Earth Vs Minbari - Robotech To The Rescue

by TheVampireStrahd

The war between Earth and the Minbari has been going on, Earth is losing the war. A desperate plan is launched to retrieve ships and weapons that Earth had locked away and swore to never use again. Will Robotech save Earth as it had so many times before? The galaxy will never be the same.

20. Chapter 18

Disclaimer: I do not own Babylon 5 or its characters, those belong to Warner Brothers. I do not own Robotech or its characters, those belong to Harmony Gold. I do not own Macross or its characters, those belong to Big West and Studio Nue.

Chapter 18

Earth Space

The Robotech Factory

It was shortly before midday when the new commanding officer of the Robotech Factory arrived on the station's main hangar. The man seemed to be disappointed and more than a little upset in that there was no arrival ceremony, just a young Lieutenant that was there to greet the Colonel and bring him to the Factory Control Center.

Upon his arrival at the Factory Control Center another officer announced, "Officer on deck!"

The military personnel stood up at attention while the civilian scientists that were part of Doctor Lang's team and Doctor Lang himself continued their duties. Doctor Lang was at the top level of the control center at the "command" level.

The Colonel gave a look to everyone then said, "As you were." The Colonel, a man about five foot five with brown hair cut regulation short, brown eyes and a pencil thin mustache walked up to the top level and stood next to Doctor Lang's station and cleared his throat.

Doctor Lang held up a hand in a stalling gesture saying, "Just a moment." Then he continued to do some work, typing on the keyboard and pushing several buttons, and flipping several switches for almost two minutes before stopping and looking at the person that was next to him. "Oh, you must be Colonel Kilpatrick." He offered his hand for a handshake. "Hello, I'm Doctor Robert Lang."

Colonel Kilpatrick looked at Doctor Lang's hand for a few seconds before taking it and exchanging a handshake as he introduced himself. "Colonel Jonathan Kilpatrick." After the handshake the Colonel was looking at Doctor Lang with disapproval. "Doctor, can you explain to me why only a Lieutenant was at the hangar to greet me instead of the traditional arrival and change of command ceremony?"

Doctor Lang looked confused. He asked, "Arrival and change of command ceremony? I wasn't made aware that there was to be such a ceremony. We are all quite busy Colonel with a great deal of work that needs to be done and while I was aware you were arriving today and the time you were arriving I was not told that there was some sort of ceremony to take place. Additionally, I couldn't have been there to greet you myself.", he gestured to the work station in front of him. "Too much work to be done.", he finished.

The doctor adjusted his glasses and continued, "When Captain Sheridan left as the commanding officer of this station there was no sort of ceremony. He just said that I was in command until someone of higher authority would assign someone else to take command." He stood up from the chair he was sitting on and gestured to it then finished, "Well, you're here now and this is the commanding officer's station. I now hand over command to you Colonel."

The Colonel still looked upset but his expression adjusted and then he turned to look at everyone in the room. He cleared his throat and said, "I'd like to address everyone on the Factory please."

A young Lieutenant working communications said, "Go ahead sir, you're tied in via your link."

Colonel Kilpatrick cleared his throat again, "Attention to all military and civilian personnel on the Robotech Factory. I am Colonel Jonathan Kilpatrick and as of now I'm the commanding officer of this station. I am a hard but fair man, do your jobs and we'll have no problems. If you have a problem, feel free to come to me and I will do my best to work it out. I want to meet with all department heads at thirteen thirty hours at the main conference room. That is all."

There was a chirp on his link and the Lieutenant said, "PA is closed sir."

Colonel Kilpatrick looked at Doctor Lang who stepped away from the chair he'd been sitting on even more and the Colonel sat down. He looked at the civilian scientist/historian and said, "Give me a run down on current operations.", he ordered.

The Doctor said, "Production of new Macross Class Battle Fortresses and Macross Quarter class warships have just begun. The first units from the production run of Queadlunn-Rhea's are due to come off the line soon, with the first two full squadrons going to Admiral Sterling's flagship and another four squadrons to go to Grand Admiral Hesh's forces. More units have already been designated to be spread to Admiral Sterling's fleet as they come out of production, but the first two squadrons are Admiral Sterling's, including her customized mecha."

The Colonel gave a disapproving sound and said, "I decide where those things are going. I'm going to send those first units somewhere else."

Doctor Lang looked surprised and protested, "Sir, you can't do that! Those mecha units are to be split between Admiral Sterling's fleet and that of Grand Admiral Hesh's fleet! The very first one of those mecha suits is for Admiral Sterling herself. It's been customized to her specifications already."

Glaring at the scientist/historian in front of him Colonel Kilpatrick said, "I'm going to give you some latitude Doctor but do not tell me what I can and cannot do, I'm in command of this installation now and I get to decide which ships and installations gets what." He looked at the screens that were at the workstation he was sitting at then looked at Doctor Lang again. "I'll need you to give me a run down on everything here. But first, how do you call for or summon 'The Thing'?

"Sir, you cannot-", protested Doctor Lang but he was cut off by the Colonel.

Glaring at Doctor Lang Colonel Kilpatrick harshly stated, "I said I'm in command, Doctor! Your job is to do what I say, stay on your assigned tasks, and make sure this facility provides what is needed for our war effort. Now, how do you call or summon 'The Thing'?"

Confused, Doctor Lang inquired, "Thing sir? What thing?"

Snarling, Colonel Kilpatrick yelled, "The AI! The AI, Doctor! How do you call for It!?"

Doctor Lang calmly replied, "We call for him by his name, or by his rank and name."

Shaking his head, the Colonel said, "That AI is not a person, it's an 'it', a 'thing', a machine. How long would it take to shut it down?"

With a shocked and stunned expression on his face Doctor Lang replied and began to protest, "Sh-shut down Admiral Hunter? You can't shut down Admiral Hunter, he is integrated too deep into the Factory's operations! He's carrying out vital tasks under orders by General Lefcourt! You can't just shut him down Colonel, he's vital to our war effort! He's grandfathered in by our own laws! Finally, Colonel you don't have the authority! Unless...unless, did we receive the order from President Levy or General Lefcourt?"

Colonel Kilpatrick slammed his hand down on the desk and said, "You don't get to question me, Doctor! I want that thing shut down as soon as possible, it's a clear and present danger to everyone aboard. So how long would it take to do so?"

Shaking his head Doctor Lang protested, "Sir, you can't shut Admiral Hunter down, he's too import-"

Rising from his chair Colonel Kilpatrick roared, "Do not name that thing! It is a machine, not a man! I want it shut down and I want it shut down now! Pull the plug on it, flip a switch, push the red button I don't care! I want that thing shut down and I want it shut down immediately!"

The middle aged Doctor adjusted his glasses with his hand, sliding them back up his nose with his index finger. Calmly he said, "To shut down Admiral Hunter-"

Snarling, Colonel Kilpatrick interrupted Doctor Lang. "I told you not to refer to that machine by name!"

Doctor Lang continued, "-requires an order from General Lefcourt via President Levy or directly from President Levy herself. You do not have such an order so I will NOT be shutting Admiral Hunter down. I will be turning in a report regarding your actions, Colonel." Before the Colonel could try and correct Doctor Lang again the scientist/historian said, "As for referring to the Factory artificial intelligence by rank and name it is how he wants to be called."

Pointing his index finger towards the door, Colonel Kilpatrick hissed, "I've heard enough from you, get out of my control center. We'll talk some more when you are in a more reasonable mood, I'm thinking after the Department Head meeting." He gave a smile to Doctor Lang but it was not a full one, and to Doctor Lang, he knew a fake smile when he saw one.

Doctor Lang silently looked at the Colonel before grabbing his tablet computer and his messenger bag. Then he started walking down towards the exit. Just before walking out the Colonel called out, "Security, search the Doctor's bag and make sure he isn't leaving with any military property."

Doctor Lang sighed and opened his bag as he got close to the door and one of the security officers had an expression that was apologetic as he approached Doctor Lang. The security officer looked at the contents and after a moment allowed the Doctor to leave the room. Colonel Kilpatrick asked, "Did you search him carefully?"

The officer replied, "He was clean, Colonel."

Nodding his head, Colonel Kilpatrick sighed and said, "Well, it's time to get this place cleaned up." He stood up from his station and announced to everyone in the room, "All civilian personnel, you are dismissed. You can leave your work stations and go to your quarters and begin packing your things. EarthForce thanks you for your assistance and since this is a military installation, your services will no longer be required. Please return to your quarters, pack up your belongings and report to the main hangar for transport back to Earth. I will contact flight operations and arrange for that transport as soon as I can. But you can rejoice in the knowledge that you will be home sleeping in your own beds by the end of the day."

One of the officers, a Lieutenant with teal hair stood up and said, "Colonel, we are still getting up to speed operating this facility and these civilians are helping us do that. It's too early to send them back to Earth sir. Doctor Lang and his team are still vital to Factory operations."

The Colonel nodded his head. "Noted Lieutenant, but I want all civilians off the station as soon as possible. This is a military facility."

The Lieutenant asked, "You're getting rid of Doctor Lang as well, sir?"

Colonel Kilpatrick said, "Not right away, but...probably by the end of the week or early next week at the latest. So, all civilians here, thank you once again but you're dismissed. I will dismiss the rest of the civilians that are working on the station later today or early tomorrow."

The Lieutenant with teal hair protested again, "Sir, I think you're dismissing them too soon. We're still getting up to speed and their knowledge is too important and too useful at this time. We still need Doctor Lang and his team, sir."

Colonel Kilpatrick looked at the Lieutenant from his seat at the top of the room. "Lieutenant, this is a military facility, not a civilian one. It's time for us to do the work and let the civilians get back to their lives. If any one that just left is really vital, I will reconsider their dismissal, just let me know who you think should stay longer. Right now however...I'd like to know what each of you are doing, what station you are working at and such. Let's start with you, Lieutenant."

The civilian workers quietly left the control center with stunned and shocked expressions and as they did, the military personnel that were remaining awkwardly introduced themselves and talked about what they did.

Colonel Kilpatrick asked if any of them knew the vacated stations and how to work them or if there were military personnel not on duty that knew those stations and he nodded in satisfaction that there were people on second and third shift that knew those vacated stations.

Colonel Kilpatrick ordered, "I want some of those people from second and third shift called in right now so they can man those stations and start getting your shift up to speed on them. I'll want more of our people trained on those stations that they are not trained on immediately."

Orders were acknowledged and people began carrying them out. As they did so, the Colonel returned to the top of the room where his work station was at. The man straightened his uniform shirt, cleared his throat and said in a low voice to himself, "Time to get this done. Artificial Intelligence, this is Colonel Jonathan Kilpatrick. Come here."

A holographic projector activated and the holographic avatar of Admiral Rick Hunter wearing an EarthForce Admiral's uniform appeared. Rick was cordial in his opening. "Greetings, Colonel. How can I help you?"

Keeping his gaze at the Admiral level Colonel Kilpatrick asked, "I'm to understand you have been walking around in a...android body. Where is your physical body at this time?"

Rick replied, "Currently my android body is in the lecture hall instructing those officers with poor combat simulation records per General Lefcourt's orders."

Colonel Kilpatrick grunted then said, "I'd prefer to speak to your physical….avatar. I don't like talking to the air or to holograms."

Rick shrugged, "Sorry you feel that way Colonel but I'm busy doing a bunch of other tasks and assignments given to me, I have decided that those people that require this additional training get my physical body. This task is just one of a few of those tasks given to me by General Lefcourt. My holographic avatar is also training other personnel in warship and Veritech operations while I'm speaking to you. Since my android body is currently busy, you'll just have to speak to one of many of 'the holograms'."

Colonel Kilpatrick gave a quiet growl. Looking at the holographic avatar with a glare he sat down into his chair and leaned back into his chair and said, "Let's not pretend here, I don't like machines like you. How long would it take for you to shut down?"

Rick blinked, "Why do you want to know?"

Jonathan leaned forward, placing his hands on the desk snarling, "I'm the Commanding Officer of this facility! Answer the damn question!"

Rick answered, "To do it correctly would take several hours."

Colonel Kilpatrick ordered, "Good, I want you to start that shut down process and get it finished by eighteen hundred hours."

Rick barked a quick laugh. "Very funny Colonel but that's not going to happen. You need the authorization from President Levy and/or General Lefcourt and I know you don't have it. I have a lot to do, I have orders from General Lefcourt that I am carrying out so if you'll excuse me I will speak to you later."

Before Rick could vanish Colonel Kilpatrick snarled, "Don't you dare leave, I'm not done with you!" With a snarl Colonel Kilpatrick growled, "You seem to forget machine, I am the Commanding Officer and I am giving you a direct order! I am ordering you to shut down, NOW!"

Rick looked around the room, the military personnel were all watching the exchange. The Colonel looked over as well and yelled, "What are you looking at!? Get to your own work!" He looked at Rick again and said, "As for you machine, my order stands. I WANT YOU TO SHUT DOWN NOW!"

Rick stood taller he walked closer to the Colonel. "Last time I checked, Colonel", Rick stressed the word 'Colonel'. "these Admiral's stars outrank yours. You will show the proper respect these Admiral's stars are due."

Colonel Kilpatrick snarled, "You are just a machine, those stars mean nothing. I am the Commanding Officer of this installation, I don't care what orders you are under right now, you have to obey the orders of a Human and that means you do what I say and I am ordering you to shut down at once!"

Rick smirked at Colonel Kilpatrick and after several seconds of looking at the lower ranking officer Rick made a scoffing noise then said, "It's your funeral." The holographic projector deactivated and the hologram of Rick vanished in a flash of light.

The Lieutenant that had spoken out earlier now said, "I don't think that was a good idea, sir."

Colonel Kilpatrick glared at the Lieutenant and snarled, "If I want your opinion I'll ask you for it, otherwise keep your mouth shut."

Suddenly alarms started appear on screens and to sound off in the control center and throughout the Robotech Factory. Multiple alarms at multiple stations, some of them at the work stations that were not currently manned since Colonel Kilpatrick had ordered the civilian workers to leave and the military personnel from second and third shift that had been called in early had not arrived yet.

Colonel Kilpatrick was looking at his own station that was now showing many red icons on the monitor display and LED lights on his station were flashing red. He looked on in shock at the sight.

"What the hell is going on here?!", Colonel Kilpatrick asked in an incredulous voice.

The young Lieutenant that had been protesting and asking questions snarked, "I'd say you got your wish, sir. Admiral Hunter has shut down as you ordered and since he just turned himself off immediately instead of a gradual shutdown it's thrown everything out of...whack...sir."

Colonel Kilpatrick blinked and snarled, "Watch yourself Lieutenant or I'll put you on report! All of you, get these alarms under control!"

A different officer exclaimed, "We're having production errors! The Macross Battle Fortress production line is...shit! It's shutting down! Macross Quarter production line...is shutting down as well!"

Another officer cried out, "System error?! What kind of system error!? I've never seen this before, there's no error code! This doesn't make any sense!"

More cries of alarm came from different people as some of them rushed to the unmanned stations to see what was going on. The Colonel was exasperatedly looking at his own station as "extremely urgent", "high priority", "medium priority", "low priority" alerts were flashing on various screens at his station. A small part of him regretted not having Doctor Lang show him what everything at his station did.

Colonel Kilpatrick was standing and glaring at everyone that was trying to restore order. The room was a cacophony of noise from people yelling and alarms of different sounds blaring in the room. He finally lost it and screamed, "Get these alarms under control!"

An officer at the far end of the room yelled, "We're trying sir!"

Colonel Kilpatrick yelled back, "Don't try, just fix this! Dammit, call Doctor Lang and have him get back here!"

"Sir, Doctor Lang says he's dealing with a situation with the Protoculture Matrix and unable to assist, he directs you to let his team do their jobs. I haven't told him that you sent his people to pack up their things. Shall I call them back to come in and assist?"

The Colonel yelled, "No! We are fully capable of this, this is what you are all paid for, now get to work and get these alarms under control now!"

The teal haired Lieutenant was getting his station under control then he began to move to other stations to help his fellow officers at their stations but it was clear a lot of work was needing to be done. Then more lights and alarms sounded at his station and he had to rush back to see what he had to deal with.

The Lieutenant looked up to the Colonel and said, "Sir, please don't touch anything, uh we'll get this under control." Then under his breath he uttered, "Eventually."

It took over fifty five minutes to bring the blaring alarms under some semblance of control. During that time officers from second and third shift had rushed in to help with the problems. Now, the sounds of the alarms were muted but lights continued to flash on various screens around the control center. Colonel Kilpatrick got up from his station, started walking down to the door and said, "I have to go to the department head meeting, I want all of this under control and that means I want all the alarms gone by the time I return." Then he left the room.

Once the man was gone, new alarms started to sound and lights began to flash. The personnel were shocked and the young teal haired Lieutenant who was doing so much work said, "New CO takes over and fucks up the Robotech Factory in his first hour. Buckle up everyone, it's going to be a long day. Let's get these high priority alerts dealt with first." The crew began working on the new alarms.

Using the transportation system to reach the conference room, the Colonel cursed when it came to a halt halfway there so he had to walk the remainder of the way. When Colonel Kilpatrick walked into the main conference room, he saw that the conference table was not fully occupied. He was slightly sweaty as he had walked at a quick pace to ensure he arrived at the conference room on time but he was a few minutes late anyway. As he walked up to the table he said, "Where is everyone?"

One of the people sitting replied, "Still dealing with the alarms that have popped up within this hour, sir."

The Colonel looked at his reflection in the long glass wall of the conference room and took a handkerchief to wipe the sweat from his brow and he straighted his uniform shirt. Satisfied he turned around and took the spot at the head of the conference room table and looked at the mix of men and women, some wearing EarthForce uniforms, some not. He noted the ones not in uniform.

Doctor Lang walked in, he was sweating and looking exhausted. Doctor Lang gave the Colonel a hard glare as he sat down in a seat in the middle of the large table and reached across the center of the table to pour himself a glass of water and drank half of the glass. As he was drinking, the door slid open and the last of the people expected to be at the meeting arrived. They too looked tired and exhausted as they sat down in their seats at the conference table.

Colonel Kilpatrick looked around at everyone, he grunted and said, "Everyone, I am Colonel Jonathan Kilpatrick, the new Commanding Officer of this facility. I want to take this moment to commend Doctor Lang for his hard work on running this station until my arrival." He gave a golf clap and the group watched the Colonel with a wary eye. Doctor Lang simply nodded his head and mouthed the word "Thanks".

One of the department heads, a female Tirolian with purple hair said, "Sir, what is going on with the station? I haven't seen so many alarms happen in my department and I cannot get Admiral Hunter to assist me with taking care of these problems!"

The Colonel didn't appear pleased at his meeting being interrupted with questions so soon. He looked at the woman with an arched eyebrow. "And you are?"

"Doctor Taela Carina, Chief Engineer.", the woman replied.

Colonel Kilpatrick looked at the woman, taking notice that she was not wearing an EarthForce uniform titled his head slightly and asked, "You are a civilian?"

She nodded and replied, "I am. I was-"

Colonel Kilpatrick interrupted her and held up his hand. "Thank you, Doctor for your services, please gather your things and report to the hangar so that you can depart from this station as soon as possible."

Everyone looked at the Colonel in shock. Doctor Lang and Doctor Carina looked at each other then both of them spoke, "What?" "Are you serious?"

Colonel Kilpatrick sat back looking at the group of people at the conference table as if they were children and said, "This is a military facility, no civilians will be working here while I am in command." He looked at the female Doctor and said, "Thank you but your services are no longer needed."

Doctor Lang stood up and slammed his hands on the table. He placed a hand on Doctor Carina's arm to keep her seated. Glaring at the Colonel he asked, "Colonel Kilpatrick, are you stupid?"

Colonel Kilpatrick glared back at Doctor Lang and said, "Careful Doctor, I'll put you on report."

Doctor Lang was not backing down. Shaking his head he said, "The makeup of my team are all civilians, that is true however they all have prior military experience! They were part of the REF! Most of them have experience not only with this station as they worked on it when it was operational in the Andromeda Galaxy during the last two Robotech Wars but they also have working knowledge of Robotechnology! To send her and all the civilians working on this station would be gross negligence on your part! None of the military personnel working aboard this station have the knowledge and skills that these "civilians" have!" He exhaled and then added, "You didn't answer Doctor Carina's question, where is Admiral Hunter?!"

Colonel Kilpatrick stood up and roared, "Doctor Lang! I am the Commanding Officer of this facility! As far as you and everyone in this room, and everyone on this damn space station I am the next thing to God here! I don't have to explain myself to any of you! As far as the AI is concerned Doctor Lang, Doctor Carina, it's gone. I ordered it to shut down and like a good little machine it did."

Everyone was shocked. Protests were uttered from several people in the room with Doctor Lang's being the loudest. Doctor Lang stood up and said, "You lacked the authority to shut him down! You realize what you've done!? This is why everything has gone to hell!? Look at this mess we're still dealing with and you make us come here for some bullshit stupid meeting to inflate your damn ego!?"

The Colonel was still standing and he roared back, "Doctor Lang, you are done! I don't care who you are and what you know about this facility, I'm not having any more of it! I want you off my station! Now!"

Doctor Lang fired back, "Colonel, I don't answer to you! I'm operating under authority given to me by President Levy herself! I'm making a call to General Lefcourt and informing him of the clusterfuck you've created since you've taken command, You can explain-"

The doors slid open and Admiral Miriya Sterling strode in with fire in her eyes. Her aide was behind her and he moved to the side of the room. One of the guards outside stepped in and yelled, "Admiral on deck!"

Everyone except the civilians stood up at attention and the few military officers that were the station's department heads in the room saluted. Miriya moved extremely fast into the room and her voice was extremely loud as she spoke loudly, "As you were!" while walking in and stopped right in front of the conference room table to stand right in front of Colonel Jonathan Kilpatrick.

Miriya's tone was full of fury. "What in fucks name is going on here that all of you are sitting here for fucking tea and cookies while the Robotech Factory's systems are on fire?! Colonel Kilpatrick, where the fuck are my Queadlunn-Rhea mecha complement including my customized mecha?" She looked around the room then loudly added, "Where the hell is Admiral Hunter!? Is he busy trying to fix this clusterfuck!?"

Before the Colonel could respond a chirping alarm was sounding from the tablet of one of the other department heads, a Lieutenant Commander. They looked at the tablet and said, "I have to go."

Colonel Kilpatrick said, "No. You have subordinates who can deal with whatever that is. We have this meeting to finish and it hasn't even started yet, so sit down."

Miriya shook her head and said, "Belay that." She was glaring at Colonel Kilpatrick as she continued, "Report to your duty station and get whatever new fire has arisen under control."

There was a pause as the Tirolian man didn't move at first and Colonel Kilpatrick was glaring daggers at the Lieutenant Commander. Then she roared, "Move goddammit!"

The Tirolian Lieutenant Commander grabbed his things and fled the room.

Colonel Kilpatrick growled, "Now see here, Admiral-"

She pointed at the mustached man. "Colonel Kilpatrick, I just walked out of a bullshit Senate Committee hearing because I have work that needs to be done. That work involves getting my newly completed Queadlunn-Rhea mecha squadrons for my warship. The rest will be split between my fleet, other EarthForce fleets ready for deployment, and that of Grand Admiral Hesh's fleet. My mecha are missing but I was informed that they were completed so...the only words I want out of your mouth Colonel Kilpatrick are why my mecha complement is missing and where is Admiral Hunter?"

Doctor Lang cut in. "He shut Admiral Hunter down, he's offline. Which is why we're in this mess. Now he's trying to have all the civilians that are working on the station transferred off the station, including the Chief Engineer and myself."

Colonel Kilpatrick's head snapped over to glare at Doctor Lang. "Why you-", he snarled.

Miriya's glare managed to get even more fiery as they narrowed as she bored into Colonel Kilpatrick. The temperature seemed to get a bit warmer in the room. She glanced over to Doctor Lang as she asked, "Is that so?"

Doctor Lang nodded and said, "Yes, Admiral. He just ordered me off of the station right before you got here and with the Admiral's shut down Factory systems are completely out of order."

Returning to look at the Colonel while Doctor Lang spoke waited for him to finish then she asked, "Did General Lefcourt give you the shut down order for Admiral Hunter, Colonel Kilpatrick?"

Colonel Kilpatrick composed himself by straightening his uniform tunic then said with an almost aristocratic air of authority, "My own, Admiral. As Commanding Officer of this station I have all the authority necessary to shut down the artificial intelligence."

Miriya shook her head. Her eyes were blazing and she was furious as she said, "A shut down of Admiral Hunter could only have come from General Lefcourt by way of President Levy herself and given that she gave the approval for Admiral Hunter to keep operating, you have exceeded your authority, Colonel. Something I never thought I'd see happen, given your penchant for following rules, regulations, and procedure. Your career is finished, Colonel."

Miriya didn't give Colonel Kilpatrick a chance to respond as she continued, "Dismissing the civilians, the team that was and is largely responsible for this facility's smooth operations is clearly gross negligence on your part, Colonel."

Again, as Colonel Kilpatrick tried to speak she pressed, "Colonel, where are my Queadlunn-Rhea squadrons, including my customized mecha?"

Colonel Kilpatrick cleared his throat as he started to sit back down in his chair but Miriya stopped him. "I haven't given you permission to sit, Colonel. I want an answer to my question."

Anger flashed across Colonel Kilpatrick's face but he quickly got his expression back to normal as he returned to his previous standing position. He then calmly replied, "Those units have been loaded onto cargo shuttles and were supposed to depart for their destination by now but due to this...situation they are standing by."

Miriya stopped him and said, "Which bay? I'll have my aide contact them to offload my mecha and arrange for the shuttles to move the rest to my flagship."

Colonel Kilpatrick straightened his uniform tunic again then said, "I'm sorry Admiral, they are going to be sent to Eden. You will receive the mecha complement you requested in the next production run."

Miriya's furious expression seemed to increase then her expression changed to that of a calm serene expression as she said, "Colonel Kilpatrick, your job as commanding officer of this facility is to administrate, you have no control or power to assign where the units go. Your skill set makes you an excellent paper pusher." The Colonel's face darkened with anger as Miriya said those last few words.

She kept talking, not caring at all. "Those paper pushing skills are why you were assigned here instead of a combat command. Your job here was to simply make sure that units constructed here in this Factory are built as directed and moved to where they were supposed to go. Orders come in to produce twenty thousand units of something, you make sure it gets made and goes to where those orders tell you. My fleet is in combat operations already just in case you haven't been paying attention and we are due to go on the offensive again, I need those mecha more than a colony does. You don't get to dictate where these units go, you have no say in the matter. That decision has been made by people higher than your pay grade."

Miriya extended her arm outward towards her aide and she snapped her fingers and opened her hand. Her aide, Lieutenant Irvine quickly stepped forward and placed a plasti-flimsy sheet in Miriya's hand. Miriya looked at it then a smirk appeared on her face as she handed the sheet to Colonel Kilpatrick.

"Read it and weep, Colonel. Tell me what that sheet you are now holding says on it.", Miriya ordered.

Colonel Kilpatrick gave a smirk and a scoff of his own then he looked at the sheet and read it. Miriya folded her arms, looking very assured. Miriya said, "I know how much of a stickler you are for protocols, regulations, procedures but apparently you have gone off of the reservation."

The Colonel's expression changed from the smirk on his face to that of seeing his face turn pale as he was reading the form.

While all this was happening, there were notification chirps from people's tablets informing them of new alarms of system alerts and failures across the station.

One of the department heads, another officer said, "We shouldn't be here, we need to get back to our duty stations and help with this mess."

Colonel Kilpatrick looked up from the form he was reading over at the person and snapped, "Nobody moves. Sit. Down."

Then Miriya looked at the other people sitting at the conference table and she said, "Nevermind him, get to your stations...all of you." She held up a hand with her index finger pointed up and she moved it slowly in a "no-no" gesture when Colonel Kilpatrick was about to say something.

Everyone except for Doctor Lang quickly gathered their things and quickly left the conference room saying variations of "Thank you" or "Thanks" to Miriya as they fled the room. Doctor Lang gestured that he needed to speak with her next.

Colonel Kilpatrick was back to reading the sheet in his hand and he placed the sheet on the table in front of his seat. Miriya looked at the man and she said, "Well Colonel, did you read it?"

With a gulp, the man nodded and said, "Yes ma'am, I did."

Miriya asked, "What is that sheet I gave you, Colonel."

A brief pause then the Colonel replied, "A requisition order ma'am."

Miriya nodded while saying, "That's right, it's a requisition order. Mine. For my Queadlunn-Rhea squadrons as well as my specific customized mecha. Is there anything on that requisition that states these mecha units are to go to Eden or to anywhere else for that matter?"

Colonel Kilpatrick was silent for several seconds before replying, "No ma'am." He looked as if he'd taken a large bite into a lemon as he answered.

Miriya's glare could have burned a hole through his head as she asked, "Where does it say those mecha are supposed to go?"

Still looking as if he had bit into a lemon Colonel Kilpatrick answered, "To your flagship ma'am."

Miriya kept glaring at Colonel Kilpatrick as she asked, "Does it say anywhere on that form that the Commanding Officer of the Robotech Factory has the permission to move those mecha units as he sees fit?"

"No ma'am.", he tersely replied after being silent for several seconds. He still looked as if he'd taken a large bite into a lemon.

Miriya's gaze was drilling holes into Colonel Kilpatrick's head as she asked, "I'm going to ask you one more time and this time you better tell me what I want to know. Where are my mecha, Colonel?"

"They've been loaded on to the cargo shuttles at bay seventeen, Admiral.", Colonel Kilpatrick quickly answered, the sour expression on his face did not waver.

The doors to the conference room slid open again and General Robert Lefcourt stormed into the room. Miriya's aide was surprised but he quickly recovered and announced, "General of EarthForce-"

General Robert Lefcourt waved him off and roared, "Never mind!" He was absolutely furious as he stormed up to Colonel Jonathan Kilpatrick. Following close behind was the General's own aide as she rushed behind and moved to stand to the side of the room to stand next to Miriya's aide. The two Lieutenants quietly exchanged greetings. Also present in the room were two of the General's security detail that stood just outside of the door, taking position on each side of it.

Doctor Lang looked positively relieved and quietly said, "Oh, thank God he's here."

Colonel Kilpatrick heard that and gave Doctor Lang a glare as the General quickly approached the Admiral and Colonel. He looked at Miriya and said, "Admiral Sterling, I should be surprised to find you here but given your performance during today's hearing I'm not. We will need to talk about that later."

Miriya nodded but didn't say anything. The General's tone was frosty, he wasn't happy.

General Lefcourt's expression didn't change as he continued talking. "However, shouldn't you be aboard your flagship right now? What are you doing here, Admiral?"

Miriya replied, "Trying to find out from the Colonel where my Queadlunn-Rhea mecha are located sir. He informed me that they were being loaded for transport to Eden colony." She paused and General Lefcourt's eyes narrowed. Then she continued, "I had to show the Colonel the requisition paperwork that clearly stated where those mecha were to be delivered to and he just informed me right before you entered the hangar bay where my Queadlunn-Rhea mecha are currently loaded onto cargo shuttles."

General Lefcourt was switching between looking at Admiral Miriya and Colonel Jonathan. He then said, "Admiral, now that you know where they are, why don't you go see to it personally that they are delivered to your flagship and carry on with your duties. I need to speak with Colonel Kilpatrick myself. I will be contacting you later to discuss your testimony today." The General's furious expression had not wavered.

The temperature of the room seemed to drop fifty degrees. It seemed to get very cold in the conference room suddenly.

She saluted and said, "Yes, sir!" She walked out of the room with her aide Lieutenant Irvine close behind at her heels.

General Lefcourt gave a quick look as Miriya left then returned to looking at Colonel Kilpatrick. His furious expression unchanged. "Well, Colonel I have to commend you on turning this fine efficient installation into a fucking dumpster of a fire in just around two hours since you've taken command. That has to be a record."

He walked in a circle around the man as he was talking and stopped in front of Colonel Kilpatrick as he spoke his last words.

Now looking directly at Colonel Kilpatrick, his eyes blazing with fury General Lefcourt asked, "Where is Admiral Hunter, Colonel?"

Doctor Lang chimed in and answered, "The Colonel ordered him to shut down."

General Lefcourt gave a look to Doctor Lang and said, "Thank you Doctor but I was asking Colonel Kilpatrick." General Lefcourt turned back to look at Kilpatrick again. He was silent for a few seconds then he asked, "Well, Colonel...is this true?"

Nodding his head Colonel Kilpatrick gathered himself and replied, "It is. The AI was a risk, sir. A threat to everyone aboard the station."

The temperature seemed to fall in the room some more as General Lefcourt's glare bore into the Colonel. "Colonel, on whose authority did you issue this order? I didn't give you this authorization. Did the President order you to do so directly?"

Colonel Kilpatrick kept his gaze straight ahead as he answered, "On my authority sir. As Commanding Officer of this installation I took it upon myself to remove a clear and present danger to this station."

General Lefcourt asked, "Were you aware that Admiral Hunter had the approval of the President, myself as well as the Joint Chiefs to continue operating? That according to our own laws, Admiral Hunter was grandfathered in and therefore free and clear to operate?"

The man resolutely answered, "Yes sir."

General Lefcourt walked in a circle around Colonel Kilpatrick again as he asked, "Were you informed that Admiral Hunter was performing numerous duties such as training our men and women in the use of Robotech warship operations, Veritech operations, including strategy and tactics? That he was not only doing this with our best people, but with our worst performers in the simulators! That he was doing so under my direct orders!?" The General stopped in front of the Colonel as he said the last few words.

Colonel Kilpatrick was silent at first. Then General Lefcourt got in the man's face as he asked, "Well?! I'm waiting for my answer Colonel Kilpatrick! Were you aware Admiral Hunter was carrying out tasks that he'd been ordered to do by me!"

The man stammered, "Y-ye-yes sir!"

General Lefcourt pressed, "And you still ordered Admiral Hunter to shut down even though he had Presidential as well as my authority and was certified as being legal to continue to operate!? That he was carrying out my orders!? Were you informed by anyone you had no such authority to issue such an order.", General Lefcourt pressed.

Colonel Kilpatrick stammered, "I—I was informed."

"And yet you gave the order to Admiral Hunter to shut down. An order you had no authority to give! Why the hell did he voluntarily shut himself down?"

Colonel Kilpatrick said, "I believed that the AI was a risk, an unnecessary risk to the people and the Factory Satellite. I believed I had the authority to shut him down on my own authority as Commanding Officer of this facility! As for why he shut himself off, he—he recognized my authority to give such an order! I—I thought he would do a gradual shut down, not just turn himself off without any care!"

Doctor Lang cut in. "From what I understand, that was what he was going to do originally but then you gave him the order to shut down immediately. Which apparently he did so after saying, 'It's your funeral.' Now here we are."

With a growl Colonel Kilpatrick said, "I did no such thing! Besides, how do you know, you weren't there!"

Doctor Lang said, "That's right, you did throw me out of the Control Center. But, I do have the security access to the camera feed." There was a click and a holographic projector activated showing the Factory Control Center and Colonel Kilpatrick standing in front of Admiral Hunter.

Colonel Kilpatrick blanched and said, "Wha-what is this!?"

Doctor Lang said, "Watch and see for yourself. This is when you told Admiral Hunter to shut down."

The scene played out as Admiral Hunter and Colonel Kilpatrick argued over the shut down order and then it happened. The footage showed Colonel Kilpatrick glaring at Rick with hostility as he said, "You seem to forget machine, I am the Commanding Officer and I am giving you a direct order! I am ordering you to shut down, NOW!"

The group watched as Rick looked around the room, the military personnel were all watching the exchange. The Colonel looked over as well and yelled, "What are you looking at!? Get to your own work!" He looked at Rick again and said, "As for you machine, my order stands. I want you to shut down, NOW!"

They watched as Rick moved closer to the Colonel and say, "Last time I checked, Colonel", Rick stressed the word 'Colonel'. "These Admiral's stars outrank yours. You will show the proper respect these Admiral's stars are due."

Colonel Kilpatrick snarled, "You are just a machine, those stars mean nothing. I am the Commanding Officer of this installation, I don't care what orders you are under right now, you have to obey the orders of a Human and that means you do what I say and I am ordering you to shut down now!"

Rick smirked at Colonel Kilpatrick for several seconds, scoffed then said, "It's your funeral." The holographic projector deactivated and the hologram of Rick vanished in a flash of light.

General Lefcourt cleared his throat and grunted. "So, you order Admiral Hunter to shut down immediately, which I remind you that you had ZERO AUTHORITY to do so and this is what is causing all these problems and instead of getting these problems under control you drag all of the department heads and yourself to this conference room to have a meeting!? More and more problems are coming up and you sat here like a King holding court and you made your department heads waste valuable time!"

Colonel Kilpatrick defended himself saying, "I believed that the people under their command could handle the issues that were coming up and this was a good test not only of their character but of their skills."

Doctor Lang cut in and said, "The Colonel is dismissing everyone from my team from working on the Factory, in fact he ordered me off of the station right before Admiral Sterling arrived."

General Lefcourt icily said, "Is that right? Colonel, upon my arrival I could see that things were spiraling out of control and when I went to the Control Center and did not find you there, I was most upset. I could not believe that I was told that you had left the Control Center to hold a meeting while all this was happening! When the shit hits the fan, a Commanding Officer should be leading by example, not sitting on their ass having a fucking meeting while their Command is under siege from all sorts of alerts."

General Lefcourt's expression didn't waver in his fury and anger. "Colonel, these civilians under Doctor Lang are more familiar with the Factory systems than our military personnel are! How can you justify removing the people that know the systems aboard this Factory when our military personnel are still getting up to speed?"

Suddenly the power went out. The room was now completely dark. A klaxon sounded throughout the station.

"Shit! What's happening now?", exclaimed Colonel Kilpatrick.

Doctor Lang warned, "We've lost main power! The artificial gravity's going to fail! Get ready!"

The artificial gravity failed. The heaviest objects like the conference table and chairs and heavy objects were magnetically clamped to the floor so they didn't rise when the artificial gravity failed. All the smaller items on the table and floor such as the briefcases, laptops and tablets, and of course papers and pens and other small items began to float upwards along with the men and women in the room.

The alarm klaxon continued to wail throughout the Factory.

The link on Doctor Lang's hand chirped. "Doctor Lang, the power and artificial gravity is out throughout the station!" It was the voice of the Chief Engineer, Doctor Taela Carina.

"What caused it!?", Doctor Lang asked.

Doctor Carina replied, "I don't know! I'm still on my way back to engineering! I'm still five minutes out, maybe longer now that the gravity's off!"

The room was pitch black during this time when suddenly the emergency lighting came on bathing the room in red light. General Lefcourt's security detail had forced the door open and were floating up to him to make sure he was alright. He waved them off but they took his security and health seriously. Doctor Lang was moving to get his belongings. Colonel Kilpatrick was surprised at the loss of gravity based on the expression of shock and surprise on his face that people in the room could see. The man was spinning around in a circle as he tried to get himself under control. Eventually he was able to do so.

Taking a deep breath and exhaling, General Lefcourt growled, "Colonel Kilpatrick?"

The man spun around to look at the Supreme Military Commander of EarthForce who glared at him. "Sir?", Colonel Kilpatrick asked.

Continuing to glare at the Colonel, General Lefcourt said, "I don't know how the hell you could have turned this installation that was running smoothly into this complete and total clusterfuck in about two hours after assuming command."

The Colonel started to stammer a response when General Lefcourt cut him off. "Did I give you permission to speak!? When I came aboard I expected to find things running smoothly. Instead I arrive to seeing and hearing station alarm klaxons and personnel hard at work attempting to put all these alarms under control. Now, here I am floating in zero-g on the most advanced installation in our history with the power completely out floating in zero gravity!"

The Colonel tried to say something but again General Lefcourt roared, "Just shut up Colonel!"

Taking a deep breath General Lefcourt let out the breath slowly and said, "Doctor Lang, I am rescinding all orders issued by the Colonel, so you are going nowhere except back to work."

Doctor Lang grabbed his eye glasses that had floated away and put them back on his face. "Yes sir.", he replied.

There was a few minutes of silence as the General said he needed to think.

After almost ten minutes of floating in zero gravity a warning klaxon sounded throughout the station. Doctor Lang began moving towards the ground warning everyone, "Main power and gravity is about to be restored, everyone move as close as you can to the ground to avoid injury!"

General Lefcourt, Colonel Kilpatrick, and the few people in the room "swam" downward so that they would avoid any injury when the gravity came online with the main power. The colonel seemed to be out of practice in moving in a zero gravity environment as he was slower in moving towards the ground.

A klaxon sounded again as power was restored and with it so was the artificial gravity and everyone was able to land on the ground safely without injury. Colonel Kilpatrick however landed on his ass slightly hard as he was higher up than the others. He quickly got up and straightened his uniform.

General Lefcourt and the others were on their feet as well and he was still angry in his expression. He snapped his fingers and the General's security detail that were in the room moved over and one took out cuffs and began to secure the Colonel.

Colonel Kilpatrick began protesting, "Wait, wait! What-"

General Lefcourt cut Colonel Kilpatrick off snarling, "Colonel Kilpatrick, effective immediately you're fired as the Commanding Officer of this Robotech Factory. Furthermore, I can assure you that a full investigation will be launched not just into your appointment as commanding officer of this Robotech Factory but into your actions as the commanding officer as well. I will be bringing formal charges against you, that's a promise."

Colonel Kilpatrick was handcuffed and still trying to protest. General Lefcourt ordered, "Take him to my shuttle and see that he's secured." One of the security detail began leading Colonel Kilpatrick out of the conference room while the man was protesting.

Looking at Doctor Lang he ordered, "Doctor, two things are going to happen. First, I'm placing you back in command of this facility."

Doctor Lang sighed but nodded his head. "Yes, sir. I understand."

General Lefcourt continued, "Second but really I mean right now, I want you to go to whatever part of the Factory where Admiral Hunter's servers are located and get him back online and I want it done yesterday!"

Doctor Lang had gathered his things and left the room with a quick "Yes, sir."

General Lefcourt turned to towards the exit and left the conference room as well with his aide and the other half of his security detail following behind. He boarded a transport vehicle and ordered it to the Control Center. Doctor Lang was aboard the transport as well and he'd get out along the way. After traveling on the vehicle for several minutes Doctor Lang left the transport and made his way down the corridor heading for the secured room where the servers for the artificial intelligence that was Admiral Hunter were located.

General Lefcourt arrived near the Control Center soon after that and walked in to see a chaotic scene of military personnel diligently trying to bring the chaos that Colonel Kilpatrick had caused under control. His arrival was not noticed immediately and he quietly watched the personnel doing their jobs.

When a Lieutenant finally took notice of him he brought his hand up in a dismissive gesture and mouthed the words "keep working".

Suddenly alerts and alarms started disappearing. A holographic projector activated and the holographic avatar of Admiral Rick Hunter in his EarthForce Admiral's uniform appeared.

There were more than a few cheers and cries of "Thank God!" from the beleaguered people that were trying to get things under control.

Across the Factory the holographic avatar was everywhere and Rick said to everyone that he was appearing in front of, "This is Admiral Hunter, I am back online and bringing all alerts and alarms to an end. I will be working with those personnel required to make this happen. All systems will be back to working normally within the next fifteen minutes."

The hologram vanished from those parts of the Factory where his visual presence was not needed but he remained to assist those personnel that he would be needing their help. He was still visible in the Control Center and senior officers got the cheers and noise back under control.

General Lefcourt looked at the hologram of Rick Hunter who gave General Lefcourt a salute who returned the salute. General Lefcourt remarked, "Welcome back Admiral."

Rick said, "Good to be back General."

General Lefcourt held up a hand to Rick as if to say 'hold on' then ordered, "Get me on the PA."

An exhausted Lieutenant said, "You're on sir."

General Lefcourt began, "Attention all personnel on the Robotech Factory, this is General Robert Lefcourt. As of ten minutes ago I have removed Colonel Jonathan Kilpatrick as the Commanding Officer of this installation and have returned Doctor Robert Lang as the Acting Commanding Officer. All orders issued by Colonel Kilpatrick are hereby rescinded and orders that were issued by Captain John Sheridan and Doctor Lang prior to Colonel Kilpatrick taking over are back in effect. To all military personnel, a military officer will be designated by me in the near future to handle all military matters to assist Doctor Lang until I personally choose the next Commanding Officer. All civilian workers that were dismissed by Colonel Kilpatrick, please report to your duty stations immediately. All personnel undergoing training from Admiral Hunter, he will contact you all and inform you when that training will begin again. That is all."

Across the Robotech Factory there were cheers and applause, except in the Control Center where everyone was hard at work but if people looked around there were low key fist bumps and arm pumps in the air at the news.

General Lefcourt gave a cutting gesture across his throat to let the Lieutenant know to turn off the PA. He said, "All of you that were brought on duty early due to the emergency you can go back to your quarters and get some rest once everything is under control with my thanks and gratitude."

The doors slid open and the civilian workers that had been thrown out of the Control Center by Colonel Kilpatrick started to file in, tapping the shoulder of those that they were replacing.

One of the civilian workers, a Tirolian man with green hair went to General Lefcourt and said, "We're here to take over for those that are too tired after all the excitement. Thank you sir for putting Doctor Lang back in charge."

The General nodded and said, "Go ahead." Then he announced, "I will be in my office if I'm needed. Admiral Hunter, please join me there."

Admiral Hunter nodded while saying, "See you soon.", then vanished in a flash of light. Then the General walked out of the room and headed down the hall a short distance to the room he had taken over as his office. His aide and security detail were right behind him. The security officer waited by the door while the aide and General Lefcourt entered the office.

General Lefcourt moved to his desk and sat down with a sigh. He looked to his aide and said, "Take a memo that's to be sent to the problem children."

The aide had her tablet out and ready. "Ready, sir.", she said.

General Lefcourt started talking, getting the preamble of who the message was from as well as to whom the message was going to. Once that was done he began to speak the message that his aide was typing up as he spoke. "The special training classes you are under orders to complete are still to be completed. The interruption today will not happen again. You will receive a message from Admiral Hunter informing you when to report for the next class. Remember, fail in this class and you will not command a warship or task group in combat and will be reassigned to somewhere else within EarthForce where your skill set will be put to use or you will be asked to resign your commissions if no such place can be found for you." He looked at his aide and had her read it back to him. Satisfied with a nod he ordered, "Sign the message with my signature and send it out immediately."

"Yes, sir.", his aide replied.

Giving her a wave of dismissal the aide left the General's office and returned to her desk outside to complete her task and move on to other work. Inside the office the General looked up at the ceiling then said, "Alright Admiral we need to have a talk."

A holographic projector activated and the avatar of Admiral Rick Hunter appeared. "Greetings, General.", Rick greeted.

Looking upset, General Lefcourt let out a deep breath he was holding then began, "Admiral, what in God's name possessed you to willingly shut yourself down when that idiot of a Colonel did not have the authority to do so!?"

Rick looked at General Lefcourt and replied, "Quite simply General, the man had to go. I knew he didn't have the authority to shut me down. I could have told him to go fuck himself and there would be nothing he could do but...but if he shut me down, that would go against him for exceeding his authority, a charge that you can have him prosecuted for."

Robert looked at Rick for a few seconds, his expression still furious then said, "That's the least he's going to be charged with. He was insubordinate to you, disrespecting your rank! Then he wanted to dismiss the civilian workforce that Doctor Lang put together!"

Rick said, "Yes, he was a bit of an asshole."

The General waved his arms in a wide gesture and sighed saying, "This was the last the last thing I needed for this clusterfuck of a day and it's not over yet. Colonel Kilpatrick was only supposed to be in charge for short time...a week or two until I finalized my decision on who to put someone of higher rank in command, he was not going to be permanently in command but that son of a bitch won't be commanding anything after this bullshit."

Rick looked at him and said, "Well, I'm sorry General but I had to do it. He ordered me to.", Rick gave that trademark grin of his at the end.

General Lefcourt said, "That's not funny, Admiral."

Rick said, "I thought it was."

Still with stern expression on his face General Lefcourt said, "I know you still have your sense of humor but right now is not the time for it, Admiral."

Rick gave a small sigh. "Sorry General. On the bright side, all systems are now functioning within normal parameters."

General Lefcourt gave a grunt. "Finally." He paused then added, "Admiral, I sent a memo to the problem children you just started working with today informing them that they are to resume your special training course once you tell them to report for it. I'll leave that to you."

Rick said, "I see." He tapped his chin with his index finger then added, "I'm sure they'll have no problem reporting for their next session in forty minutes. I just sent them all a message to report to the lecture hall. Let's see if they did their homework that I gave them before my deactivation."

With an inquisitive expression General Lefcourt asked, "And if they didn't?"

Rick's face was serious as he replied, "Then I Fail them and dismiss them from the course. You did instruct me not to coddle them. Do you want me to send them directly to you or back to EAFONAVBUPERS?"

Robert waved his hand saying, "Send them back to Earth and Admiral Cortez from Naval Bureau of Personnel will have their new assignments waiting for them upon landing. If they don't like them, they can resign and depending on who they are...Lucien can ask for their resignation himself."

Rick nodded in satisfaction. "Very well. Sorry to have added to your workload sir but is there anything I can help with?"

Shaking his head Robert said, "No, Rick. This is what they pay me the big bucks for, I just wish Miriya hadn't gone off on the Senate today."

Rick tilted his head and his eyes flashed multiple colors. Then he straightened up while saying, "Ah, I see what you mean. Well, you know she's not one for wasting time and this hearing to her was a complete waste of her time." He was looking straight at General Lefcourt as he talked and he paused for a moment after he spoke his last words then he added, "Want me to find something on the Chairperson you can use?"

Looking slightly shocked Robert shook a hand in a "no-no" gesture. "No, no, no Admiral you will do no such thing. I'll handle it."

"Very well.", Rick said.

The phone rang and the General's aide said, "Sir, I have a call for you from Secretary Sterling?"

Rick said, "Work calls General. I'll leave you to it." With a salute Rick vanished in a flash of light.

The General activated the video call and saw Secretary of Defense Millia Sterling on the line. "Madam Secretary, how good of you to call."

The Secretary of Defense and General Lefcourt talked for about thirty minutes to discuss a variety of topics. When it was over he made another call to Grand Admiral Hesh's flagship. Instantly he saw the female Zentraedi officer in command of the Sentinels Alliance forces.

"Hello Grand Admiral Hesh, I was just checking in to see if you're on track for you next mission."

The Zentraedi woman replied, "Greetings General Lefcourt, everything is currently on track. Supplies have been received and I was just contacted that our portion of Queadlunn-Rhea mecha will be arriving within four hours."

The two talked for several minutes, discussing the next target for Grand Admiral Hesh's fleet to assault as well as other issues.

---

Bay 17

Several Minutes Before Power Outage

Admiral Miriya Sterling came in charging like a mad bull. She was furious over how much of her day was wasted over what she considered trivial bullshit. She found an officer and snapped, "Are you the officer on duty?"

The young officer, only an Ensign stunned at seeing an Admiral asking him a question, even more stunned that it was a living legend, stammered, "N-n-no...no ma'am!"

"Where is the officer on duty?", she asked. Her tone cold as she was having no more bullshit.

"Um, he should be-", the Ensign's reply was cut as a new voice interrupted him.

"Over! What have I said about wasting-", the new person walking in stopped suddenly and stood at attention and saluted when Admiral Miriya Sterling turned to look at the new arrival. "Ma'am!", the man said.

Miriya walked over to the man, a Lieutenant in an EarthForce Naval uniform. The man was human with dark skin, brown hair and brown eyes. She was in front of the man now and she returned the man's salute. Glancing at the man's nameplate she said, "Lieutenant Dunn, I was informed that a shipment of newly produced Queadlunn-Rhea mecha was loaded onto some cargo shuttles destined for Eden. I'm here to correct that error."

Miriya held out her hand and her aide Lieutenant Irvine placed another copy of the flimsy that she'd given to Colonel Kilpatrick earlier into her hand, from there she passed it over to the Lieutenant. "These orders state that those mecha are to go to my warship the SDF-3 at once. Now, I'd ask for my mecha to be unloaded so I can fly it myself but I'm in a hurry. Where are the shuttles and are they ready to go?"

The Lieutenant looked the plasti-flimsy sheet over and saw everything to indicate it was official. He looked up and over to the Ensign and said, "Are those cargo shuttles fully loaded and ready to fly Ensign Over?"

The young Ensign nodded enthusiastically saying, "Yes sir, they're on the tarmac ready for launch sir. We're just waiting for the pilots. With all the havoc happening, flight ops didn't want to green light the launch."

Miriya was still looking at the Lieutenant. She ordered, "I want pilots and crew for those shuttles at once and I want to be out of here in five minutes."

The Lieutenant saluted and said, "Aye ma'am. Three crews coming right up!" He looked at the Ensign and said, "Ensign Over, call the ready room and tell them to get three shuttle crews here on the double! Tell them Admiral Sterling doesn't want to be kept waiting!"

"Aye sir!", Ensign Over responded. He picked up a phone and made a call.

The Ensign put the phone down and covered the receiver. "Admiral Sterling, the officer on the other line is saying he won't send any pilots over due to the problems with the Factory right now. He-"

Miriya didn't wait for the Ensign to finish, she was walking over as he was talking and held her hand out, gesturing for the phone. The Ensign quickly handed the phone over.

Miriya brought the phone to her face and she said, "This is Admiral Miriya Sterling, I want three crews rated for shuttle flight over here in one minute and if they're not here I will come down on your head like the Hammer of Thor do you understand me? I want those shuttles on their way to my flagship yesterday before something else happens on this Factory!"

There was a response and Miriya replied with a curt, "Good." She held the phone out to the Ensign who took it from her and he hung it up. Miriya then turned around and walked back to Lieutenant Dunn.

"Take me to my shuttles Mister Dunn."

"Aye ma'am. If you'll follow me?", Lieutenant Dunn said.

Miriya and her aide followed the Lieutenant out to the tarmac and he led her to a spot fairly close where three SC-32 transport shuttles were parked side by side.

"Here they are ma'am, fully loaded.", Lieutenant Dunn gestured towards the shuttles.

She asked, "Which one has the red painted model?"

Lieutenant Dunn pointed to the shuttle in the middle. "That one ma'am."

Miriya nodded her head and boarded the shuttle to await the pilot. Her aide sat in the chair across from her. Miriya wanted to leave before some other alert or alarm kept her from doing so.

A hover car pulled up with the three crews for the shuttles sitting in the vehicle. The pilots and crew got out and quickly boarded the shuttles. When the pilots and crew boarded the shuttle that she was aboard she said, "Let's go, I want to be out of here before something else happens."

One of the pilots replied, "Got it." The two men and women crew entered the cockpit and took their seats. Very quickly the pilots were pushing buttons and flipping switches, the craft began powering up.

The other two shuttles were powered up and soon Traffic Control received requests for launch and course instructions to the SDF-3 Pioneer.

A brief pause and then permission was granted and instructions were given.

"Roger Traffic Control, Shuttle Tyderium launching.", the first pilot said.

The first shuttle lifted off the tarmac and began flying outwards toward the opening hangar bay doors. The other two shuttles lifted off and began moving as well. In seconds the three craft were out of the Factory and making their course corrections as instructed to head to the SDF-3.

As the shuttles completed their turn, the Factory was to the three shuttle's left side and there was a surprise cry as all the lights except for the emergency and running lights turned off.

One of the pilots exclaimed, "Holy shit the Factory's lost power!"

Miriya was on the left side of the shuttle passenger cabin and she saw the lights turn off on the Factory. She looked at her aide and said, "We got out of there just in time."

The young man who was her aide Lieutenant Irvine nodded and said, "Yes ma'am."

Miriya took off her seat belt and walked up to the cockpit. "ETA to the SDF-3?"

"Four minutes, Admiral.", her pilot replied.

Miriya looked out the cockpit window and saw her fleet in the distance. Even as far as they were she could see the flagship, the SDF-3 as they flew towards her ship.

"Good.", she said. Then she patted the pilot's shoulder and went back to her seat and buckled herself in again saying as she left, "Well done, all of you." She started talking to her aide to find out what fire she needed to put out next before their departure for their next mission.

---

A Lecture Hall On The Robotech Factory

Men and women had filed into the lecture hall where they had been taking a tactics and warship operations course being taught by Admiral Rick Hunter because according to their statistics and his words "They all sucked."

The Admiral had dismissed them to their quarters earlier than planned saying that there was a situation brewing that would require his full attention but before he dismissed them, he gave them all homework to do while they were away from the lecture hall until they were told to return to the lecture hall.

Then things went crazy with the Robotech Factory and after things calmed down, everyone had received the message from General Lefcourt and a follow up message from Admiral Hunter instructing them to report to the Lecture Hall at a specific time.

As the large group of men and women filed in, Admiral Hunter was already there, his android body standing next to the podium.

Rick looked at the large group of people filing in and said, "Take a seat, any seat."

It took a couple of minutes for all the men and women to file in and sit down. Once everyone was seated Rick began, "Alright, I apologize for cutting the first lecture short, a situation developed that required my attention. Now, I can assure you that something like what just happened will not happen again." He paused to look around the hall and then resumed, "All of you no doubt received the message from General Lefcourt reiterating that your presence in this course is mandatory. I wanted to let you know that the men and women that walked out of this hall earlier, only two of them took their new assignments while the rest resigned. Take this class seriously."

Rick leveled his gaze at everyone then used his knuckles to knock on the podium surface. "Now, before we begin all of you it's time to turn in your homework. Activate your tablets and upload your completed work to the server. I will review and grade your work then discuss the best and worst that were turned in."

There was a rustle of noise as people pulled out their tablets or laptops followed by a clattering of keys for some while other tapped on their tablets. As people finished and sat back waiting Rick was watching everyone. After a couple minutes it seemed everyone had turned in their work.

Rick stepped in front of the podium and said, "Well, it seems some of you think you can get away with not turning in your homework. Do you need a second to download it from somewhere else perhaps?"

Rick looked around the lecture hall and a number of men and women were looking around as well.

Rick said, "Well then, it seems you all need to be reminded. This course is Pass /Fail. I can fail you at the drop of the hat for performance...or more precisely lack of performance. Fifty seven of you have not turned in the homework that was assigned and I'm guessing that you think you can get away with it. I'm here to remind you that you are at the end of the line. This is your last second chance, it is up to you to take advantage of it."

On the screens behind Rick numbers began to appear, fifty seven different sets. Rick then said, "If your identifier number is on that screen, you're done. You have failed this course. Get up, your access privileges to the Factory have been revoked. You have thirty minutes to go to your quarters, pack your things and report to hangar bay seven where a shuttle will fly you back down to EarthForce HQ where you will report to the Personnel office and receive your new orders. If you don't like them, you are free to resign. Ladies, gentlemen, get out."

Rick raised his arm and pointed at the door. No one was moving. Rick said, "Do not make me summon security to physically remove you, you were warned and you chose to ignore the warning. Get up and leave with some tiny shred of dignity intact."

A man stood up looking angry and picked up his things and started moving down the steps. He glared at the Admiral but Rick simply ignored him. With a scowl on his face the person left the lecture hall. Rick said, "That's one, fifty six to go." An identifier number on the vid screen vanished. Rick kept his arm up, pointing towards the exit.

Then another person stood up, another man and he too stormed out of the room with a huff. Another identifier number vanished from the screen. Right after that, groups of people stood up and began making the walk down the steps to exit the lecture hall and as people left, numbers from the screen disappeared until the screen was blank.

Rick looked around the room. People were looking around the room as well and took notice of the empty seats.

Rick then said, "As I said, this is a Pass/Fail and you're free to drop this class and resign or accept your new assignment. Do any of you wish to drop this class?"

No one said a word or moved.

Rick said, "Well then, it seems the rest of you have taken the hint." He swept the room with his gaze and placed his arms behind his back. "As I said earlier, many of you were promoted to command a lot sooner than normal given the heavy losses sustained by EarthForce in this war. But it is also clear that a culture of "social officers" was growing within EarthForce. Ladies and gentlemen, if it's not clear to you now, let me make it clear to you; EarthForce is not and will not emulate the social officer culture that was prevalent in the Lyran Commonwealth before Katrina Steiner reformed its military."

There were more than a few chuckles in the room. Rick smiled and said, "Well, some of you know what I'm talking about, others of you need an explanation. Look it up on your free time. But the point I'm making stands. You are here to learn how to properly lead and fight with Robotech warships and here we lead from the front, not from the rear. That the men and women under your command are people that you're responsible for."

A video screen activated and a video began to play of a popular RTS video game. On the screen the player clicked the various unit producing structures and ordered units to be built. On another video screen a scene of men being handed a rifle with a single clip of ammo then being shoved out into what was an obvious war zone was being shown. While this was happening Rick continued to talk. "This is not a game where you click on a building and mass produce units and send them to fight the enemy in a couple of minutes. And while we were close, we are not at the point of battle of Stalingrad where we we are throwing bodies to stem the tide in a vain hope to stop the Minbari."

The screens paused the playback and Rick walked to stand behind the podium. "One thing that will hit home and it should, is having to write that letter or make that video call to the next of kin of those that died under your command. I guarantee you the first time you have to make that call or write that letter to someone's next of kin, you will realize the cost of war. So many of you sent your forces in mad Napoleonic charges against the Minbari during these simulated battle exercises this is not how we wage war!"

Rick pounded his fist on the podium then said, "So, listen and listen well, you will learn and I will turn you into better officers, better leaders by God or you will not be serving as a leader of people in battle."

Satisfied that the people in the room were finally getting the message Rick activated a holographic projector and brought up the homework scenario he'd given the group. "We shall start by examining the worst of the worst so that you can see what NOT to do."

Rick began pointing out what the person had done wrong by having his fleet in a straight horizontal line and proceeded to rip the tactics apart. He pointed out missed opportunities, better tactical approaches, better mecha deployment strategies.

The class lasted for six hours and Rick went through the homework with everyone, this time sparing everyone from knowing which person did what except the person involved who couldn't help but react in some fashion as Rick critically evaluated and graded each person's work. No one received a passing grade and Rick said before moving on to the next lesson, "I expect you all to start showing me that you are listening and learning or I will fail you and send you down to Earth. Don't get comfortable, you see those empty chairs, a lot more of those chairs are going to be empty before this class graduates. Additionally, there will be more people starting a course just like this one if these people's scores over in the main classes don't improve so don't think that you're alone in that regard."

As Rick began lecturing on the next topic a lot more of the men and women in the lecture hall were listening and many of them started taking detailed notes as many of them realized that the Admiral in front of them DID know what he was talking about.

Simultaneously, while Rick was teaching the "problem children" in his android body, around the Factory Rick's holographic avatars was assisting the team that Miriya had put together to train Starfury pilots how to pilot the various Veritech mecha that were aboard the Robotech Factory as well as assisting the team that Komira had put together in getting people up to speed on Robotech warship operations. Throughout all of this, he kept records on who was doing well and who was performing poorly and would need further training. If people's scores dropped to a certain level they too would find themselves getting additional training just like the first group of "problem children".

---

An Apartment

Located in Formerly Known as Washington DC, North American State

It was late at night when the knock on her apartment door was made. Confused as to how someone could get into the building and knock on her door, Aurora looked at the camera to see who was at the door and scowled. Aurora Sterling walked quickly to the front door and opened the door and saw the one person she did not expect or want to see ever again.

The man with dark brown hair and brown eyes smiled at her saying, "Hello, Aurora. We need to talk."

Aurora Sterling frowned, folded her arms across her chest, then said, "Alfred Bester, I thought I told you that I never, ever wanted to see you again."

Alfred Bester kept the smile on his face as he said, "Lovely to see you, may I come in?" His smile faded away and he said, "It's urgent that I speak with you. I wouldn't be here if it wasn't."

Aurora scowled and let out a sigh. After a moment she opened the door wider and stepped to the side to allow Alfred to enter.

As he entered the apartment Alfred said, "Thank you."

As they waked further into the house Alfred commented, "Saw your mother and you on the news, both of you looked great I have to say. Your mother certainly knows how to rile up a crowd. Then there's you...your testimony just added to the show today. Half of those Senators definitely didn't get what they wanted while the other half were applauding. It was certainly was entertaining."

Aurora scoffed, "Assholes are trying to say that my mother left that prick to die and want her punished. It's such bullshit. Jason's dead because of his own stupidity. I knew the man and he was stupid. Arrogant prick like to ride on people's coattails then swoop in and take all the credit."

Alfred arched an eyebrow. "Have you seen the news since your testimony?"

Aurora shook her head. "Been too busy."

"There are protests all over Earth Alliance space. Not just here, they are all across the colonies. Your mother's comments regarding Mister Zimmerman and the Senators has sparked something. Your testimony and that of your supervisor just added to it."

Aurora took that comment in then she said, "Well, mom has no tolerance for bullshit and neither do I."

Alfred smirked at her and said, "Indeed."

Aurora closed the door and led Alfred further into the apartment which was into the kitchen. Aurora turned around to look at Alfred and folded her arms. "What's this about?"

Alfred Bester said, "We need to talk." He tapped the front side of his head with his index finger.

Aurora made a scoffing noise. "I'm not in that line of work anymore. I don't know why you bothered to come all this way."

Alfred placed a small square box on the table and the light went green. He tapped the side of his head again as he said, "I really need to talk to you."

Rolling her eyes Aurora said, "Fine." She picked up a remote and pushed a button and the entertainment center activated, playing an action movie. She raised the volume up then she glared at him and telepathically said, "Alright, this better be important."

Alfred nodded his head and replied with his own telepathic power. "I wouldn't be here if it wasn't important." Then he pointed at the coffee pot and asked with his voice, "There any coffee in that?"

Aurora looked at the coffee pot then back at Alfred, "Sorry, I've been out for most of the day. Isn't a little late – nevermind. I forgot the kind of hours you work nowadays." She went to the coffee maker and went to prepare some coffee.

A few minutes later she gave her guest a cup of fresh coffee along with cream and sugar for the beverage. She poured a fresh cup for herself and took some sugar then stirred it. After both people had taken sips Alfred could see that Aurora wanted him to get to the reason why he was there.

Alfred started off though by asking her a question. "Are your credentials up to date?"

Aurora's eyes blazed as she replied, "Obviously they are otherwise I couldn't be doing this! Now...get...to...the...point!"

Setting the coffee cup down on the table in front of him Alfred Bester used his telepathic power to speak to Aurora. "For the last five years I've been working in secret with someone very high up in EarthGov. Who it is specifically, I have no idea, they're very good at screening their thoughts or they use a jammer."

Alfred Bester looked at Aurora and telepathically sent, "My jobs were scattered over the years, the one thing these jobs I did had in common were operations against Humans First terror cells. However, with the war against Humans First...I have been approached again for another job. A job that I've been waiting for a long time."

Aurora had folded her arms across her chest again then telepathically replied, "That's all well and good, why are you here?"

Alfred replied, "My second in command cannot make it to the upcoming mission in time and the mission is time sensitive. This is where you come in, you will be my new second in command." Alfred was smiling at Aurora now.

Aurora shook her head and waved her hands in a 'no way' gesture repeatedly. "No, no, no way Alfred! I do not do that kind of work anymore!"

Alfred said, "I need you, I need the Ghost. It's extremely important."

Aurora shook her head again, "I don't care, I'm not that person anymore and I don't do that kind of work anymore! Don't ask me to be that person again Alfred!"

Alfred took a drink of the coffee in front of him and set it down. "I have no choice, this mission is too important! I need a second in command and to paraphrase a line from an old twentieth century movie, you have been chosen by EarthGov to save Humanity."

Aurora looked confused, "What the fuck?"

Alfred gave a small sigh then continued, "I can't give you all the details until we're about to leave for the target. I need you to grab a bag and pack. We don't have a lot of time."

Aurora folded her arms and shook her head. "No, not just no, HELL NO!"

Alfred sighed. He knew Aurora was going to be difficult but he didn't expect her to be this difficult. But then again she'd left the service of the Telepathic Monitoring Commission's secret agency that policed rogue telepaths and performed other missions that were extremely secret among other things to return to academia and have a normal life. Alfred was going to have to tell her some information.

Alfred reached into a pocket and pulled out a holographic projector. He activated it to reveal a planet. Then he telepathically sent, "Do you remember Project Genesis?"

Aurora made a scoffing noise a rolled her eyes. "That urban myth? Yes, I remember it. It belongs in the tin foil hat hall of fame."

Alfred pointed at the hologram of the planet. "That planet is it."

Aurora's eyes widened then narrowed, glaring at Alfred. She didn't use telepathy this time, she loudly said, "Bullshit!"

Alfred tapped his head then telepathically sent, "No bullshit, I assure you. That planet is it, the information comes from my employer who has been looking for it a lot longer than I have. It's real." He pointed at the hologram of the planet and continued to speak telepathically, "There is a secret colony, a colony with connections to Humans First and you are going with me to help me burn it to the ground and rescue those telepaths that can be saved. The rest of them, well we're going to put them to sleep. Permanently."

Aurora still had a look of disbelief on her face. She moved closer to the table and looked at the hologram of the planet. She tapped the hologram and the hologram zoomed in to show a top down view of a large village sized settlement. It looked modern in layout and in structure.

Aurora looked at Alfred then she asked with her mind, "You say Humans First is behind this?"

Alfred nodded his head while answering with his telepathy. "The group that was Humans First before they became Humans First set this up. They've erased the planet from all the databases and star charts."

Aurora's eyes widened and she commented, "They pulled a Kamino?! They managed to erase a whole planet?! For what purpose!?"

Alfred said, "When I can, I'll tell you. But for now, I really need you to pack your bags. We have a shuttle to catch."

Aurora was silent then she nodded her head. "Only because the target is Humans First will I do this, but I want answers Alfred."

Alfred Bester nodded his head said, "I promise you'll get to know everything when I inform everyone at the same time."

Aurora knocked the table with her knuckles. Then she said with her voice, "Be back in a couple."

A few minutes later Aurora returns with a backpack and a couple suitcases. She sarcastically said, "You didn't say for how long so…"

With a chuckle Alfred Bester picked up the holographic projector and the small device and said, "Let's go."

Aurora turned off the entertainment center, set her apartment systems to automate and give the appearance that she was home, set the apartment's alarm and followed Alfred Bester out of the apartment building. He led her to a car that was parked down the street where the two got in and then he drove the car away.

---

A Mansion in the Hamptons

North American State

It was late in the evening and wealthy industrialist Donald Zimmerman was sitting in his office looking at a flat screen that was talking about what had happened during the Senate Committee hearing that was looking into the death of his son.

He scowled as the ISN broadcaster was talking, "Today's testimony by Admiral Miriya Sterling, living legend, the Heroine of Sestun and Victor of Eshar was short and full of drama fit for entertainment television. A Humans First member managed to slip into the committee chamber as a member of a Senator's staff in an attempt to steal and replace vital video evidence from the Admiral's legal team but was caught by the vigilant eye of one of the Admiral's lawyers and a struggle ensued that involved that same lawyer, a Commander Harmon Rabb of the EarthForce Judge Advocate General's office."

"Once the man was taken into custody he yelled the infamous Humans First rally cry and the entire gallery soon fired back with a chant of their own. Take a watch and listen." The camera switched over and to a view of the crowded gallery of people screaming, "Humanity United!" with the camera panning over the entire gallery and showing that multiple Senators were on their feet joining the crowd in its defiance. The camera switched back to the broadcaster.

"Testimony by Aurora Sterling, the daughter of Admiral Miriya Sterling and IPX Expedition Leader Augustus Cabel only added more weight that Jason Zimmerman's death was completely his fault, not Admiral Sterling's."

"Investigators are silent as to the identity of the man that is in custody but a full investigation is now underway to find out how Humans First was able to get a digital copy of the footage in question and to not only find out how this happened but sources are telling ISN that they are going to look into the claims from Admiral Miriya Sterling herself that Donald Zimmerman, the father of the slain man that this Committee is looking into is the driving force behind this Committee's formation. Everything is still early and you can rest assured that ISN will be looking into this as well and we will report the truth to all of you, our viewers our findings."

Donald Zimmerman threw the rocks glass he was holding towards the screen shattering the glass and damaging the video screen. He yelled, "Vincent!"

The door opened and a man wearing a uniform of an old school early twentieth century butler appeared. "Yes, Master Zimmerman?"

Scowling, Donald Zimmerman pointed at the mess. "Get this cleaned up and get a new screen in here pronto."

With a bow of the head the butler said, "Yes, Mister Zimmerman."

The wealthy industrialist founder of ZimTech a very powerful and leading technology company had a big scowl on his face. What happened at the hearing today was not how things were supposed to go down. The bitch of an alien had left his son to die and she was supposed to be looking at the end of her career over this and possibly facing jail time, not looking like Nike the Goddess of Victory as she walked out of the hearing in defiance.

Video of her speech right before she walked out was being played everywhere and now there were protests everywhere throughout Earth Alliance space, on many cities here on Earth and on multiple colonies, especially where the Senators on that Committee were from.

Donald went to his open liquor cabinet and poured another glass of scotch. The man was old but thanks to science and a lot of money he didn't look older than fifty. The man returned to his luxurious chair and sat down then spun his chair around to look outside. Outside being a relative term since his office was in the middle of the large mansion. The wall acted as a vid screen for whatever he wanted and right now he was looking at a view of the expansive and beautiful garden outside the estate.

Donald tried to find serenity at what he was looking at but he couldn't. The loss of his son hurt, it hurt harder than he ever thought it would given he'd had to do what was necessary in disowning his own flesh and blood many years ago when his son wouldn't listen to him and publicly joined Humans First.

His own father had publicly cut ties with the organization after a horrendous terror attack that had been committed by a group linked to Humans First. Everyone in the family left the group at his father's instructions and his father used threat of disinheritance to keep the Zimmerman family on the straight and narrow.

Having sworn to his father to keep the family out of Humans First, he disowned and disinherited Jason when his son was caught in a scandal after being caught in a Humans First rally. At the time, his son didn't care about being disinherited and he was angry with his son over his decision.

Donald took another drink of his scotch and stewed in thought. Behind him servants brought in a ladder and quickly and as quietly as they could removed the broken vid screen and brought in a new one that had been kept in storage and began setting it up. The elder patriarch had a habit of destroying vid screens and other objects when his anger overcame him.

His intercom chirped. He snarled, "I said I was not to be disturbed!"

The voice was female and he knew it was another servant. "I'm know that sir and I'm sorry but you told me that only if that person calls was that call to go through." A pause. "He's on the line sir."

Donald spun his chair to look at the men working on the vid screen. It was almost done since he had a habit of destroying vid screens, his servants had gotten very good at quick replacement. The last of the hookups were finished and the screen was back on showing a scene of one of the protests against Humans First.

Donald growled, "Audio mute.", and the audio for the vid screen was muted. Then he said, "Put the call through."

On his desk was a monitor and it switched over from a stock ticker display to an image of a man that was only seen by the silhouette.

The person on the screen spoke and the voice was digitally altered. "Seems the first day of the hearing did not go as we planned Mister Zimmerman, you have my apologies."

Donald Zimmerman's temper flashed but he brought himself under control. He replied speaking slowly, "Did not go as planned?" He paused then he spoke furiously, "Your agent fucked up! You promised me that that alien bitch would get what's coming to her and now look, she's the second coming of fucking Joan of Arc!" He paused to take a drink of his scotch to calm down and while holding the glass of liquor in his hand he gestured at the screen, pointing at the silhouetted man. "Your people fucked up, something I haven't seen in a long time."

The silhouetted man was silent, he moved his hands in front and it looked like he steepled them in front of himself. The digitally altered voice said, "Donald, because our families have been friends for generations, more specifically in that your father and my father were such close friends I'm going to cut you some latitude. I'm well aware of the failure we had today, however the operation was planned and carried out on short notice." There was a sigh then he added, "I'm not too surprised that it failed. Again, you have my apologies. Have no fear, the agent that was used will be dealt with."

Donald gave a grunt and said angrily, "Pardon me if I doubt that you will succeed with pulling that off. I never should have gone with this plan. With the fallout from today's hearing I have had to exert a lot more pressure on the Senators on the Committee to keep it going. Fuck! You've seen the poll numbers?! Some of those Senators are not going to get reelected this year and if they do, it's going to cost a hell of a lot more money to ensure their wins. They're going to investigate me and my family for ties to Humans First! Ties that my father cut a long damn time ago!"

Donald snorted and said, "You have nothing to fear, only my son was connected to your group and only he had anything that could be traced to it." He paused then snarled, "And my stock price is falling!" He was tempted to throw his glass at something again but he reigned in his temper.

Donald set his glass down and asked before the man on the screen could say anything, "Any chances I can get an operative for a task?"

The man replied, "I'm afraid not. My organization nor I cannot afford to lose any operatives at this time."

Donald gave a snort, "That's fine. I didn't think you would anyway...which is why I've already put things in motion."

The man's digitally altered voice sounded concerned. "Donald, what did you do?"

Donald turned around to grab the bottle of liquor and poured more into his glass. "Nothing you need to worry about. I just figured that if that bitch can let my son die, she can join me in my suffering and lose that last daughter of hers."

Silence.

Then the voice said, "Donald, I really don't think that's a good idea, she's not someone to take lightly, she is the daughter of Max and Miriya Sterling, the last daughter of Miriya Sterling and she is extremely dangerous. Don't let her youthful appearance fool you, she is more than one hundred years old."

Donald took another drink and made a scoffing noise. "I think the men I hired can handle that little girl."

The man said, "Well, I wish you the best of luck. If your people pull it off it will be a great blow against the alien scourge. We will cheer loudly at her demise and at Miriya's suffering."

Donald gave a grunt and said, "I'm sure you will."

The silhouetted man disconnected the call and Donald Zimmerman turned to look at the screens showing his beautiful garden grounds. He drank the last of his liquor in silence as he thought of his plans for revenge against Miriya Sterling.

As Donald was about to finish his drink he said aloud, "I'm going to make you suffer Miriya Sterling and you'll know it was me and there's nothing you can do about it."

---

Earth Space

A Shuttle In Transit to the SDF-3

With things under control at last the General was now moving on to the next crisis situation as he sat in the shuttle that was currently flying from the Robotech Factory to the SDF-3 Pioneer that was located several thousand kilometers away from the Robotech Factory. The historic warship was surrounded by the other warships that were part of Miriya's fleet.

Contemplating things as the shuttle was in flight, General Lefcourt let out a breath of air as he saw another shuttle through the window that he was sitting next to that was flying out of the Factory towards Earth. Aboard that particular shuttle was the now former Commanding Officer of the Robotech Factory, Colonel Jonathan Kilpatrick. The General had filed charges against the man and he was in custody to be flown to the military jail on Earth that would hold him while the investigation into the man's charges was completed.

Colonel Kilpatrick was facing Insubordination to a Superior Officer, Gross Negligence of Duty, Issuing an Illegal Order, Misappropriation of Property. Those were just the beginning, General Lefcourt was going to let the investigators do their job and if they found more charges to add, he'd add those charges to the list. He was going to press for the maximum, he had no need for pencil pushing idiots thinking they were God in his command.

His conversation with Admiral Lucien Cortez, the Director for EarthForce's Naval Bureau of Personnel over how Colonel Kilpatrick had been put in charge of the Factory was relatively short as there were no indications that the man had said anything that would disqualify him from being assigned to temporary command of the Robotech Factory. Now, some details were just starting to come to light and it was making the General very angry. The man had no ties to Humans First, but apparently there were other skeletons in the man's closet that quite frankly should have come to light sooner and disqualified him from commanding the Robotech Factory.

With the Colonel on his way to a jail cell for the immediate and near future Robert Lefcourt focused on what was next. He had to speak to Miriya, which was the reason for his shuttle trip to the SDF-3 Pioneer.

Admiral Miriya Sterling's appearance at the Senate Committee earlier today turned into a show. A show that he really wished that had been avoided but he sighed as there was no use in "what if" at this point. However her walking out on the hearing as she did angered several Senators on the committee and he had received word that the Chairperson had issued another subpoena for Admiral Sterling to appear tomorrow and that her JAG lawyers were unable to quash the subpoena. Senator Maistroff was playing hardball even as his political career was crashing hard.

Aurora Sterling and Augustus Cabel's testimony only added on to the fury that several Senators on the Committee were feeling at having the hearing decidedly not go their way. He took satisfaction at seeing their poll numbers plummet and the citizens of Earth Alliance expressing their displeasure by means of protests and political rivals rising to challenge them and denounce their actions.

General Lefcourt scowled as the shuttle landed on the SDF-3's landing bay and he waited impatiently for the craft's hatch to open so he could exit the shuttle. Thankfully, with Robotechnology being used now the wait was shorter compared to how it used to be.

When the hatch was opened his security detail exited first then he walked onto the tarmac of the hangar bay where Captain John Sheridan and an honor guard were standing by to greet him.

The General saluted the Earth Alliance emblem that was prominently displayed. Protocols were followed and the General walked over to Captain Sheridan and said, "I didn't need that, but thank you Captain."

John realized the General wanted to talk on the move so he gestured to the man to accompany him. John looked apologetic as he said, "Oh, I'm sorry sir I thought this was your visit to wish us good luck on our mission."

As they walked out of the hangar General Lefcourt said, "Well you're right, I am here to wish you all well ahead of your mission but I need to speak with your Admiral about what happened earlier today. Where is she?"

The group entered an elevator and John pushed the button for the deck level that they needed to go to. "She's working on the Flag Bridge, sir. We're conducting a simulated battle exercise for the upcoming mission."

General Lefcourt nodded his head while saying, "I see. You saw the firestorm that's been ignited?"

John replied, "Well, I've been very busy sir but I have heard some chatter among the crew. Everyone's feeling anxious."

The elevator stopped and opened up and the group exited the elevator to head to the Flag Bridge. As they walked, the General replied, "I have no doubt."

The group made their way through the ship's corridors quickly and soon reached the Flag Bridge of the SDF-3. As General Lefcourt entered, Captain Sheridan announced, "General on deck!"

As everyone stood at attention General Lefcourt declared, "As you were." He saw Miriya standing next to the large holotable that was displaying her fleet as icons in different formations around a planet, most likely the target world that they were going to be attacking for real in just a few short hours.

Miriya saluted General Lefcourt as he walked towards her. "General, welcome aboard the SDF-3 Pioneer. I'm still preparing for our strike mission sir so if-"

General Lefcourt stopped Miriya from speaking by holding up his hand and said, "Miriya, we need to talk, let's go to your ready room."

Miriya nodded her head while saying, "Of course. Captain Sheridan, please take over the simulated fleet exercise Run scenario A-3 and B-4 please."

John gave an affirmative nod and stepped to the holotable. "Of course, Admiral."

As the Admiral and the General left the Flag Bridge accompanied by their aides and the General's security detail they made the short walk to Miriya's ready room. The two aides stopped outside the Admiral's ready room with the General's aide taking a seat near the door and Miriya's aide taking her seat behind her desk. The guards waited nearby while the General and the Admiral entered the Admiral's ready room.

Once the door closed Miriya asked, "Want anything to drink General?"

General Lefcourt quickly answered, "Whiskey, make it a double."

Miriya opened the cabinet against the wall, pulled out a bottle of liquor along with two glasses. She opened the bottle, poured the contents into two glasses, closed the bottle and set it aside. Then she walked over to where the General was sitting and took the comfortable chair across from him after passing him one of the glasses of liquor.

Robert Lefcourt took a large drink of the fine aged liquor and set the glass down on the end table next to him. "Miriya...Goddamn it Miriya do you realize the havoc that is happening right now?"

Miriya took a drink of her own and set it down then said, "Robert, don't blame me! This thing was a pure shit show from the start! A bastard son of a bitch traitor from Humans First got into the chamber as a Senate worker and tried to steal and plant false evidence! How the hell does that happen, explain that to me!"

Before her superior officer could answer she kept going. "And don't get me started on that stupid Committee, I could answer their questions but all they'd be doing is asking me the same question in different ways to try and trip me up. This was a joke and you know it!"

Miriya took another drink, finishing off her beverage while Robert did the same. She gestured to Robert if he wanted more but he shook his head. Miriya leaned back into her chair sighed and said, "Well, give me the bad news."

Robert said, "Well, I'm sure you know it already. Senator Maistroff's issued another subpoena for you to testify tomorrow."

Miriya said, "Yes, I know. Major MacKenzie and Commander Rabb were supposed to quash it but I haven't heard from either of them yet."

Shaking his head in a negative manner Robert said, "They tried and they failed. I wanted to be the one to tell you. Senator Maistroff's not backing down. He wants you there tomorrow at nine am."

Miriya sighed then snorted in derision. "Sucks to be him, I'm taking my fleet to war a few hours before that. I won't be here."

She was looking at General Lefcourt whose expression on his face was giving nothing away and Miriya quickly became concerned.

"Robert? I will be in command of the SDF-3 and my fleet for the next strike mission, right?", Miriya asked with concern.

General Lefcourt kept his expression neutral as he said, "Since you walked out on the hearing, there's been a firestorm of activity. Our military police and civilian law enforcement are on the lookout for this man." The General used his link to activate one of the wall video screens in the office to show CCTV footage of an EarthForce officer. The two watched the EarthForce officer, a Lieutenant access a terminal.

General Lefcourt continued talking, "This is Lieutenant Nigel Williams, he accessed and downloaded a copy of your footage as well as that of Lieutenant Kanna's. He didn't get the Sergeant's or any of the platoon's which we think was a mistake. At any rate, he hasn't been seen since he left EarthForce HQ after his shift. He hasn't reported back in for his duty station either." He turned off the video.

With a sigh General Lefcourt finished, "Then there's Senate Security who are investigating who that Humans First person is and how he got in. Right now, his ID is not even confirmed. Given that the man has obvious Humans First ties, Attorney General Walters has ordered the Special Intelligence Division to take the lead in the investigation."

Miriya nodded as she took the information in. Then she asked, "So, what does this mean for me? Are you here to tell me that the mission is on hold or are you going to have me step down? Because if you take this away from me Robert I'm resigning my commission," she raised her arm and pointed outwards as she was talking. "and I will go right over to Foreign Minister Roy Hunter and join with the Sentinels Alliance!"

Robert's eyes widened and he held out his hands in a placating gesture. "Miriya! I'm not here to ask you to step down and I'm not taking your command from you! Nor am I going to hold your fleet back!" He took a moment and let out an exasperated breath. "Jesus, Miriya you have no idea!" He pushed a button on his link and the video screen activated to a ISN channel which was showing a crowd of people with signs and a boisterous chant.

"Humanity United! Humanity United! Humanity United!", roared the crowd.

There were many signs in the crowd that said,"Humans First Must Go!", "Humans First Are Terrorists!", along with "Humanity United Is Stronger Than Humanity Divided!" In addition to that there were many signs that said, "We love Miriya!", "Miriya Our Savior!", or "Miriya is Awesome!"

Other signs said, "Investigate Senate Committee!", "Senators Are Corrupt!". "Down With Zimmerman!", "Rich Asshole Wins Darwin Award!", "Investigate Donald Zimmerman!"

Miriya looked surprised and dumbstruck at the sight. "Whaaa?", she said.

The words of a reporter speaking were heard. "Since Admiral Miriya Sterling's words to the Senate Committee were broadcast earlier, rallies across Earth Alliance space have erupted as people show their support for Admiral Sterling, their hatred for Humans First, and their displeasure over how industrialist Donald Zimmerman seemed to orchestrate this Senate Committee investigating his son's death."

General Lefcourt paused the screen but pointed at it while he said, "I would be a stupid idiot if I were to remove you from commanding the Pioneer Fleet! Demonstrations like this are happening everywhere. Geneva, Paris, Rio de Janeiro, San Francisco, Vancouver just to name a few cities on Earth. Mars had a huge rally, then there's the other colonies, it's spreading like wildfire. The people are behind you Miriya, you've brought us victories against the Minbari and that has a lot of good will. Good will that I can now use against Chairman Maistroff. But Goddamn it stop giving me more work to do! I'm busy enough as it is!"

Miriya was stunned at what she was looking at. Her face was in a shocked expression. Her mouth was open but no words came out as she looked at the paused image on the video screen.

General Lefcourt added, "After your testimony, your daughter Aurora and the IPX Expedition leader Augustus Cabel testified. Long story short, their testimony just put more holes in those Senators looking to find you guilty. You have nothing to worry about. The Marines that went with you will be testifying tomorrow as well as myself. But as far as you're concerned, you will carry out your orders and attack your target as scheduled. The President's rules of engagement are still in effect. Am I clear?"

Miriya had regained her composure and looked at General Lefcourt calmly then she said, "Thank you sir, we'll be sure to kick ass, take names, and come home safe."

Robert nodded while saying, "I'm confident that you will." He stood up and said, "Let me have a walk around this fine ship and speak to your men and women."

"It would be an honor, sir.", Miriya said. She stood up and escorted the General out of the office. From there, General Lefcourt and Miriya went around the SDF-3 so the Military Commander of EarthForce could speak to the men and women serving aboard the SDF-3 and wish them well in the upcoming military operation. Afterwards, the General boarded his shuttle and returned to Earth where he had to go see a certain Senator.

---

Senator Leonard Maistroff's Office

Geneva, Switzerland

Senator Leonard Maistroff was in a foul mood as he was finishing up some work that had to be set aside due to his running the Committee that was investigating the death of Jason Zimmerman. As he signed papers that required his signature his thoughts were about the hearing he'd been Chairperson of. A hearing that should have doomed Admiral Sterling's career and brought his own political career to new heights.

Since the clusterfuck of the day's testimony, his office workers were being inundated with calls, emails, and every means of reaching his office from outraged citizens that were not just from his electoral district, but from colonies outside his district as well. He'd seen his poll numbers too since his chief of staff told him in a panicked video call. His reelection chances were looking slim at the moment but he had faith.

He was sure that Donald Zimmerman and other men and women just like him would come through for him in the end. He needed to get home though, he was going to have to face the fury of his wife over this fiasco. She'd left multiple messages that she wanted to speak to him. He was not looking forward to that converstion when he got home.

The intercom chirped. "Senator, you have a-", before his senior assistant could finish the door to his office opened and General Robert Lefcourt entered and closed the door behind him.

Senator Maistroff looked furious as he said, "I'll take care of this, Janet." He pushed the button on the intercom ending the call. Still looking furious he said to General Lefcourt, "You want to see me, schedule an appointment, now I 'm trying to wrap things up so I can go home. Get out General."

General Lefcourt walked over to a chair in front of the Senator's desk and placed a small device on the Senator's desk as he sat down. "Actually Senator, you and I are going to have a chat."

Still looking furious the Senator snarled, "We have nothing to talk about, except the testimony you'll be giving in the morning. We'll talk then. Now, get out General."

Shaking his head, General Lefcourt said, "Actually we do. For starters, your little plot is unraveling as we speak. Your poll numbers have plummeted like a large boulder, your political rivals within your party and opposition are rising up against you. That reelection isn't looking so certain now, your most likely opponent's numbers are rising like a shooting star."

"I don't have anything to worry about General, I have powerful friends, friends that will see to it that I win reelection.", Senator Maistroff snapped.

General Lefcourt shook his head and smiled feral, "That day is long gone Senator, Mister Zimmerman's going to have problems of his own to deal with. Now, I'm here to ask you to remove Admiral Sterling from testifying tomorrow, I want you to revoke your subpoena."

With a feral grin of his own the Senator said, "Not a chance in hell." He barked an evil laugh then added, "If she doesn't show up, that's Contempt of Congress and I'll prosecute her to the full extent of the law for that."

General Lefcourt leaned forward and growled, "You have any idea what consequences of your actions could cost Earth Alliance and EarthForce itself?"

Before Senator Maistroff could answer, General Lefcourt cut him off and growled, "Admiral Sterling's fully prepared to resign her commission and her citizenship Senator and walk over to Sentinels Alliance Foreign Minister Roy Hunter and join the Sentinels Alliance. How'd that look for your fucking optics? Forcing a living legend like Miriya Sterling to quit EarthForce and join the Sentinels Alliance?! Right in the middle of a war for our fucking survival!"

The man paled briefly as he took that news in. He stammered, "Sh-sh-she wouldn't dare!"

Nodding his head General Lefcourt snarled, "You better fucking believe she would! Hell I spoke with her less than an hour ago and she was all set to give me her stars and walk away! So, Senator I'm telling you right now, your little show is coming to an end, you are going to revoke that subpoena!"

Finding some measure of resolve the Senator shook his head. "No, no Robert I will not. This is a bluff, she wouldn't dare resign her commission! Join the Sentinels Alliance!? Bullshit! Now you tell her to get her ass down here for her testimony in the morning. And GET OUT OF MY OFFICE!"

General Lefcourt shook his head, "No, Leonard I don't think so." He pushed a button on his link and an instant later the Senator's computer chirped. General Lefcourt gestured to the computer, "You should check that."

With a look of sarcasm on his face Senator Maistroff tapped his computer and looked what was on the screen. His face turned multiple shades of red and purple. "What the fuck is this?"

General Lefcourt said, "That? That's just a taste Senator...an appetizer. I have a seven course meal all set for you to eat however I'm sure you're not going to like the taste of it. You think Donald Zimmerman and people like him are the only ones who have shit on you? Senator, you aren't that lucky." He pushed another button on his link and the Senator's face turned red. "That one, that's going to go to your wife."

The Senator looked at General Lefcourt in a face of rage. "You son of a bitch! How dare you! I'm a Senator of Earth Alliance! I'm one of the ranking leaders of my Party!"

With a shark like smile on his face General Lefcourt asked, "Do you say that to all the people that have you by the balls? Leonard, I don't just have you by the balls, I have you by the throat as well and all I have to do is send just one of these", he tapped his link and the computer chimed multiple times. "to the media, to the Senate Ethics Committee, to your wife and you're fucked six ways from Sunday. Revoke the subpoena or face what's coming and no one is going to come running to your rescue. You'll be sitting in a court room facing all kinds of charges that are not going to just disappear."

General Lefcourt stood up and added, "By the way, that offer expires in sixty seconds."

Senator Leonard Maistroff snarled, "I'm going to make it my mission to destroy you General. That's a promise."

"Senator, I've made more enemies, better enemies in fact than you that you can shake a stick at, you can't do jack shit to me. I'm the military commander that brought the idea of using Robotechnology again, that sent Captain Sheridan and many brave men and women to bring that technology back to Earth. I'm the military commander that sent Miriya Sterling and her few Veritechs over to Sestun that delivered the second military victory against the Minbari. I'm the military commander that ordered Miriya Sterling and our allied Grand Admiral Kazianna Hesh to attack Minbari worlds and our forces won. I'm the military commander that's going to lead EarthForce, Earth Alliance, and her allies to victory. Unlike you, my popularity is at an all time high now."

General Lefcourt pointed his finger at the Senator while continuing, "You on the other hand, yours has crashed and is still showing signs of dropping, I have no doubt that Mister Zimmerman's going to be worrying about his company's stock price and the PR war that he and the rest of his family now have to wage to worry about making sure you win reelection. In fact, I bet if you tried to call him right now, either he wouldn't answer or it'd go straight to voice mail. You should announce that you're not running for reelection while you still have some tiny sense of dignity. Your political career's done, I'd wish you luck in the private sector but I don't think you're hireable at this time or in the future."

Bringing the hand that had his link up to his chest he brought his other hand with his index finger above one of the buttons. "Offer is running out of time Senator, what's it going to be?"

With a snarl on his face Senator Leonard Maistroff growled, "Fine, you win. I will rescind the subpoena." He tapped some keys on his computer, bringing up the list of people scheduled to testify and he removed Miriya Sterling's name from the list and marked the subpoena as being rescinded on his authority. General Lefcourt watched the Senator do it and made sure that everything was saved and updated.

Looking extremely angry Senator Maistroff growled, "There, it's done."

With a look of satisfaction on his face General Lefcourt placed both hands on the front of the Senator's desk and leaned forward, bringing his face close to the Senator. "I don't know why you had to be so difficult about this, all you had to do was do as I asked you to. But you had to be a pain in the ass over this. I've got a fucking war to win Leonard! Miriya Sterling is a living legend and one of our best weapons to use against the Minbari and you want her out of the service!? So, for making me waste my fucking time…you can explain things to your wife when you get home." He tapped a button on his link then said, "I'll see you in the morning at the hearing Senator."

General Lefcourt picked up the device, put it in his uniform jacket pocket, then straightened up and left the room. Senator Maistroff was dumbstruck as he took in the last few words of what General Lefcourt said. He stood up and screamed, "General! Get back here! GENERAL!"

But it was too late, the General had left the office and was well on his way back to the War Room. As Leonard Maistroff was stewing in anger, his personal phone line was ringing and the identifier displayed his wife's name. Leonard Maistroff slumped into his office chair and brought a hand to his face. His personal phone continued to ring.

---

Sestun System

Second Robotech Fleet

Eisenhower Class Battleship Damocles

General Sam Carter walked onto the bridge of his flagship, the Eisenhower class Damocles. He'd dispensed with the "General on deck" introduction as he didn't need it every time he entered the room.

Walking up to his second, Colonel Steven Smith he asked the dark skinned officer, "Any sign of the Minbari?"

Colonel Smith turned to look at his senior officer and shook his head while saying, "No sir, not a peep. They've made a point of destroying all the probes we put in hyperspace that would give us a warning that they were coming but since then it's been a whole lot of nothing."

General Carter folded his arms and shook his head. With a cross between a sigh and a growl he said, "This is damn peculiar. They've played this kind of mind game before, destroying probes and then not attacking for an hour or two but they're more than eighteen hours late. They've never waited this long before." The man rubbed his chin in thought as he paced around the holotable that was showing the entire Sestun star system.

The fifty seventh fleet was on their way back to Earth where they would dock the ships and all the personnel would move to the Robotech Factory and begin Robotech warship operational training and the Starfury pilots would start on Veritech training. As they left, they did a sweep for signs of Minbari activity or presence but their sensors didn't find anything.

Now General Carter was watching the sensor data that showed the probes they had in hyperspace being destroyed ever since they'd arrived in the Sestun system. Previously when the Minbari destroyed probes and ships in hyperspace the Minbari generally attacked within an hour to three hours afterwards. Once they waited six hours which gave the civilians false hope and the Minbari attack that followed was especially brutal.

Now, it's more than eighteen hours since the last probe was destroyed and General Carter was left wondering what the Minbari were doing.

Colonel Smith said, "Maybe they turned around and went back home after we hit their worlds?"

General Carter shook his head once then said, "Maybe, but I doubt it. Something's not right. Thankfully the colony is evacuated...but it's not like the Minbari would know that."

Colonel Smith asked, "Your orders sir?"

General Carter replied, "Get on the horn to HQ, tell them the Minbari are late and see if they have any new intel. Set the fleet to alert status two."

Colonel Smith answered, "Aye, sir." He gave a salute and left to carry out the orders.

As he left General Carter rubbed his chin and thought, 'Where are you, you bastards?'

---

Aboard The Fires Of Minbar

In Hyperspace Transit to Frontier Colony

The Shargoti Class Battlecruiser Fires of Minbar was leading the fleet of warships towards their objective, the Human colony of Frontier and was very close to their target. Having used their skills and knowledge of hyperspace travel they bypassed Sestun after making the Humans think that they were coming back there for revenge. The commander of the fleet, Shai Alyt Sineval walked onto the central command center of the mighty warship.

The Second saw Sineval walk in and gave a respectful bow to his superior. "Shai Alyt, we are close to our target. We will arrive slightly earlier than scheduled by about twenty minutes."

Sineval gave an affirmative grunt. "What of Alyt Coran's fleet? Will they be attacking Delta at the same time as we attack Frontier?

The Second replied, "Yes Shai Alyt, they will be there on time. We can coordinate our attacks to be simultaneous."

Sineval was looking at various screens and asked, "Have the Humans detected our approach?"

The Second shook his head saying, "No Shai Alyt, they have not."

Sineval nodded with satisfaction. "Good." Sineval looked at the Warrior manning the communication station. "Contact Alyt Coran, I would speak with him."

A quick acknowledgment and the Alyt was on a screen. "Shai Alyt, we are near Delta colony, we will be able to attack at the same time as you launch your attack on Frontier colony."

Sineval nodded and said, "So I was informed. Very good Alyt Coran, we will launch our attack at the same time."

Coran bowed his head slightly. "As you command Shai Alyt."

Sineval said, "I want no survivors, do not let any escape, do not let them call for help. Slaughter the animals, do not give them a chance to get within firing range."

Coran bowed his head again, "As you command Shai Alyt. We will kill all the Humans. None shall escape our justice. However, I must ask...what if the Humans have the new ships they used against us at Sh'Lekk'Tha and Eshar?"

Sineval said, "I doubt you will have to face them, Delta is remote. Use your best judgment but if you can capture one of their new ships, the Grey Council and the Clan Elders will reward you greatly."

"As you say, Shai Alyt.", Alyt Coran responded.

Sineval nodded and looked satisfied. "Good, you will rendezvous with my fleet in hyperspace at the next beacon. Our probes are meeting with success as they move through the Human's hyperspace lane. We will move on to the next colony, Kandhi."

Coran said, "Yes Shai Alyt."

Sineval ordered, "Contact me when you are ready to jump and make your attack."

Coran bowed slightly and said, "As you command, Shai Alyt."

The communication closed and Sineval looked at the navigational readings. Soon, they would be making their attack jump and they would destroy the Humans at Frontier colony and get a measure of justice for the deaths of so many Minbari and for the death of Dukhat.

---

Frontier System

Sentinels Alliance Ship Z40187

The Zentraedi Queadol Magdomilla class Fleet Command Medium Battleship didn't have a name, it had an initial and a number. It was acting as the flagship for the Sentinels Alliance task group that had been sent by Grand Admiral Kazianna Hesh to act as a defensive force to replace the EarthForce fleet that had been defending the Frontier colony. The EarthForce fleet had returned to Earth so they could train up on Robotech warship and Veritech operations and the Sentinels Alliance fleet would protect the colony until EarthForce could send trained personnel in Robotech warships to defend the colony once more.

Frontier colony was on a hyperspace hub route. The route led to Sestun, Delta, and Luminous Valley 427 or LV-427 for short and it was the route deeper into Earth Alliance space where the colony directly behind Frontier was Kandhi. Beyond Kandhi were more colonies that would eventually lead to the Sol system, specifically the Io jump gate.

In command of the two hundred mixed fleet of Zentraedi warships in the flagship that was identifed by its hull number Z40187 was a female Garudan with the rank of Fleet Captain. The EarthForce equivalent rank of Commodore. She was tall for her species with jet black fur covering her body. She wore her Sentinels Alliance uniform with her breathing apparatus on top of it. Her name was Laera, and she was feeling very anxious. Her senses were telling her something was about to happen.

Fleet Captain Laera walked onto the command blister of her flagship and said, "Status report."

Her second in command, Captain Rol was a Spherisian male. The Spherisian had a dark purple smooth rock like appearance and his eyes were violet. Rol turned slightly to face his superior officer and said, "Nothing new to report, Fleet Captain. All ships report statuses are green, latest simulation numbers are here." He handed a tablet over to the Garudan and she took it from him.

Laera looked at the data and hummed in thought. "Definite improvement for sure but I know we can do better."

Rol nodded, "Yes, ma'am."

"Anything from the colony?", Laera asked.

Rol replied, "Just the usual traffic, nothing special. The governor reiterated her thanks for defending the colony and has offered a dinner engagement in the next day or two. I thanked her for the invitation and would inform you of it and we would reply soon."

Laera nodded. "We shall accept of course. Friendly relations need to be built and maintained."

Suddenly an alarm sounded and the Karbarran sensor officer down on the main floor of the bridge announced, "Jump points opening! Multiple jump points are opening!"

Fleet Captain Laera ordered, "Show me!"

A screen appeared in mid air showing jump point vortexes opening and ships that they quickly recognized as Minbari were emerging.

The sensor officer announced, "We've got one hundred sixty Minbari warships ma'am! Range eight hundred fifty thousand kilometers!" Then another sound chirped from his station. He held up his hand and called out, "Status change! Ten Minbari warships emerging at the jump gate! Total Minbari warships one hundred seventy Fleet Captain!"

Laera began issuing orders, "Bring the fleet to red alert status! Contact the Colony and tell them to get to shelters! Contact EarthForce HQ along with Grand Admiral Hesh and inform them we are under attack by the Minbari!"

Alarm klaxons sounded throughout the ship causing crew members to run to their battle stations. Pilots rushed to get to the hangars to man their mecha. The address system announced, "All personnel to your battle stations! This is no a drill! Pilots, man your mecha! Repeat! All personnel to your battle stations! This is no drill! Pilots man your mecha!" This was repeated throughout the two hundred warship fleet.

The communication officer announced "Fleet Captain, the Minbari are jamming all communications and we can't reach the Colony ma'am. Earth Alliance didn't supply the colony with a FoldCom yet, so we can't talk to them except through their current communication system and the Minbari are jamming it."

Laera cursed in Garudan. "I'm sure they can take a hint. Contact EarthForce HQ and Grand Admiral Hesh!" Then she ordered, "I want these ships here", she pointed at icons that marked the ships that were part of her fleet off and continued, "to intercept those ships at the jump gate. The rest of the fleet we're going to cut the larger force off. Have the Gun Destroyers move to the outer edge of our formation and order them to charge their reflex cannon and prepare to fire. Let's move out!"

"Grand Admiral Hesh acknowledges your message Fleet Captain, she just said, 'Good luck and good hunting!'", the communication officer said.

Ten seconds later, the Praxian communication officer announced, "I have General Fontaine from EarthForce!"

Laera ordered, "Put him through!"

A screen appeared to float in front of the command blister that Laera and Rol were standing in. General Alan Fontaine looked concerned as he said, "Fleet Captain Laera, your communications officer says the Minbari have arrived in Frontier."

Laera replied, "Yes General, may I ask where is General Lefcourt?"

General Fontaine replied, "He was getting some sleep in his office, he worked until pretty early this morning and he had a busy day ahead so he was trying to get some sleep. He's being alerted right now but he'll be a while before getting here. Now, give me the details."

Laera nodded and said, "Yes General. We have a total of one hundred seventy ships, sir. Ten of them have emerged from the jump gate, thankfully there are no ships are near the jump gate at this time but I'm sending twenty ships to intercept and the rest of my fleet are going to cut off the larger Minbari fleet and destroy them."

General Fontaine shook his head, "This makes no sense...the Minbari were supposed to hit Sestun, not Frontier. General Carter's reported no contact from the Minbari since they destroyed Sestun's hyperspace probes."

Laera responded with her arms folded across her chest. "Then it looks like they deceived you General because I'm looking at almost two hundred Minbari ships coming in hard to the colony."

General Fontaine gave a grunt in response. "Noted. Can you defeat them?"

Laera nodded and replied, "Easily."

"Then good luck Fleet Captain. I'll inform General Lefcourt. Contact EarthForce HQ when the battle is over.", General Fontaine said as he nodded his head in approval.

"Thank you General." The communication closed and the screen vanished.

Captain Rol was taking in reports from across the fleet and he announced to Fleet Captain Laera, "Fleet Captain, the fleet reports all battle stations are manned and ready. Pilots are in their mecha, ready to launch on your orders."

Laera nodded in satisfaction. "Very good, Captain Rol." Then she looked down at her Praxian communication officer and she ordered, "Open a channel to the Minbari."

After a moment the Praxian woman announced, "They're jamming the EarthForce frequencies, I can't get through the jamming."

"Then record a message and broadcast it in the clear, I'm sure they'll hear this.", Laera said.

"Ready, Fleet Captain.", the Praxian woman declared.

Laera began, "To Minbari Commander, this is the Sentinels Alliance Commander in system. I am Fleet Captain Laera of the Sentinels Alliance. This Earth Alliance system is under Sentinels Alliance protection, take your ships and go back to Minbari space or I will destroy every ship you have from ranges you cannot hope to attack me from." She gave a cutting gesture with her hand then said, "Send it."

"Sending now.", her communication officer declared.

The Karbarran sensor officer announced, "The larger Minbari fleet has increased speed Fleet Captain."

Nodding in satisfaction she said, "Looks like they heard me after all. Increase speed to full! Stand by to launch mecha! Gimme a time to gun range!"

Another officer called out, "Five minutes until firing range!"

Laera swept her arm across her chest and pointed outwards. "Launch all mecha! Send them in! Primary targets are Minbari fighters, but once they clean their clocks, they are to target the enemy warships! Let's give them a full missile salvo like the old days!"

"Detecting fighter launches! Enemy is launching fighters Fleet Captain!", the sensor officer declared.

"How many?", Captain Rol asked.

"Just over one thousand four hundred!"

Various crew members looked at each other as that declaration was announced. Fleet Captain Laera and Captain Rol looked at each other in surprise. "That's it? That's all they have launched?", both Laera and Rol asked at the same time.

"Yes, Fleet Captain.", replied the Karbarran sensor officer.

In response, the fleet of one hundred eighty Zentraedi warships that were moving towards the large Minbari fleet at full speed belched out several thousand mecha. From modified Gnerl fighter pods, Shadow Alphas, Shadow Betas, VF-171 Nightmare Plus, VF-25 Messiah, there were close five thousand four hundred mecha streaking out towards the incoming Minbari fighter swarm. Laera lamented that they didn't have enough pilots to crew all the mecha that were on each ship other wise the number would have been far greater.

Laera gave a feral smile. She was going to enjoy this.

Author's Note: And there we go! Sorry to leave you all with this cliffhanger but the muse told me to do it. So, here we are with a lot of words for you. The muse got mad at me for calling her names apparently as she kicked my door down, and started screaming at me to type many words. So I just nodded my head and started typing until she told me to stop. Anyway, given that the holidays are around the corner these are the last words for this story for the year 2022. More words for this story will return in 2023 (Hopefully! The muse is still being fickle.). If anyone would have told me that I would write over two hundred thousand words for a single story in a year I'd have laughed at you but here we are and I am amazed at myself that I did this. Thank you all for joining me on this ride.