Chapter 05: Filling in the Blanks

Campbell followed the Imperial officer, whom for the moment, was her superior officer into the main observation lounge just behind the bridge. Dvorak took a seat near the centre of the table as did Campbell but in the opposite side of the table.

"Now Meer may I call you Meer? If I may I would like to ask you a few questions, but feel free not to answer or to tell me to get lost if I am prying too much." Campbell nodded in acceptance while Dvorak asked the one question that she needed an answer to. "Ok I would like to know what is the nature of your relationship with commodore Hudson?"

Meer knew that this sort of question was bound to be asked by the sub-commander, since she knew a little of the history between the sub-commander and the commodore, but she still didn't feel overly comfortable sitting here one-to-one with the imperial woman.

"He's my mentor almost like a big brother nothing more." She waited a few moments to see how Dvorak would react. "As you know, when things were going extremely bad for Macross Fleet command against the Disruptors, fleet command drafted all of the fourth and fifth year cadets at both the Robotech academy and the MACO combat school into active service and assigned to the core systems on older Minerva class battlecruisers and a few of the first generation Tri-Star destroyers for the patrols, thus freeing up our heavy hitters for the frontlines. Again, as you know Kira, I mean the commodore, was assigned to a Tri-Star destroyer in the Beta Orion sector and became trapped behind enemy lines when his ship was destroyed by the Disruptors."

"This I am aware of young one as I was there."

Campbell sunk a little in embarrassment before straightening back up. "Yes ma'am, you were however you wanted to know so please let me tell the story my way."

Dvorak smiled and bowed her head conceding the point, and Campbell relaxed a little bit more when she saw this.

"Well, after the war all of the surviving cadets returned to the academy and combat school, and as most of them had been spared anything more that the occasional pirate raid or civilian ship with engine trouble, so they had no real problems settling back in, kira however… struggled."

"I arrived at the Robotech academy the following semester but my reason for joining wasn't for exploration but revenge. My sister had been killed when Babylon II was attacked in a raid during the attack on the Beta Orion sector. I signed up for the Macross Fleet right after that but was only able to enter the academy after the war, and at that time I was a very quiet person not to mention a very frightened young lady."

"One of the instructors decided that it would be a good idea if the returning cadets whom where having… trouble should be paired with the new cadets that were struggling. The thinking was that it might help both parties, so I was paired with Kira, though as you can imagine it didn't exactly go well at first."

Dvorak tried, completely not to choke on her glass of water from which she had just taken a sip as she started to laugh. "Yes, you and the commodore don't exactly seem to be a logical choice."

"Yes, well to say that it was a galactic understatement at first would be true, ma'am, but we helped each other a lot throughout that year. And no, I never slept with him, even though we we're close and we discussed pretty much everything else, we never even kissed. Are you happy ma'am."

Dvorak suddenly realised that this young, and nervous human, had somehow managed to turn the tables on her. It was at times such as this, and her suggestion during the last briefing session, that Hudson had been a very good influence on her.

"I am neither happy nor sad by what you have just told me, I was merely curious as to your relationship with the commodore was. If we are to be stuck within this universe, then I need to know who you are, and while I trust his judgement, I would much rather decide for myself what your abilities and skills are if we are to work well together."

"If you say so sub-commander." Campbell said with a very slight, almost predatory, smile on her lips as she watched the imperial officer.

She found that it was easy to read her, as many of her personal mannerisms and sub-conscious gestures where the same as those of Hudson, and she knew a lot about her from the stories of her adventures with Hudson and doctor Morse during their time trapped behind enemy lines in the Beta Orion sector.

"Is there anything else that you would like to know about me or my 'relationship' with commodore Hudson?"

"No that shall be all, thank-you ensign you may return to your post."

Campbell stood up and started to leave the observation lounge, but stopped just before she reached the door and looked back over at Dvorak. "Ma'am, do you mind if I ask you a question?"

Dvorak nodded her agreement for the younger woman to ask her question.

"Do you love him?" Campbell never got an answer, but just smiled to herself as she left the Imperial officer staring at her with a look of anger and confused shook as the door closed behind her.

-{[]}-

"End recording." Cutter had after five hours finished recording all of the messages which he needed to leave. "Computer set last message to be delivered in forty-eight hours with holo-program Cutter Delta one alpha." The computer beeped in response.

Cutter looked around the flag suite at the books and paintings he kept here. He had already decided that he would turn all of it over to Hudson in the hope that the Hudson would learn as much from them as he had himself.

He stood up and walked around his desk he had been sat behind until he was standing in front of his favourite painting, it was one he had done himself of an older SDF 1 battlefortress floating off the coast of New Alexandria city, while underneath was a copy of the original plaque from the first ship to carry the name Archangel.

While other ships had famous quotes or sayings like the ESMF Macross 'Do or do not… there is no try." All the ships, submarines and spacecraft to bear the name Archangel all had the simple phrase, 'Victory is life so fires of hell beware.'

Cutter laughed at just how true that motto had sadly become for this ship, but he knew that whatever the future might hold for the ship, those who sailed in her would look after each other.

The Archangel had survived the Collective, the Disruptors, the Zodiac war and the Prometheans. Hell it had even survived a dimensional jump to a totally alien quantum universe.

"Bridge to Admiral Cutter."

Cutter sighed as he turned back to his desk and touched the comm-panel built into his desk. "This is Cutter, go ahead."

"This is lieutenant Havaris, we have something happening with the Prometheus that I warrants your attention, sir."

Cutter frowned, he was curious but unsure as to how a simple, though well-armed little ship, could pose a challenge to the Archangel. He turned and exited his flag-suite and back onto the still under repair bridge, noticing that the young ensign Campbell was exiting the observation lounge.

"Report." Ordered Cutter as he took a seat in his command chair.

"Sir, we're getting a slow but steady build-up of energy in what we believe to be their main weapons system." Said Havaris from the tactical station, as an engineer used the time tested method to get a console working after just fixing it of banging it hard with his fist.

"Threat analysis?"

Havaris giggled before she regained her composure. "Sir it's minimal at best. Even with all the damage to the armour system and outer hull, I think that it would take at least a minute of uninterrupted fire, without us even attempting to evade, for that plasma pop-gun of theirs to pierce the armour." She reported as Dvorak returned to the bridge from the observation lounge and took a seat next to Cutter.

"So suggestions on how to respond?" Cutter asked as he watched Dvorak stare daggers into the back of Campbell's head.

"Sir, Dominion flight is waiting at the edge of the system." Stated Campbell who had been looking over the data for the flight-operations currently out on her console of the co-pilots seat. "We could have them fold in and carryout a combat landing."

"Interesting." Cutter said, thinking back to her suggestion during the briefing earlier in a new light, while he looked across to Dvorak.

Shocked, Dvorak blinking several times before recovering, and found herself to smile since it was an interesting idea and was one she herself would have suggested also, and while she was still angry at the young woman for her earlier question session, she could not and would not deny that the woman had a spark of potential. "Are you sure that you're not at least part Lantean ensign? It is a highly effective exercise in terror without us having to display any real power on our part."

Cutter chuckled softly. "That's not exactly how I would have said it, but it is accurate all the same." He turned so that he was facing Campbell again. "Ensign since this is your idea transmit the orders to Dominion flight. Lieutenant Havaris, let the deck crew of ARMD two know that we are going to carry out combat landings for Dominion flight."

Both officers nodded and went about their assigned tasks. Cutter smiled as he watched the crew get to work when he had suddenly had an idea. "Lieutenant Keys, once Dominion flight is secure, move us 100 meters off the Prometheus' bow and match their speed with the reverse thrusters."

"Should I use the thrusters to move us into position sir?" Asked Keys.

"Negative, full impulse if you please Ms Keys and Campbell, let's just show them just how out-classed the truly are."

"Aye sir."

Dvorak leaned over the central control panel to whisper to Cutter directly. "Devious admiral and it's an effective demonstration of power."

"Macross fleet command aims to please sub-commander." He whispered back, "Plus it saves us using the Gottfried's till we absolutely have too."

"I see now why Prefectus Atriums thought so highly of you sir."

-{[]}-

"Captain Jennings, the systems are ready." Stated Franks cryptically.

Jennings merely nodded as he turned to face the display screen off to the left of the bridge. "Very well. Power up the main cannon to full." Jennings sneered at the alien ship and how it was just sitting there waiting as of it wanted to be squashed like a bug by the Prometheus.

"It's powered up sir."

"Target the location from which that point of light was seen flashing."

"Aye…" Started Franks.

"Collision Alert!" Announced the airman at the forward sensor station.

"Report!"

"Sir, several ships have just appeared in our flight path!"

"All engines back full!" Jennings all but screamed as he turned to face Franks. "Where the hell did those ships come from?"

"Unknown sir. There was no warning, one second they were clear the next they were there."

"Display them on the screen." Jennings and those that could see the screen watched as the main screen switched from the display of the unknown ship the small group of ships, which looked slightly larger than a Russian SU-37 Flanker-F's as they shot towards the alien ship at an alarming rate of speed.

"My God! They are going to crash…" muttered someone from behind Jennings.

He never replied as everyone present watched in disbelief as the craft all flew over the top of their mother ship, before pulling an insanely high-g reverse thrust maneuver and slipped into a docking port on the side of the ship even as their armour pulled back to reveal a long runway like landing deck and docking port.

They watched in stunned shock as the fighters lower engines detached and swung forward to become a pair of legs as it slipped through an atmospheric retention barrier and into the docking port. They watched in helpless silence as the armour re-sealed it's self over the docking area.

"How… how long did that just take?" Jennings heard himself asking.

No one answered as suddenly the fifteen hundred meter long alien ship shot forward and parked itself directly inform of the Prometheus, no more than a hundred meters from touching the much smaller earth built starship, all the while matching their speed in reverse.

"WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON!" Demanded a highly irate Ronson as both he and major Carter came running onto the bridge.

After a few seconds of silence in which no one so much as breathed he asked again but slightly more calmly. "So, would somebody please care to enlighten me as to the reason that the 'alien' ship is sitting parked directly off the bow of my ship?" as he stormed towards his chair, leaving Carter and the rest of the bridge crew stunned, and all knowing exactly who Ronson's anger was directed at, even if they didn't know the exact reason for it this time. "Captain Jennings?"

Jennings pulled himself back up. He wasn't going to blow his cover as a member of the 'Trust' to this alien lover and allow him or that blond from SG1 to blame him for the actions of the unknown and dangerous behaviour. "Colonel, a group of unknown craft slightly larger than a SU-37, flew across the bow and docked with the alien vessel. They then moved directly into our flight path."

"And we did nothing to cause them to do such a thing?"

"No sir. The only thing which we were attempting was to conduct a deeper scan of their vessel."

Ronson settled into his chair while he pinched the bridge of his nose, trying to work out just how the XO had made it through the SGC psych screening and how he had managed to possibly incite another alien race into wanting to destroy the Earth.

"Colonel, we're getting a signal from the alien ship, audio only."

"Let's hear it."

"This is the Zentraedi Macross fleet battlefortress Archangel to the USAF Prometheus. Could you kindly tells us why your weapons array was powering up and actively targeting us a few moments ago?" Asked a very hostile, though non Goa'uld, sounding voice.

Ronson turned as he cursed at the stupidity of the man that the SGC had appointed his XO and his earth-first point of view while trying not to growl at the idiot as he spoke to man. "Captain Jennings, you have exactly thirty seconds to explain your actions before I have you relieved of duty and confined to the brig under escort by the ship security pending court martial."

This announcement made all of the members of the crew present take a small step back and away from both officers out of a sense of fear.

-{[]}-

Combat log 56480.9

Admiral J. G. Cutter recording.

This will be my final long before I officially transfer command of the Archangel to the freshly minted commodore Kira Hudson.

I have been out of my coma for twelve of my allotted thirteen days and I can already feel that things are starting to slip away from me. Doctor Morse has informed me that within the next two to three hours I will have to return to medical so I wish to file one last log update in the highly unlikely case that the ship and crew are able to return home.

While the commodore's choice of a new executive officer is strange, since I know that he was friends with his former executive officer colonel Wildhorse for a very long time, I do agree with it given the current situation that we have found are self in and the level of comfort which would appear to exist between him and sub-commander Dvorak.

Dvorak and her fellow Blood Haze survivors seen to have settled into the day-to-day running of the ship, but I am sure that because of the uniqueness of the current situation and the amount of intelligence information, that should we make it home, they would be able to take back to imperial high command.

The computer still has several sections of the ship sealed off due to damage from number of various problems relating to either the battle against the Prometheans or our dimensional jump. Fleet command has records of ships or crews, mostly relating to the any ship or the crew assigned to a ship called Macross, I swear that ship is either cursed or lucky or both, jumping to or detecting alternate universe however they are normally so close to ours that they seem to be correct, but this one is different.

According to colonel Ronson of the USAF space vessel Prometheus, the local date is August 10th 2004 which means that not only have we travelled to another dimension but also to a time when the first series of generation one ARMD series space carriers are under-construction in low earth orbit. From the information that the Prometheus has sent over to us we have discovered that one, all of the pyramid type ships that our recon flights have sighted belong to one race called the Goa'uld and manned by a slave race called the Jaffa. These Goa'uld are a race of parasitic snakes who rule the galaxy through fear by posing as 'Gods'. Two that these Goa'uld are the definition of the phrase 'ego maniacs', who are currently fighting against one of their own, but from all accounts that's nothing new, but this one seems to have a clear technological advantage over the rest, and that three, to the galaxy at large the people of this realities earth are known as the Tau'ri or the first world due to the fact that it was from this realities Earth that these Goa'uld first took humans back during the time of the Egyptian pharaoh's.

I have decided that it would be safest if we were to relocate to the sol system so that we can use it as a base of operations to repair the ship, although we still plan to build a base off-world so that some of the more technological and dangerous aspects of our systems and Robotechnology don't fall into the wrong hands, and to maintain the secrecy of the Prometheans command structure known as stargate command.

Their resident scientist, one major Carter, seemed shocked that we have no concept of hyper-space, 'funny that the local form of FTL is really called that', but we have managed to convince her that our own fold system is actually faster than their FTL.

Shockingly it would seem that ships using this hyper-space can travel at speeds of up to hyper three, and that one of their allies a race called the Asgard are able to travel at hyper nine point nine for extended periods of time which allows them to travel from their home galaxy of Ida to Earth within a day. I suspect that with our higher sub-light speeds, greater power generation systems and vastly improved scanners, which once we have developed our own hyper-drive reactor core that we will not only be able to travel at a much greater speed and be able to travel to other galaxies.

I have on my personal command authority promoted commander Kira Hudson to the rank of commodore as mentioned earlier and granted him access to all of the files and data to which I was privy, I have also promoted both ensigns Meer Campbell and Zefram Cochrane to the rank of lieutenant junior grade and named Cochrane as head of the ships limited science staff had been off-loaded before the battle of Lantea.

Cochrane has a plan in place to launch a series of modified class XVI probes to scan and map local FTL traffic when we arrive within the sol system, a sort of FTL early warning system if you will, and hopes that we can develop our own hyper-drive reactor so that we can move around the galaxy without the risk of running into these Goa'uld.

Log update.

The more I view the recording of Nemesis flights observation of this Goa'uld super mother ship, as major O'Neill has taken to calling it, the more it worries me. There is something about it that just screams 'Planet Killer', but I know that as an admiral in the Macross Fleet I should judge an alien by how their ships look, but this super mother ship worries me.

The Prometheus has sent us, in a cultural and tactical data exchange, a list on all known types of Goa'uld craft used by the major and minor players of the Goa'uld but not one of the ships match it even remotely. I suspect that this Anubis is either using something that is very, very, very new or given the limited data we have on it in the form of quantum dating on the scans would suggest that it is old, very, very, very, very old.

For the safety of the crew and the ship I have made the recommendation that all Goa'uld ships, bases and planets should be avoided for the time being. Better to play it safe than to allow these parasites to have access to Robotechnology.

It has been an honour to serve as the commanding officer of the Archangel for the last five years, and serve on her for the last seven years. I know that commodore Hudson will look after the crew and protect them with his life, he just has to accept who is and his Varauta heritage, and to use his talents fully.

I know that he will be a good ships commanding officer for the Archangel, but I don't know if he is fully ready for the responsibilities that come with commanding a battlefortress at the moment. He is only thirty-nine, and while not the most experienced officer left, he is the only senior officer left with bridge command experience so he is the best choice. Major Murdoch is unsuitable for command nor are any of the other senior or deputy officers who are left.

I feel somehow that this universe seems poised to be on the precipice of something, but whether that is something good or not I can't say, but if the Archangel is to be stranded here for a long time, then I know that this unplanned multi-national crew will do what it is meant to do while following the basic tenants of the Macross Fleet and her allies to explore strange new worlds, seek out new life and civilizations and to go boldly where no one has gone before.

Deculture, I can't believe that I just said that, well it's on the record now.

Anyhow, if Macross fleet command is able to read this log then let it be known that I personally and professionally support any actions that is made by command… correction commodore Kira Hudson will take and I know that he, the crew and the ship will uphold the guiding principles of the Macross Fleet and bring honour to this ship and her history.

Admiral James Gregory Cutter signing off.