I don't own Ranma or Robotech, god damnit!
Some Reviews I'd like to mention:
CJ-Cold: thanks for the great review as always, yeah Lisa's emotions are on a bit of a roller coaster at this point. not that she's the only one.
Liarfalseliar, zmanjz: thank you both, this kind of battle, with all its disparate parts and points of view is very always very hard to get right, and its nice to know my work is appreciated.
Janissa: I think you will get a kick out of the Meltraedi portions of this chapter, and going forward. Just remember the old saying of a pebble on top of a mountain...
TJG: thanks as always for your thoughtful and insightful review, but please telepathy on me! I think you'll like the various reactions in this chapter, I'm trying to make it realistic but not totally real if that makes any sense.
Oh, thought you all might be amused to know that story in Microsoft word can get so long the spellcheck will no longer work. I mean there are just some words you don't want to add to your dictionary, ya, ta, etc, and they add up. How amusing is that?
Some people have pointed out that my stories have spelling and wording errors. Realize that I use Dragon Naturally Speaking, and it isn't easy to notice all the mistakes when reviewing it especially with words like 'were' and 'we're' or things like that. If you notice them and want to mention them in a review, please tell me exactly where they are and I will go back and correct them.
Some other people have mentioned the Meltraedi reaction to chocolate, which will be explained a bit further in this chapter, but it will not be a huge issue, just a funny one. The Meltraedi will play a prominent role in this chapter though, so we will see what happens there
Chapter 22 Earth has Issues
As the Gargoyles retreated following their leader up to their motherships Rick dove down to pick up Ranma's comatose body from the waves. His curse had activated when he fell into the ocean and he had become a she, but hadn't woken up from the shock of it. Just by looking out of his cockpit Rick could see that Ranma's injuries were pretty severe, and he shook his head. "Why the hell do you keep doing this to yourself, Ranma?" With his free hand he reached down and grabbed a handy, hold on Ranma's Veritech, knowing that if he left it behind to sink Ranma would have his hide once he woke up.
As he flew back to the ship, the rest of Skull squadron and the remaining survivors from the battle were heading in. Surprisingly all of the thirty who had started this fight coming out of the Macross had survived, but that was not at all the case with the troops coming in from the 5th Fleet. Of the ten squadrons that had entered the fight, only two of them came out with all of their members intact, the others ranged from entirely wiped out to down to two or three pilots. A little over a third of that damage had occurred when the alien ace had joined the main battle, and another third had occurred when three squadrons tried to head off the Gargoyles as they circled the ship assuming they would be joining the main battle. They found to their horror that the Gargoyles were much more maneuverable than they were and their armor negated the Valkyries extended range. Not a single one of those three squads made it back. This outcome, along with the losses sustained in the battles over Belgium would send a shockwave of consternation and fear through the fighter pilot community.
Lisa was handling bringing in the survivors who would be resupplied before heading back to their fleet. However a new variable was quickly added as the space fortress sent out the all-clear signal. A civilian plane, small but very, very fast entered the space fortress's radar envelope, coming in like a bat out of hell towards the space fortress. Vanessa picked it up quickly and Claudia sent out a signal asking its intentions. The replies she got back surprised her almost as much as the call earlier that day from the industrialist who wanted to board the ship. "My name is Dr. Pierre Dugraith, I understand that you have alien corpses aboard?"
Claudia blinked, "well I guess you could say that yes. We were after all boarded, but sir this is…"
"Excellent. I want as many specimens as I can get, so many questions to ask and to answer about these aliens."
Claudia blinked again, then shrugged. She well knew that any information they could get about the aliens was a good thing. It went against military logic, but information trumped that in her mind. "Very good, sir, please direct your plane to hangar five. It will be kept free for you."
The doctor's pilot replied, and Claudia shook her head. "Egg-heads," she muttered.
By this time Lisa had moved on to directing the cleanup duties inside the ship, leaving Gloval free to work on the casualties list and speaking with the 5th fleets admiral. The fleet had taken a ferocious pounding battling it out with the alien battleships that Kyron had sent after it while he led the boarding assault. One battleship, three Aegis cruisers, and five destroyers had been lost in the battle, though only one of the destroyer had gone down with all hands. Gloval was quick to send out his helicopters (of which the ship had four, it was supposed to have fifteen but hteo hters had been taken apart for their metal long since) and everything else he could on SAR to help them.
He was also working closely with Claudia on another little project, which he was going to call Defiance. It was a video compilation of the battle that just occurred, as well as a brief introduction detailing their trip back to earth, which would be covered in more detail in the movie that was already being planned by Claudia and others. This one though was not meant to convey information, or anything else, it was simply, well the name implied, a call to battle against all odds. Henri was a good judge of his fellow man, and knew it would be well received by many of the different nations in the world, which would hopefully help put the civilians behind the idea of an all out war.
Lisa too was busy dealing with the detritus of battle. There have been so many Regulds attacking the interior of the ship but they were still finding a few in odd places, having been cut off or trapped during the battle by the navy sappers she had used to funnel, direct and eventually crush several prongs of the almost mindless boarding assault. The orders came out crisp and clear as normal as she helped Mannstein direct his forces around the changed landscape of the space fortress. The damage had been pretty severe in some areas. One of the factories was completely destroyed though they were finding the bits and pieces of nearly a 100 battlepods in its rubble. The Spartans that made their stand there had sold their deaths dearly. Indeed, little stories of heroism were everywhere as the Tomahawks companies moved through the rubble, and pride warred with grief in all of them. Mannstein had already put in a recommendation that every Spartan operator, both surviving and dead be given the Medal of Valor for their actions in this battle.
Nothing Lisa did showed her grief at their losses, nor the rising tide of guilt for ordering her boyfriend, her lover, into a battle she knew he could not win. However on the inside she was slowly breaking down, terrified of having to explain to Kasumi how she might have ordered Ranma to his death.
Elsewhere others viewed the outcome of the days battles in a far better light.
Azonia had watched the unfolding events with no small amount of glee. While she would have preferred to take Kyron's head herself and make it into some kind of tasteful light fixture or something, this was just as well. She laughed a little at the thought that this had been truly a victory of the intelligent thoughtful mind over sheer numbers and brutality. Kyron had again and again thrown his ships, his battle pods and his people into fights never really learning from his past mistakes and his entire clan fleet had paid the ultimate price for following him so unquestioningly.
Her smile widened as Athena came through the hatch to the bridge of her command ship. "Well done Athena," she praised holding out her hand in welcome. While not nearly as close to Athena as she was to Sonya, Athena was still one of her best commanders and she grasped the younger Meltraedi's hand firmly.
"The humans on this planet were not nearly as prepared for us as the warriors on the space fortress lady," Athena replied. "Their resistance was organized and had numbers on its side but that was all. We've returned with a lot of the chocolate substance, and I have to say that I… already tried some."
Azonia nodded, that was to be expected after all every Meltraedi among her fleet were curious as to how the males of the humans controlled their females. "And what can you tell me about it?"
"It is strangely…." Athena trailed off trying to figure out how to explain it. "I tasted it, and then well, my mind seemed to shut down. It was, it was an amazing experience, the taste was, it was so powerful that my mind just blanked." One I wish to try again at the nearest opportunity Athena thought to herself. She had in fact hidden a bit of chocolate in her power-suit's cockpit. She would use it for either her personal consumption, or to trade for some of the new clothing designs that were already making their way around the fleet.
Azonia nodded, but inside she was a little worried. She had promised herself that she would start looking at the data Sonya had given her once this operation was over, and it was now, so... "Tell me," she said in a deceptively neutral tone of voice "what do you think of these 'humans'?"
Athena paused again to gather her thoughts, which were just as disorganized about this topic as it had been about chocolate, though for different reasons. They are, milady they are so much like us in so many ways, yet so different at the same times, and so varied among themselves that it is astonishing. What is the purpose of the little ones, the ones that look malformed? What is this society thing?"
And given the 'advancements' that Sonya reported, why do we not have one, thought Azonia as Athena went on. "They seem to fight at times as stupidly as any of the Zentraedi, yet at the same time their individual skill is decent enough, and their sense of duty is to be commended. And that 'song' thing that the space fortress broadcasted before entering atmosphere, that affected us greatly, myself and all of my officers and troops."
Azonia nodded. "That'll be all then. Send some of this 'chocolate' substance to my room, and then get with Miriya and her officers to look over the data from the space fortress for any weaknesses. Take as much time as you need before submitting a plan to me, I have some other work I must be doing."
Athena left the bridge and a moment later Azonia left to enter her own room. She sat down at the computer terminal and began to go over the data Sonja had given her, with an eye to asking the question of how exactly the humans had developed into the odd species they were, as well as marking down all the differences and similarities between her people and them.
The moment Lisa got off shift she literally sprinted off, uncaring of anyone who saw her down to the military hospital wing where Ranma had been brought, the hospital in the city not being open yet due to the damage the city had taken in the assault.
She found Kasumi already there holding Ranma's hand gently as he laid back in bed. His wounds, while severe and consisting of internal injuries, broken ribs and a cracked cranium, as well as shattered bones in his hands had already begun to heal before the astonished doctor's eyes as soon as they had hooked up to a machine that fed him nutrients through direct injection. Kasumi merely smiled at their astonishment and said simply that as long as he had fuel coming in Ranma's body would divert his internal energies to his healing automatically. As long as the brain survived it could do this on a subconscious level. She had seen similar things before, and was unsurprised at the speed with which Ranma could do it now. After all, she thought a little morbidly he's had a lot of practice.
"Kasumi." Lisa greeted her other lover as she moved over to stand by her, her eyes downcast. "I-I'm sorry," she blurted out, looking down at Ranma's broken form.
Kasumi looked up at her in surprise, "What are you sorry for?"
Lisa winced. Evidently Kasumi didn't know that it had been her who had sent Ranma out there, that was good in a way as she would be able to tell Kasumi about it herself, and yet at the same time very bad for the same reason. She breathed in for a moment, gathering herself then began. "I-I was the one who made the call to send him out when the Zentraedi ace showed up, even after Ranma had been so badly battered defending the interior of the ship. I-I knew it at the time, I knew he couldn't face it as battered as he was, but I still did it."
"I could've gotten killed!" She wailed suddenly breaking down entirely, "I could've gotten him kill, he would've died, Ranma would have died and it would have been my fault!" she stopped speaking and started sobbing into her hands at that point.
She was surprised to feel Kasumi's arms go around her enveloping her in a hug. She looked up in surprise through her tears and saw Kasumi smiling at her. "Don't beat yourself up about it." She said softly. Look at it this way, Ranma is a fighter, he always wants to fight the strongest opponent he can, and he wouldn't have forgiven you from not sending him out." Lisa still looked a little teary-eyed it and guilty, and Kasumi said sternly "stop that. How many lives were saved by you sending him to fight the ace?"
Lisa frowned. "I-it was tearing through all of our Valkyries like they weren't even there, it's gotten better since we first fought. I, I honestly think it could've wiped out all of the Valkyries remaining from the 5th Fleet and then started in on our own Valkyries."
"Then there you have your answer," Kasumi said smiling and leaning in to kiss Lisa gently on the lips. "You cannot blame yourself for doing your duty Lisa. Neither I nor Ranma will ever expect you to be less than what you are. What you are is an excellent tactician, a soldier and a officer. I knew," she paused, looking down at Ranma her face now a little sad in turn. "I knew what I was signing up for when I started to fall in love with him, I knew what would happen if he ever joined the space forces. It will never be, It will never be easy for me to sit here by his side, but I will continue to do so because that is who he is. And I will continue to support you as well, as that is you who you are and that is who I am. So long as you both continue to come back to me, I will be here, waiting."
Lisa shook her head and gathered the other girl into a hug kissing her softly on the lips. "Thank you." She said and then the two of them sat holding one another as the monitors around Ranma continued to beep.
Nodoka, who had stopped in to see him, smiled in the doorway and left the two girls to themselves, thanking the fates that had brought the three together.
Miriya was also dealing with the emotions of the battle that had just occurred but there was no one to help her with them. Her injuries were minor, a broken rib and her hand twitching occasionally it was only the mental trauma that was bothering her. The sight of her adversary, standing on his down fighter, bleeding broken, yet still willing to fight, had affected her profoundly in ways she had never been before. She had come to respect the human Ranma after their first match, and had known they shared a sort of kindred soul after their second. But this, their third meeting merely left her frustrated, sad, and something else she could not define.
I won, yet at the same time the outcome doesn't please me, it wasn't a true victory, not one between him and I on an even footing, it almost felt, it almost felt unfair as if that word exists in the realms of war and combat. I could have ended it there, but something was stopping me, something inside me wouldn't let me do it. After a moment she nodded, coming to a conclusion, not the right one but it was one she could understand. My subconscious knew I would not be happy with a victory like that, I would have felt unfulfilled, I would always question if I truly was better than him. No, he and I will have to meet again, no tricks no nothing, just one on one, a final match to decide everything. Yet even that thought bothered her in some undefined way, yet could not really come to grips as to why.
About two hours after she began looking over Sonya's information Azonia was interrupted in her perusal by a knock on her staterooms door. "Come," she answered and a pilot with the unit tab of the 15th wing walked in carrying a hand sized chunk of chocolate. It had been scooped out of the bins they had been taken from around Brugge, and she deposited it rather reluctantly on the admiral's desk. "A sample of the chocolate substance you asked for lady."
Azonia nodded and dismissed her before reaching out and breaking off a small chunk of this hard black substance. She popped it into her mouth, and the next hour sort of went away for her…
This was in fact happening to every single Meltraedi who tried chocolate. Food in every fleet of the Zentraedi, and the Meltraedi as well was pretty much the same, tasteless nutrient glop that came in paste form and was doled out in packages like thin tubes. There was no variety there was no change, simply water and a paste tube, and sometimes the highest ranking officers had stim-sticks. The nutrient tubes were supposed to be tasteless, yet they were in fact the foulest tasting things in the galaxy worse than any kind of human MRE had ever been. To go from that to tasting chocolate was a shock to the system, and every Meltraedi who tried it decided then and there that they were not going back to the nutrient pastes if they could help it. A very surreptitious and clandestine movement began in the intelligence departments of every battle group that began to try and figure out what this cooking thing was, as they knew that they could not live on chocolate alone, as even the many who tried to gorge on it found they were still hungry, and the energy rush it gave them dissipated quickly. It simply did not have the nutrients required to sustain them for long periods of time, though the extra energy again for short periods was welcomed.
The reverberations of the surprise attack on Belgium began almost immediately and were felt from the highest to the lowest position of the UN space forces and every government the world over. Not only was fact that there were aliens out there and that they were deadly now a fact that everyone on the planet knew (despite the UN still controlling most of the international communications), the losses sustained against the Gargoyles and against Kyron's fleet had given new credence to the space fortress's account of its battles to make it back to Earth.
Every nation in the world began to call for some kind of response or plan, riots were breaking out in cities the world over, and the United Nations Political Council was calling for mass resignations of the high command, not so much for not taking a proactive stance but for trying to keep information from them, and all of them were putting forth their own candidates to replace them. The high command had bunkered down and tried to reason with them, but very few were in a mood to be reasoned with.
In America the factions had split almost entirely. One group wanted to maintain the status quo and felt that putting all of America's efforts into building the Grand Cannon scheduled to be built in its territory would be sufficient to defend itself. This faction was led by the president, who had backed Admiral Hayes for so long, and Hayes himself, who maintained his authority over a sizable force stationed in the Atlantic and along the Eastern coast. The president's faction controlled many of the cities, as well as the largest amount of population.
The other faction however controlled the majority of the industrial capacity, and they felt that idea was so much bullshit. The same day the attack occurred, several factories that had been quiet for over a year due to lack of materials coming in started up again and America was once more in the ship building business in a big way, and military bases along the Pacific coast and in the heartland had already broken away from Hayes to back this push. This split would almost certainly cause problems down the road, possibly even spark a civil war, but it was to be hoped it would simply be a financial and social war rather than a shooting war.
This same duality could be found in the world as a whole. Many of the governments of the world were backing the high commands plan (as opposed to the people) after they were told about the Grand Cannon scheme. Many felt that this would be the best way to defend the planet, regardless of the fact that it could be scientifically proven it wouldn't work. The Grand Cannon, and deep, deep bunkers it was felt would be enough to protect the human race from bombardment from space.
Several other governments however didn't think that way, and were willing to think outside the box as well as offensively to look for ways to protect their people and humanity. And it was this group that Gloval was contacted by the day after the battle on the frequency written out on the paper that Admiral Prescott had slipped into his pocket.
He was in the secure communications room aboard the space fortress and after a few moments as security programs and scramblers went into action, six separate images appeared on the screen facing him. Admiral Prescott was one of them, and Gloval wondered where he was speaking from.
He was in fact speaking from a military base in Brazil. He had left Fort winter about an hour before the Battle in Belgium ended. "Captain Gloval" he said formally, his earlier personable manner gone as it had been since he learned of his younger brother's death. "Well done in this last engagement. I understand that you were boarded, and you believe that one of the alien admirals is dead?"
Global nodded, before looking at the other four faces. "Yes sir, I believe that the alien named Kyron, who I would characterize as a blunt, practically berserk hothead along with his entire fleet is now no longer a threat. Kyron himself is dead, commander Sugita of the Wildfire squadron killed him during the boarding action Kyron lead against us. The rest of his fleet was badly mauled during our break out over Jupiter, and by our estimation the rest of his fleet died in irbit and in the battle against the 5th fleet yesterday. I would like to recommend Admiral Douglas and his entire fleet for their actions in that battle, they performed in an exemplary fashion."
Well, except for their Valkyrie squads, who were just completely unprepared for the reality of facing the massive numbers of Regulds and the amount of time a battle against the Zentraedi could last, let alone the Gargoyles. But pitting a fleet of practically obsolete water going vessels against five space-worthy battleships and winning, that was phenomenal, which said nothing about the uneven exchange the submarines had forced. Two for twenty-five was simply fantastic, though against the Zentraedi they would probably have to exchange two for two-hundred-fifty in the long run.
"This last assault was an all or nothing attack for some reason I cannot fathom, as he used most of his remaining fleet to draw our attention while he led a smaller group in on a boarding action from below, which was the group the 5th fleet attacked. The boarding action failed, but the fighting severely damaged the interior of the ship. We will be going sorting out the damage and repairing it for weeks."
Prescott nodded and then took command of the conversation. "I understand you might be wondering who these other gentlemen are so let me introduce you. From my right is the Prime Minister the right Honorable James Bond, next to him is the American secretary of defense and marine brigadier Alastair Stephen." Alastair was actually the highest ranking member of the federal government to split from the president's party and join the proactive faction, but he had also served through two presidents before the present one. "Next to him is the Indian Prime Minister, next to him is the chief of the Russian FIS, and next to him the Israeli minister of defense."
As the most senior of the group the Prime Minister of Britain took control of the discussion from Prescott. "Earth is not monolithic," he stated frankly. "It never has been, and humanity as a whole does not have the right mentality to be so. The UNSF was a fantastic idea that many countries grabbed onto to prevent further wars among humanity and to give us a goal that could take us to the stars. But it was never intended to dominate everything as it had begun to in the past seven years or so, nor was it made so a few set-in-their-ways admirals could make decisions that could mean the life or death of our entire race! We have been working behind the scenes for years now, and with the news of the alien attacks, you can already see their control is breaking, but that was not the only reason that our little cabal came into being. The larger portion of our remit, our mandate is the saving, salvation and continuance of the human race through as many different means as possible."
The Indian Prime Minister took up the tale. "To put it bluntly Captain we have all our eggs in one basket, and it is a very flimsy one. I have had my military people looking at the data you forwarded to the high command about the aliens capabilities and power, as well as analyzing the fleet in orbit around Earth at present. Even if we had two or even three of the Grand Cannon's online now, a single fleet of that size would be able to wipe out all life on earth. And we understand from the information you were able to glean from one of your own boarding actions that it is a small force in comparison to one of their main fleets?"
Global nodded. "Indeed sir. I have no idea what force differential the aliens use, but the fleet above us seems to represent a special group, heavy assault and point defense possibly, with elite units but a finite force. Besides that we know that there are at least thirteen main fleets and a hundred smaller skirmish fleets like the one led by the alien Kyron that pursued us to its own destruction. Anyone of those fleets would be capable of rendering Earth uninhabitable if they wanted to. In point of fact I am at a loss as to why they haven't done so yet. I had assumed that the proto-culture generator that they were concentrating solely on us, but the fleet above Earth and its actions yesterday have thrown that out the airlock."
Alistair nodded grimly, his voice coming out gravelly from too many years of shouting orders as a marine officer long ago. "That was our thought as well. While deep bunkers might help some of the survivors live through such a holocaust, we need to look towards the stars for our future now more than ever."
Prescott broke in again at this point. "Operation Ark is an operation to place enclosed colonies deep into the atmosphere of Jupiter and Saturn. From your reports this plan seems doable, more we want to industrialize Jupiter as far as we can, which is something I understand you have already begun."
The Russian head of intelligence pushed a button and a schematic appeared showing a very crude factory ship, much like the ones that Dr. Lang and his scientists had devised, only larger with crew quarters, a much larger environment section, and even heavier exterior armor. By the size of a little chart next to it the whole thing would be around half the size of the space fortress.
Prescott punched a few buttons, and other ship types popped up. One ship was obviously built along the same lines as the Hercules missile ship, others were much more streamlined. "We have fifteen combat ready spaceships scattered around the globe in hidden docks just waiting to have their crew filled out" said Prescott softly. "The only problem is they can't lift off without being immediately seen by the aliens. We have over twenty in construction, and most of those will finish in the next two months. Now that segments of the American industry and other entire countries are going to be openly supporting us with more of their resources, this could just be the start. We also have this," and he pushed another button and Gloval gasped. On the screen was now an image that looked almost exactly like the SDF-1, except it was obviously was in a dry dock somewhere. "This is the SDF-2. Its weapons systems and interior are all completed, all that was required was to fit engines to it, as well as a fold-space drive system."
The Prime Minister of India nodded. "Unless your Dr. Lang has been able to do it, all our efforts at reverse engineering a fold drive have failed. As such all of the ships use regular real-space engines, and the time to get to Jupiter would be measured in months for the military ships, far less the colony ships."
Global sat back thinking for a moment before replying. "We have a spare fold-space drive" he said, not noticing how Prescott and the others stiffened in surprise. "Dr. Lang has been using a drive we removed from a Zentraedi battleship during one of our boarding actions and comparing it to the drive on the Macross, and I know he has developed his own version, though I am uncertain that he shared it the other scientists he has been in contact with just yet. He has several ideas he hasn't shared yet, simply because he wanted to test the waters before sharing many of them. Now if you say we can get some more backing behind a military buildup then I am certain he will be willing to share more. But what specifically do you want of me sirs?"
"You will be sent a dedicated computer bank that will contain within it everything about the human race, its history, its art and everything else that can be added to it just in case, as will every ship we put into space. You will also be taking on civilians as well as a massive number of reinforcements. I understand that you have already been contacted by the industrialist Lon-Cao? You will be given everything we can give you to make you as independent as possible. Then, I am afraid you will be ordered to leave earth." Bond said, his face unyielding, yet his eye showed that he knew what this would cost the Macross and those aboard it. "We need time captain, we need it desperately, and we need the Zentraedi to be concentrated on you to the exclusion of Earth. Your ship, and what they think it contains can take their attention away from us. We want you to leave in a month maximum to give us that time."
Gloval frowned, but he had known the moment they mentioned the ships they had already made that this would be asked of him and his crew. "How long do you expect us to buy you?"
"Three months minimum, hopefully as much as a year." Alistair said glumly. "Our estimates, well, if we can install fold-space drives on each of our ships, we should have a space fleet worth the name in three months, but building the colony ships will take longer."
"I'll be in charge of that fleet." Prescott said, his eyes hard. "Our first objective will be to take back the moon base and activate the SDF-2, which will serve as my flagship. After that we will remain in Earth orbit until the remaining twenty ships and the colony ships are done. After that, I will lead a force to join you wherever you are, though communication will obviously be tough."
Gloval smirked a little, and the Indian looked at him sharply. "I take it Dr. Lang has something else up his sleeves to address that point?"
Henri smiled a little wider before becoming serious again. "I do not have any issue with hits plan in the short term sir, though three weeks will be pushing it with all the work we need to do, as well as personnel transfer. But yes Dr. Lang has developed something else that uses fold space just last night, something that had him giggling like a child this morning. Now, lets get down to brass tacks. In terms of reinforcements I….."
After she had recovered from her taste induced coma Azonia carefully pushed aside the chocolate and went back to what she had been doing. Within another four hours the questions were piling up, and the answers she was coming up with didn't look very good. History, for example, most humans (she had decided to ignore the question of the 'religions' she had read just enough of this bible thing to give her a headache) had worked out much of what they called evolution. Where did her people come from? Did they ever in fact have a homeworld? A loss of that scale could explain why their hate for the Invid was so fierce. The humans however had written records of all their histories. The fleets didn't keep anything like that. In point of fact when she was young she had been discouraged from keeping even trophies of past battles. There was nothing, absolutely nothing written down, not even records of past battles, not that she or the Meltraedi as a whole had any access to at any rate. Why?
The nearest human 'culture' that she could find that matched the one of her people were the Spartans of ancient Greece: Devoted entirely to warfare, with a warrior caste that was devoted to war to the exclusion of everything else. Yet if that was the case, where were the people who made the weapons, the ships and nutrient paste? What was worse, that made no sense. The Spartans after all did not develop anything past their original class of combat. If her people had always had a society like that, how in the universe had they ever developed anything space worthy?
Could some disaster have befallen their home system? But if so, where was the information about the disaster? Where was the history of their people? Azonia sighed and put aside that for now, deciding to move on to the 'biological' data. And that was another thing, the humans had words to describe different types and classifications of intelligence. Azonia wasn't certain how knowing how an enemy was put together could help you fight them in a war, after all most warfare was in space and with weapons, but she wasn't ignorant enough to think that not knowing how an enemy thought couldn't be helpful.
So now she looked over the biological data but before that she took another chunk of chocolate, just to protect her against further shocks of course.
Around the world reactions to the alien assaults were ongoing. Many of the European countries around Belgium were simply in shock, Most government officials had never even suspected that the rumors going on about aliens were true, and to see them literally wipe out whole wings of defenders from the bases they all were home to was demoralizing to say the least. A peace movement began in France, quickly taken up in other countries to see if they could sue for peace. If these aliens were so set on getting the space fortress, this group said then maybe humanity should simply give it to them.
Of course this didn't sit well with everyone, and another movement started, that wanted total war. They wanted Earth and its industries to go to a full wartime footing and start churning out the means to take the war to the enemy. Having aliens in control of the orbitals and thus in control of all life on earth did not sit well with them at all.
The reactions among the civilians aboard the Macross to their near brush with death as well as the damage to the city were rather muted all things considered. The ones who were staying aboard simply shrugged and went about their business, knowing that sometimes ships got boarded. The fact that the interior of the ship had been so badly damaged, and that the aliens had suffered so many casualties was seen as a bright spot to them, giving them more work and a visible sign of how hard they navy had fought to defend them.
Kyle tried to stir up the civilian population against the military, but found that even the antimilitary faction was leery of starting anything. They were after all getting off the ship, and that was all they really wanted. He tried to convince Minmei and his parents once again that staying on the ship was suicide, but all three of them were adamant that they were going to remain aboard.
Minmei wanted to do her part in helping keep the morale of the ship up and greatly enjoyed being a singer. She knew that she would not have nearly as good a gig if she had to work with mainline recording companies. She likes the personal atmosphere and knowing her boss like she did, who had also chosen to stay aboard. Indeed, he had asked to bring his whole family aboard from California, and they were in Hawaii already waiting to be brought aboard at the earliest opportunity. More, she had already been asked to star in the movie that would be made about the space fortress's battles in space, which she thought sounded like a lot of fun. Her aunt and uncle too had decided to stay aboard. They had made a living here that was actually better than the one they had when Macross was on Earth, and they had dozens of friends that were staying aboard. They had actually contacted Minmei's own parents to see if they wanted to join them, but been firmly rebuffed.
It finally got to the point where Kyle's father sat him down and said bluntly "son, were not leaving. If you want to stay aboard, you will have to change your attitude. If you don't, we don't want to hear about it. We like the military personnel we interact with, we like Ranma we like Rick and the others. We like being aboard!" What he didn't say was that he and his wife had talked about it in private and both agreed with Lisa that if the aliens finally decided to simply attack Earth rather than observe it the human race would not survive. In that kind of environment, being on the Macross was actually the safest place to be with its history of surviving.
Azonia stood in front of her mirror, a luxury only senior officers had, her face rigid with shock as she held up her naked breasts one hand on each, the sight of her lizard tattoo under one hand bringing no comfort. She and many other Meltraedi had wondered why they were different from the Zentraedi, what female and male actually meant, but learning what her, what did the research call them, tits, were actually for was beyond startling. The idea that they were made to feed little, babies was it? Well, that was beyond startling. Her hand trialed down to her taut stomach, kept so by the Meltraedi 'diet' and her own desire to keep herself fit. Though not nearly as much as the idea of actually carrying such a one inside me. How is that even possible?
She was actually tempted to think the entire idea was some kind of elaborate hoax, but the information came from so many sources, and she had, even as shell-shocked as she was, taken the time to cross reference it from the information they had taken from the internet of the third planet, and it all matched up. It was beyond bizarre to her, but it was also beside the point except for one question, why did her people develop cloning as the only means of reproduction, controlled solely by Dolza? Why were the males and females separated, segregated, if it wasn't because of the female's superiority making the males look bad? What happened to my people to make us the way we are, and what does D-Dolza have to do with it?
That thought was one even harder to consider than the rest, not because there was no proof that Dolza had something to do with how her people were, though there wasn't, but because of the fear his very name evoked in her as in every other Meltraedi or Zentraedi. Yet her anger overrode her fear. Dolza had always been there, looming over her people like a giant as far back as anyone could remember. Whatever happened to her people, he must have been a part of it. Why? Who did this to us?
Her thoughts were interrupted by a sharp rap on her hatch. Azonia heard it and smirked a little, only Sonya would knock on her door that imperiously. "Sonya? Come in."
Sonya entered, closing the hatch behind her. Her eyes widened at seeing her friend standing in front of her mirror naked. Her eyes then flicked over to the computer on Azonia's desk and she smiled a little. "I take it you have taken a look at the biological information I gathered. Disturbing isn't it?"
Azonia mock glared at her friend. "You knew about this and you didn't warn me?"
Sonya smiled sadly and sat on the bed facing her leader. "Would you have believed me?"
Azonia sighed and pulled over her chair to look at her, unmindful of her nudity. The two had often showered together after all, and had equally often shared a bed for comforts sake after hard campaigns. "No, I wouldn't have. What is worse, I have found nothing to silence the questions you gave voice to about our race, indeed I have only found more."
"Oh." Sonya sighed, rubbing at her tattoo nervously. "I was hoping to simply be told I was wrong." She confessed.
"I can understand that, but as an admiral I must look at what is real, not just at what I wish to. No, we as a race have been, stunted, made less than we could be, made into a blunt object, have been manipulated by someone. There is too little information of our past for it to not be deliberate. There has been no progress, no change, we have been stagnate for who knows how long, the purpose of which I do not know."
Sonya nodded, her face firming as she looked at her admiral levelly. "What will we do then lady?"
"That, that I will have to consider. For now nothing, let the fleet see more of these humans, see what we are missing. Eventually we will need to think of the long term, but when we do move, the fleet will need to move as one whatever I decide." Sonya nodded firmly.
After that Azonia deliberately changed the subject, talking about the chocolate substance and asking her friend to describe the foods she had eaten on her spy mission.
That night the two curled up together again in Azonia's bed, and again Azonia lay theire awake, wondering what in the universe she was going to do. That she was going to do something wasn't the question, the question was how to survive turning against Dolza. Time and distance may be the only thing that keeps us alive. That and some misdirection, could keep us safe for now, while the fleet sees more of humanity, more of what they are missing, see the humans as what we could be, as possible allies. Misinformation… hmmm….. Kyron, yes, his attack, heeheh. Kyron your death will serve my people far better than you ever could in life…heheheh. With that thought she fell asleep, her naked form curling up against her friend.
Ranma woke up about a day after she had collapsed, and for once she was still very sore. She sat up weakly, looking over at the side of his/her bed and seeing Kasumi in a chair next to him working on something on her computer, all her attention on the screen before her. Ranma smiled, knowing how Kasumi concentrated so much when working on one of her interior design projects. Slowly she reached out and poked her lover in the cheek, causing Kasumi to shriek with surprise and turn to the redhead. "Ranma!" she exclaimed, and then lunged at her hugging her fiercely. "Are you ok, I know that's a stupid question but…"
Ranma shook her head caressing Kasumi's hair. "I'm okay Kaz-chan. Sorry I worry you so much. It's just…"
Kasumi shook her head in his arms. "If you weren't a fighter you wouldn't be the Ranma I fell in love with" she said softly. "I do worry sometimes that you will go out and not come back, but your track record is such that that doesn't seem very likely to happen anytime soon."
Ranma shrugged. "I don't think it'll happen either, but this Zentraedi ace is really, really just very good. He's getting better every time we fight, hell this time it could have killed me, and it let me live, I don't know what ta make of that one." She reached over and heated up a glass of water by her bedside, pouring it over her head to initiate the change. It was odd, but he knew he healed better if he did so in the form that he took the injuries. That might be in his mind but he believed it, and that was all that really mattered.
Kasumi smiled then took his hand in both of hers. "Let me ask you a question, do you hate the aliens?"
Ranma shook his head, grinning a little at her, and her own smile widened in response. "Ya know me better than that. I don't hate easy, or that , y'know, impersonally. Did I hate them right after Eric died, yeah, I guess I did. But honestly, it's just a waste of time. I just think they're the enemy at the moment, that's all, anything else just gets in tha' way."
Kasumi nodded. "Then is it so strange that one of them has honor, that this enemy ace realized that you were not up to fighting at full strength and thought it would be a hollow victory?"
Ranma slowly shook his head. "Nah it wouldn't be all that strange, especially for one of 'em like the ace, who has a bit of a personality, I can tell that from our fights, he and I are a lot alike really. The Gargoyles as a whole're really different from any of the bastards that worked with Kyron, but that ace is on a whole other level."
"But it is possible." Kasumi said. "And if they have honor, perhaps eventually we will be able to speak with them in peace."
Ranma snorted. "Breetai maybe, I liked him. He was pretty a decent guy, damn tough too from what I saw of him anyway, but Dolza? No he's not going to make peace with us anytime soon."
Kasumi snuggled into his side. "Perhaps not, but I can dream. I know what you'll be dreaming of after all."
"Yep," Ranma said happily, gathering her closer to his side and leaning back against the pillows, "my fist going through his face. That asshole has a lot to answer for." The vision of that planet dying at Dolza's command still haunted Ranma from time to time. He knew then, and he still believed now that such an act was the highest form of, of, well blasphemy was the closest word he could think of, though there wasn't any kind of religious connotation to it. Destroying an entire planet, just a make point, as easily as someone else would order breakfast? No, Dolza was going to die, and hopefully Ranma would be the one to do it.
Athena looked over her desk at Miriya, who lounged there going over the pictures that her group had taken of the exterior of the space fortress. Feeling the other females gaze on her Miriya looked up at her. "What?"
Athena cocked her head to one side. "Why did you let that human ace live?"
"Ranma?" Miriya leaned back stapling her fingers. She had had a day to regain control of her emotions, and now believed more than ever she had let him live for only one reason. "It would've felt hollow, he was so badly injured from fighting inside the space fortress against Kyron's forces, and it wouldn't surprise me at all to find out that he was instrumental in beating off that attack, but fighting inside like that would take away most of his maneuverability and all of his long-range superiority. It would've felt as if Kyron had helped me win." She shuddered dramatically and Athena laughed.
After a moment she said thoughtfully "I can see that, but these human, they're so chaotic. The chocolate is just amazing of course." Miriya nodded emphatically. She had a small sliver, and it had knocked her out for a little under an hour. "Their clothing is wonderful, and how well they fight at times can be respectable at least if you're dealing with the ones on the space fortress. The others haven't shown anything on par with that just yet."
Miriya shrugged. "They are a conundrum yet more and more I am questioning the importance of this whole operation. I realize we were told we had to retrieve a proto-culture generator, whatever that is, but surely beating down one planet and capturing one spaceship isn't as important as taking the fight to the damn bugs." And where in the universe did the space fortress come from anyway? What race built it and this proto-culture thing? They are the ones we should be searching for, not trying to capture this one ship. None of the Meltraedi, not even the oldest like Azonia or Sonya knew about the space fortress was called Zor's battleship, and only a very few of the Zentraedi knew more than the name.
"I know," Athena said, and then looked at the other pilot out of the corner of her eyes, wondering how this was going to be taken. "I wonder why they're so like us in so many ways, and so different in others." After all, if chocolate was this good, what else could be out there waiting for them to taste?
Miriya, rather than taking umbrage at the idea that any other race was similar to the mighty Meltraedi, shrugged. "I don't know, but the more I interact with Ranma across the battlefield, the more I think that we have in common." Athena nodded, and after sharing a small piece of chocolate the two went back to work.
Lisa walked into Ranma's room at the hospital a little reluctantly. She knew what Kasumi had said, but she was still worried how he would react to her. She found Ranma up and working on something on his data-pad with one hand while he ate an okonomiyaki with the other, proof that Ukyo had stopped by earlier, though both Ukyo and Kasumi were busy working in the city on a project at the moment. Ranma looked up as she came in and his welcoming smile both raised her spirits slightly. "Hey Lisa, how are you doing?"
"Shouldn't I be asking you that?" Lisa asked, moving forward to stand by his bed. The two exchanged a kiss that was in no way chaste for several minutes, then she pulled back and looked down at her feet sadly. "I'm sorry."
"Huh? What are ya sorry about?"
She looked up at him and saw he really had no idea what she was talking about. "I'm sorry about having to send you out to fight the ace when you were already injured. You could have died Ranma, and…"
"And nothin'," Ranma said firmly. "Ya did the right thing Lisa, that ace would have butchered the fighters out there. Rick's the only one that could even slow him down." He reached out and grabbed her shoulders, shaking her slightly. "Never doubt yerself like that, do what ya gotta do, that's what makes ya as good a tactician as ya are, that's what makes ya who ya are. And even as injured as I was, I had to be the one out there, not just because I was the best ta do it, but also fer myself, my own sense of honor."
Lisa giggled a little, though she was sniffling too. "You know you can be a real idiot sometimes you know that? But thank you, that means a lot to me." Ranma pouted a little but nodded too and pulled her into a hug, and those were the last words spoken for awhile, the two of them simply taking solace in one another.
Within a day and a half of the survey going out families, especially those families with young children were being escorted off the space fortress to be put ashore in the main port of Hawaii and new civilians and personnel were flowing in. This was in no way a simple operation, but as Ranma didn't have anything to do with it, he didn't realize how difficult it was. Surprisingly Lisa was not involved either. The entire operation had been taken over by Captain Gloval simply because he was far more diplomatic than the blunt and aggressive tactical officer.
Instead Lisa spent the time devising the most optimal force load out for space warfare and directing the refit of the interior of the space fortress. The Valkyries had proven to be the front line and in fact the best defense in space, but on land or in a boarding action like they had just suffered, the Destroids came into their own a bit more, thus the loadout needed to be as good as possible.
To that end, she got rid of the all of the Phalanx destroids they had onboard. None of them were in one piece obviously, their missile arms being scavenged for other jobs, primarily as missile pods, but the rest of the Phalanx body was there, so they still represented a decent force for anyone who didn't know that their tracking gear was utterly useless against the Zentraedi Regulds or Gargoyles in space. She had not informed the Hawaiian base logistics officer about that deficiency in the design, so she was able to trade them with him for a full company of Spartan destroids (minus operators obviously) and half a company of Defenders. Both of them thought they were getting the better of the deal.
After that trade was done she handed off the rest of the resupply to Vanessa. The target force distribution was 2 Spartan companies, enough to defend the ship or board another when backed up by the 2 companies of Tomahawks, 4 companies of Defenders, and one Monster. That brought the total force of destroids to 960 total. That plus a wing of thirty Valkyrie squadrons would be the best load out they could manage. The Veritech squadrons would each have at least six spare planes assigned to each along with their own pilots to replace those down in combat. It was harsh, but the reality was that they would face a rate of attrition never seen in any kind of Air force before this, not even in the world wars, and they had to plan for it. The Veritechs too would be given refitting and maintenaince priority, they were the tip of the psear, and always took more casualties than the destroids,
With the captain handling the inflow and outflow of personnel and Vanessa handling bringing in resources, Lisa handled redesigning the interior of the ship, well, those parts that had been so badly mangled by Kyron's final hurrah. That assault had made it plain that the ship could be vulnerable to a sustained and controlled boarding action, and given the enemy's ECM capabilities neither she nor the captain were sanguine about keeping future assaults away from the ship. In fact if the Zentraedi became willing to pay the price they knew that they couldn't even if they didn't use ECM. So Lisa and a few design boffins began to rearrange the interior to make any boarding assault along the same vector as before ruinously difficult if not impossible. They wouldn't be able to do it for the entire ship yet, that would take months even pouring all their manpower into it, which they couldn't, there were too many other projects that were taking up their time. But they would eventually do it by sections, especially if the influx of new maintenance personnel, which made up the majority of the first two groups of new personnel, could get ahead of the maintenance curve.
She sighed cracking her neck and rubbing one of her shoulders as she deleted a portion of the design for being a structurally unsound. The design team the Hawaii base had forwarded to help with the project were good, but sometimes they didn't realize that interior defense wasn't the only consideration. She idly wondered what the others were doing with their day, and if her friends and lovers were as busy as she was.
Kasumi was busy with her new project in the city with Ukyo though she insisted on keeping it a surprise, but Ranma had released himself from the hospital to go and check out his Valkyrie. He found it where he expected to, tucked away in a hanger bay with a mark saying it was going to be taken apart for spare parts. Ranma sighed and removed that, the maintenance people he had previously worked with had been reassigned, and the new group hadn't been briefed on his particular needs.
He hopped off the truck he had commandeered for this trip and installed one of the batteries he had brought along then got into the cockpit. His Valkyrie responded like an extension of his body and he grimaced in sympathetic agony as he felt the wounds it had sustained. "Sorry my friend, if I could I'd teach ya how ta heal yerself, but as that ain't happenin', a little TLC will have to do." With that he maneuvered the battered soldier mode Valkyrie to lay down on the truck.
After that he got out and began to move around the robot, making notes on his data-pad about the damages and the parts he would need. By this time a maintenance team had spotted him from where they had just started going over Skull Squadrons Veritechs, exclaiming excitedly to themselves about the new parts and weapons modifications they had never seen before. However before their chief could run over and demand to know what Ranma was doing, he had hopped back into the truck and driven off to get the parts he'd need from the nearest depot.
The infuriated maintenance man called in the possible theft, but after giving a description of the thief to Kim was told that it wasn't anything to concern himself with. He shook his head, wondering what that was about but resolutely turned back to his own work.
For his part Ranma would spend the rest of that day and well into the night repairing his Veritech in his own little hideaway aboard the ship, stopping occasionally to rest after infusing it with some of his ki, just like Happosai and Cologne had told them they did to their pipe and walking stick. It was a laborious process that nearly sent him back to the hospital, but in the long run it would be worth it.
As the civilians were being taken off and new groups were coming on, Motoko had gotten leave to go home. She drove Kasumi's plane with Nodoka in the seat behind her and Motoko looked at the wrapped package the other woman had with her a little worriedly. "uh sensei," She said, "I realize I shouldn't ask this given how they've treated me over the years, but please don't try to slice up my entire family."
"Oh, do you think that is a likely outcome of this little trip, why ever would I do that?" the older woman replied looking up in feigned interest.
Motoko groaned. "Just don't start anything okay? I might not like most of the hypocritical idiots, but I really don't want their deaths on my conscience."
That much I can promise," Nodoka replied.
Soon they arrived at the estate, which was a small yet sprawling complex, dominated by an estate in the Japanese style, a single story building with wood and paper siding. Much like the family itself, it showed they were proud of their heritage as Japanese, despite having immigrated here before WW2. In that much at least she could be proud of her family; they had stayed true to the way of the sword, the samurai code, even as they were vilified for a time by the locals because of that heritage. Her family had kept most of their culture intact, and was known for this as well as their swordsmanship throughout the isles and well beyond. They provided guardsmen to high and officials in the local and federal government, and so their eccentricities were overlooked.
If only they were as open to new things as they were prideful in the old she mused as she brought the plane down. They touched down on the property, and Motoko was amused to see that several members had gathered outside to gawk at them. Heh, well I did say I would be arriving by plane, it's their own fault if they didn't believe me.
She pushed open the cockpit and looked out, and she saw faces frowned even further as they recognized their wayward daughter. She refused to be cowed however, and jumped down from the cockpit easily landing on the toes of her feet then pulled off her helmet letting her hair flow out. Behind Nodoka demurely did the same, landing easily and without showing even a hint of leg despite her yukata. Motoko idly wondered how she did that, she knew if she had been wearing a skirt instead of a uniform she would have flashed quite a bit of leg. "You asked me to come," she said calmly, facing her family, "Here I am."
The next two hours were rather interminable as various family members gathered and Motoko and Nodoka were left stewing in a room by themselves, with a servant stopping by serve them tea once or twice. "I'm really sorry about this." the young Hawaiian said, looking over at Nodoka. "If I knew they were going to make us sit here and wait for whatever this is about I wouldn't have bothered coming so early."
Nodoka shrugged. "There is no dishonor accrued to you my dear, you arrived promptly at the time they designated. It is to their dishonor that they were not immediately ready to see you or to deal with whatever they wish you to be here for."
Not 2 minutes after that announcement, they were called into the main hall. Motoko had known from the very beginning that this would not be a pleasant family reunion, but any at hope of it just being a small family matter between her father, mother and her had disappeared the moment she saw how many of her family members were in residence, and now it disappeared entirely seeing them lined up on either side of the dojo hall as if in judgment, with her father at the far end sitting on a raised cushion. The honor sword next to him, the sword of their clan also gave her a clear indication that this was more about honor and face than any kind of desire to reconcile with her.
But if they thought she would be cowed by this show of formal gravity and familial disapproval they were wrong. I've faced space combat against Regulds, Gargoyles and battleships. I've been the tip of the spear in more pitched battles than all here combined and multiplied, and I am one of the best fucking pilots aboard a ship that has survived over a year of nigh on constant battle. I will not be cowed by a room of stupid, hidebound and un-blooded fools. Instead Motoko marched in head held high, emphasizing the uniform she wore with pride, the light glinting off her medals and her rank insignia, the wildfire unit tab in particular catching the light just right to make the onna-bugeisha (drawn by Kasumi at her request) on the blue fire background look dangerous and wild. There were some mutters of approval as she strode forward, but for the most part her clan looked on with anger and barely veiled disdain.
As Nodoka made to follow her into the room however two of the clansmen on either side of the door tried to bar her way. "No outsider may enter here."
Nodoka stared them down. I am the matriarch of the Sugita clan." There were some murmurings at the name, which was rather famous for several of its members at that. "As my heir is a friend of the young woman in question, I will enter to see that honor is truly served."
The two stiffened, but at a sign from the patriarch let her in. She entered and took up a position on the floor directly behind where Motoko sat, her legs folded easily under her, yet her body tense as a bowstring.
There was a moment of silence then Motoko's father spoke coldly. "When we heard you had survived there was much rejoicing, yet you did not return home immediately as you should have, why?
Motoko responded blandly. "Well, if you could actually see past your nose to the uniform I'm wearing you could tell that I have prior obligations."
The patriarch stiffened at her taunt but his voice came out level. "Yes we have heard of that, and are you still practicing swordsmanship?"
"I am" Motoko said bluntly. "In fact I am one of the best pilots on the SDF-1 because of it. I use a blade in my Valkyrie, and I practice every day."
"You were ordered to cease using our swordsmanship when you decided to run off." the patriarch growled as angry mutterings went on around the family around them. "You were thus ordered until such time as you were willing to be a true daughter, and act accordingly for the good of the clan."
You mean marry some ambitious cousin or other who is semi-good with a blade," Motoko scoffed. "Never mind the fact that I find men to be unattractive at best, and their touch repugnant at worst?"
"Your personal preferences are known here," the patriarch said even more coldly though one of his eyes glanced over at the Nodoka who didn't even blink at this knowledge. "Your lesbian tendencies are a deviancy that you need to set aside now."
"No," Motoko said, her voice firm, "they aren't. They're part of who I am. I could no more change that than I could change the fact that I am a warrior."
This phrase brought angry mutterings among the male-dominated clan, and even her mother stared at her, her face cold and eyes hard with contempt at the very idea. Her father slashed his hand downward and silence once more descended. "Enough of this. Your husband has been chosen, and you will do your duty to the clan."
"Oooorrr" Motoko said drawing out the word, her whole body screaming amusement rather than anger or concern.
"Or I will formally expel you, you clanless henceforth." The patriarch said coldly. "And as such you will not be able to use our swords style."
Motoko stood up staring at him, all her amusement gone, her stance ready and challenging. "I" she said coldly, "am the past swordsman in this room. Not one of you can defeat meal with a blade, yet you stand there and pass judgment on me, you tell me I must bow to your whims! Fuck you!" The sudden epithet struck like a thunderclap in the silence stunning all there. "Cast me out, I don't care! Come at me all of you I don't care! I will continue to do what I do and I will continue to be who I am!"
"Very well" the patriarch said staring at her angrily. "You are clanless! I declare this now, any who see you practicing swordsmanship can kill you where you stand like a dog in the streets. Now begone!"
Nodoka, who had been silent up to this point spoke up as she stood in turn, her voice an allow of contempt and scorn. "And thus you castaway a jewel, a diamond in the rough beacue she will not be ground under? Very well!" She said gaily standing up and holding out the bundle she had carried to Motoko. "Thus, I will pick it up. Motoko dear, would you like to join my clan?" Motoko stared at her, then at the bundle and Nodoka laughed again. "After all, my son has shown no inclination towards the sword, and it would be a shame if my family's style died with me."
Motoko nodded slowly, awed by the honor that Nodoka was showing her. "I will," she said softly.
Nodoka went on to the formal words as around them the Aoyama clansmen jumped to their feet angrily. "Will you honor our code, uphold the honor of the samurai, and wield your blade only in the defense of others?"
"I will."
"Will you strive always to better yourself, and to pass on the skills of the sword to your chosen successor?"
"I will."
By this point her family had recovered from the shock of Nodoka's sudden offer and some of them even her father were now moving forward angrily, their voices raised in complaint, but they couldn't stop the ritual. "Then take my blade" said Nodoka softly, "and wield it as my daughter."
Motoko grabbed the bundle, and pulled out the blade. It was a katana, a little shorter in length than her normal one. On the bottom of the hilt she saw the maker's mark, and realized with shock she was holding a true Masamune forged blade. With a twirl she will pull that out of the sheaf, and stood ready to defend herself, the gleam of the ceiling lights on the edge of the katana, the rich lines of chikei and nie glinting, showing the blades worth to all who saw it.
As her clan stopped to stare at the sword in awe Nodoka simply smiled and took the sheaf holding it as if it too was a blade. "So," she said softly. "Will you continue your folly and try to stop us from leaving, or will you finally show a semblance of real honor and let us go on in peace?" She looked scornfully at Motoko's father. And you sir are an idiot. You would cast out the greatest swordsman of her generation because you do not care for her preferences, because you wished to control her, use her as some kind of brood mare? Pathetic!" Motoko's father glared at the woman but his hand raised, stopping his clansmen from charging in. After all, he was the only one armed at present, and this woman's eyes told him she was dangerous even armed with a mere sheath, and he well knew his former daughters skill. Nodoka went on, staring into his eyes, and something in her own caused him to flinch back. "She is of my clan now, and all of my clan will kill to protect her. Remember that, should you think of trying to harm this precious one again." With that the two women left, heads held high as behind them the Aoyama clan began to shout and yell in consternation.
The party that night back on Macross was loud and raucous as Motoko was welcomed into her new family, happier than she could remember being in a long time, and with her past truly behind her now.
Henri was working on some paperwork regarding the latest outgoing convoy of civilians when Vanessa spoke up, her instruments having interrupted her own work. Captain, we've got a ship on long range radar. It's moving slowly, looks like it's one of those old gasoline clunkers, but its moving steadily towards us. We don't have anything scheduled and certainly not from directly astern but it's so slow and doesn't look as if it's an enemy or anything. I mean, it's practically shouting they're not a threat, given how slow it's moving."
"ETA?" Gloval asked.
"Well if they don't start speeding up we could be here in about five or six hours? I don't know how fast those old clunkers move."
Claudia rolled her eyes from her own station where she was putting the finishing touched on a project she called operation housekeeping. Those old clunkers were actually just ships that ran off gasoline, but most of the Navy had long switched over to reflux or nuclear power years ago so she supposed the younger woman's scorn was understandable, after all how much work had she done with regular commercial shipping? "Do you want me to hail them captain?"
Gloval nodded "Yes, we should they see what they want to say."
Claudia turned to her radio. "Unidentified craft you are entering a restricted military zone. State your business or you will be fired upon."
A few seconds later a elderly voice crackled out of the machine. "Forgive me if my English isn't so good young lady, it's been a long time since I've used it. I am Cologne of the Amazons, and myself and a few of my tribes women wish to come aboard to meet old friends." She cackled then and the younger women on the bridge had to stop themselves from shivering. "I understand you've all had some adventures, and we Amazons love adventure."
Senator John Duborn smirked a little as the voting ended and the ballots were tallied. "Very well, this body hereby puts forth a motion to impeach President O'Cairn for willful and negligent dereliction of his duty to secure the safety of these united states of America. By a vote of….."
End chapter
I realize that the section with Motoko and Nodoka came out a little oddly, but I really don't know much about how samurai clans do this kind of thing. For someone who has only looked at stuff readily available on the internet and anime I think it came out well.
I also realize that there were at least three cliffhangers in this chapter, but I wanted to let several of the events have time to settle before moving in to conclude them. I can't have everything happen all at once after all.
This whole chapter was more about recuperating and rearming than anything, but the next chapter things will start to happen and we will see more of the Zentraedi and Breetai. See you in two weeks, and as always read and review.