I do not own Ranma or Robotech

And here we have the first meeting between Rick and Lisa, and Ranma and Lisa as well as Ranma learning first hand what information lag is. Also anyone who thinks that Ranma is just going to calmly conform to the military norm, you're wrong. At least in my story.

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Chapter 3 First impressions of all sorts

The next morning Rick was rudely woken up around seven in the morning. Someone was moving around downstairs bumping and thumping, far too lively for this time of the morning in his opinion. Grumbling, he left his room to go downstairs and yell at whoever it was that woke him up, only to find out that most of the house and already risen. Fei and Shao were both awake and talking quietly over at the kitchen counter, looking at several ration coupons and wondering what they were going to do from now on without their restaurant.

Minmei and Kasumi were also talking over a pot of tea in another corner, with quite a bit of blushing and giggling going on while in the main dining hall Ranma was going through several katas as a warm up for the day (there was no connection between these two activities, no not at all -_-;). He was leaping and jumping about flowing from one move to another in a way only a true master of The Art could do but making as much noise on the wooden floor as a dance crew.

Rick grumbled but seeing everyone else awake did not try to go back to bed, instead moving to sit next to Minmei. She made room for him on the bench asking "so have you come to any decision about whether or not you want to join up? If not, like I said we can always use you around here." Kasumi welcomed him with a nod but stayed silent sipping her tea. The two had been introduced last night but had not really spent a lot of time talking. She knew however that the choice to join up was not a simple decision for any normal civilian (Ranma could in no way be called normal). The idea of fighting and killing other sentient beings wasn't one that came easily to most people, and civilians didn't have the mental training to deal with it.

Rick shrugged. "I thought about it, but I haven't really come to a decision. I want to see what I can find on the civilian side first. But if I can't find anything, what would you have me doing around here? After all, I don't have much experience waiting tables or anything, and I can't cook." Left unsaid was that he thought both jobs were women's work, and Kasumi's eyebrow twitched slightly as she caught that message. Ranma was after all an excellent cook, and she didn't think that took away from his masculinity, far from it in fact. Luckily the sub context of Rick's tone flew right over Minmei's head.

"You'd gain serving experience quickly enough. I'm afraid though if you want to replace Ranma on that job we'll have to do something about your face and clothes and some makeup too. That and a good push-up bra can make any man into a woman." Minmei teased.

Kasumi joined in on the teasing with a smile, looking at him mock-critically. "Brown or white, I think, to go with his color tone. We could make him into quite a good-looking young lady couldn't we Minmei? Especially with that hair of yours."

Rick first looked only a little alarmed at the teasing, after all he was a pilot, and the practical jokes and hazing pilots got up to when around each other was brutal. But that last comment got his back up and he stood up abruptly to put some distance between himself and the two girls. "Leave my hair out of this!"

Minmei giggled grabbing one of his arms before he could move away. "Oh come on Rick I think you'd make a great looking girl." Kasumi nodded as well, pulling out a dress from nowhere and holding it out to Rick, who backed away quickly.

Ranma came to his rescue, coming in just then and draining a cup of tea before announcing "well I have to get going. I was told to report by eight o'clock over at the acamdemy for my registration period. And don't tease Rick girls, a few days with only Ms. Blabbermouth for company must have him on edge already" he teased, dodging Minmei's swat at the back of his head. "If you see my mom, tell her I've gone and that I may or may not be coming back tonight. I don't know if they'll want me to live in the barracks area, or if trainees can live wherever. See ya later." And with that Ranma left, nearly bouncing in his exuberance in taking a step towards achieving his dream, that of flying in space.

Shao and Fei walked over to the youngsters as Ranma left. "Well Minmei, your aunt and I are off to the ration depot to pick up our next week's rations and then we're going to search around for jobs. What are you three going to do?"

Minmei looked at them quizzically. "Why would you look for jobs, you already have your restaurant?"

Fei shook her head. "What with how uncertain everything is we just don't think we can reopen the restaurant. After all, how would we get enough food, how would we get enough business, would we even be able to get enough business to keep the restaurant running?"

Minmei shot to her feet excitedly. "But don't you see that's exactly why you should open up again. With everything that's going on we could give everyone, both the population of the city and the soldiers a big morale boost. And there's no way we wouldn't do enough business, after all who wouldn't like a good, well cooked meal in place of pre-prepared rations or cooking for themselves?"

A new voice entered the conversation from the kitchen's back door. "I think it's an excellent idea." Nodoka walked in, looking a little tired but with the universal 'I got laid and it was goooood' expression on her face. Kasumi took one look and blushed, thankful beyond words that Ranma wasn't there. His fragile psyche would never have withstood the shock of learning his mother was having sexual relations with someone. Fei looked at the woman who had become one of her closest friends and grinned as well, fighting the urge to drag the red-headed woman off somewhere to hear all the juicy details. Rick and Minmei were oblivious.

Nodoka went on, ignoring the varied reactions to her presence. "In fact mayor Luan wants as many shop owners to open up as is possible. The shopping district will be open by noon today and the mayor hopes that other restaurants and shops will follow suit. And as for getting enough food, we can all pool our ration cards and get out enough for all of us for a month and use that to start with. By the time that is gone I think you can be assured of showing a profit and can acquire more either from stores or from the hydroponics section."

Kasumi nodded, and Rick said "I don't know if it'll help much but you can have my ration card too to add to the pile."

Fei looked at her husband who after a moment's thought nodded. "Well if you all are willing to pitch in like that how can we say no? Alright, while my wife and I go and pick up the food, the rest of you can clean up this place and get it ready for tonight. I think the White Dragon opening for dinner at around six should bring in the customers if anything will."

Minmei cheered, hugged her aunt and uncle exuberantly and then grabbed Rick by the arm dragging him down into the basement where the restaurants tables and chairs were kept when the restaurant was closed. As they were bringing the furniture up and cleaning it off, Kasumi and Nodoka set about preparing the kitchen, counting the spices and other supplies and making a large sign to hang outside. All the preparations took about four hours and everything was ready by the time the Lynns returned. They found Rick, Minmei and Kasumi putting the final touches on the tables, laying out placemats and chinaware. Shao smiled "Well, I must say this place looks ready for business. We still haven't worked out what kind of menu we can offer yet, but leave that to us oldsters. You kids have earned a few hours off. Get out of here and have fun, but be back by five okay?"

Rick and Minmei nodded. "I wonder what there is to do for fun around here?" Rick mused.

Kasumi and Minmei both smiled. "Shopping!" Minmei yelled. "Remember Auntie N said the shopping district would be open by noon, well its past noon now so let's go see what we can find!" Kasumi nodded and Rick shrugged. It wasn't like he had anything better to do.

Behind them Shao watched the young boy leave, stuck between his niece and Kasumi. "Like a lamb to the slaughter," he said sorrowfully. "Poor guy doesn't know what he's in for."

"What was that dear?" Fei's voice held a warning note and Shao quickly responded with a bland 'nothing dear' and joined Fei and Nodoka in looking over the list of supplies they had picked up.

Two hours after leaving the restaurant, Rick had come to dearly regret his decision. Shopping with women, he found, was a much more tiring experience than it was shopping by himself. Not only did they take forever, but Minmei asked his opinion on everything. Even Kasumi had joined in, and it wasn't like they had actually bought anything yet. One set of indoor slippers each, one dress for Kasumi, a few pairs of cheap earrings for Minmei (to wear during working hours) and a few knickknacks and that was it. Not a lot for three hours though it felt even longer, and of course he had to be the one to actually carry the bags.

As he trudged behind them he thought it couldn't get any worse, but he was disappointed almost immediately. "Oh look!" Minmei started, pointed across the street at another store, a store which, to Rick's growing horror looked to sell only lingerie. "Let's go, I could use some new underwear."

Kasumi wavered. "I don't know, I think we've spent enough today don't you?"

Minmei pouted. "Oh come on Kasumi, you know you want to." She leaned in whispering conspiratorially. "Besides you may find something that'll help Ranma get over his shyness and finally make a move." That sold Kasumi and she nodded in agreement.

"Right well you two go on I'll just hang out around here and wait for you to come out." Rick made to back away but Minmei stopped him.

"Oh don't be silly Rick they'll have a waiting area inside somewhere for you to sit. No one is going to make fun of you or anything." Minmei overrode Rick's objections dragging him along once again into the store. Once inside Rick didn't know where to put his eyes. Everywhere he looked there were bras and brassieres and scantily clad models on the walls. Finally he just resolutely sat down in a chair in the waiting area and closed his eyes. It was an indication of how tired he was that within moments he had nodded off.

At the same time that Minmei and Kasumi were starting their shopping excursion, five other young ladies were beginning their own sortie into the shopping district. Unlike Minmei and Kasumi they didn't have their very own pack mule along, but they did have charge cards.

Kim, Vanessa and Sammy were routinely seen together off duty, being girls of about the same age and disposition they had become the best of friends. Claudia and Lisa on the other hand only rarely joined them. Lisa was more reserved and antisocial normally but occasionally came out of her command shell to have fun with the younger girls, and more often have drinks with Claudia. Claudia on the other hand was almost never seen with the younger girls, preferring to spend her free time with her fiancé Roy. However that plan for the day had been scuppered when Dr. Lang had preemptively called Roy and two of his squadron in for consultation.

So their day of ropeyard found all five were together, going through the re-opened shopping district with various amounts of glee and shock. "I can't believe they were able to rebuild everything like this." Claudia muttered, and the others nodded in agreement even as Kim and Sammy, the most fashion conscious squealed and ran over to a store window advertising the latest fashions.

What Claudia and to a lesser extent the other military leaders failed to realize was that Macross, despite its importance to the fortress and the budding space industry was not a real city. It didn't have the population of most cities and it didn't have their vices. Macross was more like a town in the American colonization. Everyone worked, there was no landed class or dole in the city, no one was afraid of hard work in Macross, and there were a disproportionate amount of construction workers and builders. Nearly all the shops were privately owned, and that gave a lot of motivation and ability to the reconstruction efforts.

"It just goes to show what people can do when they really put their minds to it" she said, pointing up. This section of the fortress was the tallest and the ceiling for what had been the huge fortress-spanning hanger was forty stories up in places though much lower in others. Those low points were even now being cut away, allowing the city to have an incredibly high ceiling above every bit of it. Mayor Luan had hinted at something to do with the ceiling during yesterday's meeting, but Lisa hadn't remembered until just now, when she saw in the distance some workmen up there painting the ceiling to match the sky of earth.

The five young women stood watching the workers in the distance for a moment before turning back to more important matters. Vanessa looked around before sighing. "Even if there's shopping, it's no fun without any boys around to flirt with. Every boy or man I see is here as part of a couple." Kim nodded agreement even as Sammy sighed.

Lisa rolled her eyes at the perpetually boy-crazy Lt's ongoing gripe. Every time they were together the same complaint would be raised about how hard it was to find a good boyfriend. It was either they 'had no time to go out to look for a guy, or 'no boy wants to date a soldier'. If it wasn't so funny she would have gotten sick of it months ago. That and the fact it kept them from bugging her about her own nonexistent love life.

Claudia attempted to fend off the incoming pity party by musing "I wonder if there's a store that sells those, what're they called, kimonos like Nodoka was wearing." At the mention of Nodoka both the discussion and the atmosphere between the bridge crew changed, they stood a little straighter, walked a little prouder.

It was a well known fact that people needed role models to look up to, and it was also known that roles models of the same gender were very important, especially for girls. It was also a fact that such role models were incredibly rare among any military, including the UN Space fleet. On paper women made up ten percent of the space forces manpower, in reality that number was closer to five, and no woman had cracked flag rank. There were a few female captains but other than Claudia and Lisa the three lieutenants had never served with any of them.

Without a mature role model to show them how to act in a male dominated profession the three had, with every condescending look, become less and less enamored with the military life.

It had become a depressing topic of conversation among the three and they had all come to an agreement to finish out their present three year stints and then hit the civilian side (unspoken was the fact they didn't want to turn into someone like Lisa, who they viewed, despite liking her as a person, as a bit of a cold fish and a widow in the making, and that Claudia was the exception which proved the rule).

Nodoka had had a profound effect on the three young lieutenants. A woman who reveled in her femininity without being overt about it, who radiated calm control, who acted in a forthright manner and who was as sharp as the blade she practiced with every morning and who did not let a bad past relationship stop her from being happy in her new one. Who encouraged them in off duty discussions with her to be both women and soldiers and to never be anything but proud in what they had achieved.

That didn't mean they couldn't have some fun at her expense of course. Kim giggled. "I saw her actually dragging the captain back to his quarters after yesterday's flag meeting. From the look on her face I doubt he could move today even if he wanted to!"

"She's definitely more direct than you would think from someone as old fashioned as she appeared to be at first" Claudia mused as the other girls, even Lisa, broke out into giggles. "I wonder who wears the pants in that relationship behind closed doors…." This caused further giggling.

Lisa was the first to regain control and she addressed the point Claudia had initially brought up. "I doubt you'll find a place that sells kimono's around here. They're a predominately Japanese thing, and really expensive to boot. I read where a good kimono started at two thousand dollars U.S."

The others looked at her in shock, not at the price but that Lisa knew something about an article of fashion and she blushed under the combined stares. "I, I just thought they looked really nice on her that's all. I would never waste that much money on something so frivolous, besides it's not like one would look good on me anyway."

If a man had been standing there he would immediately have given Lisa all the reassurances that such a comment normally merited. But as there were only women present, and all were friends besides, they gave that blatant lie the scorn it deserved. Lisa may never dress to show it, but she had a figure that all three of the younger girls would cheerfully murder for, and she took pride in her body exercising every day for at least three hours to keep in shape.

Sammy looked around and spotted a lingerie store a few blocks down from where they were talking. "Look let's go into that store over there. I know I need some more bras, all of mine were on the base when we took off." Even Lisa nodded at this as Sammy went on, grinning slyly at Claudia. "And maybe you can find something for Commander Fokker to enjoy?"

Claudia merely nodded, wearing a cat that got the cream expression at the thinly veiled envy in the younger girl's voice. "Lead the way ladies." They all giggled and moved towards the lingerie store.

Rick had fallen asleep in the waiting area, and only awoke when he slid to the side sending the bag containing the purchases from the day to the floor with a rustling crash. The noise woke him up and he blearily looked around before reaching down to pick up the packages that had fallen out. Some of them had rolled under the table though, and he sighed and went under after them.

As his eye were on the floor he hadn't noticed that someone else had leaned up against the table until he popped his head out underneath her legs, one hand on the box of earrings that had rolled so far, the other propping him up. He inadvertently looked up, and saw long exquisitely toned legs in stockings on either side of his head and plain white panties above him. Above him a female voice spoke in a tone of impending doom. "Like what you see?"

There the woman's patience ended and she stepped back reaching down with a hand to grab Rick by the hair. "Get out here you little pervert!" Lisa had opted to wait for the others in the waiting area, but had never thought some pervert would try to look up her skirt.

Rick had never been in this position before, and was still slightly befuddled from his nap but he didn't like the angry look in the woman's eyes and so did the most logical but at the same time very wrong thing: he ran for it. Dropping the packages he had already picked up he dodged the woman's grab and scuttled out the far side of the table, shot to his feet before she could close the distance and ran out the waiting area and toward the exit with the woman's shout following after him. "Get back here you pervert!"

While Minmei was still trying things on, looking for something that would accent her budding womanly charms, Kasumi had already found and purchased her order. She went to stand by the entrance, looking out over the still mostly empty shopping district. While there were people moving about, it was but a small fraction of the hustle and bustle the street had seen while on earth. She watched as five young ladies in SDF uniforms walked in, smiling pleasantly to them. She shared an amused moment with one of them as they realized they had the exact same hair color of honey brown, an odd shade of light brown hair with pale golden highlights that Kasumi had not seen before on anyone else. The five walked on into the store, giggling and laughing together obviously enjoying their time off.

When the shouting started she had sudden flashbacks to Nerima, though she reacted quickly when Rick attempted to run by her out the door. She instinctively collared him, holding him by the shirt in a grip Rick was astonished to find he couldn't break free of. "What's going on Rick?"

"Let me go Kasumi, some crazy soldier lady thinks I looked up her skirt, she's going to kill me!"

"'Crazy soldier Lady' I'll crazy soldier lady you, you pervert." Lisa huffed, moving up behind them. "Thanks for grabbing him. Now as for you, stay still and take what's coming to you!" She raised a hand to strike and Rick again tried to get out of Kasumi's grip, but the ex-Tendo interrupted the proceedings.

"Might I ask what happened? I have some experience in matters that seem to be bad at first glance, but are in fact innocent." She smiled as Claudia and the others, who had come out of the store to see what their friend was yelling about, joined them. Kim was holding the bag of stuff Rick had been trying to get back together, while the others were looking amused.

"Hmpf, that pervert was in the waiting area hiding underneath the table when I came in. When I stepped up to the table he stuck his head out between my legs!" Lisa snarled.

"I wasn't hiding, I was trying to pick up some stuff I dropped from our bag that rolled underneath the table! It's not my fault you stood so close I had to look at your skanky panties!"

Kasumi put a gentle hand on Rick's mouth, effectively shutting him up before he could dig himself even deeper. Kim took the opportunity to interrupt the proceedings. "I think he's telling the truth Lisa, this stuff was all over the floor in there, and a few pieces were even underneath the table."

Kasumi nodded. "I expected as much. So you see the cause of this incident was actually innocent. I can't let you hit him for that." Rick breathed a sigh of relief and Lisa scowled reluctant agreement. Kasumi went on, her gaze turning back to Rick. "However, the comments and running away was utterly unnecessary Rick, and for that I believe three smacks upside the head will be appropriate." Rick gaped at her and she smiled. "Let this be a lesson to you Rick. It is better to close your mouth and be thought a fool than insert your foot and remove all doubt."

Lisa grinned and before Rick could complain about the verdict her hand snaked out smacking with force into the back of his head. "OW, you!" Before he could continue Lisa smacked him again and then again as the other girls giggled.

Kasumi nodded. "Now, that is done with, shake hands please."

Rick scowled and just walked off in a huff. As he exited the store he looked back and, determined to get in the last word shouted "You're still a crazy soldier bitch you know!" and ran off.

Lisa and the others chased out after him but by the time they got out of the store he was gone. Kasumi shook her head as the soldiers tried to chase after Rick. Minmei came out of the store proper blinking as she noticed Rick wasn't waiting for them. "What just happened?"

Ranma began his first day as a trainee in the SDF like any other inductee, going through a physical and medical exam by the end of which he was bored out of his mind. Someone had obviously not gotten the memo about his abilities as he was given the same physical test that everyone else was being given. Needless to say he passed every test with his eyes closed.

The medical examiners on the other hand had gotten the memo and put him through a battery of tests that had been ordered by Dr. Lang. These ranged from simple ones such as taking his pulse before and after sprinting for 20 minutes to taking heart rate readings of him having a normal conversation and then having him in a VR simulator fighting enemy soldiers in hand-to-hand, something that Dr. Lang had come up with specifically to test him.

The head of the fortresses science division also wanted to know if there was a connection between how well a person could fight with their own bodies and how well they could perform with the soldier mode of the Veritech. Dr. Lang wasn't available just yet to talk to him, trying to head off problems with the main cannon whose energy runs appeared to be completely messed up while the city was being rebuilt.

After getting a uniform he found himself out on a parade ground with about fifty other inductees. In other places around the parade ground he could see other such groups, all of around the same size.

A grizzled sergeant stood in front of them scowling at them in irritation. "Attention!" They all moved to what they thought was the attention position, but it obviously wasn't very good judging from the man's face. "I said attention, you don't lounge around like a bunch of rich pukes in front of a whore house! At attention, chest in shoulders out arms straight along your sides with your hands resting straight along your hips, feet straight and in line!" They all tried again and he growled "That's a little better but you'll have plenty of time to get it right." He started pacing in front of them, scowling irritably.

"You all have Capt. Gloval's open-door policy to thank for being here. In my day you did not get into the SDF without at least five years in any other military. As it is, it's my job to mold you into lean, mean fighting machines. Now has anyone here had prior combat experience?" Ranma groaned at this, again seeing that knowledge of his skills hadn't been passed down as they should, and raised his hand "Oh we have a volunteer, what's your name soldier?"

Ranma had been having a very irritating morning and after having to deal with the doctors and their poking and prodding, as well as changing forms several hundred times for their tests and his temper was about ready to blow. But he kept a lid on it for now and answered respectfully like he had seen in a few war movies "Sir, Ranma Sugita Grand Master of Anything Goes martial arts Sir."

The old soldier sneered "while that sounds dandy private that doesn't tell me what real combat experience you have."

"About sixteen years of on and off single and mass combat on a daily basis Sir" Ranma replied still keeping his temper, but losing it quickly at the other man's obvious contempt.

"Well then private, why don't you come out here and show me what you can do?"

Ranma gleefully strode forward and as soon as the sergeant motioned him to attack in a blinding move dodged inside the other man reach grabbed his arm and threw him into the air. Ranma followed up by jumping up after him, landing three blows to the man's stomach and head before he could hit the ground. As the other recruits looked on in shock, awe, and a little fear Ranma simply smirked. "Is that about what you had in mind?"

Two MPs watching the training of the new recruits made to start moving towards him but were interrupted as a jeep pulled up next to the training ground and Col. Mannstein stepped out and hurried over. "Ranma?" he asked quickly. Ranma saluted and answered in the affirmative. The colonel looked down at the sergeant who was laying there groaning around at least one broken rib and possibly more. "It seems I was not in time. There was a bit of a communication snafu, somewhere along the lines knowledge of your special abilities failed to get down to the academy. I assure you that you won't have to remain with the rest of the troops for further physical training. The other training however you are supposed to part of, but right now Dr. Lang has found an opening in his time and wants to talk to you. You can do that while the other trainees continue their training." He motioned to the car and Ranma saluted again before getting in. Mannstein nodded at the driver and the man drove off.

Mannstein turned to the recruits letting them see his full dress uniform, the front of which was covered in medals and decorations. "I am Colonel Mannstein, Commandant of this academy." He did not bark or raise his voice like the sergeant, who was being helped away by the two MP's behind him, but he still had their full attention despite Ranma's show of violence.

"What you have just seen is an example of communication lag time. Ensign Sugita's abilities are barely known by those of us in command, but we acknowledge them. He was not supposed to join you for the physical training. In fact he is supposed to get a double dose of the mental as I understand his scholastic scores are not the best having apparently lived on the road with a man who will become target practice should he ever cross my path." He let a tension relieving laugh run through the group before going on, slowly taking off his dress uniform's coat and placing it on the ground.

"Now judging from Ensign Sugita's exuberance I imagine that the drill sergeant had gotten to the part where he beats down any of you who had prior fighting experience. I suggest we mark that as completed unless of course any of you want to try me on for size." He looked around at them with one frost white eyebrow raised and none of the recruits dared utter a word. Old he may be, but Mannstein stood a little over seven feet tall and he was nearly squat with muscle. "In that case I propose we start the physical training with a brisk jog around the academy." The trainees nodded, that sounded like a nice way to get them limber and ready for the rest of the day.

In the distance the memories of millions of green recruits screamed out in torment.

Ranma spent the next four hours having a fascinating discussion with Dr. Lang about ki, the reflux engine and the possible connection between the two. Ranma didn't understand the science of it, but the general gist was the reflux core worked by transmuting the substance in its core into tremendous amounts of energy. Ki was the same process in a human being. What differed was the control and outcome. The reflux core and even the smaller batteries that ran the Veritechs were powerful beyond belief, but that power could only be channeled into doing certain things, much like any other electrical or chemical energy.

Ki on the other hand was only limited by the control and reservoir of the user. Ki wasn't like magic, able to be used without any consequence, able to change the base form of something like alchemy was supposed to be able to do, but it could be made to do practically anything else the user could imagine and empower. Ranma couldn't for example fly or even float in the air, he couldn't figure out a way to do it, not even after fighting Saffron, but he could empower his legs to jump farther and higher than any normal person could even imagine.

His ki wasn't limitless as he had to take in fuel and let his body convert that fuel to ki, a process that no ki user could get around. Some of course, like Happosai, could figure out ways to take energy from other people or even their environment. Ranma could do the latter, but not easily or efficiently. He had to be in a place with a lot of living things for it to work at all, and he had never gotten it to work very well. He could renew his own energy via food and rest far faster than normal people though, and that skill got better with use though if he was injured he could either use the energy to speed up the healing process or renew his reservoir not both.

Still it was the other stories of what ki could be used for that grabbed Dr. Lang's attention. He had already decided to ignore Ranma's curse, as fascinating as it was there was nothing he could learn from it that could be used in their present circumstances. But there were several things that intrigued him.

For one Ranma being able to feel, and to a lesser extent connect with a small experimental reflux battery was more than interesting it was astounding. It meant in a pinch Ranma could call on his Valkyrie's (once he got one anyway) energy to replenish his own, and perhaps even vice versa, though Ranma was quick to point out that at his best, which he wasn't back to just yet, his reservoir would be but a small fraction of the batteries.

The other two items that interested Dr. Lang were the ideas of empowering objects with ki to make them stronger, and the hidden weapon space pockets. On the one hand if he could somehow figure out how to empower the exterior armor of the space fortress with similar protection then the armor would be able to take a far greater pounding before failing.

And with the hidden weapon space, if he could somehow get that idea to work using the energy of the Veritech fighters, they would have practically unlimited ammunition for a small amount of initial drain on their batteries.

"But you say that it would take years for other people to learn this?" Dr. Lang asked as Ranma finished up a late lunch and he looked over his notes. "That's a pity, but would it be easier to teach this, what did you call it, emotional ki? I imagine in combat that kind would be a lot easier to use for beginners."

Ranma shook his head. "Emotional ki is a good shortcut or starting point but it's dangerous to use for any amount of time. The more ki attacks ya do with a certain emotional energy the more that emotion comes to dominate what ya can feel and how ya think. I know a few people back in Nerima that used emotional ki attacks fer a long time and in every case that emotion dominated their lives. Ryoga was always depressed and was like a walking bomb, and Akane let anger get control of every other part of her. My own attacks for a while made me dangerously overconfident. I wouldn't teach it if I could and I can't. If the person has a basis in martial arts and in meditatin' maybe, but even then we'd have ta be really lucky to find someone at the level where they could learn ta use ki consciously."

"I see." Dr. Lang sighed, taking a bite absentmindedly out of his MRE. "Still, you've given me a lot of things to think about Ranma, and for that I thank you. Now I think you need to get back to the academy for control and movement training. My assistant will drive you back."

Rasnma looked at the clock, which read nearly 3:00 and he nodded. "See ya later doc. Call if ya need ta talk ta me again." With that he left, leaving the scientist to pour over his notes in peace, half-eaten lunch forgotten.

When he arrived at the academy he was told he still had a little over a half hour before he had to report to the simulator rooms. He decided to kill the time by walking along the raised lake that was part of the academies grounds. It amazed him as he was looking around that this was all inside a huge spaceship. After all the only thing missing was a sky to complete the image of being back on earth.

He paused his walk around the lake, wondering if they could get some birds or even some fish in here, then the image would be perfect a little piece of earthbound heaven right here in space, well if you didn't look up anyway. Kinda gives a whole new meaning ta the whole yin yang thing. He chuckled to himself, as that was something that could be said for his own body too, only to have his peace broken by an irate female voice sounding out behind him. "So you think it's funny to be skipping out on your training soldier! What's your name and id number?!"

Startled Ranma turned and lost his footing on the small pebbles that surrounded the lake, landing at the foot of a lady in a dress. The female voice groaned above him. "Not again, what is it with all the perverts finding me today?"

He looked up and barely noticed her toned legs, creamy skin and her angry face before his Nerima-self-preservation-protocols™ kicked in. He jumped away assumed the crouch of the striking tiger and "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to look I'm sorry!"

Lisa looked on a bit bemused as Claudia broke out into giggles and then she laughed a little. "It's alright trainee, I suppose I shouldn't have startled you like that."

Ranma stood up scratching at his pig tail. Lisa was caught off guard by the sea blue eyes that looked back at her. "Nah, it was my fault for falling, you can hit me if ya want. Though I ain't skipping out of training, I'm exempt from the physical training classes, and had some time before simulator training's supposed ta start so went for a walk."

"I won't hit you my hand's still smarting from smacking the last idiot I had to deal with. But why are you…. wait, I recognize you, you're that idiot from the city who was fighting with that ki stuff right? Nodoka told us a bit about you. Hey listen, do you think you can teach me how to do use that stuff? I'm in good shape and I do have a black belt in judo."

Ranma grinned and started walking with the two ladies. "So you know my mom huh? I'd resent the idiot remark but as you've had a bad day I won't comment. And about learning ki, I've been asked that question a lot lately, and no I can't. First off it took me years ta be able ta do what I can do, years of doing little else to get as good as I could get before I even learned the first thing about ki. And I'm sorry ta say that a black belt in judo really ain't saying much to serious marital artists. I could'a probably had my black belt in judo when I was eight. Sorry if that offends ya."

"Don't underestimate me." Lisa said coolly. "I may just surprise you. And I would say that military training can make up some of the difference."

Ranma paused, her words bringing back bad memories of Akane and he stared at her for a moment. His intense blue eyes caused Lisa to actually blush as she fought the urge to look away. "I ain't underestimating you. Yer commander Hayes right, my mom told me about you, the commander who organized the Search and Rescue and is second-in-command of the space fortress?" She nodded. "Well that means in your area of expertise, you're damn good."

The respect in his voice was easy to see and she very carefully did not let her cheeks darken again. "But ki and martial arts are my area of expertise and I am as good in it as ya are in yer own. It takes dedication that a soldier with other demands on his or her time can't do, alright? I mean when I was learning I only went ta school when my old man was caught by the truant officers and I was made ta go, or if he was after something else and made me go fer that reason. Physical skills're only a part of it. Ya need to have mental training and emotional control and heap loads of endurance and other stuff to use ki." He looked away sighing. "I'm sorry, but with the hours ya have ta put in to be as good as you are at yer job, there's no way you could have the time to practice. The best I can do is give ya the name of some meditation books you can read and maybe give ya some exercises ta use ta get in better shape."

Lisa looked at him realizing he was serious. She also liked how he somehow knew how much time she had to spend at her job to be as good as she was and was praising her for it as a person rather than as a woman in the military. It was like he only saw her and her achievements not her gender. For most women this would have been annoying, for Lisa who had been judged as a woman and her father's daughter all her life it was very refreshing. "Alright, I'll take your word for it Ranma. If you could have the list of books sometime your next day off I'd appreciate it. Emotional control and the ability to stay calm would be a damn good thing with some of the idiots I have to work with."

"I always find it easier to hit 'em myself" Ranma commiserated. "But yeah that much I can do fer ya. I gotta run now though. See ya around commander, commander." He nodded at both women in farewell and took off towards the hallway that housed the virtual simulators for the academy.

Lisa watched him go until she noticed Claudia give her a look. "What?"

Claudia grinned. "Nothing, just wondering if you liked seeing him walk away as much as you liked him staring at you with those deep blue eyes of his, you could bounce a quarter off that ass!"

"I don't know what you're insinuating" Lisa huffed. "I just liked the fact that he seemed to appreciate how hard I have to work at my job, that's all."

"Oh sure that's all" Claudia teased. "And I'm not insinuating anything, though if I were, I would say it's about time. You have to get over Karl someday Lisa, and I think Ranma and you would be a good match. His mother did say he wasn't seeing anyone right now."

"His mother practically shouted that, and that she thinks he could handle more than one woman at a time," Lisa growled. "As if being from an old samurai line made polygamy acceptable! And I am not interested in Ranma, nor" her voice softened and her face fell into well etched lines of grief, "am I over Karl. Maybe I will be some day, but not yet." Karl Ryber was her boyfriend before, during and for a year after she went to the military academy, an older man who had been one of her father's aides when she was a young girl. His moving away to Mars base Sara and subsequent death from a terrorist attack had hit the young girl hard.

"I never said you were interested in Ranma," Claudia said softly, putting an arm around her friend's shoulders as they walked away. "And I know that you're not over Ryber, but you need to stop living in the past Lisa. I'm not saying to get all boy-crazy like the gossip trio, but everyone needs someone you know." She saw however that her friend was starting to get her back up and adroitly changed the subject to whether Captain Connor would be a good fit as destroid commander. Lisa gratefully went along with the change and the two continued on their way.

Ranma entered the hall just in time to join the hundred or so recruits after they had showered, though most of them still looked tired and irritable. Ranma on the other hand grinned, this was what he had been looking forward to since Roy had picked him up out of Macross city. Ranma was not going to be disappointed.

The flight attendant was a young man bearing the rank tabs of a Lt. and a black armband denoting his affiliation with Skull Squadron, the elite Valkyrie squadron of the fortress. The only thing that took away from his appearance was heavy cast around one of his legs. "Good afternoon boys and girls." Ranma looked around and was surprised to see more than a few young women in the crowd, obviously they had come from another training group he hadn't been a part of. "My name is Lt. Eric Prescott and I will be your flight instructor until my bloody leg heals. After that I will happily go back to my real job which is flying for real rather than babysitting a bunch of wannabes."

His clipped English accent came through clearly as he kept speaking easily ignoring the looks of outrage he was getting from the assembled trainees. "Now, this is the part where I tell you that once you get into these simulators you are to remember to treat everything as real. The controls and the feelings you get in there are as close to real as we can make them. However, that is so much bloody shite." He looked around as the faces of his audience looked confused. "No matter how real these simulators feel, they are just that, simulators. You're enemies can't really kill you, they never are too good or too fast or too armored for you to take on, and your friends don't really die beside you. In here you always have a do over."

He looked around at their still watching faces, some pale while others looked more determined. "There is a phrase which civilians know as 'train hard fight easy'. That's the bastardized version. The real phrase, known since the time of the Spartans is 'train hard fight harder'. As such you will treat these simulators like they were real not because they are supposed to feel that way but because they are a necessary step to prepare you for the real thing, when you really can be killed. So I'm going to train you as hard as possible, I am going to do my damndest to break you because when I do I can put you back together into new soldiers who can possibly survive the bloody chaotic hell that is a dogfight in space."

He paused to let that sink in then went on, motioning to his assistants all of whom like Prescott had injuries and were on light duty. "Now, when I call your name you will step forward and move into the simulators. When you are all installed I will give you a brief overview of the controls and then you will start to fly your Valkyrie. The first lesson is simple. Fly and survive. If you do that we might be able to make space pilots out of you, if not, then the Destroids are always looking for more men. Now, let's begin."

He consulted a clipboard and shouted "Ackerly, Athenball, Alexander, Baldwin, Browning," the list went on for another twenty five names until all the simulators in the first room were filled, then he moved to the next room, and the next. It wasn't until the fourth room that Ranma heard his name, and it took him a moment to remember that it was actually his, still not used to not being a Saotome. "Sugita, Sugita, get up here!"

Ranma blinked then strode forward and saluted before being directed into a simulator. The simulator was a small ovoid set into the floor with a flap in the side to allow entrance and wires coming out of the back of it into the floor. Inside Ranma found a fighters cockpit, organized like he remembered from Roy's Valkyrie. He sat down, and the flap closed automatically. Ranma grinned again wiggling his fingers and reaching forward to grasp the flight stick with one hand and rested the other by the buttons on the armrest.

Not five minutes later, he heard Lt. Prescott's voice through a speaker set into the ceiling of the simulator. "All right we are going to walk everyone through the controls first, and then you are going to simulate a very simple mission in space. This is to test your ability to think in terms of 360%, something that not a lot of people can do. If you have any problem with this mission then I am afraid fighter pilot will not be in your résumé."

Ranma listened to the instructions, connecting it in his mind with what he had seen Roy do in his plane. After Prescott finished his instruction Ranma watched as the light in the simulator went off and the sides went black, everything began to simulate the feeling of being in a fighter in the air, Ranma even felt the gravity suddenly stop underneath him and he smiled. "Here we go."

The view outside the simulator cockpit changed from merely black to black with white spots, and one of the small screens below the viewport started to show information as well. Ranma counted a little under a hundred blue dots set into V shapes, with one spot near the middle of one side of the V was blank, and Ranma realized that must be where his plane was in formation. Blue lights along the side of that screen indicated something, he didn't know what.

"Alright ladies and gentlemen, on your canopy you should start to see a line in front of you in space. You mission right now is to get from point A to point B through an asteroid belt. You objective: survive. You will light your engines in three, two, one go!"

Ranma flicked a switch on his right side lighting off his engine and with a whoop moved his flight stick forward.

Ranma was utterly and completely exhausted by the time he got back to the White Dragon. The trainee barracks hadn't been completed yet and the area they were supposed to be was still being used as storage for now. They would be done in a few weeks, but there were so many other construction priorities right now they were not even on the list of top ten.

After training in the flight simulators for three hours straight, a truly exhilarating experience that despite how different it was he loved, he was given a book detailing the Valkyrie's specs and maintenance requirement the trainees were again broken up into groups of twenty and handed over to other instructors. Ranma didn't even catch his instructor's name, still high from his experience in the simulator and being the first one to complete the run through the asteroid belt. These instructors began to drill them in the terminology and verbiage of the fighter corps and the military as a whole. Despite knowing how important this was to learn Ranma soon began nodding off, and he had to concentrate hard on paying attention. They weren't even allowed notes as in combat they wouldn't have notes to look at or even time to look at them. After which the trainees were all given another booklet and were expected to memorize the first chapter by the end of the day.

Ranma was surprised to find the restaurant hopping, every table full with several groups of soldiers waiting patiently to be seated. Minmei greeted him at the door as soon as he came in. "Ranma am I ever glad to see you, I need some help here desperately, it's only me, my dad and Rick out here! Get changed and get your dress on quick!" Ranma looked around and saw Shao waiting on one table while Rick, looking very stiff, walked around taking drink orders and pouring water.

Ranma sighed but nodded. One night working on top of training wasn't going to kill him. As he walked quickly through the dining area he heard his voice hailed from one of the booths. "Hey Ranma, over here!"

Ranma looked over and saw Roy and Claudia sitting at a table alone. He walked over waving a hand in greeting. "Yo Roy, how's it going? Been here long?"

"Nah haven't even ordered. I just wanted to formally introduce you to someone. Ranma this is Lt. Cm. Claudia Grant, my lovely fiancé."

Claudia waved and Ranma blinked. "We've met, but a fiancé huh, well if yer happy with eachother I guess it's all good, never knew happy and fiancé could go together though."

Claudia blinked and Roy frowned. "What do you mean by that?"

"Ask my mom the next time you see her if ya want the whole story, it'd take way too long to explain and I don't like doin' it anyway. I'll see ya round I need to go change and get ta work apparently." The couple nodded and let him go, though they were still wearing confused expressions as he walked away.

Ranma went through the kitchen and saw his mother, Kasumi and Fei working. Nodoka spotted him first and greeted him, never looking away from the shrimp she was preparing. "Hello dear, how was your first day at the academy?"

"Busy" Ranma grunted. "I was able ta talk ta Dr. Lang, he's a really interesting guy, and the simulator was fun but the terminology is gonna kick my butt I just know it."

'Well, keep at it, the only way to get better at something is to work at it. You'll be happy to know however that we've been approved to move into rooms inside the main spaceship area." Their apartment complex had been at the edge of the city and had not survived the fold in enough pieces to be worth salvaging. The Lynn's had opened up their home to them, though with Kasumi already up with their niece in her room Nodoka had slept on the floor of the main dining area the few nights she spent there. Ranma had slept there last night and he just shrugged. As far as he was concerned having any kind of roof over him was still a luxury (he'd refused to stay at the Tendo's after the Ukyo had shown up, which while honorable hadn't lessened the problems coming his way and his mother house had been destroyed within days of his moving in with her), and it wasn't like that was an issue in the space fortress. "We'll move in there later tonight after the restaurant has closed."

Kasumi interjected from her place by the stove, where she was pan searing some vegetables. "I'll be moving in with you as well. The rooms are going to be bigger, and I have found that I don't like to live in the center city area. The nights are a little too noisy for me." That, she thought, and Minmei is a sweet girl but she is also far too much a teenage girl, if I have to hear about one more 'hot' model or TV star I will scream! Living in the same room with her this past month has not been fun.

Ranma nodded happily, answering before he could stop and think. "That's great. No offense mom but I've missed waking up to Kasumi's breakfasts, those and her smiles make any day a lot easier to face." He turned and went upstairs to change, leaving behind two smirking women and one blushing but extremely happy girl.

Soon Ranma came back down changed into a girl and wearing a china dress, the uniform of the restaurant. He went out to the main dining hall and was immediately greeted by hoots and whistles from the more coarse soldiers, but they stopped when Roy yelled out "enough of that you bastards, this is a nice upscale restaurant, not a damn strip club. Mind your damn manners or I'll have you up in front of the captain!"

The soldiers subsided, but still leered until Ranma picked up small bar of solid iron kept here just for this purpose. She effortlessly bent it into a pretzel, which she threw underhand at the nearest soldier who grunted under the impact, allowing them to realize it was really iron and she really had just done that. "My names Ranma Sugita for those of ya who don't know, and my strength don't decrease that much from one form to another." With this phrase all the soldiers present connected the odd rumors about a Ranma Sugita going around to the redhead in front of them and promptly lost their leering faces. After all, none of them wanted to find out what someone who could take on battlepods with his bare hands could do to a person.

After that the night went by quickly. The restaurant was a rousing success, and became even more so when the word went out to the civilians as well as the military. In fact several young girls came by and asked about jobs and were promptly told to show up the next day, something Ranma was very grateful for. Working and training together was a killer. Ranma was barely able to walk as he followed his mother out of the hanger/city and into the spaceship proper, up two levels and into their new rooms.

He didn't notice how close their suite was to the ships officer's country, nor the fact that it was filled with boxes and very unsettled save for the family sword hung on one wall. All he was able to do was move as his mother directed and collapse into bed, not even bothering to change back into a guy. He was asleep before his head hit the pillow.

end chapter. If anyone can tell me what book series i got the name Prescott from I'll give them a shout out