Disclaimer
Macross is owned by or licensed to lots of people - Tatsunoko Studios, Harmony Gold, Studio Nue, Streamline Video...note that none of them are me.
The same can be said of Ranma 1/2 - Rumiko Takahashi, Kitty, Shonen Sunday Comics, Viz Video. Not me.
I didn't create any of them, and I certainly do not own them. Any use of them in this story is meant as nothing more than tribute. Please don't sue me.
Wednesday's Child
Fourteen: The Face of the Enemy
March 10th, 2010
Science and Technology Report
Prepared by Cmdr. Nabiki Tendo, Intelligence Division
The MBR-04-VI Tomahawk
The Tomahawk is the backbone of the Armoured Cavalry Units of the UN Spacy. With a mass of 31.1 tonnes and powered by a Clance McFay MT828 fusion reactor, the Tomahawk can reach speeds in excess of eighty kilometers per hour. The primary armour belt offers thirty meters equivelant protection against penetration, sufficient to turn aside even the most massive of mecha-carried firepower, but due to its ablative nature, can eventually be worn down by sustained fire even from light weapons.
The primary armament of the Tomahawk are paired MAULA PBC-15 particle beam cannons. Each weapon offers approximately five hundred and twenty centimeters of penetration, at a maximum range of three kilometers. They are mounted one each per arm. Alongside these, in the chassis weapons bays, are two TZ-III gun clusters. Each of these gun clusters includes a 25mm autocannon with 240 shells, a 120MW laser cannon, a flamethrower, and a 180mm grenade launcher with fifty rounds.
The Tomahawk is also well-equipped with missiles. Each shoulder carries eleven Biforze GS-11 "Coral Snake" missiles, and each of two leg pods on each leg carries three additional GS-11, for a total payload of thirty-four of these small missiles. The large box-launcher above the shoulder carries six Raytheon SA-22 "Taipan" surface to air missiles. Two Laminton machine guns round out its armament mix. Two independant beam-riding command line-of-sight (BRCLOS) radar systems allow the GS-11 missiles to be fired in pairs, while the SA-22 missiles are infrared homing and thus fire-and-forget.
However, despite its remarkable destructive capabilities and impressive defenses, the Tomahawk has proven itself limited in several manners when fighting the Zentraedi. The first is its lack of overall mobility. Battlepods have proven themselves capable of running at speeds in excess of two hundred and eighty kilometers per hour, and are also jump-capable. The second is its lack of hand-to-hand capability, and inability to use secondary weaponry such as the GU-11. This sharply limits the Destroid's tactical flexibility. Commanders of these units should be aware of these limitations, and deploy their forces accordingly.
"Well, if it isn't Miss Macross herself," said Claudia. "Come down from your lofty perch to mingle with us mere mortals, have you?"
"Shut up," groused Misa.
"I still can't believe that Misa won the contest," gushed Shammy.
"Our own XO, officially declared the most beautiful woman on the ship," added Kim.
"For the record, and for the fifteenth time," Misa said frostily, "I declined the award."
"Technically, all you could do is pass the recording contracts, movie deal, and whatever else, off to Minmay," said Claudia. "The title itself still rests firmly upon your shoulders."
"The Captain couldn't be any happier," muttered Misa. "He thinks it's this marvellous publicity coup. But at least he's sparing me the grief you clowns are heaping on me."
The bridge hatch hissed open a second time, and Global stepped onto the bridge. "Good morning, ladies."
"Good morning, Sir!" chorused the Bridge Bunnies.
"Ah, Misa. Just the person I wanted to see." Global sat down in his command chair and pulled his briar from one pocket.
"Yes, Sir?"
"Due to your recently-won title, I've decided - and the PR flaks agree with me - that all messages from the staff of Macross to the people of the city should come from you."
Misa rolled her eyes. "Yes, Sir."
"Don't take it so hard, Misa," chuckled Global. "It carries a pay bump, as well, since you're officially our PR officer. Also, we've got some re-juggling of the flight roster to do."
"Already on it, Sir." Misa picked the file up from her console. "I've put Vermillion on Ready Five at this time, but that's provisional until we get the schedule ironed out. Skull Third is on training patrol at this time; they're conducting intercept drills."
"How are they shaping up?"
Misa shrugged. "No major screw-ups yet. Lieutenant Saotome is riding them pretty hard, though."
"That's his job." Global took the folder, flipped it open. "I notice that you haven't reinforced Vermillion at this time. They're still at one Flight. Any reason why not?"
"Overall, Sir, we're still low on pilots. Once Lt. Saotome reports his Flight ready for the big leagues, I'll be transferring them all over the place. Three will likely end up going to Vermillion, unless Ichigyo screws up by the numbers."
Global's eyes twinkled with barely-concealed mirth. "You're expecting him to, aren't you?"
"Not really, Sir." Misa's eyes drifted up, to a point just above and behind Global's head. "If I thought he was going to screw up, I'd not have supported him on his Board."
"And it has nothing to do with the brief...altercation...that you had with him?"
Misa winced. The incident in question, which had occurred two days ago, still rankled with her. Ichigyo had had one of the jets in his Flight damaged, and had requested permission to return to base. She'd overruled him, as the craft's pilot had indicated that his damage was minor.
Ichigyo's response had been less than professional. He'd accused her of taking her personal gripes with him out on his men, questioned her competence as a command officer, and openly denigrated her knowledge of space combat craft.
To make matters worse, Major Focker had then backed him up, and ordered him to park his bent bird immediately.
But she clamped down on her annoyance. "No, Sir. Simply a matter of not enough pilots. We've got nine birds slated for Vermillion, but nobody to drive them."
"Fair enough." Global closed the file. "What about Sepia?"
"Until we know--"
"Captain!" Shammy leaned forward. "I'm registering a high-energy event at two seven five by fifteen."
"Space fold?"
"Negative, Sir. Weapons fire--"
"Energize the pinpoint barrier, now!" Global tossed the file aside and jumped to his feet. "Are they firing on us?"
"I think so."
Claudia turned to the Captain. "Pinpoint barrier fully energized."
"Intercept the enemy--"
"Too late!"
Massed beams flashed across the bow of the ship, smashing an asteroid in their path of fire. The fragments of the demolished planetoid flew in all directions, including towards the Macross. Pieces ranging from fist-sized down hammered against the hull.
"Minor surface damage." Claudia scowled at her board. "No hits from the energy weapons, though."
"Looks like they're firing across our bow."
"Second wave--it's coming in closer aboard."
The second battery was much longer. Thousands of massive fusion beams crossed their bow, so thickly that they could not be seen through. The Pinpoint Barrier System was up, but no shots were coming within its reach.
"Still misses, Sir. Looks like a warning shot, at best."
"I've got returns on the attacking fleet, now, Sir." Shammy shook her head. "There's a lot of them. Over a thousand ships!"
"We've never detected more than a dozen before," said Global.
"I think they're trying to send us a message," offered Misa. "They're trying to scare us."
"Captain!" Shammy turned in panic. "One of the ships is maneuvering to fire for effect!"
"Barrier intercept!"
One beam stabbed directly towards the conning tower. The three discs of the Pinpoint Barrier met it, holding it back. But the Barrier was designed to block short-duration attacks, and worked through self-disruption. It was not able to hold back a constant stream of energy. One point eight seconds after meeting it, all three discs failed, and the beam stabbed through into the hull.
Massive chunks of armour splintered away from the impact site, and the beam carved its way through the tower and emerged through the other side.
Global picked himself up off the deck. "Damage report."
"Long range radar is completely down," said Shammy. "I've also lost gravitics, but self-test responds; I think that we just lost the coupling."
"Pinpoint Barrier has regenerated, but the beam is gone."
"Long-range directional communications out," reported Kim. "And I'm really not certain about our short-range comms."
"Let's test them," said Global. "Contact Lt. Saotome."
"Aye, Sir." Misa turned to her board. "Skull Third, Gunsight One. Please respond."
"Gunsight, Skull Thirteen. What the hell was that?"
"Stand by, Thirteen." Misa clicked off the radio. "We have short-range comms, at least."
"Sir..." Kim eyed her board nervously. "That...I don't know what this device is, but it's getting signals."
Global turned towards her. "We never did figure that comm system out, but ran a repeater to the bridge in case someone else did."
"Well, it sounds like the aliens figured it out."
"On speaker."
Kim flipped a switch, and the air was filled with a voice. A voice that spoke accented, but clearly understandable, Basic English.
"...fire was a warning. We have the power to completely destroy your vessel. You will surrender without condition to the Zentraedi forces, or we shall destroy you. I repeat, our last volley of fire was a warning. We have..."
"Turn it off," snapped Global.
"Insulting," said Claudia.
"Not to mention, I don't believe they have any intention of allowing us to live." Global paused. "Estimated time of repair for the long-range radar?"
"Damage Control hasn't responded back yet." Shammy shook her head. "However, a few days would be my own admittedly haphazard guess."
"That long?" Global had learned early that Shammy's haphazard guesses were better than the engineering teams' best estimates.
"At least. Looking at the number of other failed systems, I'd say that we've lost the long-range radar antenna entirely. We'd need to pull a replacement."
"There's no way we can transit this asteroid field without long-range radar." Asteroid belts were not the thickly-sown hazards so popular in science fiction, but the larger rocks generated quite a nice gravity field - more than enough to disrupt their navigation. Long-range radar was needed to pick an accurate path through the rocks. "Could you use the take from a Cat's Eye?"
"I could, but they'd need to be at least one hundred thousand kilometers ahead of our path."
Global nodded. "I expected as much. What else would you need?"
"Well...I'd need there to be an astrogator aboard to assist with navigation. At one hundred kay, there'd be some signal lag."
"Who on the ship would you trust on that assignment?"
Shammy suddenly looked very scared. "Sir...I..." She glanced over at Misa, obviously terrified, then said, "Only Lieutenant Hayase has the required skills, Sir."
Hayase blinked. "Sir, I don't normally handle astrogation. We've got a team of math heads down below that does that for us."
"But you're the only one who can do it on your own," said Shammy. "Sorry, Ma'am, but we can't put more than one more person into that Cat's Eye. Only you have all the required skills."
"Lieutenant Hayase, I want you on that ship," said Global.
Misa drew a deep breath. "Sir. As your executive officer, it is my duty to advise you of any possible error. I do not feel that I have sufficient mastery of the required skills for this mission."
Global nodded. "Officer of the Day, please record the XO's statement."
"Already on tape," said Claudia.
"Thank you. XO, carry out your mission."
Misa released the breath she'd been holding. "Yes, Sir."
Warrant Mosley finished his preflight checklist, and glanced up at his rearview mirror. "All buckled in, Ma'am?"
"Almost." Misa snapped the buckles closed, tested them with a tug. "All right. Backseat ready for space."
"Flight Engineer ready for space."
"Sensory ready for space."
"Down bubble." The canopy dropped into place over her head. "Ready Five is already launched and formed up. They're just waiting on us."
"Wait. You mean that Vermillion will be riding herd on us?"
"Yes, Ma'am."
Misa sighed. "Great. Just fantastic."
"Gunsight One, Skull Thirteen." Ranma slowly brought the Valkyrie around, pointing its nose towards the Macross. "Our patrol is up, and request permission to land."
"Skull Thirteen, Gunsight Two." Claudia's voice was a bit worried. "Be advised that Gunsight One is aboard Cat's Eye Three Fifteen, currently leaving the ship."
Ranma frowned, and glanced down at his radio to confirm that it was on a secure channel. "Any particular reason you're tellin' me this, Gunsight Two?"
"Well, it does happen that you are a bit short on your patrol rotation, Thirteen." Claudia's voice took on a teasing tone, one that completely failed to mask her concern. "If you could put in, say, three more hours, it'd probably catch you up."
"Izzat so?" Ranma smirked. "I'm a bit low on reaction mass, but most of my Flight have some to spare. Gimme fifteen minutes to tank, and I'll fall in with Three Fifteen."
Misa's first reaction was one of annoyance as the Skull fighter dropped into formation. Doesn't he trust me on my own? Does he have to babysit me?
Luckily, her irritation faded quickly. She clicked open the channel. "Skull Thirteen, thanks for joining us."
"No problem, Gunsight One. Someone's gotta keep Ichigyo outta trouble."
"Got a big rock up ahead," commented Sgt. Parker, the Sensory Operator.
"Yeah, I see it," said Mosley. "I've got to go around it. Parker, pass your readings to the Lieutenant."
Misa's board shifted to show the new readings. "Thank you, Sergeant," she said absently. Her fingers danced over the controls, laying in a new course for the Cat's Eye and a second one for the Macross. "Warrant Mosley, I have the updated path for you, and am transferring it to your nav comp."
The large plane dipped slightly at the nose, and the asteroid ahead of them started to slip below. Skull Thirteen's engines flared, and he pulled ahead of the five-ship formation.
Misa scowled, and opened a channel. "Skull Thirteen, Gunsight One. Why are you breaking formation?"
"I got a blip of somethin' on passives," replied Ranma. "I wanna check it out before you guys blunder into a trap or somethin'."
"And if it is a trap, you're going to be caught in the middle of it. Vermillion One, back him up."
"Yes, Ma'am." His omnipresent bullshit laid aside for the moment, Ichigyo poured on throttle and started gaining on Skull Thirteen.
And all hell broke loose ahead of them.
"Battle pods!" Ranma reconfigured to Soldier Mode, and brought the GU-11 around. A snap shot blew through the porthole on the front of a pod, and he then jetted to the side to avoid return fire from another. "They're all over the friggin' place. Ichigyo, buster!"
"Roger!"
From the surface of the asteroid, dozens of pods rose, firing as they came. Ranma shot them down like skeet, one after another, then reconfigured to Gerwalk to jet away when his gun pod ran dry. One hand snagged a spare clip, and he rammed it home, then reconfigured to Soldier Mode and blasted another pod to fragments.
Ichigyo arrived at nearly two hundred kilometers per second, lasers spitting streams of silent crimson, and six more pods exploded in quick succession. He reconfigured, readying his gun pod, and watched as the remaining pods - perhaps two dozen in number - turned and burned at maximum acceleration away from the two fighters.
Ranma clicked on his microphone. "Gunsight One, Skull Thirteen. The bad guys are on the run."
"We can't let them get away. They might have recon data. Pursue and destroy. Vermillion Two and Three, join them."
"Ma'am, I don't think that's wise." This was from Vermillion Two. "A Cat's Eye isn't armed. You'd be a sitting duck if we left you."
"It wasn't a suggestion, Sergeant." Misa's voice turned cold. "Pursue and destroy."
Ranma butted in. "Lieutenant Hayase, I disagree."
"I am in command of this mission--"
"That might be, but you don't get direct control over tactical aviation. I am senior officer present for the Valkyrie forces." He hated to have to pull rank, but..."Vermillion Two, you will continue to escort Cat's Eye Three Fifteen. Vermillion Three, you will join us in the pursuit. Buster."
"Yahoo! On the way!"
"Sorry, Misa, but we got one more plane than you expected, and I want someone on you at all times."
"Understood."
Ranma shuddered; the ice in her voice was obvious, and he had no doubt that he'd pissed her off royally. Well, she'll just have to cope. They wanna make me a Squadron Lieutenant, they gotta accept that maybe I know what I'm doin'.
A commo window blinked to life on the right MFD. "Thanks, Saotome. I'm not certain that I could have made that stick myself."
"You're gonna have to sometime, Ichigyo. Part an' parcel of bein' a Lieutenant." He smirked. "Besides, I already heard that ya yelled at her once before."
"If Sempai hadn't backed me up, I would have caved," admitted Hikaru. "As it was, I still got a lot of backlash for it."
Misa fumed.
How dare he! Taking that upstart Sergeant's side over mine! And then he has the intestinal fortitude to pull rank on me!
And it really irked her that he was right. Technically, he could override her orders when it came to the Valkyrie deployment. For that matter, he was equal in grade to her, but had seniority. He could pull rank even over mission goals.
I am going to chew his ass off after this. Of all the unmitigated gall...
Well, there was nothing that she could do about it right now. She turned back to her plotting. First-approximations were not too difficult, but were time-consuming; she radioed the first batch back to Macross.
"Thirty seconds to gun range..."
"Contact!"
"Christ, where did these bastards come from?"
Her eyes drifted over to the tactical MFD, and widened at the display. Hundreds of enemy Battle Pods had swarmed up from nearby asteroids, and were laying into the three detached Valkyries. But they were holding their own...so far. Ranma and Hikaru - she swallowed heavily when she realized that she was thinking of him by given name - were mopping up, while the Corporal flying with them--
"Sergeant, what is that Corporal's name?"
The Sergeant - Max Jenius, she recalled - appeared on her left-side MFD. "Kakizaki, Ma'am. Thought you had all that memorized."
She laughed. "I wish. No, I keep the flight rosters in front of me on the bridge so I seem omniscient. He's having trouble out there."
"The Lieutenants will take care of him. He's got talent, but lacks in experience."
"Sergeant, I recommend that you assist them; they're badly outnumbered."
"Ma'am, my orders are to guard you with my life." His voice turned light. "Can't imagine why Saotome would order that."
Misa fixed him with a cold glare. But Jenius seemed immune to it.
"Hey, Ma'am, the announcer during the contest mentioned that the Lieutenant had some kinda problem. But anyone I ask about it just laughs it off." Jenius's eye twinkled. "Care to fill me in?"
She boggled. "Are you dense?"
"Ma'am?"
"Did you not notice that number eighteen in that contest was named Saotome Ranma?"
"Yeah, I thought that kind of odd."
"Oh, Lord." She closed the communications link. "Why would Ranma leave me with the dunce?"
"Contact, hard aport." Mosley's voice broke in. "Shit, there's at least a dozen. Sorry, Ma'am."
She glanced up and to the right, as Jenius' Valkyrie snapped to Gerwalk mode and jetted towards them. "I've got them. Some kinda powered armour."
"See if you can't warn them off somehow, Jenius."
"Firing across their vector." Jenius' autocannon fired three quick bursts, and the alien armour broke formation. But they did not veer off; their new vectors carried them around in an encircling action.
"Okay, splash them."
"Yes, Ma'am."
Vermillion Three roared into action. The GU-11 fired three more times, each burst finding an armoured faceplate. Jenius whirled on the spot, pickling off missiles. Unfortunately, the aliens had halfway decent jamming systems; about half the missiles lost lock and wandered off, self-destructing when their fuel was exhausted. Jenius was far from done, however. One armoured boot smashed into a faceplate, and Jenius leaped off from his impromptu springboard, autocannon blazing as he went. Two bursts hammered another armour suit, which promptly came apart at the seams, and a third burst went through another faceplate - Jenius had spotted the armour's weak point early on.
The remaining two turned and fled. Jenius fired a final burst at one of the retreating forms, rattling it but not killing it, then paused to reload his cannon.
"I've still got three missiles, Ma'am, and two more clips for the cannon. If those idiots are calling for reinforcements, we might be in trouble."
"Agreed. I'll call Macross for reinforcements." She adjusted her controls. "Oh, hell. Jenius, we're being jammed. I can't even raise the advance Flight." Her eyes turned back to the tactical display. "And they're getting badly hammered out there. Sergeant Garcia, have you got a communications drone on this bird?"
"No, Ma'am." Garcia's voice was apologetic. "Central stores is extra reaction mass."
"Well, there's no help for it." Misa considered. "Sergeant Jenius. Cat's Eye Three One Five will fall back outside the jamming envelope. I want you to engage the enemy ahead with the intent to extracting the remainder of the Flight, then buster back to the Cat's Eye."
"Might not be possible. I'm getting an ejection beacon from up ahead. Can you get them on tactical?"
Misa glanced down at the tactical display. "Kakizaki is down. Ichigyo is showing damage. Saotome is undamaged, but running low on ammunition." She considered. "Okay. We can make pickup on Kakizaki in this bird, but not while the area is so badly polluted by enemy forces. Can you assist them?"
Jenius looked worried. "Ma'am, my orders are to protect you so you can complete our mission."
"We've got the first set of nav data back to Macross, and we can always launch another mission. This one is scrubbed. I can't carry it out while we're being jammed."
"All righty, Lieutenant. You're the mission commander." Jenius turned towards the furball, his bird reconfiguring to Jet Mode. "On my way." His engines roared, and the Valkyrie raced towards the fight.
"Warrant Mosley, take us towards the fight. Parker, active systems off. Let's see if we can avoid detection."
"Do my best, Ma'am."
The Cat's Eye started slipping towards the battle. Misa stared worriedly at the now-dark tactical screen. With the main radar down, she had no idea what was happening up ahead.
It was the worst furball that Ranma could remember. The computer had finally come up with an accurate count of the forces against them - eighty-one battle pods of various types, plus twenty-seven of a new type of powered armour. One of the battle pods was an advanced type of some sort, with arms instead of carapace guns. Kakizaki had discovered that it carried missiles.
"I got him, Ichigyo. Gimme some cover so I can get his ass into my bird."
"You got it, Lieutenant." Ichigyo whirled on the spot, cannon roaring, and splashed three more pods.
Ranma pushed Kakizaki towards the storage compartment, ignored the bigger man's muffled curses as he tried to fit himself into the cramped space. He glanced at the tactical, noted Ichigyo's fighter breaking away from the advanced battle pod. "Looks like that big bastard is coming around again."
"If he's got more missiles, we're in trouble."
Ranma reconfigured to Jet Mode and launched himself towards the advanced pod. He haloed it with the sensors, and thumbed the laser trigger. Dual beams of crimson light smashed into the target - and at the energy levels delivered by the lasers, smashed was precisely the correct term. But the pod took it, and returned fire with its top-mounted cannon. Ranma veered at the last second, the shot passing between his tailfins, and fired off his last missile. The advanced pod brought its nose-mounted cannons into play, shooting down the missile, and Ranma shifted to Gerwalk, pulling the Valkyrie away from return fire.
He glanced down - the monocle over his left eye tracked to the laser turret on the underside of the jet, allowing him a coarse but understandable view below - to see the pod turning on the spot, pursuing him rather than proceeding on to Hikaru's fighter. Well, that pleased him just fine. He peppered the pod with fire from the turret lasers, but all it seemed to do was piss it off.
"Well, now I'm getting mad."
He jerked the B-mode lever, reconfiguring back to Battroid Mode, and brought up the gun pod. Six bursts emptied the clip, and he watched with disgust as the pod sidestepped each shot.
"Is this asshole psychic?"
He dived towards the target, foot thrusters driving him forward, and the pod brought one of its paddle-shaped arms up to strike. He parried, grabbed the arm just below the "wrist", pivoted and kicked.
The arm separated cleanly from the pod's torso.
This seemed to shock the battle pod. Ranma smirked. "Bad time to pause." He stomped left paddle, the Battroid pivoted through a full three-sixty turn, and smashed the pod's front port with the blunt end of its own arm.
This pod was built of sterner stuff than its less-developed counterparts, however. The destruction of the forward port did not kill it, but it had apparently had enough. It rocketed off at full speed away from the fight.
"Yo, Ichigyo. You okay?"
"Yeah, I am. Some surface damage, but nothing really broken. By the way, that was sweet."
"All in a day's work." He tossed the arm aside, readied his cannon again. "What, is everyone else leaving, too?"
Surely enough, it seemed that the loss of their leader had demoralized the enemy. They shot off in all directions. He glanced down at his tactical display, noted another incoming Valkyrie.
"Yo, Max. I told ya to stay with the boss."
"Mission's scrubbed, Lieutenant. The boss lady says we're to report back as soon as you're unlatched. How's Kakizaki?"
"He ain't doing so hot, but he'll live." Ranma glanced around the wreckage of the battlefield. "Gunsight One, Skull Thirteen. Why are we scrubbin'?"
"Jamming is too extreme to be able to complete our mission." Misa's transmission was tiling badly, a sure sign of communications jamming.
"We just chased all the aliens to hell and gone. Why are we still bein' jammed?" He quickly checked the ammunition in his cannon. "I got forty cannon rounds left, then I'm empty. Vermillion, say state."
"Vermillion One, sixty rounds, no missiles, fifteen."
"Vermillion Two, four hundred rounds, three missiles, sixteen point three."
"Ma'am, all due respect to the mission commander, but we could probably get the next set of data and hand-deliver 'em. But I'm nervous about this jammin'. How fast can you get 'em?"
"Thirteen minutes, tops."
"Okay, we'll try ta keep ya safe that long."
"Negative, Skull Thirteen. Mission is scrubbed."
He nodded. "All right. That's your say." He reconfigured back to Jet Mode. "Vermillion One and Two, fall into formation. Max, you got point."
"Aye, Sir."
Ranma's electronics pinged as the Cat's Eye brought its powerful radar back online. "Skull Thirteen, Cat's Eye Three One Five. I show a clear corridor directly back to Macross."
"Good. Let's use it."
"Sir." Claudia glanced up from her console. "The Cat's Eye has come about, and is heading back."
Global frowned. "Could they have taken damage?"
"Possible, Sir, but there's still a lot of jamming. More likely, they've got more co-ordinates for us, but they can't relay them."
"Jamming. But from where...?" Global turned to Shammy. "Signal Cat's Eye Three Ten to advance along Three One Five's vector."
"Aye, Sir."
"New contact! Bearing three five eight by fifteen!"
"What?" Misa leaned forward. "It's right between us and Macross!"
"How the hell did we miss it outbound?"
"No idea, Vermillion One." Misa paused. "Can we avoid it?"
"Depends on what it is."
"I don't think we can, Gunsight One." Ranma sounded worried. "Looks like one of their recon destroyers."
"We can outmaneuver it--"
"New contact, multiple new contacts. They're launching combat robots."
Misa bit back the sharp taste of panic. "All Valkyries, I am transmitting the nav data I've collected. One of you has to get back to Macross."
"Misa--"
"Lieutenant Saotome, that's a direct order. That nav data is paramount!"
"Yes, Ma'am."
She tapped the commit stub. "All units, break and scatter!"
The three Valkyries broke off and flew in random directions. Mosley aimed the nose of the Cat's Eye towards Macross and ramped the powerplants to maximum.
"They must want us bad, Ma'am." Mosley sounded worried. "I show sixteen robots closing on us."
"Can we outdistance them?"
"Negative, Ma'am. Their vectors mave evasion impossible."
Misa bit her lip. "At least one of the Valkyries will get through."
The enemy robots came within visual range; more of the powered armour types. Four of them tackled the airplane, grabbing its wing. Another swung a massive fist at the forward cockpit.
"No!"
The Cat's Eye shuddered with the impact. Misa's head snapped forward, smashing into the console, and even with her helmet fully sealed, the impact was enough to knock her out cold.
Something was wet on her face, and it hurt. She slapped it away groggily, and opened her eyes.
The light hurt her eyes, and she forced herself to focus on the face hovering above her. A male face, a familiar one.
"Ranma?"
"No, Ma'am." He shook his head. "It's Lt. Ichigyo."
She sat up carefully. "I ordered you to scatter."
"Lt. Saotome reached commo range to Cat's Eye Three Ten, and broadcast the nav data. Then ordered us to come rescue you."
Misa smiled. "Can't fault him for that." She looked around. "Where are we?"
"Aboard an alien ship," he admitted. "I managed to get you out of the Cat's Eye, but Mosley didn't make it." He looked down. "Lt. Saotome and both of my men were captured."
She nodded, then froze. "The colours...they're--"
"Yeah, what's up with that?" Ichigyo looked puzzled. "Things were normal, if depressing and green, and then things got all whacked."
"We're in a space fold."
"Like when Macross folded?"
"How long has it been like this?"
Ichigyo checked his watch. "Fifteen minutes or so. Why?"
"But if it's been that long...we've come a long way already."
"What do you mean, Ma'am."
Misa bit back panic for the third time that day. "It means we've left the solar system, we're probably hundreds of light-years away by now, and we have no idea where we are!"
