I don't own the robots or Robotech.

Glad everyone liked my introduction to Miriya, and I'm glad the ideas for ways to beef up the human forces keep coming. I will say that the SDF 2 will not make an appearance until after they head to Earth, where the story will start to diverge even more than it already has. Just to be clear, I have mixed up the number of mechs the SDF1 has onboard, as the website mentions the numbers but not the organization, and as I mentioned in my story I made the Phalanx useless against the Zentraedi and the monster is too unwieldy to be used in space against a battlepod attack. It would be put on the hull for ship to ship action though.

So the forces of the original looked like, 240 mixed Valkyrie types, with the Vf-1S going to a few choice aces and 587 destroids (no unit organization shown in the anime or on the website I use) of mixed type, I wanted to be more specific in the classes and roles.

Oh there is a bit of limish/lemon in this, you have been warned.

My laptop is down and with it my Dragon Naturally speaking, so my writing speed is way down. WW and DvC will be getting the lions share of my attention until DvC is done.

Chapter 14 Downtime comes in all shapes and sizes

The losses against the never-before-seen alien mechs had been beyond anything the space forces had faced before. Of the 12 Defender companies (each made up of forty mechs) that had started the fight, only 30 Defenders had made it through the fight. The Tomahawks had fared a little better, of the three companies, they had about enough to form a single company left. The 4 Spartan companies hadn't been used at the start of the fight, but when they had been forced forward as part of the reserve they hadn't fared any better except at extreme close range, losing nearly 100 mechs.

Of the 24 Veritech squadrons they had at the start, only three had come through with enough fighters left to be considered at fighting strength, and even then only because they had come from the battle against the regular battlepods and docked straight away with the retreating space fortress. Of the remaining 21, 12 had been completely wiped out, and five more had lost nearly all of their men. Skull and Vermillion had lost over half their fighters, and were the only surviving so called elite squads, with Green and Gold wiped out, the latter almost entirely slaughtered by the alien ace Ranma had fought. While many squadrons had lost members in the running battles since Mars, this had in one stroked multiplied those loses by a factor of fifty.

Blue squadron had lost their commander and his entire flight as well as every fighter pilot but Motoko in her flight and were down to four pilots: Max, Motoko, Rick and Ranma, and only Max and Rick, who had attempted to keep their distance from the new mechs engaging only at long range, were at all capable of flight. The other two mechs had been badly battered and were not air worthy. Even once Ben came back from his broken arm they wouldn't have even half a squadron.

So once again Macross had retreated into a planet's atmosphere with its Air Group decimated, with its Ground Command thrown in for good measure. Morale sank to a new low, and this time Gloval had no speech that could lift their spirits, no fact that he could use to heal their morale. They had been schooled, then allowed to withdraw and he knew it and was in fact meeting with the senior officers to discuss that very fact and what it meant in the long term.

The surviving pilots gathered in the fighter briefing room, once again like the last time. Ranma waited with Rick on one side, Motoko leaning against his other side and Max slumped wearily behind him for Gloval to show up and give a speech. He looked at his friends and knew all of them had given their all in this fight, but it still hadn't been enough.

Come on captain, ya better get down here, or… or what, a morale problem, right, like his speech last time would do anything with this crowd, other than Roy and, he looked around, wincing as he only saw two other pilots that had been with the UNSF when the ship left earth, Vermillion's Pike and Zack Fontero from Green, two others there's not a career soldier among us, fuck, that speech about objectives and shit wouldn't do a damn thing. He reached over and stroked Motoko's hair gently, and she raised weary, beaten eyes to look at him, eyes that had seen her entire flight die around her, that knew she had been beaten and he knew everyone around them had that look.

Hell even he would have that look if his one on one match hadn't been so…. exhilarating. I need to think about that later, as well as losing Eric. That hurt, though surprisingly not as much as it should, like he was numb or something.

Ranma waited another few minutes while Roy was starting to wonder if he should make a speech, something he wasn't really willing to do or very good at. But before he could force himself to try Ranma lost his patience and stood up and moving to the front of the room.

He whistled for attention and when everyone was looking at him began. "Alright you lot, I know you think you got beat, hell I know we did get beat!" There were mutterings and rumblings at that but no one, not even Roy argued the point. "But ya know what, I may be the best damn martial artist of my generation but I've been beaten lots of times." More mutterings, this time of surprise and Ranma let them think about that for a moment before continuing. "Beaten yeah but never defeated! Ya want ta know the difference? Beaten means ya lose a fight, defeated means ya lose the war! When I was beaten I learned my opponents moves, how ta make them better, and how ta beat them! And this fight, this war is the same damn thing!"

The mutterings grew louder, and a few even cheered. Motoko and Max both perked up; being martial artists themselves they knew this was true, but they were both wondering what Ranma had learned. "Okay, ya need an example how about this one: these new fighters don't have the range of our missiles, if more of us had missiles when they attacked, we would've done way better, so from now on we keep a few missiles in reserve just in case. Two, they have the same problem we do in soldier mode, no back vision. If ya get behind 'em they can't transform ta face ya like we can, and they ain't as fast in a stern chase as we are."

He looked around at the thoughtful but still sad and exhausted faces and knew he had to say something more. "I ain't gonna spout out about how we needed ta be out there for some lame ass objective or nothin' I will say this: most of you have families or loved ones, maybe they're aboard the ship, or maybe back on Earth. Now I don't know about all of you, but I didn't decide ta join the SDF just ta fly, I did it ta protect those I care about. I risk my life so they can live theirs in peace from these Zentraedi bastards, because let me tell ya, I met their leader and he is an all or nothing sort. Once he gets this ship or whatever the hell he wants taken in one piece he's gonna go for Earth! Now I don't know about you lot, but I ain't gonna let humanity go down without a fight! Who's with me!?" The pilots gave a ragged cheer, and he continued. "Good, now get your asses out of here, do whatever the hell ya need ta do ta get yer heads on straight and ready for the next dustup 'cause when we do fight these new bastards again I want us all ready ta kick them so hard they'll think they went inta fold!"

The pilots gave a greater cheer at that and started to file out of the room. If they still didn't have much enthusiasm to face the new enemy mechs again, at least the air of defeat had disappeared. Roy shook his head amused and impressed by how well Ranma had rallied the troops, even if he had unilaterally taken over Roy's command.

Motoko walked up to Ranma as Max and Rick walked by, slapping him on the shoulder and back in thanks respectively. She waited until everyone left, even Roy who was utterly exhausted and needed a good hug and bed in that order before even thinking further, then hugged Ranma tightly. "Thank you for that Ranma, you put it all in perspective for us." She smirked "if you were in your female form right now I'd give you such a kiss!"

Ranma blushed. "Yeah well, thinking about that, I'm gonna get out of here now, and go see Kasumi. Unless ya want ta come over for a sleepover or something, I know ya don't have any family aboard and company can keep the nightmares at bay."

Motoko thought for a bit, that much was true at least, she had been on the island in the first place as an attempt to get away from her family who did not accept her sexual orientation and had been trying to set her up with men every time she turned around. It had gotten to the point where her long standing girlfriend had been unable to take the pressure and broken things off, and Motoko had left to see if she could make a new life for herself in the steadily growing Macross city.

And I do get along with Kasumi, Nodoka and Ranma far better than anyone else aboard. And Ranma's also right that company will help keep the night terrors at bay. But after a dustup like this Kasumi might be planning something 'special' to make certain Ranma knows how she appreciates his continued survival so... "Tell you what, I'll take a shower and call Kasumi, if she agrees I'll come over then okay?"

Ranma nodded and Motoko walked out nearly bumping into Lisa who had just come in. She looked around and then at Ranma who, now that no one was there to see, let himself sag a little in weariness and pain. The fight with the enemy ace had taken a lot out of him. Wordlessly Lisa walked over and put her arms around him from behind. After tensing a moment she could feel him relax and he turned, lifting her chin slightly to give her a kiss on the forehead. Lisa wouldn't allow him to get away with that though and met his lips with her own.

Like the other times they had kiss since getting together they both felt the spark of desire, though this time they were too tired for anything more than merely taking comfort from the act, reaffirming they were both okay and had one another. They broke the kiss slowly and Lisa sighed, moving back a little though still in Ranma's embrace. "I take it someone else was able to give a rallying speech? Captain Gloval was busy with the senior officers and sent me down to do it this time, then he and Mannstein were going to go over and talk to the destroid crews." She grimaced and Ranma joined her. To both of them that sounded as if he had his priorities skewed at best, at worst he was being a little cowardly in not facing the losses among the Valkyrie squadrons head on.

Ranma filled her in on what had happened and she gave him another hug to show her approval. "Are you up for grabbing some food? Kasumi says she can meet us at the White Dragon or to call her so she can start on cooking dinner." It amazed Lisa sometimes how easily she had fallen into the habit of thinking of the three of them as one unit in the last week or so, but then again the process had started months ago when she had become friends with them both, this was sort of the logical conclusion.

"Um sure, just want ta grab a shower. I sort of invited Motoko over too, she lost her whole flight to those new mechs, and she ain't got any family or anything for her ta go home to." He trailed off, knowing this could be taken badly by his 'new' girlfriend, inviting another girl into their home.

Lisa however smiled. While Motoko's preference for female companionship wasn't widely known among the male population, it was well known among the womenfolk. In fact rumor had it she had a bit of a crush on one of her flight, a Rachel Cunningham who had been a short buxom brunette, and she was probably in a lot more emotional pain than she wanted even Ranma to know. "So long as you stay in male form for the night I don't mind at all. Just remind Motoko that when off duty we may be friendly and 'normal'" she used quotations marks for a moment and Ranma chuckled "like so many civilians, but when on duty we are on duty? I really don't want to come down on her for too much familiarity all right?" Ranma nodded and the two left as he sent a message to Kasumi and Motoko.

Lisa and Ranma, both showered and changed into clean uniforms (which they both had taken to using as everyday wear, neither were people who enjoyed making a lot of decisions about clothing) met up with Kasumi, Nodoka and Motoko outside of the White Dragon. All three were dressed in more traditional garb, ranging from a priceless family kimono on Nodoka to a very good dress on Kasumi and Motoko. Nodoka and Kasumi welcomed them both with hugs to Lisa and kisses on the check from Nodoka and hugs for Lisa and a gentle kiss to the lips for Ranma from Kasumi.

The group entered the restaurant and immediately saw that they were not the only ones to come here tonight. Minmei was there, gently holding Rick's arm as he leaned against her shoulder, eating almost automatically from the plate in front of him. While they weren't a couple yet, they were definitely going in that direction, and it was only waiting for one or the other to make that final push. Rick had broken up with Sammy a week earlier, and was now simply gathering his courage.

In another corner Roy and Claudia sat, both in their uniforms like Ranma and Lisa, eating and talking quietly. Neither of them looked as emotionally devastated as the younger people around them. Having seen action before the aliens arrived they had unfortunately become inured to loss. Other tables were taken up by a few destroid and Veritech pilots and their families. This scene was occurring in practically every other restaurant in the city, and the bars would be far worse. The civilians had yet to realize how badly their guardians had been mauled, but when they did, it could be ugly and Lisa idly wondered if that was one of the reasons Gloval had wanted to meet with the other officers, to help prepare a message or plan to clam things down.

Minmei looked up as the Sugita family (with additions) came in and she left Rick with a few quiet words, hurrying over to them and pulling Ranma and then Motoko into hugs. Ranma gave her a gentle squeeze in turn but Motoko blushed heavily and stood there stiffly until Minmei released her. It had been a long time for her, and she was starting to get antsy. She turned to Ranma whispering "Rick told me how bad it was, it really put my own problems into perspective. Is there anything I can do to help?" She left the offer open, not really knowing what she could do, but wanting to help in some fashion to ease the pain of so many lost or just to help her friends deal with it.

Ranma shook his head. "Not for me nah, I just need time ta get over it, maybe throw a wake for the commander and then find something to hit. Hard."

Kasumi however had a much better grasp of human emotions and nature than Ranma and knew exactly what the popular young girl could do. "I think the best thing you can do is throw some kind of 'Thank you for your service' free concert or something like that. I think the soldiers need something to remind them all what they are defending, and to see that we civilians respect and are thankful it."

Nodoka nodded sharply, looking at her with approval. "Yes, I'll speak to Mayor Luan about setting something like that up and maybe a large discount at all the shops and restaurants as a thank you as well. You all sacrifice so much for us, it's the least we can do."

Minmei agreed wholeheartedly, adding that she would have a new song ready soon and would start setting it up from her end. Nodoka replied she would talk to Mr. Devray as well. The soldiers however were much more concerned about food and made their way over to a table. Food and a reaffirmation of life beckoned.

At the same time the humans in the space fortress were dealing with the aftermath of their loss, Azonia and Miriya were discussing what to do next. "While the main fleet sits outside of the third planet's lunar orbit, I want you to lead a small force of 2 carriers and their accompanying Queadluun-Rau forces. That will give you 250 mechs. While I will also place Kyron's fleet there, it will be your job to observe the enemy and if the opportunity presents itself commit our forces as I'll be too far away to control the engagement. Are you physically up for that, or do your injuries bother you too much?"

Miriya sat in a chair across from her admiral with both her arms wrapped in gauze, one from the elbow down and one only on the shoulder, and her left leg as well as some across her chest, binding a pair of cracked ribs. The Queadluun-Rau was power armor, not a mechanized pod, and the damage her armor had sustained had been translated in small part to her body. This meant that in addition to her ribs Miriya's left arm would have a new scar on it near the elbow, as would her right shoulder, and her leg was broken. She had also received a small cut over one of her eyes from when her visor had cracked from an impact with her forward view plate.

For all of her injuries however Miriya was remarkably upbeat. "I am more than well enough to take command of the force Lady. My injuries will be gone within a week at most, as you well know." Azonia nodded, Miriya had the most incredible healing rate she had ever seen and had survived injuries that would have killed any other Meltraedi several times in the past. "As for actually commanding it, my personal suit of power armor will need to be replaced before I can take the field again."

Azonia nodded again. "And do you have any problem working with Kyron? You won't be under his command of course, but he may try to order you around anyway."

Miriya snorted. "Kyron is all bluster and anger, no skill. If he tries anything I'll gut his fleet for him and personally break him in half. Though" she paused looking at her admiral "When you are delving into the third planets data-net could you see if they had anything on the Micronian ace I dueled, or anything about how they see personal combat. I had thought from the data we were given that the pilot was a female, but the voice that came over their com when he had to retreat to rejoin their ship as it entered the gas giant's atmosphere was that of a male. His skill was the same, if anything he was better, and it was definitely the same mech, its coloration is rather distinctive."

Azonia nodded. "I'll issue that order to the electronic warfare division. Anything else you can think of, I've already determined we'll simply grab as much information as we can and go over it all once we pick up our spies after they come back out from the planet's atmosphere."

"Anything about hand to hand combat" Miriya answered promptly "it's a form of combat only our own Queadluun-Rau can do, and their ace was far better than any of those Invid freaks that sometimes attempt it." She snarled the word Invid, and Azonia answered with her own scowl. All Zentraedi and Meltraedi hated the Invid as their only true rival race.

"I'll see to it." Azonia nodded in dismissal and Miriya rose from her chair with difficulty, though none of the pain she was feeling showed on her face. Azonia nodded in approval at the control of the other female as her ace pilot walked out of her command room. She had a shuttle to catch.

Within fifteen minutes of Miriya leaving the Shadow Dagger (rough translation, the name of her ship would translate to 'the dagger that strikes and cripples from the darkness') two carriers broke off from the loose cordon around the huge gas giant, and the rest of the fleet folded out, aiming for orbit around the moon of the third planet out form the sun.

Lisa woke up to a hand over her mouth. Her eyes opened wide as her arms came up in automatic defense, grabbing the thumb and wrist behind the hand before stilling as Motoko's face loomed into her vision with a finger raised to her lips asking for silence. Lisa nodded her head, waking up fully and asking with an arched eyebrow what the other girl was doing.

A low sensual moan coming from down the hallway of the Sugita's apartment answered her question, and Lisa blushed. A soft murmuring of caressing words, the tone reaching them but not the words themselves came next, and Lisa blushed further even as Motoko removed her hand, eyes glinting in humor at her over her own rosy blush, prominent despite the remains of her Hawaiian native tan which was slowly disappearing as the artificial sun the civilians had created didn't have the UV rays the sun had.

She motioned Lisa to follow her and after a moment's hesitation (overcome by the thought you've already seen what he has to offer, you might as well see how he uses it, and how the hell are you going to be in a relationship with two other people if you keep your prudish attitude!?) she did so, moving down the hallway to Ranma's room. They both looked inside the slightly ajar door, seeing the reason for it, a slipper kicked off a little too casually, before concentrating on the activity on the bed.

Ranma was sitting up with Kasumi in his lap, both of them naked as the day they were born. Kasumi had her back arched and her mouth open, moaning throatily as Ranma's hips hammered up to meet her down-strokes. Ranma's hands were on her buttocks kneading gently and his lips occupied with her left nipple licking and sucking. Even as they watched from the side Kasumi shuddered, gasped, and swiftly pulled his head up into a kiss to muffle her scream as she came. Motoko, who was concentrating more on Kasumi than Ranma, noticed that she could now see the girl's juices dripping down from where the two were joined at the hips.

Ranma kissed Kasumi just as deeply as she was him, letting the girl bask in the afterglow before changing their position to place the almost boneless Kasumi on her back and began to piston in and out of her again in the missionary position, her large perky breasts once more grabbing his attention.

The two girls kept watching for the next forty minutes as Kasumi slowly began to come alive and return her lover's thrusts. He kept their lips locked to keep her moans down to a manageable level, only leaving them long enough to whisper 'I love you' in her ear a few times. Lisa could feel her body beginning to react and a look above her could see twin points denoting Motoko's own arousal. This is the hottest thing I have ever seen! she thought as her eyes were drawn back like lodestones to the action. She continued to watch as Kasumi shuddered and bucked hard off the bed, obviously having another orgasm as Ranma changed the angle and speed of his thrusts. That does it I am definitely getting some of this soon. Not right away, I don't want us to go fast, but within a month at the most, that will have given us nearly two months as a couple almost, more than enough of a nod to propriety. I'm tired of being a virgin damn it! I want to take the wild horse for a ride, oh yes, Kasumi you were so right, it does look like fun!

Realizing she was beginning to enjoy this exercise in voyeurism a little too much, she motioned Motoko to follow her away. Motoko however stayed put watching as Kasumi changed position to be on top, her back to the door. Motoko nearly moaned aloud at the view. Kasumi might seem soft and the perfect little homemaker, but her body could put any model or actress to shame (though the one actress in the city wasn't exactly living up to her hype, Motoko had seen her during the Ms. Macross competition and hadn't been impressed) and her ass was perfect to go with the breasts Motoko had seen previously. Damn I need to get laid soon, this forced abstinence shit is killing me.

Lisa came back at that point and grabbed her arm dragging her back into the living room. She motioned to the bathroom, indicating with a raised eyebrow if Motoko wanted to have some privacy but Motoko blushed shaking her head and followed her back to their beds. They lay down, pretending to sleep for another ten minutes before Ranma came out of his room clad only in his boxers carrying a dozen tissues and depositing them in the trash in the kitchen. Lisa heard the water turn on then off for a moment then Ranma came back out moving though the living room. Lisa saw through semi-closed eyes Ranma was carrying a damp cloth, and she nearly smiled at his thoughtfulness. Ten minutes later Ranma came back out of his room and moved to the kitchen again. Lisa and Motoko started to stir as they heard Ranma start to make breakfast. They both looked at one another wordlessly checking to make sure they weren't blushing too badly then moved into the kitchen to join Ranma in making breakfast.

About ten minutes of friendly silence later Lisa cleared her throat. "So what are you two going to be doing today? I know I'll be asked to help with the reorganization and trying to think up a plan to get back up and somehow gather resources without another fight. I'll also probably have to sit in on some disciplinary hearings after last night too."

Ranma shrugged, tossing his data-pad over one shoulder at her as he kept patting down some rice balls. "Commander Fokker left me a message to see him at his office at around two. Before that it looks like I'll need ta argue with the maintenance crews, again."

Lisa reflexively caught the data pad out of the air and she glowered at Ranma's back for a moment before she looked at the massage on the pad. The first message was a routine alert that his Valkyrie had been deemed too damaged for repair to be cost (or time) effective and that he would be issued another one from the few remaining spares. The second message was tagged as coming from Claudia's machine but signed by Fokker telling Ranma to come to his office for a meeting at two. She smiled as she read between the lines as to what had happened last night between the two. It looks as if Kasumi and Ranma weren't the only ones to get lucky last night, this morning, whatever.

Motoko finished slicing open the fish and placed them into the grill. "I wonder if he's already trying to start the reorganization, better you than me that's all I can say Ranma. And I wouldn't want to be in your shoes either Lisa, trying to plan for another engagement in the planetary ring against those new mechs would be a nightmare."

Lisa shrugged her eyes far away as she answered. "I don't know about that, I have a few ideas on how to circumvent them, and maybe even blunt some of their abilities. It'll take a bit of work, but…"

Ranma looked at her for a moment as he put the last rice ball on a plate. "Why are we here exactly? I mean I know we were supposed to pull off the same general maneuver as the last time, gather some resources from a few of the planetary objects in orbit, but that sure as hell didn't happen. How are we going to get the resources now?"

Lisa shrugged. "Captain Gloval and colonel Mannstein have worked out something with Dr. Lang, I don't know what, but it has to deal with the reflux generator. And we can make up some of the material needs by scavenging the remaining destroids, maybe even start taking apart the remaining Spartan companies, they haven't exactly been effective, and they took a major hit in numbers in this last engagement. After that we'll have to start taking from the city, maybe knock down some of the buildings and salvage resources them, or cut into some of the spate rooms of the space fortress, use the metal from that."

Ranma nodded thoughtfully as Motoko set the table. "Is Kasumi going to be joining us?" She asked innocently, smirking inside.

Ranma blushed heavily, ducking back into the kitchen to get control of himself. "Nah she's sleeping in a little and it was my turn to cook anyway. So what are you going to do today?"

Motoko shrugged. "I don't know, I'd like to practice a bit with sensei, but she'll probably be busy. If I can't do that I may see if I can find a training dummy somewhere and work some anger issues out on that." She had been able to push past the pain of losing her entire flight and her unrequited crush but it still hurt, and she really wanted to hit something. I almost wish Max would hit on me again, I may even get away with it too, it would be justified defense after all.

Ranma looked at her for a moment, almost deciding to tell her about his own training area, but again decided against it. She was good, but not quite up to that just yet. Maybe in a few months she would be but not yet. I really need ta see the doc though, there's got to be something I can to ta make my Valkyrie better. Instead he simply gestured Motoko to sit down, and they began to eat.

About two hours later Ranma walked onto the hanger deck he had crashed landed on yesterday, and was unsurprised to see that his Valkyrie was still where he had left it, resting against the far wall from the bay doors. He walked over to it, then hopped onto a still extended wing. He shook his head in sadness as he looked at the damage his mech had taken, way more than in any other fight, even more than his battle with Breetai. "You've taken a lot of damage lately mate, but don't worry I'm gonna fix ya right up soon."

"I'm sorry to say that's impossible sir, this Valkyrie has seen its last battle, it's just taken too much damage to make it worth the effort."

Ranma turned and saw that one of the maintenance crew had walked over. He looked at the man's tabs quickly noting he was a chief and probably now head of the maintenance team for Blue squadron, the other having transferred over to Green when their chief had an accident that made him unfit for duty, so Ranma paused a moment before replying. "I understand what yer saying chief, and I'd even agree with ya if not fer two things." He held his hand out indicating the chief should come up.`

The chief, whose name was Morgan Erie, looked at the hand, shrugged and grabbed on, then was astounded to find his feet leaving the ground for a second before he was set gently down on top of crashed Valkyrie. And he did it with one hand, bloody hell maybe all those rumors about Sugita are true. "And what are those points sir?"

"I don't want ta change planes, and it ain't just sentimentality, it's also because I can make this machine work with me way better than any other. Point one, this is a VF-1S variant Valkyrie, one of the few we've got onboard, and I make a lot more use of the head lasers than most pilots, so no other variant would be as good a match with me. And point two" he paused, pushing his ki out into the guardian mode Valkyrie beneath his hand. After only a few seconds the stump of the left arm began to move and the chief gasped, nearly stepping back off the wing. "I'm a martial artist and I've been pushing my ki into this bird for so long it's finally getting easier than it was."

Morgan looked from him to the machine and back for a full minute before he shook himself. "Er, well sir, the thing is I don't even know if we've got enough parts to repair this bird, and I know my crew and I don't have enough time to do it, not without an order from higher. Nearly my entire crew doubles as, battleship maintenance personnel and factory workers." He smiled grimly. "It's doing wonders for our bank accounts but the space fortress was forced to fly with barely a half of the personnel and we haven't graduated nearly as many maintenance and factory workers as Valkyrie fighters, and frankly if a Valkyrie is this badly damaged we just don't have the time and manpower to repair it."

Ranma nodded slowly. He had known that the maintenance issue was bad, but that bad? "Alright how about just moving it ta Dr. Lang's place? And maybe fixing just the head up, that's the sensor package as well as the lasers right?"

"I can do that I suppose, but I doubt that Dr. Lang will be able to do anything with it, he's pretty busy himself you know?"

Ranma shrugged. "Let me handle that part of it, you just get it there."

Morgan shrugged. "All right, I'll see it's dropped off sometime today. But I have to tell you that if you still don't have that Valkyrie working again soon, you'll probably miss out on one of the few spares we still have." Ranma shrugged, if it happened, it happened.

The chief spent another hour trying to get Ranma to give it up, but he refused to, and after the chief finally realized that (and came to realize that Ranma would follow through with his threats to hurt him if he got rid of the Valkyrie on the sly, so to speak) Ranma left to meet up with Fokker in his office.

As he entered Ranma walked into his office and raised a hand quickly to catch a small box that had just been thrown at his head. "Er any reason why you just chucked this at my head?"

Roy shook his head, smiling as he saw a hicky on the side of Ranma's neck. Heh at least the kid is like a normal pilot in one way at least, the ladies do love us dashing daredevils. "Open it up kid." Ranma shrugged and did so, and his eyes widened as he saw the commander rank tabs and the blue squadron patch inside it. "It's yours kid. Eric wanted you or Motoko to take over for him, and you've got the experience edge and you're a better natural leader than she is." The edge was small, Roy was still trying to come to grips with the lack of career soldiers among his pilots, but it was there.

Ranma stared down at the patch and tabs for a moment, then slowly removed his Lt.'s tabs and replaced them with the commander tabs. He stood there for a minute in silence before looking up at Roy. "Who do I get to keep?"

Roy shrugged. "I'm moving Rick to Skull squadron and bumping him up to Lieutenant third class, he'll take over the third flight, that'll give him some experience in a command slot. Max is going to be bumped the same, and you can keep him and Motoko, who will be your second in command, like you were for Eric. That's the way I want it to go at least, but Max may be taken by one of the others, especially Vermillion, Pike has sneoirity on you b a wide margin, and he lost both his lieutenants."

Ranma nodded. "How long we got before the academy graduates its next class and have we enough Veritechs to put under 'em, and what's our order of battle going ta be?"

"I'm afraid we're going to have to bring back the elite squadron idea we were following before Mars. I'd like Blue to be one of them but that's not going to happen for a while. Putting Lieutenants and captains in all the squadrons that lost them or creating new ones to take over for those that were wiped out to act as a training cadre will make us unable to fill more than three squadrons with veterans, so you're going to have to make up your numbers with the next batch of recruits, which graduates in three weeks by the way. And when you do, I want at least half of the incoming recruits you pick to be women." He watched for any sign of irritation or anger, but saw none. Ranma merely smiled and nodded. "Good, then get outta here kid and take a break. You were right when you said we need everyone's heads on straight for the next battle."

Ranma shrugged. "My heads always straight for a fight boss, it's the rest of life I sometimes have problems with. See ya." Roy shook his head, once more vowing that if he ever saw Genma Saotome he'd be giving Claudia a panda skin rug for her next birthday.

In a small district of Tokyo a certain panda suddenly shivered, knowing that pain was coming his way.

For his part Ranma decided to go and meditate the normal way for a bit. Ranma made his way back to the city and then up to the rice field where he had found Lisa and Kasumi talking all those months ago.

He sat down and assumed the lotus position on the ground, and after a moment was deep in mediation, though this wasn't his normal ki enlarging type, this was his almost unused 'get in touch with your emotions' type, but this was one of the times he needed to use it. Ranma needed to think about a lot of what had happened in this last fight, and needed this help to step back from the emotions the thinking would evoke.

Eric's gone, how does that make me feel, can a really handle filling his shoes? I…. I'm sad, really sad, why ain't I crying? The man had become like a big brother figure and a male role model, something my old man sure as hell wasn't, and I still can't cry? Part of its like, it's like… he died in battle, and I guess I was always kind of prepared for that. I still want ta have a wake for him or something but that's about it. As for filling in for him, I think I'm ready. Heh, me with authority wow, that's a switch. Still I'm ready. I can't wait ta put my new people through their paces. Have to meet with Max and Motoko tomorrow after seein' the Doc.

Now to think about the enemy ace and how much I enjoyed the fight. Hmm, that's a bit tougher. I was really into it though, way more than my fights with Kyron. And I never used taunts, hell the idea didn't even occur ta me, not that they would have worked against that ace anyway. But why was I so into it though?

That took him longer to understand. Maybe because it was like a martial arts match rather than full on warfare. In a fight ya have ta deal with a lot of other people, watch yer friend's backs and above all remember yer fighting to do something else, like survive, take a position or defend something. In that fight I couldn't take the time ta think about those things, all I could concentrate was on the here and now. It was somehow purer than a normal battle.

And it ain't like I was completely neglecting the rest of the fight, I was keeping their ace tied up so he couldn't do any more damage to anyone else. He shuddered as he remembered the Zentraedi ace killing three Veritechs from tan squadron in as many seconds right before Ranma engaged him in their one on one duel. I think only Max or Roy would have the skills to take this guy on, and even then only if they could keep the range open. Max may last longer at short range than Roy, he has some martial arts skills I know, but nowhere near enough to match that ace.

Still it's pretty obvious I'm gonna need an edge or something ta keep up with him. Those new mechs are fucking deadly. I hope the doc can help me out there. With his emotions and thoughts now sorted out to his satisfaction Ranma switched mental gears and stood up, moving into the first of his kata.

At the same time Ranma was thinking about the battle Miriya was doing the same as she worked her still sore body through its paces in the gym of the carrier she had designated as her temporary flagship. Unlike in a pod, physical fitness helped greatly in using the Queadluun Rau powered armor, so the gym was quite extensive (though a human would think it extremely crude by modern standards). As she lifted the three hundred pound bar over her head she frowned slightly, remembering how the battle had gone. The Micronian's skill in hand to hand was formidable, and I must be honest, better than my own. These Micronian mechs might not have the firepower, reaction time or even the armor of our own power armor, but it's obvious individual skill can compensate for much. I was a fool to remain in close combat with him. She snorted, setting the bar down and moving over to a leg machine. I doubt he would have let me break off enough to open the range if I had tried though. That pilot is good, very good. Although I'm glad he didn't try the verbal sparring he attempted with Kyron with me.

She barked a laugh before looking around to make certain no one had seen her moment of levity before going back to the leg presses. She had chosen her exercise time carefully, she didn't want her subordinates to see her exercising until she was back to 100%. Still, it's obvious that tactic was tailored to Kyron, I wonder how the Micronian was able to figure out it would work on him but not me?

Regardless she would have to remain on her toes in their next battle, and she would have to come up with an edge of some kind, not that that bothered her, to be the best you had to keep working to remain the best after all. While it's clear I won our battle it is equally obvious it could have gone either way, and that is unacceptable. I need to prepare myself better for our n/ext engagement. Perhaps studying the tapes of his fights with Kyron will give me an edge.

"Oh, are you new here?" Lucretia looked up from where she was organizing a shelf of products toward the speaker and saw a very pretty female Micronian, with straight swept black hair stepping into the store.

She nodded in answer to the question. "Yes I am, I was a student but decided to take a semester off" she answered by rote, thankful once again that the three of them had devised the rote responses before placing themselves in the strange Micronian military structure. Taking a semester (whatever that was, some odd measure of time) off from the university, one of the two training facilities and the one the spies understood was responsible for training normal soldiers to be leaders (and hadn't that come as a shock, that the Micronian leader caste was the same as the normal soldier caste) was seen as a normal thing to do strangely, and no one had questioned it.

Well, they hadn't questioned Lucretia or Sonya about it, Anya on the other hand got quite a few odd looks. She apparently looked too young (another odd concept they translated to meaning too inexperienced) but she was able to handle the waitressing job she got from Ms Minmei very well. Sonya had gotten a job at one of the construction projects, and while she got a few weird looks no one had objected to her presence there, and her strength, which was on the upper scale for a Meltraedi had stayed with her when they were micronized.

All in all, their ability to fit into this Micronian culture was going very well, thanks in large part to their lucky find of the datapad. It had taken them several days to figure out how to use it, but when they did, they were able to find out enough information to blend in. Not enough to understand what they were actually seeing or doing, but enough to mouth the words at least. It had come as a shock to them to find that the Micronians were divided into several dozen different branches, each with different areas of responsibility, and that they used some form of exchange called 'currency' to move goods form one branch to another. Some of the branches seemed to serve little military purpose, it was almost as if most of the Micronians weren't fighters, but that was ridiculous to all three of them, what else was there after all? She personally had the good luck of meeting a Micronian who worked in the clothing division, and had procured a job in the clothing division, which allowed her to use her natural talents in that area as she sifted for information.

Motoko nodded, trying to keep her blush off her face, but god this girl was really good looking. Long blonde hair in a twin drill cut, nice legs shown off by the dress shops uniform, and amazing EE cup breasts that looked even bigger on her small frame, which looked about 5 ft four, a few inches taller than Ranma's female form. She was pushing nearly all Motoko's buttons, all she needed was a tomboy attitude to complete the assault. "I'm Motoko, how do you do?"

Again the rote responses came to Lucretia's aid. "Lucretia. Do you need anything?"

"Um, no, just looking though if you have any suggestions I'll be happy to look at them. Right now I just want to pick up some jeans and maybe a good t-shirt."

Lucretia nodded and led the way over to that section of the store, looking up and down the other woman's body carefully. "I'd go for the relaxed fit, they would show off those legs better than the easy fit." Style of uniform and sense of cut were well known to the Meltraedi, though when she got back with the news of how many styles of uniforms and undergarments these Micronians had it was going to come as a severe shock to the entire Meltraedi fleet.

Motoko blushed once again pushing down her attraction to this girl. She's only hoping to get a sale, she isn't checking you out. Don't see more into it than is really there. "R-really, well I'll try them both anyway. Thank you." Lucretia nodded, though as she walked away she could have sworn the other woman's eye remained on her for a moment, and she wondered why it felt like she was being targeted for some reason.

"Excuse me please, can I get some help over here?"

Sonya turned, still holding the large metal girder over one shoulder to see a tall woman, nearly as tall as herself dressed in a nice if conservative dress. By conservative among Micronesians she had learned it meant the dress was cut below the knee, though why it was called that she didn't know, certainly it didn't show as much leg as the other uniforms she had seen, but then the skirt concept as a uniform had far more variety than the form fitting pilots suit or slacks of the Meltraedi off duty uniform. She saw the woman had a large pad open in front of her, with several notations and notes on it and nodded approvingly. Someone organized. Far too many people who came into the 'construction' area (which was actually a Home Depot that doubled as the main control center for the civilian construction crews) had no idea what they wanted, and she had quickly come to join her co-workers opinions that there were far too many amateur (which she understood as barely trained in that division) construction people trying their own projects. That of course had come after the idea of construction at all being in the hands of front line troops, let alone the idea or 'repair' and 'maintenance'! Such simple ideas that had such a massive effect on overall combat performance. She was beginning to wonder why the Meltraedi, and the Zentraedi had never thought of them.

"I was wondering if you could give me the prices of some of these pieces I need?" Kasumi smiled up at the woman, marveling at how tall she was. She looks like one of those American basketball players, I don't often have to look up at another woman like this. Her strength came as no surprise to Kasumi, used to martial artists as she was she knew looks could be deceiving. And the tattoo on her face of some kind of reptile was very nice.

Sonya nodded and walked her around the area, pointing out the pieces she needed and watching in approval as the woman marked down the prices. She looked up irritated as another worker came by trying to take over from her and she angrily waved him off. He took one look at her angry face and swiftly turned around. Sonya looked at the woman next to her. "If you don't mind me asking why do all my co-workers" the odd word stumbled as it left her lips but she was getting more used to the Micronian nomenclature the longer she worked here "seem to be eager to serve you far more than the other costumers?" Again an odd word, but she took it to mean someone from another division, and that association worked, though all the spies were still having trouble with the idea of 'currency'.

Kasumi sighed. "It's because I won this contest a few months ago, everyone thinks that makes me special but I'm really not interested in the fame it brought me."

Sonya nodded, contests weren't unknown among the Meltraedi, especially ones that could boost morale before or after a tough campaign. "I see. So why does an entertainer" she substituted the odd word in her mind with morale officer, i.e. one who put on contests to help boost morale "need all these construction items? You do not seem to have the build necessary to use them."

Kasumi smiled. "Nor do you, though I do like your skin color by the way. It is very nice." Sonya nodded, her dark brown skin color was a source of pride to her as it set her apart from most other Meltraedi. "And you are correct I'm not going to be doing the actual work, just the planning and gathering the materials."

Sonya nodded again, that made sense to her, after all a supply officer wouldn't be in charge of actual combat would she? "You are getting quite a lot of them though."

"Oh don't worry, I've already arranged for someone to pick them up tomorrow and bring them to the construction site. Though if you are looking for some more money I can ask and see if we need the assistance." Sonya nodded thankfully, the whole concept of money was very odd to her and her fellow spies but they had quickly realized its importance, and if it got her away from the males here and their odd uncomfortable looks she was all for it. Little did she know at that point that their entire mission would be impacted by what she would learn on this side project.

"Yo, you're new here aren't you?"

Anya rolled her eyes in irritation at being asked that question yet again, but her irritation vanished as the black haired medium sized man wearing the uniform of the space combat division changed as a glassful of water splashed over his face to be replaced by a redheaded busty woman about a head shorter, now somewhere between her own diminutive size and Lucretia's medium size, though to Anya's irritation her bust was only a little smaller than Lucretia's. Bust size among Meltraedi were one of two noncombat related points of distinction, much like height was for the Zentraedi, and Anya was both short and had no bust at all to speak of. At least her face framed at it was by black hair and dominated by violet eyes was striking despite the rest of her bodies limitations.

Still none of that mattered just now. "Is-is that sort of change normal around here?"

Ranma looked over and grinned at the diminutive girl, who looked nothing so much as a Chinese dressed loli. "Nah, it's just me, though I got to say you're taking it better than most people the first time they see it."

Anya just shrugged not wanting to bring more attention to herself. "Yes, I'm new around here, I'm taking a break from college and Ms Minmei was kind enough to give me a job." She had been the only one who hadn't already had a job by the time they met the singer whose voice had so profound an effect on them when they heard it over a radio, and she had been ecstatic to be offered one after so many places had turned her away for being too 'young' looking.

Ranma shrugged and placed a to go order and turned to Minmei. She was going to meet Kasumi and Liza for a picnic dinner, and after that he wanted to hit the hay. He had an early day tomorrow and he still wanted to rest some more from the battle yesterday. "How ya doing Minmei? Did you get the okay to put on a concert?"

Minmei looked a little shifty. "Um yeah I did, it's going to happen a week from now, that'll give Mr Devray time to have some advertising time before we put it on. Um, he uh also asked me to ask for Ranma to join me."

"Huh, why the hell, it ain't like my singing was as good as yours?"

Minmei smiled as Ranma wasn't immediately rejecting the idea. "Well your singing was actually really good, so was Kasumi's obviously but her distaste for being in public like that is well known so Mr. Devray wanted me to ask for you. You apparently have a large calling especially with the military types who liked your 'angry' singing more than my more laid back type. So will you join me for the concert please, pretty please?"

Ranma looked away from the dreaded puppy-dog eye maneuver and thought for a minute. Crap, if it will help morale I guess I gotta. "Alright, but only if you make it clear ta everyone that I ain't interested in making this a regular thing okay, it is a onetime only deal and if I get asked one question or see one camera or reporter when I ain't on stage I'm leaving okay?"

Minmei inwardly groaned at how much extra work that was going to give the security teams but she nodded readily. "Sure Ranma I'll pass that on."

"Ms Minmei are you going to put on a concert? That's great!" Anya exclaimed in happiness. "I'll have to see if my friends and I can reserve tickets."

Minmei smiled at her new friend/avid fan. Running into her and her friends a week ago had done more for her professional ego than anything else. After all it was really nice to know you had fans who weren't just interested in your pretty face and figure. She had been more relieved than ever to know that she could have a career based just on her singing voice rather than face and figure like her previous manager had insinuated. "Yep, I am! We're going to do a concert to thank the troops." Anya wondered what that was about but nodded anyway.

"Just tell me when ta show up, I ain't gonna have time ta do much practicing though." She pointed out her new rank tabs. "I got promoted ta replace the commander, not like we've got enough Valkyrie pilots ta give me a full squad yet."

"Oh, um congratulations I guess, I was sorry to hear about Commander Prescott's death." Minmei said slowly, putting a hand on Ranma's arm.

"No worries. Um, I may call in a large order tomorrow night, I want ta plan a bit of a wake for him, just his friends and those of us who survived in blue squad. Just y'know ta get together and share stories and mourn." Anya looked on, wondering what that word meant, but understood it had something to do with a commanding officers passing. Odd.

Minmei nodded and handed over the boxed dinner that Ranma had ordered. "Do you want hot water too?"

Ranma shook his head. "Nah, I'll stay like this for now. See ya Minmei" She trotted out of the shop, putting the new girl and her odd response to his curse out of her mind.

Captain Gloval looked around at the council, inwardly still angry and appalled by the losses they had taken yesterday. Our moment of peace has been dearly bought he thought grimly it behooves us to use it wisely. He stood up gaining everyone's attention before speaking. "Ladies and gentlemen I realize you all have learned by this time how badly mauled our forces were in the fighting before we hit atmosphere, and that we were unable to gather resources as we initially planned. What you do not know is what we were planning to do here and how we are going to continue with many of those plans despite our losses, or where we go from here, and what those new losses have meant for our long term plans, which I will tell you now have changed."

"We are still making for Earth aren't we?" Mayor Luan asked worriedly. "My constituents are beginning to chafe at being in space. And our losses are now being felt more as well." That was an understatement. Morale among the civilians hadn't plummeted just yet as badly as it had among the SDF, but it would come when families realized husbands wouldn't be coming home, that the daughters and sons they had been so proud of would never be seen again. Losses like they had sustained would see a lot of that and though if Gloval had gone with Connor's idea of hiding actual military information from the public it wouldn't have mattered. As it was, the civilians were going to respond very badly to their losses. Glvoal had in fact taken most of the past two days working out plans to deal with the admittedly understandable stress.

"Yes but we will be changing how we get there, a topic I will cover near the end of the meeting." Gloval answered grimly. "For now I will comment on our short term goals. From the moment the attacks on us forced us to change our course away from a straight run to Earth I have wanted to spend some time in Jupiter's atmosphere because of something Dr. Lang has discovered, and that is how to refuel the central reflux generator."

He nodded to Dr Lang who took his cue and stood up as Gloval sat down. "It has always astounded us that the reflux generator didn't need to have fuel added to it, but as you all know the power coming out of it isn't infinite. Blackouts and loss of power have been coming more and more frequently, but the cause was thought to be mechanical in nature until I was able to come up with a way to gage the interior of the generator and what the power inside really was. I won't bore you with the scientific details" which, he thought none of you would understand, hell I barely understand it "but suffice to say the fuel inside is simply a sharply refined and transformed version of He3, with some other elements mixed in, elements that are found in great quantity in Jupiter's atmosphere. I have devised a way to gather those materials and refine them." He touched the screen and a large ship, looking far more like a factory than a real ship, appeared on the screen set into the wall.

"This factory ship will be able to refine the material into fuel, which we can then siphon off directly into the generator" the picture changed again, this time showing the interior of one of the hangers on the bottom of the ship, and a large tube going from the hanger through cleared corridors and then connecting to the generator via one of the clamps whose original designed use might well have been something remarkably similar to this. "The factory portion is already made, and the robots necessary to work the factory are being finished now, that's why we have so few resources right now. Within a few days we will be able to launch this factory and place it in orbit in the atmosphere. It will be kept up by these thrusters on the bottom, all of which will take energy from destroid batteries at first then when from the fuel the factory will be producing. Thankfully because of the barrier systems the one thing we have in great abundance was ship armor rated steel, and were able to create this factory ship and this battery ship from it."

The picture changed again to show a smaller ship, but it was obviously still large and far less streamlined then a normal ship. "This battery ship will do the same thing refine and build batteries for the destroid and Veritech forces. We will still be using our own battery factory but the output of this factory will dwarf that one and be completely automated as well as not needing the continued investment of gathered material that that factory needs."

"why is this necessary if we are still trying to get back to Earth?" Mayor Luan asked. "Surely the time would be better spent actually going toward Earth."

Gloval shook his head. "Not necessarily. Not only will a month here let the Earth come back to us so we no longer have to go around the sun, well." He sighed. "We have long known that the aliens greatly outnumber us, but we haven't known how badly we were outnumbered until Commander Hyaes" he nodded his head at the young woman on his right "and her group returned to us." He went on to describe what they had seen and found out about the size of the fleets the Zentraedi could call on, the millions of ships they had, the billions of fighters, ignoring all the while the glare captain Connor was giving him. That information should never be shared with the civilians, especially seeing as it might not be true in the first place. There was no way the aliens could have that many ships to call on! Just no way any race could have that much power but still think that the space fortress had something on it that they needed! No, in his mind it was obviously a bluff, and a very poor one. He purposefully ignored the facts of the enemy's numbers and what their new fighters could mean in the long term, something that Gloval had forced himself to think about last night. Needless to say the captain was not happy with his conclusions.

The civilians however didn't understand the real numbers here, all they knew was that the odds against humanity had just risen considerably. "We have known for a long time that this war would continue for some time, now we know that it will last years, possibly generations, and we need to put the infrastructure in place now for that eventuality. I don't know how long we can keep expecting the aliens to mostly come at us with kid gloves, nor do I have any idea what they need from us so badly. But I will be damned if I don't start planning for the future, and industrializing Jupiter and eventually Saturn to give us the power and materials necessary to keep our war machine going is one way to do that." He raised a hand to forestall any interruptions "And before anyone says we need to sue for peace I don't think they would be welcome to any such thing."

He paused and looked at Liza when she hummed and leaned back in her chair. "Yes commander, do you disagree with what I said?" Unspoken in his tone was why she was making that disagreement here in a public setting rather than in private.

"Sorry sir just thinking, and while I agree with you about them not being open to peace talks I just can't help but think they would be if the one called Breetai was in charge." She briefly described the interrogation the aliens had attempted, omitting the kiss but hitting their odd reactions to things such as males and females working together and Breetai's own reaction to Ranma and his ki attack.

The civilians all gaped at that and many heads shook at the sheer chutzpa the act had taken. Nodoka merely smiled in fierce pride in her son and the man he had become despite his cowardly sperm donor.

"I had the impression that Breetai at least respects us, and if you respect someone you are almost always willing to make peace with them, or at least adopt a non-aggression pact. If we knew what they were looking for we could hand it over to him and assume he would leave us alone, as long as we stayed in our own solar system at least. But Dolza" she shook her head. "Dolza isn't like that. He's all control, and the attack on Breetai made him angry not respectful. He knew he'd die if Ranma attacked but later he responded to Ranma's strength by making certain he knew that his strength was nothing to the power Dolza could call on. Once Dolza has what he wants" Or if he decides he doesn't want it enough to put up with the ongoing irritation trying to take it is giving him she thought but didn't say "he will move against the rest of humanity. I just hope Earth has been using the time we've given them well." Or we are up shit creek without a paddle was the thought both she and everyone else at the table had at that comment.

Gloval nodded. That had actually been a good point and made his own position stronger, so he wouldn't jump down Lisa's throat later for interrupting his flow. "An excellent point commander. Regardless we have the material on hand to build these two factories, but we will not just be putting them in place. We will be taking offensive action in a way that allows us to gather the material necessary to refill our stocks and keep our infrastructure going."

At a touch on a control the screen behind him changed. "Dr. Lang has informed me that he is now certain we will be able to transform into our siege mode while in atmosphere, so that we can use the 'arms' to deliver our fighters into space, and gather in debris after the fight via the front of the Daedalus." The picture changed showing the ship changing rising through the atmosphere then raising its right 'arm' over its head vie the extendable and maneuverable docking clamp on the side of the original battleship, the 'arm breaking the outer atmosphere into the area Veritechs could handle then disgorging the fighters into space. "The ship will still be vulnerable, but we feel that can be alleviate by making these maneuvers several times and disgorging spy planes to give us an idea of how the aliens have blockaded the planet." He stared around the table, emphasizing his words. "We will begin these assault and salvage operations as soon as the factory ships have been finished and disgorged, and they will continue until the ships stores are fully stocked. This is nonnegotiable."

He waited until those words sunk in, and the civilians realized arguing wasn't going to get them anywhere then he smiled. "On the plus side however, Dr. Lang has found something else out, something that I was loathe to use before these new mechanized units appeared and I realized how they would impact our push home. Dr Lang?"

Dr Lang stood up. "Ahem well, everyone knows how badly we muffed up the fold we attempted during the initial bombardment back on Earth." The civilians bar Nodoka all simply stared at him, their stares telling him 'of course we know, we're here because of that it now get on with it'. "Um, yes well anyway I have reasoned out that our errors were in both attempting to fold while being inside a gravity well, and the power we force fed into the fold drives. We overpowered them by a magnitude of at least fifty by my calculations. I have been able to figure out where we went wrong in our calculations and have conducted a few experiments and know that to move the ship we only need the one remaining fold drive" the drive we still have thanks to Ranma and that strange ki technique of his he thought "and we can use it to jump anywhere in system. Even back to near earth orbit."

All of the civilians looked at him in hope and Gloval coughed. "Which means that any time used here can be more than made up when we decide to leave for Earth, which as you know is still on the far side of the sun from us. Now, I believe Mayor Luan you had some issues you wanted to relate to us?" The meeting continued from then on with a much more upbeat outlook than it began.

Kasumi looked over at her red-haired dining companion as Ranma and Lisa finished discussing the operation that was coming up in the future and began to eat the dinner Ranma had brought from White Dragon. "So why are you female Ranma, you usually change back to male as fast as you can." Unspoken was the fact that she knew Ranma was more comfortable with showing and getting 'affection' (kissing, touching, fondling, all the fun things they had been doing) in his male form.

Ranma blushed. "Tough to explain really, what it comes down to though is I've been spending too much time in male form." At Kasumi and Lisa's questioning looks she/he elaborated. "It goes back to my old man, much like most o' my problems. I was taught growing up that guys don't show emotions, don't show affection, don't have feelings. I've been able ta move past it for certain emotions like love and affection." She smiled gently at both of her/his girlfriends, "but I ain't able ta really show as much of the bad emotions, like sadness." She shrugged, which did very interesting things to the front of her shirt. "I felt the emotion, but nowhere near as much as I should have when Eric died, and even after we got back and I could I couldn't y'know, mourn him, even when I was thinking about it. So I think I need ta stay in female form for a time."

Kasumi nodded remembering how sad Ranma had been after the battle in Saturn's asteroid field. He had not really shown emotions for the teammates lost until she had accidentally splashed him the next day when they were making breakfast. The redhead had literally broken down within minutes of changing right there in the kitchen. "Could it also be the fact that you mastered the soul of ice in your male form?"

"Yeah it could, that move messes up my emotions a hell of a lot, and it probably does have long term consequences. But anyway, when are we going to start work on this project of yours?" Kasumi had asked Ranma for help on her construction project and he had agreed unreservedly reminding her of his promise to help her any way she needed.

"Oh we can start in a few days. I have checked the prices on the materials needed and have found where I want to buy the necessary space and will finalize the sale tomorrow. I even found someone who wants to help out, I think she needs to get out of the depot for a bit, the men there are not exactly subtle in their appreciation of her shall we say, though I doubt they actually bother her. I think she may be some kind of martial artist, but I don't know what style." Lisa grimaced at the first part of that statement while Ranma raised an eyebrow in interest at the second part. "Are you free to start on the project the day after tomorrow?"

"Sure." Ranma shrugged. "Minmei talked me inta joining her for this concert in a week, but I told her not ta expect me ta practice or anything with her, so until the academy graduates in three weeks I've got a lot of free time."

"I don't suppose you have room for me?" Lisa asked quietly. "I've found I don't like sleeping alone, or even really spend much time in my own room these days. I can add my salary to the project if you want" she added hurriedly.

Ranma and Kasumi both reached out a hand and gripped her shoulder. "Yes we have room for you" Kasumi said simply "you didn't even have to ask really, we were going to invite you to live with us after we finished the home."

Lisa smiled gratefully at them then cleared her throat and adroitly changed the subject.

"Hey doc, what's up?" Ranma had decided to change up his greetings to Doctor Lang, didn't want to become predictable after all. "Got a few questions for ya."

"Ranma, so glad you could stop by," Emil said sarcastically, "after all your wrecked Valkyrie has been sitting in front of my lab for several hours now, and the neighbors are starting to complain."

"Heh, yeah well hopefully we can do something about that. Have you looked over it yet?"

"Yes I have, and while most of the circuitry in the main body is still operable, the Veritech is a very robust system, the rest of the machine is very badly damaged. I honestly don't know what you want me to do with it."

"You said the last time we talked there was no place in the Valkyrie ta put an extra battery. How about designing new arms and legs from scratch?" Ranma asked seriously.

"I," Lang paused for a moment then continued. "I could try I suppose, but would it really be worth it? I know you can do the armor strengthening technique, but we still haven't found out a way to do the same in a Veritech, we just can't make the energy runs go in enough places and we can't house the extra battery and the energy runs without slowing the Veritech down considerably. Still, we can try something I suppose. Anything else?"

Ranma clunked his flight helmet down on the desk in front of Dr. Lang. "Tell me about this interface thingy."

Lang's eyebrows rose in surprise. "Well, the interface helmet translates your thoughts and impulses to the movement of the Veritech in soldier mode. I could get more technical but what exactly are you asking?"

"is there anything in the interface that slows the process down or makes it less responsive?"

"Yes of course. The feedback blocker is one of the integral parts, it blocks the feed coming back from the Veritech, obviously, as it would include things like phantom pain if you took a hit, or strange feedback from the things the human body has no real equivalent of such as firing your thrusters."

Ranma nodded grimly. "Remove it."

Lang's eyes widened in surprise. "Ranma" he said slowly "I don't think you know what you're asking. For example the damage you took in this last battle would have killed you a dozen times over, from shock at least."

"I ain't a stranger ta pain doc." Ranma tugged at her pigtail thoughtfully as she began her sales pitch. "I ain't sayin' that ya should do it for everyone but ta me, the motions I put my solider mode look like and feel like they're moving through molasses these days, and I need ta get faster. I think I've done all I can so far at making myself faster, smarter and quicker to react, but I need ta find some way to move the Veritech ta match my own speed and this is the only way I can think of."

Lang looked at him in exasperation. "Did you hear everything I just said I…"

"Doc" Ranma said firmly hand moving away from her hair to knuckle both hands on the desk. "I ain't asking ya, I'm tellin' ya. That and adding another battery ta help with the strengthening technique. And I want both, these new mechs of the Zentraedi are just so much better than anything we've faced before."

"I," Emil paused again, looking like he had just bitten into something very sour. "All right but only if you write out a formal agreement saying this is what you're asking for. There's a reason the blocker is there after all."

Ranma nodded happily. "Great so let's get to work on my mech okay? Now, I figure that the motor control on the left hand, the arm I don't shoot with is necessary. We could remove those bits from the interior and replace them with the extra battery. Or we could put it in the legs, what else is there in the lower leg beside the thrusters?"

"Hmm" Lang put the rather disturbing idea about removing the blocker to the back of his mind and turned on a computer to look at the Valkyrie's schematics "The leg would probably be a better bet, but we would have to remove some of the fuel intake valves and tanks for the thruster. That will be a custom job, and we'd have to the same for the other side. How about we…."

Roy and Albert Pike of vermillion and Zack Fontero of Green, the only surviving squadron leaders showed up at what had been commander Prescott's office. They had both received a message asking them to attend a wake for Eric from Ranma and were not surprised to find Max, Rick and Motoko already there. A few others they didn't immediately recognize but were probably other friends, and an older woman who Roy recognized as someone Eric had 'spent time with' were there already. They entered and noticed Ranma in his female form waving them over before turning back to glare at Max. "I don't care if you don't believe me, I don't care if you don't believe in magic, this is a night to remember commander Prescott, not for flirting so if ya hit on me, I'm gonna rip off what makes you a man got it?"

Max gulped, noticing that the petite redhead's fist was already twitching and he nodded reflexively and backed off. "Some other time then, but you don't have to hide your presence like that you know just saying" the last was higher pitched and he backed away even faster as Ranma made to stalk forward. Max went over to talk to one of the others as Motoko adroitly slipped around his side and took up position behind Ranma to hide from Max. It had absolutely nothing about the view from back there being spectacular, no….

`"What was that all about?" Roy asked as he, Zack and Albert walked over to Ranma.

"Max doesn't believe I'm really Ranma, he thinks I'm his sister and is just using that as an excuse or something. Oh and before you ask since he thinks I ain't Ranma he 'knows' I ain't his commanding officer."

Motoko nodded. "Thankfully he's stopped hitting on me now that I'm a Lt second class and nominally above him in the chain of command. At least I hope it'll continue for a bit. He's not a bad guy, just too damn persistent and I don't know maybe the phrase I want to use is understated arrogance?"

Ranma shrugged. "Whatever. 'scuse me." He moved to the center of the room, in front of a table with food. Whistling he gather everyone's attention before speaking "okay, I don't know what ta say here, ya all know what a wake is and what yer supposed ta do, so I'll just start the ball rolling here. I first met Eric as my simulator instructor in the academy but I suppose that I really came to know him when he began to train me in the fine art of paper pushing and I began a prank war with him to pay him back…"

END chapter

So I hope you all like it, the industrialization for Jupiter will play a role in the future. Next chapter we see the civilians and regular troops reacting to the losses, and continue the time in Jupiter's atmosphere.