This was finished early Sunday morning (2/22/09), like 2am-ish. If only FFNet was working properly when it was done.
Disclaimer: Don't own it. If I did, I wouldn't have left the ending so open.
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When Jeffery Wilder entered the bridge of the Macross Quarter ten minutes before change of watch, it was much quieter than he expected. For all of about thirty seconds, anyway, which was how long it took Bobby to notice that he had arrived.
"Captain!" Bobby cried, "Oh thank goodness, I've been so bored, there's nothing to do on watch with the radar down and the radio down and Gemma was too busy to talk to me and no one came to visit and I forgot my phone so I couldn't check any e-mail and please please please don't make me do this watch again!"
Wilder sighed. Bobby was the best helmsman he had ever sailed with, but he was so melodramatic outside of the pressure cooker of battle. "Bobby, you know that you have a watch to stand tomorrow at the same time as you did today. I only have so many bridge officers right now."
Bobby looked ready to cry, but nodded. "Okay, Captain. It was worth a try."
Wilder looked over, and Gemma's relief, a tall, black-haired girl named Midori, came through the hatch and walked over to the ships systems station. She spoke in a low tone to Gemma, something that Wilder couldn't hear, and Mina replied. Midori responded with a loud "Ehhhhhhhh!? That many? What have they been doing, Gemma?"
He walked toward the operators. "Anything I need to know about, ladies?"
Gemma shook her head. "The maintenance and repairs are still on schedule, but they had to bring on an extra crew, there was some damage to the superconducting rings on the port gravimetric array, and the whole unit had to be pulled to replace it, and we had to take fifteen separate systems offline to get access to the unit. We're at one hundred and thirty nine separate systems that are locked down currently, several hundred hatches over-ridden, and an assortment of special conditions currently in effect. I think Midori was just a little shocked by the total."
The Captain grunted. "What happened with the gravimetrics?"
"They think there was some spalling in the enclosure from one of the hits we took, and the spall pieces bridged the ring to the mounting frame at some point. It's still operational, but the engineer wanted to replace it while we had the chance."
"Understood." He turned back to Bobby. "I relieve you. Go get relaxed, and be on time for your watch tomorrow, no whining!"
Bobby threw a jaunty salute and went out the hatch, passing Ozma Lee as he left. Ozma walked over to the captain's chair and waited for him to get settled in it. Wilder looked at him and nodded. "Something I can do for you, Commander?"
"Just checking on the status of the maintenance. My phone doesn't get any signal down in the hanger arm without the repeaters working, so it's been a quiet day. I was just coming up to turn in some reports, and finally picked up the signal from Frontier herself. Cathy's been having a day." He rolled his eyes slightly at this, and Wilder knew that Ozma was sure that Lt. Glass had made a mistake staying with NUNS. For one thing, she was still a Lieutenant, when almost every other officer with her time in grade, and quite a few who had done less to help win the war, had been promoted. Wilder suspected that the high command was punishing her for leaving with the Quarter when they ran, despite the treachery of Leon Mishima and the unlikelihood of her survival if she had stayed.
"And what does the lovely Lieutenant have to say?"
"That everyone in the government is an idiot, pretty much. And she had an odd conversation with Minister Ebata this afternoon."
The Captain frowned. "Ebata…Ebata…the resources engineer?"
Ozma looked surprised. "You know him?"
"Only that he did a damn good job keeping the colony alive under incredibly harsh conditions. He's supposed to be a good engineer and a good bureaucrat. Would rather get his hands dirty than sit in a meeting. I met him once, and I like him."
Commander Lee nodded. "He seems to think the same of you. Cathy said that she thinks he's hinting that you should run for colonial president."
Wilder snorted. "Not that again!" he muttered. "Why is everyone so insistent about that? I like what I do, why would I change that?"
Ozma sighed. "Sir…" He paused, and his face scrunched up in concentration. "Sir, one of my trainers back when I was with U.N. Spacy told me that the reward for a job well done is a harder job. Right now, you're at the top of the SMS pyramid. We don't have a big fleet, and most of our ships are scattered right now. But you're pretty much the boss of SMS, and I'm sure that will be confirmed once all the ink is dry on the paperwork Mr. Birla signed to cut us loose. Even if you bring all of our ships here, there's not a lot they can do, other than provide orbital defense. Most of ships are space carriers. The rest of our offensive strength is in Variable Fighters, and that would be a benefit to the colony, but it's still not a step up. The only tougher job we can give you right now is one in the government. You might not like it, but people respect you, and everyone in Frontier knows that you're the Captain of the ship that found the truth behind the Galaxy conspiracy."
"I don't want to be in government." Wilder said mulishly.
"That's your choice, sir," Ozma replied. "Just consider one thing, though. If you don't run, then what's to stop those bastards over at NUNS from finding a candidate and putting him forward? In the absence of anyone else, he might just win."
Wilder winced at the thought. The idea of some hand-picked NUNS REMF being in charge of his command never sat well with him. The idea of that same REMF holding an elective office over him? And what's to stop them from cutting the contract with SMS and leaving his company out to dry, just to spite one Jeffery Wilder?
"Alright, Commander, I'll consider it."
"That's all we ask, sir." He handed over a stack of readiness reports, saluted, and walked out the hatch. He passed Monica, who was still dressed in civilian clothes, coming through the hatch.
"Hello," Monica said as she walked up to him.
"Good Evening, dear," he responded. "What brings you out to the Quarter?"
"I forgot that you had duty tonight, and sat home for about an hour before I remembered where you were. I was lonely." She wrapped her arms around his upper arm and rested against him.
"Did you have a good time today?"
He felt her nod before answering verbally. "Yes, I did. I need to do that more often; spending time with Ram and Mina was fun. Except…"
"Except?"
Monica moved the index finger of her right hand up and down, stroking his arm. "We went to Nyan-Nyan for lunch. Did you know that the government is pressuring Saotome-kun and Ranka and Sheryl to enter into a multiple marriage?"
Wilder frowned before replying. "I knew they were talking about legalizing multiple spouses, of course. What's this about pressuring Saotome-kun, though?"
"They want to use the three of them like some sort of poster children for the idea, since they're all so popular. It's fine if they all love each other, but haven't they all been used enough?" Monica was near tears, but she had been very volatile recently.
"I understand what you're saying, and I agree. They shouldn't be exploited. I just don't know what I can do about it."
She let go and moved to stand in front of him. He was vaguely aware of Midori and Gemma watching them, but was used to the activity, as most of the crew got some sort of thrill watching the romance between the two of them. Monica took a deep breath. "I think you should reconsider running for president."
He suppressed an urge to throw his hands up in the air. What was it with people today? "Would it surprise you to know that Commander Lee has already spoken to me about this topic today?" She nodded. "Would it also surprise you to know that he did so at the behest of Lt. Glass, who in turn spoke to Ozma on the behest of Minister Ebata?"
"The resources guy? He's pretty good, why doesn't he run?"
"Because it seems that, just like me, he prefers doing the job he already has, and would rather any other sucker take the job than be forced to take it himself."
Monica nodded. "I can see that. Well, if you run, you can get revenge by making him your vice-president."
"Vice-president?"
"The colony needs continuity of leadership if something like President Glass' assassination happens again. It won't happen to you, of course, because you're smart, and SMS will be handling your security, but it's a good idea to start setting precedents now, just in case something happens down the line. Or in case I happen to kill you in bed, like you keep swearing that I'm going to." The last line was delivered with a smirk, and Wilder dropped his head, hiding his eyes with the broad bill of his officers' cap, while the two operators who were watching giggled.
"Will you promise to stop embarrassing me if I agree to consider it?"
She nodded. "Sure, I think I can agree to that."
"Good, because I already told Commander Lee that I'll consider it. And I am, for a number of reasons, but if I decide to do it, it will be for my reasons, alright dear?"
"That's fine. Can I use your quarters here? I don't want to take the trip back to Frontier tonight, if that's alright."
"You're welcome to. I'll be off duty in six hours; do you want me to wake you up when I turn in?"
"I would, but you don't need to. See how you feel after six hours of boredom."
He sighed. "I'm afraid that's what it will be, too." She waved and blew him a kiss, and walked out the hatch. Gemma followed her, and Midori turned to the task of coordinating the repair crews once more. She turned in her chair and announced, "Captain, we have restored basic communications, although the Fold-com is still offline. I'm informing Frontier control that we're back on the grid."
"Go ahead, Ensign." The black-haired operator turned and did that, then turned back to him after less than a minute.
"Captain, there's a com call for you, someone must have been waiting for us to go active again," the operator told him, and he nodded. It happened sometimes.
"Route it to my viewer." The holographic screen came to life and Lt. Cathy Glass' image appeared on screen. "Good evening lieutenant, to what do I owe the pleasure?"
"Captain Wilder, I was wondering if I could talk to you for a few minutes about something important…"
He gave a long sigh. It was going to be one of those days.
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In the hanger deck of the SMS complex on Frontier, Luca Angelloni was watching as technicians from L.A.I. delivered the last of four new VF-25s into the hands of SMS. These were the first four units of the fifteen ordered to bring SMS back up to two full squadrons of twelve, before the units for the expansion began to arrive. There would, of course, be spares delivered as well, but these were primaries for the next four pilots to join SMS. There were two F variants, a G-type like Michel's (painted in black with blue "go faster" striping), and a prototype YF-25HW variant, that mounted the full armor package and carried a beam rifle like those found on the VF-27s. Unlike the 27, the 25HW stowed its beam rifle in a mount on its back, offset to the right of the cockpit. It was a true prototype, as L.A.I. wanted to see how it would hold up under operational conditions. The fighter also carried the standard multi-barrel gun that the F and S variants carried. The beam cannon swung down and around, to rest under the right arm, and a handle popped up as it did so. It was more of a fire support weapon than the primary weapon as in the 27, but it was a heavy hitter and adapting it would be beneficial. The biggest concerns with the unit right now were power for the beam cannon and the smoothness of stowage upon transformation, although if the HW went into production, it was possible that the multi-barrel gun would likely be dropped and the fighter would operate with just the heavy beam gun.
Luca stretched his arms, today had been a long day. After leaving base shortly after Alto did, he went to the L.A.I. labs to ensure everything was running smoothly, and then accompanied the convoy that delivered the fighters. He was just as glad to get off base; Klan seemed to be more of a mood than normal. Or maybe she was getting worse? He wasn't sure; he didn't interact a lot with the meltran since Michel had died. Despite being one of his closest friends, Klan had not talked to Luca much about Michel, apparently still angry with Luca over his involvement with Mishima and O'Conner. Unfortunately, it had been a case where, if Luca hadn't gotten involved, they would have likely gone over his head, and he might have disappeared at some point. It was better to be involved, if only to limit the damage, or so he told himself. He still wondered if he had done any good.
He had spent a surprising amount of time talking to Mr. Birla. While he wasn't nearly as naïve as Luca had been, his involvement had been both altruistic and selfish at once. Mr. Birla wanted to find Minmay. He was an old zentran, and more than a little eccentric, even as zentran went, for he had had no trouble adjusting to the realities of human society, and had become a powerful and influential shipping magnate. He had also loved Minmay, but closer to how a man might feel about an angel or a goddess, than how a man feels toward a woman. He truly felt that the universe had become a smaller place when the singer was lost, and he had wanted to restore her light to the galaxy. So while it was more than a mite obsessive, Luca could understand where the Owner was coming from.
The last of the new armor and armor cradles was offloaded, the newest boosters with fold-quartz crystals that would allow for swift, minimal-lag folds, and all that was left were two trucks filled with replacement parts, many of them for the new beam gun. Two engineers from L.A.I. would stay on with SMS for the first month or two of operations, until SMS had enough personnel that understood the system to take over. Considering the amount of talent that SMS tended to attract, he guessed it would be closer to the low end of that figure.
As he watched, his phone rang, and he pulled it out and answered it without looking who was calling. "This is Luca," he said into it.
"Luca-kun," Nanase's voice sounded in his ear, "where have you been all day?"
He sighed. "Working, unfortunately. We're delivering some new fighters to SMS today, and I wanted to be on hand."
"I see," her voice replied, and Luca winced a little. 'I see' was never a good response. "Well, what are you doing now?"
"Um, finishing up here and then…taking you to see a movie?" After the end of the conflict, the Zentran-Human war docudrama "Do You Remember Love?", or "DYRL?" as the fans of the movie called it, had become popular again, and several theaters were showing it, followed by footage of Minmay's last concert. The power of Sheryl and Ranka's songs had reminded the older generation of the power of the music of the original Miss Macross, and they wanted to make sure that the younger generation remembered as well. Too, Grace O'Conner had tried to use the love ballad of the Zentran-Human war against Frontier, and the older generation wanted people to remember what the song really stood for. Nanase wasn't much for war films, but there was a lot of romance in "DYRL?" and she was a sucker for romance.
"A movie, huh? What are we going to see?"
"I was thinking we could go see 'Do You Remember Love?'"
She squealed into the phone. "That sounds grand, Luca, I've always loved Minmay's music. I thought it was the best idea when Ranka sang "Watashi no Kare wa Pilot" for the Miss Macross Frontier contest."
"Can I pick you up in an hour?" he asked her.
"That would be fine, Luca-kun."
"I'll see you then, Nanase-chan"
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Nene Rora stood in the cemetery near SMS headquarters as the sun went down. While Mikhael had been lost to space, he had a headstone, and she needed to talk to him, so it was as good a place as any.
"Michel," she said. "I'm worried about Klan. She loved you so much, and losing you is eating her up. She's changing, and she's losing the person she was little by little as she does. I don't know what to do, but I need to help her."
She sighed. "I'm not a very good meltran, I suppose, but I think I make a good human. I'm too emotional, and rather shy. A meltrandi warrior would probably walk up to Klan and belt her in the mouth and piss her off until she was in a rage of anger and grief. I can't do that. Maybe Raramia could have, but it's just not me. I can stay with her, and if I have to give up a little of my meltran heritage to do so, I will. I just wish you were here, somehow, to help her, to make her understand what she's doing."
The rosette looked at the plain marble marker. "You'd be proud of her, supporting your friends. She's actually turning into quite the sniper. Her combat skills are growing every day, but its costing her her life. She used to embarrass Raramia and me sometimes, going off on you, but I'd live with it every day of my life if I could just hear it one more time. There's no fire in her anymore, Michel. All of her passion is cold anger, and it scares me sometimes. I wish I knew what to do."
Nene suddenly had the image in her mind of Michel and Alto slugging it out in the ready room, the time Michel had almost blown the head of Alto's Valkyrie. There had been many angry words exchanged, but the two had learned to respect one another after the incident. It had helped Michel deal better with his sister's suicide, as well, and it had marked the true beginning of the two boys' friendship.
She glared at the marker, and then gave another sigh. "I don't know if I can do that, Michel. But if you think it will work, I'll give it a try. I owe it to her for so many things." She bent down and ran her hand across the engraved name, then turned and walked away.
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Ranka was cleaning up around the apartment while Alto cooked dinner and Sheryl worked on the arrangement of another song. She was calling it the "Nyan-Nyan Service Medley", and she was listening to a recording of the singing during the last battle to try and get the timing of everything, and make it a good arrangement without the breaks in the music that had been forced by the various attacks. Ranka wasn't quite sure why she picked that name, but Sheryl was given to fits of whimsy, so she just went with the flow. She straightened out a stack of books when she felt a familiar, yet different tug at her stomach. She sat down on the couch and dropped into the fold-mind. /Oniichan?/
/*/Ranka,/*/ came Brera's voice. /*/How are you, Imouto?/*/
/I'm good, how are you? Where are you?/
/*/We've finished searching this area, and found the wreckage of three more cruiser. One of the cruisers still had jump-coordinates in its computer, but the drive had been shattered. We're going to follow the jump and see if there are any survivors./*/
/I'm sorry your friends died, Oniichan./
/*/I am too, Ranka. It was such a waste, all these lives thrown away for the ambitions of a few greedy people. In some ways, I envy the Vajra. They rule by true consensus, for there aren't any true individuals./*/
/But then there would be no differences, and no love,/ Ranka replied.
/*/Love,/*/ Brera snorted. /*/I've never really felt it, other than love of family./*/
/It's the most important thing of all, though, Brera./
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Brera thought about Ranka's situation and the drama of her love life, and decided to tweak her a little. /*/Oh, is it?/*/ he teased. /*/And how is your love going, Imouto-chan?/*/ Brera could feel Ranka's blush through the fold-mind, and her avatar glowed more brightly than he had ever seen before.
/It's good, Oniichan. We've finally stopped dancing around the problem./
Brera was surprised; he figured it would take months if not years for things to settle down. /*/You're not bawling your eyes out, so did Nome give up, then?/*/
/No…/
/*/No? You didn't give up, though?/*/
/No…/
Brera looked confused now. /*/Ranka, what is going on?/*/
/They're passing a new law. Frontier lost too many men in the war, and it will take too long to rely just on immigration, according to the government, so they're going to allow multiple spouse marriages./
It took a moment for the implications of that statement to process through Brera's mind. When it did, though… /*/I'll kill him./*/
/Oniichan, you will not./
/*/Yes I will./*/
/No you will NOT!/ Ranka 'shouted', and he instantly had a headache. /It wasn't his idea, and we've talked a lot about this. I love him, and so does Sheryl, and she doesn't have anyone else, and I don't want to lose her, and if he broke up with her she'd leave Frontier forever. We know it won't be easy, but we've discussed it and we want to try. ALL of us want to try, and interfering older brothers don't get a vote./ She seemed to glow brighter again, which he realized was her blushing again. /Besides, Ozma-oniichan already knows about it. He's the one who told Alto-kun about the law./
That took the wind out of his sails. If Ozma Lee knew about it and wasn't screaming, then Brera didn't have much of an argument. He was still learning to be a big brother, but Ozma had had years of practice, and he usually deferred to the older pilot's judgment on matters such as this. As much as it pained him, he might have to let this pass. /*/Alright, I'll let it go for now. But if he hurts you, I get to pay him back with interest, you uinderstand?/*/
Ranka let out a sigh, apparently of relief. He had been impressed that she stood up to him, actually, although he wouldn't tell her that just yet. /He won't hurt me, but if he did, I'd let you beat him up. So, do you know when you'll be home?/
/*/We're still tracing this group, there are five more ships that had been accompanying the three wrecks we found. Once we find either the ships or the wreckage, or completely lose the trace, we'll be heading back to refuel and replenish, and take a few days off./*/
/Take a few days off?/ Ranka's 'voice' seemed light and teasing. /Who are you and what have you done with my brother?/
/*/Ha ha. Even cyborgs need to rest./*/
/Or get an oil change./
Brera twitched. /*/That girl and that pilot have been a bad influence on you./*/
Ranka stuck out her tongue. /Maybe. I miss you, Oniichan./
/*/I miss you too, Imouto./*/ They gave each other virtual hugs, then Ranka dropped out of the fold-mind, leaving Brera in his cockpit. He sent a message to the other fighters in his group, and they turned and vectored back to their carrier. Once aboard, light flashed and a tear in space opened, and the Guantanamo-class carrier disappeared into fold-space.
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Ranka opened her eyes and adjusted once more to being back in the 'real' world. She stood up and almost skipped over to the table, where Sheryl was straightening up dozens of sheets of staff paper, all marked with a quick and dirty version of the duet from the last battle. Impulsively, she stepped up behind Sheryl and gave her a hug, leaving her arms wrapped around the taller girl's shoulders.
"Ranka?" Sheryl asked.
"Yes?"
"What was that for?"
Ranka leaned her head against Sheryl's. "For no reason, really. I just felt like giving you a hug. I'm just happy, and I'm happy that you're happy, and everything."
The rosette chuckled. "I'm happy for all of that too, Ranka. Who were you talking to?"
"Oh, Brera-oniisan was just checking up on me."
Sheryl frowned. "How far away was he?"
"Pretty far, I'd say. It was still like he was right here. They've been tracing one of the escort fleets. They found three dead ships, but there are still five missing along that route, from the records they accessed, so they're still hoping to find them alive." Sheryl shuddered, and Ranka squeezed her again. "It's okay, Sheryl, they'll find more survivors from Galaxy, just wait."
She nodded. "I know, Ranka, it's just hard sometimes. I can't believe they sacrificed so many people for their plot."
Sheryl started to reply, but was interrupted by Ranka's phone ringing. The vernette stepped back and pulled it off her shoulder and squeezed it, answering the call. "Hello?"
"Ranka-chan! How is my super, amazing, magnificent star?"
Ranka couldn't help but giggle. "Hello, Elmo. How are you today?"
"I'm great, fabulous, wonderful! I have big important news for you and Sheryl-chan. Is she there?" She looked at Sheryl, and she nodded, getting up to stand beside Ranka. Every once in a while Elmo was just too much for her, and she was 'unavailable' to talk. Ranka knew that she genuinely liked the man, and he was doing a wonderful job as their manager, but he could get a little overenthusiastic. "Yes, she's here." She tugged on the two ends of the phone, and it went into speaker mode.
"Sheryl-chan! How are you doing today?" Elmo also wasn't dumb, and he had been more dialed down when talking to Sheryl recently, Ranka had noticed.
"I'm good, Elmo-san. What's the news?"
"Well," Elmo began, "You know how your concert was picked up on every fold-com in Alliance controlled space? We've been getting deluged with requests from different colonies and fleets for copies of your music. We really should sit down and talk face to face about it, but the money is big big big!"
Ranka looked at Sheryl, then back at the phone. "How many requests is a deluge, Elmo?" the younger girl asked.
They could practically hear his smile over the phone. "There's only one artist in the galaxy who has sold more copies of a single than you two. Big enough?"
Ranka's mind froze, and Sheryl started to giggle. Alto looked over his shoulder at them from the kitchen. "He's not talking about Minmay, is he?"
"Bin-go!" Elmo called out. "Hi, Saotome-kun! The duet you two did of 'Lion' has gone nuts, multi-platinum, and apparently a bootleg video of you two singing at the hospital has gotten out. We need to cut an official version of the duet of 'What 'bout My Star', people can't get enough of it! Maybe get the guys from Formo to play backup, really play to the fans, you know?"
Ranka was still trying to process "sold more singles than anyone but Minmay", and Sheryl was giggling hysterically now. Still, the pink-haired singer got herself under control. "That sounds wonderful, Elmo-san. I was just working on the arrangement for a studio recording of the battle medley, maybe put that, the 'Star' duet, and maybe 'Fan Club' and 'Seikan Hikou' together and sell them as a set, a Ranka and Sheryl sampler for the other colonies and such?" Ranka nodded, coming out of her daze, somewhat.
"That sounds like a great idea, Sheryl-chan. I have some other ideas, too, but we need to sit down and talk. You two are the hottest thing in the whole galaxy, so we need to figure out where to go next!"
Ranka smiled. "Okay, Elmo, we'll sit down and talk? Maybe tomorrow? I won't have time until next weekend, otherwise."
"Sounds great, Ranka-chan!" Elmo replied. "I'll get to work getting all the numbers together, and some ideas, and we can go from there, okay?"
"Sounds good, Elmo-san," Sheryl said. "See you tomorrow."
"Ja!" their manager replied, and the call ended.
Ranka looked at Sheryl. Sheryl looked at Ranka. They both looked at Alto, who looked rather bemused. Then Sheryl whooped and swept Ranka up in her arms, spinning her fellow singer around, laughing all the while. Then they rushed over to Alto, and practically tackled him, wrapping their arms around him and jumping up and down like the teenage girls they still were. Ranka didn't remember much of what was said, but they giggled and shouted and took turns kissing Alto, and even kissed each other once, as they celebrated being on top of the musical world.
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Authors Notes:
Note for the last chapter, I suppose. While I don't think I'll be using a lot of lyrics in the story (because translated lyrics aren't musical, and there's no point to the lyrics in Japanese, unless I do a side-by-side, which is sloppy in my opinion), the songs themselves are somewhat important. "Triangler" is the only song sung by Nakajima Megumi (with Sadamoto Maaya, not May'n, but whatever) that isn't actually sung by the characters in the series. So, it will be one of the songs that Sheryl and Ranka will do at some point.
I like using Nene. She's a lot like Klan. She's lost one of her friends, and she's watching the other one slowly fall apart. She seems like the sort of person who would have a big heart, and would try to do something to help. The idea of her talking to Michel popped into my head, and I just had to use it, and I can actually see a way now to resolve some of Klan's issues, which I was having some difficulty with.
I finally got a scene with Luca in, and one with Brera, and in the same chapter. A little Luca/Nanase interaction, too. That just leaves Kanaria of SMS, and Alto's father and brother, at least of the major supporting characters. It might take a few chapters, but a confrontation between Alto and his father over his engagement to two girls might work.
Midori is another one of mine, from a different story.
Okay, yes, I've beaten the political problems to death. It's all from different character viewpoints, I guess I'm trying to show how many different kinds of people think things are screwed up. Now, everyone can harass Captain Wilder into running, instead of complaining that things suck.
Oh, and my comic is getting picked up for production. More details on that once I know them, but we're looking at a June/July release date. Gah!