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
Fifteen: Interrogation
March 17th, 2010
Science and Technology Report
Prepared by Cmdr. Nabiki Tendo, Intelligence Division
Space Fold Technology
At this time, very little is certain about the mechanics of space fold. Experimental data is limited to the one unfortunate usage of the space fold device aboard Macross. The testing of the device was not under what could be considered laboratory conditions.
It had already been determined that space fold is not instantaneous. However, the apparent speed of a ship under fold is considerably higher than light. Macross managed to attain an apparent speed roughly one hundred and thirty thousand times faster than light. It is uncertain whether this reflects the top speed for the fold device aboard Macross, or if it is the limit of space fold speed in general, or if both possibilities are incorrect.
The space fold drive creates a bubble around the ship making transit, making it possible to fold multiple vessels simultaneously. This appears to be hard on the drive, and certainly requires more power than normally required.
Doctor Lang has developed some mathematical models of the space fold process, and while some of his data is based on assumptions, it is the best information that we have at this time. His formulae seems to suggest that the power requirements of a space fold increases with the square of the distance being travelled. This is consistent with most other natural physical phenomena. He also believes that the space fold system uses graviton systems. Like the artifical gravity generators and the antigravity servos, not to mention the main gun, most of the technology aboard Macross appears to manipulate gravity. When the space fold device was lost, the auxiliary equipment left behind allowed for the creation of the pin-point barrier system.
Space folds appear to cause temporal shifting. Elapsed time during a space fold is longer than the apparent time within the fold itself. The primary effect of this, from the subject's view, is that light red-shifts and diffracts at odd angles, causing a prismatic effect. The temporal shift does not appear to affect quartz; timepieces that use quartz will appear to run at fifty to seventy times greater speed.
Ranma sat with her back against the wall of their tiny cell and stared apathetically at the other two prisoners. The cell was circular, the walls sweeping overhead to form a dome above them. No light sources existed within; the chamber was dark, but the ceiling appeared to be translucent, and some dim illumination made its way through the material.
To be fair, the cell wasn't all that small; when they'd awoken, all three of them were lying down with room to spare. However, Max hadn't been sparing any room; he'd been cuddled up against her, much to her disgust. A good solid shove had fixed that.
Not so many years ago, she'd have used a punch to the head instead a shove to the shoulder. But it wasn't Max's fault; he was still out cold.
Neither Kakizaki nor Max had been at the beauty pageant - though both had caught it on the television - and neither had known about her curse. Kakizaki had - for once - been less than completely dense. He'd put two and two together, and figured out who she was. But Max seemed impervious to education.
I think he don't wanna be educated. But he better wise up shortly, or I'll pummel him for certain.
They'd been stuck in this damn cell for what seemed like days, but according to Ranma's watch, it had been much longer than it felt. The timepiece was quartz, and had been spinning madly for quite some time. It had racked up almost seven full days since their capture.
Crud. It looks like Max is gettin' ready for another go.
"So who are you really?"
Ranma rolled her eyes. "Like I told ya sixteen times already, I'm Saotome Ranma. Squadron Lieutenant, Skull Thirteen."
"Yeah, I remember that part. I also remember you said that it was a curse, that hot water changed you into a guy."
"Then what's the problem here?" Ranma leaned forward, brow knit in frustration.
"Curses imply magic. Magic doesn't exist." Max shook his head. "I don't buy it for an instant. You've got no proof--"
"Didn't bring my tea set," Ranma quipped. "Ask me any question. I can prove I'm me."
"Or that you're well educated. Probably by Saotome himself."
"Well, Sergeant Logic, what's your theory, then?"
"I think you're one of Tennasaono's girls."
"Huh?" Ranma blinked. "Actually, that would make a kind of sense."
"You're still obviously a martial artist." Max ticked the point off a finger. "You're well-versed in Saotome's history. His mother is one of the two founders, and his sister-in-law is the other. I'm guessing that you practise his style, were trained by him or whoever trained him, and you wear your hair in the same style as some sort of tribute."
"You're right about one thing. We did have the same teacher." Ranma hopped to her feet. "Because we're the same person, you idiot!"
"Right," sneered Max. "You were in the beauty pageant. Wearing the second smallest bikini on the stage. I cannot believe that Ranma would agree to that."
"Besides that, where did you think I came from, huh?" Ranma crossed her arms. "You see any spare people in those Valks when we left?"
"Good point," conceded Max. "I guess that leaves only one conclusion."
"Good."
"You're an alien."
Ranma couldn't remember the last time she'd been floored by someone's illogic. Was it Kuno? She staggered back to her feet. "You're dumber than I thought, Jenius! Do I look twenty meters tall?"
"Lieutenant Saotome was one of the first people aboard Macross when she crashed. He reported finding some human-scale chambers." Max nodded. "So there must be some aliens around our size. Were you put in with us to spy on us?"
"If that were the case, why would I make you suspicious by claiming to be a person of the opposite gender?"
"Who knows how you people think?"
"Aaargh!" Ranma threw up his hands. "Lissen, you moron! I ain't no alien! I'm Saotome Ranma!"
"Guys, you wanna keep it down?" Kakizaki cracked one eye open. "Some of us are trying to sleep."
"How can you sleep at a time like this?" Max frowned. "We're in the middle of a space fold, locked up with an alien spy, and you're trying to sleep?"
Kakizaki shrugged. "You gotta learn to relax while you can."
Ranma snorted. "You could relax in a dentist's chair, Kakizaki."
"Hey, thanks, Ranma!"
"She's not Ranma," Max yelled. "She's an alien spy, or a stowaway, or maybe another hostage. But there's no way she's Ranma."
"Why not?" asked Kakizaki.
"Don't you remember the last time we argued? She started glowing all blue, and practically doubled in height."
"You shouldn't have pissed her off."
"It's weird alien powers or something, I'm sure of it."
"You better give up, Ranma. He's pretty closed-minded."
"She's not Ranma!"
Ranma sat back down, pulled her knees up to her chest, and dropped her forehead on them.
I really hope the aliens come for us soon. Weird probes an' mind control rays would be a nice switch right about now.
"So, what's our plan?"
"I'm not really sure how to proceed," admitted Misa. "Certainly we have to find and rescue Ranma, Max and Kakizaki."
"Got any ideas about how to manage that?"
"Not really."
"We have one Valkyrie with no missiles or autocannon, half load of reaction mass. Still got the lasers, at least." Ichigyo paused. "Of course, a Valkyrie wasn't really designed for sneaking around an alien battlecruiser."
"Zentraedi." Misa grinned mirthlessly. "We learned just before I launched that they call themselves Zentraedi."
"Oh."
"On the other hand, the Valkyrie was designed to be an even match for the Giants, right?"
"Yeah, but I'm not sure where you're going with this."
"Simple. Think you could knock out a Zentraedi?"
"Yeah. And then what? Steal his uniform and try to blend in?"
He stared at her in horror as she nodded.
"Oh, you've got to be kidding!"
"Guys, I think we're being moved."
"Thank you, Sergeant Obvious." Ranma picked herself up from the floor. "What was your first clue? Was it when we were all tossed to the side?"
"Nah, that just told me that we were picked up."
Ranma paused and concentrated. "You're right, Kakizaki. We're moving." She glanced down at her watch. "And we're out of the space fold."
"Wonder where we are?" mused Max.
"No way to know," said Ranma. "But I doubt that we're anywhere near Earth."
The room joggled again. All three pilots found themselves knocked off their feet a second time. Ranma decided to stay down this time, in case it happened again.
"Not moving anymore..." Kakizaki paused. "Wait. There we go. Smoother this time."
"You got good kinesic sense, Sergeant."
"Hey, thanks, Lieutenant."
"We don't even know that she's actually a Lieutenant," grumbled Max.
"Are you still on about that?" Kakizaki scowled. "Now even I'm getting sick of it, Max."
Silence reigned for a few minutes, then Max spoke up again.
"Who won last year's All-Service Cup?"
"Army," Ranma immediately responded. "The bastards."
Max nodded. "I doubt that the aliens care much about football. I'll accept that you're human, and probably an officer."
"Gee, thanks."
Their prison shifted again, jolting Ranma out of a light doze. She sat up, shook her head to clear it, and said, "Guys?"
"I'm up," said Max. "But Kakizaki is dead to the world."
"Give him a kick or somethin'." Ranma stood up slowly. "We're gonna have company any minute."
The walls and ceiling lifted away, and Ranma realized suddenly that they were standing in a massive serving dish. The top had been removed by one of the alien Giants.
There were three of them. The one that had removed the lid was the smallest of the three; he was "only" ten meters tall, at Ranma's rough guess. His skin had a decidedly unhealthy grayish cast, and his eyes protruded somewhat. His hair was a dark red, and while his curious expression couldn't really be called friendly, it was a lot less forbidding than those of his companions.
The next taller of the three had greenish skin and dark green hair, almost black. Ranma was guessing, based on his previous encounters, that hair and skin colour among the Giants covered a broader range than it did among humans. This one had half his head shaved, and a metal face mask covered the right side of his face. A red cabochon glinted in the mask right over where his eye would have been.
Abruptly, Ranma recognized him. He was the one who had taken a lead pipe to his Valkyrie.
The third was the tallest, at nearly eighteen meters tall, and the bulkiest. Not really fat, but he was burly, and stood damn near thirty meters tall. His head was shaved, or possibly naturally bald, and age spots speckled his pate. His expression was a mix of scorn and disgust, with just a trace of fear.
Kakizaki sat up, and looked around. "Well, we got a little red-headed one, a tall skinny one, and a big burly one. Just like the three of us." He paused. "Don't care for what the cartoonist did for mine, though. I don't recall being that ugly."
"Kakizaki, you idiot!" Ranma scowled down at the big man. "We're prisoners, so it'd be in our best interest to keep our yaps shut."
"Hey, Lieutenant, it ain't like they can understand us, right?"
"Actually, we can." The redheaded alien now looked amused. "I have studied your languages extensively. And I have prepared a translation matrix, so that our leaders may also understand you."
"Oh. Shit."
"Do not fear. I have not yet activated the translation matrix. Though I shall do so now." He touched a stud on the table.
"Can they understand us now, Exedol?"
"I believe so, Lord Bodolze."
"Good." The burly one turned his attention back to the three Humans. "Miclones. I am Gar Bodolze. You will now submit to my interrogation."
Ranma scowled, and shifted to attention. "Saotome Ranma. Squadron Lieutenant. Serial Number--"
"There is no need to give your identification," said Exedol. "I am aware of the regulations that your people have regarding prisoners of war, and they do not apply to us."
Ranma crossed her arms, and kept her silence.
The one with the face mask spoke for the first time. "There is no good reason why you should refuse interrogation. If you prove too intractable, we will simply destroy you and acquire more Miclones to interrogate."
"What the heck is a 'Miclone'?" asked Max.
"I think they mean 'people of average stature,'" said Kakizaki.
"Quiet, both of you," snapped Ranma. "They ain't gonna respect our rules, we got no reason to extend them any co-operation."
Bodolze smirked. "So, the female is in charge." He glanced to Max. "Why do you permit the female to issue orders to you?"
Max blinked. "Hey, I ain't a sexist or anything. She's an officer, and that's the end of it, right? Don't you guys have female officers?"
The suggestion itself seemed enough to cause the three Giants to recoil in disgust. The one with the mask stated, "There are no females at all here."
"None?" Kakizaki laughed. "No wonder you're all warlike!"
"Both of you, keep shut, or I swear there's a court-martial in your future," growled Ranma.
"Lieutenant, I know that this might not have occurred to you, but our future doesn't look terribly rosy right about now." Max glanced up at the Giants, then back to Ranma. "So I say we try to get some info from them, on the off chance that we might get out of here."
Ranma considered, then nodded. "All right, you've got a point." She turned back to the aliens, and took a step forward. "We shall not submit to interrogation. But we are willing to share information. Will that be acceptable to you?"
The Giants conferred, without the benefit of the translation matrix, and then Exedol turned back to the Humans. "We accept the terms."
"I cannot believe that I have struck a deal with a female," grumbled the one with the mask.
Ranma pointed at him. "You. Name and rank?"
"Eh?" The Giant seemed startled. "Vwritlai Kridanik, Commander of the Botoru Regiment."
"Is that the outfit that's been harrassin' our ship?"
"We have been attempting to recover the gun destroyer that you have commandeered," admitted Vwritlai. "We happened across your planet, and detected the signature of Inspection Army technology. Fearing an ambush, we dispatched two destroyers to investigate, and you blew them out of space!"
Ranma frowned. "Well, I ain't in the general staff, so I can't speak as to what happened there. I'm just a fighter pilot."
"Why did you attack us without provocation?"
"I just told ya, Commander. I ain't one of the brass. But one of the higher-ups I was talkin' to told me that it was a malfunction or somethin'."
"For a malfunction, it was remarkably accurate," Exedol pointed out dryly.
"We shall set that aside for later consideration," growled Bodolze. "Why do you allow males and females to freely intermix on your vessel?"
"Because it brightens up the scenery," said Kakizaki.
Exedol blinked. "In what way?"
"Come on!" Max snorted. "Surely you and your females must...get together...every now and then, right?"
"Only Lord Bodolze is sufficiently wise to interact with females with no fear of mental contamination," Exedol stated righteously.
"Whoa." Kakizaki chuckled. "Licensed to stand at stud, eh?"
"Guys, we're givin' more than we're gettin'." Ranma glanced over at Exedol. "You seem to be the one with the most brains."
"I am the Archivist of the Zentraedi people," stated Exedol.
"Okay. I know that there's female Giants. I met one once."
"Indeed."
"Yeah. She was on our ship when it crashed on our planet."
Exedol glanced up at Vwritlai. "It seems that your surmise was correct, Commander. The females managed to board the vessel before it folded."
"If you don't let 'em live with the males, where are they?"
Exedol turned back to Ranma. "They have their own fleet, their own ships. They are superior to most male warriors, and serve as a special forces unit."
Bodolze broke in. "You stated that you met one. I can only assume that she attempted to kill you."
"She attempted it, yeah. That powered armour she was wearin' is pretty tough."
"But your own combat robots were able to defeat it?"
Ranma shook his head. "'Fraid not. We didn't have any combat robots yet."
"No?" Bodolze looked puzzled. "A combat robot is considerably more manoeuvreable than any conventional vehicle, and more flexible as well. Tanks or attack aircraft would not be able to harm a standard Queaddlun-Rau. How did you destroy her?"
Ranma smirked, and cracked her knuckles. "With my bare hands."
"I can't believe this is working."
"Oh, ye of little faith." Misa chuckled, then grunted. "Get your elbow out of my ribs."
"Sorry, Lieutenant, but this bird wasn't built with two in mind." Under normal circumstances, Ichigyo wouldn't complain about being this close to a female. But why this one?
He wrestled with the controls, pulling the Zentraedi cap further down over the metal face of the Valkyrie. Ahead, he saw two aliens approaching.
"Try to think like an alien, Ma'am."
"Might be hard," commented Misa. "Noticed anything about the ones we've passed?"
"Well, they're basically human, aren't they? Except in scale, and the occasional odd hair colour."
"They're all male."
"Huh?" Ichigyo blinked. "Yeah, we've passed, what? Six of them? And they've all been guys."
"It might not mean much," admitted Misa. "Just a statistical anomaly. After all, if you pick up six pebbles from a beach, and they're all grey, you can't assume that every pebble on that beach is grey."
"What I can't figure out is all the busted stuff."
"Hm?" Misa blinked. "What do you mean?"
"Well, there's equipment that's damaged, and it doesn't even look like they've tried fixing it. Other stuff is dark, and I guess it's probably broken too. We've seen powered pocket doors, and yet that one alien had to open one manually. What gives?"
"We don't know how long these people have been at war." Misa frowned. "Maybe it's been so long that they've forgotten how to repair their own technology."
"With your bare hands," said Bodolze. "I find this difficult to believe. Even given that females are more dangerous than males, the fact remains that she was a full-sized individual, equipped with a combat power suit, and you are a Miclone, and by your own admission, without a combat robot. How did you manage this?"
"I am a master martial artist," stated Ranma. Her voice made it clear that this was not a boast. "I have trained since birth in unarmed combat, and have abilities that even my own people have difficulty believing."
"Indeed." Bodolze frowned. "How many of your people have training to equal to your own?"
"Perhaps a dozen," she admitted. "Though none of them are my equal, with the possible exception of Herb. And I beat him."
"Only a dozen?" Bodolze laughed. "In that event, I do not think we need to fear them."
"Nope. Just me." Ranma paused. "My turn. Our people are not interested in fighting your people. As far as I can tell, this entire situation came about through an accident. Under what circumstances would you consider a cease-fire?"
"You are, by your own admission, not a high-ranking officer," pointed out Vwritlai. "Therefore, you cannot be authorized to negotiate a cease-fire."
"True," conceded Ranma. "But I could take a message back to my people."
"You assume that we intend to release you," said Bodolze. "I cannot see why we should do so."
"As I said. I can carry a message."
"You are Miclones," said Exedol. "Our histories tell us that we should avoid any contact with Miclones, for they will contaminate us."
"Avoid any contact. Including war?"
"True." Exedol nodded. "We are warriors, but we have learned not to battle Miclones."
"So you've encountered us before?" asked Max.
"Yes, or ones like you."
"So if not for that malfunction, or whatever it was, you would have merely passed us by?"
"As much as I hate to admit it, yes." Bodolze nodded. "Contact with Miclones is disastrous. Only the highest-ranking officers may risk it, and only under dire circumstances."
"Contamination." Max frowned, then glanced over at Ranma. "Didn't they say that about the women of their people, too?"
"Yeah." Ranma nodded. "What sort of contamination do you fear?"
"Mental contamination," said Exedol. "Ideas or concepts that would lead us away from the Imperative."
"Ya know, I think I'm startin' to understand you guys," said Ranma. "Havin' women around, or talkin' to any people who don't fight, might force you to realize that there's more to life than battle."
Exedol looked puzzled, and Vwritlai looked vaguely nauseous. "Other than combat, what purpose does a Zentraedi have?"
"The Miclone female speaks of culture," said Bodolze. "This is secret lore, and no other Zentraedi must hear of it. Do you understand?"
"Of course."
"Millenia ago, we lived as these Miclones did. Males and females living together, in a society."
"Sound repulsive," muttered Vwritlai.
"Indeed. We evolved past that, to become what we are today." Bodolze turned back to the Humans. "We are now greater than we were, as culture is a distraction. There is nothing that it offers us now."
"Really." Ranma's voice was flat. "So all you have is battle?"
"Yes." Bodolze nodded. "There is nothing else for us."
"We have given you much information," said Exedol. "Perhaps it is time that you gave us some."
"Only fair, I suppose." Ranma shrugged. "Whaddaya want to know?"
"One of our recon ships intercepted communications from your vessel that did not appear to be military. In fact, you were one of the subjects."
Ranma laughed. "Oh, don't tell me you picked up the pageant?"
"Is that the designation for this event?" Exedol touched a control, and a display screen sprang to life. It showed Ranma in her swimsuit, strutting her stuff on the stage. "This garment does not appear to serve any sensible purpose."
"Ya got that right," muttered Ranma.
"What is the purpose of this ceremony?"
"Hmmm..." Ranma frowned. "How best to put this? It's to raise morale."
Bodolze frowned. "I do not understand how such a ceremony could raise morale."
"It's all about the women," supplied Kakizaki. "To see which of them was the most attractive."
"They are all warriors?" asked Vwritlai.
"No," said Max. He frowned, examining the video carefully. "I see Lieutenant Hayase, Minmay...no-one else I recognize. Only the Lieutenant, here, and another of those girls, were soldiers."
"If they are not warriors, then what are they?"
"Civilians, for the most part," said Kakizaki.
The Zentraedi stared at him blankly.
"Right. Military society." Kakizaki scratched the back of his head.
"In what way does such a ceremony improve morale?"
"You guys wouldn't get it," said Max. "After all, a segregated society wouldn't understand the effect that the opposite gender has on our people."
"Why is this so?" Exedol frowned. "Surely there is no activity that a male and a female can engage in that cannot be equalled between two of the same gender?"
Kakizaki laughed. "Guess you guys really are dense! I dunno about these two, but I know that I'd never willingly kiss another guy!"
"'Kiss'? What is 'kiss'?"
"Kakizaki..." Ranma rolled her eyes. "I am going to kill you."
"What'd I do?"
Bodolze leaned forward. "Show me this 'kiss'."
Kakizaki blinked. "Oh. Sorry, Lieutenant."
"Signal doppler is less than point-oh-one. He's right behind that door."
Ichigyo nodded. "Well, we've gotten this far on sheer brass...might as well continue to rely on it." He reached forward with the Battroid's hand and opened the hatch.
Beyond were three of the Giants, including the metal-faced one that had taken Ranma's Valkyrie apart. All three of them looked stunned, faces twisted in revulsion. Misa glanced down at the table, and felt a bit nauseated herself.
Ranma and Max were locked in a kiss.
"Get them, now!"
Ichigyo worked the flight sticks, and the Valkyrie lunged forward, grabbing the three pilots. One of the aliens looked up and yelled something. Ichigyo turned the head laser on him, lashing it across his face, then kicked another. Then turned and ran.
Alarms sounded and bulkheads started closing. Ichigyo shifted the Valkyrie to Gerwalk - speed was far more important than stealth at this point. The uniform ripped, the long coat trailing behind the reconfigured Valkyrie like a a cloak.
"We're running low on power, Ma'am. We're gonna have to ditch this bird before long."
"Just get us to the lift!"
"Yes, Ma'am."
He slid sideways into the lift, then popped the canopy. "Ranma! Get the door control."
"On it." Ranma jumped up and smacked a button. The door slid closed, and the lift started to descend.
"Okay, I've got perhaps sixty seconds' worth of power." Ichigyo adjusted the controls. "I'm going to set the engines to overload. They aren't getting this bird."
"As soon as the lift stops, we make a break for it."
Ichigyo nodded. "Got it."
Ranma knelt at the cockpit. "I was afraid that you guys were dead."
"We managed to avoid capture, thanks to Lieutenant Ichigyo," said Misa. "We'd come to rescue you, but it seems that you were hardly being tortured." Her voice was a bit frosty.
"Hey, it wasn't my fault. I mean, you think I'd be caught suckin' face with Max unless there was a good reason?"
Misa allowed herself to calm down. "No. It's so hard to stay mad at you, you know."
Ranma grinned. "Of course it is." She sobered up. "So what's our next move?"
"When the lift stops, we leave on foot. Hikaru is going to blow the Valkyrie."
"So we gotta find a ship that's going back to Earth."
"Actually," said Ichigyo, "I think we've found one. They were taking on supplies when we saw it."
"Doesn't mean Earth," said Ranma. "But any other ship would be an improvement. They won't know we're there."
Ranma raised a hand. "Hold on. We got someone comin' this way." She stepped back around the corner and crouched. "One female, with a push cart of some sort."
Misa carefully looked around the corner. "A female!"
"Yeah...the little guy, Exedol, said that they were special forces or somethin'." Ranma frowned. "That one had an insignia, same as the one on Vwritlai. She's a fleet commander."
"If that was in fact a rank marking."
Ranma shrugged. "Best guess is that it was."
"Why would a fleet commander have a push cart?"
"Dunno." Ranma shrugged again. "Maybe we should ask her?"
"Funny." Misa paused. "There are three people on the cart. People our size. But one has purple hair, and they're dressed badly...shabbily. One of them is speaking to her--" Misa gaped. "They must be aliens. Human-sized Zentraedi."
"Makes sense. We found Human-sized compartments on Macross, after all. But if they're dressed poorly...They must not be equipped for small people here." Ranma frowned in concentration. "So those three must have been full-sized originally, and the Zentraedi have a way of shrinkin' them."
Misa shook her head. "That makes no sense. You get that all from their clothing?"
Ranma chuckled. "I'm an expert on changin' size and shape, remember?"
"Good point."
Ranma risked another glance. "Okay, we're clear. Let's go."
"I could eat a horse," complained Kakizaki.
"I think that you'll discover that our emergency rations taste much the same," quipped Misa. "Here." She handed him a small packet. "We don't have a lot of these, so make them count."
"At the risk of soundin' dense," said Ranma, "why don't we just raid the Zentraedi food supply?"
"We don't know if their biochemistry is compatible with ours," pointed out Misa. "Even if it's close, we might discover that, say, arsenic is an important nutrient, or just a tasty spice."
"Oh." Ranma shrugged, and accepted her ration bar. "I'll stick to martial arts, and leave the heavy thinkin' to those equipped for it."
"Fair enough." Misa looked around the compartment. "How long have we been in fold?"
Ranma glanced down at her watch. "This thing can't keep track of time very well while in fold. But I'd say that we have about half a day, real time, left."
"If this ship is going to Earth."
"Yeah."
"So maybe ten minutes." Misa nodded. "On the chance that we are going to Earth, I want to get this thing started. Jenius, you have the flight controls."
"Yes, Ma'am." Max crammed the rest of his ration bar into his mouth, and stepped up to the battle pod's flight systems.
"Kakizaki, power systems. Ichigyo, sensors. Saotome, you've got the guns."
"Aye aye, Ma'am."
The pod shifted abruptly, and the colours of their surroundings snapped back into their proper places.
"Defold!"
"Right on schedule," said Ranma.
"Jenius, go!"
Max threw a lever, and the commandeered Battle Pod rose to its feet.
"Ranma, make us a door."
Ranma squeezed the trigger, and the particle cannons spat blue lightning. The metal of the hatch exploded, its atoms suddenly acquiring a high negative charge and repulsing each other violently. The bay decompressed, blowing their Pod and several others into space.
"Ichigyo. Anything on the radio?"
"Nothing yet, Ma'am." Hikaru fiddled with the radio. "But our military channels are encrypted. Trying civilian frequencies..."
Music broke over the speakers. Ranma blinked.
"That sounds like Minmay!"
"Yeah, I think you're right." Hikaru nodded. "We're back in Earth space."
"Quick, Hikaru!" It was a sign of Misa's excitement that her usual military decorum was chucked. "Start transmitting, before some Valkyrie pilot decides we'd look good painted under his canopy."
"This is Flight Lieutenant Ichigyo, Vermillion Squadron. Hold fire. I repeat, hold fire. We are in a commandeered Zentraedi Battle Pod."
"Home...I can't believe it," said Misa, her voice thick with emotion.
"I can," said Ranma. "Never doubted it. As soon as I saw you were still alive, I knew you'd get us back home."
A dozen Valkyries stood at attention along two walls of the flight bay, and three times that many pilots stood ready to welcome back their missing comrades.
"You've all been through a lot," said Global, "and I respect that, but your experience has no doubt given you much data on the aliens. Formal debrief will be in two hours, which should give you time to clean up and get a decent meal."
"Thank you, Sir," said Misa.
"No, thank you, Commander."
Misa blinked. "Sir...?"
"You've been my acting Executive Officer for many months now. The only reason that you've not been made permanent XO is because it's a Commander's berth." Global smiled. "So I had to either promote you, or replace you. I trust you prefer promotion?"
"Yes, Sir. But my board--"
"Soon enough, Commander. This is a field brevet, but I trust that your board will confirm it." Global looked over to the four pilots. "I'm afraid that I cannot similarly reward your companions; most of them were too recently promoted. But we have other ways to reward them."
