Disclaimer: Don't own it. If I did, I wouldn't have left the ending so open.
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Ozma Lee looked out over the briefing room at his pilots. They were all relaxed for the most part, old hands at this sort of thing by now. Even the new pilots were relaxed. Kakizaki, Luca and Alto's aerial demonstration teammate, sat near them and joked around. Ishigaki and Tenjin, the transfers from NUNS, sat in the back of the room, talking with each other, but not really feeling part of the group yet. Inoue, who had left NUNS shortly after planetfall but had heard through channels of the new attacks, and had joined up to give them a second RVF-25 operator.
Klan sat on the border between the Valkyrie pilots and the heavies, namely Nene and Kanaria. Ozma was working on recruiting more pilots for the Koenig Monsters, but hadn't found one yet. He cleared his throat, and the room quieted.
"I'm sure you've all heard about the attack on the patrol flight. Wolf-2 and Wolf-5 were wiped out in less than thirty seconds. There seemed to be an attempt to strip the wreckage, but it seems that the fires were too intense, and we were able to recover the black box and gunsight cameras. Wolf-5 never saw anything, and indeed was probably never aware of the attack. Wolf-2 tried to fight, but was outnumbered, and we believe that his killer was attacking out of or near the position of the sun. The attackers employed heavy jamming. However, he caught a glimpse of one of the bandits before he died."
Ozma hit a switch on the podium, and the lights dimmed as the display screen flickered and showed the captured image. "This is the mech that Wolf-2 spotted. As you can see, it appears to be a human design. Stylistically, it has many features in common with the VF-22 Sturmvogel, although this seems to be a more advanced version of that design. Note the heavier armor and what appear to be booster packs." He pointed this feature out, then resumed. "The most interesting feature on this fighter, though, is the squadron colors." The display zoomed, and focused on several features. "The fighter bears markings of the Nighthawk squadron, which was a squadron that was associated with the 117th Long Distance Research Fleet."
"What the hell?" Klan shouted. "Do you mean to tell me we're fighting our own people again? More of the morons from the Galaxy plot?"
"That's unknown. The fighter also seems to bear markings of one of the escort carriers, although we don't have a complete shot. There will be no jumping to conclusions, but I for one am not sure that this unit had any part in the Galaxy plot. They're using different fighters, and while the VF-22 is quite capable, the VF-27 has much more firepower and range. That's only my theory, though."
"As of now, there will be no two-element patrols. All patrols will be in four-element wings, consisting of a VF-25, an RVF-25, a 25-G, and a 25-HW. Flight one will be myself, Inoue as our RVF operator, Ishigaki as our gunner, and Tenjin as heavy weapons. I'm flight leader. Ishigaki, I know you've only been through basic sniper training, but you're what we have right now. Flight two is Saotome, Angelloni as your RVF operator, Klan as gunner, and Kakizaki as heavy weapons. Klan is flight leader. Tenjin, Kakizaki, the HW variant is a prototype, if anything doesn't seem right, stick to your primary gun and ignore fire support. We want everyone to come home, and pushing something with a prototype is a good way to insure that you don't. Berstein is on call for fire support for Flight one, Rora on call for Flight two."
"We're on port-and-starboard scramble for the duration or until we get more personnel; we have more coming in the pipeline, but we have to get the NUNS crap out of their heads and introduce them to doing things the proper way." Ishigaki and Tenjin grinned and nodded, having gone through the process themselves. "That means you're here on the Quarter for your six hours as the alert squadron. Saotome, I'll see what we can do about getting a berth for Ranka and Sheryl; we might need them close so we can talk to the Vajra." Alto blushed slightly at being singled out, but said nothing.
"The Vajra, according to Ranka, are most upset, but they know that it's not us attacking. The Vajra corpses were completely shattered, though, and the bodies looted for the major concentrations of fold-quartz, so we know what they are after. With an RVF with each flight, jamming shouldn't be as much of an issue, but we're setting up an alert if we lose contact with either flight. The RVF's are likely to be the first target of the attack, so don't get cocky, and cover each other. In the event that you are jammed, the queens will be alerted and the Vajra in the area will provide fire support. We don't know what took out the Vajra in the ambush, but it was an instant kill, so be careful."
He looked his pilots over. "We want to know what's going on. We want prisoners if you can get them. But your safety comes first. This isn't NUNS and we don't have any shitty policies to capture over kill. We're rebuilding strength right now, we lost a lot of fighters toward the end of the war, and a lot of pilots who just wanted out. We're bringing them back in, but they're out of practice. You're Skull squadron, you're the point of the spear, and you have the skill to come back home safe, or you wouldn't be flying with us. Keep your unit safe. It's been 48 hours since the first attack, so we can either expect another soon, or we might be waiting for a while, until they feel we've decided they aren't coming back. We didn't track them in or out, so they may be holed up somewhere on the planet. Keep an eye out for anything unusual."
"Flight one is the alert flight on duty, starting in two hours at 1200. Everyone take the time to ensure that your Valkyries are ready to fly. Dismissed!"
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Alto was inspecting his fighter, having called his girls to let them know what the situation was, and that Ozma was looking to get permission for them to stay aboard. It was an unusual offer by the leader of Skull Squadron, especially considering that one of the girls was his sister, but his comment about being able to communicate with the Vajra was valid. Alto thought he also understood how new the relationship between the three really was, and didn't want to disrupt it.
He was inspecting the VF-25's cannon when he heard shouting. He looked up and saw Nene carrying an upset looking and screaming Klan Klan over her shoulder. What the hell?
Klan was furious. "I don't know what's gotten into you but you better put me down NOW, Nene! I swear I'll bust you to private if you don't stop whatever the hell you're doing. Are you listening to me Nene? Damnit, let GO! Are you out of your mind? What the hell?" At least Klan was as confused as Alto was. He watched the rosette meltran march over to the antechamber with the macronization tanks. Well, that was interesting. He followed, curiousity getting the better of him.
Nene carried Klan to the micro chamber for one of the tanks, and dropped her unceremoniously in front of it, stripping the jacket off of the shocked meltran. Then she picked her back up and dumped her into it, slamming the glass hatch before the blunette had a chance to escape. She punched in several commands into the tank's controls while Klan screamed at her.
The micronized commander's voice was muffled by the glass, but still came through loudly. She was yelling in zentradi now, and by Nene's blush whatever she was saying wasn't complimentary. The tall meltran quickly stripped and started climbing into the second of the three tanks, but she turned toward the door and spotted Alto.
"If she gets out before me, which she shouldn't, don't let her micronize again," Nene told him, before flipping around and settling into the chamber. She closed it and keyed the internal controls, and the micro chamber rapidly filled with the transfer medium. Shortly after that, Klan's tank filled as well.
"Do you think we should get Commander Lee?" Luca said, startling Alto.
Alto looked at him, and then back at the tanks. "I'm not sure. I have no idea what's going through Nene's head, but…maybe she's trying to get through to Klan? She's been following her around like a lost puppy ever since the alert came in."
"By macronizing her?" Luca asked.
"I think," Kanaria said, walking up to them from the hanger, "that Nene is planning on having an old-fashioned meltran discussion with Klan. And she'd feel bad having it micronized, because of Klan's micronization issues."
"Old-fashioned?" Luca and Alto said together.
"They beat on each other until the problem is solved," Kanaria replied.
Luca paled. "I think we need to get Commander Lee."
Kanaria shook her head. "I don't really approve, because I'm going to have to patch them up, but nothing else seems to get through to Klan. If we weren't so short on personnel, I'd ground her, because she's not in a very good state of mind. But right now, especially now, we need her."
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Klan was furious. What in the hell was Nene thinking? She didn't want to be macronized! There was no point to it, there weren't any Queadlunn-Rau she could use right now, and she was more comfortable micronized. And she dumped her into the tank wearing her clothes! They were going to be ruined! At least she took off her jacket, Michel's jacket…
Michel. The thought of him hit her, hard, and she felt her now-macronized body respond. Damn it! This was why she stayed micronized. Thinking of Michel spurred her fantasies into life, suppressed by months of being micronized and lacking the hormones to have a proper sexual fantasy. Thoughts of him raced through her head, and she hated Nene in that moment, as all the loss and pain surged back into her heart and all the denial she had built up was stripped away. She couldn't cry, couldn't talk, couldn't even move in the tank, when all she wanted to do was scream and kick and shout.
The transfer medium drained away, and she snarled, working at the latch on the tank. It popped open, and she swung out, looking for the object of her ire. Nene stood before her, wearing a gray macro-sized equivalent of a sport bra and biker shorts. Klan screamed a wordless cry of frustration and swung at her fellow pilot, missing and slamming her hand into the bulkhead.
"That's pathetic," Nene said. "You're supposed to be some strong meltran warrior and you can't even hit me."
"Hit you? I'm going to kick your ass!" Klan snarled. Nene threw a cloth bundle at her, and Klan realized it was another outfit identical to what Nene wore. Klan was so irate she didn't care if she was dressed. She leapt at the rosette and tackled her, slamming her into the wall and making a huge crashing noise. Nene knuckle-punched her in the kidneys, and Klan hissed in pain and confusion as she let the girl go and stepped back.
She's been out of this body for too long, her perception was off. She had tried to wrap up Nene's arms, but had missed horribly. She felt shame on top of the anger, she was supposed to be elite, and she was sloppy. Before she could attack again, Nene stormed toward her, wrapping her up and carrying her out of the micro/macro bay and out onto the hanger deck. She slammed Klan down onto the deck, then looked over and gave a nod, and Klan was shocked to feel the floor lift underneath them. She was on the heavy armor elevator to the deck! She snarled and bucked, but Nene had both the leverage and the size. She was huge for a meltran, and Klan couldn't beat her in a battle of pure strength.
The pair of them came up onto the deck, and Nene popped up and stepped back, and Klan rolled to her feet. She stormed at Nene, and this time the rosette simple took the attack, before returning a few blows of her own. Klan went crashing back, sliding on the metal deck.
"All that time as a micron made you weak, Klan," Nene spat. "You're sloppy and slow. Where is the proud meltrandi warrior now? Where's your fire? Michel would be ashamed of how you've let yourself go."
"GODDAMN YOU!" Klan shouted, surging to her feet. "You have no right to talk about him!" She swung, sloppy but with all her power behind it, and she knocked Nene on her back, close to the edge of the deck.
"He wouldn't even recognize you anymore," Nene countered. "The Klan he knew and loved is gone."
"You don't know what you're talking about!" Klan screamed. "What would you know about it? All we had was our love! We couldn't be together, not with this damned body of mine! And we couldn't admit it until it was too late! That bastard died and I couldn't even hold him or say goodbye!" Klan was starting to cry now. "He kept pushing me away, hiding behind a string of meaningless relationships because he, we, couldn't deal with the problems that we had! And I was too afraid to say anything, because I couldn't give him what he wanted, what I wanted!" Tears were streaming down her face now, her immediate anger forgotten. "Why was it so unfair, Nene? I loved him so much, and I wanted to be with him, but this body was always in the way. Oh god, I wanted him so much, I hated seeing him out with those other girls, knowing that they could give him what I couldn't." She could feel Nene's arms around her, and she collapsed into them, bawling, all of her anger and frustration and sadness overwhelming her. Nene sat them both down, rocking Klan's naked body and holding her, stroking her hair.
"I'm sorry Klan, I'm so so sorry, I didn't want to do this, but we need you, I need you, to be the Klan I've always known, my big sister and friend and leader. I miss you, Klan, I'm so sorry." Nene was crying too, Klan could feel her body shake, but she was too numb from all the emotion to react. The two of them sat on the flight deck in the sun, Nene rocking her as Klan continued to cry, for some time.
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Nene tucked Klan into one of the few full-size bunks that were on-board the Quarter. The bunkroom was right near the bay for their Queadlunn armor, and was generally intended to be used during alert conditions. Right now, though, Klan was exhausted, and after getting some clothes on her, Nene thought it would be better for her to sleep macronized than to micronize her and risk a relapse. She seemed to have had some sort of breakthrough. Nene closed the door and turned around to see Commander Lee standing on the micron-scale catwalk that ran around the compartment.
"I'm trying to decide just how angry I should be right now," he said, and Nene shrugged.
"I…I wasn't trying to make anyone happy," Nene murmured. "I just wanted my friend back to normal."
"I believe we had a discussion about this, and about me needed Lt. Commander Klan functional," Ozma countered.
"I…" Nene slumped against the wall, sliding down it, putting her head at eye level with Commander Lee. "I'm prepared to accept punishment," she replied. "I know the timing was bad, but I already had the whole plan in mind, and I was afraid that if I waited I'd never pull it off. I was running on nerves and adrenaline and the coaching I got, but I don't know if I could have gotten more coaching."
"Coaching?" Ozma quirked an eyebrow. "I suppose starting a fight like that was a little out of character for you."
Nene nodded. "If Raramia was alive, she would have done it, but she's not. So I got someone to help me be bitchy. I had a few more things to say, but I got lucky, somehow, and she was already mad by the time she got out of the tank."
"Was it anyone on the crew? They should have known better than to do this right now."
The rosette shook her head. "No, it was a civilian. Miranda Merin."
He frowned. "I know the name, but I can't place it…"
"Miss Macross?"
His eyes widened. "That bitch? Well, I suppose you found a proper coach, at that."
Nene giggled. "She's not quite that bad. I mean, yeah, she can be a real bitch, but that's how she deals with people, I think. She does deal with a lot of jerks, you wouldn't believe how many random guys hit on her while we were shopping."
"Shopping?"
"She gave me advice, I carried bags." The meltran shrugged. "I've had to deal with worse."
Ozma grunted. "I suppose you have. I'm still angry, mind you. I need Klan functional. I need you functional. We've got an unknown number of intruders who are killing Vajra, we've got NUNS running around like a bunch of headless chickens, we've got a panicky government council, and after all that I have to go home to a hormonal fiancée with the oddest food cravings known to man! I can't have any infighting reducing our ability to respond right now, Lieutenant!" He sighed. "Your time in grade is suspended for six months. Your time served still gets counted as service, but as far as seniority goes, you accrue none for the next six months. That also affects eligibility for your next promotion. This incident also goes into your file."
Nene winced, but understood. She was getting off light, considering she had skirted around, if not directly disobeyed, orders from her commanding officer. She was lucky she worked for SMS, if she had been part of a meltran squadron, she likely would have been busted back to enlisted and removed from flight status. She had no doubt that if they weren't so short of personnel, that would have been her fate here, too.
"Thank you, Commander," she said.
"Lieutenant…if this works, thank you. Klan needed the help," he said. "I know you were trying to do the right thing. Sometimes, though, the right thing as a person is the wrong thing in a military unit."
"I understand."
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Ranka stood in the schoolyard, talking to Alto on the phone during lunch. "I guess we missed some excitement, then?" she asked.
"I suppose you could say that," Alto replied. "Although I think you would have been embarrassed seeing a naked Klan and an almost naked Nene fighting."
Ranka blushed. "Alto, that's mean! You're probably right though. Is Lt. Commander Klan feeling better?"
"She's resting right now. I think she'll do better now, though."
"That's good, she's a good person. Who's going to be covering us if Klan and you and Luca-kun are all on alert all the time? How will you even go to school?"
"We're going to have to use remote terminals for schooling. With the loss of those VF-11s, NUNS only has 26 fighters that are suited for atmospheric work. The VF-171s just have too much crap stuck on them, and if they strip them down so they can fly well in air, they won't have much of anything in the way of weapons. As it is, they're having to hunt up RVF gear for the Thunderbolts, and they don't make Recon packs for the VF-19.
As for who's covering you, we're kind of stuck at the moment. The Captain considered assigning Monica to you since she's pregnant, but she vetoed that plan right away. It looks as if bringing you aboard the Quarter will take care of the security problems, as well as it gives us a way to talk to the Vajra. Having you two near me is just a bonus."
The vernette giggled. "Well, Alto-kun, I think it's a bonus too. Do you know how soon they'll authorize it?"
"The Captain has given the go-ahead, but the government doesn't like the idea that they won't have almost instant access to you. Commander Lee and Lt. Glass are both arguing that the tactical and strategic concerns of being able to talk to the Vajra outweigh little issues like 'will building a road here irritated the Vajra'? Since we're being looked at as the primary response for any future incursion, they'll win the argument, but I figure we've got another day of foot-dragging to go through first."
"If I hadn't had to deal with them so much, I'd say you're exaggerating, but I know you aren't." She sighed. "I miss you already. It's not right being here at school without you."
"Dare I ask how Sheryl is doing?"
"She's been in a mean mood all morning. She's been complaining about not having her Alto-hime to carry her things, or to rub her back, and she burnt breakfast, so that's probably part of it. If I didn't know her as well as we do, I'd think she was as mean as that Miranda woman."
"Funny you should mention her, she was the one that gave Nene lessons on how to start a fight with Klan. I think Nene actually likes her, in a weird and twisted meltran way."
Ranka giggled. "Is it some sort of female warrior dominance thing?"
"I don't know. Anyway, the Commander needs me for something, I have to go. I…I miss you too, Ranka. Tell Sheryl I miss her too, and I'll try to call you both later."
"Ja, Alto-kun."
"Later."
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Jeffery Wilder sat on the bridge of the Macross Quarter, deep in thought. The slow response of the government to the latest crisis bothered him. The fact that they were keeping the fact that there had been an attack from the general public bothered him, too. He'd spoken to Minister Ebata earlier in the day on Cathy's prompting, and didn't like what he had heard. There was absolutely no cohesion in the cabinet. They were trying to run their response by committee, and it took too much time, and they wanted to argue about everything. The only thing that had been agreed on, for the most part, was that SMS was the primary strike arm. SMS was cheaper for them to use than using their own military, so of course they wanted that.
He had grown sick of it, and sadly the only thing he could think to do that wouldn't leave his people on the short end of the stick sooner or later would be to run for president.
He didn't want the job, but it had gotten to the point that he didn't trust anyone else in the job, either. Well, maybe Ebata, but you'd have to drag him kicking and screaming into the president's office. From what he'd been hearing, NUNS was finally going to put forth a candidate, and Vice-Admiral Kikuchi was a career REMF and a totally worthless example of a human being, in Wilder's humble opinion.
"Ram," he said, getting the attention of his communications operator.
"Yes, Captain?"
He sighed. "Put a call in to Lt. Glass. Tell her I need to meet with her at her earliest convenience to discuss matters important to the continued operation of the colony."
"Aye, Captain," Ram replied, turning to her console to do just that. Monica spun in her own chair.
"You're going to do it?" she asked.
He nodded. "I don't think I really have much of a choice, if I still want to be able to live with myself."
Monica favored him with a smile. "I better hurry up and get qualified then, you're going to need more bridge officers. Who will you appoint captain?"
He considered the idea for a moment, but before he could formulate a response, Bobby Margot appeared right next to his chair, with sparkles in his eyes. "Oh, Captain, it would be an honor to serve as the commander of the Quarter."
"I'm not that crazy, Bobby," he replied, and the helmsman pouted.
"Totally unfair, that's what you are."
"We'll cross that bridge when we come to it," Wilder responded.
Bobby snapped a salute. "Aye aye, Captain! Or should I say, Mr. President?"
Wilder shook his head. Some days, he swore, this crew was going to drive him crazy.
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Sheryl was annoyed. First, some jerks attack the colony and kill some Vajra, so that SMS gets put on alert and her Alto gets stuck on base, and then the same jerks refuse to attack again, so that Alto and his friends can put them out of her misery and things can go back to normal. So unfair!
She knew she was being a little unreasonable, she thought as she sat on the couch in the apartment, but really! It was interfering with her cuddle time with Alto. While they still hadn't done the deed, there had been quite a bit of frisky behavior, and Alto had wonderful hands. Ranka actually had some amazing skills as well, but while having the three of them fool around at once was one thing, she didn't think she was ready to try something with just Ranka, even assuming the girl was willing. Sheryl's poor hormones were just going to have to stew tonight. Hopefully the damn bureaucrats could get off their asses and they could spend tomorrow night on the Quarter with Alto. Commander Lee had already assigned married officers quarters to them, which was a nice gesture. Technically, the quarters were for her and Ranka, but no one expected Alto to stay in his own room in the BOQ.
Ranka flopped down next to her on the couch and leaned up against her. Sheryl looked over and just rolled her eyes slightly. Ranka was turning into a real snuggle-bunny, wanting to be in contact with someone all the time. It wasn't clinginess so much, she just seemed to want to be touching either Alto or Sheryl all the time. Sheryl absently played with Ranka's hair while they watched the entertainment portion of the news. Nothing new and unexpected; although rumors of their new four-song release (likely with the karaoke versions, so really, eight songs) had already hit the news. Elmo didn't waste much time.
"Sheryl," Ranka said as the commercial break came up, "can I sleep with you tonight?"
She looked over at the vernette. "Haven't you slept with me every night since we agreed to share Alto?"
Ranka nodded, blushing brightly. "But tonight, he won't be here. I sleep better when I'm with someone else."
Sheryl smiled despite herself. "It's fine, Ranka-chan," she replied. "You don't have to be all embarrassed about it."
"I wasn't sure if you were just tolerating me because of Alto."
The rosette huffed. She leaned over and kissing the top of Ranka's head. "Silly girl. I told you that I love you. I would never share a bed with someone I only tolerated."
"I'm sorry, Sheryl. Sometimes it just hits me, and I worry."
She pulled the smaller girl into a hug. "Ranka, you don't have to worry. You're our cute Ranka-chan, my cute Ranka-chan, and I'm going to keep you around for a long time, and I know that Alto wants to, too. You're too loveable, there's no reason to worry, because we won't leave you."
This seemed to mollify her, and they sat in silence for a while, just watching the news. Still nothing on the attacks, stupid government.
At the next break, Ranka stirred. She sat up and leaned in, kissing Sheryl on the cheek, then sat back down into Sheryl's embrace. "I love you too."
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Authors Notes:
I wasn't real fond of Chapter 7, but it did some things I needed to do. I like this chapter a lot more.
Vice-Admiral Kikuchi is named for the director of Macross Frontier, Kikuchi Yasuhito
All the new pilots either draw their named from Frontier staff, or one of my projects.
The Nighthawk squadron is named for squadron VFA-136, the Knighthawks, part of Carrier Air Wing One of the US Navy. The change in the name is, well, these are bad guys. I'm not going to directly insult a good squadron's name like that.
I hate being sick, but it lets me get writing done.