Chapter Eleven - Flashpoint
The situation in the San Rafael barrio of Buenos Aires had by this time gripped the attention of Micronian and Zentraedi alike across the planet. Unfolding before many on live feeds either on television, computer, or mobile devices, the ongoing standoff between the newly galvanized forces of authority under Colonel Anatole Leonard and the Micronized Zentraedi that called the barrio home had been edging closer and closer to erupting in a new spasm of violence. An overall sense of uneasiness with the current situation grew as the minutes ticked by. As one commentator on the constant media updates stated, it would take just one little act to cause this situation to spiral fully out of control.
It was something that some of the Zentraedi were acutely aware of. As Izadu gazed over towards the fence, he had a sense of dread come over him. To say we are grossly outnumbered is an understatement, he mused to himself as he looked out the vast numbers of Micronians on the other side of the fence. Bad enough they have most of their police here, but these newer forces just make it that much worse. Looking over the men behind him, he could feel a faint smile come over his face. At least the men are listening to my orders, he thought. It seems odd to not be trying to go on the offense here, as we've all been taught since we emerged from the tubes. Unfortunately, I do not know how much longer I can hold them back. Or if the Micronians will be ruthless enough to go ahead and press their advantage. Gazing back over across the fence, he sighed. Any commander given an advantage like this would be mad not to press it. Then again, the Micronians have always been unpredictable in their actions.
Izadu's internal dialogue was broken by the arrival of Nadtal. Looking back at his fellow warrior, Izadu could not help but notice the look of concern and dismay on his colleague's face.
"What news do you bring me, Nadtal? I have a feeling by the look on your face I am not going to like what I am about to hear."
"Izadu, there may be a potential situation about a half rhyl to the north and east of us," came the response. "That madman Aranda is speaking to the warriors over there. Tensions are rising and the warriors up there may not adhere to our decision not to act."
"The fool! Does he not realize that provoking the Micronians is the absolute last thing we want to do right now? They are looking for an excuse to go ahead with an attack on this settlement!"
Nadtal shook his head. "I tried to dissuade him from speaking, but I was shouted down. I fear we do not have much more time before they do something rash."
Izadu sighed and started off in the direction of the potential spark. Looking over to a small group of warriors, he motioned quickly. "Men, come with me. We have something to attend to." He then turned to the others. "The rest of you, stand your ground and do not provoke any reaction from our friends across the way. Anyone violating the order will be dealt with accordingly."
With that the small group of warriors followed the two commanders silently towards the area of concern, hoping they were not too late.
Far from the crisis that was unfolding in Argentina, the mood at Macross Command was much more relaxed as the day to day activities continued on without as much as a pause. Within the compound, a solitary figure sat behind the front of a table in a conference room glancing over a folder in front of them. The figure, a man with dark hair in an RDF uniform sighed as he looked over the contents.
She's had more than enough chances to get her act together, Captain Rick Hunter stated to himself silently. It seems there's some sort of progress, then just as the Lightning is close to being rolled out, something happens and it gets set back. Looking over the file, he continued to mull over the situation that faced him. Seems way too convenient, especially after the findings Danny let me in on. I hope this isn't the case, but if it is, this is something that would cause some serious problems.
A soft beep came up on the console in front of him. Rick looked down and tapped the button.
"Hey Rick, just got word from Max that Graham's on her way. She should be to the conference room very soon. Ben and Amelia just contacted in and they'll be sending over the results of her latest attempt at the checkout."
"Thanks for the heads up, Lisa. Any indication on how it went?"
"From what he gathered from those two, it was about the usual."
Rick responded with a deep sigh, knowing what was being hinted at. At almost the same time, another light lit up on the console. This one indicated a data transfer had completed. Tapping the button, Rick read over the contents and scowled.
"By that look, I guess the grades just arrived."
Rick nodded, remembering Lisa was off in another office, where the observation station had been set up. "Yep. Another failed attempt," he stated. Wonderful, he thought. This little meeting may be a bit more eventful than I first thought.
"You say the word and I'm there with a squad of MP's," came the response on the intercom.
"Don't think it'll come to that," Rick stated evenly. As he sat at the desk, a thought began to blossom in his head. A quick smirk came across Rick's face. It was one Lisa had become well acquainted with over the years.
"I sense an idea is forming if I didn't know any better," she responded. "Try not to hurt yourself, Flyboy," adding a smirk of her own.
"Funny, Forever Girl. And yes, you're right. I do have an idea. One that may solidify what we're suspecting."
"Go on."
"Well, it seems every time she's failed on the check-out, some sort of new bug hits the VF-4 project."
Lisa smiled and motioned to the Engineering officer, Major Danny Rodgers to come over. Rodgers, hearing this, nodded as well and then spoke up.
"So, Captain, you're thinking if you were to postpone this meeting by, say, an hour or two, we may see some an attempted hack?"
"Correct, Danny."
Rodgers nodded in acknowledgement of this and opened up his laptop. Punching in some quick commands, he smiled. "Understood, Captain. I have the monitoring system up and running here. If our friend gets cute and decides to mess with the VF-4's again, we'll know."
Lisa looked over at Rodgers and then back to Rick. Solid evidence would make this a lot easier, she thought. Also, you wouldn't be risking getting molested by some tart desperate to avoid a long stretch at New Leavenworth.
She then looked back at the monitor in front of her. "Guess you have new orders, Captain."
Rick nodded. "Appears that way. Time to go ahead and set the trap. I'll see you two shortly." With that, Rick ended the connection and dug out his cell phone. He punched in a number and took a deep breath as he awaited for the contact to pick up.
In the corridors of Macross Command, Sargent Susan Graham found herself making a lonely walk towards one of the wings in the executive section of the base. Another failed attempt on the check-out, she thought to herself. However, I could have passed this one with ease. But, orders are orders, I guess. Graham thought back to an earlier conversation prior to her making her latest attempt. A thought crossed her mind as she kept on her way. It's pretty doubtful the RDF Intel is on to me. I've been very careful to cover my tracks throughout. But somehow, that last call from Dragon did put that seed of doubt into me.
The concern she did have about her current situation disappeared as she thought to something else. However, that may not all matter too much soon. Especially once Dragon moves on the information I sent him earlier. Checking her messages, she did see one text that brought a smile to her face.
"Sparrow, thank you for the intel. Our friends seem interested and then some. I should have more information later to send home. Lupo is expecting to see you soon."
Swiftly removing the text from her inbox, Graham tapped the phone again and put it back into her jacket pocket. Things are starting to come together. Just waiting for the big signal to be made and we can proceed.
Her thoughts were swiftly interrupted by her phone vibrating in her pocket. Fishing the phone out, she saw the caller ID and was a bit surprised. Guess he's wondering why I'm taking so long. Well, time to put an act on, she thought as she tapped the phone.
"Yes, Captain? I'm on my way. Should be there in...what? Oh yes, totally understood, sir! 1500? Not a problem. Understood, sir."
Closing off the call, Graham stopped in her tracks and headed off in a different direction. While making her way down the hallway, she was tapping away at her phone.
"Change in plans. Meeting pushed back to 1500."
The response back came quickly.
"Understood. Proceed as you see fit regarding the target. Dragon should be reaching out later once things are confirmed."
Smiling as she removed the text, Graham glanced at her watch. Just a little after 1300. Plenty of time to leave one last gift before leaving this place.
Boarding one of the elevators that led towards the main barrack area, a sly smile came over her face as she made her way back up. One domino is about to fall, followed by another. Once they start, it's impossible to stop.
In one of the conference rooms nearby, Lisa Hayes and Danny Rodgers sat back watching the main monitor in the room. The screen had changed over from a view of the room where Rick was to meet Graham to Rodgers's laptop screen. The screen itself was split in two. One was a map of the Macross Command complex while the other was of web traffic flowing between Macross Command and the Proving Grounds mainframe.
"All quiet for right now, Commodore," Rodgers said with a grim smile.
Lisa nodded at this bit of news. "Somehow, Major, you sense that this may change shortly?"
Rodgers nodded back. "If Graham is the hacker, there should be some activity very soon."
The conversation was interrupted by a sharp knock at the door. One of the MP's stationed nearby cracked it open and looked back to Lisa.
"Ma'am? It's Captain Hunter."
Lisa nodded. With that, the MP swung the door open, allowing the CAG for Macross Command to enter with a quick salute.
Rick saluted to both officers inside the relatively dark room before taking a seat next to Lisa.
"Everything's all set. Pushed the meeting back with Graham to 1500."
"Hopefully you won't have any reason to have that meeting," Lisa said with a bit of distaste for the entire situation. "If she does what we expect her to do, we'll have more than enough to drag her to the brig."
"Depends on if she didn't realize we're aware of the steps she's taking," Rodgers interjected.
Both Lisa and Rick nodded. It had been what Danny had called a massive stroke of luck that Jack Baker had noticed someone had tampered with his laptop the night prior. A few quick calls later and a quick scan found what had been put in place, namely a slaving program that would use Baker's laptop as the point of contact while the actual hacking went on from another computer.
"Or the countermeasures you, Dr. Lang, and Dr. Koromatsu implemented," Rick added with a smile.
"So, we sit back and wait?" Lisa asked.
Both Rick and Danny nodded.
Back in the barracks area, Sue Graham made the way back towards her room. Checking one of the rooms nearby, she looked towards the door and saw a bit of light coming in from underneath. As she looked towards the door, one of the other pilots from Skull, Sargent Jessie Davies, who went by the call sign "Dazzler" saw her there and spoke.
"Hey Sue, wouldn't go visiting Baker right now. He caught that nasty stomach flu that's been going around."
Sue nodded to the other pilot. "So I heard, Dazz. Was just checking to see if he's feeling any better. Didn't get an answer when I knocked."
"Most likely, he's either sleeping it off or visiting the head."
Graham thought for a second. "Thought you were supposed to be on patrol today with the others?"
Davies shook her head. "Nope. Change in plans. They gave that scheduled patrol to Weckman's crew. Mir, Bakes, Tintin, and Stitch are all laid up with this bug and the Boss thought it didn't make much sense to only send two fighters out."
Graham nodded. "Well, I'm gonna just chill a bit in my bunk. Boss had wanted to discuss some stuff with me but pushed it back to 1500. Said something important came up."
Davies frowned. "Most likely, it's something to do with that mess in South America. From what I saw on MBS this morning, it's about to kick off."
"Or already has. Think we'll get called in on that?"
"Who knows, Mystique. Hopefully not though." Davies glanced at her watch. "Well, I'm heading over to the sims for a bit. Might as well keep sharp in case we're off to Buenos Aires or somewhere else."
"Roger that. Might as well see what's going on down there while waiting for this meeting. Catch you later, Dazz."
With that, Graham entered her room without as much a second glance towards her squadmate. If she had checked back, she would have noticed that Davies had pulled out her phone and was in the middle of sending a quick text.
In the conference room, Rick's phone vibrated. Glancing at it, he smiled and turned to both Danny and Lisa.
"That was Dazzler. Graham is back in her bunk. She doesn't suspect a thing."
"Everything's set on our side, Rick," Danny responded with a smirk. "Now it's up to our suspect to make the next move."
The next move happened relatively quickly.
"We got something! Got activity coming from where exactly we suspected."
Both Rick and Lisa turned and focused on the main monitor in the conference room. They both saw that the map portion of the screen left zero doubts as to where the activity was coming from. There was a paler blip in the vicinity of Jack Baker's bunk room, while the brighter blip was directly on Susan Graham's room. However, when they tried to decipher the activity, they found themselves looking over at their companion for a more thorough explanation of what was transpiring.
Noting the confusion on the faces of the two officers regarding the stream, Danny smiled and turned to the confused officers. "There's been a surge in attempts on the network to access the Proving Grounds servers, namely the node that holds the VF-4 main programming. Fortunately, the new advanced firewalls are holding up and they're getting nowhere."
"That's a relief," Rick stated.
"So, now that we know who the mole is," Lisa questioned. "What were the countermeasures you and the good doctors came up with? I have to assume it just wasn't a beefier firewall."
"Correct, ma'am. We added three little surprises for our friend."
"Such as?"
"First, on their screen, it will appear to her as if she had able to get in, when in fact, she's been dumped into a quarantined area of the server that has zero actual effect. It's a dummy mirror of the server. She can make changes, but they won't stick. Secondly, everything she's doing is being recorded thanks to a rather advanced keylogger. So, we're gonna know what she was trying to run and how it was coded."
"And the third little surprise?" Rick asked.
"That's where your boy Jack came into play," Danny said. "Seems Graham decided to use his laptop as a decoy. Baker was kind enough to let us know that some new files appeared on his laptop yesterday around the time he bumped into Graham in the hallway. Whoever gave this program to Graham, they supplied her with a rather primitive version. Dr. Lang and I kinda upgraded it with a twist."
Lisa smiled. "I can only imagine the twist."
"Not only are we able to pinpoint the actual source computer, we're also able to snag an image of it and decrypt anything that's on it in a matter of minutes without the user even noticing."
Rick whistled. "Gives you guys a chance to actually see what was done before she does something like wipe the laptop's drive"
"Exactly that," Danny stated. "It may take some time to see what else is there, but the whole trying to hack the mainframe at the Proving Grounds part is pretty much instantaneous." He peered over at a status bar and smiled. "Got a full capture of the hard drive. Looks like just in time as well. She just hopped offline."
The blips on the displayed map disappeared and the activity monitor resumed what would be assumed to be a more normal output. With that, Danny disconnected his laptop and rose from his seat. "If you don't mind, I'd like to get down to Engineering to lend a hand with sifting through the data from this."
Lisa nodded. "May want to let Intel know as well."
Danny nodded and saluted. "Yes, ma'am. I've kept Colonel Logan in the loop with everything. He's waiting with Dr. Lang to go through all of this personally."
"Understood. As soon as you have anything, please let us know immediately."
A nod followed as Danny left the room, leaving Lisa and Rick alone, processing what had just transpired.
Rick took a deep breath, trying to keep focus. "Unbelievable. I let arguably one of the potentially biggest traitors this side of Benedict Arnold become a part of the most elite division in the RDF."
Lisa slid over a bit closer and put a hand on his shoulder. "You didn't have any idea this was going to turn out as it did, Rick. So, next step? Have the MPs swoop in and grab that traitorous bitch?"
Rick shook his head. "No, meeting still goes off at 1500. Any changes will cause her to know we're on to her."
"Are you crazy?" Lisa barked back with a sense of anger. "It's almost as if you do want Graham to throw yourself at you. Besides, Commodore is a bit higher up the food chain than Captain, or did you forget that?"
"Sorry, Lisa," Rick responded with a bit of an edge. "Admiral Gloval made the call on this one, so I'd suggest taking it up with him. And last time checked, anyone making a decision with an Admiral rank attached to their name kinda outweighs anything you or I could imagine."
He glanced over at Lisa, noticing the sparkle in her green eyes was gone, replaced with a sharp intense look to them. Knew she was gonna be a little pissed off when this happened.
"I'm just the messenger on this one," Rick pleaded. "I'm on record as to not liking this one damn bit. But orders are orders."
"Fine," Lisa grumbled. "You do anything beyond what's appropriate, you can kiss your three best friends goodbye. And I don't mean the ones that are down at the sims."
Rick gulped. Note to self: Put a block on Investigation Discovery on the cable boxes at home so she doesn't get any "ideas".
As events in Macross were in the process of becoming more complex, the situation in Buenos Aires was evolving by the second. In a more lightly defended area around the San Marcos barrio, a gathering of Zentraedi were approaching a small contingent of police and auxiliary militia. At the front of the group of Zentraedi was one known as Aranda.
It was to this that Nadtal and Izadu arrived. Without hesitation, they walked over to Aranda, who was brandishing a megaphone pleading with the Micronian authorities to be heard.
"What in the name of the gods are you doing, Aranda?" Izadu shouted at the leader. "Under no circumstances are we to provoke the Micronians!"
"I am not, as you said, 'provoking' the Micronians. I am simply asking for a forum to be heard," Aranda said plainly. "I do have a bit of what the Micronians call 'gravitas' in regards to this due to my time on the city council representing our neighborhood. They'll listen to me."
Nadtal started to laugh. "The Micronians stopped listening to you and us a long time ago. Probably around the time that poor Pelega got shot. Was I dreaming or weren't you marginalized to a point of embarassment?"
"And yet you madmen decided that setting off a bomb at the House was going to magically fix things?," Aranda shot back with anger. "That did not work, if you did not notice."
"Careful what you say, Aranda," Izadu growled. "There's no tubes around here at last check."
"Are you threatening me?"
"No, but I would advise standing down and allowing the others to calm down a bit before we give them an excuse to attack," Nadtal stated while pointing towards the line of Micronian authorities just on the other side of the fence.
The argument between the three Zentraedi leaders continued unabated while the police and militia sat back with a blend of bemusement at the infighting that was going on and a growing anticipation of what was to occur shortly.
Watching from an office building across the city, Colonel Leonard and one of his aides, a Lieutenant Alvarez, also observed the confrontation. A sly grin came across the Colonel's face.
"Sir, think it's time to proceed?" Alvarez asked.
Leonard took a puff off of his cigarette and smiled. "We've toyed with these Xerox bastards long enough." With that, he pulled out his cellphone and dialed a number.
In one of the command stations near the barrio, the nominal leader of the combined police and militia forces, Chief Bartolmeo Di Lorenzo sat and observed the intel being delivered by the drones helicopters above the now surrounded area.
I'll give these Xeroxes credit, Di Lorenzo mused. They've yet to pick a fight with us as of yet. Most often, they'd have started tossing rocks and Molotov Cocktails into our ranks by now. This patience they're showing is rather disturbing.
Standing next to the Chief was a man in a black uniform of the Iron Brigade. Tapping on his ear, he turned away for a brief second. In the earpiece, he could hear the voice of his commanding officer.
"The time has come, my friend. The Southern Cross shall rise again."
"As you command, sir."
"Excellent. You shall have your official excuse shortly. Once this happens, execute Order 18 to the letter. No mercy is to be shown. Strength and honor."
"Strength and honor." With that, he tapped his ear again and turned towards Chief Di Lorenzo.
"Chief, I think the time for talking is at an end. I can sense that the copias are about to up the ante, so to say."
Di Lorenzo nodded. "I sense you are right, my friend. Still, I'm not making the first move here. If they so much as twitch the wrong way, I'll give the order."
The man in black nodded. "Understood, Chief. However, I put nothing past them."
"I can only pray that they listen to reason and stand down. The last thing we need is more violence."
Chief, you are an honorable man, the man in black thought. However, if your conscience gets in the way of what is necessary, you will need to step aside...one way or the other.
Back at Macross Command, Rick Hunter gazed as his watch. Almost 1500, he thought. Taking a deep breath, he settled back into his chair in the conference room and awaited what was to come. He gazed up at one of the monitors, which was on MBS and was giving the latest information regarding the unfolding situation in Buenos Aires and other major cities in the South American quadrants. As if the situation here wasn't bad enough, it's about a thousand times worse down there, he mused. Getting a feeling Tom was right and it's gonna be time to get some sunscreen and brush up on my Spanish.
Any further thoughts were broken up as he heard a knock at the door. Shutting the monitor off, he stood up from the chair and sighed.
"It's open."
The door swung open and in walked Susan Graham.
Rick was a bit surprised at what he noticed as she came in. For someone who's career hangs by a thread, she's sure not showing any real concerns here, he thought. She seems to be a bit cocky, as if she knows something. Well, we'll just play along and see how she handles things.
She stood at attention and snapped a brisk salute. "You asked to see me, sir?"
"Yes. Please, have a seat. There's a few things we need to go over here regarding your check-out on the VF-4."
Graham sat down in a chair somewhat close to where Rick was situated at the front of the table. A wry smirk came over her face as she looked towards her commanding officer. Either way, today I'll get what I want. It's pretty simple. Hunter will go ahead and do it the easy way or he'll be stubborn and we'll have to do this the hard way.
Rick remained standing and turned towards a desk table that was behind his seat. Looking over the files placed there, he grabbed the one he was looking for.
"OK, Graham. I got your most recent check-out results and..."
Rick's thought train was suddenly derailed at what he saw next. In the time he had turned around, Graham had removed her uniform jacket and had unbuttoned three buttons on her blouse. She also had hiked her skirt up a few inches and was leaning back in her chair in what would charitably be called a provocative manner.
Rick for one was speechless. Guess Penn was right on the money about this. She's playing this card on me. Not really surprising this was coming. However, I have to think Lisa is losing her mind right about now.
Susan smiled back sweetly and dangled a shoe off of her foot.
"So, Captain, how did I do?" she asked with a bit of a purr behind her request.
Rick shook his head. Yeah, this is not going to turn out all that well at all. Just keep thinking of Lisa, Rick. Think of the Forever Girl.
Graham at this point had gotten up out of her chair and sat on the table directly in front of Rick.
"Rick," she said softly. "Did I pass or do I have to, ahem, bribe the teacher?" She smiled as she undid another button on the blouse.
Rick had had enough. He stood up and glared right at woman in front of him.
"What in the name of all that is holy are you doing, Graham?"
The look on Susan's face did not change.
"You know you want me, Rick. I can tell from how you look at me all the time. I just need to pass the check-out. And trust me, Rick, I will do anything to do so."
She came a bit closer to Rick and whispered in his ear.
"And I mean anything."
Rick pulled back further, the look on his face had long since turned from surprise to anger.
"First off, it's Captain to you, not Rick. You haven't earned that right to call me that, nor will you ever. Secondly, if you're trying to seduce me, forget it. I'm already spoken for and that's something I'm not about to change. Not interested, Sue," he shouted back, with the emphasis on not interested.
Just as Graham stood up to come closer to Rick again, the door swung open. Turning around, she saw a very visibly angry Commodore Lisa Hayes standing with four MPs. Rick caught a glimpse of Lisa and cringed. The last time I saw her have a look like that, Lynn Kyle nearly was singing soprano after he tried to go after me after Star Saver.
"Commodore, thank you for coming in. I'd like to press charges against Captain Hunter. He tried to force himself on me."
"Shut up, Graham," Lisa said sharply. "The amount of trouble you are in is unimaginable at this point. Also, I saw the whole thing and know you're lying out of your ass."
Susan had a dumbfounded look at that comment. She looked over at Rick, who was smirking and pointing towards one of the plants in the corner. Looking a bit closer, she saw the faint reflection of a camera lens.
"Smile. You're on camera," Rick said as he walked towards Lisa.
Graham glared back at the couple with a look that was bordering on homicidal.
"Better hope there's nothing on that laptop of yours that would make this a hell of a lot worse," Lisa stated with a bit of bitterness.
"Good luck with that, Hayes," Graham replied tartly. "I already wiped the thing clean. You can't prove a damn thing and you know it!"
"Wanna bet? Dr. Lang and company already have it," Rick said with a smirk. "They've already started checking it out and found some very interesting stuff. Turns out they got an image of it before you wiped it. Also, we know you screwed around with Baker's laptop and we know you were the one messing with the VF-4's programming. Shouldn't have been that sloppy."
Rick motioned to the MPs who surrounded Graham and placed her in handcuffs.
"You son of a bitch!"
"Sargent Susan Graham," Lisa intoned. "You are under arrest for conduct unbecoming, cyber terrorism, and treason." She then turned to the MPs. "Get her out of my sight."
"This is not over. You don't know who you're messing with, Hunter!"
"Seeing you're pretty much going to be calling New Leavenworth home for the next millennium, I'll take my chances," Rick responded. He then looked over a file he had in his hand and sighed.
"The sad thing is, Graham, you didn't have to pull that all. Turns out you passed on the last go round. I'd offer congratulations, but seeing how this all turned out, you'll understand as to why I won't."
Lisa nodded to the MPs as she pulled closer to Rick.
As the procession left, Rick hugged Lisa tightly and kissed her.
"Thank you for having faith in me to do the right thing. When I said you were the one and only for me, I meant it, Forever Girl."
Lisa smiled. "It was tough, Flyboy. I wanted to burst in the moment that whore started to undo her blouse buttons." She leaned in closer and whispered. "What did she mean by 'anything'?"
"Oh, probably things you do waaaaay better," Rick said with a sly smirk as he pulled Lisa closer.
As the procession of MPs and the now disgraced Susan Graham made their way towards the Security wing of Macross Command, an orderly observed the figures as they headed towards the brig. Ducking out of the way, the orderly pulled out his cell phone and tapped in a number he knew by heart. Looking around to be sure nobody was near, he spoke quickly.
"Things have changed. Sparrow has been caged."
On the other end of the line, Raven was hard pressed to find any words that would make his anger at the news that was relayed to him fade. Quickly closing the call without as much as an acknowledgement to the informant, he stared at the ceiling and sighed. I told her this was a bad idea, and I made sure Dragon relayed my concerns. But no, she went ahead with it anyways. Another thought crossed his mind. And knowing the RDF Intel, they'll be trying to get any info they can out of her. We can only hope she doesn't start singing as that would present a major problem going forward.
Raven picked up his phone and punched in a number he knew by heart.
"Colonel. Our source at Macross was compromised."
"No matter, Raven. She served her purpose. Events are about to overtake them regardless if they know or not."
"So, Order 18 is proceeding?"
"I just gave the word. The men are just waiting for the signal."
A smile came across Raven's face. "At least one good thing came out of today. I guess I should give the green light to the other plan we discussed."
"A little distraction may not hurt. Macross will be less likely to stick their noses in down here if they have troubles of their own to deal with."
"Understood. I'll let Dragon know to proceed. And as for our trapped Sparrow? She still may serve a purpose. Lupe's crew could use her talents."
A somewhat exasperated sigh came forth from the other side of the call. "Fine. Anything to keep that idiot happy, I guess. Why I pay him anything is beyond me."
"Besides, Sparrow will be forever grateful to us. Plus, she can keep Lupe in line." Or replace him if he screws up again, Raven added quietly.
"And the contingency plan if Lupe's bunch fail?"
"Already in the works. Jean-Paul is on board. He wanted me to say, merci beaucoup for letting him know. If anything, I'd be more comfortable with Jean-Paul's bunch being the primary and Lupe's being the meat shields."
A pause came over the phone. "Excellent idea. That may be the way to go instead. Takes care of a lot of loose ends and headaches. Speaking of headaches, Russo wants to talk about something. However, go ahead and let our other Macross agents to get Sparrow out of there and down to Lupe's group. Once Sparrow is in position and Dragon has everything set, we can go ahead with the next phase."
"Understood, Colonel." With that, the phone went dead.
Raven smiled as he thought about the events that were to unfold. Normally, I'd go ahead and make sure our operatives are unable to give any info before it becomes a potential problem. Consider yourself lucky, Sparrow that things have progressed further. However, for your foolishness, you'll just have to stew a bit in the tender mercies of the RDF. Just be thankful the Xeroxes didn't capture you. I've heard about how their intel gets information. They make my methods look humane by comparison.
He stared at the phone for second, but opted to go on to a special email account. Putting in two addresses he had memorized, Raven typed a quick message.
"This is your 0600 Wake Up Call. Implement Action Birdcage."
After clicking on the send button, Raven opened a new message up, entering in a different address.
"Green light given. Give our new 'friends' the info we discussed."
That should keep Hunter and his friends a bit busy for a while, Raven thought with a smirk. By the time they can re-focus down here, it will be far too late to make a difference. As Anatole keeps saying, history is about to outpace you all. With this, he tapped in an access code and picked up the receiver.
At the San Rafael barrio, the commotion between the ongoing argument between Izadu, Nadtal, and Aranda had distracted the other Zentraedi in that area from the Micronian forces on the other side of the barriers. To their credit, the local police and Iron Brigade militia were taking more of a bemused view of the infighting going on. However, the argument did serve one of the black suited militia members well. He tapped on his headset after hearing a chime
"Rinker, it is time. You will give the signal to allow Order 18 to be fully implemented."
"Shouldn't we alert...?"
"No, unfortunately, their sacrifice will be necessary."
"Understood. I will signal back when everything is set. Strength and Honor."
With that, he tapped at the earpiece, killing the connection. Rinker looked ahead and saw his target, namely a command vehicle that was parked near the area in question. Heading towards the back, he saw another man in a black uniform casually having a cigarette. A nod followed from the fellow Iron Brigade member as he realized what Rinker was here to do. He casually stepped away from the vehicle and smiled. After walking a safe distance, the man tapped on his earpiece.
"It's in position."
Back in the safety of his office, Raven took hold of a triggering mechanism in his right hand. You're a good man, Rinker, he thought. May peace be upon you, brother, and find it in your heart to forgive me for this next act. However, as a true believer, you understand as to why it had to be this way.
Raven exhaled and clicked on the trigger.
Whatever differences of opinion between the three Zentraedi leaders evaporated quickly as they heard a loud explosion off to their backs. Looking over towards the Micronian side, they could see an expanding cloud of smoke and debris lifting into the skies.
For a brief moment, there was absolute silence on both sides of the barrio as the latest incident was being processed by both Zentraedi and Micronian alike.
This was followed by a shout from the Micronian side that sent a chill down the spines of the Zentraedi leaders.
"Execute Order 18!"
Gunfire began to erupt from the Micronian side almost immediately into the mass of Zentraedi protesters in front of them. As most were unarmed, the opening salvo had a desired effect of thinning the crowd significantly. Almost by instinct, the rest of the protesters began to fall back quickly as a wave of black uniformed Micronian troops swarmed into the barrio.
Izadu and Nadtal found themselves among the stampede among the Zentraedi to get as far away as possible from the shooting and the onrushing militia troops. If I had a weapon handy, I'd have stood my ground, Izadu thought to himself. Either way, I need to find a place to make a transmission back to Quazmin advising him of the situation, that is if he's not aware of it now.
Glancing to his side, he saw that Nadtal was keeping up with him and was following without any question. Aranda was also keeping up as best as he could as well. Just as Izadu looked over, a bolt struck the unfortunate Aranda in the head with a shower of red. The now headless corpse sank to the ground among the others that had fallen in the retreat.
Making their way back to one of the denser areas in the heart of the barrio, the two leaders looked over the collection of warriors and mentally took a tally of how many were among them. There's about fifty of us if that, Izadu estimated. Against that much firepower, it may not exactly be the most ideal, but we need to do what we can here.
Turning to the assembled Zentraedi, he did not hesitate on the next batch of orders.
"Men, get your weapons and make your way into the buildings. We may not win this day, but we can make it as hard as possible for them to succeed in their madness. Shoot anything in a black shirt and give no quarter. It would appear that the Micronians are acting in kind for once."
Izadu then turned to Nadtal.
"Give me your communicator. I must reach out to our friends in New Macross."
"Not much good they're going to be here," Nadtal responded sarcastically. "Besides, I think they're probably going to be very aware of what is going on shortly." He gestured towards the sky, noting the drones above.
For once, I see the logic in appeasing the information blasts, Izadu thought as he looked up as well. From what Quazmin's group was reporting, this will not go over well in New Macross. Finding his voice, he turned to his colleague. "Better they hear it from us than through the information blasts, though."
Nadtal handed over the communicator and watched as Izadu punched in a code and awaited a response. Grabbing a weapon, he nodded to his fellow warrior as he made his way towards the upper level of one of the buildings nearby.
Over in New Macross, the unfolding events in Buenos Aires were noticed almost immediately in one of the many houses in The Frag. Three of the Zentraedi Intelligence Service wing's main contacts in the Micronian city found themselves stunned. It was a good long minute before anyone was able to speak.
"Get the array up," Rico barked to Bron and Konda. "Lord Breetai needs to be informed of this madness immediately!"
The others started to fire up equipment without as much as a word. Shortly, the communications array was up and running and a connection was put through to the main Zentraedi ship still orbiting the Earth.
"My Lord," Rico intoned. "Our worst fears may be confirmed. We may be at war again with the Micronians."
Over in another dwelling in the same neighborhood, the anger and confusion over the situation that was playing out live on television were felt by the residents.
"We told those fools not to engage the Micronians," Xamdar spat out. "Now the situation is completely out of control."
Pyoto shook his head. "It's also possible that our men there did not go ahead with that rash action and actually followed orders. And knowing Izadu pretty well, he is not one that would act independently."
Quazmin was about to add his input into the discussion, but was interrupted by a humming coming from the communicator on the table in front of the three. He swiftly opened up the device and tapped a button. On the screen came up a grainy picture of Izadu.
"My Lord, the Micronians have started attacking us. I don't know for how long we can hold them off."
"Never mind that, Izadu," Quazmin stated evenly. "Did you or that fool Nadtal authorize that explosion in the Micronian ranks?"
"No, my Lord. We did not. We followed your instructions to the letter. Anyone that would have deviated from the course of action you put in place had already been dealt with."
"Understood. So, it appears that the Micronians may have invented this explosion as an excuse to open hostilities. If it's war the Micronians want, we can definitely supply them with one. Your orders are simple, Izadu. If you and your men do see an opening for a strategic withdrawal, you have my permission to do so. I have a feeling we will need the numbers, so no use in wasting lives needlessly."
"As you command, my Lord."
With that, the communication went to static. Turning to the others, Quazmin bore a look that was a combination of determination and rage. As calmly as possible under the circumstances, he spoke.
"So, it appears we are back at war with the Micronians." He then turned to Pyoto. "Have the men gather at 1800 this evening. We have a lot to discuss."
Xamdar smiled. "Finally, a chance for action."
Quazmin shot over a hard look. "If you didn't remember, we are a little outnumbered at the moment. Having the full weight of Macross Command upon The Frag would be detrimental. For now, we wait and when the opportunity arises, we go forward."
He then turned to Pyoto. "We may also have some friends in, ahem, higher places as well after this. I would have to think even Lord Breetai would not be accepting of this."
Pyoto smiled. "It would depend if this was an ordered attack from Macross Command or if this Colonel Leonard acted on his own. If the orders came from Macross Command, war would be the most likely outcome. If it was an independent action, our friends out in orbit of this miserable little rock would possibly hold the line and not interfere directly. However, there may be some among his fleet that may think otherwise and may also act independently."
Quazmin was about to add in a comment agreeing with Pyoto's outlook, but found himself interrupted by Xamdar after he was glancing at his phone.
"I may have something in the works that could be of use to us and our brothers down in South America very shortly. One of my old Micronian contacts has some information that would be the utmost importance to whatever we are planning." With that, Xamdar pulled up an email that had just arrived from someone he described in prior talks as an "old friend."
Pyoto and Quazmin both smiled at the information that was brought up in front of them.
"Xamdar," Quazmin stated. "You have outdone yourself. I believe this may be able to help us and also have an added benefit of keeping the bulk of the Micronian forces tied up here so they cannot assist their friends."
Pyoto looked at his companion a bit skeptically. "This is all well and good, old friend. However, bringing a Micronian into The Frag after this turn of events or you wandering outside of it may not bode well for one's safety."
"That, my friends, I have covered," Xamdar added with a smile. "The source in question would be someone that most Zentraedi would not have, as they say, a major issue with their presence here. The meeting with my friend is at 1600 this afternoon to get the full file. If there's any concerns regarding his safety, I think we can make some arrangements among the warriors here that he is not to be molested in any way."
Quazmin nodded. "See to this then. If what your contact claims is true, then we may have to let the others on the asteroid know how we will be proceeding."
The three re-focused their attention to the television in front of them and the ongoing streams of information from Buenos Aires.
At the Santa Isabel Monastery in the Paraguayan Quadrant, Lieutenant Ortega and Cryndor were in the middle of a talk with the leader of the monastic community, a Father Jimenez. The talk consisted of the RDF intelligence officer and his reluctant Zentraedi companion relaying the story of how they ended up on the doorstep of the secluded compound, with the Father just listening and absorbing the information presented.
It was during the conversation that the larger monk that was situated in the office area outside of the office came wandering in somewhat unannounced.
"My grace, I hate to interrupt, but the Holy Father himself is on line three and wishes to speak to you immediately. Something terrible has happened."
Both Ortega and Cryndor noticed the color had drained out of Jimenez's face at this news. Cryndor looked over at Ortega and noticed he had the same look as the man sitting in front of them.
The priest stood up and looked at the three men in the office.
"Thank you, Brother Tuck. My sons, we will have to follow up on this conversation later on. I hope you understand. Brother Tuck will show you back to the cabins."
With a quick nod, the two men stood up and followed the monk out of the office. Within minutes, they were back in the cabin they called home for the time being.
"I don't think it would be large stretch of the imagination that things in Buenos Aires just escalated, Lieutenant?" Cryndor found himself asking.
"I fear you are correct, amigo," came the response.
At Macross Command, Rick Hunter sat in his office going over in his head how he was going to explain the events of earlier in the day. It's not every day you have to explain to your squadron that one of them was actively participating in what would be a textbook example of treason, he thought ruefully. And for what? Just because they wanted to get into the pants of their CO?
He gazed skyward shaking his head. Should have seen this from a mile away, but knowing my track record with members of the opposite sex, no wonder I missed the clues, he thought with a bit of a smirk. I mean, how long did it take me to realize things about Lisa?
The thought pattern was broken quickly by his desk phone ringing. Rick glanced down at the extension. Sit Room. That can't be good.
"Hunter."
"Rick, it's Lisa. Admiral wants you here on the double."
"Something big?"
"The situation in Argentina changed, and not for the better."
Rick stifled a very vile curse towards Colonel Leonard upon hearing the news. Regaining his composure, he continued. "On my way. Also, get Max, Ben, and Wilcox in on this."
"They're all on their way as well."
"Roger that. See you shortly."
Making his way out into the corridor, he caught a glimpse of one of the monitors showing the MBS feed. Rick could only shake his head at what he saw.
And so it begins, he thought. Either it's the RDF vs Zentraedi rematch we all didn't want or the Ol' Meatgrinder's gone full on crazy. Or a mix of both. Regardless, this is going to get uglier before it gets better.
A/N - It's been a few months since I've updated last. Real life decided to rear its ugly head in a way that was unexpected and not entirely pleasant. Naturally, that took precedence over this little yarn I'm weaving and my muse wisely and understandably decided to take a vacation due to that.
So, after re-reading what was in place, I've started picking up where I left off and getting back into the flow.
In the next installment - The fallout from the raid on San Marcos and the incident within Skull Squadron come to bear. Stay tuned for Chapter 12: Aftershocks, the next exciting episode of Robotech: Shrouds Of Darkness