Foreword:
Well, it's been three months, but it took a lot less time to write this than the first chapter (the first chapter took about 7 months)! I'm a bit of a slow writer, so my apologies if anyone has been looking forward for this.
Since there was a question regarding setting last chapter, I'd like to say here for anyone that may be confused that this takes place in the Macross universe (in-between Frontier and Delta) and uses characters from both Kancolle and Azur Lane.
Also, warning - this is not a serious military story (hence why it isn't tagged as such on both Archive and Fanfiction), so apologies in advance for any misrepresentations and inaccuracies of military protocol or procedures.
Chapter 1 - A Fateful Encounter
The Macross Horizon, the 26th fleet of the New Macross colonization fleets. Since 2030, the New Macross fleets have been the standard for long-range exploration and colonization of the galaxy, consisting of (1) a Battle-class variable space carrier, (2) a main colony ship, (3) auxiliary/specialist colony ships, and (4) a defense fleet. The numerous New Macross fleets roaming the galaxy in search for a home are completely autonomous and are fully-fledged members of the New United Nations Government.
Belonging to the fifth generation of such colonization fleets, the Horizon uses the Island Cluster-class colony ship, which simplifies the structure of the New Macross fleet by attaching the auxiliary/specialist colony ships directly to the main colony ship. Under this system, each colony ship is individually known as an island, and together, the islands house and supply the 12 million people that call the Macross Horizon fleet their home.
In the Horizon fleet, the primary living area for the citizens is within Island 1, or as it's more commonly known to Horizon's citizens, Mirai. With a diameter of 16 kilometers and a height of 2 kilometers, the Mirai contains roughly half of the fleet's population in addition to its capital, Horizon City.
Trailing behind the Mirai in two branches are 30 environment ships, which serve as the other islands of the fleet. These 8-kilometer-long ships are extremely versatile – some serve as additional centers of population and commerce, others focus purely on agriculture and livestock, others for amusement and relaxation, and a variety of other purposes. Combined, the environment ships help create a stable ecosystem and economy that keeps the fleet self-sustainable. As the size and needs of the fleet grow throughout its voyage, more environment ships are constructed locally and added to the back of the fleet.
With hundreds of Zentradi Main Fleets still lurking every corner of the galaxy, each colonization fleet must be sufficiently protected, and the Horizon is no exception. Over 1,000 warships and 20,000 variable fighters are charged with scouting ahead of and defending the colony from any attackers. At the head of this armada is a Battle-class variable attack carrier, the Battle Horizon (NMCV-26). Despite being a carrier, the Battle Horizon possesses one the most powerful cannons known to mankind - a large-scale heavy quantum reaction cannon, more commonly known to as a 'Macross Cannon' after the main armament of the Macross (SDF-1).
The Battle Horizon also serves as the headquarters of the Horizon's branch of the New United Nations armed forces. It contains numerous facilities onboard for strategic planning, fleet command, and administration over the million people employed by the Horizon military. The Battle Horizon is one of the busiest places in the entire fleet, second only to Horizon City itself.
Hospital Ship - UNSS Marianne
The clacks of footsteps on tiles echoed throughout the hallway as I, accompanied by one of the hospital ship's nurses, walked towards the room Carol was recovering in. It had been around 3 days since we had returned from our previous mission to dispatch of the Meltran recon fleet. To be honest, everything since the conclusion of the battle had been a blur to me, and I had spent these past few days resting at home to recuperate. This visit to Carol was long overdue, and while I had heard from High Command that she was completely fine, a part of me just couldn't believe it until I had seen it for myself.
As we continued walking down the hall, I began hearing the faint sound of singing. The medley was slow, drawn out, and graceful. It sounded awfully familiar… Just where had I heard it before?
The sound of the singing rose and rose by the step, until it suddenly hit me like a brick wall – it was the magnum opus of Lynn Minmay, 'Do You Remember Love?'! The pronunciation was a bit off, but the medley made it unmistakable.
I'm not alone anymore,
Now that you are here with me…
Do you remember? The time when our eyes first met?
Now that I think about it, that voice sounded oddly familiar… That soft tone, while distorted a bit from the singing, was one that I had heard on a near-daily basis for the past few years. It was definitely Carol singing.
The nurse came to a stop as the singing reached its loudest. She knocked twice, and the singing abruptly stopped. The card next to the door confirmed my suspicion, the name 'Caroline Baker' written underneath the room number.
"Come in!" Carol's voice came through the door in a muffled manner.
On Carol's confirmation, the nurse twisted the doorknob and showed me in. She gave a brief bow before turning around and walking back down the hallway.
Upon entering and looking around the room, I was greeted by Carol's bright smile. She raised her right arm and gave a little wave, "Hey there, Hiroshi!"
My eyes started swelling, and I began tearing up at the sight of Carol as I unconsciously began recalling holding her unconscious body on the bridge of the North Carolina, and then later looking over her in the medical bay of the ship on the return-trip back to the Horizon. This was the closest I had ever been to losing a close friend, and even though she was here, I still couldn't help but thinking 'what if she had died there?'.
As this line of thought ended, I rushed to Carol and embraced her, which she returned tightly as the tears continued rolling down my cheeks.
After a few seconds, she whispered into my ear, "There, there… It's alright, I'm not dead just yet. There's no way I'm gonna be kicking the bucket anytime soon, ya hear? No need for you to be so sad now – that's an order."
She let go of me and softly pushed me away from her. I sniffled, then raised my hands to my face to move my glasses out of the way in order to wipe away my tears. After a few seconds, once I felt a bit more composed, I stifled, "Yes ma'am.".
"Good." She gave a radiant smile, reminding me once more that she was certainly alive.
"By the way, you heard me singing, right?" She quickly changed the topic before I could even think about getting another word about her injury in. "How was it?"
"Well…" I sniffled, still recovering from the past minute, before starting to recall my previous thoughts from when I was walking through the halls. "Your pronunciation was a little bit off, but the rhythm and pitch were good."
"For real?" Carol's sapphire eyes shone as she clasped her hands close to her face.
"Yep! With a bit of practice, you could probably win Miss Macross Horizon this year!"
Carol gave a short laugh at my comment. "Oh, please, Hiroshi. I don't think I'm that good at singing… My voice was really outclassed by everyone else last time I participated, anyways..."
"You have a beautiful voice, Carol." I reassured her. Soon after, a smirk appeared on my face as a dangerous teasing comment materialized in my head. Oh, this was going to get her so mad, but it was going to be so worth it to be on the opposite end of her teasing for once.
"However, I think your biggest obstacle if you decide to compete in Miss Macross again would be your age."
"Huh?!" Carol jolted forward as her arm reached out in an attempt to grab me, but I was already well out of her reach. She glared at me as she opened her mouth to deliver her counterattack, "Didn't they teach you at school to not play around with a lady's age? First of all – 26 is not that old! I'm only 4 years older than you! And second – I'm forever 18 at heart!"
To emphasize her inner youthfulness, Carol imitated the galaxy-famous idol Ranka Lee's signature 'Kira!' pose – she leaned her head slightly to the left and gave her usual bright smile as she winked and held up the sign language gesture for 'I Love You'. I viewed Carol mainly as a good friend and my mentor, but even my heart had to skip a beat upon laying my eyes on such a sight... How cute...
To cover up for what I could only assume was a blush forming on my face, I began to chuckle at my teasing comment and at Carol's response to it.
"You know I was just joking with you." I managed to squeeze in-between my laughter.
"Hmph." Carol sighed and pouted as she turned her head in the opposite direction of me.
Now it was my turn to change the topic, "Anyways, why were you even singing 'Do You Remember Love?' in the first place? You don't usually sing Minmay."
At this, Carol turned her head back towards me and rolled her eyes. "Hiroshi, you have no idea… I have been absolutely bored out of my mind these past few days – I've had nothing else to do but watch 'My Dear Minmay' for three days straight! Even when I was sleeping, all I could hear was 'Do You Remember Love?' and 'My Boyfriend is a Pilot'!"
Wow… That old drama chronicling the events of the First Interstellar War? If I recalled correctly, the medley of 'Do You Remember Love?' was used frequently throughout the show, both as a background song and a song that Minmay herself sang. No wonder it had gotten stuck in Carol's head...
"Well, you'll be out soon enough, right?" I asked, not wanting to directly say something about the drama, lest I get an earful of Carol's every complaint about it. "You have any plans soon? We could eat out with Alice and some of the other bridge crew or something."
"Actually, I do have some plans for right now. Why don't you sit down, Hiroshi?" She gestured at the seat next to her bed with a patting down motion.
It's not like I had anything else to do right now. However, what could she mean by 'she has plans right now', though? Didn't she just say she was bored out of her mind from watching too much 'My Dear Minmay'?
"Sure." I moved to the chair and plopped myself down. "What do you have in mind, Carol?"
Carol gave me a closed-lip, tight smile before continuing, "My plans for the next few days are to help you transition from your current position as a bridge officer to your new position as a captain."
"What? As in-" I began, wondering if the words that came out of Carol's mouth meant what I thought they did.
"Yes, Hiroshi, you heard right. You, my dear friend, are being promoted and being assigned a new ship to command!" She winked at me, while simultaneously giving me a thumb up.
"Really? How? Why?" I let the questions slip out of my mouth at the news. I expected to get praise from Carol for my actions in her absence, but a promotion certainly wasn't on my mind until just now. Wasn't it just expected that I be able to take control for Carol at a moment's notice?
"Well, I read the after-battle reports, and I was really impressed! You did everything that I would have done in that scenario – you handled the pressure excellently." She nodded with a grin on her face as she reached her arm out to pat me on the shoulder.
Wait, everything? Even the part where I messed up and everyone almost died?
"Even grouping the squadron up behind the asteroid? I almost got us wiped out by a quantum reaction beam! I knew there was a chance of the command battleship using it, but I ordered it anyways…" I countered, my voice sinking as I recalled the final few moments of the battle.
"I would have made that call as well knowing what you knew then." Carol reassuringly said, as she began twirling her hair around her index finger. She continued, "Besides, according to what the salvage team found in the battleship's logs, they were in the middle of restarting the ship's reactor when we found them, so you were right in concluding that their main cannon was unable to fire. It just so happened that their reactor came back up before the Sirius came to our rescue. Don't sweat it too hard, the important thing is that you and the others made it out alive – I'm proud of you."
She was right. I shouldn't be overthinking the 'what ifs' for something like this, especially when the results of the battle had already been handed out. No matter what happened, at the end of the day, we had made it out safely, and that's what mattered.
"As for 'how'…" She continued by responding to my other question, still twirling her hair, "I requested that Collie bring up the matter to some of the higher-ups, and after they looked at your records and the reports from the battle, they agreed."
Oh, that's right. Carol was good friends with Commodore Kennedy, who just so happened to be the commanding officer of one of the most powerful vessels in the fleet, the variable attack carrier Macross Scorpion… No wonder the top brass people were so fast on making this decision.
"Now we can get to the fun part!" Carol clapped her hands together. "You'll be commanding a Northampton-class frigate that is to be commissioned into the fleet within the next month or so."
No surprise there. Being the most common ship in the New UN Spacy, the Northampton-class stealth frigate was a sort of 'rite of passage' for younger commanding officers in the Spacy; hell, even Carol had been the captain of one a few years back. I would have been shocked if she had said I would be commanding any other class of vessel.
"Aww, I was hoping that I would be commanding one of the Hyperions." I said sarcastically.
"Pffft." Carol laughed at my remark. "Yeah, you can come back to me on that one in 20 years when I'm a Fleet Admiral! Maybe then I can hook you up with one."
I chuckled in response. Jokes aside, Carol did have a fairly good chance of attaining such an honorable and prestigious position. She was a good leader, and more importantly, a charismatic one, with friends and acquaintances all over the Horizon fleet. I could seriously see her as a Fleet Admiral within the next 20 or so years.
"Well, you better not forget, then!" I pulled out my phone and began typing in a reminder set for twenty years from now – June 26, 2083.
'Carol said she would be a Fleet Admiral by this time now. Has she given you command over a Hyperion-class battleship yet?'
I flipped my phone's screen to Carol to show her my note. "You better keep that promise."
She smirked, "When have I not kept a promise for you?"
I placed my index finger to my chin as I began thinking… Had Carol ever not kept a promise? "Well, I suppose…"
"Don't answer that." She said abruptly. Without a second's notice, she changed the subject, "Well, you have any questions or comments about your new position?" She now pointed straight at me. "What's on your mind?"
"Well, of course I'm happy about all this, don't get me wrong!" I assured her, waving my hands in front of myself. Carol had done a good job in telling me everything I needed to know, but there was just one crucial detail she had missed, "I do have one question, though. Which frigate division am I being assigned to?"
"Eh? Isn't that obvious?" Her eyes widened with surprise. She then smirked, waving her hand towards her face as if it were a fan. "Oh my, Hiroshi, of course you're staying with me! Your new frigate is joining the 92nd Frigate Division! You know how we've always talked about how useful a fourth frigate would be? Well, that's gonna be you!"
"Oh, that's a relief then." I said quietly. I had already worked under Carol for many years now, and I sure didn't want to stop now. She had my complete trust, and I wasn't sure if I would be comfortable with suddenly changing superior officers.
"Was that your only question?" Carol asked.
I nodded in response.
"Good! Because that's about all I know right now!" Carol clapped her hands together before giving me further orders, "Go to the New UN Spacy HQ on the Battle Horizon and pick up your documents regarding your promotion and new assignment. Then get back here pronto! That's an order!"
I rose from the seat and gave her a weak, lighthearted salute, "Yes ma'am."
My hand had just reached the doorknob of the room when Carol spoke up once more.
"Oh, by the way, could you pick up my copy of that information while you're there? I still need to review those as well since you're all being added to my squadron."
"Of course."
"Thanks! See ya soon, Hiroshi!" Carol smiled and waved at me.
With a little bow, I opened the door and began to make my way towards the hospital ship's docking bay to return to the Mirai.
Macross Horizon Main Colony Ship, Mirai
The skyline of Horizon City began to disappear behind hills and trees as the electromagnetic train continued to descend the frame of the Mirai's dome down to ground-level. Surrounding me were dozens of people donning a plethora of various New UN military uniforms. Several of them stood up from their seats and placed themselves right in front of the doors as the train began decelerating.
"Now arriving at the connecting dock to the Battle Horizon. Please mind your step as you disembark the car. The next stop is Bruno J. Global Interstellar Spaceport. Thank you again for riding the Horizon Fleet Transit System!" A feminine voice said over the train's PA system as it came to a stop.
Unsurprisingly, a mass of uniforms arose from their seats and began making their way towards the exit, myself included. We were joined by other groups of military personnel similarly disembarking the other cars of the train, without a doubt also on their way to the Battle Horizon. Our large group flowed like a human river until we had exited the station, directly next to the main entrance of the Battle Horizon's connecting dock.
It had been a hot minute since I had been on the Battle Horizon. The last time I was on the fleet flagship was when I was promoted to lieutenant, so that was around… a year and a half ago? How did we even get to NUNS Headquarters last time, anyways?
I began trying to recall how I had gotten there last time, but to no avail. My unfamiliarity with the ship's layout combined with its massive size just made the task too complex. It didn't help that it was Carol who had guided me last time as well…
I sighed. I didn't want to bother Carol right now, nor any of the others around me. Additionally, how embarassing would that be: a lieutenant asking for help to get to his own base? I shuddered at the thought. Perhaps it would be best just to let my phone handle this issue.
After finding a shady area underneath a nearby tree, I retrieved the device from within a pocket on the inside of my jacket. After a bit of querying, a map of the Battle Horizon's internals was projected from the phone's holographic generator. It highlighted Block G, near the center of the massive carrier, as the location of NUNS Headquarters. A long, red line highlighted the optimal path to take, starting from the entrance of the connecting dock; most of journey to Block G would be on the main transportation belt, so it should be simple enough.
I stared at the hologram for a few seconds, trying to engrave it into my mind. After entering the Battle Horizon, powerful electronic jamming would keep non-military equipment from accessing the Galaxy Network (1*), thus rendering the device almost useless once inside. I had to make sure that I could get there on my own.
Moments later, with my destination and route in mind, I returned my phone to the pocket and confidently made my way into the Battle Horizon.
Unfortunately for me, the Battle Horizon is a very large ship, and by extent, so are its numerous subsections. For the past 15 minutes, I had been wandering through the steel maze known as the Battle Horizon's Block G but could find no trace of the New UN Spacy Headquarters.
I was lost.
At this point, I might as well just go back to entrance of the connecting dock and retrace my steps from the very beginning; maybe I had missed a sign or something. Perhaps Carol could call over one of her friends who's more familiar with the Battle Horizon's layout to help me… Well, whatever the best solution to my problem was, I would first have to make my way back towards the rear of the ship and back.
A large arrow painted onto the side of the hallway indicated that the main transport belt was just at the end of the hallway in the direction I was headed. How convenient… If only there were something similar for the location of NUNS Headquarters.
After reaching the end of the hallway, I let out a long, frustrated sigh as I stepped onto the transport belt in the direction towards the aft end of the ship. My eyes began wandering around to look for any signs pointing toward my destination.
Hangar 6A... No, that's not it...
Reactor 8 control room... Nope.
As I continued scanning my surroundings, I felt a single firm poke on the center of my back.
Instinctively, I turned back, and was met with the sight of two girls – one stood directly in front of me, and the other just behind her. I hadn't seen them board the belt after I got on, so they must have walked up to me from further behind.
They both appeared to be of Japanese descent; what stood out the most to me was their differing accessories, as they were both wearing the standard New UN Spacy officer's uniform – a stark white jacket with dark blue highlights around the collar and down the button-line, alongside a matching pencil-skirt – the same as mine, well minus the skirt of course. It also didn't help that they both had same shade of black hair...
The foremost girl wore a pair of glasses, which highlighted her jade-colored eyes. Her hair was down straight, accompanied by a pair of long, white ribbons. In contrast, the girl behind her had darker, amber eyes. A large, white bow tied her hair up in a long, high ponytail that flowed down past her waist.
For some reason, the ponytail girl looked familiar, but I couldn't figure out where or how I had seen her before. It's a big fleet, so I could have just seen her once in passing on the Fleet Transit System or something...
"You seem lost." The megane girl (2*) said curiously, "Where are you headed?"
Damn. I'd been found out.
"Block G, New UN Spacy Headquarters." I answered. In order to cover up the embarrassment of becoming lost, I stifled a laugh, "I thought I remembered how to get there, but it turns out that I didn't…"
"Oh, Block G? What a coincidence, we just came from there." Megane girl responded with a light smile.
From behind megane girl, I could see her friend sighing. Just as I had thought, it was embarassing to reveal that I had forgotten how to get to navigate through the Battle Horizon to NUNS HQ.
"We can guide you there if you'd like." Megane girl offered. Before I had a chance to agree, she stepped off the belt onto a platform on our left. She beckoned for me and her friend to join her. I would be receiving a guide whether I wanted it or not.
I stepped onto the platform and was soon followed by ponytail girl. Seeing that we were all now on the center platform, megane girl turned around and stepped onto the belt moving in the opposite direction, and was again followed by ponytail girl and me. We regrouped, and now I was standing next to megane girl, with her friend just slightly behind us.
"Block G should be just a few minutes away from here." Megane girl said to me, still looking dead ahead.
As she said this, I glanced over to my left, and spotted the spot where I had previously gotten onto the belt before encountering these two girls. "Isn't this already Block G?"
"Eh?" She turned to face me, her eyebrows raised in confusion. "This is Block 6! We're still in the Battle Horizon's port-side engine section. Remember, alphabetical blocks are in the central section of the ship!"
"Oh…" Now that I looked closer at the labelling, it was clear that this was indeed Block 6, rather than Block G. I guess I was rushing to find NUNS HQ and lost in my thoughts, leading to me skimming over the signs and misreading '6' and 'G'...
"It's fine." Megane girl said a few seconds later. "We all make mistakes sometimes; just make sure you learn from it."
"Maybe you should get new glasses…" I heard ponytail girl say quietly, but sharply, from behind me.
When was the last time I had even gone in to do an eye exam? During my time in the academy? Regardless, my current pair was getting quite old, so I was due for an exam anyways.
I looked back at her and chuckled, "I guess I do."
I heard megane girl giggle softly to my right. Ponytail girl, on the other hand, didn't respond, merely looking down at the floor and avoiding eye contact. Even though we had just met, she seemed awfully cold to me; had I said something wrong? Well, probably failing to find my destination was part of the reason, but I don't think that was serious enough to justify her current attitude towards me...
"Well, anyways," Megane girl said, drawing my attention back to her. "What are you going to do at HQ?"
"I'm going in to pick up some documents regarding a new assignment." I answered.
Before I had the chance to even open my mouth to ask the same of her and her friend, megane girl spoke up again, almost as if she had read my mind.
"Really? That's what we came here to do, too." She said as she held up a binder that had previously gone unnoticed by me to her chest.
"Wow, it's almost as we're in sync." I commented on our coincidental circumstances. Wait, if they were here for a new assignment as well, then there was a chance that they would be assigned to my ship… Now even more curious, I continued, "What ship are you two being assigned to? Maybe we might be on the same ship!"
"Well, we haven't looked yet; we were going to do it over lunch after heading out of here…" Megane girl suddenly trailed off. In that instant, she reached into her jacket and pulled out her phone. She glanced at the screen for a second and then began shaking her head.
"We promised that we would be there by 12:30… We're going to be late." Ponytail girl quietly said.
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw ponytail girl place a hand on megane girls' left shoulder. She turned her head to her friend, and soon took a few steps back in order to stand next to ponytail girl. I could hear the two whispering, but I didn't pay it any further mind; it wasn't any of my business, nor would I probably even get what they were talking about.
For a while, I continued to stare ahead, watching for any signs marking the location of NUNS HQ, as the two girls whispered amongst themselves. After a minute or so, I heard megane girl giggle lightly and clearly say, "I see~".
And soon enough, megane girl was now standing right next to me again.
"We'll have to speed it up so that we're not any later." Megane girl said to me. "You mind if we pick up the pace?"
"Not at all." I replied. "After all, you two are the ones helping me."
At this, megane girl motioned for me to follow as she began walking down the belt. The transportation belts used on large capital ships like the Battle Horizon were already quick, so even just walking would drastically improve the pace of movement.
Since the two girls were in a rush, I felt no need to pick up where we left off on our conversation; judging from the silence of the two girls, they probably felt the same way. We continued in silence until moments later, large, bold markings on the walls made it known that we had entered Block G. A sign soon afterwards specified that New UN Spacy Headquarters would be the next exit platform on the right.
Seeing this sign, I hastened my pace towards the platform. Shortly after I had stepped off the belt, I was joined by the two girls.
"Just follow that sign" Megane girl pointed at a large sign next to the entrance of the corridor that connected the platform with the rest of Block G, "It's just straight ahead – you can't miss it."
The sign adorned the emblem of the New UN Spacy, and was clearly labeled as 'New UN Spacy Headquarters', with a large arrow pointing into the corridor. If I got lost here, I don't know what I would have to say for myself…
"Thanks for your help." I said, giving a short bow to the two.
"Don't worry about it." Megane girl said with a nod. "It's our duty to help others out, especially when it's one our own."
Ponytail girl leaned towards her counterpart and quietly said, "We should get going."
Megane girl nodded in response to her friend.
Wait. I couldn't just leave these two with a simple 'thanks' after they had taken the time to help me, even when they had other matters to attend to; I had to repay them somehow.
"Wait, do you guys have a phone with you?" I started as the two girls turned back to re-embark on the transportation belt. They stopped to look back at me as I continued, "Maybe I could treat you two with a coffee or something as thanks sometime."
"Ah, sure! That would be great." Megane girl responded, reaching into her jacket for her phone as she and her friend began walking back towards me.
I mirrored this action and retrieved my own phone. After it was unlocked, I pulled up the menu to add a contact. Once we were close enough, we held out the devices to one another, and a bright, green checkmark appeared on the screens, confirming that our information had been successfully exchanged.
"Well, it was nice meeting you." She said with a light smile.
"Likewise." I returned her smile.
"Alright, well, we'll see you soon, mister!" She waved at me before turning back towards the transportation belt alongside with her friend.
As they boarded the belt, I turned around and began to make my way to NUNS Headquarters.
As I continued down the corridor, I reflected on the past few moments that I had spent with those two girls, since I would be seeing them again in the coming days to thank them. The megane one was quite amiable, that's for sure. She also had a cute smile; I don't think it'll be too hard to get along with her in the future.
The other girl with the ponytail however… Well, she seemed harsh, but she surely must have had a reason… She could have left me and her friend at any time, but she tagged along regardless. There must be more to her than meets the eye, and I guess that I'll probably be able to figure it out the next time we meet. I shrugged to myself as I entered the segment of the Battle Horizon dedicated to the New UN Spacy Headquarters.
The rest of my time on the Battle Horizon was rather uneventful. After providing my identify to one of the desk clerks, I was redirected to the administrative section of the building. And then, after a few minutes of waiting there, I was shown to the office of Admiral Wolfgang Lyon, who had overseen my promotion. He gave me his congratulations, told me about the details regarding my official promotion ceremony, and finally, handed me a binder containing the documents related to my new ship and crew. I had to stay a few minutes more to confirm that I was also there on Carol's behalf as well, but other than that, it was smooth sailing.
Fifteen minutes after entering the New UN Spacy Headquarters, I returned to the main transport belt with two binders in hand, ready to report back to Carol. I wanted to save my own reactions to the documents for when I was with Carol, so I refrained from looking at them just yet; I could be patient for just a little while longer.
UNSS Marianne
About a half an hour after my encounter with megane and ponytail girl, I had finally made my way back to Carol's room onboard the hospital ship. The nurse from earlier had escorted me to Carol's room a second time, and like before, she gave a brief bow before returning back down the hall.
Again, Carol greeted me with a bright smile and a few waves. However, she was not laying down on the hospital bed, but rather sitting at a table just behind the bed. I suppose that she had gotten approval to get out of bed while I was away.
"Welcome back, Hiroshi! Did you get it?"
I held up the two binders I had received onboard the Battle Horizon as my response. Seeing the binders, Carol gestured for me to come over.
I made my way to the table and placed the two binders on the table before taking a seat opposite of Carol. "Thanks for picking this up for me." She smiled as she took the binder with her name and opened it. "Have you taken a look through them yet?"
I shook my head as I opened my own binder for the first time. A brief note from Admiral Lyon was contained within the first page – there was nothing new here, just a written expression of his congratulations from earlier. I flipped to the next page – now this is what I wanted to see. A basic overview of the Northampton-class frigate I would be commanding was printed on the page, from the electronic systems to the armaments.
The most important piece of information was printed in bold, large letters at the top of the first page. The ship's name and hull number – the UNS Yokohama, FFM-21151.
I looked up to see Carol skimming through her own binder. I sighed half-jokingly, "Aw, I was hoping for a cooler name like Stargazer…"
"What are you talking about?" Carol immediately snapped back, not sensing my joking manner. "It IS a cool name! Lynn Minmay was from Yokohama, you know."
"Really?" I asked – I didn't know that. While Minmay was a household name, I couldn't recall any other place that she would have called home other than ships named Macross or Megaroad.
"Yeah. Lynn Minmay was born on October 10, 1993 in the Chinatown of Yokohama, Japan. She lived there for 14 years before moving to South Ataria Isl-"
"I don't need to know her life story, Carol." I interrupted Carol as she began giving her Minmay-centric history lesson.
"Ah, sorry." She gave me a smug smile as she giggled. "Watching My Dear Minmay really has gotten to my head. That aside, you do know that 'Yokohama' is going to be the name of the town on Island 31 once it's completed, right? It's a great honor for your ship to have such a direct connection with a location on this fleet."
"Yeah, maybe I should move there – I'd be a local celebrity." I chuckled, going along with Carol's last comment.
Not having anything else to add to that line of conversation, I looked back down at the binder and began flipping to the next section, which so happened to be the crew list. The list was divided into two sections – one for officers, and the other for enlisted crew. I didn't happen to know anyone who had enlisted normally into the New UN Spacy, so I began by skimming through the officer section of the crew list for any familiar names.
A slight smile appeared on my face as I spotted the names 'Akashi Kawasaki' and 'Kirishima Seto'. Unsurprisingly, their assigned positions were that of engineer/mechanic and Chief Weapons Officer respectively. These were direct upgrades from their previous positions.
"Oh, lucky you." Carol said. I looked up from my binder, finding her already staring right back at me. "I'm glad to see you three will be working together again."
"How could you tell?" I asked, my eyebrows raising. I hadn't even said anything yet!
"Oh please, Hiroshi. Why else would you be smiling at a crew list?" Carol responded nonchalantly. She continued in a joking tone, "It doesn't matter whether you're in grade school or the military, the first thing that everyone does when they're handed a roster is to see if their friends are there with them."
"Well, you're right. It's not like I have any other close friends from the academy." I sighed. Aside from Kirishima-chan and Akashi-kun, there weren't really many others that I knew from the academy that I would be so excited about to work with – us three had been friends since grade school after all!
"You got a lot luckier than getting your friends assigned to you, ya know." Carol smirked, moving on from the topic of Kirishima-chan and Akashi-kun. She continued excitedly, "Listen to this - your ship's Valkyrie unit is going to be Atago Takanashi and her new squadron!"
Wait, that Atago Takanashi? It couldn't be...
"As in Atago the 'Lightning Queen'? The daughter of Admiral Ichirou Takanashi?" I asked for confirmation, using both the identity of her father as well as the title that she had gained during her time at the Officers' Academy. Her title was a bit simple, but it perfectly described her – she had lightning-quick movements both in the cockpit of a Valkyrie and on her feet; she also enjoyed a queen-like popularity amongst the academy's students for her excellence in beauty, academics, and everything in-between.
"Yep!" Carol put her binder down and pushed it my way. "I assume you're familiar with her already?"
I looked at the photo on the page. Those sharp amber eyes. The mole. The long, flowing hair. It really was her, the 'Lightning Queen' Atago Takanashi.
"Of course I'm familiar with her! She was the queen of the Officer's Academy when I was there!" I said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. It might as well have been, given that every officer and pilot around my age knew about her. The word 'queen' wasn't a part of her title for nothing!
Wait, but how was Carol familiar with Atago? I hadn't ever talked to her about Atago before now, and from her tone, it sounded like she was more familiar with her than just the tip-of-the-iceberg knowledge of 'she's a renowned pilot'.
"What about you, Carol? How do you know about her?" I asked.
"Ah," She started, holding her index finger up. "The Valkyrie operator for her previous squadron was Sarah. Thanks to her, I know all about her reputation – she always speaks highly of Atago whenever she comes up in our conversations."
As she spoke briefly of her friend, Sarah Thompson, her image appeared in my mind – the elegant and friendly brunette. In my opinion, she's probably one of the gentlest women alive, so it was no surprise that she had nothing but praise to speak of Atago Takanashi.
"Oh, and just for your information, I always make sure to return the favor to Sarah by bragging about you, Hiroshi~" Carol added with a giggle.
I involuntarily smiled in response. Did that mean that Sarah had also been telling Atago about me? I wonder what her own impressions of me were; I wasn't exactly a celebrity at the academy, nor was I a hotshot pilot like her. I guess I would be finding out the answer to that question the near future once I met her...
"What does Sarah say about her? Is she any different from what everyone else says she's like?" I asked, pressing forward on the topic of Atago.
"For starters, she's as charming as they say she is - I've met with her a few times myself." Carol answered. She closed her eyes in thought for a few seconds before continuing, "She lives up to her reputation, at least from what I've seen - she's a good girl, albeit a bit playful."
"Wait," I said, my jaw dropping a bit from awe. Carol had met the Atago Takanashi? Maybe it was just because I was a year above her and didn't see her much, but she was an unreachable figure in my mind; it was a bit shocking for me to learn that Carol had been able to get closer to her. I continued, "You've met her before? Why didn't you tell me that?"
"Well, I just assumed that you didn't care much about her. Before now, I don't think you've ever brought her up." Carol shrugged. "Besides, don't get too struck up on not being able to talk to her earlier; you'll be meeting her soon, anyways. Don't worry – I think you two will get along just fine."
I sure hope she was right...
With the topic of the Lightning Queen now on the top of my head, I flipped through the binder towards the section detailing the Yokohama's assigned Valkyrie unit. Once there, I began skimming the page.
'Squadron name… Ashen Samurai (SVF-1556).' Well, that name certainly had a nice ring to it. I continued reading, 'Squadron assigned variable fighter… VF-25.'
"Huh? VF-25?" I wondered aloud. "Why are they entrusting me with something as new as Messiahs?"
"Don't sweat it too much." Carol peeped over her copy at me and said reassuringly. "You're not really in charge of the Valkyries – Atago is. Your ship is just their launch platform. Besides, I don't think it really matters if they're equipped with Nightmares or Messiahs (3*). Any group led by Atago Takanashi will be tough as nails – they'll do their job just fine."
"I guess so…" I said shakily. Although Carol had good reasoning, it still didn't fit with me that there would be a squadron of VF-25s aboard my frigate, compared to the 171s that made up most of the 29th Squadron's Valkyrie component.
"Oh, and do remember that our fleet's Messiahs are just licensed reproductions of Frontier's, so they're not as powerful as the units that participated in the Vajra War; believe me, I know that ours are nowhere near a Frontier Messiah." Carol added, seeing that I wasn't completely convinced. "Besides, we need those Messiahs – there's only one wing of them within our squadron right now."
"I wish I was able to see that…" The Vajra War… Just hearing Carol mention her involvement brought back some nostalgia, even though it had only been 4 years ago. I still remembered my anger when she said that I couldn't accompany her and the Horizon task force to aid the Frontier. Looking back on it now, she was right in not letting me go, but I couldn't help recalling that day.
"I still kinda wish I was able to go…" I sighed melancholically.
"Oh, you took that better than I expected!" Carol said, surprised. She tilted her head to the side, "So you agree that you shouldn't have gone on that mission, now? The last time I brought up the Vajra War, you were still so disappointed!"
"Well, that's because the last time you talked about it was like two years ago, at our graduation party! It didn't help that it was in front of not only Kirishima and Akashi, but all of our parents, too!" I answered, my voice rising as I recalled the memory. Usually, the audience for Carol's teasing was just me, but it was just too embarrassing that time… Especially since it was in front of my own parents, who had for once made time out of their schedule to attend… With that out of my system, I lowered my tone, "Anyways, during these past two years, I've come to recognize that you were right - it really was too dangerous for a student like me to accompany you."
"Oh, you've grown up so much~!" Carol exclaimed proudly as she stood up and reached over the table to pat me on the head.
"Carol... You're not my mother…" I sulked, sinking down in my seat as she continued pounding my skull.
She stopped beating my head momentarily. "Well, I suppose that's true, but I am your… uh… How do you say it again?" She began strong but trailed off and put her finger to her chin in thought. A moment later, the term had apparently come to her, and she continued in her previous tone, "Ah, that's right! I am the caring senpai and you are my dear kouhai (4*) that I spoil and tease ever so much~!"
"I'll be leaving now…" I said, pushing myself out of the chair so I could stand. Carol didn't usually utilize Japanese words and phrases, so hearing her use them was a bit jarring for me. As I walked past the table and back towards the door, I turned my head to face Carol over my shoulder, "Also, your pronunciation was a bit off. You should still practice Japanese you know… It's one of the Horizon's official languages for a reason…"
"Wait! Hiroshi, don't leave just yet!" Carol wailed as she stretched out her arm towards me.
"Gotcha!" I shouted as I turned back towards Carol and pointed at her. I laughed, "I wouldn't leave my favorite senpai just like that, especially after that incident!"
"Aw, Hiroshi, you're the best kouhai I could ever ask for!" Carol yelped.
"Please tone that down, though…" I said as I returned to my seat.
Carol nodded in agreement. "Getting back to where we were before we went on that tangent," she said, resuming her normal tone of voice, "I wouldn't be that humbled about 25s. Now, if in the future Atago and her squadron were assigned those new and shiny 32s, then I would be having that dilemma."
"You're right." I sighed. The 25s were definitely an upgrade over the 171s, but they couldn't be better than a 32 – they're being developed right here in the Horizon fleet, after all. Hopefully I would be up to the task if – or rather, when – Atago and her squadron were upgraded to the VF-32.
"Good." Carol gave a quick smile before looking back down at her own binder.
With our talk of Atago and Valkyries completed, and since there was nothing else that really took my immediate interest, I began flipping randomly through the binder. I found myself back towards the front, looking at my own profile at the beginning of the crew list.
Well, I think that I'm rather well-versed on myself, so I flipped the page. As the piece of paper landed on the other side of the binder's rings, I was greeted by a pair of seemingly familiar faces. On the left page was a woman with a large ribbon atop a long ponytail; the woman on the other page wore a white headband and glasses. Just where had I seen these two before?
Milliseconds later, it hit me like a flash of lightning, and I gasped - I had seen these two girls earlier today! The two girls on the photos were megane and ponytail girl! So I was right when I joked that we would be on the same crew…
"Hm? What happened?" I heard Carol ask. I looked up from the binder and found her already looking at me with a confused expression and her head tilted to the side.
"Oh, I just recognized these two girls that are assigned to my crew." I reoriented the binder and pushed it towards Carol. "I met them earlier on the Battle Horizon."
She glanced down at the binder. "Hm... Ooyodo Nakano and Takao Takanashi, huh?"
Ah, so that's what their names were. I'll have to keep that in mind for later…
"Wait a second... Takanashi?" Carol said, her voice trailing off at the end of her comment. A moment later, she continued, "I think Atago did mention something about having a twin sister once... And it does say that she was in Atago's year, as well… You think they're related?"
I closed my eyes, recalling times when Atago had come up in gossip during my days at the Officers' Academy. It was mostly just talk of how pretty she was, or how well she was able to pilot a Valkyrie. The only talk about her family that I could remember was a well-known fact – that her father is a New UN Spacy Admiral.
"No idea. This is the first time I've heard anything about Atago having a sister." I shook my head and shrugged.
Just who could know anything about the relation between Atago and Takao Takanashi?
Wait, I know exactly who to ask. I reached for my phone and began to unlock it as I spoke up to Carol, "Let me check with Ooyodo. I got her contact information earlier when I was on the Battle Horizon."
Carol nodded as she retrieved her own phone. "Good idea. I'll check with Sarah, too."
I looked down at my screen, and was met with a myriad of notifications, as I had not checked my phone since getting off the Battle Horizon. Most notable of these notifications were several text messages, the most recent being from only 10 minutes ago. The sender of these texts was unsurprisingly from a contact marked as 'Nakano Ooyodo':
Nakano Ooyodo [1:13 PM]: Hey there~!
Nakano Ooyodo [1:13 PM]: It was nice meeting you earlier!
Nakano Ooyodo [1:14 PM]: Sorry for not asking your name earlier in person, Hiroshi-san.
Nakano Ooyodo [1:14 PM]: We were in a rush.
Nakano Ooyodo [1:14 PM]: I am Nakano Ooyodo, and my friend's name is Takanashi Takao.
Nakano Ooyodo [1:15 PM]: I apologize if she came off as a bit rude. She's shy around strangers.
Nakano Ooyodo [1:15 PM]: Are you free anytime soon? I'm looking forward to your treat~!
Nakano Ooyodo [1:36 PM]: Forgive me for my tone earlier, Kanchou (5*).
Nakano Ooyodo [1:37 PM]: We had not yet gone through the details of our new assignment when I sent those messages.
Nakano Ooyodo [1:37 PM]: Both Takao and I look forward to working with you in the future.
I smirked as I read her shift in tone when she realized that I was to be her captain. I sure hope that the more serious take she now showed in our relationship would not last forever, though. I quite enjoyed the close personal friendship between Carol and I, rather than a strictly professional one, and hopefully that would continue with my subordinates.
'Hey, Ooyodo-san. Sorry for getting back to you so late. I was looking over my own documents as well.' I began typing out my response to her. 'No worries. There's no need to be so formal with me. We didn't meet as commanding officer and subordinate, so let's just proceed as friends, alright?' I thought for a few seconds about my schedule in the coming days before continuing, 'How about this upcoming Sunday? Let's meet at the central rail station in Horizon City.'
As soon as I sent the last part of that message, it was immediately marked as read. I wasn't expecting her to get a response anytime soon.
'Alright.' Her message read. 'I'll try my best to honor that, Kanchou.' As I put my thumbs over the keyboard to correct her addressment of me, a new message popped up, 'Hiroshi-san, I mean. This Sunday is good with us!'
'Thank you. I'll be looking forward to it!' I replied. 'Anyways,' I started a new message, getting back onto the topic that I initially intended to ask her about, 'Regarding Takao-san. Is she Atago Takanashi's twin? Me and Carol (the commanding officer of our squadron) are a bit confused right now.'
While Ooyodo had responded almost immediately to my first line of messages, she did not do so this time. Had she not gotten the text? No, that can't be possible - it was marked as read… What could the hold-up be?
After a long minute of waiting, a new message appeared on the screen. 'See for yourself~'
Below that text was an image attachment – a photo. Within were two women who I instantly recognized as the notorious Atago Takanashi and her supposed sister Takao Takanashi. Now that I think about it, they did look quite similar. They had the same shade of black hair, slender faces, amber eyes, and, well… Ample assets… Maybe they're twins?
The two were seated at a table, Atago was heavily leaning on Takao, her eyes closed while holding up a 'V' sign and showing a big smile. Takao, on the other hand, had a bored expression on her face as she held up her head with her right hand.
Given the context of Ooyodo's previous message, the two's similar appearances, and their supposed familiarity, it was crystal clear that Atago and Takao were indeed sisters.
'I see,' I typed into the text box. Now would be a good time to get more clarification on their relationship. I added, 'Are they twins?'
'They are.'
The confirmation of my suspicion was unsurprising, but this only brought another question to mind – if Takao was Atago's twin, why had I never heard of her until now?
Before I could think about asking Ooyodo any further, a new message appeared. 'Food just came. Let's talk later, okay?'
'Enjoy your meal!' I responded to end the conversation. Damn, I could go for some food right now.
With our conversation over, I placed the phone down on the table and looked at Carol, who was presumably texting Sarah based on her rapid typing.
She glanced up at me, and then back at her phone once. She continued typing for a few more seconds before she too placed her phone down.
"Well, that took you a bit longer than I thought. I even had enough time to gossip with Sarah about you after finding out what I needed to know!" Carol smugly said.
My entire conversation with Ooyodo had only taken 10 minutes. How did she get all she needed so quickly; and even more, what did she tell Sarah about me this time?
"Really? What did you say about me?"
"Well, to be frank, it wasn't really about you - it was more about what you were doing." She giggled as she picked up her phone again. Seconds later, she flipped it, revealing a photo of Ooyodo taking the photo of Atago and Takao that she had sent me earlier.
Just seeing this was enough to get a chuckle from me, which then caught onto Carol. So Sarah was with Atago, Ooyodo, and Takao. Well, that wasn't a complete shocker to me. After all, it seemed like Atago and Sarah's relationship was fairly similar to that between Carol and I, so Sarah had likely came to Atago to give her advice and suggestions.
"Well, that aside, what did you find out?" Carol asked as she put the phone back down.
"We didn't really talk too much about Takao specifically. We exchanged a few pleasantries for a bit since we already met each other earlier today." I explained. "But I did learn that Atago and Ooyodo are sisters – twins at that. What about you?"
Carol nodded. "I got about the same amount of info from Sarah. However, she did give me one more interesting fact about her. You know how Atago has a title, right?"
I nodded, albeit slowly and confused. Wasn't it obvious that Atago had a title?
Seeing my nod, she continued, "Well, apparently, Takao also had one." She giggled. "Wanna guess?"
I shook my head. I barely knew anything about her – how would I be able to guess a nickname or title?
"Aw, you're no fun..." Carol sighed. Her tone then returned to a lighthearted state, "It was 'Ice Princess'!" She giggled and placed her hand over her mouth. After a moment, she continued, "It fits her, right?"
"Well, if Atago is a 'queen', then logically Takao would be a 'princess'." I commented with a chuckle. So she was just cold on most people then, hence the title; I guess that's what Ooyodo meant when she said Takao is 'shy'... Maybe she was like that with Ooyodo too sometime in the past. However, if we're going to be working together, then I would need to find a way to get closer to her, and quickly. Ooyodo would likely play a large role in that; from our few interactions, I think it'll be quite easy to get along with her.
Come to think of it, what role were Ooyodo and Takao going to have on the ship? I looked down at where my binder was but was met with an empty spot on the table. Ah, right. I had given it to Carol earlier.
My eyes wandered across the table and found Carol immersed in my binder, which was still on Ooyodo and Takao's information. We had just been talking – what could have possibly gotten her interest? And on top of that, weren't our copies pretty much identical? She should study them in her own copy…
"Carol." I spoke up. "Could I have my binder back?"
"Sure, just a second." She said quickly, not even bothering to look up at me. She continued to stare deeply into the page before finally looking up, and simply saying, "Oh… That's why she looked so familiar…"
Familiar? I thought she didn't know about Takao either until today.
"Hiroshi, wasn't Takao the operator from the Sirius who relayed our orders to us in our previous battle?"
As Carol said this, I immediately recalled the events of three days ago. Fragments of the appearance of that officer from the Sirius flashed in my mind. Japanese… Ponytail… Amber eyes… And most importantly, her name…
'Takanashi.' I recalled the officer saying.
It really was Takao…
"Oh my God…" I buried my face into my right hand. "You're right. I can't believe that I forgot that I met her the other day…"
"Small fleet, huh?" She laughed.
I shook my head in my hands in response. Why had I thought it was a 'big fleet' earlier? No wonder she seemed so cold to me earlier. Even though she was key in keeping all of us alive, I had just straight up forgotten what she looked like and didn't recognize, let alone thank her in-person.
To be fair to myself, I did just sleep off the fold jumps back to the Horizon fleet, and then I had spent the past few days worried about Carol's health more than anything… But still, this was an embarrassment to the highest degree. It would be difficult to talk to or even face her now that I knew this…
"Look, Hiroshi, don't sweat it. Even I didn't recognize her until just now, too. I'm sure that everything will work out fine if you give it a little time." I felt Carol's hand on my head. "Let's take a break for now. I'm pretty hungry, and I'm sure you are, too. How about you go back to the Mirai and get us lunch from the Smokehouse?"
Oh, so she wanted to her parents' cooking. But their restaurant was so far away… I really wanted to eat right now… "Carol," I looked up at her and weakly smiled as I tried to change her mind. Takao Takanashi was now the very least of my concerns now that lunch was on the discussion table. "Why can't just get food from the cafeteria here on the Marianne?"
"I'm a bit tired of hospital food. I want a home-cooked meal; when my parents visited me the other day, they only brought snacks." She merely smiled my way and patted my head a few times. She looked at me smugly, "Consider this an order."
And there were those words again. I sighed in defeat as I rose from my seat. "Yes, ma'am."
"Yay~!" She exclaimed. "I'll call Mama and place an order. What do you want?"
"Surprise me." I shrugged. Carol's parents sure knew their way around the kitchen, so there wasn't anything I'd be disappointed with.
And with that, I exited the hospital room for the second time today as Carol's courier.
An hour and a half later, I had finally returned to hospital ship with food in hand. It had been a long stop at her father's restaurant, since not only had I enjoyed a lengthy conversation with Carol's parents, but they had also insisted on preparing our meals personally from scratch.
While my time with Carol's parents helped distract me from the issue of Takao, the same couldn't be said for my trips to and from the hospital ship. I had constantly replayed my few interactions with her, and how my actions could possibly affect my future relations with not only her, but Atago and Ooyodo as well. How badly would they view me now? How could I ever recover from this blunder?
Well, I could put off those thoughts until later. Now, it was time to eat – Carol's room was just up ahead.
"Food's here!" I announced upon entering, holding the bags up for emphasis. I nodded to the escorting nurse in thanks for holding the door open for me. Soon after, she closed the door behind me, leaving Carol and I alone once more.
"Alright!" Carol clapped her hands together as she stood up to relieve the bag with the drinks from me.
I walked back to the table, and once I was seated, I placed my own box of food in front of me. I had been preoccupied with talking to Carol's father while her mother had prepared our food, so I hadn't seen what she had ordered for me.
I carefully opened the box, and was greeted by an assortment of fried chicken pieces and various sides. "Ah, of course." I said in reaction; this is what I usually had whenever we stopped by to eat at Carol's family's restaurant.
"Well, that's what you like, right? You would've gotten that anyways even if I hadn't ordered for you!" Carol commented. She giggled as she opened her own box, "I remember once, during Christmas a few years ago, you went and ate half the batch that Mama made!"
"What can I say? Your family meals are some of the best around!" I chuckled at the memory.
"You know it!" Carol happily agreed. Her eyebrows lowered as she continued, "Although, I do hope that I can have a home-made meal with your family one day, too…"
Not like that would be anytime soon… When was the last time my parents had even had a normal holiday off? They always took their holiday vacations late, and even during that time, they were just so tired that we just had takeout.
I sighed and shook my head, "I know I say this all the time, but I can't really guarantee when that will be, Carol…"
"Ah, don't sweat it. Whenever your folks are free, I'll be happy to join!" Carol gave me a thumbs-up. She then reached for her fork, "But for now, let's eat!"
"Oh, by the way," Carol said as she finished taking a sip from her drink. "While you were out, I talked to some of the officers in your crew over the phone."
"And why would you do that?"
"I was just getting to that – in the grand scheme of things, I am their overall superior, so it's my job to at least know a bit about them as well." She answered. "I invited them to dinner tomorrow at the Real Deal. It'll be a good way for both of us to meet and get to know each other, don't you think?"
Well, if she invited officers, then that meant...-
"And yes." She interrupted my thoughts. "Before you ask, Atago, Takao, and Ooyodo are coming, too. This will be a good opportunity for you to start fresh with Takao. She'll be an important member of your crew, after all."
Come to think of it, what was her position exactly? I never got the chance to look at the binder after I showed it to Carol earlier.
"And what is her role going to be?" I asked.
"Oh, you'll love this..." Carol smirked. She took her sweet time before continuing by taking a bite of her food, letting the anticipation sink in, "Takao's assigned position is ship operations officer. Ah, and Ooyodo is assigned to sensors and Valkyrie operations, in case you were wondering that as well."
Ship operations and sensors, huh. If I recall correctly, the two stations in front of the captain's seat on a Northampton belonged to operations and sensors officers, similarly to an Osaka. Those two girls were the most important members of the crew besides me!
"How fitting… Next you'll be telling me that Ooyodo and Takao are my long-lost sisters or something, right?" I shook my head and commented. There's been way too many coincidences between us three today, and to be honest, at this point, I wouldn't even be surprised if I was related to them.
"Keep dreaming," Carol laughed before she took another sip of her drink. Putting the drink back down, she returned to our previous topic, "Anyhow, our reservation is for tomorrow night at 7. Since we're the hosts, we should probably show up a bit earlier, maybe around 6:30."
"We're eating at Real Deal Steakhouse right?" I asked for confirmation; maybe I had misheard Carol. If I had heard correctly, then that was an awfully fancy and expensive restaurant... As the name implied, Real Deal Steakhouse specialized in steaks. However, these were no ordinary lab-made steaks, but all-natural meat, cut straight from a natural-born cow. Thinking back on some of their advertisements, I think everything in the entire restaurant was grown the old-fashioned way! It must be insanely expensive to eat there.
"Yeah." Carol answered plainly. "What's the problem?"
"Isn't that place a bit too expensive?" I questioned. After all, natural meat was quite an expensive luxury in any colony fleet, and the Horizon was no exception. However, I couldn't deny that the taste of natural meat was far superior to the lab-made stuff. My mouth was quickly taking control over my seemingly rational, financially minded thoughts.
"Hiroshi," She chuckled. "It isn't every day someone becomes a captain of their own ship!" She playfully kicked my foot with her own. "Besides, your trusty senpais will be taking care of the bill! I'll be bringing along Sarah, Bailey, and Iowa tomorrow. Consider it our treat~" She winked and gave me an 'OK' sign, "You know, one of the perks of being a higher-ranking officer is the pay~!"
I sighed in relief. If Carol and her friends were paying, then it was all fine by me. She was also certainly right about having a higher pay. Maybe I could even upgrade to a new apartment now that my paygrade had risen…
"You know, next time, you'll be helping pay as well~!" She pointed at me before closing her eyes in thought, "Maybe we can eat at an even fancier place if we combine you, me, Sarah, Bailey, Iowa, and Collie together…"
"Oh, speaking of Nicole, isn't she coming tomorrow?" I asked. I don't remember Carol saying that she would be tagging along tomorrow. Nicole was always at these sorts of large meetups, so it would be surprising if she wouldn't be attending.
"Ah. Well, as you may have heard, the Macross Scorpion just completed a major refit, so Collie will be taking her on a short shakedown cruise to test the new systems and whatnot." Carol responded as she picked up her drink and put the straw to her lips. After drinking, she continued, "Once she returns, and your ship is commissioned into the fleet, we'll be joining the Scorpion's escort fleet. Exciting times are just ahead!"
"We're going to be part of the Scorpion's escort?" I repeated what Carol had said. In my whole time with Carol and the 29th Squadron, we had always been assigned to the Sirius' fleet. It was quite the surprise to hear that we would be changing out to a new fleet, and to the Macross Scorpion's fleet no less.
Carol nodded as she chewed. "Yeah," she said after swallowing. She grabbed another fork full before she continued, "But we can discuss this more later. We should finish eating first. The food is getting colder by the second!"
Footnotes
(1*): Galaxy Network = Basically, Macross universe's version of an interstellar Internet.
(2*): Megane = Glasses in Japanese. For some reason, 'megane girl' sounded a lot catchier than 'glasses girl' to me, so that's what I used.
(3*): Nightmare/Messiah = Variable fighter pet names, specifically for the VF-17(1) and VF-25 respectively.
(4*): Senpai/Kouhai = Senior/Junior in Japanese. Can be used in terms of either student year standings, or workplace experience; in this context, it would be workplace experience.
(5*): Kanchou = Captain in Japanese. Note, that I mean Captain as in the position, not the rank. For clarification, I'm using US Navy rank names in this story (with Rear Admiral Lower Half being replaced by Commodore).
A/N
For clarification, AL/KC girls introduced or mentioned this chapter were:
Takao Takanashi = AL Takao
Ooyodo Nakano = KC Ooyodo
Atago Takanashi = AL Atago (Mentioned)
Akashi Kawasaki = Genderbent KC Akashi (Mentioned)
Sarah Thompson = KC Saratoga (Mentioned)
Iowa Holloway= KC Iowa (Mentioned)
I don't know if anyone reads these author's notes, but firstly, thanks for the good reception of the first chapter! I know I only got a few views and comments, but honestly, even that was a lot more than I expected! Like I said last time, I didn't expect many people to even read this because of how niche it is, so every little bit is a big deal to me! Over the ~3 months I was writing this chapter, I would get excited just from seeing the view count on go up by 1! There must be something wrong with me, lol.
Regarding genderbending, I did this to a few characters to make this fic a little bit less harem-y (the closest this fic will be to having a harem is a love triangle). Anyways, I just changed genders of a few ship characters to make a for a more balanced cast.
Since the language came up a few times this chapter, I think that I should also give a bit of clarification regarding the language spoken. Assume that most of the time, English is being spoken. When only Japanese characters are present, then assume Japanese is being spoken; I'll try to put in things like honorifics and a few easily recognized words to signify this. Whenever someone is singing a song originally from Macross, then it is being sang in Japanese.
And finally, any AL or KC fans may be wondering "why are Takao and Ooyodo even friends? There's no historical precedent!" Well, to put it short, this story is a bit wish-fulfilling and self-indulgent in nature. I wanted to write a Macross story, but at the same time, I wanted to write something with my favorite kanmusu/kansen (Takao and Ooyodo are my favorites if you couldn't tell, lol), and thus, Macross Horizon was born. I think that Takao and Ooyodo would be good friends, anyways. They're both diligent girls that put their all into their work. Also, I think it's fun to explore non-historical friendships between kanmusu/kansen; while they're representations of their respective ships, they're also human, so it makes sense to me that they would form friendships regardless of their historical relationships.
Regarding the next chapter, I honestly don't know when I can get it out. I'm becoming a lot more busy with real-life things, but I want to hit a goal of at least a chapter per month. I probably could have hit that goal with this chapter, but I was immensely busy with school around November/December, and then I got a seasonal addiction to Stellaris over my winter break (it's always a really fun game to come back to every once in a while). Hopefully I can get to writing a bit faster this year. I have a lot of ideas for this story that I'd like to completely write out!
Well, that's enough of my ranting. I don't have anyone to talk about any of this with, so I guess that's one reason why these ANs are so long. Sorry for that!