Macross Altered Destiny
Chapter two
10:00 GST March 15th 2060AD
SDFC-1 Macross UN SPACY Expiditonary fleet 3 In orbit around Eruta IV
Tenchi Masaki found himself surprisingly busy. There had been diplomatic meetings at Eruta IV with the local government and also waiting for Galaxy Police to arrive to pick up the pirates who attacked the system. Apparently they were a branch from the Daruma guild.
"Daruma? Well, that explains what a joke they were," Ryouko noted
"They have a poor reputation?" Ayeka asked
"Oh yeah." Ryouko nodded.
"Trouble enough though," Tenchi noted.
"Indeed." Ayeka nodded.
As they were talking, their liason officer entered the room to give another update from the captain. Catching the last bit of that their dark haired liason officer frowned. "Who are the Daruma guild."
"Ah. Lieutenant Satori. Um well they're..." Tenchi sweatdropped.
"Bunch of not so good pirates who've been roaming around this sector of space for some time." Ryouko noted.
"...and you knew about these guys?" Lieutenant Nova Satori frowned. "I think the Captain might have wanted to know."
"You didn't call for us when you came upon them though did you?" Ryouko grinned.
"No we didn't..." Nova Satori sighed.
"I guess we should brief the Captain about them," Tenchi noted.
"Perhaps we should call on Seina too...if he's not on a mission." Ayeka noted.
"True." Tenchi nodded. They unfortunately couldn't contact Seina because he was elsewhere in the galaxy. So they had to brief Misa on what they knew about the pirate guilds.
"Piracy is HOW bad?"
"Very bad ma'am," Ayeka frowned then sighed. "They hit our courier ships quiet frequently. The ships that struck the garrison two days ago belong to the Daruma guild. One of 15 pirate organizations in the galaxy.
"Space is big, lots of room for pirates to escape in." Ryouko noted.
"So what your saying is they could attack the new settlements?" Misa frowned.
"Yup. Or supply ships, courier ships and the like." Ryouko nodded. "They'll mostly go for goods and leave casualties to a minimum."
"Well that's some good news at least." Misa frowned.
"Most of the pirates KNOW if they go too far, we'd commit to wiping them out," Ryoko added.
"Would pirates directly attack our fleet?" Misa asked
"They're not that dumb." Ryouko drawled.
"Hm. Could you put together some info on the pirate groups?" Misa asked.
"That'd take a bit of time but sure." Tenchi nodded.
"They also move around a lot, so... " Ryoko shrugged
"I see." Misa sighed. "Well thanks for the briefing. Shall we call upon you if we encounter more of these pirates?"
"Please. I wanna kick ass," Ryoko grinned
"I MEAN, for negotiations."
"Oh. That." Ryouko sighed then nodded looking bored. "Yeah. Fine. Whatever."
Meanwhile in a briefing room...
"These are the schematics we came up with," The tech said as she rolled out the blueprints for the new fastpacks One was a standard booster while the other had a double barrelled laser cannon. The other had a normal set of boster packs with the additon of two beam cannons on its wing roots.
"Ooooh, BIG Guns. I likey." Dustine and Nanoha grinned.
"Down you two." Fate sighed.
"Heating issues are gonna be a bitch," one pilot noted
"So wil be energy and fuel drain." Fate nodded.
"Indeed. That means return trips to the carriers for refueling." Dustine nodded.
"It might be a trade off that we'll have to deal with." Izzy noted.
"Also bad news for Fate: the fully equipped fighters will probably be slower."
"NO," Fate looked offended
"Sorry. Thats the breaks Testarossa." Another pilot shrugged.
"You can always drop the fast packs you know." Nanoha noted.
"But you'll have to return sooner to the deck rather than later." Dustine noted.
"That's true..." Fate sighed.
"How soon can we see the new gear..." Nanoha asked.
"Soon. We have a few prototypes being built now." The tech nodded.
"Prototypes... so they need to be field tested, THEN we get them?" Dustine noted
"Pretty much. Plus there may be some redesigns too."
"UGH..."
"But guess who gets to field test them..." The tech turned to Nanoha's team.
"Oooh." Nanoha and Fate grinned.
"Please don't break the prototypes." The tech sighed.
"We wooon't." Nanoha's squadron promised.
"Or get yourselves killed."
"Like THAT would ever happen!"
"Just be careful with the equipment okay." The tech sighed.
"Yeesss..." The group agreed.
Meanwhile...
Sparks looked up from his desk to see Nala, one of the Praxian marines grinning down at him.
"Uh, hi?" Dan managed nervously
"Hi. That was some quick thinking earlier." Nala nodded.
"I was just doing my job," Dan waved it off
"Is this a Earth thing? You do well, then you downplay it?" Nala asked curiously.
"Well, pretty much," Dan admitted
"Strange." Nala hummed.
In all the confusion, I forgot to check if your teams were all fine," Dan admitted
"Well, there were a few injuries but nothing major," Nala noted.
"That's good to hear. I know it got crazy in the mines..." Dan mused
"Thanks for sending that drone to help with the two pirates." Nala smiled
"It was just luck I saw that... and I'm in trouble for destroying the drone," Dan admitted sheepishly.
"Thanks for sending that drone to help with the two pirates." Nala smiled
"It was just luck I saw that... and thank goodness the drone was armed," Dan admitted
"What would you have done if you didn't?" Nala asked.
"Distracted them...or smacking them with the drone." Dan shrugged.
Nala laughed.
Dan laughed nervously.
"This may be an odd question but...do you want to go out when our shift is done?" Nala asked. "We won't be shipping out for the next system until tommorrow."
"I've got nothing planned for off duty," Dan admitted.
"Good! I'll pick you up." Nala smiled
Nanoha blinked as her phone cherped. "Dan?"
"Nanoha-senpai, you have to help me! I have a DATE!" Dan yelped.
"Yes? And?" Nanoha giggled
"WHAT IO I DO?"
Nanoha chuckled then answered the panicking man "Calm down calm down. Now, who do you have a date with?"
"Nala. She's a Praxian officer I worked with planetside..." Dan explained
"Well, Praxians are casual off duty," Nanoha mused. "So a dress shirt, nice trousers for you."
"Okay thanks Nanoha Senpai." Dan nodded then asked. "Anything else?"
"Bring her flowers! Girls like flowers." Fate suggested.
"She's a PRAXIAN, dear. Bring her a sword or a nice gun." Nanoha sighed.
Fate nodded. "Hmm. Point."
Dan laughed nervously. "I don't think a resturant would let me carry one of those in casually.
"It might be a bit much for a first date," Nanoha added
"Well I wish you luck...and don't let her size intimidate you. Some Praxians are really gentle when you get to know them.
"Thank you for your help," Dan added as he hung up.
"She's gonna break him in half," Fate mused
"Fate!"
"What. It's true..." Fate shrugged.
"Ah lieutenant you came." Nala grinned as Dan stepped into the cafe. She was wearing a beige tunic over her form and was wearing some footware and some jewelry around her wrists.
"Hi Nala." Dan smiled.
"Sorry I couldn't pick you up," Nala added, "I had a discipline issue."
"Oh?" Dan blinked.
"Yeah I had to discipline Gwen for being out of line with a pirate." Nala sighed.
"I see." Dan nodded.
"Well yes...I was thinking of giving you a flower too..." Dan noted then admitted. "But I decided against it."
"Oh well I think these flowers are pretty so I wouldn't mind one or two as a gift next time." Nala smiled.
"Lets go inside shall we." Dan nodded as he held onto the bouqet.
"Let's," Nala agreed as they walked in. It wasn't too busy, and they were quickly seated/
A few minutes go by and a waitress trots over.
"Hi, what can we get you?" she beamed
Dan orders a sandwich, Nala orders a side of beef. The waitress trotted off and soon came back with their food.
"Thank you!" Nala beamed at the waitress then glanced at Dan. "You're paying, right?"
Dan chokes on his food
"Kidding! Kidding..." Nala giggled
Dan sipped his soda, a bit surprised she hadn't ordered beer.
"I would have a beer, but I'm on shift tomorrow," Nala pouted
"Same." Dan nodded.
That also means we can't stay up too late... too bad, I was curious how your endurance was," Nala added
Dan blushed furiously
"At running sillly." She nudged him.
"Oh I thought you meant..." Dan blushed a bit.
"Nope thats for a later date that we can determine together." Nala winked
"O-okay." Dan nodded and blushed a lot.
"Not that I mind wrestling too," Nala teased
Dan blushed again
10:00AM March 17th 2060AD Pallas 3, Pallas Delta system
The Concorida's fleet defolded in front of a blue green temperate world known as Pallas 3. Knife like ships guarded the planet. There was a heavy presence of UGSN ships here but that was due to the fact that Pallas 3 has a robust shipyard for The United Kingdoms of Serenity. Most were a mixture of knife like Corback and Talbot ships and a few Tristar class Battleships from New Belka.
"Do you think the pirates would strike here?" Claudia glanced over at her shoulder.
"Well?" Misa glanced over her shoulder at Ayeka.
"Here? At Pallas 3?" Ayeka blinked then frowned. "They'd be foolish to try."
"Yeah those knife like ships aren't anything to sneeze at." Ryouko frowned.
"At some point we need to get a guide to Galactic vessels," Misa mused
"Sorry to say there isn't one, officially," Ayeka noted.
"Agreed." Misa nodded then turned to the communication officer. "Sasami hail the garrison fleet."
"Yes ma'am." Sasami nodded. "Ah. SDFC-4 to local defense fleet. We've arrived as planned. Over."
Moments later what appeared to be a young woman appeared on screen. She had blonde hair pulled into two braids and a bun on the back of her head. She was wearing a UKSRN uniform. "Greetings, I am Commander Gawain
Pendragon of the 31st garrison."
Several girls squeed from down below.
"So handsome."
"So cool!"
"That happens every time a new group comes here," Gawain sighed.
"Sorry about that, Commander," Misa chuckled then nodded. "We're here on a diplomatic mission to strengthen ties with our allies.
"I'm aware. We have shelters at the ready for the refugees." Artoria nodded.
All right," Artoria continued, "my staff will confer with yours over how we'll organize the refugees."
"Right. Utena asked "Are there any other issues, besides the refugees?"
"Lord Tenchi is scheduled to meet with Lord and Lady Pendragon tommorrow." Ayeka nodded..
"I'll had the diplomatic staff organize the meeting," Ayeka added
"Isn't that you?" Ryouko teased.
"WE HAVE LIMITED STAFF, OK?!" Ayeka grumped "When's the meeting."
"Tommorrow morning." Artoria nodded.
""We'll be fine," Ayeka said confidently to Artoria
"I look forward to hearing about this later," Utena murmured.
Meanwhile..
"Lady Nero..." Haruko Kishinami walked into the blondes office.
"Umu!" Nero Pendragon, younger sister of Artoria Pendragon glanced over at the brown haired woman approaching. "What is it Haruko-san?"
"The UN SPACY fleet has arrived in orbit and are about to offload the refugees." Haruko nodded.
"Good. Lets make sure the buildings and the shelters are ready." Nero nodded.
"Will do ma'am," Haruko nodded.
"Right!" Nero grinned dissapeared into her closet and got on her traveling clothes."
"Um...Milady?" Haruko blinked. "What are you doing?"
"Going to check the shelters with you." Nero smiled.
"Really?" Haruko blinked.
"Umu!" Nero Claudia Pendragon nodded.
"Um. Ma'am. We have a meeting with the Juraian delegates on the SDF-1 at two."
"We can do both." Nero shrugged casually
"NO WE CAN'T." Haruko frowned.
There was a long pause before Nero whipped around and stamped her foot and pouted. "UMUUUU!"
"You can wear that new outfit...," Haruko suggested
Nero brightened, "Oh, right!"
"In the mean time." Haruko walked over to her and handed the small list of paperwork.
"I hate paper work." Nero frowned.
"No leader likes paperwork." Haruko sighed.
"PLEEEEEESE can we just go out and DO something?" Nero pleaded.
"No. Start signing." Haruko shook her head.
"Umu..." Nero pouted.
1200GST Port side shuttlebay..
Vita inspected her troops. They were assigned to guard the delegates aboard who were also ambassadors from Earth and Jurai. She looked over each one. Nodding in approval then smirked when she saw Sparks.
Vita nodded to Dan, "How was you date, rookie?"
Dan blushed, "Uhm..."
"Ha. Anyway..."
"Don't worry don't worry..." tapped him lightly in the arm
"Thanks ma'am," Dan nodded.
"Alright listen up. We're about to escort some VIPs for a diplomatic meeting." Vita addressed her team. "There's been more activity recently from Akio Ohtori's faction on Ohtori..."
"What sort of activity?"
"We can't prove it, but it looks like he's funding the seperatist movement..." Vita said. "And they consider Tenchi a target, it seems."
"Hmm."
"In any case we'll be on guard when he arrives while he's at the palace and when he leaves." Vita nodded.
"Understood. Special gear?" another officer asked
"Standard gear..." Vita noted then nodded. "We'll be working with Lady Pendragon's security forces and her personal security team."
"I hear they've got new gear and equipment," A soldier noted.
"Heck, Prince Tenchi could be protecting US if it goes really bad..."
"His wives aren't a slouch either."
"Remind me not to piss off Ryoko. Or Ayeka really."
"Any rate, we'll be dropping down in an hour with the ambassadors in a seperate shuttle," Vita noted "We'll stay on site and will escort them to the shuttle before we leave the planet. We'll be getting a variable fighter escort too."
"Who...?"
"Hey, there's the pilots for the fighter escort," Dan noticed
"Vita," Nanoha nodded respectfully.
"Takamachi." Vita nodded.
"So we're going to heading down shortly." Nanoha nodded.
"Yeah. I understand you'll be doing a close escort?" Vita clarified
"Not THAT close, but yes," Nanoha agreed.
"Very well...are you returning to base after?" Vita asked her
"No we're staying in the air until you get back."
"Good. Hopefully we won't need it, but it's comforting having you guys there," Vita agreed.
"Keep your head down if something does happen." Nanoha nodded.
"Heh. You know I don't play it safe." Vita grinned and rested her hammer against her shoulder.
"Vita..." Nanoha sighed.
"In any case, we'll grab the delegates if things get bad and bring em back to the spaceport," Vita explained their extraction plan. "We'll need you to cover our egress from the planet in case anyone has a aerospace craft."
"And if it gets really bad?" Nanoha asked.
"Grab Tenchi, Ayeka and Ryoko and GO. We're expendable," Vita shrugged
"Hopefully it won't come to that." Nanoha sighed.
Later..
Vita and company trotted off the shuttle and towards a series of mechs lined up on either side of the welcoming committee. They were all gun metal grey mobile armors with a mechanized torso and tank treads.
"Are those the new USK mechs?" Dan blinked.
"Yeah. The RTX-95 Guntank," Vita nodded then mused. "We'll be fielding them soon, too, along side our destroids."
"Huh." Dan nodded.
"When they told us they'll be meeting us with their honor guard...I didn't think they'd include their mechs." Rook Bartley noted.
"Probably showing off their livery," Vita nodded.
"Hopefully they won't do a 21 gun salute," Dan sighed.
"Aye." Vita nodded then radioed the delegates shuttle. "All clear."
There was a pause and the delegates stepped off their shuttle craft. Vita smiled and nodded to Tenchi, Ayeka and Ryouko. "Good day. We're here as your guards."
"Hm. Oh, its the troop that dealt with the pirates the other day." Ryouko hummed thoughtfully.
"Yes." Vita nodded.
"You SERIOUSLY think they'll just jump us?" Ryoko had to ask
"It could happen." Vita shrugged.
"Well I hope it doesn't," Ayeka frowned.
"Neither do we," Vita nodded.
They walked forward to where several staffmembers flanked Nero Pendragon. Haruko stood by close.
"Hey! Wazzup!" Nero waved
"What."
"Isn't that a traditional Earth greeting? I saw it on TV."
"Not really..." Tenchi sweatdropped.
"Umu..." Nero pouted..
Nero's assistant sigh, "I am so terribly sorry..."
"Thats alright." Tenchi laughed nervously.
"Well, it's good to meet cha. I'm Nero Pendragon," she introduced herself
"Nice to meet you too. I'm Tenchi Masaki." Tenchi replied.
"I'm Ryoko, this tightass over here is Ayeka." Ryoko waved
"RYOKO." Ayeka frowned.
As they chatted the honor guard stood back letting them introduce each other.
"Air guard, all clear?" Vita asked quietly
"Clear," Nanoha reported. "Well, Dustine killed a local pigeon by accident..."
"Hey." Dustine retorted. "It dropped out from a cloud. I couldn't dodge."
"Everything ok down there?" Fate asked
"Well, Nero's cut away dress is damn distracting. Nice panties tho," Vita noted
"Eeep she's waving it around in front of Tenchi. Ryouko and Ayeka are getting red."
Haruko, sensing everyones discomfort, wordlessly bonked Nero on the crown of her head.
"Owww." Nero pouted.
"Stop it. The delegates are getting mad." Haruko whispered.
"Umu..." Nero pouted.
"Lets get going." Haruko nodded and turned to the delegates from the Galactic Alliance. "Come with us. We'll start our meeting shortly."
Moments later, one of the guntanks's toso like turret slowly trained on the guests and Nero. Vita blinked then tched.
The unit commander also noticed the guntank aiming its guns at the guests and Nero and spoke up. "Unit Four what are you doing?!'
"Point that elsewhere," Vita demanded.
Ryouko blinked looked over the tched too as she pulled both Tenchi and Ayeka close. Likewise Haruko tugged Nero off to the side. The other tanks backed away from unit four.
"I'll say that again. Point that elsewhere!" Vita ordered.
"Unit Four stand down! I repeat stand down!"
The rest of the unit began to react, turrets turning towards the rogue unit.
"Behind me," Tenchi ordered, bringing up the lighthawk wings.
Thankfully a group of destroids piled onto the mech. One of the Spartan destroids rips off the guntanks hatch and pulls the pilot free.
The pilot squirmed in the mechs hand. "Let go of me...this is my right! I want to free Ohtori!"
"Yeah, yeah. You're under arrest."
"Are you all right?" Vita trotted over to the group.
"We're fine." Ayeka nodded then frowned at Nero. "Has this ever happened before."
"No. We haven't had an interloper in the honor guard ever." Nero frowned.
"Perhaps you should do a personnel check." Ryoko arched an eye.
"Good thinking." Nero nodded, looked at Tenchi then grinned. "That shield thing was AWSOME."
"Uh thanks."
"Show me again!" Nero demanded of Tenchi.
"Sorry. Emergencies only."
"Umu." Nero sighed
"Lets get to the palace before something else happens." Haruko noted.
"What happened down there...?" Nanoha demanded.
"One tanker tried to attack the delegates and Nero." Vita replied. "It's already been handled by the MPs."
"Don't they do background checks?!" Dustine asked.
"I'm sure they'll look into it..." Vita sighed. "We're about to go the palace where they'll have their meeting."
"Roger." Nanoha replied then nodded. "We'll move to our next way-point over the palace and refuel in the air for the return trip."
"Got it," Vita agreed, signed off then dialed another frequency. "Let me speak to the Commodore."
A short time later...
"Someone tried to sabotage the meeting? Lisa frowned.
"Yes...and as we suspected it was someone from Ohtori." Vita nodded then sighed. "Or they claimed they were from Ohtori."
"How did a assassin get that placement?" Claudia asked
"Its possible that he joined a while ago...and waited for his orders." Vita noted. She added, "They're looking into his background, now."
Lisa looked at Vita, "How would you rate your security teams?"
"They're quite good." Vita nodded.
"Anything you'd change?" Claudia wondered
"I'd appreciate a bit more prep time next time," Vita admitted. "If I had known there were going to be mechs, I'd have deployed our own."
"Your Reasoning?" Misa asked
"AS today's events showed, you cant completely rely on local forces," Vita shrugged
"It WOULD have been a incident if we shot UG officers, you know," Claudia pointed out
"Indeed." Misa nodded.
"Self defense," Vita shrugged.
"Still. Bad idea," Misa said firmly.
"Fair enough." Vita nodded.
Moments later, klaxon horns warbled throughout the ship.
"Excuse me," Misa barked as she left her desk and rushed to the door
"Right behind you," Vita added
Misa, Claudia and Vita trotted down the hall, up a flight of stairs and into the bridge. "Status!"
"Sensors detect unknown ships folding in!" The sensor operator replied.
Misa sat as she asked, "Check with traffic control. Was anyone expected to arrive?"
"On it." Sasami nodded and tried to contact traffic control. "Hm. Static?"
"Static?" Misa blinked then frowned. "Then that means..."
Moments later the unidentified ships started to attack the UGSN Garrison fleet
"That answers that..." Claudia frowned.
"I'm going down below deck." Vita grumbled.
"Launch fighters! Move to engage!" Misa ordered.
To be continued.