Chapter 01: Over the Cliff.

Combat Log Date 56462, admiral J G Cutter recording.

It would appear that the deep space monitoring fleet was right for a change, and after confirming the data with both the Hansa Imperial Star Empire and the Zodiac republic, we have detected multiple hyperspace tracks incoming.

Macross Command is unsure as to the exact number and type of ships, but given that they are coming in from the Delta quadrant, and the location of the Promethean hyperspace catapult that was destroyed by the ESMF Victory six months ago, then, fleet command is taking absolutely zero chances with this.

The Archangel along with the rest of the entire 7th battle-fleet, and elements of the 6th, 8th and 10th are currently moving to intercept them before they reach the most likely destination for this Promethean force, as is an equal number of Zodiac battle-fleets.

However there is only one slight problem in that the most likely destination of this incursion isn't Earth, but is in fact the homeworld of the Hansa star empire… Lantea!

Right now fleet admiral Max Quest, aboard the fleet flag ship the dreadnought ESMF Manta, is currently trying to gain permission for the combined fleet to cross the neutral zone and enter Imperial controlled airspace, but several members of the Imperial high command (and, I'm afraid to say it, even some of our own battle group commanders), are being down right pig-headed in their stubbornness!

This would be downright funny in another time and place if it wasn't for the seriousness of the situation, and the fact that even at maximum burn, the combined fleet would only arrive at the best an hour to an hour and half before the predicted time of the Promethean forces, and that's only if we leave within the next twenty minutes.

Combat Log update.

This is going to be close…

… The fleet has crossed into Imperial airspace but at current speed, we will be around two hours behind the Promethean forces.

Admiral Quest has ordered the fleet to go to maximum burn, but we are slowly losing ships as they drop out of formation.

The most optimistic of tactical estimates show that only two hundred of our ships, just a little more than a full combat wing, will arrive in time to help, out of a force consisting of seven thousand, including a squadron from the Macross Cannon force, to aid the Imperial forces around Lantea.

The Republic forces are suffering even worse, with estimates showing that only the 17th battle-group, some one hundred ships, will make it in time.

Thank the maker however that we have been picking up Imperial forces as we go. So far a total of fifty mixed ships have joined with the fleet, mostly destroyers and heavy cruisers but all so a few battleships, with another six battle-fleets expected to meet us in the Lantea system. We are rapidly having to work out formations and battle plans for the forthcoming engagement, thankfully we have the bases of the recent war against the Disruptors, so we at least have some sort of a base from which to work from.

I'm sure that I'm not the only person within the combined fleet remembering the last time that a fleet of this size was assembled or what it cost the quadrant…

Yet what worries me the most isn't the size of the fleet, but the fact that of the two hundred ships from the Macross fleet contingent which will arrive in time to Lantea, only an eighth, including the Archangel herself, have had the new armour, pin-point barriers, shields and weapons that the ESMF Victory brought back with her from her time in the Delta quadrant, installed or being upgraded with, and sub-consciously that this will mean two things.

First that we will be at the tip of this fleet's spear, and second, that the Prometheans will throw everything including the kitchen sink, at us so that they can sink us fast.

How I wish that the Big M was here, but she's on the other side of the ESUN dealing with the Triolian high council.

-{[]}-

Admiral Cutter closed the log and walked out of the ready room and onto the bridge of the Macross Fleet vessel ESMF Archangel, the second of the type two SDF Macross class battlefortress to be built, and settled into his command chair and turned to face the ships executive officer and aide-de-camp commodore Hunter, "Report commodore?"

The Zentron commodore nodded his head by way of greeting his commanding officer before consulting the PADD he was holding. "Sir, all stations report that they are ready. All weapons stations and destroids are manned and standing-by, shields, pin-point barriers and the new trans-phasic armour are all in the green. Flight operations reports that all of the ghost combat drones are now off-line and their power cores have been removed, and colonel Neumeier's MACO's are deploying the last of the emergency shields and defence turrets around the critical areas."

Cutter nodded, praying that those defence turrets and shields wouldn't be needed, and that if they had to be used then they would hold long enough to allow the ships compliment of MACO's, fleet security personnel and the special operations team, which was now a part of all ships after their use during the ESMF Victory's return from the delta quadrant, to fight of any Promethean boarding parties that managed to board the ship.

"I've taken the liberty of having major Sisko assign all of the security and MACO's to those areas, and had them issued with FN-P117's, the new night shade plasma grenades and hand-to-hand weapons."

Cutter turned around to face the Archangel's chief of security gun-sight commander and second-in-command, and tried not to scowl. "You've issued guns and grenades to the crew? What happens if they damage any of the critical systems in the middle of the battle?"

Commander Kira Hudson stared back with a grim smile. "The one seventeen's don't have the power to go through the ships bulkheads, but if fleet command is right, then they should be able to destroy the servos of a Promethean Knight, that's if they are able to bypass their personal shielding system." He said with a scowl at the idea.

Cutter tried not to flinch at the prospect that any ricochets maiming or killing the crew as they were fighting for their lives, but he had to admit that the idea of the old school style projectile weapons was worth the risk. More so after reading some of the highly classified reports from the Macross-E's latest encounter with the Prometheans.

"Oh. Well let's hope that we don't need to find out." Hunter said wishfully.

"Hopping gets you killed, sir." Muttered Hudson, just loud enough so that it could be heard by both Cutter and Hunter who cringed and exchanged worried looks. However before either the admiral or Hunter could respond, master chief petty officer Brown spoke up. "Admiral, we are receiving a hail from and Imperial star cruiser, the Blood Haze."

"On screen." Cutter ordered while confusion crossed his mind for a moment until he saw the face which appeared on the main tactical screen. "Dux Atriums, well this is a surprise."

Atriums nodded and smiled warmly over the comm-link. "Actually it's Prefectus now," he said with a slight grown, "and yes it is a pleasant one." He paused and turned indicating to somebody just off screen to step into view. "I have been reliably informed that your gun-sight commander knows my executive officer."

Cutter turned and was surprised, if not downright stunned, to see his second-in-command actually smile, and judging by the movement of Hunters eyebrows, he was just as shocked.

"Hello again Kira." Said sub-commander Dvorak with a smile on her face just as freely. "I'm glad that you survived the war intact."

"Dilectus meus, et unus. It's good to see you again Karina." The sub-commander blushed and Cutter made a mental note to ask the commander the exact meaning of the phrase after the battle. "It's been a few years. I tried to get a message to you a few months after the war, but I never got a reply."

"I was… occupied," Said Dvorak as Atriums coughed lightly by her side, "I would like the chance to catch up after the battle, as we have a lot to talk about."

Hudson raised his eyebrow in a rather concerned way before nodding. "Sure Karina. You still owe me that personal tour of the imperial senate building remember?"

Dvorak smiled, yet everyone on the bridge of the Archangel caught the worry in her eyes, "I remember, and I always keep my promises. Te amo salvator meus commander." Without waiting for a reply the imperial sub-commander walked off the screen, presumably to return to her post.

The bridge crew of the Archangel and Prefectus Atriums watched her leave before Atriums returned to the centre of the screen to continue addressing Cutter.

"So… with the re-acquaintances concluded, shall we get down to business?" He said as he nodded to a member of his own bridge crew who was off-screen. "My ship, and another five conquer class heavy battle-cruisers have been assigned to work with you and are now moving into formation with your ship. I've had the transponder codes transmitted to you."

"Then I guess that we need to go over the attack plans for the combined unit." Asked Cutter.

"Yes. I do hope that you and your gun crews are able to keep up with the Imperial fleet's finest heavy battle-cruiser squadron." While the smile which was on Atriums' face was that of a predator, his eyes clearly betrayed the fact that he was laying down a friendly challenge.

"Oh I'm sure that we will in fact," replied cutter, as both Hunter and Hudson grunted in support. "The same stakes?"

Atriums laughed, much to the shock of both bridge crews. "Why of course, one case of Sith ale against one case of Scottish whisky and we drink on the Imperial war college when the battle is done. See you on the flip side, admiral."

"Donec omnes unum sint, Prefectus." With that said the signal cut and returned to the familiar image of the ships view screen and the star flying past.

Looking around the bridge Cutter stood up. "Alright people. We will reach Lantea in five hours, so as of right now all Alpha and Beta shift personal are to take a three hour break. Gamma and Delta shifts is to cover for now, then report to their assigned battle stations when they are relieved."

Cutter watched as his orders were carried out before making his way back across the bridge to the ready room to write a letter to his wife and daughters back on Epsilon III.

-{[]}-

Five hours later Cutter looked around the bridge as he sat in the command chair. The crew was nervous, and rightly so with the ships senior special operations members, lieutenant commander Janet Welsh in her personal exo-frame equipped with the fire force assault weapons system.

The Promethean's had also increased speed, which had forced the fleet to do the same, and although they were mere moments from entering the Lantea system the increase in speed had cost them a further one hundred ships from the combined fleet, including their supper heavy hitters of the ten Macross III class cannons.

"We'll be in system in the next two minutes." Said an officer at one of the lower comm-scan stations.

"Activate and deploy the armour, arm trans-phasic, neidhart and Korinthos torpedoes. Relay those instructions to the other ships in the battle group." Ordered Cutter as the distinctive sound of the armour clunking into place over the ship's hull, and though he knew that the sound was normal the sound of it still gave admiral Cutter the creeps, as it sound as if something was trying to claw its way into the ship.

Even though the Prometheans has assimilated the armour technology which had been developed by the ESMF Victory. The Macross Fleet corps of combat engineers felt that they had modified it to increase any ships chance of survival by seventy-five to eighty percent when engaging the Promethean forces, and against the other races of the galaxy then the odds of survival was well over one hundred percent for even the smallest Fire Hawk class ship.

The other modifications that the ESMF Victory had gained from its run-in with its future self-had also been applied to the Archangel, as well as several others in the battle-group.

Yes, those upgrades would meant that the Archangel would be living up to her name as the defender of the weak, and be part of the first assault to engage the Promethean force, but right now Cutter would rather have all of those upgrades instead of facing the Prometheans instead of being on any of the ships that didn't.

"Thirty seconds."

"Order the assault force to begin the plan."

Around the Archangel the combined elements from the Imperial fleet and the Zodiac forces seemed to shimmer and then fade from sight as they activated their clocking systems and slipped behind the dozen assorted SDF class battlefortress's and Drake class SDF gunfortress's which had already had their own trans-phasic armour energized and deployed.

"Tactical, concentrate on the closest ship, focus on the areas which fleet command told us." Thank the maker for commander Preston and Ms Annika Handson. They had both sent as much data as they could to the combined fleet, especially about where to target on each known type of ship which was likely to be in the assault, the challenge though was going to find the right spot on a perfect shape for the fleet's gunners.

"Reverting to normal space, now." Said lieutenant Arnold Newmann, another member of the ships special operations squad in his own exo-frame and the snip force assault weapons system from the primary helm station.

As the lead elements of the force returned to normal space they were forced to immediately go into evasive manoeuvres due to their flight path being littered with the wrecks of the Imperial home fleet, over two hundred ships from B-Type dreadnoughts to smaller Orion class frigates and raptor class space fighters all lay in ruin before the assembled allied forces.

As the Archangel, despite her massive size, seemed to dance around the debris as loud and painful scraping could be heard as the ship literally smashed through the remains of an older Knight class assault ship. Suddenly the whole ship shook twice in rapid succession.

"Report!" commanded Hunter before Cutter could respond.

"Sir, one of the Nazca's collided with some debris." Stated Hudson as he gripped his console to help keep his balance. "They spun into the Liverpool's port engines. Even with their new armour, they've suffered heavy damage forcing them to drop back."

"Bohze Moi!" Cutter cursed under his breath, they weren't even in actual combat and already they had lost two ships. This was definitely going to be a long battle.

"We have ten Promethean vessels engaged with around two thousand Imperial ships. Three of them are disengaging from the main fight and are on an intercept course."

"On screen," Everyone watched as the main tactical display changed to show three of the giant warships turned and slowly advanced on their small force of ships.

"Admiral, the enemy fleet consists of five Saratoga type 3 battleships, two Acidalium class destroyers, a single Grave class and two type six Saratoga class. Both of the type sixes and one of the type threes are moving to engage us."

"Load Korinthos missiles. Order all other ships to do the shame. All ships are to target the left most warship but they are to fire on orders from the Archangel."

"Battle-group responding"

"Entering optimal firing range in ten seconds." Stated Hudson from the tactical station.

Cutter waited, as the seconds appeared to stretch into years as they slowly ticked away, and he could have sworn that those ten seconds were the longest of his life.

"The Prometheans have opened fire." Announced colonel Wildhorse from the tactical plot table as the ship shock as a beam from the type three warship collide with the armour of the Archangel. "The armour is down by five percent, but its regenerating."

"Looks like the egg-heads at R&D did their job." Stated Hudson.

Cutter nodded as he looked down at the small holo-screen built into the command chair. The other elements of the combined fleet were even now reverting from hyperspace to engage the Promethean forces from multiple vectors. Again these elements were sphere-headed by as many of the upgraded and advanced ships of the Macross Fleet as was possible with both Republic and imperial forces sweeping around the Macross Fleet ships to allow them to unleash a Macross missile massacre strike.

"Let's not give them a chance to adapt. Target pre-set co-ordinates Alpha and open fire all ships."

From all around the ship, at the primary missile launch points and from the Destroid's a volley of two thousand Korinthos proton missiles launched followed by six high powered shots from the main Gottfried cannons. The other Macross fleet ships followed suit as the stealthed units dropped their cloaks, unleashing an incredible volley of disrupter and smart drones. All of the combined fleet then fried at the exact same location that they had targeted with their missiles and torpedoes with Gottfried's and ion cannons.

The type three warship shook at the amount of fire power which impacted it. The damage it caused left a massive crater into the massive ship, which could clearly be seen on the bridge of the Archangel.

"Target ship has suffered massive damage at the targeted location. Internal power levels have dropped by sixty percent, it's trying to withdraw."

"Let's not give them a chance, concentrate fire on that ship, target secondary locations which command sent us. Order all ships to concentrate fire on that ship."

The ship shook again as both of the type six warships opened fire with their own enhanced beam weapons on the Archangel.

"Armour is down to seventy-five percent. It seems that those warships are using the sheer power in the weapons in an attempt to counter the adaptations to the armour grid." Reported the ships senior pilot major April 'Ice Queen' O'Neill from the flight operations station.

"Well then, let's not give them too long to do that. Commander Hudson, order all of the armoured units to use attack patter Gloval three. All other units are to go full evasive." Ordered Cutter as the ship continued to shake under the fire that the Prometheans.

"Targeted ships power is down seventy-five percent, I'm reading massive secondary explosions."

"Commander, if you please…" asked Cutter looking over at Hudson, which caused him to smiled viciously as the helm turned the Archangel's bow directly towards the heavily damaged warship as he released a full salvo of neidhart anti-battle station torpedoes directly into the damaged section of the type three warship.

Two of the Imperial conquer class heavy battlecruisers also fired on the damaged Promethean warships adding to the massive amount of fire power heading toward the doomed warship.

The warship shuddered, and seemed to move backwards, as its reactor cores where destroyed from the massive amount of fire launched at it, but in its dying breath it managed to destroy three Laurasia class before snagging an Imperial A-type and an Republic Mars class and dragging them close enough so that they were destroyed as the warship exploded.

In retaliation, the two remaining type six warships vaporised seven more ships from the allied assault force.

"Deculture, were the hell is the rest of the fleet?" muttered the young crewmember at one of the comm-scan stations.

As if in answer to the plea, the rest of the fleet, some three thousand ships, including ten Macross III class supper dreadnoughts, reverted from hyperspace and launched a devastating alpha strike package.

"Admiral, orders from the Manta, our task force is to pull back to mobile position one and regroup ASAP." Stated master chief Thomas Brown, as he manned the main communications console.

"Acknowledge the orders and transmit them to the remaining ships. Then get me a brief damage report." Said Cutter.

"Nothing major, we're down too…" Hudson stopped as something on the scanners caught his attention. "Deculture! Sir, I'm detecting a massive disturbance in sub-space!"

"What kind?" Asked Cutter and Hunter together, both having a really, really sick feeling that they didn't want to know the answer to the question.

"I'm not sure, however it has very close characteristics to that of the Promethean hyperspace windows."

"Get me the Manta!" Cutter almost screamed the order through his clenched teeth.

"Too late!"

The crew watched in horror as a newer, and much larger contingent of Promethean warships exited from the maw of the massive vortex.

"How many?" Cutter asked in a whisper as he stood slowly from his command chair.

"Sensors show thirty type five warships, sixty destroyers, five Grave class, ten type nine warships and two Key class dreadnoughts."

Cutter walked towards the forward section of the command area of the bridge, as all around the Archangel ships exploded left and right as the massive Promethean armada began their true assault. "By the maker, this isn't an attack. It's an invasion."

-{[]}-

The Archangel shook again as another Promethean disruptor beam attempted to penetrate her armour.

"Armour is down to twenty-five percent, plus we've only got fifty Korinthos and ten neidhart torpedo's left, admiral. The linear cannons are off-line and the Destroids have had to fall back due to all of their ammunition being expended."

Cutter nodded grimly, unwilling to turn to look at Hudson as that meant looking at the dead bodies of Hunter and an ensign from one of the remaining science stations. The casualty reports were mounting rapidly but at least they were still in the fight.

The rest of the fleet on the other hand…

… Well that was another natter, as another three ships exploded as they rammed a type ten warship. It was starting to get desperate as the Promethean armada was slowly advancing towards Athos. They had tried for Lantea but the planetary defence system had torn through them enough to make them extremely wary of being trapped between it and the allied fleet.

Never the less, the fleet was struggling.

Of the initial three thousand and fifty vessels, over one thousand were gone, the rest, including the Archangel, were suffering moderate to heavy damage.

The Prometheans, well they still had twenty warships, nine of their type ten's and a single of their key class dreadnoughts.

The ship rung like a bell as a nearby warship continued to pursue them.

"Where the devil are our escorts?" Demanded Cutter gripping the arm-rest on his command chair for dear life.

"We've only four left, the Blood Haze, two Daedalus class and that Eternal class from that contractor Sandline Galactic." Answered Brown as a medic tried to get him to stand still to treat a gash on his left arm.

Cutter cursed again. The Prometheans were systematically targeting all of the advanced and armoured ships in the fleet, and doing a bloody fine job of it too, and as far as Cutter could tell their where only five such ships left, and the Archangel seemed to be the only one that was in fairly good condition.

"Ask the admiral again…"

Brown nodded as he tried to contact the fleet command ship, "Sir, the Manta's gone, as well as the ESMF Red Venom, Melbourne and Trafalgar."

Cutter swivelled to look at Brown, all four of the ESUN senior admirals were gone. "Who's in charge?"

Brown shrugged. "The Imperial command ships are gone and the Starscream just rammed a type ten warship."

Even the allied admirals were gone, and without a flagship the combined fleet would struggle to survive for much longer, though even with a senior admiral, Cutter suspected that they wouldn't last till the 4th and 5th fleets lead by the ESMF Macross–E, arrived in less than an hour.

"Send to all ships, I'm authorizing the use of the new trans-phasic drone torpedoes. If any ship have them and are far enough away from either planet, use them. I'll deal with high-command if and when we make it through this alive."

Brown nodded while he transmitted the message to the remaining Macross fleet ships. "Sir, our escorts are inquiring about the new weapons."

"On screen." On the main tactical display the image of Atriums, a Republic black and the captain of the Sandline Galactic vessel appeared. "Gents, how's your day going?" Atriums rolled his eyes at the joke, the fallen support beam and the fire being dealt behind him told the story well enough. The other two commander's merely laughed.

"We're going to use an experimental weapon on the Prometheans, I'll need you to launch a strafing run to allow us time to close in and fire."

The three men merely nodded as the closed their respective comm-links.

"Newmann, set course for the nearest type ten, Hudson once we have a clear shot and the escorts are out of the kill zone feel free to clear my sky of these cybernetic freaks." Both officers nodded as the mighty type two battlefortress turned towards it pursuer.

While the Archangel completed her turn, the allied ships strafed between the two vessels, but the Prometheans treated the as if they were flies, literally swatting aside an Imperial Daedalus class, which collided with the warship, shattering the outer hull.

"Target that explosion and fire!"

Everyone on the bridge watched with baited breath and in morbid fascination as the two advanced battle station assault weapons leaped across the gap between the two warships.

They could scarcely believe their eyes as the warheads actually passed through the warships shields and actually entered the small moon sized warship. A second later two truly massive explosions occurred deep within the ship, forcing it to shudder to a halt.

"Power levels are down by nearly seventy percent." Announce Brown.

"Once more," ordered Cutter as two more of the drones leapt towards the heavily damage Promethean warship, which tried to shoot down the highly advanced death shots which were closing to kill it.

As the second pair of explosions took place deep within the Promethean vessel it suddenly accelerated towards the Archangel.

"EVAD!" Ordered Hudson, recognizing what the Prometheans were planning before Cutter did.

Cutter barely managed to hold onto his seat and could only watch in horror as chief Brown went flying past him before hitting the forward bulkhead with a sickening thud near him.

"Target destroyed." Stated Hudson, as he re-routed the operations systems to his console. "Sir, I'm reading an engine core breach on the Blood Haze."

"Evacuate as many of the crew as you can with the transporters, but get us clear before they blow." Cutter ordered as he stood and walked towards the body of Brown, to confirm if he was dead or if there was a chance to save him. A quick check for a pulse told him all he needed to know, but he pulled the body away from the helm.

"How you holding up Meer?" he asked the young, and freshly minted, ensign Campbell. She had only joined the crew at the last re-supply, and was less than six months out of the Robotech academy. He suspected that there was something going on between her and Hudson, but they were both officers, and he hoped that if they survived this they would get the chance to talk and see.

Campbell looked up at the admiral. "Fine sir, but all things considered I'd much rather be on Heliopolis station enjoying some R&R." She said as she smiled weakly to try and reassume him, but her eyes told him the truth.

Cutter nodded in agreement as the entry hatch opened to allow sub-commander Dvorak and a member of the ships Special Forces, Devil Squad land op's specialist ensign Jake Rockwell if he was right, walked onto the bridge. "Atriums?" he asked.

Dvorak shook her head as she turned and walked over towards Hudson at the tactical station, and whispered something to him, before turning to face Cutter.

"He died during the last attack, thank-you for trying to save us, I fear however that it won't mean much in the grand scheme of things."

Cutter gave her a sad smile as he lowered himself back into the command chair. "How are we doing Kira?"

"We're down to fifteen percent on the armour, though it is slowly regenerating. Shields and pin-points are ready, but they won't last long in this shit storm. Gottfried's are at twenty-five percent, linear cannons, destroids and Valliant's are all out of action, due to their ammunition being expended plus we've only got fifty Korinthos and ten neidhart torpedo's left, and we're down to sixteen of those new battle-station buster drones left."

"I guess that some of the Big M's luck is rubbing off on us," muttered Cutter, "Where are the Promethean's?"

"Five warships, three are type ten, eta is under a minute, sir."

"Reinforcements?"

"None in range sir, the ESMF Macross and her battle-group are still five minutes out."

Cutter stood and walked to the helm and rested his hands on the back of both the pilot and co-pilot seats. "Very well, bring us about straight down their throats. If were going down, then I for one intend to take as many of those cybernetic freaky sons of bitches with me to Ne'Tu as I can."

"Aye sir." Came the enthusiastic reply. "Course programed in, ready to execute on your command admiral."

"Let's storm the gates of hell," he said as he turned and looked at the tactical station. "Command and sub-commander, I want you to make every shot count, clear those cybernetic freaks out of my sky!"

Both commanders, replied with an animalistic and evil smile, "By your command." Stated Dvorak.

"As they say 'who wants to live forever.'" Hudson said, as he placed his hand on Dvorak's.

Cutter smiled too, the strange mood that made him prodder than he had ever been of this ship and the crew, "I much prefer the line from Shakespeare's Henry the fifth, 'Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more'," He said as he looked around the bridge, and the few faces left nodded solemnly to each other in turn, even the senior pilot major April 'Ice Queen' O'Neill. "Very well, we have an appointment to keep, let's not keep them waiting then shall we."

In an act of both pure defiance, and that belittled its massive size, the wounded ESMF Archangel turned and closed on the massive forms of the incoming Promethean warships.

"Divert all power to the forward shields, pin-points and armour, hell take it from both the reflex cannon and life support, somehow I doubt we will be needing it where we're heading…" he left the rest of the statement unsaid to hang in the air, and air that was soaked in the smell of death and destruction.

"Oh how nice, they are lining up for us." Stated Dvorak somewhat jovially and somehow very familiar with Macross fleet controls and consoles.

"Well then let's not disappoint our hosts Kira, if you be so kind as to let them know that we are here." Ordered Cutter.

From the remaining missile and torpedo tubes the last of the Archangel's anti-battle station neidhart torpedoes launched in a massive Macross missile massacre which impacted the central most warship as tracer fire and Gottfried cannon fire concentrated on the same point.

As the missile and torpedo tubes where reloaded for a second strike using the new drones, the sole remaining bridge science officer ensign Zefram 'Zee' Cochrane shouted out, "Admiral, I've got a sub-space disturbance forming at location yellow alpha three. It's amazing!"

"We'll look at it later ensign," answered Cutter angrily, "Fire trans-phasic drones."

"Wait!" Screamed Cochrane, but it was too late.

As the full volley of ten of the highly advanced drone weapons burst forth from the Archangel, all targeting the three most central most warships of the approaching formation.

The eight drones which were fired at the two warships which were off-centre, travelled and slammed into their targets at ninety-nine percent the speed of light, shattering the massive warships and managing to take out the three remaining warships with secondary explosions.

However the crew of the Archangel never saw this sight, as the two drones which had been aimed at the central most warship collided with the sub-space disturbance and detonated within. Before the bridge crew could even react, a massive wave of sub-space energy was released from within the deepest reaches of the mysterious regions of sub-space and enveloped the mighty Macross type two class battlefortress.

When the energy wave had dissipated, and the residual sensor interference from the simultaneous destruction of the five warships had died down, all that was detected by the Macross-E's battle group, the allies and the Promethean forces was that the ESMF Archangel had been destroyed in a last and valiant act of pure defiance.