I don't own Ranma or Robotech. If I did, well… I would be a lot better off than I am now. Living one check ahead of bankruptcy sucks, er I don't suppose I could ask ya'll ta donate if I set something up? Heh, never mind, just my desperation showing there.
Some reviews I'd like to mention:
N0mster: Thank you for all the great reviews! Looking back I agree that Ranma should have handled Miriya much more easily, but I hope you enjoy the reason I give to explain away his lack of endurance and energy…
TJG: The other beings in the Robotech universe did indeed have their own problems, but a few terrified elements may still be out there, though they won't make an impact until book 2.
JohnC25: Gracias. Max I am still up in the air about, he may be paired with someone down the line, but I introduce someone else here, a sort of O.C. who I model after a character from a certain series by David Drake and Eric Flint. I want to see if anyone can figure out who it is from the little clue I give. I think he will be a fitting catch for a certain purple haired Amazon.
I wanted to do more in this chapter, but felt I was short changing Miriya getting to know the others aboard the Macross, so went back and enlarged it, moving the combat- which I want to add even more to, to the next chapter, and enlarging other sections. Its really tough sometimes managing a balance between personal relationship growth and moving the plot forward.
What will be happening now is one chapter after this with some discussion a bit of romance and a lot of violence, then a chapter with a bit more talking and a lot of expansion, and other things, then a chapter dedicated two combat beginning to end and finally another chapter wrapping it up and moving on into the next book, which I won't begin until I am done with Horse of the Dead at least.
Thanks to RDDE for pointing out a few mistakes I made. I deleted your first review as it was all about the mistakes and it would have been double posting.
Chapter 26 Leavings and Learning
OOOOAbout two Earth days prior to myriad arriving on the space fortressOOOO
Admiral Retsuc 7th skirmish fleet was terrified. He was normally an arrogant man, abrasive and overbearing with those under his command, mildly contemptuous and almost contemptible of other admirals, much like Kyron in a way though not quite as openly, or as crazily.
Breetai had been appalled by the amount of, well he used the words idiotic self-aggrandizement, which had crept into the fleets he had dealt with, but what he had seen so far merely scratched the surface. Kyron was not alone in his creation of a cult of personality his fleet, every other fleet had gone much the same way. Every other admiral, be he in command of a skirmish or main fleet, was a despot, all powerful tyrants in their fleets who did not allow any of their subordinates to question their decisions, voice their own opinions or do anything but mindlessly follow orders. All power was held in the hands of the admiral, and every one of his officers knew it. Authority came not from rules, regulations or any kind of military format like in Breetai's own clan fleet (though most of the regulations and rules were admittedly common sense things, and he did have a set and flexible chain of command coming down to his lowliest Reguld corps), but simply 'the admiral says'.
This admiral was cut from much the same cloth, but that did not matter when it came to facing Dolza. All his usual insouciance, his confidence and arrogance was gone now, replaced by a near-mindless fear of being in The Leader's presence. This was the first time Restuc had been ordered to report to the leader in person, and the fear was almost enough to stop him in his tracks.
The name of Dolza was synonymous with terror even among the ruling caste of the Zentraedi, and despite being relatively old for a Zentraedi he wasn't even close to being as old as Breetai (or Exedore) and had none of his willpower, so was unable to fight off the effects. Indoctrination was a very strong thing, and in a way the aura of fear Dolza that every Zentraedi associated with Dolza, something which was greatly magnified in his presence, was just as important to the Robotech Masters control over their 'creations' as controlling the means of production.
Of course Retsuc would never allow his own subordinates to realize this so he had entered the fortress of Dolza alone without any of the retinue his station should have given him.
He walked into the meeting room, and was surprised to find Dolza alone there. The Leader was even more massive in person, wide of girth and taller than any Zentraedi by far save Breetai, who he topped by a head. The size of him only heightened the awe and fear Restuc felt, and he fought an urge to go to his knees in deference.
Dolza stared at him and in a commanding voice that could not be disobeyed said, "Sit." The admiral sat down in the chair indicated. A moment later, as the Leader simply stood there Restuc felt movement behind him, a sudden touch of something against the back of his head, and for the next 10 min. he lost track of time.
Modifying memoires was no great feat for the masters of course. Breetai and his whole generation, of which he, Dolza (in a way) and Exedore were the only survivors, had their memories modified several times during the Masters campaigns against their own people and Zor. No, the trick was to do it in such a way that no-one but Dolza was aware of it. This room was designed not only for meetings with his admirals but also for this purpose and it had several secret chambers containing the devices which did the actual work. They were activated at Dolza's mental command and were preprogrammed from afar by the masters themselves.
The next Restuc knew Dolza was wrapping up a presentation his words merging with a prepared memory seamlessly. "Because you have a knowledge of the inner workings of the space fortress you have been chosen to see if you can figure out what is going on. You may work with the females, but do not contact them unless you feel you must. Under no circumstances are you to contact the Micronians or even be in their presence. Board the ship, find out how its creating these strange emissions they reported, and then reclaim it for our people. Other than taking the ship intact anything else you do is at your discretion."
The admiral smiled wickedly. A chance to one up both Breetai and the Meltraedi was not to be missed. "Your will be done my Lord," he said and a few minutes later left the room with his brain full of knowledge it hadn't had when he walked in. The schematic of the space fortress (or at least what the Masters thought it looked like going by their own ship interiors) was as well known to him now as the back of his hand, as was the stellar coordinates for the star system where it had been found.
A moment later, his nearly full strength 7th skirmish fleet folded out of the massive fortress, destination, Sol.
OOOOPresent DayOOO
Lisa grimaced a little as she bent over to inspect the open panel on the side of the new gun controls for one of the new interior defense guns. Despite her new rank she was still executive officer of the space fortress, which meant she had to verify and sign off on all of refurbishments. This aspect was never an issue for her before they arrived back on Earth of course simply because no one had time for paperwork beyond the bare minimum and because the maintenance section was so overworked battle damage took precedent, and even there as long as the work was done that all that they could afford. Interior redesigns had been a pipe dream, and the idea of signing off on them even more so.
Despite this she had been looking forward to this final walk-through of the changes made to the inside of the fortress because she helped design it. The space fortress now had an additional section right under the outer hall designed specifically to repel boarding actions and in many sections of the ship the defense in depth went far deeper than that. Automated gun turrets, security sections, built-in bunkers for troops with heavy weapons emplaced there, all of it were things she and the general had worked on together to make as deadly as possible for any Zentraedi assault. A human one that didn't use mechanized infantry could actually bypass it, but that was part of the plan too, allowing human troops to circle and engulf any attacking forces from multiple sides and move to the defense of one area or another uncontested.
Thus she would've been greatly enjoying the experience if it she wasn't sore as hell. She had the morning off today as well as all last night in preparation for this survey, which she knew would take days straight through. She'd be lucky to get a few hours off to sleep until they were done.
This had caused her to go overboard a little and simply stay in bed with Ranma for the entire time. The fact that Ranma simply refused to go down, as it were, had spurred her on to greater and more acrobatic heights, and by the time she was due to start her shift she was badly sore and walking a little bowlegged. Of course you couldn't remove the smile on her face with surgery, but that was beside the point.
"This looks good chief," she said and ignored the man's little smirk which he couldn't quite hide no matter how professional he was as she grimaced again and walked off waddling a little. "Let's move on."
The space fortress was nearly ready to go back to war.
OOOOOOOOOOO
By the time Ranma and Miriya were back in areas that had more human traffic Ranma was almost back to normal or at least what he had been before their spar/battle and Miriya was scowling angrily, still physically exhausted, her muscles twitching and her bruises acting up. Even with her healing speed she needed rest to recover from something like that.
In actuality, Ranma had been fighting at Miriya's level because of extenuating circumstances, not that he was complaining then or now, but it had been at the expense of quite a lot of his normal energy. This was in fact the first time that he had realized that his martial arts endurance was effected by his sexual escapades, but he wasn't about to give up on that aspect of his relationship with his ladies. His time with Lisa and Kasumi in all forms was far too precious for him to even think of that. Then too he had chosen not to use his ki attacks. In fact he didn't use his ki at all except to heighten his Amaguriken punches and kicks which Miriya had kept up with.
Not that this in any way took away from Miriya's performance in his eyes, nor his own enjoyment of their spar. For someone who had not trained specifically in hand-to-hand combat she had done magnificently. That coupled with the fact that she had been able to learn how to navigate his special training area in a single day and fight him in the air against him was enough to impress him. She had already won his respect in their battles before this, but he was still coming to grips with how much alike they truly were.
"Where are you taking us?" Miriya asked as she finished her third bottle of water. Her body was utterly decimated from the unusual activity, she had pushed well beyond what she should have but by all of space it had been glorious! She had learned more in that single battle then in all of her studies of hand-to-hand combat for this, and it was easy to see how she could use that knowledge in her Queadluun Rau.
"We're going to go over to my apartment actually. Kasumi should be done at the grand opening by this point, and I bet she'll have cooked something." Busy as she was Kasumi always enjoyed cooking for their little family, just never in the mornings. To Kasumi sleeping in was the ultimate luxury, something that she had never been able to do since her mother had passed away. Cooking on the other hand was something she always enjoyed especially for people who made her feel as appreciated as Ranma and Lisa did. Nodoka joined them sometimes but she had moved into Henri's apartment a few weeks ago on a permanent basis.
Miriya frowned a little but shrugged. At this point she was simply drifting a little, not really knowing what she should do. All of her life she had known that losing equaled death. To be the best, to be the greatest power-suit operator, to be the greatest warrior of her people was her purpose, the driving engine that made her soul go. Now she had met someone who had the same outlook on life, and the sense of camaraderie and shared purpose she got from Ranma was something altogether new.
Her fellow Meltraedi respected her, some even liked her a little, but this easy going friendship that she had formed so swiftly with Ranma was something altogether new. It was beyond surprising that she had found someone from an entirely different race that she could connect so well with. At this point she was willing to go along with anything he said because he trusted her enough not to turn her in, and she in turn trusted him not to steer her wrong.
About 30 minutes later they had slowly traversed the innards of the space fortress to his apartment, their speed controlled by how badly Miriya was banged up. She didn't think she had any broken bones, she was simply a walking mass of pain at the moment, and was grateful that Ranma had simply altered his speed to match hers rather than comment on it, keeping her attention by asking about some of the moves she had pulled off in their spar and giving her a few suggestion on how to put more power or speed into her kicks and punches.
He opened the door to his apartment walking in and motioning Miriya to follow him. "Hey Kasumi, did you have fun today?"
Kasumi looked up from slicing a daikon radish for a serving of takuan, putting her knife down and turning with a wide smile on her face that dimmed only slightly as she saw that Ranma was not alone. "Yes Ran-koi," she said laughing a little, "I enjoyed it immensely." She giggled again as Ranma reached forward and picked her into a hug, wrapping her own arms around his head for a moment then turned to the woman that had followed him in. "Who is this?"
Miriya looked at the woman before her, noting how beautiful she was, the smile on her face, and the set of her jaw and her body underneath the baggy skirt she was wearing. Ranma waved a hand at her and said, "Kasumi this is Miriya Parina. She's been my opponent for a while if you know what I mean."
After a few seconds the brunette's eyes widened in surprise then she smiled a little and held out her hands in welcome. "It's very nice to meet you. Back where we used to live Ranma really didn't have that good a relationship with his rivals and it's nice to see that he's made friends."
Ranma shook his head amusedly. How Kasumi sometimes looked at the world was very strange to him at times, but at the same time it was heartening too. If more people were like Kasumi there probably wouldn't be as many problems in the universe, he thought fondly.
Miriya gaped at Kasumi for a moment then shook her head and chuckled a little. She too reached out her hands and grasp the other woman's forearm firmly. "It's nice to meet you as well I suppose," she said, still chuckling a little. Then she turned to Ranma and nodded toward Kasumi. "I like her."
Kasumi blushed a little and Ranma put one arm around her shoulders squeezing her affectionately. "I like her too."
Kasumi turned away blushing even more now, moving to continue making dinner, motioning Miriya over to the shower with one hand. "I can tell Ranma worked you over quite a bit dear. The shower is over there, make yourself comfortable for a bit. Dinner should be ready in about an hour."
Miriya nodded and moved into the bathing area and was astonished at how it looked. Bathing areas was a necessity among the Meltraedi, but it was always done with cold water and very quickly, since water was always a limited resource. This room looked far more clean fancier than anything she had ever seen.
Ranma followed her in momentarily, pointing out which was the shampoo, which was the soap and everything else. Miriya immediately began stripping before Ranma could even leave and he gasped a little then shot out the door blushing. Just because he was used to seeing Kasumi and Lisa without clothing didn't mean he was so used to seeing other women like that.
Miriya cocked her head wondering at the strange reaction but shrugged it off. She wondered what the huge tub thing was, Ranma having not realized she wouldn't know. She twisted one of the wate taps over it and was astonished to see that water went into the tub-like thing. She ascertained the use of it immediately, and shook her head at the luxury of having water that you could simply loll about in.
She immediately hopped in, luxuriating in the new sensation. A few moments later Miriya was interrupted at one point by Ranma opening the door a crack and pushing in some of his/her clothing, telling Miriya that she could wear them.
After 30 minutes Miriya noticed that her skin was pruning for some reason, and she reluctantly got out of the tub. She moved over to the pile of clothing that Ranma had dropped off smiling appreciatively at the feel of it. Most of the clothing the Meltraedi used was coarse no matter how they tried to change it. Even now this was still true as they hadn't yet stolen enough Micronian fabrics to make uniforms from it, only able to copy the styles and cuts of them. But this felt smooth and soft under her skin.
Miriya joined her two hosts at the dinner table looking quizzically at the food. While she had tried a few of the delicacies since arriving aboard ship she had not seen any Japanese cuisine like this, and the chopsticks completely baffled her. Luckily Kasumi had thought of this and laid out a fork and a spoon as well. After seeing what the other two were doing she hesitantly tucked into the food, then smiled a little as the taste hit her.
The conversation was stilted at first as Miriya concentrated most of her attention on taking as much food aboard as she could. However she learned about Ranma's childhood, about how they the two of them had met though the idea of this marriage stuff and all that went with it went right over her head. In fact she didn't really understand a lot of it though the idea of a training journey she could comprehend easily enough. She equated it to simply going off on a ship entirely devoted to training, something that really should have occurred to the Meltraedi at some point but hadn't.
To this she replied that the Meltraedi were simply thrown into battle as soon as they arrived within the fleet. The Meltraedi were used as shock troops, sent where they were most needed and where the fire was hottest. It made for a harsh life, and a short one. The losses were always severe among new inductees, and it sometimes was only luck that saw any one Meltraedi through their first campaign, though after that the settled down.
She then went on to describe the questions that had begun to circulate around the fleet, and why her Admiral had let her go, though she didn't go into detail.
Halfway through this Lisa had come in and had not been nearly as welcoming to a Meltraedi at her table as Ranma or Kasumi once it was explained to her. However she was willing to trust Ranma when he said that she would eventually be informing the high command of her presence, something that a few months ago wouldn't have happened.
Miriya for her part had been a little leery of the officer when she was introduced, but soon got over it. Kasumi's gentle nature and her welcoming presence had completely disarmed her. Miriya had never met anyone quite like Kasumi, though, Commodore Delmera had something of the same personality, though she was less kind and more cheerful and almost bubbly. The fact that Lisa seemed to calm down after a bit helped immensely too.
Lisa also felt that learning about the Meltraedi from a Meltraedi in a setting like this was a intelligence coup that couldn't be overlooked. After a little while Lisa found herself feeling rather sorry for the Meltraedi. Everything she took for granted, society, movies/music, food, clothing, they didn't have anything like it. All they were taught was war, all they knew was combat, and there was very little in the way of let up.
She did learn several interesting items however. The skirmish fleets were used primarily as scouts, continually clashing with their Invid counterparts along the front and scouting around the edges of Zentraedi held territory, expanding their area of control by finding and subjugating other species or wiping them out. Is was unfortunately mostly the latter, since the Zentraedi had no use for other races. The Meltraedi were constantly being thrown into the toughest fights, and the main fleets continually clashed with a few subjugated races that had achieved space flight and escaped instant annihilation or the Invid's main forces.
It was a harsh life, a life that Lisa didn't think had any real purpose. Not once did Miriya describe a city or a home planet or indeed any planets as part of the Zentraedi empire. There was only the fleet and the area it controlled, another data point that pointed to the giants having been created as a warrior race to defend someone else.
Lisa leaned back a little thoughtfully staring off into space. "So you have no idea who designed your race do you?" she asked, though speaking mostly to herself.
Miriya looked up sharply at that. "What do you mean designed? The theory among the fleet is that Dolza did this to us somehow."
Lisa looked at Miriya then over at Ranma who was frowning at her. "I guess Ranma hasn't told you?" Ranma shrugged, not having found a way to bring it up.
Lisa shrugged than went for a blunt delivery. "We found out recently through what we call the biological sciences, which is the study of living things, that you and your race have been reproducing yourselves via cloning. It has a lot of long-term ramifications, but most of them have to do with the brain, how much higher thought processes you can do, your ability to think ahead and so on as well as something called cellular degradation. We'll probably have to ask you over to a lab at some point, though I'm certain if there is anything wrong we could figure out a way to fix it."
Ranma nodded emphatic agreement to that. He didn't want anything happen to his new friend. Finding someone that shared his desire to be the best that wasn't crazy or had a stupid vendetta against him was a find that he wasn't going to let go of anytime soon.
Kasumi adroitly changed the subject to asking about what the Meltraedi thought about human fashions and clothing, and while that hadn't interested Miriya so much what did was the human food and the response to that among the Meltraedi had the others at the table laughing aloud and promising to introduce her to as many new foods as she wanted.
The night passed uneventfully after that as the trio got to know Miriya and vice-versa. Later the green-haired warrior woman would collapse on their bean bags into the best sleep she had ever had. In days to come she would slowly but surely become a permanent fixture in their apartment and their lives.
OOOOOOOO
Roy looked up from his paper work, writing up a new ROE for the Valkyrie wing to explain the reasons to incorporate at least one, possibly as much as three of the VF-1J GBP 1S Armored Type, when someone knocked on the front door of his brand new apartment, the one he and Claudia had moved into together. Claudia was at this moment cooking them something from the smell of it, but she had already moved to answer the door before he could move. He got up, wincing only a little when his leg took his weight. His thigh and his other wounds were nearly healed now, and he would soon be fit for duty.
Mark Prescott stood there, smiling faintly at Claudia and then at Roy when he walked up. "Am I interrupting something, I can come back later sir."
"No sirs here man, I'm not acting CAG at the moment. Even if I was, you were CAG at that UN base outside Goa and you'd have seniority on me." Roy grinned.
Shrugging Mark followed Roy into the apartment proper, then sitting down in the chair Roy indicated. The blonde commander looked over his table at the man, smiling a little sadly at how Marcus looked like Scott, more bulky in the shoulders, not as quick looking, but the family resemblance was astonishing to anyone who had met both men. "Your message said you had some questions to ask me?"
Mark nodded. "Well, commander Sugita said he wanted me to take over from him but I don't think you want me to do that."
Roy laughed a little. "Hah, he's still trying to get out of it, funny. No, I'll take over from him when I'm cleared for duty, but he'll stay on as CAG until then. He might not know it, but he'll eventually be pumped up to CAG permanently either abroad the Macross or one of the new carriers. Probably aboard the Macross, it'll always be at the front of the battle. This just gives him some valuable experience with it before he's really asked to step up."
His guest nodded understanding but at the same time moved on to why he was really here. "Well I can understand your reasons there, but I've noticed how, well how un-military Sugita and the other pilots who originated aboard are. I've seen dozens of things since boarding that would warrant disciplinary action among the pilots, and there just doesn't seem to be any of the spit and polish I'd expect from a well run unit. I was just wondering if that was Ranma's influence or something else. I and my squad and the others are having trouble integrating into them, and they aren't making it easy. There's a distinct sense that those of us who have come aboard since you got back haven't earned our wings yet, even those of us who were veterans. In a way I can understand it, but…."
Roy nodded, leaning back a little. "What we have here is a clash between a soldier mentality and that of a warrior mentality. What we have aboard is a warrior mentality, and I'm glad it developed. Soldiers follow orders, only officers having any kind of initiative. If you don't have initiative or the ability to think for yourself in a fight against the aliens you die."
"You have to understand, the aliens don't attack like humans, they don't fly formations or stick to their wingman, they come at you like a gigantic mob, and the only way to meet them is to mix their tactics with teamwork. Individual ability matters a lot more in the kind of melee that develops when we're attacked. You need to have a warrior mentality, the kind that can stand and hold and fight whatever happens, warriors who won't break and run, will keep working with their groups, uncaring of the time passed. Soldiers aren't really mentally tough enough to do that, not normal pilots, not these days. I guess you could consider it the difference between a regular army unit and Spec. Ops troops or marines. We let our pilots do their own thing as long as they don't use drugs or anything truly bad and show up in the fights. Also you have to understand so many people, so damn fast, we never had enough veterans around to truly instill spit and polish military discipline."
His eyes narrowed as he went on. "And you aren't veterans, that much is true." He held up a hand as Mark made to speak. "Before the aliens came I was an ace three times over, a veteran of over a dozen skirmishes against anti-unification forces. In the first clash against the Zentraedi, before we left Earth, my kill total was doubled."
Mark winced a little and Roy smirked, though there was no humor in the expression. "I know that Ranma has tried to pound it into your heads, but the numbers of the aliens, even in a skirmish, are just scary as hell. Fighting those kinds of numbers calls for a different mentality. And the fights, a normal air fight against humans goes for at most an hour from the time you launch. Like Ranma told you, fights against the aliens keep going as long as they wish to throw in troops, and we'll run out of bullets and bodies long before they do if they ever just decide to overwhelm us in one go. None of the troops who have gone through one of those fights, especially against the god-damned Gargoyles, will see any of you as anything more than green recruits who need someone looking after you."
Mark leaned back, frowning heavily. Hearing those words from Roy, a veteran and someone he had known before the Zentraedi showed up, made them sink in where they hadn't spoken by Ranma. Despite his admitted charisma and personal skill Sugita had still only been in the navy for a little under two years. That was barely enough time-in-grade to be a Lieutenant, let alone a commander, and far less a CAG. But if Roy was saying the same thing, well he had to believe it. "So, endurance and personal ability?"
Roy nodded, "Those and the mentality to keep fighting for long periods of time. You'll understand once you're aboard for a time. For now, just trust that everything I've set up and that Ranma is doing has a point to it." Mark frowned even more, but nodded, willing to wait and see, and with that the conversation turned to other topics.
OOOOOOOO
"I don't know how it does it," said Cologne patiently, a patience she was actually far from feeling as the young upstart that Dr. Lang had assigned to be their assistant for this endeavor questioned her yet again on the nature of the plant. "We are trying to figure that out now, that is the point of science yes? Answering the questions to find the answers not just asking them to hear oneself speak!"
Chastened the man shut up and went back to his scanning device, running it again along the wall nearest the crystalline structure that held the vine, frowning as yet again he couldn't find anything different there than anywhere else in the ship.
Cologne went back inside the makeshift maintenance tunnel, watching as Dr. Lang very, very carefully used a plasma cutter to slice into the crystalline structure containing the strange vine that was giving off so much ki near where it connected to one of the pipes walls. In his ear he was connected to the chief engineer of the engine room who was monitoring his devices to tell them if anything changed in terms of energy output, heat or anything else he could monitor.
The moment he tried to cut into the crystal structure however he stopped as the plasma arc disappeared as if it had been sucked away.
The engineer got in touch with him at the same time. "Sir we just got a small spike in output and quark readings somehow."
Lang looked down in shock at his plasma torch and pulled away and the plasma beam appeared. Again he tried to push it in to the crystal structure only for it to be sucked away somehow, and the engineer called him again, sounding a little more worried this time. Lang shook his head and very gently extended a single finger to touch the area he had attempted to cut into. The crystal, and if it really was some kind of crystal as humans generally understood the term he would eat his personal computer, was cold to the touch, almost sucking the warmth of his hand away.
Cologne reached out with a swift hand pulling his hand away. "It was sucking your ki away Emil," she said, now staring at the thing warily.
Lang nodded to her in thanks and the two backed away slightly. "It would appear," he said dryly, "that this crystalline structure around the plant is somehow siphoning off energy."
Cologne shook her head. "If that thing is some kind of energy buffer between the vine and the rest of the ship that's astonishing because I'm still getting an extremely powerful feeling off it." The young man outside the cut tunnel shouted emphatic agreement to that, though it had been washed out by the space fortresses general background up to now. Now that they had figured out how to isolate it, the power coming off this pipe was obvious.
Dr. Lang nodded then shook out a scanner like the young man's only smaller, and ran it over vine structure. Happily as he didn't touch it to the crystal its energy wasn't drained and his system was able to analyze it a bit after which the two of them backed out of the piping.
"We'll have to figure out some other way of analyzing it," said Dr. Lang shaking his head. "I honestly don't think we'll get through that crystalline structure unless you know something I don't, some cutting technique perhaps?"
Cologne shook her head. She knew that Ranma's vacuum blade technique would probably work, but there was no way it could be used to just cut the crystal away. It would cut the plant and probably quite a bit of bulkhead away too. "No, sorry, I don't know any technique I could use to do it, not without damaging the engine anyway."
With that the two of them and his assistant made their way back to his laboratory, which had taken over yet another block of the city since Cologne and the think tank had come abroad. Most of those scientists had returned to their home fleets/forces/countries but several had stayed behind, and several dozen post-grad students had come aboard in their place, eager to come to grips with the new research being created here. A mixed blessing to the older set to be sure, but in the main a good thing.
Within moments of their return Lang had an energy analyzer trying to figure out as much as they could about the energy the plant was giving off. Cologne went over to a computer that connected to the interior sensors of the ship and ran it looking for instances of the same energy, wondering how far the energy from the plant thing spread throughout the ship of even if there were other examples of the plant somewhere else aboard.
A minute later, Cologne interrupted Lang and the two of them stared at the readings the computer was showing in surprise. For indeed there was another plant aboard, and it was sending off energy throughout the entire ship from a central location about dead center of the main hull of the ship. "Now the question becomes," said the good doctor thoughtfully looking at a schematic that he popped up right next to the readings, "should we try and hunt this plant down first or figure out what these energy readings actually mean before we mess with it?"
"They must not be dangerous to life at least," replied Cologne thoughtfully. "Else none of you would still be alive after all. It acts almost like ki, but strangely." Almost on a higher order, like the next step to ki somehow, she thought to herself, though she would be unable to explain why she felt that save to another ki master.
Ranma alas for all his truly monstrous and still growing strength wasn't a true ki master. What he did he did through trial and error and sudden instincts developed in battle, not through study and careful learning.
"I wonder what would happen if you mix ki with it?"
"I think we've already had the answer to that one," said Cologne dryly. "Ranma's little Valkyrie and what happened to it could be an example."
"Fascinating," Lang said rubbing his hands together gleefully, nearly vibrating in place. "I have one other project I want to finish, but after that I am going to turn all of my other research and ongoing duties to the others. Then you and I are going to hunt this thing down and figure out as much as we can about it. I get the feeling it could be the key to a whole new field of study."
Cologne nodded agreement, though a part of her was wondering why the thought of Pandora and her cursed box had popped into her mind just then.
OOOOOOOOOO
The next day Ranma took Miriya around the ship to introduce her to her friends. Unfortunately Ranma's time in female form had once again built up, and he had woken up that morning with a severe amount irritation and emotional turmoil, which was the only thing that carried over between forms. Deciding to get it over with he had transformed into his female form almost immediately and had been in that form since. Miriya had thankfully taken it in stride, merely nodding at seeing the transformation again, though she didn't follow the whole 'that time of the month' thing.
His first stop of course was the White Dragon, where Minmei was still working as a waitress, primarily because it let her spend time with her family.
Minmei's movie career had never really gotten off the ground. Ranma had refused to play the part of the lead in the movie created to try and show in a less factual way what had happened to the Macross during its trip back to Earth. He had felt that his duties as CAG and as Wildfire commander did not allow him enough time to be a movie star at the same time and he was very correct about that, but that was only the first of several problems.
The movie didn't have any investors most of the ones who had backed the Miss Macross contest having fled from the ship as soon as they could, they didn't have any experienced crews, and very few experienced actors. Kyle had tried to volunteer to be the male lead solving one problem, and had in fact done pretty well right up until Minmei saw the entire script and realized she would have to have a kissing scene with him. She had lately figured out his liking for her was a bit too much coming from a family member and refused to feed it in any way. This coupled with the other problems had given her the opportunity to back away.
She made the excuse of wanting to concentrate on her music career, and the studio had backed off when her boss had gotten behind the idea and pushed. Despite the fact that her celebrity status aboard ship had diminished greatly with the changeover of the civilian population she was still widely lauded as a singer aboard ship and was Mr. Deray's best talent since he had sold off all his off-ship holdings, pouring money into the rebuilding of the city.
She still got on great with practically everyone, and was seen as sort of the city's darling, almost as much as Kasumi was, which was helped by the fact Kasumi she was openly in a relationship with Lisa and Ranma, something that sort of took away from her status as an idol. It was known that Minmei was going with Rick there wasn't so much of a sense of permanence as there was with Kasumi's relationship. For some reason the public at large liked to think that their idols were virginal, and while Kasumi didn't make a point of it she was not a virgin and didn't care to be seen as such. With Minmei they could at least pretend.
"Ranma!" Minmei exclaimed as the redhead walked into the restaurant, rushing forward and hugging her before spouting questions as fast as she could. "How are you doing? Why are you in your female form? You haven't come by lately, have you been busy with navy stuff, how's Motoko and the other's doing, and who is this?"
Ranma shook his head laughing a little at her machinegun chatter. "In order I'm fine, I'm in female form because it's that time of the month and my time in this form added up again, the duties of the CAG have been keeping me busy, Motoko and the others are fine, Max has his own command now, and this is Miriya Parina. She's a newcomer aboard and I'm showin' her 'round and introducing her ta people."
Minmei raised an eyebrow at that, as Ranma wasn't the sort to ever be asked to do something like that. She figured there was probably something more to the story but knew she'd learn about it eventually. She held out her hand smiling in welcome, "How do you do?"
"I am fine I suppose," said Miriya bemused at the odd greeting before moving onto more important things. "Are you the same Minmei that made such amazing songs?"
Minmei blushed a little. "Um,I-I wouldn't call them amazing or anything I just like to sing that's all." This showed the humility that was one of the reasons she was so popular, she simply liked sharing her voice with others, that was it.
Miriya's eyebrows rose a bit at that. The reaction Minmei and Ranma's songs got among the humans and among the Meltraedi was well known, if not well understood. "I think you're selling yourself short," she said, a phrase she had learned first from the spies and then her interaction with humans and their strange 'economy'. "Your songs inspire feelings in those who hear them, even in those who are unused to such."
Minmei blushed further poking her fingers together and Ranma grinned a little. The two of them stayed there and talked with Minmei for a bit, catching up.
They would have stayed longer since Miriya found the singer a little fascinating to talk to considering the effect her songs had on the Meltraedi who heard them if Kyle hadn't come out of the kitchen and butted in. "Minmei who are your friends?" He asked, moving over and trying to place one arm around her shoulders. He had been doing this more and more lately, trying to mark his territory in no uncertain terms. He had even been doing it around Rick, and a confrontation was fast approaching between the two of them.
Minmei however wasn't having any of it and moved over to put Ranma between the two of them much like she would Rick if he was there.
Kyle on the other hand didn't seem too put out by this at least not outwardly and bowed grandly reaching for the redhead's hand, "and who may this lovely flower be?" Since Minmei hadn't been returning his advances he thought maybe if he got her jealous somehow she would open up to him more. The idea she just wasn't interested in her cousin like that didn't enter his mind.
"I'm Ranma," the redhead said coldly, "We've met."
Kyle looked up at her in disbelief. "Surely not, I would remember meeting you I'm certain, though you do have the same name as that other Ranma are you two related? And who is your friend?"
Ranma shook her head not really wanting to deal with this right now. "Minmei I'll see you later okay?" The two ace pilots walked out leaving a chuckling Minmei and a bemused Kyle.
"What an odd and fit yet strangely irritating man," Miriya said shaking her head. She didn't know why yet the moment Kyle introduced himself she wanted to slap him. That's another thing, why would I want to slap him when I could simply punch his head off his shoulders?
Ranma nodded, "He is that, I'm surprised he's still abroad ship actually, but I ain't in a position to do much about him unfortunately."
Their next stop went much better. The Amazons did their own thing while the rest of the Academy students were doing their Phys Ed course, which had replaced several other drills to instill in the cadets the endurance necessary to pilot/operate their machines for longer lengths of time. Gone was the day where cadets would need to figure out to march in step or strip a rifle in the field, replaced by martial arts training and endurance running and g-force training.
The Amazons already had endurance in plenty, and rather than force them to come along and show up the other cadets they could be found sparring with one another and anyone else who wanted try in the little park next to the Academy. It had become something of a attraction at first, but the commandant of the Academy had put his foot down and that little park next to the Academy was once more closed to the public. The park in the central city had grown over the past few months so the civilians didn't put up much of a fuss.
Miriya enjoyed the martial fervor going on around her as she followed Ranma, nodding occasionally in passing to a pair of the fighting women. This group was much more to her liking than the normal civilians she had been seeing lately. While she understood the point of having civilians to provide goods and services now, she was not a civilian, and could never be one. Her worldview had been expanded tremendously since that first time she saw Ranma's exercise program, but she was still a warrior at heart.
The Amazons too looked at her with speculation. While they had been introduced to most of the other martial artists aboard ship this one was new, and infinitely more dangerous than all save the redhead next to her. Those of them that could sense ki, most of the blooded warriors and a few of the maidens, could tell that this warrior had far more ki than any of them. Indeed she was radiating only a bit less than Elder Cologne. That was startling to all of them, unused to the idea of foreign martial artists that were better than them even now, let alone foreign women who are better than them.
"Hey Shampoo," said Ranma waving as Shampoo finished off one of her opponents.
She signaled to the others to stop and looked over at him quizzically. "Nihao Ranma, who is this?" She looked over at the newcomer, and bristled a little internally. Not only was she standing a little closer to Ranma than Shampoo really liked, but she was obviously a warrior. It was bad enough that Ranma was already in a relationship with Kasumi and Lisa, she still hadn't come up with a solution for that one but she didn't want someone else to come in and interfere, especially another warrior. The fact Lisa was a warrior in her own way was something Shampoo hadn't come to grips with yet.
"This is Miriya, she's one of the Meltraedi. Apparently they're the ones that pilot the Gargoyles, though they call 'em something else."
Miriya shook her head bemusedly, surprised by how open Ranma was about her other-worldly status.
Shampoo's eyes narrowed a little than widened. "The aliens are all women?!"
That caused some muttering among the Amazons around them, though whether it was approving or disapproving Ranma couldn't say, but Miriya swiftly shook her head scornfully. "No," she said spitting out the word and then actually spitting to the side. "We are Meltraedi we are the finest. We are all female yes, but we are a small portion of the Zentraedi, the stupid useless males. We are the shock troops, the assault force, the elite, do not compare us to them!"
It wasn't just because of their machines that this was the case. Since the Masters had made them the way they were the Meltraedi had a higher survival rate than the Zentraedi, which segued into experience and made them even deadlier than their power suits being better than the Regulds. One out of every hundred Meltraedi survived their first combat, and their survivability went up afterwards, though this was sometimes offset by the fact the Meltraedi were thrown into the toughest fights. The fleet also used a limited meritocracy, allowing survivors to move to higher positions of authority, even up to becoming ship captains, though no higher. It made for a tight-knit, well trained and experienced fleet, able to pass on the tricks and concepts needed to survive even after the most brutal campaigns. Of course if the masters had realized any of this they would have stopped it somehow, but they only saw the total numbers of the Meltraedi, and so dubbed them insignificant.
On the other hand, though only the Masters had realized this, only one of out of every ten thousand Zentraedi survived their first battle, and if they were among the Reguld users their survivability did not go up afterwards. There was no upward movement in the Zentraedi forces, you were either an officer or you weren't and you remained in you station until you died. Even among officers there was no movement from ship to ship or from command to higher command. The only fleet that allowed movement like that was Breetai's, and he had been amply rewarded in having most of his fleet survive time and time again battles that other main fleets would've been mauled in. This the Masters had seen, but they did not understand it, only that their most dangerous sword was becoming sharper, and had begun to rightly fear its turning on them.
Miriya's statement made all the Amazons smile appreciatively. The idea that females were superior to males coincided with their own beliefs after all. "So what are you doing aboard this ship? Is there some kind of peace talk going on?" said one of them, an older warrior with a scar running down one side of her head and touching her neck before disappearing under her shirt.
"Eventually there will be," Miriya replied, shrugging unconcernedly. "But my reasons for being aboard have little to do with that, I came aboard this ship to challenge Ranma personally."
"She was the ace I've been fighting on and off," said Ranma in explanation. "She's good with her hands too, gave me a damn decent workout for a few hours yesterday evening."
Shampoo's eyes narrowed dramatically at that. He never says that about me! She tried to keep her voice level but it came out bitingly almost angrily. "Oh really, you weren't just going easy on her?"
Ranma shrugged, scratching his pigtail embarrassed. "The only thing I didn't use on her was my ki attacks, without them she was able ta keep up and give me run for my money." He didn't mention the fact that he had already been rather physically exhausted, the reasons behind that were not something he was going to share with anyone.
Miriya however had bristled at the assumption that Ranma had gone easy on her, just like her interlocutor had intended. "Perhaps Shampoo would like a demonstration of how good I am?" she said staring the younger girl down.
Shampoo nodded a little grimly. "Shampoo like that very much." She gestured to a makeshift ring on the ground and moved to one end then took a stance.
Ranma shrugged and backed off, though inwardly he was hoping Miriya didn't bang up Shampoo too badly. The other amazons crowded around, cheering their champion on.
The two women circled one another for a moment, analyzing one another's stance and then suddenly charged towards one another.
Shampoo learned quickly what it meant to face someone who was faster than her. Miriya wasn't quite as fast as Ranma and nowhere near as flexible as he was in his female form, but she was fast enough normally to nearly keep up with the Amaguriken attack, one of the staples of Amazon combat at this level. Shampoo was more mobile, but Miriya simply stood her ground blocking everything that came at her and counterattacked whenever she could.
Soon enough Shampoo made a mistake, overextending just slightly, and Miriya grabbed her wrist in a grip of steel bringing her in for a combo of elbow and forearm blows that set the younger girl down on the ground wiping at her mouth to clear away the blood and shaking her head groggily.
Miriya lowered her fist from where it had struck her opponent in the temple and smiled. "What do you think now?"
Shampoo looked up at her than out around at the other Amazons who were whispering excitedly. "I think you fit right in here." She said smiling a little as she got to her feet. "How you feel about armed combat?"
Miriya shrugged her shoulders. "Haven't tried it yet honestly. If you have some weapons I can try I would appreciate it. It would be interesting to see how that works in my Queadluun Rau."
With that the other maidens clustered around trying to explain which of their weapons was better and why while the blooded warriors simply waited to test their own strength against the newcomer. Miriya laughed and agreed to try them all out, whereupon everyone lined up happy to face off against a new opponent.
Miriya grinned shaking her head and throwing her green hair back to tie into place with a leather braid that Kasumi had given her that morning, her blood rising a little at facing these girls. "I think I'll be fine here on my own Ranma," she said smirking a little. "Stop by a little later and you can keep showing me around."
Ranma chuckled a little then patted her on her shoulder and walked off, leaving Miriya among the Amazons. Cologne would later join them, and finding the newcomer among her women would be amused and then astonished at her origins. That particular conversation, as well as Miriya's open and honest admiration for her admiral and her explanation of how the Meltraedi fleet really was a different 'society' than the normal Zentraedi, would turn out to be very important down the line. Nodoka too, would find it fascinating, and Motoko, when introduced to her, would curse Ranma yet again for having such a magnificent woman after him and not even realizing it.
OOOOOOOO
Mannstein looked up from his desk at the man standing at attention in front of him. "I must admit to being surprised that your home force allowed you to transfer Captain. I'm pleased to have you, but…"
The man nodded serenely. His voice came out smooth, polished, but at the same time his English (the lingua franca of the UNSF) had a bit of an accent that hinted at his Indian heritage. If another Indian had heard it they would have been able to tell the man was from the area of India called Rajputana. Of course with this man they wouldn't have had to wait for him to speak to realize that. "My home force did indeed try to argue me out of it, but the fact remains that whatever else, this ship and those aboard it will be the tip of the spear for humanity. Myself and my men have been trained to be that spear, and here we will fulfill that duty."
Mannstein smiled, wondering how that conversation had gone, but didn't honestly care. The man was a fantastic resource, and he meant to use him. "Very happy to have you aboard captain. Now, as to your duties…"
OOOOOOOOO
Gloval smiled thinly, not exactly looking forward to what was going to happen when he finished sending in the report he had just finished. The ship was as combat capable as it was going to get outside of running some full combat exercises, and unfortunately that meant they were ready to leave earth. At least this time they would be leaving with a purpose. He knew they were ready, but he found himself hesitating on hitting the send button that would tell the new high command that they were. It was just a feeling, of coming up on a decision that would affect far more than just his ship, far more than even the human race. It was an odd feeling, and he didn't know where it was coming from but it was making him hesitate.
He scowled at himself, shaking his head. Come on Henri, get it together. This is just another operation, just another voyage. The objective may be more important but that is all. He nodded decisively then hit the send button on his screen and leaned back.
Not twenty minutes later Claudia turned to him and said, "Sir, I've got an incoming line from Admiral Prescott."
Henri sighed, but nodded. "Put it through please."
A moment later, Scott Prescott's face appeared on his personal screen. "Admiral, I understand you've just submitted a good to go readiness report?"
Henri nodded. "I can't say I'm happy about it sir, but we're as ready as we're going to get without weeks of war games and training sims, and I understand we don't want to let the aliens remain in position overhead that long." That wasn't even considering the fact that the faster they got it stuck in with the aliens again, the faster fence sitters the world over would have to realize they had to get behind a side and push.
Scott nodded gravely, understanding the point. He had in fact just convinced his wife and his kids to move with him into his flagship (once they retook Moon Base Alpha) in an effort to protect them due to how much of a target Earth was. His wife Clarissa had not been happy about it, but couldn't argue the point. "That is unfortunately true Admiral."
He straightened up formally. "I have already discussed this with my fellows, and your orders are as follows: You are to leave earth within a day and make contact, in a way chosen at your discretion, with the alien fleet and, using their fixation on the space fortress, lead them away from the Earth to give us time to retake our orbitals and move into space. A minimum time for this mission will be three months, but you are to attempt to stay out as long as you possibly can, up to a year if possible. You are also to stay away from Jupiter and its orbit, but beyond that anything goes. A written confirmation of these orders has already been sent to you. Do you understand your orders?"
Henri Gloval, Vice admiral and captain of the Macross nodded heavily, but without any hesitation. "Yes sir, my ship will be leaving within two hours."
Scott nodded. "Very good admiral. Good luck and god speed." His face softened out of its formal lines just a little. "And come back to us, your ship and all those on it are far more important alive than martyred." With that and a final salute he cut the connection, intent on calling his brother and having a last few words with him.
Gloval closed his eyes and drew in a deep breath before looking up at the rest of the bridge crew. All of them were looking back at him save Lisa, having obviously realized what was happening. Lisa however had already begun to prepare the ship for launch and was calmly passing orders down the line to all of the divisions and officers.
Gloval saw this and smiled a little, looking forward to the day when he could pass on full command of the Macross to her, a duty he knew she would perform admirably. "Ladies, the order has been given. Prepare the ship for launch."
OOOOOOOOOO
Anxiety ran high among the civilians and soldiers after captain Gloval's announcement, but he had planned for this and Minmei, and to her annoyance Ranma, had been shanghaied into giving a concert whose songs were relayed throughout the ship. Minmei's songs hearkened to home, to family and love, reminding the individuals who heard them of what they were fighting for.
Ranma's didn't. She stalked out onto the stage (causing thousands of hard-ons despite her utilitarian uniform), her stride challenging and dangerous, something that brought a smile to the face of Miriya in the crowd of Amazons near the front of the stage. "Yo. I don't have ta tell any of ya how important this mission is, how our races future might hinge on it. What I will make ya all remember is we are the elite, the tip of the spear. We faced these bastards for nearly two years and the best they could throw at us, and we not only survived we fucking conquered!" this brought a massive cheer from those who had been on the ship for a time and she went on. "No matter what it costs us, it'll cost them a whole lot more, no matter what happens we will survive and we will conquer! Because we were born to rise!"
With that Ranma segued into her chosen song, and while a few people in the audience found it strange to hear a woman's voice sing that particular song, it hadn't bothered anyone before, and it didn't this time. "So what'd you know about sacrifice when the lights go out? The price to pay when you're digging down, the skin of your teeth and the pain in your back? what'd you know about hope? What'd you know about that? Write it off as criminal, a place to cast a stone, on and on we carry on when one is not enough… We are the ones who were born to rise! We are the ones with the fire inside! I go to war with the brothers I trust and there ain't no stopping us, there ain't no stopping us. We are the ones who will bring the rain! We are the ones who will break the chain! I go to war with the brothers I trust and there ain't no stopping us, there ain't no stopping us!"
In one portion of the audience Miriya stared at her rival/friend, her eyes wide and her body thrumming with the emotions the redhead evoked with her song, finally understanding the power these humans had, and hoping with all her heart that her people could come to see it too, that it would be enough to face the avalanche coming toward them.
In another portion of the audience Mark Prescott stood and stared around him, feeling the emotions of the audience and realizing there was a core of molten steel in the people around him, the kind of fire that would see them through whatever they faced, brought now to the surface by the redhead's song. He finally understood what Roy had been trying to tell him about these people, about these survivors and smiled, looking forward to proving himself worthy to stand among them.
On the bridge Lisa smiled a faint but warm smile at the voice of her lover's female form and stared out into the stars, ready for anything that came at them. In their apartment Kasumi too smiled, seeing in the song the heart and stubborn soul of her love coming out, pushing and demanding others stand beside him in the defense of them all.
OOOOOOOO
The Macross lifted off, its future, and the future of all humanity going with it, and despite everyone's concerns about being attacked immediately, the fleet in position above the planet (or more appropriately the pack, considering the size of the force the Zentraedi called a fleet) actually moved away, keeping out of the path of the Macross. Even once they exited atmosphere the fleet kept its distance, spreading out in a globe encircling the ship.
Gloval frowned as he looked at his radar. The ships surrounding his ship were too far away to be a threat, just at the edge of the Zentraedi's known radar envelope, well within the space fortresses own even before one of the doctors from the think tank had added even more sensors to their 'radar'. He could see well beyond that point, hell he could see about a fifth of the way to Mars (or at least that was what the doctor who had installed it had said) and should be able to tell where the rest of the fleet was, or in this case, wasn't.
Where in the hell did they go? Seventy thousand plus ships don't just disappear, and there is no way I will believe they just left or were assigned elsewhere or something like that, not with the practically mindless way that they've been trying to get their hands on this ship. He thought. No, they're out there somewhere, but why keep at such a distance?
Reluctantly he ordered the ship to quarter power. It would slow their escape from the Earth's gravity well, but they needed to find out where the hell the alien fleet was, and if that meant being a sitting duck for a while longer, then so be it.
OOOOOOOOOO
Sonya smiled a little grimly at the radar screen on the ship she had taken over as her command ship of the pack assigned over the third planet. I wonder what they are up to now. Some kind of reconnaissance, a break from their high command, of some other kind of mission? A decoy perhaps, to allow other ships out of their atmosphere? Could make sense from their position I suppose.
While Azonia had been preparing her fleet for war and controlling the flow of gossip to control public opinion and turn it against Dolza, Sonya had been analyzing the humans and what was going on with them. The resupply of the space fortress was obvious, but what else was going on eluded her for a time.
The human on human combat going on in what was supposedly their most powerful clan/country confused her until she realized she was seeing some kind of power grab, an almost unheard of thing Zentraedi or Meltraedi culture, in which you were an officer or you were not, and no one ever moved from a regular to an officer. Still she could understand if she thought in terms of two admirals being assigned to the same fleet, or two fleets assigned the same mission, which had happened. Of course if Kyron had tried to overthrow or replace or whatever Azonia then his fleet would have died even faster than it did.
Still in those terms it seemed as if one of the leaders didn't want to stand down and, according to the news feeds they had intercepted, didn't want his people to take the fight to space and instead bunker down somehow. Since Sonya had seen what a Meltraedi fleet could do to a planet many times, that idea struck her as moronic in the extreme. You could hide yourself deep underground if you wanted to but what did that matter if the fleet fired enough shots to annihilate all life on the surface and turn the planet into a giant ball of rock? You might survive, but for how long with your atmosphere gone, your biosphere gone, and your planet having lost so much mass it ricocheted out of its orbit around the sun. That last admittedly she had seen only once, but it was still possible.
The whole debate about how best to combat the Meltraedi amused her a little and the peace faction first confused her, and then gave her hope. After all, why in the universe could any humans think a species more powerful and advanced than they are would ever allow them to live in peace? Barter was well known among the Meltraedi long before the influx of human goods, and she knew that you never bargained from a position of weakness, and the humans, whatever the strength of the space fortress and the admittedly amazing Ranma could only be seen as having a position of weakness in comparison to the Meltraedi.
On the other hand, her people had nearly come to the point of realizing how much they were missing, and that they could gain at least a measure of it if they made peace with the humans. That was something that nearly every Meltraedi in the fleet now understood, that somehow their culture, their future, their past had all been taken from them, and a low key, simmering fury had begun to make its way through the fleet. Yet if they really did ally with humans, they would face the might of Dolza and the Zentraedi, a daunting, even frightening thought.
Still Sonya cared not for that, she had long given her allegiance to her lady admiral, to Azonia, her friend above and beyond any loyalty to Dolza or any other concern. She knew her friend had a plan, and she felt it was a good one, but even if she hadn't thought that, she would still have followed it because it was Azonia who had thought of it.
She turned and strode over to the communications pit, nodding at the female stationed there, who immediately connected them to the Knight Dagger. A moment later Sonya saw the face of her friend appear and began to make her report. "Lady Admiral, the space fortress has just broken atmosphere and is heading away from the third planet, its course is unknown at this time. It might simply be trying to get out of the third planet's gravity well, but it might also be trying to draw us off from the planet, as it came out at an angle that takes them away from the quickest route out."
Azonia nodded thoughtfully. "Send me their current trajectory, my pack will fold out in front of them on an angle, I'll be sending the signal as soon as they are within range. Turn over command of the cordon to Wing Leader Angelia, and then get back here. Once we begin negotiations I will have need of your advice. We haven't heard back from Dolza yet, and a response must be coming soon, we need to begin moving."
Her words were professional but the look she sent Sonya told her she needed Sonya with her more for her friendship than advice, to which Sonya nodded and signed off. A moment later her ship backed away from the others and began to move toward the nearest point to escape the Earth's gravity well so it could fold out and rejoin Azonia's portion of the main fleet.
OOOOOOOOOO
The next day Miriya found herself sitting in the incredibly comfortable 'bean bag' in the family's sitting room, though why it was called a 'bean' bag escaped her. She sighed a little, stretching out and wondering what she should be doing. She knew she was waiting for the signal from her admiral to make herself known but what would happen after that?
She also missed having a Queadluun Rau on hand, she really wanted to see what her training the past few days would equate to. She had looked over the specs for the Valkyrie and all of its variants, and even with the SAM Pack installed they didn't quite match up to one of the Meltraedi powersuits. Ranma's was an aberration not the rule, and she looked forward to seeing what she could do to one of the power suits using the same armor strengthening technique among other things.
She looked up from some reading Kasumi had asked her to do (and was it just her or did everyone find Kasumi nearly impossible to say no to?) when Ranma came in, smiling a little. His/her time of the month had passed thankfully, and he was back in his male form for the moment. "Hey Miriya, you free?"
Miriya nodded. "I have some reading Kasumi asked me to do, but honestly the meaning escapes me. Why in the world does she want me to read 'Miraculous Stories from the Japanese Buddhist Tradition' anyway?"
Ranma shrugged. "I think she wants ta broaden your horizons a bit. I wouldn't worry, she'll stop if you tell her you're not interested. She tells me the same thing sometimes, but she knows I'm more of a doer than a reader. So do you want to take a walk?"
Miriya cocked her head. "The way you say that lends that term special meaning. May I ask why?"
Ranma merely grinned.
Minutes later, the duo was at one of the small maintenance hatches leading out onto the hull, both of them dressed in naval spacesuits. After getting permission the two exited the ship and moved out onto the hull.
Miriya gasped aloud with pleasure, looking out into the dark of space at the Earth receding well beyond them, at the stars overhead, and the dark of space spreading before her. "I've seen this view from my sensors more times than I can count, but to see it like this, with nothing between me and space but this thin suit… this is amazing."
Ranma touched her hand gently and Miriya followed him. The two bounded away, eventually making their way forward to the very tip of the main gun's nacelles. There he came to a stop, staring out into space. Miriya took a moment to operate the controls on her suit, activating the magnets in the boots to keep her there.
After a moment Ranma spoke, breaking the silence that had enveloped them since they left the hatch. "Dreams are what drive us sometimes. A man can strive, can work his whole life toward a dream, so much that the line between dream and goal becomes blurred. I had a goal, to be the best damn martial artist I could be, but it was my dream that drove me beyond that. This was my dream, to go to space, to see new planets, to explore. Sometimes I just come out here ta stare at the stars and wonder what else we can find out there."
Miriya sighed sadly. "And my people ruined it for you?"
"No," Said Ranma bluntly. "Your people didn't the assholes who controlled you ruined it for you. For me, fighting is as much a fact of life as breathing. I knew there would be aliens out here nearly from the moment my dream began, and I knew I'd end up fightin' 'em, if it hadn't been you and yours, it would have been someone else. No, I came out here ta talk about my dream because you haven't been allowed ta dream big like that have ya? When was the last time you dreamed about the future, about what you'd like to do with your life beyond the moment?"
Miriya stared at him, then away out into space. "Never, I've never dreamed like that. I don't think my people even have a word for that, that kind of hope for the future, something to strive for beyond simply obeying orders. We lost that, along with so much more. I realize that now. For us it has been war, unending war for as long as I or any other Meltraedi remember."
Ranma nodded, putting his arm around her shoulders. "And that is why I don't hate you or yer race. You can't dream, that was taken from you along with your culture, your past and your future. But I will help you get them back if I can."
Miriya stared at him, her face unmoving until it broke into a wide smile. "I will hold you to that Ranma." A moment later her com, which Azonia had given her personally, and which she never let leave her person, beeped indicating an incoming signal. "And now I think we need to see if we can convince the rest of your people to help as well, for the betterment of both our races."
About an hour later, time mostly spent getting back to the hatch they used and putting the spacesuits away, Ranma stepped onto the bridge with the green haired woman following him.
Gloval looked up from discussing something with Claudia, Lisa and Vanessa, still worried about the lack of attacks and where the hell the alien fleet was. After all, how could they do their job if they didn't know where the fleet was? If it was just hovering out or radar range outside the gravity well it could sweep in after they left, so finding it was imperative. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Lisa stiffen seeing the woman flowing Ranma onto the bridge, but he ignored it for now. "Yes Commander Sugita, can we help you?"
"No Sir," said Ranma standing at attention for once. "But my friend here has something to say to you."
The green-haired woman strode forward, her step precise, controlled and aggressive as only a martial artists could be to stand in front of the vice admiral. "I am Miriya Parina of the Meltraedi fleet, and I am here to discuss a peace agreement between our fleet and humanity, specifically this space fortress and those aboard."
End chapter
Hope everyone liked my little homage there, tell me if you spot it. Oh, and flip the name of the admiral of the 7th around if you haven't already spotted it. As always read and review.