	Sign In Sign-Up

MUTABLE

*BEEP*

Ranma groaned. Her mouth tasted like the inside of a Valkyrie technician's glove. The inside of her head felt like Akane and her mallet had taken up permanent residence. And every time that stupid machine went *BEEP*, she'd thump him a good one. From inside, where she couldn't dodge.

"How is she, Doctor?"

Speak of the devil.

"She's fine. Bit of a concussion, and for some reason, her blood sugar count is fairly low. Probably too much time in an adrenaline rush."

"Good. I mean, it's good to hear. That she's okay, that is."

"Hey, Akane, don't worry." A new voice. "I told you, she's unkillable."

"Actually, you told me she's a fast healer."

"All the same. Oh, excuse me, Commander."

"Still, I wish she'd wake up. She's been out of it for three days."

Ranma decided that that was her cue. She opened her eyes. Then clamped them shut again.

"Ow! Oh, damn, that hurt..."

"Ranma?"

"Please...turn off that light."

"Um..."

Ranma tried opening her eyes again, more slowly this time. A fuzzy Akane-shaped person was leaning over him, a worried expression on her face. Ranma blinked, and the person came into focus, allowing her to confirm that yes, it was Akane.

"You dummy. You've had us all worried!"

"Hey..." She tried to say more, but the sound of her own voice was very painful. She looked around, and spotted Shoko and Commander Lisa Hayes. "Lisa! When did you get back?"

"Well...Rick and I managed to hijack an enemy battle pod when the Zentraedi ship jumped back to Earth space." She grinned. "We got to see all the excitement up close and personal."

"Great. Glad you're okay. Akane?"

"Yes, Ranma?"

"When can I get out of here?"

Lisa answered for Akane. "Your squadron isn't due for another patrol any time soon."

"Oh..." Ranma tried to sit up, but was firmly pushed back down by Akane.

"Forget it. The doc says you can leave tomorrow, provided you behave."

"Okay..." She was really too tired to argue at the moment. In fact, another nap seemed like just the ticket...

* * * * *

Ranma hit the rewind button, then the play button. Did it again. And again. Every time, the screen showed the same thing: Angel One simply appearing, in a brief flash of light, in the middle of the furball.

"Nope. Sorry. I have no idea what happened."

She was seated at a table, the projector in front of her. To her left was Roy Fokker; to the right, Captain Henry Gloval, Doctor Emil Lang, Colonel Edward Maistroff, and Commander Lisa Hayes.

Doctor Lang leaned forward. "Nonetheless, the instruments in your Valkyrie confirm what the Macross' sensors and those of the other Valkyries in the area detected; somehow, you executed a very short range Space Fold. Furthermore, you did so with a Valkyrie. Fold engines are not standard equipment on a variable fighter, and probably never will be."

"Hey, Doc, look. I'm tellin' the truth, okay? I got no idea how it happened. I was twelve minutes out of the fight, and then I was right in the middle of the fight. Like, poof. I don't remember how I got there. An' the next thing I knew after that was, that alien Amazon slammed me with about a hundred missiles."

"Eighty five, to be exact, not counting the ones you managed to shoot down before impact."

"Yeah, whatever. Look, how many times I gotta tell you that?"

"It is sufficient." Dr. Lang made a note on his datapad. "Perhaps the Kustonov Heat-Piles had something to do with it. Next: How is it you knew that the enemy pilot you faced was female?"

Ranma shrugged. "I dunno."

"Commander Hayes stated during her debriefing that the enemy forces included absolutely no females, that they were disgusted and appalled by the thought of dealing with females."

"I dunno. All I know is, the one that shot me down was a chick."

Someone at the table cleared their throat; Ranma didn't notice who, but figured she could make a good guess. ~Memo to me: Don't use the word 'chick' during a debriefing.~

Roy was fiddling with his own computer pad. "You stated that your rifle suffered a malfunction during the battle."

"Yep. If you can call blowing itself to fragments a 'malfunction.'"

"Is there any chance that the weapon had been damaged, either in combat or during the Space Fold?"

Ranma shrugged. "Yep, it is possible. I can't prove it any which way; the gun's floating off towards Neptune at the moment."

Doctor Lang shook his head. "We've had some problems with jamming on the GU-12. Since the rifle/cannon is still experimental, we haven't got all the bugs worked out yet. Most likely, the weapon simply misfired. After all, it still functioned after the Space Fold, yes?" Lang picked up the remote and pushed the play button. "There is also the matter of your fighter's increased maneuverability."

"Yeah, it did seem to respond better, though its speed and accelleration were--woah!" Ranma gaped at the screen. "No way. That can't be right."

Commander Hayes glanced down at her notes. "This tape was taken from Angel Fourteen's gun camera."

Ranma shook her head. "I don't get it. That's not how I remember the fight at all. Far as I could tell, I was mostly stationary." She waved a hand at the screen. "According to this, I was all over the sky. There's no way that coulda happened. I'd never have hit anything."

"Distances and speeds in a zero-gee environment can be difficult to judge."

Doctor Lang nodded. "It appears that converting your fighter to use the Heat Pile engines was a good plan. The new enemy Mecha encountered--" The screen changed, to show a still of one of the Powered Armour suits. "Clearly, this Mecha is one of their best. It is better armoured than anything we've encountered yet, and has a far greater payload. Not to mention more maneuverable." He tapped a button, and the screen began playing video again, showing one of the alien Powered Armour zipping through a formation of Valkyries. It didn't fire any weapons, just dodged some thirty missiles, causing several of them to hit each other, and one to actually strike the Valkyrie that had launched it. Next, it dove down towards the Macross, where a formation of Destroids was rushing to intercept it. It launched a swarm of missiles, blowing Destroids around like leaves, then paused to carve up the hull itself with a laser cannon.

Ranma twitched. As the gun camera footage stabilized, he managed to make out the markings on the enemy Mecha.

"That's her."

"Hmm?" Lang paused the tape, and turned to Ranma.

"That's the...the enemy pilot who shot me down. I recognize the markings." Ranma stood up and walked up to the screen. She pointed out two insignia on the image. "See this? And this? None of the others had anything like these markings. We've seen this one before. Occasionally, it turns up on the Officer's Battle Pod. I think we can assume it's a rank marking." She tapped the other marking. "And this one...I dunno."

Commander Hayes leaned forward. "Captain. Are you certain that this unit is the one that damaged your Valkyrie?"

"Yeah. That's her. No question."

Hayes turned to the rest of the board. "Gentlemen, I think it's safe to assume that this pilot is one of the elite."

"I think we've established that this new--"

"No, I mean elite even for this group." She stood and walked up to the image. "This pilot managed to fly right past the entire Blue Squadron, made them look like racing pylons. Did the same for their missiles. Engaged a company of Destroids, and defeated them all. And performed some sort of insertion mission against the fortress. And after that, flew back out past our pickets, to engage Captain Saotome." She walked back to the tabkle, picked up the remote and tapped a button. The image changed, back to Angel One. "Need I remind the board that Captain Saotome had engaged and destroyed six of these elite Mecha troops before their ace intervened, and singlehandedly defeated her in under twelve seconds?"

Ranma fumed. "She cheated. I was out of missiles."

Maistroff spoke for the first time. "Commander, while no-one hear is disputing your operational qualifications, I must remind you that you are not trained in intelligence analysis. In light of Captain Saotome's report, I think it's safe to say that this marking most likely denotes a female pilot."

Ranma blinked. ~That made little sense. Especially compared to what Lisa pointed out...~

Commander Hayes wasn't having any of it. "Colonel, you will recall from my debrief, that when I was aboard the enemy flagship, I learned that the aliens are rigidly segregated. To the point that males and females, if they do come into contact with each other, invariably fight to the death. Hell, the aliens don't even believe that males and females are members of the same species. Why would such a force have a specific marking to denote a female pilot? Heck, why would *any* force--"

Colonel Maistroff half-rose from his seat. "Look, just because you've been to--"

Captain Gloval cleared his throat. "I think that this shall conclude the debriefing. Gentlemen, and ladies, do bear in mind that the details of Commander Hayes' mission are still classified. Captain Saotome, thank you for your patience."

"Not a problem, Captain."

"Dismissed."

* * * * *

Minmei was in her glory.

Ranma was not one of the four officers on the stage. Rick Hunter and Lisa Hayes, as well as the two Vermillion pilots who had been on Hunter's wing when they were captured, were being presented with big fancy decorations. The award ceremony was obviously meant to lift morale. Lin Minmei herself had presented the medals, giving each officer some kind words as she did so, and now sang to the crowd, "in honour of their brave exploits." Ranma rather doubted that Minmei had even the faintest clue what the foursome had done to warrant such a fuss; nor would she care, if she did know.

To her, it was just a chance to make people happy.

Ranma had found the Purple Heart pinned to her pillow when she awoke the second time. She was of two minds about it; while she had been shot down and injured in combat, it seemed rather a minor injury. She'd hurt herself worse in practise. But one could hardly turn down a decoration. And at least it moved her further up the promotion schedule.

For the moment, Angel was standing down. They were due to go on patrol again in two more days, and the last of their fighters had been completed. Now, only the Super Valkyrie was under the torch, being rebuilt after its ordeal. Two replacement pilots were being posted from Firefly.

~You choose not to be.~

"Huh?"

Ranma sat up, and looked around her cabin.

"Someone there?"

No answer.

Ranma shrugged, and hopped out of bed. Her stomach was rubbing against her spine; time for some chow. And while she was at it, she'd try for that Phoenix pill again.

* * * * *

-RING-

Shampoo turned at the sound of the bell over the door. "Nihao! Welcome to--Airen!" She launched herself towards Ranma.

Ranma neatly side-stepped the Amazon. "Sorry. No. Not in the mood."

"Airen take Xian Pu on date, is okay?"

"No, it's not. Where's the ghoul?"

"You should show more respect to your elders, Son-in-law."

Ranma turned towards the old woman. "I ain't got any respect for you at all. It's your fault I'm stuck like this."

Across the room, a certain Major's ears perked up. Roy rarely wore a communicator, but in a pinch, the computer padd he was currently jotting on could access the Com Net.

"No, Son-in-law. It is your fault. If you'd just do the sensible thing--"

"Like pound you into a crepe?" Ranma launched herself forward, leading with a fist.

And was promptly smacked down into the ground for her trouble.

"Really, Son-in-law. You're a hundred years too early to defeat me."

At this point, Roy stood up and walked towards the fracas. "Attention on deck."

Ranma jumped to her feet and snapped to attention.

Roy turned towards Cologne. "So, you're the person responsible for locking Captain Saotome in her cursed form?"

"Yes, I am."

"Are you able to reverse the effect?"

"Yes."

"Do it. Now."

Cologne smirked. "I'm not one of your soldiers, Lieutenant."

"That's Major."

"Whatever." She shrugged. "Captain Saotome is in violation of our tribal laws, and must serve penance until she recants. Have you no repect for our laws?"

"No."

Roy scowled at Cologne. This old...he found it hard to refer to the figure before him as a woman. The word that leapt to mind was 'mummy'.

"Our laws--"

"Mean nothing to me. You have two choices. You give Captain Saotome the cure..."

Cologne smirked. As though this outsider male could--

"Or I have you spaced."

Cologne blinked. "What do you mean, spaced?"

"I mean you get put out an airlock into vacuum. You are endangering a U.N. Spacy officer, the Macross, and probably the Earth. And we happen to be at war."

"But our law--"

"Means nothing to me. Or anyone else on Macross."

"Bah. Stronger men than you have tried to bend an Amazon to their will. Over three thousand years of history, not one of them has succeeded." She chuckled. "You better have a lot of friends, sonny, if you want to carry out your threat."

Roy jerked his thumb towards the entrance. "Skull Squadron should be arriving any second now." He raised the padd. "While you and Saotome here were dancing, I whistled up a squadron of Valkyrie fighters. Would you care to bet that these three thousand years of Amazon history will stand up to Robotechnology?"

Cologne sagged. "Very well. You win." She turned, and poked Ranma with her staff. "You are cured, Son-in-law. And I will abjure the law. But know this: Both of you today have made a mistake." She turned back to Roy. "You would not object, of course, to Shampoo courting Ranma, would you?"

"That's up to him."

Cologne smiled. "That will be enough."

Roy collared Ranma. "If you're quite done here...The White Dragon awaits us. We'll get some hot water for you there."

"Thanks, Roy. I owe you one."

"Deduct it from the three I owe you."

* * * * *

Ranma dumped the hot water over her head, and promptly became a him. He stretched, and grinned. "About freakin' time."

Roy scowled. "That old ghoul seemed rather confident in herself. I wonder what mistake it is you supposedly made?"

"I dunno. Not marryin' Shampoo, maybe?"

"How did you get yourself into that mess, anyway?"

"Well...if ya beat an Amazon in combat, ya gotta marry her."

Roy thought back to Ranma's debriefing, the previous day. "Maybe it's just as well that Zentraedi chick shot you down, rather than the other way around?"

"Whaddaya mean?"

"You really want two Amazons chasing you? Especially if one of them's fifty feet tall?"

Ranma gulped.