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ACES
The Macross shuddered under the enemy's cannon fire.
"Sector Twelve reports mild damage, mostly to environmental systems."
"Daedalus reports catapult failure, Captain. They're launching fighters by VTOL at this time."
"Pinpoint Barrier System is low on power, Captain. Doctor Lang is requesting time to power it down, get it back to full strength."
"Tell him to ask the Zentraedi if they'd mind giving us some more time," snarled the Captain.
"Sir, Angel Squadron reports contact with enemy forces."
* * * * *
"Contact, Angel Lead. Seismics spiking high."
"Roger. Angel Two, shift to Soldier. The rest of you, stay in Gerwalk." Ranma shifted her own Valkyrie to Soldier Mode, and readied the gun pod.
There was a few seconds' wait, and then they came boiling out of the chasm like a swarm of angry insects. Luckily, they were about as easy to swat.
Angel Two pressed the trigger on her gun pod, and the GU-11 spat a carefully-measured fifty-round burst of depleted-uranium slugs. The burst tore straight through a pod, blowing it in half. Before the pod had time to collapse, she'd shifted target to a powered armour suit - not one of the Amazon suits, Ranma was glad to see - and dropped the next fifty rounds right through the helmet visor.
~Ouch.~
Ranma sighted on the Officer's Pod. So far, they'd only discovered one weakness on that style of pod, and that was the sensor port right in the front. A shot there would leave the pod blind. Though it would not kill the pilot, it would effectively remove the target from the battle.
Her gun pod was the new GU-12 type. Doctor Lang had assured her that the pod would not jam when reloaded, as the last one would. Ranma had already discarded the second clip of ammo; her left leg socket held a captured Zentraedi laser pistol. She pulled the trigger, and the massive 100mm cannon barked. To her dismay, the Officer's Pod simply jetted sideways to avoid the round.
Elsewhere, her girls were mixing it up. Angel Three and Four had taken to the skies, and had launched all of their missiles in one salvo. The Artillery Pods were but memories, and several Battle Pods were also out of commission.
Ranma pulled the trigger again, and again the rifle/cannon heaved a massive tungsten penetrator. The Officer's Pod sidestepped nimbly, and the round slammed into a Battle Pod behind it.
~This guy's good.~
The Pod jumped into the air, and kicked in its jets; it roared over her head and dropped into the melee.
"Angel Three, clear your six, that Officer's Pod is getting too close."
"Roger, Captain." Kosuji snapped the fighter around, reconfiguring to Soldier mode, and snapped off a burst from the GU-11 rifle/cannon. The shot blew the carapace off of a Battle Pod, exposing the Zentraedi inside to the low pressure and insufficient oxygen. Next, she turned, and loosed a sustained burst on the Battle Pod. The rounds battered the enemy pod, and it broke off, but not before launching a volley of missiles at Angel Three. The missiles slammed into the Valkyrie, and Ranma screamed in rage.
Things were happening too fast. The conventional battle pods were dropping like flies, but that officer was showing far too much skill for Ranma's liking. So far, nobody had scored a solid hit on it. She tapped her mike button. "Angel Lead to Base. We need fire support."
"Roger, Angel. Elements of the Fifth Cavalry are within missile range of your position, and are loading laser guided rounds. Paint them a target."
"Affirm, Base." Her S-variant Valkyrie had an integral ground laser designator; She flipped it on and haloed the enemy Battle Pod. "Fifth, the music is playing."
A new voice crackled over the Tac Net. "Aye, Angel, and it sounds just fine. Firing two missiles; ETA thirty-four seconds."
Ranma gritted her teeth; The Angels were keeping the Officer's Pod busy, but there were a few Artillery and Recon Pods still moving, not to mention a Power Suit. She couldn't use her targeting systems; they were tied up in painting the Officer's Pod. She pulled the rifle around, holding it at arm's length, and started pulling the trigger. It was tricky, since the electronics wanted to make the gun fire at the Officer's Pod, and it took her three tries to kill the Artillery Pod. The Power Suit and the surviving Battle Pods took to the air, and she turned back to the Officer.
The missiles were now visible on radar, as well as Kosuji's rescue beacon; At least she'd managed to punch out. The Officer's Pod obviously had a good radar set; it pivoted momentarily towards the missiles, then leaped into the air and followed its surviving troops out of the combat.
A whoop went up over the Tac Net, and Ranma sighed in relief. One of their number was down, but had survived, and everyone else was intact. It could have gone an awful lot worse.
* * * * *
"Angel Lead reports enemy Mecha have been routed, but they can't get at the gravity devices."
"Very well." Gloval leaned back in his seat and pulled the brim of his cap down. "Contact Eyes Front and see what they've learned."
* * * * *
"Raptor Two Six, Eyes Front."
Lisa wanted to ignore the radio, but knew she couldn't. ~Stupid sense of duty.~ She struggled to her feet and tapped the radio. "Raptor Two Six. Go ahead, Eyes Front."
"Two Six, the area around the Macross has been mined. Some sort of gravity-enhancing device. They're being powered by the base's fusion reactor. We need that reactor taken down."
"Got it. I'm proceeding to the control room." She jumped to her feet and ran from the room.
* * * * *
Ranma acknowledged the report from Eyes Front, then turned to the rest of her flight. "Angels, word from Eyes Front. We got some bandits moving in on Mars Base Sara. We gotta stop them from reaching it." Ranma didn't know much more than that, but didn't really need to. Orders were enough. "Flight two is on the cats, and Guardian's being called up. But we're gonna be there first. Move out!"
She shifted to Gerwalk and lifted into the air, then shifted again, to Fighter, and moved the throttle all the way up.
* * * * *
The door to Central Control was pneumatically powered, but the circuitry to activate it wasn't functioning. Lisa wrenched open an access panel, and pulled on the manual release. Nothing. She checked the pressure gauge next to the manual release, and realized that the system was still under pressure. She opened a valve. A faint hiss reached her through the suit's external microphone; the door's cylinder was being depressurized. When the hiss faded, she started cranking open the door.
Inside, the control room was a mess. She crossed to the fusion reactor's controls, and brought them on-line. Next, she tapped out the codes required to power down the reactor.
ERROR
PLEASE RE-ENTER
She blinked. The codes were standardized all through this sort of machinery. She tapped her communicators. "Eyes Front, contact Macross and have them pull the command codes for Mars Base Sara." While she waited, she re-typed the codes.
ERROR
PLEASE RE-ENTER
"Raptor Two Six, Macross reports, fusion shutdown codes are alpha whiskey bravo three three niner."
Well, that matched what she'd typed. She frowned, and pulled the logs. To her surprise, the codes had been changed only a few hours ago. And no telling what the new codes were. She clicked her communicator.
"Eyes Front, this is Raptor Two Six. Advise Macross that the control computers for the fusion powerplant have been altered. I have to go down to the engineering section."
"Understood, Two Six."
She stood up, and ran from the computer room. She had a very bad feeling about the whole situation.
~We know the Zentraedi can change their size. They must have set this up. Including the communications gear. And there might still be some in here...~
She suddenly found herself wishing she'd brought a sidearm.
* * * * *
"Angel Flight Two to Angel Lead. How're y'all doing?"
Ranma grinned. "Not too bad, Angel Seven."
"Good. That means I get to wreck your day. We got sixteen incoming Mecha, launched from the capital ship that's firing on the Macross."
Ranma rolled her eyes. "Lemme guess: Powered Suits."
"You got it."
"This is not good. Status of Flight Three?"
"Just buttoning up as we speak. They'll be on station in three minutes."
"Right. Let's get moving."
* * * * *
Miriya smiled. She recognized the custom Valkyrie, flying in the lead. She had a score to settle with this Microne. She clicked on her transmitter, and selected the Microne's battle channel. She'd taken the time to learn to speak the Micronian language; it would be a pleasure to greet this one in his own language.
"We meet again, small one. This time things will not go in your favour."
"Go suck eggs!"
The taunt was crude, but this was to be expected from a Microne. What was surprising, was the fact that the voice that replied had been female. She raised an eyebrow. "Well, now. I shall enjoy this." She clicked over to the primary frequency. "Their leader is mine. But as for the rest: Smite them from the skies!"
* * * * *
Lisa had to manually open the airlock as well. The weather had turned nasty; a dust storm was starting to come up. And to make matters worse, it seemed that there was a dogfight directly above her. She glanced towards the engineering building; twenty meters away, right underneath that battle.
She sighed; there was no other way. The reactor itself was deeply buried; none of the Valkyries could possibly get it. She braced herself, then ran.
* * * * *
Ranma was badly latched; she couldn't see the small figure dashing across the desert. But Angel Thirteen did.
"Hey, that's Commander Hayes!" She clicked her radio. "Guardians, Raptor Two Six is below us. Let's make sure she gets to the generator."
"Two."
"Three."
"Four."
"Five."
"Six."
Already, Akane could see several of the Powered Armour vectoring in on the Commander. She tapped her controls, bringing the main laser cannons on line, and sliced one clean through.
"Wow! I like this variant!"
* * * * *
It was quickly becoming apparent to Miriya that she was up against a vastly superior force. Though she had a significant numerical advantage, her forces were being mown down like grass. The Microne pilots were obviously an elite unit; she quickly concluded that, like their leader, they must all be female.
She herself was finding her adversary far more ready for her this time. They had been dancing now for forty-seven pulses, and neither had managed to score a hit. She spared a quarter-pulse to glance at her tactical display; less than ten Quadranos remained alive.
*All forces, advance on our mothership. I shall cover your advancement.* The Meltraedi language did not have a word for 'retreat'. She toggled her missile launchers, and fired sixteen missiles from each launcher. To her shock, the enemy pilot executed a micro-spacefold maneuver - ~in atmosphere, no less!~ - and evaded the volley.
But the fold, if that's truly what it was, seemed to disorient the Microne. Miriya smiled, and switched over to impact cannon. She hammered the Valkyrie with several bursts from the cannon, and watched it slam into the ground.
She was about to close in for the kill, when she realized that the other Valkyries had turned towards her, cannons raised. She snorted; Micrones posed no threat. And then reconsidered; these were an elite force, of females!, and fought like demons besides. And during her duel with their leader, had done nothing. Even now, as she hovered, it seemed that they merely waited for her to leave the field.
Which she did. Grinding her teeth, growling in discontentment, but intact.
~Next time, Microne.~
* * * * *
Akane lowered the cannon and breathed a sigh of relief.
~For a second there, I thought she was gonna go for it anyway.~
* * * * *
Lisa pulled the access panel off of the reactor's control systems, and cursed. Sure enough, the Zentraedi had been here; the controls were wrecked. She'd seen, while on board the Zentraedi cruiser, that the Zentraedi couldn't really fix or modify anything. No subtle sabotage here; wires had been ripped out and circuit boards smashed.
No matter. She had one further option. She reached for the fission reactor control system. Its computer was still online, and when she entered the control codes, responded cheerfully. She grinned; the fusion reactor was a marvellous thing, but it needed a small fission reaction to start it going. Six fuel bundles would last the reactor from now until the last trump; they'd also make a hell of a bang, and bring down the fusion reaction with them. First, she turned off the auto-scram function, then removed the software neccessary to cause a manual scram, just in case the Zentraedi returned. Next, she programmed a ten minute delay, to be followed by the machine ejecting its control rods.
"Eyes Front, Raptor Two Six. Advise you get everyone out of here, pronto. This area is gonna go boom."
* * * * *
Ranma was okay, but was mad enough to chew nails. Akane listened to her rant for a few seconds, then flicked off the radio and waved Angel Two over. The two of them lifted Ranma's fighter, then flew back towards the Macross. Akane looked around the squadron; there were only five of them left, plus Ranma.
* * * * *
Lisa had followed the most expedient route back to the ship, which had led her back through the Mars Base proper. And she paused, at the door.
~Karl...~
Had he been here, when the neutron bomb went up? Perhaps asleep, so he never felt a thing? Or had he perhaps been on duty when it happened. It would be like him; once he'd decided that something needed doing, he'd next to kill himself making it happen. Duty had been an important thing to him.
~Duty. Hah! All it's ever gotten me is a load of stress...~
She picked up the picture again. Still intact, after all these years, without even a crack in the glass. The frame was a bit tarnished, but a bit of polish would fix that up.
"Raptor Two Six, Eyes Front."
She ignored it. To hell with duty. It had gotten Karl killed, at a time when she'd needed him the most.
"Raptor Two Six, Eyes Front."
She clicked the radio. "Eyes Front...Best get back to the Macross. This place is going to be a radioactive dust cloud in about five minutes."
"Raptor Two Six--"
She pulled the radio off of her suit, and tossed it aside. There was a certain symmetry to it. Karl had died here, by radiation, due to a hostile force...
* * * * *
Ranma fought her way through the crowd of pilots and crew, till she was face to face with Colonel Maistroff. "Sir! Commander Hayes is still out in the desert, and there's a nuke gonna go off right next to her. Request permission to rescue her."
"Denied."
"WHAT!?"
"Your command is shot to hell, Saotome. Five effectives. Plus, your own aircraft is in for repairs. Again. I can't risk sending an incompetent on a mission this important."
Ranma lunged forward, but was intercepted by Amy and Akane. "Forget it, Captain," growled Akane. "He's not worth it."
"You're just gonna leave the Commander out to die? You son of a--"
"I said nothing of the sort." He turned to Roy. "Get me Lieutenant Hunter."
Roy scowled at Maistroff, then snapped to attention and threw him a salute. "Yes, sir."
* * * * *
"Captain, power to the gravitic mines has been cut. And Lieutenant Hunter reports Commander Hayes returned to the ship safely."
Gloval nodded. "Give me Zed minus fifty, please."
"Zed minus fifty, aye. Captain, the Zentraedi ship is breaking off its attack. Should I program the main gun?"
"No, let them go." Gloval pulled his pipe from his pocket and began to pack it. "We can't afford to waste the energy. If they're going to let us leave without a fight, so be it."
* * * * *
"Captain Ranma Saotome." Gloval read from the paper. "You have been found charged with the following: Section Fifteen Oh Five, insubordination; Section Twenty Thirteen, assaulting or attempting to assault a superior officer, the United Nations Space Administration having been on wartime footing; Section Fifteen Forty-Seven, gross incompetence unbefitting an officer; Section Fifteen Fifty-Nine, conduct unbecoming an officer." He looked up from the paper. "This board has considered the evidence brought against you.
"It is the finding of this board that you are guilty of insubordination and assault of a superior officer. You are found innocent of the other two charges.
"Therefore, it has been further decided by this board that you shall be reduced twenty points in the promotion schedule; this will place you behind all other Captains, and even some of your own Lieutenants may make Major before you. Furthermore, you are sentenced to thirty days in the brig.
"Remove the prisoner."
Ranma allowed himself to be led from the boardroom. The taste of it all was bad in his mouth. Angel Squadron had been disbanded, its colours struck, and his pilots scattered throughout the squadrons. Kanzaki Shoko was among those who had died in battle. And it seemed likely that he'd never have a command again. Not that he wanted one.
"Ranma."
He looked up, to see Commander Hayes. The guard that was escorting him raised a hand, and she stopped some distance away.
"Ranma...I heard from Akane that you volunteered to go pull me out."
He nodded. "Wasn't nothin', really. Anyone woulda."
"Nobody else did. Rick was ordered in, remember. I doubt he would have volunteered."
Ranma grinned a bit. "Give the guy credit, willya?"
She smiled and nodded. "All right. I shall." She sobered. "I'll see you when you get out. And trust me. You'll still have a squadron to command."
"Yeah, right."
"You're not through with me yet."
* * * * *
Miriya stared out at the stars through the porthole.
~Second time lucky, Microne. The third time, the victory shall go to me. There shall be a reckoning.~
She waved a fist towards the Macross.
*Microne! You're not through with me yet!*