admiral as he stood up from his seat. "Welcome to the Macross Horizon."
The two men remained stoic as Halsey approached them.
"Now, I know you may be wondering 'what is this place'." He said. "Simply put, this is a colonisation fleet that has found itself horribly lost."
Inside the pilot's minds, new questions quickly began to arise whilst Lucan walked over to a cupboard and pulled out a bottle of what appeared to be a brownish liquid along with three small glasses. On the bottle was a script the Rebels could not read.
"We thought it would be best to make contact with the nearest local life. We would've preferred it to be a bit more… peaceful than this. But unfortunately, the two of you managed to enter our fleet's defensive perimeter. Hence why we've detained you for now." Said the Admiral as he poured the liquid into the three glasses before handing them one each. He then downed his shot before setting the glass back on the table.
"Oh, I'm sorry. I've been rambling again. I didn't get a chance to let you introduce yourselves." Said the Admiral.
There was a moment of silence between them before the older rebel spoke up.
"Lieutenant Rai of the Alliance to Restore the Republic." He said to the Admiral. "This is Lieutenant Tyr."
"Nice to meet you, Captain." Said Halsey. "I would shake your hand but you don't seem to be finished with your drinks."
The rebels looked to the glass that was in their hands. Initially, they had suspected it was poisoned. However, the welcoming, almost grandfatherly nature of the old man in front of them made them wonder if, perhaps, they really did not mean any harm.
Rai was the first to down the shot of whisky, soon followed by Tyr.
With their glasses empty, the Admiral collected their glasses and set them on the table.
"Now, Lieutenant Rai. Do you suppose you could help us with making peaceful contact with your friends on that ice planet?" Asked Lucan.
Before Rai could answer, however, Halsey's phone rang again.
Lucan picked it up and answered it.
"Hello?" He said to the person on the other end.
Almost in an instant, his expression changed to a more stoic and serious one.
"I'm on my way." He said as he put down the phone and grabbed his hat.
"I'm sorry, Gentlemen. But we'll have to finish this discussion later." He said to the pilots.
"Wait, what's going on?" Asked Tyr, as she attempted to follow the Admiral but was blocked by the Marines.
"No, let them come with me." Said the Admiral. "They might be helpful in this situation."
The group made their way to the Macross Horizon's command centre.
"Admiral on deck!" Shouted one of the officers.
"What's the situation?" Asked Halsey.
"Sir, one of our fighters detected an unknown fleet that entered the system beyond the asteroid belt." Reported another officer.
"Can we identify them?"
"No, sir. But from what we can ascertain, most of their ships are big. Very big."
"Images coming through now." Said another officer as images of the unknown fleet popped up. The ships within said fleet were definitely much larger than any ships within the Macross Horizon fleet, with the largest one being even longer than the Island Everest.
The Rebels, meanwhile, looked at the images with fear.
Admiral Halsey noticed this and turned to them.
"Do you know what they are?" He asked them.
Only two words came out of Rai's mouth.
"The Empire."
"Enemy fighters approaching!"
"Launch defensive fighters!" Ordered Halsey.
Down in the hangars, Elsa and Tsubasa entered their Variable Fighters once more. This time, however, they're joined by the third member of their flight: Gabriel Ardegras.
"All Adlers, switch to frequency 394.112." Said Elsa.
"Alder 2, Roger."
"Adler 3, Roger."
"Adler 3, where is Adler 4?"
"Eh? I thought he was behind me."
A new voice then cut into their communications.
"Adler 4, reporting." Said the fourth member.
Elsa had a thought to demand where he was but she figured she'll do it after this mission.
"Adler 4, switch to frequency 394.112."
"Adler 4, Roger."
"Adler Flight, proceed to launch." Said the flight controller.
"Roger, Adler Flight proceeding to launch."
Within moments, all four Valkyries launched from the Macross Horizon and began flying through the asteroid belt.
Meanwhile, down in Echo base, the rebels were well underway in a rushed, albeit somehow still properly organised, evacuation as transports were quickly being loaded with supplies, intel and personnel.
Inside the command centre, Leia oversaw the evacuation. She had already briefed the pilots regarding their mission to delay the Imperials. Now all that remained was to let the evacuation take its course and hope that they could delay the Imperials long enough.
In space, Adler flight soon reached their assigned positions. They shifted from fighter mode to Battroid mode as the sleek fighters transformed into humanoid war mechs. The current rules of engagement were to not fire unless fired upon so they merely kept their weapons trained and locked on the incoming fighters.
Tense seconds passed as the Macross Horizon's Variable Fighters waited for the enemy to make the first move.
And the first move they did make as the TIEs began opening fire; the green shots from their cannons quickly dispatching a few unfortunate VFs.
"Macross Horizon, this is Adler 1, the enemy has opened fire. We are engaging." Said Elsa as she transitioned her Valkyrie from Battroid to Fighter modes once again before turning to chase a TIE fighter that was behind a friendly VF as the Variable Fighters and TIE Fighters engaged each other in a ballet of twisting metal. Green and light blue bolts darted across the dark macro sky.
Meanwhile, Leia continued overseeing the evacuation. Inside Echo Base's hangars, a transport lifted off along with an escort of two X-wings as an announcement came on the base's loudspeakers that the first transport that had taken off earlier had managed to get past the Imperials and into Hyperspace. However, it wasn't over. They still had more transports to get through the Imperial fleet and they didn't have much time as word soon came
Whilst her own men were celebrating their small victory, another tapped her shoulder.
"Yes?" Said Leia.
"Ma'am, we're seeing something odd on sensors. It appears the Imperials are engaging… something near the asteroid belt."
"What?"
"They have sent several TIE squadrons to the asteroid belt and they appear to be engaging craft similar to the ones that violated our airspace earlier."
It was at this moment that Leia had an idea.
In the Macross Horizon's command centre, several officers, including Admiral Halsey, observed the battle as it unfolded. As it is, roughly half of the Macross Horizon's fighter squadrons were now engaged with the unknown force.
Every few moments, Halsey could hear the radio transmissions coming from his pilots.
"Sokol 4 is down!"
"This is Piccione 3, I have one on my six."
"Missiles away, Missiles away."
Halsey's face looked grim when an officer called for his and President Sarmiento's attention.
"Sir, Camar flight is reporting that they're receiving a transmission from the surface of the ice planet."
"Put it through." Ordered Halsey as the officer put his headset back on and told Camar flight to forward the transmission to the Macross Horizon.
A video was then played on the screen depicting a woman with what appeared to Halsey as a French braid hairstyle. Around her, several individuals ran around the what appeared to be a makeshift command centre
"To the unknown forces engaged with the Empire in the asteroid belt." The recording began. "I am Princess Leia Organa of the Alliance to Restore the Republic. We are currently in the middle of evacuating the ice planet of Hoth but are under threat from Imperial forces. If you are not with the Empire, then I humbly request your aid; Enemies of the Empire are friends of the Alliance."
Admiral Halsey crossed his arms as his mind quickly reached a decision.
"What's on your mind, Admiral?" Asked the President.
"Madam President." Said the grizzled Admiral. "I request permission to fire the main gun."
At this request, the president froze in place.
"What?"
"Ma'am, as it currently stands, our fighters and our warships will not be enough to defeat this enemy. While our fighters are seemingly superior to theirs, with the amount of reinforcements coming in, they may get overwhelmed and we still have to worry about their other large ships which are much larger and likely more heavily armed than our own. And with this request for aid, firing the main cannon will help them and defend the fleet."
President Sarmiento was dwelling on the Admirals words when an alarm goes off.
"Attention! Enemy craft have broken through the asteroid belt and are headed for the Island Everest!"
A flight of 4 TIE Bombers emerged from the asteroid belt and were beginning their attack run on the largest target they could find: the Island Everest.
Following procedure, the massive clam-like shell of the Island Everest and the more shutter-like ones on the fleet's Environment ships began closing to protect the craft's massive population within layers and layers of armour. All the while, a pair of fighters were quickly scrambled to intercept whilst a pair of Frigates began opening fire on the incoming bombers, quickly knocking out two.
However, the remaining half of the flight managed to make it to weapons range and fired at the Island Everest with their weapons. Most impacted the shell but, unfortunately, one impacted one of the still open shutters of a nearby Environment Ships near the Island Everest, causing the ship to momentarily vent atmosphere before the shutter finally closed, sealing the hole.
"Island Hiei has been hit! Limited casualties!"
"Ma'am." Said Lucan, bringing the President's attention back to him.
The President sighed and steeled her expression.
"Admiral, you have my authority."
The Admiral nodded.
"Reorient the ship! Point us at the enemy fleet!"
The massive 15km long ship began moving as it pointed its front to the Imperial fleet in the distance.
"Send a message to our forward squadrons to relay targeting information to the Macross Horizon." Ordered Lucan. "The Target is the largest enemy vessel!"
Each of the flight controllers relayed this order to their respective squadrons. In moments, data was flowing through to the command centre.
"Order them to get out of our firing line." Said Halsey.
In the battle raging on the other side of the asteroid belt, the Horizon's Valkyries began getting out of the ship's firing line.
It took a few more moments before everything was set.
"Sir, main cannon reports that it is fully charged and ready to fire." Reported one officer.
"Fire." Said Admiral Halsey.
The front of the ship glowed a shade of bright purple before unleashing a beam of energy that shot forward in the form of a purple beam that disintegrated the portion of the asteroid belt in front of it and any unfortunate fighters that stood in its way before making its way to the Executor-class Star Destroyer, hitting the enemy in the middle. For a second, nothing seemingly happened before the centre of the ship blew up in a massive explosion that split the massive ship in two.
It was at that moment that the war had changed for new actors had entered the fray. From that moment on, the people of the Macross Horizon were at war with the Galactic Empire.