I don't own Ranma or Robotech
Some reviewer responses:
Janissa – Welcome to the story dear…. Reviewer? Was going to say lady but on the internet its best to be cautious about such statements despite any hints to the contrary. I always enjoy your reviews as they are always well thought out and interesting. By the time Ranma was twisting the steel bar and showing his curse form he was no longer a waitress, he was a soldier, different story and needs. He does have his female form for many reasons, one of them is his inability to show sorrow and sadness and other 'bad' soft emotions as a guy. It also gives him/her insight into the female body which will be important in this chapter. He won't be as happy with it as in DvC for a while, but he will get there. You are correct though in it hasn't played a huge part in the main plot, but that will change when they get back to earth and the water-attraction part of the curse hits with a vengeance.
MWRANDOM – An interesting point about Ranma not getting any recognition, but you assume that he would care about it. He will get recognition from his fellow pilots and Dr. Lang in this chapter when his advancements have proven to work for other pilots as well as most of the command staff, but not officially. If that happened it would cause problems with the higher ups when they get back to Earth.
Keeper- moving in space is really difficult to visualize, but I described in an earlier chapter that the Earth had gone around the sun on its orbit by the time they left Mars, and the attacks by Kryon's forces kept on pushing them out of position to make a run to intercept its orbit, so Gloval decided to retreat into Jupiter when Dr. Lang told him about possibly being able to work the fold space drive.
Jetsmillion – sorry, no umi-sen-ken
I would give a little preview of what is in the chapter, but the title should be self-explanatory.
Chapter 17 Round Two Fight!
As before the Veritech squadrons blew a hole in the outer shell of the ship (several times as it tried to repair the gap thus created before they could all get inside) and the moment they did Wildfire, who was again in the lead, came under fire almost immediately.
Ten Battlepods moving swiftly down the corridor they found themselves in, and it was only because they had jumped down right in the midst of them that they had any advantage.
Ranma and Motoko went to work with their swords immediately, cutting off legs and into main bodies, while Max made adroit use of his bayonet, making a mental note to say that it was indeed useful. Ben, who had been lowered into the hole by Rachel and Jeffrey, couldn't make use of his armor types awesome weaponry, so made use of its strength instead, picking up and bodily throwing one of the pods into two other. By the time the two rookies entered, the hallway had been cleared.
Immediately Ranma got in touch with Mannstein, while Motoko ordered the others to spread out and take defensive positions at the nearest intersections. "Assault actual, this is wild 1, advise on status and objectives, over."
The German colonel responded immediately. "Wild 1, assault actual, this seems to have been a carrier type, we're running into way more resistance than in the first engagement. If you can force your way forward, we think they are using the bridge as their command post, but if you can push them out they might not have a fallback point. I'll funnel the other Veritechs into the back of the forces attacking my forward positions."
From the start of the boarding assault the Spartans and Tomahawks were running into far more trouble than they had previously, debunking the theory that the aliens never had to deal with boarding actions, because they were well prepared for them this time. It was only because they had mini-barrier shields that his losses hadn't been far worse. Unlike the Valkyries the Destroids had no need to be fast or aerodynamic or maneuverable, they were built to slug it out with their opponents not dance around with them so adding a second battery and a shield generator wasn't a problem. Mannstein made a note to thank the good doctor for coming up with it, and Ranma for coming up with the knives, which all his Spartan operators loved, having replaced their combat batons with it. A combat baton had to be swung, while a knife could be stabbed, and was far better for in close work, which had allowed him to send his Spartans around defended points through walls to take them from the rear. His Tomahawks were also proving their worth, ripping enemy strong points apart with superior firepower at range.
He was still taking losses but they were acceptable so far, but the enemies numbers his momentum to a crawl, and if he stopped pushing forward his beachhead could be surrounded and pushed back by superior numbers.
"Roger." Ranma thought for a moment as two of their squadrons, Gold and Tan, came in behind them, then he flicked his com to talk to only Motoko. "Lt, who is ready for this, Rachel or Jeffrey?"
Motoko blanched. In truth nether of them were going to be good in close quarters. Jeffrey might eventually, but Rachel was a sniper, a long range specialist. Still… "I don't think either of them are ready for hits commander," she knew very well when to be formal "but if I had to say one or the other, Jeffrey has simply faster reflexes up close."
Ranma frowned but nodded. There was no point to having subordinates if you didn't trust them, and he opened an all team hail. "Alright, Lt. Aoyama, blue four and I will make our way forward, but we need to leave a team here to secure this position, and no offense blue five, but that thing ain't built for moving fast." In his Armored Valkyrie Ben nodded, it really wasn't but he loved the firepower. He could eject his Valkyrie form it, but didn't want to if he had a choice. "Lt Sterling you're in charge here until skull, green or vermilion 1 relieves you."
Max nodded inside his cockpit, that made good tactical sense, and in here Motoko was a bigger threat than he was. "Roger, sir, stay and secure position."
As soon as Max acknowledged Ranma shot forward, using his Veritechs rockets to almost fly through the corridor in his soldier mode. Motoko followed almost as fast, but Jeffrey stared for a moment before following.
Max, Ben and Rachel directed the incoming flights to hook up with the assaulting teams of Tomahawks and Spartans as they entered, with green, the other Veteran squad standing and holding their position with them. Vermillion took the lead heading towards the engines as Mannstein directed, but Skull was broken up into flights and told to create as much havoc as they could. Roy took a page out of the Spartans' book for this, cutting into the walls and making their way around that way.
Ranma and his small team ran into over a dozen hard points in the next hour, but the speed of their assault and the direction of it took the defenders by surprise every time. it was still really hard going and by the time they broke through to the bridge even Ranma was feeling the burn a little. The last Zentraedi fell to the ground minus a chest and Ranma turned around, dropping his now shattered short sword to the deck, activating the translation program and making certain none of the screens show anything like a dead-mans switch or a countdown.
He sighed in relief when it came up negative, then called it in. "Command actual, we have taken the bridge, repeat this is wildfire 1, we have taken the bridge." He looked around and Motoko and Jeffrey who's Veritech had actually slumped down against the wall. Motoko still looked game, but she had lost one of her arms to a cannon round, and the armor of his own was cracked and cratered in several places. The last hard point and forcing their way into the bridge had taken it out of them. "We can hold here, but I don't think were good to do anything else."
Mannstein's voice answered crisply. "Roger that, hold position, Vermillion and my teams have taken the engine room. Hold the bridge and this fight should be all but over."
That was a gross oversimplification, but in the next hour Mannstein was proven correct. With no central command, each hard point simply stayed and fought to the end, and eventually he was able to break the back of the defense and eventually he reorganized his forces into small kill teams, with one Tomahawk, two Destroids and to Valkyries, hunting down the last of the defenders. Again none of the aliens even tried to surrender, though his troops probably wouldn't have taken any in any case.
Unlike after the last battle there was no jubilation or party, no one asked Ranma to sing for them, every pilot and operator were simply too tired to party.
The next day work began on once again ripping out the interior of the enemy battleship, though this time the destroid and engineering teams weren't just tearing things out, they were also putting some things in.
Commander Drake was disappointed to not glean anything new about the Zentraedi from this acquisition save the fact this type of ship, a Quiltra Queleual class, was their carrier class. The radio transmission they had recorded during the fight did give them some new information. For one thing the Zentraedi had very good emissions control because they just didn't talk to one another. There seemed to be very little organization in their fighter groups, they simply swarmed under anything with sheer numbers alone.
Inside the ship however they had good tactical control and were reacting unimaginatively but well enough to Mannstein's assault. Yet that ended when the bridge fell. No one seemed able to take command after their officers died, and spreading their officers around the ship so they couldn't all be taken out hadn't occurred to them.
These two items were strange when Drake considered the data from the battle in Saturn's rings. Not only was there a strong overarching command in that battle, but the enemy exhibited good command initiative and tactical organization, reinforcing some areas and falling back from others and always able to work in local teams. He had to wonder if it was simply this 'clan fleet' that had this problem, or if it was the other way around, and the original, far larger fleet they had faced was simply unique in how organized it was. A small part of his brain wondered if the aliens realized it either way, but the thought didn't quite register
What did was the one item from the tactical computer that was new, the marking of two battleships, whose position was well beyond what the rest of the enemy ships had assumed around Jupiter. The makrs on the system though didn't list them as blue, which was the Zentraedi way to denote friendly units, it listed them as red. The swarming Valkyries had been denoted in blue, which obviously signified enemies. He wondered what that color meant, and the odd designation MELT 01,02 as well. Possibly the females, though they only had Commander Hayes groups word that they saw females at all, no one else had found evidence of them.
Dr. Lang however was happy, as the ship gave them another reflux engine. The Zentraedi reflux engine seemed to come in one size, and Dr. Lang wondered if larger ships would have more of them much like the space fortress had originally. It looked far different, much cruder, but it was probably more durable at the same time, and he wondered why that was. Much like on the space fortress there were real space engine, a reflux engine and a generator, which they did not remove this time.
This work would continue for nearly three more weeks.
Four days after Operation Suckerpunch, Lisa got off work and went home. The she surprisingly found Ranma making dinner, apparently for just the two of them. "Where's Kasumi?"
Ranma looked over at her smiling sheepishly, his hair cleaned and surprisingly wearing his dress uniform rather than his off duty fatigues. "Kasumi went over to spend the night with Minmei, she's been feeling a little lonely as Rick has been busy getting used to paperwork and we've been busy here." This showed, as their house was nearly complete. "So I though, um, maybe we could have a bit of a date night here?"
Lisa smiled widely, and nodded. "Just let me get changed and I'll be right back."
Ranma nodded in turn and by the time Lisa was back the meal, based around pasta and a salad with a balsamic dressing was on the table. He looked up his eyes widened to see Lisa standing there in a red dress with thin straps holding it up around her shoulders, then hugging her curves all the way down. "Uh, wow, that is, um, you look gorgeous."
Lisa smiled at his praise, moving to sit down across from him. "Thank you, its not something I would ever wear outside the house, but here for just the two of us it's perfect."
Ranma grinned. "Good that means I won't have ta hurt anyone else fer hitting on ya."
Lisa laughed and the two of them began to eat, talking about their work in the past few days and what they would do once they got back to Earth. Ranma saying he wanted to just lay down and sun himself was a little surprising but Lisa could see his point. As awesome as the city was from an engineering standpoint, the artificial sun didn't actually give off any heat. Lisa though wanted some meat. Like the majority of people aboard the enforced vegetarian diet was grinding on her nerves. In fact the last riot among the civilians was caused by that rather than by the peaceniks pushing their agenda.
After they finished Lisa and Ranma moved over into the living room, to watch a movie, though neither of them really paid attention to the movie. Something was in the air, something that had been there since Lisa had come back dressed in her slinky red dress. After about ten minutes of the movie, Lisa turned to Ranma her mouth open and the two began to kiss, the kiss turning hungry quickly.
Ten minutes later Ranma trailed his fingers up Lisa's leg, pushing her dress up and coming to rest on her panties, causing her to buck against him. He pulled back looking Lisa in the face, a wordless question on his own. Lisa looked back, her green eyes brimming with passion and she nodded.
Ranma lifted her up into his arms, his lips crashing back down on hers as he made his way to the bed as Lisa began to fumble with his uniform's clasps.
Three hours later Lisa lay back on the bed, naked save for a smile on her face and feeling better and more of a woman than she ever had before. Her entire flushed, sweaty, boneless body tingled and she made a mental note to thank Kasumi for breaking Ranma in for her. This had been magnificent, far better than she had been able to imagine it could be. Heck even her toes had gotten some attention, who knew they were so sensitive?
She felt a gentle finger gently moving along her side and she turned her head to see Ranma laying on his side, pushing himself up with one elbow as he trailed his finger on her side. She frowned mentally as she saw he was still standing at attention despite finishing twice in the past three hours. She had finished seven or eight times, the last two had come one after the other so she wasn't certain, but she wasn't going to be up for more for a bit. Despite having no hymen to worry about (a training accident when she was younger) and Ranma being as gentle as anyone could ask, fitting something of that size inside her had still been a little painful, and she would need more time to recover.
Her thoughts about ways to relieve his tension in other ways were interrupted by a throaty giggle coming from the doorway. Lisa and Ranma looked up to see Kasumi standing there, her eye alight with joy for Lisa and Ranma consummating their relationship as well as appreciation at the erotic sight Lisa's spread out, flushed and sweaty form made. "Did you two have fun?"
Ranma blushed, but the fact he was still at full mast made Kasumi giggle even further. Lisa however simply smiled happily. "Yes we most certainly did. That was positively addictive, just like you said Kasumi." Ranma blushed even more, but he also smiled a little in pride as well.
"Well" seeing as Rick came over and he and Minmei went over to his apartment, might I join you?"
Her eyes hand't left Lisa's face, who understood the real question here, 'would you be comfortable making love to me as well?'. Four months ago Lisa would have said she would never make love to another woman. Nearly a month ago she would have said maybe if the woman was Ranma's female form. Now, now she looked at Kasumi and felt a tingling of desire, and of love. "I don't see why not, though you'll have to take the lead for a while, I'm exhausted."
Kasumi smiled happily and began to walk toward the bed, taking off her clothing as she went. Ranma, who had remained silent, realizing this was a decision that the two girls would have to make, reached out a hand and helped her into the bed, before Kasumi leaned in claiming his lips hungrily. After she broke it off Lisa leaned up and kissed her as well, and the night progressed as it should between lovers for all three, leaving both girls mildly exhausted and Ranma thanking his martial arts endurance, but they all had wide smiles on their face when they at last fell asleep.
Miriya laughed aloud at Kyron's suggestion. The idiot had finally healed enough to retake command, but his face still showed the bruises and welts he had taken from his severe beating at the hands of the Micronian ace.
She idly wondered what Dolza would do when he found out how badly Kyron had twisted his clan fleet. He should have been put down and replaced after taking that much damage, but none of his subordinates even thought about it. None of his officers can think for themselves, which is just plain stupid. It's not a clan fleet anymore, it's a… I don't even know a word for it, everything in his clan is focused entirely on him, not the command structure, just him!
All of which meant she had to still deal with the moron. "Are you a fool or merely incompetent Kyron? I won't split up my forces like that; my warriors are good, but not that good. I will keep them concentrated, and will only commit them when I have the chance to make a lasting impact on the enemy." We will also have to collect our spies, it's fast coming up to the date we agreed to as their extraction window.
Kyron nearly snarled at her but didn't, the wounds he had sustained getting smacked around in his Glaug were still bothering him, making even small facial movements painful beyond belief. It would be weeks more before he could pilot a Glaug. He had been infuriated to learn what had occurred while he had been injured, and promptly modified his fleet's disposition. For one he pulled his fleet back slightly, no longer nearly on top of the atmosphere his ships were further out from the planet, now out of range for another ambush like the two that had already occurred. More he had concentrated his fleet into six groups aligned equidistantly around the sphere of the massive gas giant, able to react to any attempt to escape the planet and breakout but just far enough away to avoid any surprise. Of course he was still in the range of the siege cannon, but he didn't realize that…
It infuriated him to be so constrained, to bide his time until the humans came to him, especially after two humiliating defeats. To his mind if he could only use the full power of his fleet he could crush these Micronians, but even to Kyron Dolza's orders were absolute. So if he couldn't use his battleships firepower, then he would have to use the blasted females. "I am only asking you to help because you seem to not wish to do anything. It seems a little cowardly to me, but obviously it cannot be that can it?"
Miriya again snorted in laughter. "Oh no merely thoughtful. I've already determined that by keeping my ships away from the planet but close enough to react and see any attempt at a breakout I will have better odds of being close enough to launch an assault once they break out, and will allow me to keep my numbers intact." The two battleships under her command had moved away from the planet, nearly out of its gravity well, and was able to see everything around the planet save directly on the other side of the planet from them.
"Then would you at least concede to working with my fleet and agree to move closer to one of my fleets present positions, so that we can come to one another's aid at least?"
"Kyron you couldn't be more opaque if you tried. Keep your vendetta to yourself, to me and my forces this is merely another operation, decisions will be made logically, not fueled by your hate or ego."
Kyron's teeth clenched painfully in his bruised face but he had one last card to play. "You say that now Miriya Parina but I tell you there is an ace among them that even you could not face."
Miriya smirked. "The Micronian was right you really are pathetic." Kyron's eyes widened in surprise and her smirk widened into a lioness's grin. "I've already fought the one you speak of, the one with the strange symbol on his mech, the one who has bested you every time you've faced him? I beat him, not decisively, but I won, and when next we meet, he and I shall see which of us is really deserving of the title of the best. But that fight will happen at a time and place of my choosing not yours backstabber. Go, do whatever you wish, so long as you remember Dolza's orders to preserve Zor's ship and leave my ships out of it." With that Miriya waved a hand at one of the console operators nearby and they cancelled the transmission.
All around her Miriya could feel her fellow Meltraedi's approval for her stance, not that that mattered, it was simple tactics. Come out and play Micronians, even I am getting impatient. I have trained myself to match your new speed and skills, even your new weapons can be fought and my Queadluun Rau is ready, and so am I. Indeed she had begun training her troops in tactics to combat the enemies extended range, larger missile capacity and close in weaponry along with training herself in reaction time and close combat. We will meet soon, my foe, and then we will decide who the best is by seeing who survives.
The very next day Ranma, Kasumi, Lisa and Sonya finished the creating the new Sugita residence. The apartment now in addition to the already completed kitchen had a main room done in a more modern style with the metal of the ship clear, with bean bag chairs, a tv set into one wall, and a class and metal L-shaped desk set into the far corner with a little plaque above it telling everyone that it was Lisa's area, and indeed it was already cluttered with a few printouts and a dozen data disks.
A door in the other corner led into a bathroom, done in the Japanese style, set into two rooms one with a laundry machine and toilet, the other with a bath, the room with wooden panels all around. The wood actually was the most expensive supply to buy, making the kitchen and the bathroom the most expensive to built.
A steel circular staircase led up to the second story which was devoted solely to a bedroom for the three lovers. One giant king size bed dominated it, but along one side was a closet that was more than large enough to house all their clothing and a dresser segmented into three parts, each painted a different dark color. The walls up here were painted white with different animal shapes painted in black here and there (minus felines of course).
All in all Kasumi was incredibly happy with her first project and their new home, as were Kasumi and Lisa. After paying off Sonya for the day, the three went around taking pictures of the apartment for Kasumi to post online for people to see. These joined examples of her other interior designs for stores, clubs and other building types Kasumi had created. This rather amusingly included one for a karaoke bar which Lisa took one look at before declaring it a reject from the American 70's, which made Kasumi pout at her.
That done the threesome stayed in the apartment for the rest of the day having a group date, watching movies and eventually falling into bed together for another round or four of lovemaking.
After a half day of training his flight Ranma had met up with Kasumi for a girls day out. Kasumi wanted to spend some time shopping and she wanted Ranma to be in female form for a bit, simply because hadn't been spending any time in that form since getting over his grief. Surprisingly Ranma agreed to this, and the two girls went out together. They had a lot of fun too.
Ranma shook her head as she walked away from a stand carrying a bag of popcorn. She idly wished it was ice cream, but that had been one of many casualties in their diet with no animals on-board. At this point she doubted there was a single animal food product left on the market, and she knew that the rumbles of discontent about said diet were increasing practically every day. "How do people still not realize I'm Ranma, I mean, I know there's rumors about me and I've never made a big secret of my curse, so why do guys still fall all over themselves if I flirt with 'em?"
Kasumi giggled. Watching Ranma flirt with male vendors to get extra food was always fun, though she herself could never act in such a manner. She had enough problems being hit on as it was because of that silly contest. "Most people still don't believe in magic Ranma, your condition isn't something that anyone will believe unless they see the change for themselves."
"Idiots." Ranma muttered, munching on the popcorn absentmindedly. She glanced around at the people in the park, the few kids playing on the swing set, the couples, and she frowned a little. Whether it was his father's training or the Soul of Ice, Ranma was far more in tune with the atmosphere around her when he/she was female.
And right now, she didn't like what she was sensing. "Kasumi-chan, um, how are things on the civilian side?" Ranma hadn't had any time in the city for a while save to swing quickly by to see Minmei, he was almost constantly busy with his flight (in fact he had some exercise reports he needed to go over that he was ignoring right now, as well as a readiness report to shoot up to higher) and before they finished two days back with building their home.
Kasumi sighed, looking around her. One thing that had not changed in her when she decided to pursue interior and exterior design rather than medicine was her empathy, and she knew precisely what was going on. "People are beginning to lose hope koibito. Morale in the city despite our recent victories is at an all time low. Our food supplies have been totally dependent what we can grow for some time, and the lack of variety and animal products is beginning to wear on everyone. The news about the numbers we face has also gotten around, and though most people would say they don't believe them, they are really just running scared from the truth. Only the group who supports the military and doesn't mind being in space has decent morale, and even they are becoming more and more depressed."Kasumi herself wasn't, but that was because she didn't really care about the future as long as she had her lovers with her. In many ways Kasumi was just as uncomplicated a personality as Ranma, but that didn't make her blind to the concerns of others.
Ranma nodded thoughtfully. "I know the captain's got something planned to get us out and away from the planet, we'll just have to wait for it. Don't know what we could do to effect morale, are Minmei's concerts helping?"
"Oh they are, but even they can't hide the facts about the food and the military situation. She tries her best, and she is almost adored but most of the civilian population, the whole 'local girl done great' thing as well as her actual personality, Minmei can only do so much."
Ranma nodded again and decided to change the subject, seeing an excuse out of the corner of her eye. "Oh look there's Sonya, lets go say hi." Kasumi nodded agreement and the two headed over.
Sonya saw them coming and waited for them to come close. "Kasumi, Ranma." The chief spy looked at Ranma's form with interest, wondering why he/she was in female form. While Sonya knew that females were superior to men in every way, she also knew that Ranma was male originally and preferred his male form, though the precise way he had acquired his female form was a mystery. One she suddenly realized she could solve right now. "I've been meaning to ask, but how did you acquire a female form?"
Ranma chuckled. "That's the most polite way I've ever been asked about my curse. Ya see, me and my old man…" Sonya listened, not interrupting as she and the others had learned of the odd 'family' structure the Micronians had, though the exact reason for it still eluded them.
As she listened to the description of Jusenkyou she began to get more and more alarmed. "And no one knows what gives these springs their odd power?"
"Not as far as I know, they're just cursed, that's all the locals know about them. the water comes from a spring, but what gives it its magical properties I don't know." Ranma shrugged.
Could this be the reason there is no mention of the proto-culture generator onboard? Could it have somehow fallen out of the ship at some point during its crash onto their planet? Ranma hadn't mentioned how old the springs were, so this seemed a viable idea to the Meltraedi.
She made a mental note about that as Kasumi changed the topic of conversation, asking "By the way, would you be willing to work with me full time Sonya-san? I have already had a job offer to design the interior for a new arcade, and could use the help when we start building it."
Sonya regretfully shook her head. The work wasn't arduous for her of course, and she actually enjoyed working with Kasumi. But she was a spy and since the time for her pickup would be coming soon, she answered with the response the three spies had come up with for this occasion. "I'm sorry, I don't think I will have the time soon. I was thinking of going back to college and I want to spend some time studying first."
Thankfully Kasumi didn't press, merely nodding agreeably. "Alright, but if you ever change your mind call me. I wouldn't mind if your work hours had to be forced around your school hours after all."
Sonya nodded, then made her excuses and walked off. Ranma watched her go, and odd expression on her face, which Kasumi noticed. "What's wrong Ranma-koi?"
"Nothing, its just… I've never really looked at the way she moved before."
Kasumi cocked her head quizzically. "What's strange about the way she moves?"
"Walk around and I'll tell you once I figure it out." Kasumi looked at him then smirked and began to walk around him, swaying her hips provocatively. Ranma blushed but didn't look away merely shaking her head. "Not like that Kasumi, just walk normally." Kasumi giggled but did as he asked. "Yeah, that's what I thought. There just something off about her walk, can't really say what it is though. Maybe she was a soldier once, that might explain the stiffness in her walk."
Kasumi shrugged. She liked Sonya, so whatever it was, wasn't something she was going to concern herself with. "Come on, I want to go shopping before we meet up with Lisa and Aunty for dinner." Ranma nodded, and for the moment forgot his observations about the tall tan construction worker.
Gloval kept the ship in Jupiter's deep for three more weeks, giving the various projects time to finish, as well as giving his people time to prepare the enemy battleship for the operation to escape Jupiter. He knew that was pushing it morale wise, but they needed the time.
Three more factories had been designed for the interior of the space fortress, and construction had already begun on them. One was built to make missiles of all sizes from the ICBM's of the Prometheus to the Valkyries missiles. This was the largest factory, and would take the most time to build, but when it did they would have missiles as long as they had material to feed into the fully automated factory. All three of the new factories were designed thus, now that the designers had worked out what worked and what didn't. The next was a small factory that was built to build the new classes of batteries that Dr. Lang developed for the space enlarging technique and the armor enhancing technique. The last was another mech building factory. With the two repair facilities and the first mech building factory, the ship would be able to build nine Valkyries or Destroids in a day if necessary, or twenty Fast Packs at full output, and the Fast Packs were now being offered to all the pilots.
This time also gave the newest inductees more time to acclimate to their new jobs. The formerly green pilots spent these weeks getting worked up fully into their squads.
The ship was in the strongest position it was going to be for several months so he decided the time had come to initiate a breakout and get enough space between them and the planetary gravity well to try the fold space engine
Captain Gloval looked around the pilots briefing room, which was packed with the commanders and their second in commands of the fifteen squadrons they had bodies and planes for while beside him Lisa stood stoically, waiting for Roy to finish calling the roll call. Most of those squads were full, but one, the re-designated Wildfire was still only at half strength. Gloval knew that was because they simply didn't have enough pilots to fill it out, but Commander Fokker had surprised him by telling him that Wildfire had volunteered to be the half strength squadron.
For a moment Gloval wondered why an elite squadron would want to volunteer for that and still volunteer to be the tip of the spear. But as his eyes caught Ranma'she remembered the sheer brutality of the young man's battle with the new enemy ace, and he knew. His glance slid to the young woman next to him, still a rarity even with his opening the academy to both sexes. Her own hard eyes stared almost challengingly back, and Henri knew. These two at least were looking forward to mixing it up with the new enemy mechs, which Drake had given the code name Gargoyles.
The moment Roy finished calling the roll call, Gloval strode forward. Despite his nervousness in addressing this group, he was a battleship captain after all, and he was more used to addressing his crew over a com than in person, his voice was calm and controlled as he spoke. "I know you all have heard the rumor of Dr. Lang figuring out how to use the fold drive correctly. Those rumors are true and we will be using the fold space drive to get us back to Earth, or as close as it can get us." He pushed a button and two planets appeared, Jupiter and Earth. As they watched a sphere appeared around both planets. For Earth it reached a little beyond lunar orbit, but for Jupiter it went at least two earth (in space all you can really use to measure size is a light year or comparison, and the pilots didn't have enough knowledge to use a light year) spheres past the planetary ring visible around its middle.
"This area you're seeing is the gravity wells of Earth and Jupiter, the area of space effected by the gravity of the planet. It was this gravity that screwed up the fold space jump we tried that put us out by Pluto, and no" he said dryly smirking "I don't know how that works. Nor am I inclined to ask." The pilots all laughed a little and he smiled then went on. "To use this engine we have to travel out of this sphere, which unfortunately even at full power will take us 24 hours. Thanks to the fuel we've taken on, we can keep boosting at full power the entire way." he shook his head slightly as the pilots muttered about that. When Dr. Lang had found the engines weren't even using half their designed output, and the generator had been in power saving mode the news had not been welcome. Dr. Lang's oops just did not cover it. Not that it would have helped them all that much, but it would have made leaving their pursuers behind them far easier a time or two.
The screen changed, the Earth disappearing and Jupiter enlarging, with enemy markings appearing in six large groups set equidistantly around the sphere, well out or range of another ambush. "We assume Kyron, the enemy commander is back in action, as our last spy flight showed that the Zentraedi have changed their disposition to this. We will be using the captured enemy battleship to draw two of these groups out of position." He touched another button and the screen changed, showing one friendly mark escaping the atmosphere on a looped heading, moving toward where Earth had come back around the sun. First two, then three of the closest groups peeled off. "The ship will be sending out as much output was we can manage, to make it look as if we are trying to send valuable data back to Earth. Needless to say it will also be rigged to explode rather spectacularly."
The pilots nodded at this and he went on. "However the main cannon has a massive amount of range, and we will be using that to hammer their fleet if they respond as we estimate they will. One, if they all pull out and chase it we will exit immediately behind their position and open firing continuously to reduce their numbers. If they only send a few we will retreat until we are under one of the remaining groups and then pop up and annihilate it at range. Once that is done we will escape the planet, but the time it will take us to get out of the gravity well will still allow at least some of them to close the distance to us and launch fighters."
Gloval stepped back and Lisa took his place at the podium. She pushed a button and the screen changed again, showing two particular battleships and their strange location apart from the rest of the enemy fleet. "We don't know why there is so much space between these two ships and the rest of the 11th skirmish fleet as the enemy fleet we are facing is called. However we think it might be part of the elite Gargoyle units that attacked us before we hit atmosphere." There was a muttering about that, but thankfully little fear, only grim determination. Respect yes, but no paralyzing fear now, which if you had asked most of these men to fight them before the new weapon advancements there would have been.
"To minimize their impact on us, the ship will be moving directly away from their position out of the gravity well as fast as we can. This means that every Valkyrie will have a warning on their radar screen that will tell them if they are being left behind too far to catch up."
"Understand me" she said seriously, her eyes raking everyone there, "The ship cannot stop, cannot slow down, or we will be forced to fight these," she gestured at the nearest portion of the skirmish fleet that were situated near either of the two proposed escape routes, "groups and we will sustain heavy losses doing it even if we win through." That was all she said about that. She didn't have to point out that any fighter left behind would die, either from enemy fire or their air running out, a horror of every spaceman.
Ranma leaned forward studying the display that was still showing Jupiter and all the enemy positions. Something about it was niggling at his tactical mind, something about watching Ryoga and Kuno and the hentai horde working together…. It wouldn't stay in his mind and he shrugged it off for now.
"While we believe this operation can cut down on the numbers we face and will almost certainly mean none of their battleship can catch up, that doesn't mean the Regulds won't be sent out to try. During this operation we will be using two different deterrents to cut down on the enemies numbers. The first one will be leaving mines behind us in a wide spectrum. While we haven't been able to produce nuclear payloads, we have been able to make a large amount of smaller missiles and fix them with proximity fuses." Again the Macross on the screen moved, leaving a wide cone behind it. "This will be the area so mined, and we recommend that no Valkyrie attempts to play in that area." Everyone chuckled nervously as the image showed the sheer amount of missile mines they were talking about, going for a saturation effect.
"The second will be our stored unmanned missile pods. These we will put out only if the Gargoyles join the fight. Data taken during out battle with them showed that our missiles had greater range then theirs. So saturating them at long range will cut down their numbers. Especially since we plan to pump the missiles out in waves as they come close."
"For this battle we will be adopting a close defense, with all Valkyrie squadrons operating in the Defender envelope, which will be reinforced towards the aft of the ship. The mobile barrier systems will also be concentrated in that area. Forward of the command spire the ship will be left to the tertiary weapons platforms." On the screen the aft of the ship behind the command spire was now surrounded tags denoting the different squads, and a radius denoting the range of the Defender autocannon envelope. The ship also showed all twenty mobile barriers moving around the engines and the back of the command spire.
Lisa touched a screen and suddenly the defense changed, four of the squad tags, Vermillion, Skull, Wildfire, and Green, all of the elite squads, disappearing from the cordon. They reappeared again as moving a quarter circle beyond the range of the Defenders. The screen also showed massive amounts of missile pods being placed in front of them, making the entire defense a defense in depth rather than in close.
"This will be defense omega, which will be initiated if the new mechs make an appearance. With the missiles swarms to cut down their numbers and break their formation it is hoped that these groups can keep the new mechs at long range, without forcing us to put the other still relatively green squadrons against them." that comment against any other enemy would have gotten her shouted at by some of the commanders and lieutenants of the those 'green' squadrons, after all after operation Suckerpunch they weren't technically green any more, especially after the fight to take the enemy battleship. But the Gargoyles had mauled the Valkyries so badly last time no one but possibly Ranma and Motoko wanted to fight them again at all.
"Once they are sighted a new wave of pods will be rolled out from the Prometheus we run out. As we have over 500 of them, that will give us five waves of a hundred with each launcher holding 180 missiles." There was more murmuring at that, no one had known how many missiles the Phalanx-class destroids had carried, but that number seemed too much, and without the area enlarging technique it would have been, and again Lisa thanked god that Ranma was abroad the space fortress, and this time it was purely for the effect he had on their defenses rather than personal. "These defenses will hopefully be enough to give us an advantage in any battle."
She finished her presentation and stepped back. Gloval came forward again. "This operation will begin in one hour. It's estimated you will all be needed five to ten hours after that. Be ready. Dismissed." The pilots all stood up and saluted though Ranma looked at him oddly for a moment before leaving the room.
Lady Miriya, the Micronians appear to be up to something."
Miriya hit the alarm by her bed, cursing as she realized she had only gotten a few hours sleep, but it would have to be enough. "I'm on my way. Rally all the pilots and have the Queadluun Rau prepared just in case." That said she cut the com and grabbed at her flight suit, a skintight affair that was one third spacesuit, one third shock absorber and one third interface aid to a Queadluun Rau.
She arrived on the bridge and immediately made her way to the tactical screen. She soon began to frown at what she saw. An enemy ship, judging from the readings they were getting it was the captured Quiltra Queleual the Mirconians had taken in the last action, was boosting heavily out of the gravity well. "What in the world are they up to?"
Miriya didn't realize she had said that aloud until the ship captain replied. "I don't know, but we are getting massive readings out of that ship, far more than it should have. EM and everything else is off the scale."
Miriya pulled at her green hair, a sign she was thinking hard. While she watched the two nearest forces of the cordon came together and then went after the ship, moving around the curve of the planet after it. Two more groups joined the chase when it changed course toward them.
She frowned. "Why does this scream of a trap to me?"
The captain shrugged but a minute later they saw the truth of Miriya's words. As they watched the space fortresses appeared just out of the gas giants atmosphere, its massive beam lashing out, and within minutes a third of the 11th skirmish fleet was gone, the beam cutting in at an angle where it could catch three of the four groups. "Ah," Miriya said drolly, "That was why." There was a bit of nervous laughter around the bridge, none of the Meltradei having really remembered how powerful the siege cannon was, given how it had barely been used since they arrived in system of course the same lack of foresight was why Kyron had forgotten about it when he moved his fleet into its present position. Strangely enough judging from the rate and trajectory of the space fortress's exit from the planetary well the ship wasn't trying to head straight back to the systems third planet, rather it was heading at an angle to head back out-system.
I wonder where they think they're going? Do they mean to change course once away from the cordon to catch the third planet? Or are they going somewhere else? Hmm. "Can we fold to a place in front of them do you think?"
The carrier captain looked uncomfortable for a moment. "I don't think so, we're still in the gravity well commander, we can't fold with any rate of success. And at the speed the battleship is going we will be left too far behind within half a day if we are forced into a stern chase. I can try to cut their course, but I doubt even that will allow us to catch them. I think it's up to the mech forces to slow them down enough for the rest of us to catch them."
Miriya nodded. Meltraedi and Zentraedi ships were built to last and to take a lot of punishment but not to be fast, a rule that even skirmish fleets and their ships followed, though to a lesser extent than the larger ships of the main combat fleets like Breetai's. "Very well, we'll launch at once. With our superior engines we should catch up to them a little later than Kyron's forces." With that she turned and ran off the bridge. Our time has come my Micronian adversary.
About two hours after the Macross left Jupiter's atmosphere, the battlepods from the one remaining force near them hit the mines the ship had begun to drop as soon as they could. These battlepods however only lost about fifty of their number before the ships behind them, who couldn't catch up with the space fortress, began to fire after it, forcing the barrier systems to block a few shots from the ships massive engines and clearing paths through the mine field. Within another thirty minutes the pods had caught up, and the Defender's began to fire. The light autocannon once again proved its worth and the attacking pods began to die. As they came on entering their defensive areas the Valkyrie squadrons met them with missile and rifle rounds.
Ranma kept his flight together, Max on his wing for now, with Motoko and Ben taking Jeffrey and Rachel respectively. All of them were armed as they had been for Suckerpunch, with Ben hovering in the center of their designated section. Both new members had opted for the Fast Pack, though Rachel had also gotten the Defender gun Rick had mounted on his Valkyrie. Their half squad strength made them responsible for a smaller area of space on the opposite side of the aft portion of the ship from which the battlepods were attacking, which in turn kept them from getting too caught up in the dogfight.
Ben was the only one who thought this was a bad thing. He knew he was the only veteran in the group who really hadn't made a name for himself and he wanted to do that badly. "Come on Ranma, let's get it stuck in, there's no point to us just sitting out here!"
Ranma growled, his hairs all standing on end. He knew something was going to happen soon, he just knew it. "Shut it Wild 5, that's an order!" By unanimous vote the designation of the squad was shortened in radio discussions "This is our assigned section," He casually turned his jet slightly and blew up a pod at extreme range as it came into their territory, followed closely by Max and Rachel doing the same to two more. "And we will stay here and fly patrol until otherwise ordered. Do I make myself clear?"
Ben gulped and nodded. "Er roger Wild 1."
That taken care of Ranma closed his eyes, reaching out with his own senses, but he couldn't feel anything, not without hooking up to his radar again, and he didn't want to do that. He popped up his radar screen, noticing that the dogfight on the port side of the aft area of the ship was still going on, and if anything had intensified, but he hadn't heard anything on the radio about the command pod Kyron used so he ignored it for now. The real threat had yet to materialize.
Another fifteen minutes went by, with only a few battlepods entering their engagement zone, with Liz and Max taking most of them out before the others could even target them. Ranma ignored them, concentrating on his senses until, just outside his own radar range, he felt something. "He's coming."
Just as he said this, an all hands call went out from command. "All units, be aware that we have more enemy units incoming from the two carriers on the starboard side of our escape route. Wait for visual confirmation but Vermillion, Wildfire, Skull and Green should fall back now just in case."
Ranma hit his com. "Command, Wildfire one, confirm orders, but you should know it's definitely the new mechs incoming. Suggest you expedite rolling those missile pods out."
Lisa's voice was professional as she answered, though there was a note of concern there that most would have missed. "Reasons Wild 1? Did you use your energy to power up your radar?" The unspoken message was 'you had better not, Kasumi and I warned you what would happen to you if you did and it made your emotional issues worse '.
"Negative command, it's a martial arts thing but not scientific like that, I can just… just feel the enemy ace out there. He's coming, I know it."
The line went silent for a moment and then Gloval's voice came back. "We'll go with your feeling for now commander, you've been right too often for us to ignore this now. I am ordering the switch to omega defense, rolling missile pods out will be expedited."
"Roger, command, Wild 1 out." Ranma switched his com over to the squad frequency, watching as the first pods were jettisoned in a clump, then the next came out in a string from the aft-most hanger. "Alright troops, soon yer gonna go up against the things that so badly mauled us last time, let me tell ya they ain't immortal, but they are damned tough. Stay together, if ya leave yer wingman you'll probably die too fast ta realize it. Keep 'em at long range as much as possible. But if anyone sees a mech marked with a green star on the shoulder and painted purple rather than green and gray, do not engage it, call me in then back the hell off. These guys are bad news, the ace is worse."
Max hearing that became determined to make certain he would engage the enemy ace before Ranma did. If he could, and he was certain their new weapons would make a difference, he would be declared the better pilot, and that would put everything back to the way it should be.
Not five minutes later, the space fortress sensors were able to get a visual of the oncoming Zentraedi coming at them from the starboard aft of the ship. The visual showed them all what they had secretly feared, the Gargoyles were coming.
Miriya grinned as she led her forces after the escaping space fortress. Who cared if the ship escaped, what she wanted was another battle with the Micronian ace. She frowned however as her radar picked up several hundred small things in the distance. As she and her force raced toward them she gasped as the small things, barely larger than one of her mechs outstretched arms, started to spout missiles at twice the range of her own. "All units slow advance and prepare to receive missile fire."
All around her the Queadluun Rau slowed bringing up their arms to use their triple barreled pulse lasers. The first rank with Miriya among them began to fire, small pulse of lasers flicking out and impacting the oncoming missile swarm. Some still got through but as the other ranks began to come around, above, below and to the flanks of the first rank, they added their fire to the anti-missile defense. Missiles still came through, taking out a few units, but the majority of them were shot down. The Queadluun Rau came on, destroying the pods as they came.
Lisa cursed luridly in the privacy of her mind as she analyzed what had happened. The new enemy mechs had used some of their fearsome weaponry to good effect against the missile swarm, slowing down some to do it, but nowhere near enough. Damn it, to make the missile launchers effective we'll have to engage with Valkyries at the same time. She knew this would mean far more casualties among the Veritech forces, but if they didn't then the Veritechs would be facing the mechs anyway without the missiles aid, and casualties would be far worse then, even if the battle happened in the Defenders autocannon envelope. Their autocannons needed nearly twice as many shots to kill these new mechs as the old battlepods and they never stayed still that long. "Omega defense squadrons move to engage the incoming enemy mechs on the aft starboard side in conjunction with the next missile pod cluster."
Only someone who knew Lisa very well could make out the anger in her voice, but Ranma took the news in stride. He hadn't thought the missile assault would have worked much anyway, but the way it hadn't was telling. "They ain't acting at all like the other alien mechs."
A chorus of 'huh's' responded to that and he elaborated. "The Zentraedi forces we've all been dealing with don't give a damn about their own lives in relation to their mission. They'd never've slowed down to take out the missiles they'd have just kept coming, soaking up the casualties. Instead these guys slowed down, acted as a trained force ta the threat. Some of the units in the back may not catch up with us now."
As he finished speaking the enemy mechs drew into missile range and the pods and Veritechs of the four squadrons of defense omega fired. Ranma though kept his own missiles back and simply flew forward. The missiles did more damage this time, but nowhere near enough to stop them from closing. The Veritechs fell back, trying desperately to keep the range open, but the enemy mechs poured on the speed from their ventral thrusters closing the distance before most of them could. Several mechs and Valkyries began to fight it out, more of the enemy dying for a moment then the Valkyries began to die as well. Even with their new armaments they still didn't have quite the firepower or agility of the Gargoyles. Wildfire was faring better than the others, since Bens armored variant gave him far more firepower than they had and a defensive envelope to fight under but the fighting was tough and fierce even there, and Motoko engaged the enemy in close to keep them away from the newer pilots.
Max saw two of Vermilion die under the fire of one enemy mech in a mere second and grinned recognizing the markings on it. Two more blew up as he got behind it, dodging fire from another mech. "Have a bead on their leader, going in."
Ranma cursed and followed after his wingman. "Max, damnit get back here! You're no match…"
Miriya scowled irritably as another Micronian got in the way of her searching for her enemy. This one shot at her with his under slung rifle from behind, changing to its half and half mode and firing from the hip, its new arm mounted missile launchers firing rapidly. Miriya swiftly turned on her head, shooting back towards him. The enemy mech tried to keep his distance, but Miriya used a few mini-missiles to bracket the fighter, forcing it to dodge to the side rather than straight back. This allowed her to close with him faster than he could react to and closer than he had apparently expected judging from his trying to fire at her former position.
He was able to change into his Destroid mode and attempt to engage her in hand to hand with the blade stuck onto the end of his rifle but she had trained herself further in this type of combat and she grabbed one of his thrusting arms, pulled him toward her and almost crushing his Destroid's head with an elbow blow with her other arm.
She then kicked him away, as she dodged a laser blast by leaping up and forward doing a somersault in space before blasting back at her real enemy. "At Last!"
Max gasped as his canopy nearly cracked in front of him, only remaining in one piece thanks to the armor strengthening technique then gasped again as Ranma came flashing in, saving him from further damage from the enemy ace. He was still functional, but he knew now he couldn't face that alien ace again. Its whole attitude toward Max had been 'you're in the way', not as if he posed a credible threat. I guess I won't be the best pilot after all! The thought left a bitter taste in his mouth.
Still, the dogfight was still going on around him, and he could make a difference elsewhere. Good enough to be one of the elite, but never the best. And again the thought was bitter.
Ranma flew after the enemy ace, arching in and away, transforming to and from soldier mode in the blink of an eye as he tried to keep the range close only for the enemy ace to open it up again. He dodged several small green laser blasts only to look up and realize the enemy mech had just unloaded her entire mini-missile allotment in one huge swarm. Oh shit. The only thing that saved Ranma was the fact that at the same moment four missile launchers targeted the enemy ace, distracting it and forcing the enemy mech to deal with a missile swarm herself.
Ranma changed into soldier mode, grabbing the electron cannon he had once more taken from Kyron with one hand, the magnetic clamp on his arm that had held it giving way to his frantic grab as that hand began to fire frantically with his original rifle. He blazed out, one shot per mini-missile as the swarm closed in on him, using the Fast Pack arm missiles to good effect at the same time, eyes flickering from one target to the next almost too fast for the system to keep up with.
He held his ground till the last second then rocketed upward still firing on the missiles that had climbed to follow him, then around and around until the last missile died, leaving him with only a few of his own and with the power cells on both guns dead.
After replacing the charges in his guns he swiftly reoriented himself, turned and charged to meet the enemy ace who had just finished off her own missile swarm. She got off a few blasts from her main cannons, but only one impacted his jet mode on its left wing, and he ignored it, having increased his armor enough to deal with it. Transforming at point blank range into his soldier mode he dodged under two follow on shots then grabbed the enemy mechs legs as it came up in an attempt to kick him. Before he could do more he had to dodge again two more blasts from his opponent's main cannons. Using the impetus of his backward roll Ranma changed into his guardian mode upside down, firing back hard with his electron cannon and rifle.
The enemy mech twisted to the side letting some of his shots go past and taking the other shots on his side armor. Ranma thrust forward again taking two more shots to his mech's main body as he transformed. He responded weapons blazing point blank taking out the shoulder guards and one of the lasers clusters under slung his enemies arm, who pulled away trying to get some range between them, something that Ranma knew he couldn't let happen.
Ranma spat out blood as he transformed into fighter mode, gunning his engines with one hand as the other checked his ribs. Now I know what the doc meant, that felt like I'd taken a couple of Herb's ki blasts ta the chest. But Ranma was no stranger to pain, and he ignored it now easily.
The two aces flashed together then apart, again and again, the power armor trying to keep the range open, with Ranma trying to keep in close, transforming in and out of his modes trying to take advantage of their different shapes and moves to keep his opponent guessing, not that he was having much luck, but neither was the enemy able to open the range. He had also lost his stolen rifle, and even his knife after taking that out.
He kicked out, catching the power armor in the chest with a kick and following up by bringing his hands together and "Moko Takabashi!"
The enemy mech was prepared for this however and dodged down even as he brought his hand together. Ranma barely had enough time to gape before the enemy hammered into his side with a round house kick following up with two cannon shots that almost nailed him in his back but he used his leg thruster to dodge them, retaliating with another few shots with his rifle and head mounted lasers.
Miriya smirked even as she dodged her opponent's fire. Watching the matches between the Micronian and Kyron had proved useful already, though his increased speed and reaction time were troubling, far more so in person than they had in the battles she had seen since. For every blow she landed with gun or fist he landed six, and even the armor of her specially reinforced Queadluun Rau couldn't take this punishment for much longer. She winced as the Micronian got in close again and his fist smashed into her power armor's side caving it in a little, enough to bruise her but not enough to break a rib. Another blow, this time with his edged weapon smacked into her head, but she had moved just enough to let it scrap along the side rather than penetrate. She retaliated by kicking out hard, forcing the Micronian away enough to fire her main cannons, but the Micronian fired back.
Once again the Micronian mech showed its surreal resiliency by surviving the cannon shots, only gaining more dents while she gritted her teeth in anguish as her cannons blew up under her enemies fire. She could feel her chest sear underneath the small explosions that occurred as they blew. It was not enough however to take her out of the fight, which she proved by using her remaining pulse lasers to stitch up her opponents side and the mechs head, taking out its visor and one of the lasers.
Ranma shook his head for a moment to clear his eyes from the blood that was now pouring down his forehead. Transforming into his jet mode he went after the other mech, but instead of changing into guardian or Destroid mode when he closed, he rammed the other mech in the stomach then tried to use his lasers point blank. But the other mech wrenched away at the last second then reached out and crushed one of his wings.
Ranma transformed into his soldier mode, and crashing an open palm into his opponent's unarmored shoulder, destroying the movement actuators, taking a kick in turn that bent him over. He barely dodged out of the way as the Zentraedi's other hand came up bringing the laser cluster underneath it to bear pulsing out several blades of green light. When it turned to track him Ranma grabbed it kicking out hard and nearly ripping that arm out of its socket before the enemy boosted its thruster into him, nearly cracking his canopy, the chest of his mech nearly caving in. Ranma could feel his ribs cracking, and he may have begun to bleed internally from that blow.
Gods none of my body hardening techniques are working to stop the pain and my batteries are nearly empty too. I gotta do something quick. Dropping the armoring technique, he started to channel all his ki into his soldier modes limbs. He began to move faster, fists and feet a blur. The alien mech could still keep up with him slightly, but not enough to do more than hit back a few times, doing damage but not enough to protect itself.
Ranma shouted the words "Katchu Tenshin Amaguriken!" aloud in the emptiness of his cockpit spitting out the blood in his mouth even as the speed and his enemies armor began to destroy his mechs fingers and his own broke in sympathetic reaction.
He kept up the attack for ten minutes, forcing his arms to continue to pummel his enemy, using his thrusters to stay close despite the momentum he was imparting to his target with every blow. Even at this speed the enemy mech was able to block some of the blows and return a few, causing Ranma to grit his teeth in further pain as his own mech was hammered further.
Ranma at last ran out of energy, his arms dropping uselessly to his side and his thrusters only powering him enough to crash chest to chest with his enemy. The two mechs tumbled through space together, neither of them in any shape to move.
Inside her cockpit Miriya gritted her teeth in pain, every part of her body hurt. That speed enhancing move had literally pummeled her Queadluun Rau to scrap. She could barely move her own head, let alone her power armor's. And despite that she was ecstatic, this fight had been the best she ever had and even though she lost (she couldn't move at all, and she assumed her enemy could still do so) that speed move was possibly something she could get to work for her. Oh I am so learning how to do that. And maybe I can figure out a way to do those strange energy attacks. I have no idea how, but somehow I will find a way.
She looked out through her view screen out at the other pilot's cockpit through the cracked glass of it and at the other pilot, both cockpits lit by interior emergency lights. Her eyes widened as she saw how much blood there was splattered around the interior of its cockpit and body. It must have something to do with his new speed and reaction time but I wonder what it could be.
She was further struck by the color of the Micronian's blood. Their blood is the same color as ours. She chuckled darkly, wincing as the action made her ribs ache. I should know I'm certainly bleeding enough myself at the moment.
For a moment the two ace pilots stared at one another, not able to make out any details through the two armored visors but somehow connecting in a way neither would ever be able to describe to anyone else.
Ranma stared out of his cockpit into the alien's eyes, communicating something, connecting somehow. It wasn't anything religious, nor was it any kind of emotion. Rather it was an understanding that for all their differences the two of them shared a single drive, an imperative that was at the center of their being: to be the best, to conquer all obstacles, match all challenges and rise above them stronger.
His musings were interrupted by a load voice coming in over his com. "Wild 1, Wild 1 do you read me, you are falling out of the envelope, if you don't start moving now, you'll be left behind! Wild 1, do you read me?" Lisa sounded professional but the worry and love he heard in that tone was enough to drag him back to the real world and get him moving.
He concentrated, gathering his energies and slowly, painfully pushing off his opponent nearly retching as the momentum thus imparted made them both spin out of control for a second until he lit off his thrusters. "I, I hear ya command. Gonna try to head back now. I, uh, I, might not be able ta make it back, and no way am I gonna land easy."
"Roger." Lisa's voice now sounded far more controlled, but Ranma could still hear the worry in her voice. "Get back here fast Wild 1 you're almost too far away to catch up."
"Roger." Ranma pushed off his enemy entirely looking at the other mech for a moment. Slowly his joints creaking he raised his mangled fists and held up one finger in each hand. Still holding up that finger one hand smacked his own chest, and the other smacked the other mech. "One to one. Next time will break the tie. Until then."
Ranma turned and poured all his remaining ki and battery power into his thrusters as he transformed slowly to his jet mode. With a soundless roar of superheated air he jetted off.
Miriya smiled through her bleeding lips at her opponent's silent message but then swiftly hit her radio as she saw her troops still pushing the assault. "Let them go, all flights break off the attack."
One of her flight leaders asked "Let them go leader, but we're breaking through!"
"Let them go. They still might have a multitude of those missile launchers in reserve, and in close with their other mech types in support we'll take more casualties, which isn't worth it right now. If they do our disorganization from the dog fights will cause too many casualties. Pull back now, and someone come and get me. I'm not able to move under my own power at the moment."
The flight commanders all replied, breaking off just as more missile launchers were ejected from the fortress. The few who didn't obey orders to break off died under their fire.
Miriya lay back in her body glove, wincing as even that little shift made her body explode in pain. She and her opponent would meet again, and it would settle everything.
end chapter
as always read and review. this was a beast to write in many ways, simply because I wanted the fight to be desperate, and I wanted Kyron's forces to be decimated, and figuring out how to do that and write it down was really tricky.