I don't own the horse or the fortress. Motoko Aoyama a character that will be introduced in this chapter, is based loosely off of the Love Hina character of the same name, which I also don't own (wouldn't want to really I think it sucked what is it with abusive women in anime?), and no she will not be paired with Ranma, for reasons which will become apparent as her character becomes more prevalent moving forward.

Just so everyone knows the Daedalus maneuver won't be happening for a while.

I was irritated by the fact that the Veritech forces would be seen as having losses, but those losses were only rarely mentioned in the anime because of its rather shallow concentration on the main characters. This will not be the case in my story. Losses will be felt, and their overall effect on morale seen. More logistics and maintenance will be important, though Ranma will not have an impact on either for a while.

g

h

Chapter 7 Asteroids isn't just the name of a game anymore

Ranma bit back a frustrated groan as the battlepods in front of him pulled back. Again. He hit his mike with a barely restrained snarl. "Never mind scrambling the other squad's boss. They're already pulling back."

Commander Prescott sighed tiredly from his place patrolling on the other side of the space fortress but nodded. "Call it in ensign. This is getting bloody ridiculous."

"Roger." Ranma changed the channel on his radio and spoke into it again. "Blue 5 to command, cancel fighter scramble. Repeat cancel fighter scramble."

Claudia's voice answered him, sounding just as irritated as he was. "Reasons blue five?"

Ranma smiled. While he was friends with Lisa off duty, on duty she was a little too tightly wound for him, and he enjoyed talking to Roy's fiancé instead, as she had really good taste in music and knew some funny jokes about pilots she would often share. "The battlepods already fell back. Me and blue six just barely got into missile range before they pulled back. They're playing us Claudia, trying to figure out something about us, though what it is I don't know."

"I know, but what can you do. Their mother ships are just sitting out of our range and we'd have to chase them down to get them in cannon range to take them out and that would take us away from our route to slingshot around Saturn. All we can do is just keep on trucking." Claudia replied

"Roger." Ranma said resignedly. It had been almost a month since the breakout and these little probing sorties was all that had happened in that time. Now Saturn was so close he could see it out of his canopy, and the probing attacks were beginning to grate on his nerves. He was so freaking bored it wasn't even funny. Of course they were bothering other people for an entirely different reason.

Gloval frowned, but he was forced to concede that ensign Sugita had a point. These attacks, which had been going on for nearly two weeks were nothing more than irritants. They didn't do anything except make certain the fortress knew the aliens were out there. Could that be the whole reason? He wondered, some kind of psychological attack? Still it seems out of character somehow. From everything we have seen thus far the aliens they think in terms of brute force, overwhelming numbers no subtlety or mind games. No, they are trying to do something else, but what?

The fact that the aliens could shadow them like this at all had been most disturbing by itself. When the first group of ships showed up at just beyond radar range it had come as a shock. When Dr. Lang proposed the idea that they had fold technology and knew how to use it the mystery had been solved but not the problem. Now Gloval had to worry constantly about whether or not they were being encircled again, and what they could do about it if so. Alas there was nothing they could do about it with the main gun down and the repairs on the rest of the damage still underway.

The problem was that only the military personnel could work in space, none of the civilians had the knowledge or experience necessary. Gloval had made a push to start a class on working in space, taking over fifty workers who were desperately needed actually working and setting them to build a school from the ground up and it had been received well. But the civilians had many ongoing projects of their own, not least of which were the hydroponics gardens, the painting (and wasn't that an ambitious and yet magnificent undertaking) the artificial sun, and many smaller projects which took away from the number of construction workers, welders and machinists that could take classes to work in space.

At the rate it was going it would be a little over six months before they saw any good return on that investment. Still the academy graduates its first class in a few more days, that will give us more fighter-power anyway. He nodded to Claudia and stood up. "I'm going to go work on some paperwork, I'll be in my office if you need me." Claudia nodded and turned back to overseeing the repair work.

In his cockpit Ranma sighed. Might as well use this time for something. He had been meaning to investigate what he could do with his ki in the Valkyrie anyway. "Hey boss is it okay if I stay on guard out here for a bit? I wanna do some meditating, see if I can figure out any more of this ki- reflux energy connection that the doc was talking about."

Eric, who had just decided to rotate the two flights guarding with the two flights working on the outer hull paused, but shrugged. "Alright blue five, I'll rotate blue six in and send out four. He's the least handy in soldier mode. Just remember you're in space, not a dojo somewhere alright?"

"Roger that boss." Ranma closed the connection, and set his autopilot to keep him where he was relative to the space fortress, then transformed into soldier mode. For some reason the connection between his ki and that of the Valkyrie was strongest in that mode. That done he pulled his legs up and sat in the traditional position and began to meditate. Once he achieved gnosis he reached out his senses into the Veritech around him.

About an hour of experimentation allowed him to do with forethought what he had accomplished in the heat of battle during the breakout: pushing the energy of the Veritech's battery out into its armor and strengthening it.

After making certain he would remember how to do this after coming out of gnosis he began to think of other ways of pushing the energy of the battery this way of that to boost performance. He swiftly found a way to create a nitro effect on his thrusters, but adding them to a weapon system took longer and he was only able to do it on the head mounted mini lasers, not the main rifle.

After another hour of this Ranma decided to see if he could push more power to the radar system and sort of ride it, as if it was his own ki sense. This proved to be a mistake. While the system was called radar, it had little in common with the earthbound variety. Instead space radar works off of gravitonic sensors, energy sensors, and light refraction. It was the energy sensors and how they interacted with the gravitonic array that gave Ranma problems.

Lisa came onto bridge and walked over to Claudia at her station, clapping the other woman's upraised hand. "I relieve you commander, have fun on your date with Roy. Was there anything unusual to report?"

Claudia shook her head. "One probing fly-by, that's about it. No accidents and the work is proceeding as well as can be expected. Oh and ensign Sugita volunteered to stay on patrol for his entire shift today. He told Commander Prescott he wanted to do some meditating or something about his connection with the Valkyrie."

"Oh good, now maybe he and I can have words about proper military decorum."

"Are you still going on about that?" Claudia smirked at her friend obvious irritation.

"He threatened the captain! He completely ignored their relative ranks and military decorum! That kind of thing is death on good discipline, I'm astonished that it hasn't gotten out yet." Lisa voice had raised and she almost sounded like she was ranting but damn it she had been so angry when she heard what Ranma had done (and a little guilty, after all she had been the one to tell him that his mother was going out with the captain). She looked down at the board in front of her, then frowned, her anger leaving her as she noticed something. "How long ago did he start meditating? My readouts say his Veritech has simply remained on station the entire time, but its energy levels are near the critical point."

Claudia looked over and shook her head. "I didn't notice that, um…." She thought for a minute "Well, about six hours or so."

"Geez" She pulled up blue five's readings and paled visibly. "Claudia override the radio and get me a visual of his cockpit, his life signs are reading close to flat lining!" Claudia paled and complied. She and Lisa looked through to see Ranma sitting cross-legged on his chair with what looked like frost hanging off him in places. His wasn't moving at all so first they thought it was too late, but as they watched his chest slowly moved up and down as he exhaled before going back to stillness. Lisa spoke loudly into the pickup "Sugita, ensign Sugita, respond! Ranma Sugita, respond!"

As the two women watched Ranma's eyes slowly fluttered open and they both gasped for as they opened light, cold white light flashed from his eyes for a moment, then faded into a blue so deep it hurt to look at it. For a moment neither woman was certain that the person they were seeing was even human, let alone the affable and energetic young man they had come to know.

That feeling faded only a little as Ranma shuddered, closing his eyes and gasping in great lungfuls of air. "Th-thanks Lisa, gods that was too close, that was… holy ancestors I'm not doing that again."

"Are you alright ensign? Do you require assistance or for medical attention to be standing by?"

"N-no, I'm, alright it was just, it was too much, I was trying to see too much. I'll be alright. Is my shift over?" Ranma asked, looking at his chronometer, not shocked at all that the six hours had gone by. It had felt like millennia to him.

"What the hell were you doing anyway, your Valkyrie's battery is reading at near danger levels."

"I was experimenting, seeing if I could push the reflux energy of the battery and use it like I could my own ki. It worked but then I decided to ramp up the power of my radar and sort of ride it, send my own ki along for the trip like I do with my ki sense. It worked too, but those sensors see a hell of a lot more than I thought they did, and I…." He trailed off, changing his Veritech into fighter mode and pulling it around to head back to the fortress and the waiting warmth, something he desperately needed right now.

Claudia and Lisa looked at one another before Lisa asked in a whisper, not sure she wanted to know the answer yet driven by curiosity. "What did you see Ranma?"

"Everything. I saw everything, just for a moment but, there was so much, so much I couldn't understand, the currents, the connections; the universe is so big and cold, so full of energy and life, but cold. I don't have words to describe it, it was terrifying yet as close to a religious experience that I've ever felt, too close for comfort really."

"are you certain you don't require medical attention?"

"Nah, just a long hot bath, some food and some exercise, I just gotta push on y'know. I, really, my mind ain't set up ta ponder the mysteries of the universe y'know? I just gotta concentrate on the here and now for a bit."

Lisa nodded as Claudia left the bridge intent on escorting Ranma from the hanger to his mother despite his continued report of well being. Lisa kept her tone deliberately light as she continued to talk to Ranma as he headed for the hangers. "Well, I hear that drinking is always good to help you forget things, you might want to give it a try."

Ranma laughed, warmth flooding through him again as he did so. "Oh that's just what this ship needs a drunken martial artist. Any buildings set up for demolition or anything that needs destroying really badly? Hell no, I saw my old man drink way to often ta want ta try it myself."

The two continued to banter away as Ranma flew home, the transcendental moment not forgotten, never forgotten, but put to the back of his mind. He wasn't ready to face it, not yet and maybe never. The here and now was much sweeter and more meaningful than his brush with the infinite.

As Commandant Mannstein finished his speech and began to call up the cadets one by one Ranma leaned over and whispered into Commander Prescott's ear "So why am I here exactly?"

"You're here because of that unusual ki sense of yours. I want you to pick out the ones that have some potential at martial arts. You've proven there is a definite connection between hand to hand skill and the ability to use the soldier system on the Veritech. I bleeding well know who the best pilots amongst these kids are, I helped train them after all but soldier mode is harder to predict and I want your opinion."

"Huh. Alright as long as yer not looking to have me train 'em in ki techniques."

"No I'm not looking for that. Just point them out as they come up."

"Well I know Rick will be, I've been trainin' with him off and on along with Minmei every time we're all free. He's about the level of a blue belt now."

"Alright, but we need more than just him. Commander Fokker told me that he's going to gut the entire flight as well Vermillion and Green to create a veteran officer structure for the others. You and Lt. Lafferty are the only ones staying with me."

Eric was of two minds about that plan actually. While they would now have enough pilots to fill 13 of the 20 squadrons the Macross was supposed to carry in terms of pilots, they didn't have that many machines at this point. Even with the wounded returning to duty, as most had done by this point, they would still be at 103 machines, enough for eight full squadrons and seven spares. But there was no telling how many of the cadets would really be able to stand up to the rigors of combat in space. Eric would rather have kept the squadron numbers low for now and rotate the greenies in on a one to one basis (one trainee for every one veteran) over a long period of time rather than spread them out this way. It seemed too much like throwing them in the deep end.

"Hey you two, what are you doing here?" Roy sidled up to them out of the crowd and took up a place next to them. "And I heard that Eric, and it wasn't my call. The captain thinks that having more flights to spread the workload will make up for the general lack of experience. And hopefully we'll have a few months to work out the new meat before the nex-"

He stopped as Ranma clamped a hand over his mouth. "Sorry Roy but if you've lived my life you'd know never to tempt fate like that."

As Ranma took his hand away Eric answered Roy's initial question. "We're here to pick out my new squadron. You said and I quote 'you'll have the pick of the new blood'. I brought Ranma with me to help make the decision." He ostentatiously pulled out a data-pad and looked at it. "So far we've added only Rick Hunter but I trust we'll be adding more quickly."

Roy looked at him in shock. "You utter bastard, you know I've been saving Rick a spot in Skull!"

Eric grinned at his CAG. "Then you should have told me that before giving me carte blanche shouldn't you?"

Ranma ignored the argument of his superior officers, concentrating on watching the cadets as they were called up by Mannstein one by one. As a young man with close cropped red hair walked up Ranma nudged Eric, "That one" and a moment later as a young woman with the same color hair followed "and that one."

Eric looked a little uncomfortable for a moment but jotted the names of the two down. Roy grinned suddenly "Fine, you can keep poaching the best and brightest, so long as you get an even number of men and women. Remember this ain't just a man's job anymore. And thanks to Ranma you get to be my poster squad for integration."

Eric looked at him coldly but Ranma shrugged. It didn't matter to him, he knew women could be as good soldiers as any man, sometimes better. Lisa was one such example, and Shampoo was too in her own way. Just as he thought that a woman with a light tan and long black hair flowing down her back and a powerful, almost challenging strut and with what looked like an actual ki aura walked up and took her diploma. "That one too, definitely that one. She's gotta be some kind of marital artist already."

The ceremony went on and Ranma kept picking out men and women as Eric took down their names. By the end of the ceremony, they had five women and four men. Tomorrow, after the cadets had a single night to tie one on, these young people would be given a very rude awakening to the life they'd decided to join.

Rick and his fellow academy graduates (some of whom including Rick were sporting massive hangovers) gathered in the Valkyrie pilot's main rest area. Located between the largest hanger deck and the offices of the CAG and his officers, this room was more than large enough to hold every young, hung-over over eager or worried newly minted ensign.

Rick holding the side of one head groggily, had to wait a few minutes for the press of bodies to lesson before he could get close enough to see his name and post. When he did however he snapped his fingers in irritation, causing both his own headache and those of a few nearby graduates to worsen. "Damn it, I was hoping for Skull squadron. With my flying grade I thought I'd be a shoe in. Still, I guess working with Ranma and Commander Prescott won't be so bad. Well, unless Ranma is in charge of training us." Rick shuddered at the very idea.

Outside the room there were signs on the walls telling the new pilots where they had to go to get to their assigned unit. It took Rick fifteen minutes of walking to reach the area designated for Blue squad, but about halfway there he realized he was being followed by several other cadets who fell into step with him. "Are you three for Blue squadron too?"

The group, two women and one man nodded and the rest of the walk was spent wondering what it was going to be like to really fly in space, how different it would be from the simulators and what they thought about Commander Prescott. The elephant in the room, the idea that soon they would have to kill real beings in real life was not discussed. Everyone there knew it, all of them worried about it but none wanted to bring it up.

They arrived to the Blue squadron's meeting room (squad six's on the ship's map) to find their old teacher and Ranma already there waiting there for them with several other graduates. Rick's group was in fact the last and once they were all assembled Prescott began a short welcoming speech. "Ah, welcome to the hallowed halls of Blue squadron. We have been hallowed for precisely ten hours, since you lot were chosen and your assignments went through giving us a full squadron of pilots since, well, ever, before that blue was simply a random designation for the survivors of other flights that died back on Earth. As such unlike in Vermillion or Skull there are no traditions or hazing initiations you lot will be put through."

Ranma quietly put away a rubber duck and a croquet bat he had pulled from somewhere, and Prescott continued, ignoring the fact that several of the cadets had relaxed from looks of horror and two of the girls were holding back giggles.

"I am going to now assign you to your wingmen and then I am going to talk about our duties and the flight rotation we will be following." He then read off their names placing four of the girls in pairs and assigning the last one to work with her brother who had also been assigned to the squadron. Rick was paired with Ranma assigned number nine and ten respectively, and smiled. Ranma nodded back but his attention was split between Eric and the girl who he had pointed out yesterday, whose name was Motoko Aoyama. She stood next to her new partner, and even from here he could tell she was a martial artist. She carried herself like a swordswoman, much like his own mother, poised and confident in an at ease kendo stance and he could see calluses on her fingers and palms synonymous with wielding a blade. She looked pretty capable but he resolved to see what she could do in a Veritech before offering up any suggestions.

Once everyone was paired up Eric continued. "Alright our duties as of this moment are twofold. Due to the enemies continued presence on the outer edges of the Macross' radar, captain Gloval has tasked CAG Fokker to keep a continuous 24 hour CAP. It isn't a large one, only two flights from rotating squadrons situated in front of, to the sides, up, down and in the wake of the battleship. There will be two squadrons assigned to exterior duties at all times, and half of each will be on patrol duty, the rest will be on repair detail at the same time, and every two hours the squads on patrol will be relieved. I will tell you this is mostly dead boring, but it is vital as we need to enlarge our ships radar bubble to give us greater warning of incoming attacks. We've had to pull eight hour on, eight hour off workdays before this but thanks to you lot finally graduating we have the main power to fall back on six hour on, ten hour off days. There will be another squadron performing the same duties overlapping our time out there, but they may or may not have the exact same schedule, I don't know yet. This is a twenty-four hour schedule so expect to put in some abnormal hours. The repair work has been ongoing 24-7 and the aliens are always out there."

There was some muttering among the recruits at the odd hours bit, but that was all. "Alright. Now then, let's get you all fitted for your helmets and assigned a Valkyrie. After that we get to go pound some vacuum." This caused the recruits to cheer, buoyed by the idea that all their hard training was at last going to pay off. How little they knew the boredom that awaited them. Ranma could only shake his head sadly at their naiveté.

"All is in readiness admiral Breetai. The carrier captains assigned to this part of the operation have passed on the orders to their Regulds and we are ready to begin."

"Excellent Exedore. Begin Operation Grind."

It had been two days since the academy graduates had joined the Valkyrie squadrons and they had all already found out how deadly boring being out on patrol could be when nothing was going on. Even the battlepod fly-bys that occurred a few times each day did nothing really to alleviate their waning enthusiasm. The newly constituted Bronze squadron was the one supplying the patrols on the port side of the ship the moment that boredom ended abruptly.

Roy Fokker had tried to match up veterans to the recruits as much as possible, but he didn't have enough veterans left to go around since Gloval had ordered him to put as many squadrons together as he could. Unfortunately this time there were recruits on patrol without a veteran to watch over them. Their Captain was with the rest of the squad on the repair work and the flight Lt. was patrolling on the other side of the ship.

Bronze nine looked at his radar and saw incoming red dots from in front of them. "Bronze nine to Bronze 2, I've got incoming battlepods. Their trajectory is the same as the last few times."

"Roger that bronze nine, I'll bump it up to higher, it's probably another fly-by. Let them get in range of your missiles and light a few up, but remember not to pursue when they break off." The lt. responded, which showed that even veterans could fall into habits of thought.

The battlepods came into visual range and bronze ten noticed something odd. "that's strange. These pods are a little different than the ones we've seen before."

Their commander cut into the communication voice sharp "Different how?"

"Well, they all have these, well they look kind of like missile packs on their back…"

"Get out of there now!" Their commander barked but too late. Rockets intended to be artillery weapons streaked forward crossing the distance in seconds and two young men would never get any older.

As the two Veritechs burned the battlepods, over two hundred strong moved forward with the boosters on max attempting to close the distance before the fortress could launch fighters. The rest of bronze squadron came together over the fortress preparing to attack the invaders as they came on.

Gloval shook his head sadly as Lisa reported the death of the two bronze pilots. He had been expecting something like this for some time, but the timing had still come as surprise, and those young men had paid for it. Still they were prepared for this. "Claudia, scramble the two ready squadrons, then call up the rest of the squadrons. Lisa, get Captain Connor to pull the Spartans back inside and ready the Defenders to sortie." Both women nodded and moved to their tasks as he turned to Kim and Vanessa. "Keep a close eye on the long range radar screen. As soon as any enemy mother ships come in range I want them nailed with our secondary weapons."

Blue and Gold were the two ready squadrons that day, and they launched from the top hanger in enough time to join up with Bronze before the wave of battlepods struck. Prescott as the most senior commander made a little speech. "Alright everyone, this is what you have been trained for, remember to stick with your wingmen, back each other up and always remember: a well disciplined unit can always outfight an undisciplined mob."

The battlepods drew within range of their missiles and began to launch missile swarms at the defenders. "Evasive action, wait until they come close before replying!"

Rick ducked and weaved around the incoming rockets, noticing that while they were aimed, they didn't seem to be heat seeking and were easy to dodge once you got a little distance from them. He locked on the incoming battlepods with his own missiles and waited for the order to fire. When it came he almost convulsively squeezed the trigger and it was with something approaching shock that he watched his targets explode. I, I've just killed a sentient being.

Ranma flying on his wing didn't let him remain shocked for long. "Get it together blue nine, they're closing in on us!"

Rick shook off his stupor and pulled in beside Ranma as he boasted forward with the rest of the squadron. "R-Roger!"

Ranma picked off a battlepod with his last missile then transforming into guardian mode turning swiftly to blow up another one that had tried to get by him. Rick's training took over and he killed three in quick succession as they tried to back off enough to use their missiles.

Rick and Ranma continued in the same vein, Rick using precision attacks and out flying his enemies while Ranma got in close using all three forms to the best advantage. They accounted for a little over twenty pods between them, but the rest of the squadron did not fare as well. Though none of them had been lost yet, Prescott could tell that the chaos of the melee was beginning to erode the green pilots training. "Flights 2,4 and 6 fall back to engage with missiles. Flights 1,3 and 5 hold position and put down covering fire."

This maneuver was executed as well as could be expected, but it saved the rookies from being overwhelmed by their first dogfight. Gold squadron was not so lucky, and lost three Valkryies before they were able to open up the range again. Bronze, shocked and enraged by the death of their two squad mates didn't even bother trying, instead staying in close and engaging at will.

The Veritechs that fell back used first their missiles than their rifles to good effect, retreating slowly back toward the fortress to keep the range open.

The fight continued as more squadrons launched to join the fray, eventually overwhelming the battlepods. None of them however tried to escape, instead staying and fighting to the last.

When the battle was over, Lisa's voice could be heard over the radio. "Battle over, battle over, all Veritechs are cleared to land in hangers 1 through 4. Designated SAR teams begin your sweeps."

Rick gasped, pulling his hands away from the controls of his Veritech. He was amazed they weren't shaking he was so exhausted. "Is, it always like that, so frenetic and chaotic and everything?"

Ranma nodded "Yep." That's why it's so fun but so deadly too. "Look Rick don't worry about freezing up there at first, ya did damn well for yer first battle. You'll get used to the pace eventually don't worry. Just remember ta keep your cool and use all three forms the best ya can, try not to favor one form like ya did today because it opens ya up ta certain enemy tactics okay?"

Rick nodded. "Thanks Ranma, I just have to get used to it like you said. And I'll try not to pick up any bad habits. Which barn are we heading to?" Ranma answered him and the pair flew off, rejoining the rest of their squadron. None of blue flight had been shot down, indeed, several of them, including Motoko Aoyama, blue three, and the Hanrahan twins, flight six, distinguished themselves. Eric had noticed this and made a note to get Ranma to make up a training exercise for the flight, there was obviously something to this martial arts thing.

The final tally of this short sharp dogfight was 15 Valkyrie shot down, 4 pilots recovered for a little over 200 battlepods. In any other war this kind of kill ratio would be one no enemy would be willing to pay. In this war however, the humans would soon learn that such numbers didn't matter at all to the Zentraedi.

The next day Ranma and Rick were out on patrol. They had been out here for two hours already, there had been no sign of another attack and Rick was getting bored. "God-damn it, why can't we at least listen to some music like before?"

Lisa's voice sounded exasperated as she answered. "I already told you ensign that when on patrol in a proven hostile environment it would be counterproductive to let you pilots play your music. Most of you play it so loud you can't here the radio over it."

"Gah, well there's nothing happening and if you weren't such a tight cu-"

Ranma cut in at this point having already heard enough arguments between these two and not wanting his friend to dig himself in any deeper. Rick and Lisa's first impressions of eachother had been bad enough it stayed with them and only got worse when the by the books commander met the caustic and juvenile pilot. Whenever they talked over the radio you could cut the anger with a knife. "Cut it out Rick. Commander Hayes is right." And don' that feel odd, coming down on the side of the authority figure. "We need all our senses keen and ready to go at a moment's notice. I'm getting that feelin' again, like somethin' is gonna happen, and I want us both ready to go when it does."

Almost on the heel of his words their sensors picked up an incoming wave of fighters. "Speak of the devil and they will appear. Command, I've got an incoming flight of bogies. Do ya want us to investigate or pull back?"

"Do you think you can get an accurate head count for us ensign?" Lisa asked once again thankful that Ranma, despite his lack of respect for authority and wild nature, knew when to be serious.

"Getting an accurate head count aye." Ranma grinned and gunned his thrusters to maximum. "Let's go get the lady her info Rick!"

"Roger."

The two flew out to meet the incoming battlepods but instead of simply shadowing them forward Ranma took them on an angle almost around them. As they neared visual range the battlepods opened up, but the two Veritechs were able to dodge it all and continued on their roundabout route even as other battlepods made to close. "Command my readout puts it at least a hundred, maybe a hundred and fifty, they're so mixed it's hard ta tell. Not as many as yesterday that's for sure, and I think we gotta wonder why that is."

Lisa's voice was thoughtful as she replied. "Roger that blue ten. Do they seem interested in closing and destroying you or are they ignoring you in favor of moving onto the fortress?"

Rick answered as Ranma was busy shooting down a few of the battlepods that had veered off their attack vector to follow them. "Um this is blue nine, most of them are ignoring us right now, they fired some missiles our way but they're heading straight for the fortress."

"Roger. Be advised I pushed out our other patrols and we have another wave incoming direct astern. Meet up with the rest of your flight and attack battle group B. Battle group A will be taken under fire from our secondary weapons until they get too far into our engagement envelope. Firing will start in five, four…"

Rick and Ranma boosted out onto a new vector from the enemy battlepods and then back toward the fortress while behind them space seemed to explode as large energy beams wider than a Veritech was tall passed through the battlepod formation, annihilating any pod it so much as touched. Not terribly accurate, the beams were more for making the enemy division scatter than cause real damage. This job they did very well.

Avoiding the straight route back to the fortress took the two pilots over an hour out of their way and the battle had already begun by the time they returned but at least they were out of the way of the main guns.

Ranma told Rick "You hit 'em high I'll hit 'em low" and the two came in at different angles, entering the dogfight just in time to save a few of their squad mates from being attacked from below before joining up again.

"Nice of you to make it back" Prescott commed, "take position and provide covering fire, you're the only ones who have missiles left. Blue 4, blue 5, fall back to the fortress and rearm. Blue 3 and 6 team up for now."

With the elite skull squadron in the mix from the beginning the fight didn't last nearly as long as the last one, but it was still a very battered group that at last was able to return to base. The first formation of enemies that Ranma and Rick had seen had dispersed and retreated by the time the dogfight ended.

The total this time was much better, only two pilots dead and two other Valkyries shot down for a little over a hundred battlepods. But small injuries would still prove fatal over time.

"These Micronians are most wily opponents despite their short stature. Using the secondary weapons to break up the frontal attack was brilliant. Reinforce the waves coming from their back and move all the frontal forces to the side. They may be able to depress their secondary's far enough to hit them anyway, but we will see."

"Yes my lord."

"Do you have any idea why they suddenly have more space fighters at their disposal?"

"None my lord, save perhaps that they had to re-train land soldiers to fight in space."

"Hmm yes that could be so. A different environment certainly calls for different training, and their star fighters did take heavy punishment in our assault back on their planet. Still it's no matter it only means they will wear down a little slower than we first thought. The attacks will continue. And then we strike for real they will be too weary and sent to stand against us."

Ranma frowned from where he was about to hook up with the rest of the carrier air group. Something was happening with this attack. Not only was it larger, but it was moving slower, allowing him and Rick, who had again been on patrol, pull back and rejoin the CAP before they reached the space fortress. They had also already spread too far to make the secondary weapons of the Fortress practically useless. He was still at the front of the far edge of the flying arrow shaped attack so was the first to see it when it happened. "Fuck. Command, you seeing this?"

Even as he said that he ducked and dodged as the artillery units of the enemy completely unloaded their entire complement of missiles at the Valkyries while the rest of the battlepods were falling back.

"Roger that blue ten. We see it." Lisa's voice sounded both confused and worried.

"Am I the only one who thinks this might not be a good thing?"

"No, no you're not blue ten."

Lisa sighed wearily as she sat down in a booth at the White Dragon. Nodoka looked on with concern at both her and Rick who was slumped in a chair across from her. The attacks had been going on randomly every day, with several fake assaults (which the fighters still had to scramble for, as there was no way to tell a real attack from a fake one) thrown in every few hours for over a week now, and each one was just different to cause problems. Lisa and captain Gloval had tried everything they could think of to lessen the impact of the constant combat ops on the pilots but the weight of it had still fallen on the Valkyrie squadrons and all of the pilots, were feeling the strain. Well, all except one.

"Here's your orders guys, and yours too mom." Ranma sat down across from Lisa, Roy and Claudia, who had decided to accompany her to meet Kasumi, who was sitting on Lisa's other side.

Rick scowled at him "How the hell can you be so cheerful and bloody energetic. I'm your damn wingman I know you've been fighting and flying as hard as I have but you look like you're ready to go again right after."

"Hey after the life I've lived being attacked every day like this is pretty normal Rick." Ranma shrugged her pigtail bouncing. "You get used ta it after a while."

Nodoka and Kasumi both flinched at that, knowing that they were partly at fault for the way that Ranma had been constantly abused, first by his father then by the other Tendo's and the other people in Nerima.

What Ranma didn't say was that after his accident with the pumping up the radar system his ki reserve had nearly quadrupled and his ability to regain it quickly had risen astronomically. He still needed food and sleep, but not nearly as much as before. This wasn't something he was going to share with anyone though. His brush with the infinite void was still something that he wasn't really comfortable with thinking about let alone sharing with someone else.

Lisa, who was exhausted herself as she had made it a point to be on the bridge for every actual battle, sipped at her tea pensively. "It's like a siege now. Sieges are so damned brutal because they're so simple, one side must hold and the other side must attack in some way. They're trying to wear us down, what I don't get is why? If they threw the entire force of battlepods we've seen these past few weeks at us in one combined assault they would overwhelm us easily. "

"Ya forget the other part of sieges; the enemy usually wants something specific. It could be the castle itself, a person or just a strategic victory, either way the siege is only part of it." Ranma replied passing her and Kasumi some spring dumplings.

Roy nodded agreement. "I've been wondering the same thing for a while and I know that the captain has been too. We just have no way of knowing what they want. I'd put my money on them wanting the ship itself though. I think they're afraid of damaging it somehow in a larger battle." Lisa and the other military officers nodded.

"I just wish there was something more that we civilians could do" Nodoka said sadly. "I can see the toll this is taking on you all and it's hard to watch and not want to help." Minmei nodded agreement where she sat next to Rick. As it was the lunch hour she wasn't on duty and had decided to join them to catch up with Ranma and Rick who she had only seen a few times since the attacks had begun.

"I just want ta figure out a way to take the fight to them for a change." Ranma muttered. Most of the other soldiers sitting nearby muttered heartfelt agreement to that idea.

But Roy shook his head looking around the restaurant which was dominated by off duty personnel, most of them pilots and all of them showing the strain. "What we need to figure out is how to take the pressure off the pilots, I've had seventeen cases of combat fugue and exhaustion cross my desk this past week, and that's going to climb exponentially as long as these attacks continue."

Lisa shrugged. "Dr. Lang asked for a meeting with the council tomorrow. Hopefully he's come up with some means of defense that won't rely on pilots."

Gloval was practically growling in a mixture of irritation and sleep deprivation, the only thing stopping him from doing so was Nodoka's gentle yet unshakable grip on his arm. These past two weeks had been hard on everyone in the navy and he had been no exception. He hated losing people damn it, and these constant skirmish's were bleeding his Veritech force like a slow leak in a tire.

More, he had just finished listening to Mayor Luan speaking about all the different construction projects the civilians had finished. It just reminded him again that the repairs from the breakout were still not finished. Yes they were constantly interrupted by attacks, but still the amount of repair people he had was so much smaller than the SDF should have shipped with. Indeed Lt Porter's crew's lack of progress on the repairs showeed that the civilians in fact had a far larger industrial base than he did, even with the factories and repair bays both of which had been closed down due to lack of material, another source of worry.

"So the ceiling should be painted entirely by the end of next week, and the inner sun finished and installed the week after that. The hydroponics gardens are also growing well, and our first crop should come in soon." Mayor Luan was practically beaming in pleasure; his people had performed in an exemplary manner under very trying circumstances. The military problems after all were not his problem.

"Thank you Mr. mayor." Gloval nearly snarled the words, but caught himself just in time and he went on more calmly. "Dr. Lang, you asked for this meeting, I trust you have something to share with us?"

Dr, Lang nodded and stood up, moving to the front of the room. He pushed some buttons and an odd elongated box appeared. The box looked to be made of metal and as the image rotate they could see that it had arm sized spokes poking out of it from the center up and from the corners out. The image rotated again, and the bottom of the box was shown, with what looked to be different types of metal strips covering it. "Ladies and gentlemen I give you part one of my defense scheme the mobile barrier system. If you remember one of my aids had developed the concept of energy barriers. The problem then was the size of the area protected as we couldn't figure out a way to extend the barrier over the whole battleship and power since we simply couldn't sustain the barrier for any length of time. We have solved the first issue by figuring out how to make the entire system mobile." A new picture appeared on the view screen, this time an image of the entire star fortress appeared. The video began, and the watchers saw three large half circles appear, each of them small in comparison to the fortress but still of respectable size, each able to cover a secondary battery in size. As they watched the bubbles began to move around the surface of the ship in seemingly random patterns. From the side of the screen incoming fire appeared and the bubbles moved to block it.

The fire ended and the bubbles continued to move around, with the fortress underneath them having taken no damage. "Each barrier box uses electromagnetic repulsion to maintain contact with and move around on the hull. The power for the box comes from three destroid type batteries, one to move it around and the other two to provide power for the barrier itself. We estimate that a barrier can withstand up to three hours of pounding from alien capital ship grade weapons before failing. Unfortunately once they fade, that's it. Replacing the battery is a work intensive operation, and should not be tried under combat conditions. Moreover, the box itself without the barrier will be highly susceptible to enemy fire, so it's recommended they be brought inside the ship before their power fades. We have manufactured three barrier boxes at this point, and hope to up that number to at least fifteen in the future. That of course is prevalent on getting the materials needed for the construction."

"A point of discussion doctor," Mannstein, who had been transferred back to destroid command once the academies first class graduated, replaced by a relieved Conner who had not taken to command of the destroids well, spoke up before anyone else could. "You say these barriers need three of our batteries to operate, you realize that batteries are one of the things we cannot create onboard the ship? And that with every one you take from us you weaken our strategic strength?"

Mayor Luan spoke up then "Actually Dr. Lang met with me to discuss that problem and his people have already given my construction crews the blueprints for a battery factory. It'll be small, but will run 24-7 if we can get enough materials to actually build the batteries."

Mannstein nodded thoughtfully, though he was still frowning. His destroids were proving more and more useless in space with every battle. The only ones that performed well in space were the Defender anti-air class who with their long range radar and weapons could engage enemies outside the enemies own weapons envelope. The Spartans were good for construction work, in fact they were better than actual construction robots and far better at it than the Valkyries were, but that was not what they had been designed for. The Phalanx and Monster classes however were of limited utility. The Phalanx had a heretofore undiscovered problem with their targeting computers. They simply couldn't lock on fast enough to actually hit the incredibly mobile battlepods of the enemy in mid-space. The few Tomahawks they had aboard, the latest and most advanced destroid class designed before the aliens arrived, performed very well with their secondary missile systems, speedy lock on times and long range radar (the same suite that the Defenders carried) but their main armaments, the particle projections cannons that made up their arms, was next to useless against battlepods who could simply dodge them at range. Close range it was a different story but for now... He sighed, this was a decision that Conner should have made, but for some reason he hadn't and now it was up to Mannstein to bite the bullet. "If you need materials, and I know we do, I would recommend decommissioning the Monster and Phalanx class destroids entirely. They have proven themselves less than capable in space warfare, and I feel their best use will be as parts. More that will free up several companies worth of operators."

The other military officers looked at him in surprise but Emil nodded quickly. "Yes the systems from the Phalanx class especially would be a major boost. In fact" he pushed another button and an image of a pintle mounted tertiary weapons system popped up "In fact if we mount the missile launch systems of a Phalanx on these new tertiary pods, we can get a serious boost in anti-air throw weight. The problem isn't in the missiles or the delivery system but with the Phalanx tracking and movement system. It'll take us a few days to work out how to change the system around but we can do it. In terms of manufactory needs though, even with those two classes added we still are facing a major shortage of material." He looked over at the captain. "That is why when we get to Saturn I have recommended we stay in the asteroid belt for at least two days to gather supplies."

"And how are we supposed to do this?" Gloval asked.

"Blow enough asteroids into smaller pieces and bring them into the fortress" Emil answered bluntly. "We harvest enough asteroids and their composition won't matter. We're looking for quantity not quality."

Lisa and Fokker looked at him in shock, the idea of simply destroying hundreds of asteroids and harvesting them piecemeal had never occurred to either of them but if they could do it would solve their material shortage problem, which in turn would solve their logistics problem, most of them anyway. They would still be short on power couplings, and high end electronics equipment as well as plastics but still it would definitely help. And those shortages would be helped by the destroids being decommissioned.

Mannstein however startled everyone by laughing aloud, something none of the people there had ever heard from the taciturn man. Between bouts of laughter he spat out words in his native German, and whatever he said was enough to start him off anew. Gloval, the only one there who spoke that language had to fight to keep from laughing himself, and he pointedly did not look at Emil. When he was able to speak again he nodded sharply. "Ja, ja, that is good idea. The Spartans have small grappling hooks and we can use our targeting software to fire them, so do the Tomahawks. We can blow them up and pull them in that way and the Valkyries can catch any large chunk they can. The refineries can separate out the pieces once we have them in the hull. But" he pointed a finger at Lang "it isn't an idea that you Mr. perfect scientist would normally come up with."

Dr. Lang actually looked embarrassed. "I didn't actually. I had a talk with someone who pointed out that any solution at this point was a good one, I was too busy looking for a perfect solution to see it. The conversation sort of helped knock me out of my ivory tower mentality."

Gloval turned the conversation back to serious matters by asking "How long will it take to get these mobile barrier boxes into operation? And have you made any headway on getting the main gun back into operation?"

Lang shrugged, looking a little uncomfortable. "We already have three of them built as I said, designing them was the part that was taking so damn long. We need to install the control boards for them on the bridge for now, though when we start to build more of them they'll need to have their own department. I'd recommend the bridge crew as initial operators. They're used to working in tandem as well as writing reports so they can create an operator's manual for future users. The control will be through a ball mount, so that needs to be added to their boards, but the control program is already written and tested. As for the main gun, I've found a way to get it back in working order, but you're not going to like it." He said this last part while looking at the civilian side of the table and was proven right by the shouts of anger and irritation that answered the conclusions of his next presentation.

He let them shout for a bit then slammed his hand against the wall next to him, silencing them for just long enough for him to start shouting back "There is no other way! I have spent most of the past two months trying to figure out a way to get the main cannon working, and this is the only solution I have found. The two parts of the cannon have their own converters, but they need to be directly connected to the main reflux generator, that was what the part that we initially thought was the converter actually did. The only way I have found to do that is to use the modular transformation that will enable the converters to move close enough to link up with these points" the picture next to him changed showing an interior view of the giant generator room. The video started and two sides of the generator room opened up, allowing large elongating rods to appear and connect smoothly to partitions on the generator itself. The picture then changed back showing the transformation of the ship. Where before it was a normal ship shape, it slowly transformed into what could only be described as a giant robot with twin blasters on its shoulders. The shoulders were made of the two main secondary gun-ports, and the arms were the two ships Daedalus and Prometheus. The head was the command spire, and obviously the shoulder mounted blasters were the prongs of the main cannon.

"But-but this is unacceptable!" sputtered mayor Luan and the other civilian council members, even Nodoka, nodded agreement. "It'll destroy dozens of the buildings we've rebuilt and disrupt the life of the city! We've just barely begun to get life back to normal and this plan will set back everything we've gained!"

Gloval raised a hand and after a moment the civilians subsided. "How badly do you estimate the destruction to be, and can we mitigate it? Is there anything about this process that you can lessen to mitigate the damage?"

"Nothing" Lang said grimly, "the modular transformation is part of the original ship construction so it won't take anything we've added into account. I estimate at least 15% of the city will be destroyed in the movement and will have to be rebuilt elsewhere if at all. We can mitigate that by starting to remove those building now, but that's all. On the other hand the connection that was destroyed couldn't handle as much power as the gun nacelles can take. With the direct connecting the beam will be even stronger, and can be made continuous instead of pulse. That way rather than targeting a single ship with a pulse of power we can take out several ships at once with a beam. The merits of this of course are hard to miss."

At this the military members of the council all adopted thoughtful looks, even Gloval. The benefits of killing that many enemy ships at one swoop could not be overstated. They would be able to do in a matter of minutes the amount of damage that took hours to do during the breakout. Oh aimed fire wouldn't do much more damage, but un-aimed? Gloval leaned back, closing his eyes briefly. The others thankfully allowed him to think in silence for a moment. "Dr. Lang, get with the head of the civilian construction crews. I want those areas of the city that will be destroyed by this transformation of yours moved or removed and cleared as fast as possible. Mayor Luan I'm sorry but this is a military vessel in a war and we need that gun online. Commander Hayes, how long will it take to repair just the armor of the spaceship if we don't replace the tertiary weapons systems but simply cover the holes with armor?"

Lisa frowned thoughtfully as she looked down at her data pad, punching numbers into it for a moment. "If we get a few days without attacks breaking up the work, then we can have it done in a few days, five at the outside. It was the weapons systems that were taking so long to do; the largest sections of the hull damaged in the breakout have already been replaced. I would however point out that if we just cover the holes where the tertiary system were, we will have a much harder time putting them back in service later. And we won't be able to use them to house the new anti-air gun turrets."

"That is a problem for the future. Right now, I want the entire hull repaired before we enter the asteroid ring around Saturn. As such I am hereby stating that repairs are to continue regardless of attacks on the ship. The Valkyrie squadrons and the Defenders will just have to keep all the combat away from the ship from now on. And on that note ladies and gentlemen I bid this meeting adjourned." The council members got up and began to disperse slowly, some reluctant, but others determined to get started on the their work for this new planned upheaval immediately.

Nodoka laid a hand on Gloval's shoulder briefly. "it was the right decision in the long term, even if it will disrupt things. And make much more work for me personally." She finished dryly. Being head of the hydroponics farms was work intensive, and this would undoubtedly create even more work due to the necessity of moving some of the gardens.

"I know. But it's going to put even more pressure on the pilots. I'm not certain they would agree with me."

Nodoka shrugged. "Perhaps not, but that doesn't change the fact it was the right decision. Come, you can spare a few hours to not be a captain, let us go have something to eat, and then perhaps a movie or something. Take your mind off of work for now." Gloval nodded. It sounded like a very good idea, because something was telling him that things were going to get even harder soon.

"My lord, their defensive response has changed, it has become more aggressive. I wonder why that is?"

"It matters not Exedore. Let the attacks continue. Have the captain move the ship to the planet. At the speed they are going it will only take a few more days before we can bring this campaign to a close."

Two weeks later the situation had improved but the onus was still uncomfortably on the Valkyries. Not only was the ship about to finally enter the rings of Saturn but Mannstein's decision to decommission a full company of Spartans in addition to the Phalanx companies had freed up some of their pilots for a quick crash course in flying and over the week they had integrated and gotten experience in the Veritech squadrons. More the factories had worked 24/7 and been able to put a Valkyrie under every pilot, letting them still have eleven full squadrons even with the inevitable losses up to this point. The factory was still hurting for parts and supplies, and the maintenance teams of the space fortress were badly overworked and falling further behind, but hopefully getting the supplies would help the first problem at least. And once the civilians had finished up with their own construction, their teams/companies would be free to help pick up the slack.

The air on the bridge was tense as the ship pushed into the rings of Saturn. The ship slowed to a crawl, as going in at speeds the asteroids would rip the ship apart. After a hour of slowing down Lisa nodded and the prow of the ship began to push into the asteroid field slowly. Small asteroids bounced and pinged off the armor of the ship and larger pieces were shoved aside.

It took another hour for the entire ship to be immersed and the asteroids around them to be a useful size and then Gloval nodded. "Begin the operation."

Claudia nodded and began to pass orders to the Spartan and Tomahawk companies waiting for the order. They began to move out onto the hull with a few of the Veritech squadrons as well. The Tomahawks began the party first opening fire with their PPC's, destroying several small asteroids, whose parts were immediately either grabbed by guardian mod Veritechs or Spartans with their harpoons. The operation continued as the spaceship made its slow way into the asteroid ring.

Vanessa, looking at her board spoke up suddenly. "Captain, a point. The asteroid ring may be hiding us from our enemy's long range sensors, but our own radar is being severely compromised by the asteroids around us."

"Duly noted Lt. We'll need to push out our patrols then."

Lisa nodded, and passed the orders on to the CAP, who happened to silver at the moment. Outside the view screen the work continued, and Gloval allowed himself to smile a little. At the rate they were going this would let the ship build up their material supplies very well. Now if they could get a few hours without enemy attack.

"What are they up to now?"

"Perhaps they fear their ship may be battered by the asteroids, or perhaps those are more cross-trained forces that need the targeting experience. It matters not to us Exedore. Tell all the Reguld pod leaders to push forward. We may not know where they are outside of general terms, but we can still be prepared for when we do contact them, and this trap will at last spring."

Two hours later Ranma was on patrol again, but this time it was actually fun, and he restrained a whoop of glee as he barreled along in plane mode, dodging first one way then the other to dodge the larger asteroids, ignoring the dust and smaller asteroids. At this speed if he hit he would be a smear on them but he didn't care. This was way better than patrolling in normal space! "Hey Rick, having fun?"

Rick nodded. This was the kind of flying he really enjoyed, tough and at high speeds but without anyone shooting at him! "Yeah this is great, just what I needed to get the blood pressure pumping."

"Yeah just remember we're out here to see if anyone else is if ya know what I mean. We can have fun, but make damn sure you're keeping one eye on your radar."

"Yeah, yeah, geez you sound almost as bad as that tight ass Hayes."

"I'll take that as a compliment twerp, it's cause of her plannin' that there even is a Macross city at all. Let's stop up here at that incoming large asteroid okay. I want ta see if I can power up my radar a bit to get past some of this junk to get a better view."

Lisa, who had been listening (and about to snap at Rick for his insult, but Ranma beat her to it and his compliment made her smile in appreciation for a moment) spoke up now, startling a squawk from Rick. "Ensign Sugita I think that's a good idea but I have to remind you about the last time you tried to power up your radar with your own ki."

"Yeah, but I think it's worth the risk. If ya don't hear from me in a minute, pull me out like ya did before okay?" Lisa and Rick both agreed, one worried, the look Ranma had after that experiment had scared her a little, and one cheerful, having only heard a very simple version of that tale.

Ranma and Rick reached the asteroid Ranma had designated, a huge mountain or rock twenty times the size of their Valkyries in every direction. He switched to soldier mode and landed on the surface of the asteroid, paused a moment, then reached out and began to manipulate the energy of his Veritechs battery, pushing more of it than would normally go into the sensors. It was much easier than it had been, but he had to fight against the temptation to push more of his own ki in as he accidentally had before.

After a moment he frowned, then came out of the trance with a start. "Rick, transform to guardian mode and follow me!" Rick obeyed and the two swiftly crested the edge of the asteroid. On the other side Rick immediately saw four battlepods. Before the aliens recovered from the surprise of the Valkyrie's sudden appearance Rick and Ranma opened fire smashing all four.

"What happened Ranma?" Lisa's voice sounded worried, shown by her use of his name rather than regular call sign.

"The technique pushed through the damn interference alright, and we ain't alone out here! Enemy's incoming, a lot of them, the radar couldn't give me an accurate count. We're moving back toward you but we should get back easy, this asteroid field cuts down on their ability to find us too."

"Roger that, mobilizing Veritech fighters. What trajectory are they coming from?"

Ranma grimly gunned even more power to his engines, and Rick followed, dashing pellmell through the asteroid field. "All of them. Commander, I pushed out my radar as far as I could after I found the first group of them and I was able to see around the entire ship. We're completely surrounded!"

Lisa looked over at Gloval who frowned. "Keep the asteroid gathering operation going, but pull the Valkyries off it. Push them out in a defensive bubble and get the Defenders out onto the hull in every direction. Keep the Valkyries as far out as you can for as long as you can. Sound battle stations."

"Yes sir." Swiftly Lisa got to work. She let relaying the orders to Mannstein to Claudia as she organized the defense envelope of the ship. With Fokker's help she assigned a section of the surrounding asteroid belt to each different Veritech squadron. Following the captain's order she pushed them out of the Defender's envelope, leaving close defense to Gold squadron, the squadron with the fewest remaining Valkyries and the destroids alone.

Every other squadron was given an area shaped in a 3-dimensional cone to patrol and protect. Blue was given the area nearest where Ranma and Rick had been patrolling letting them meet up easier. Every squadron but Skull got an area assigned to them, giving the ship a defensive cordon in every direction. Skull squadron would act as a fast reaction force, going to the support of any squadron that was in danger of being overwhelmed. Roy had wanted to object to this and keep the squadrons in closer to let them have a larger reaction force, but when Lisa told him about the captain's decision to keep the material extraction going he stopped objecting.

The Defenders and Tomahawks moved into position all along the hull as the Spartans continued to clear the area of asteroids, smashing and gathering asteroids as fast as they could. Lisa watched on the tactical screen as the fighters moved out. Something was telling her this was going to be a bad one, and not just because it was happening in such a densely cluttered environment.

Rick and Ranma rejoined Blue squadron and were informed of the new plan whereupon Rick muttered something about asteroids being more important than people to those in command but Prescott rebuked him sharply. "We need those metals and other materials ensign, and it isn't command's fault that the enemy's chosen to attack us." His voice softened, "You and ensign Sugita did well to find them before they could spring their ambush. If the aliens had been able to hit us by surprise they probably would have overwhelmed us. Try to remember that those in command have to think long term rather than short term, and try to concentrate only on what you can control Rick. Sometimes that's all you can do."

Rick ground his teeth, but stayed silent, knowing that he was in the wrong this time. He still had a lot of trouble respecting military authority figures, and his dislike of Lisa Hayes also played a part of it. "Roger that sir."

Once the squadron reached the center of their defensive assigned position Prescott ordered the squad to hold position for a moment. "Alright, here's the plan. This asteroid field is like no other environment than I have ever seen, so we're going to have to mix land and air tactics. Here's what we're going to do. I want blue 4, 5, 7 and 8 to stop here, 6 you'll be paired with 3 for now. You four are the best shots, take up position on some of these asteroids and snipe from long range. Keep your eyes out and concentrate on any of the command pods you see, but listen hard on your radio. Everyone else, feel free to call those four for aid if you need it, move randomly in our assigned sector, but make certain as few as possible get past us. Everyone conserve your missiles as long as you can, they'll be of limited utility with so much debris and cover out here."

"Sir what about using music again? It would help disrupt their attack even more than the asteroids themselves." Lt Lafferty asked.

"Intel decided that it was likely the aliens simply had better hearing and were disturbed by the noise level, not the actual music, and probably took prompt action to mitigate the damage should we attempt something like that again. I realize that this environment almost calls for musical accompaniment, but try to refrain." Eric replied drolly.

Lt. Lafferty answered in the affirmative, as over the radio Green 6 sent an all user alert of incoming bandits. Prescott looked at his own flickering radar and snarled as he saw a few red dots at a distance. A battlepod that had not shown up on the radar popped up around an asteroid but was met by two blasts from blue 5 and 7. Others popped up all around and began to fire at the wildly dodging Veritechs. The battle had been joined.

Each side of this conflict had several advantages going for them. The Veritechs had better armor, not enough of a difference to survive the battlepods typical two-punch cannon blast to the main fuselage, but anywhere else was survivable. They were also slightly more heavily armed, with both better missiles and longer ranged blaster rifles. Their teamwork was better, as they actually trained for it, whereas the Zentraedi did not. They were faster too, and their organization far better.

However the Zentraedi had more advantages than their normal overwhelming numerical superiority. For one thing, the asteroid belt negated much of the teamwork, organization and range advantage of the defenders. For another they were coming from every direction rather than from one or two as in the past, forcing the defenders to split up the squadrons rather than giving them a single group to target. More, the Zentraedi had Breetai.

Breetai was one of the oldest living Zentraedi but he wasn't head of his clan or his fleet by his age alone, he was also the most experienced war leader in the entire extended Zentraedi Fleet. He kept firm control of his forces by using more command Regulds than normal, and kept a tight rein on the assault by keeping in constant combat with his team leaders. He also had them create an ever changing map with every move, giving him a better view of the battle than his enemies with notations on where the defense was most effective and where it was weakest. He also was intelligent enough to know that the ones who committed his reserves last usually won, and was using a bare third of his total forces stationed in the asteroid belt at the beginning of the battle, and was waiting to commit the rest of his forces. Some would continue to be poured into the dogfight to offset losses, but the bulk would be held back until the most opportune moment to commit them.

Of course the humans had Ranma.

"Bakutsai Tenkestu revised, shotgun swarm!" Ranma pushed his ki out in his Veritech into its fists and with a single touch a small asteroid shattered blowing the entire mass into small shards that shot directly away from him and blasted six battlepods into flinders. Ranma whirled around catching one battlepod coming up from below him with a punch to the side of the pod, caving in its side and sending it whirling away while he blasted upward with his blaster, taking out another pod above him.

Rick gaped at the carnage Ranma had created but flew forward blasting away with his lasers at one pod then flying between two more asteroids and changing into guardian mode to fire to the sides taking out two more pods that had been hidden there. The two of them fell back slowly firing at any enemy they saw.

Rick was changing forms as needed, but Ranma had taken to the asteroid field like he was born there, never changing form from the soldier mode and using the cover as if it were second nature. He also made it a point to help out the others of his squad, something that Rick could only do when he heard them call for aid, he just didn't have enough spatial awareness to notice otherwise.

A command pod flew in close, dodging fire from blue 2 and returning fire, nailing the Veritech with a solid blast in the side of its fuselage while two rocket equipped pods ducked under an asteroid behind him and fired their rockets at blue six and three.

Ranma noticed this and swiftly turned around, blasting another smaller asteroid with his stone crushing attack and aiming the resulting debris into the rocket swarm. The debris hit causing the rockets to all explode harmlessly before their targets who turned and gunned down all three battlepods. "Thanks for the save Blue 10, but how the hell are you doing that?" asked blue three. Motoko's voice sounded somewhere between querulous and envious."

Ranma grinned, dodging more incoming fire and returning some of his own as he used his rockets to bounce around the asteroid field like a monkey on steroids. "Martial arts technique I learned from an old rival of mine. I've been trying to get a few of 'em to work in my Valkyrie for a while."

Motoko groaned in envy even as she gunned down one pod and battered another back with a kick to its body. "You know how to use ki, you have to teach me!" Ranma made a noncommittal noise and the two went back to concentrating on their respective parts of the battle.

Eric looked at his readout and saw that his wingman was reading as injured but still good to go. "Blue 2 switch with blue 3, blue 3, with me."

His radio beeped and he answered it almost absently, gunning down a rocket pod as fire from his sniper team took out another command pod below his position. "Blue 1 one here, go command."

"This is command two, report status of your squadron, we can't get individual readings back here." Lisa's voice sounded worried, but Eric answered easily.

"All fighters still good to go, though our ammo will start to be a concern soon. And blue 10 is doing something some kind of martial arts move he says that is draining his power more than I would like but the move is so damn effective that I'm not going to complain. Fatigue may be an issue for most of us soon, and I don't like how well organized these bastards are this time, there seems to be a hell of a lot more command pods than normal. How is the rest of the battle going?"

"Poorly." Lisa said simply and cut the com. Looking at the tactical board, she knew that was an understatement. The fatigue caused by the random assaults of the last two and a half weeks was really starting to show, and the battlefield conditions weren't helping matters. Nearly every squad was reporting that they had lost members except Blue so far. She had refrained from committing Skull yet, but they had intercepted several teams led by command pods that had broken through the cordon. The Defenders hadn't had to engage en masse yet and the asteroid gathering was proceeding apace, but it was only a matter of time.

She looked over worriedly at captain Gloval who also frowned looking at the disjointed readings their radar could give them. "They're reacting and moving with a purpose we haven't seen before. I wonder why that is? It's obvious that the debilitating attacks were meant to weaken us for this assault, but the difference in overall control is odd." He turned to Sammy. "Ms. Porter, how much material have we gathered?"

Sammy checked her readouts, which were linked to the silos in the factory area. "We've filled up silos 1-5 sir. Silo 6 is halfway through, so about 25% of our max capacity."

Gloval nodded thoughtfully. "Ms. Laird, how far from the inner end of the asteroid belt are we?"

Vanessa looked at her screen then calculated something on the side before replying "about forty kilometers sir."

"And how far from the inner edge to the atmosphere of the planet?"

Vanessa looked down again while the other girls looked at him, wondering why he was asking that. "Um, about 300 kilometers? I can't tell more accurately than that sir."

"Ms Young, start the engines at 10% power. The operation will continue, but we'll start moving inward towards the planet."

"Yes sir." Everyone on the bridge was wondering what the captain was planning but they went on about their duties with brisk efficiency.

Two hours later the battle was still raging but the fatigue was starting to take a toll on the defenders. Valkyrie pilots who had been unable to sleep for a full night, unable to rest for more than a few hours for more than two weeks began to falter, to miss things and to fall.

Blue 11 was the first of the squadron to fall, shot to pieces by a command pod which died under the sniper fire from the rear. Several other battlepods moved forward to engage the snipers from close range, but opened themselves up to fire from behind. Blue 4 died next, blown up by battlepod from behind which died under her original wingman's vengeful fire, but the snipers position was slowly being compromised.

Eric saw this and cursed. "Blue squad start to fall back slowly, snipers give covering fire until the rest of us are right in front of you, then 7,8 you two join us 5, fall back after while we give cover fire and then pair up with 12. Missiles free!"

Thanks to conserving their missiles everyone had at least a few and was able to use them to good effect now in close before breaking contact by the numbers. Because of this they were able to fall back without losing anyone. The squadron fell back, taking a new tighter position and got a few minutes of calm before the aliens caught up with them and the battle continued.

Ranma noticed his battery was getting low and he started using his own energy more freely to power his stone breaker attack. To his surprise this was even easier than it had been, and he continued to use it every time he could take out a whole group at once, saving Rick from being overwhelmed once and saving the two remaining Veritechs that were assigned to sniper duty a little later.

He was unable to save Lt Lafferty (blue 5) however who died under the fire of four different battlepods. Eric took vengeance for his Lt. by slaughtering all four with a missile barrage that used up his last missiles before assigning blue 12 to close protection of the sniper flight. The battle was slowly turning against them, but he ignored that fought on.

Ranma too knew they were slowly losing and only fought harder, killing any pod he saw with almost scary precision. The other fighters including Rick grimly fought both their growing fatigue and the enemy.

Lisa looked at her tactical board and knew they were losing. I hope to hell the material we're gathering is worth the price, she thought savagely. Every Veritech squad was getting chewed up, and it almost hurt to think of the courage the pilots were showing. Bronze squadron was down to six effectives and Silver and Orange were almost as badly battered. Vermillion though was worse, at only four effectives left, and Green had lost its captain, though had fallen back in good order. She kept making the rounds, checking in with each squadron in turn until she came to purple. "Purple one, check in, how are you doing?" She waited a moment then switched to another channel "Purple five, respond. Purple five, respond!" She waited another moment then changed the frequency again "Purple squad anyone who reads this respond!" When she didn't hear anyone she shook her head wearily. "Skull 1, Purple is off the air. Move to their position and investigate. If you see anyone there order them back to the ship then take their position."

"Roger" Roy answered grimly. They both knew that at this distance even with the interference caused by the asteroids if no one was responding to an all hail call, then it was almost certain no one was there to respond at all.

Lisa looked at captain Gloval and he nodded. She turned back to the board and began to organize a fighting withdrawal, bringing the squadrons back and allowing them to link up their areas to give each other cover. Gloval frowned knowing that the timing in the next few minutes would show who would win this battle.

Old soldiers sometimes developed instincts and an hour after the Micronian defenders had fallen back Breetai knew it was time to commit his reserve and where to push. "Order the first half of the reserve in to the front of the space fortress. This battle ends today."

Gloval had instincts as well and knew that it was time to cut this off as Green squadron, holding position directly forward of the Macross next to what had been Purple's sector reported a strong push of battlepods hitting them despite their flank being covered by Skull. "Commander Hayes order Green squadron to fall to the side. As soon as they are out of the forward engagement envelope you are to open fire all weapons forward. Clear us a path through the asteroids. Start to withdraw the Veritechs into the Defender's firing envelope. Once inside the envelope the commanders are to rotate their fighters back to rearm if they can, but I want the resource gathering to continue as much as possible until we clear the asteroid field."

Lisa nodded and relayed the orders, and Gloval turned to Kim. "Lt. Young as soon as the route is cleared you have discretion on how fast we move. Aim our trajectory to enter the atmosphere of Saturn."

Everyone turned to stare at him, but his face gave away nothing and they turned back to continue their job. Nodoka moved from where she was standing by the Lt's offering her quiet support to stand by the captain's chair, absently taking his pipe out of his hand. He was getting better but that foul habit still sometimes rearing its head. "Just what are you planning Henri?"

Gloval scowled momentarily at the loss of his pipe but answered anyway. "Saturn's atmosphere is among the densest in the system, if we go far enough down into it, they'll lose track of us and will be unable to send battlepods after us. The atmosphere will crush them, but our hull will stand up to it."

Breetai refrained from cursing as the first half of his reserves died under the sudden fire from the fortress. Seeing the ships heading and realizing his opponent's intent he gripped his stations rails in anger. The metal squealed audibly under his grip, causing Exedore and the bridge crew to gulp and shift away from him in fear. "Reroute the remaining reserve to the port side and aft of the fortress, keep up the attack! They must not be allowed to escape again!"

Ranma growled low in his throat as blue 8 died under a rocket swarm. He took his anger out on a nearby asteroid and it imploded in every direction but back at him, killing six more pods. He had long since run out of ammo, and his head lasers had been blown off early in the fight. It hadn't slowed him down though, and he continued to destroy his enemies with a ferocity that some of his squad members found almost as daunting as the never ending numbers coming at them.

Ranma could tell when they finally entered the Defender envelope though when a auto-cannon round nailed a command pod near Rick who switched targets without missing a beat, blowing up a rocket pod with the last round in his blaster. 'That's it I'm dry. Damn good timing though."

"Join the club ensign," Prescott said dryly, killing another pod with his head lasers. All around them the fire of the Defenders began to slam home against the aliens and he sighed in something resembling relief. "Blue squad fall back by the numbers, ensign Sugita stay behind the others, you're with me on rear guard."

The Spartans had done an exemplary job clearing the asteroid field around the ship of all the largest pieces and the abrupt change from crowded space into something almost resembling normal space threw off most of the battlepods attacks, leaving them wide open to the Defender's fire. Missiles and auto-cannons reaped glorious harvest from them. More than a hundred battlepods exploded in those first few minutes, and sixty more died before the survivors got over their surprise.

This allowed the most battered squadrons to retreat further under their envelope while Skull and the few squadrons with more than half strength remaining fought a fierce rearguard action all around the ship. The battle continued for another hour, with fewer Valkyries dying but the battlepods grinding forward, killing a few more pilots and coming closer to the ship. Suddenly however the ship broke through the asteroid rings inner edge, and the Spartans fell back into the ship, bringing two more squadrons of Valkyries with them. The fight continued, but the Defender's fire was even more accurate and the tertiary weapons of the ship began to fire as well.

Ranma cursed as he saw a Bronze squad Valkyrie die in front of him and slammed his fist forward, crushing another pod. The fighter's blaster had survived it death however and he grabbed it out of space. Miraculously it still had a few charges and he used them to clear the back of another Bronze Veritech, which had clearly taken some damage already. "Bronze pilot, fall back now, you're not moving well enough to keep this up!"

"This is Bronze 1, concur with you Blue 10, but you're out of ammo. Pull back with me."

"No chance Bronze 1 there're still battlepods to kill!" Ranma snarled, not even realizing he had just ignored a superiors orders as another Veritech with Silver tabs died on his other side and he boosted his thrusters, slamming forward hard and gut checking the battlepod that killed it so hard it's body shot off it legs into another pod behind it, causing both pods to explode.

Bronze 1 realized the other pilot wasn't listening and he fell back alone, the sole survivor of his entire squadron.

The battle continued, but the Veritechs who had been rotated in as they entered the Defender's envelope came back, allowing Ranma and the others who had stayed out to rotate in and rearm in turn.

For another three hours the destroids and Valkyries held the line, and the new barrier system made its own debut, protecting the fortress and the destroids on it's surface several times. The fortress, which was now moving forward as fast as it could, began to contact the outer atmosphere of the planet. As this happened, Lisa's voice cracked out in a hail all call. "All Defenders begin to fall back into the fortress. Keep up cover fire as long as possible. All Veritechs fall back in good order, but quickly. All Valkyries must be in the fortress within fifteen minutes or be left behind. Repeat…"

Blue, Skull and Gold held the line as their fellows fell back, and the battlepods pushed forward even harder, realizing what the fortress was trying to do, but it was too late. Thirty minutes later, the engines of the fortress entered the atmosphere and the battlepods were forced to retreat.

Breetai slammed his fist down on his command console, destroying it utterly. They had been so close! He had felt it, the enemy was wilting under their assault and they had still failed. Nearly a thousand Regulds had died in this battle and it had failed. Exedore wisely stayed silent as his admiral slowly regained control of himself. "Recall the Reguld groups. Situate the fleet in a sphere around the planet. They must not be allowed to break contact with us once they emerge. Make certain our captains understand Exedore. This battle was lost but we must win the next clash."

Onboard the battleship the sound of a fierce wind hammered against the armor of the ship and Gloval let out a breath. It had been close, too close, but they had succeeded. The cost among the Veritechs had been far too high, but they had survived, and in doing so won. For now.

End chapter. If someone could look at my story and the time in it I would be very grateful. I try to be, not accurate but consistent and I know I failed miserably. Hope everyone liked the action.