BLOCKADE

"Before the misfold, we had an unusual situation. Far more airplanes than pilots." Tech Sergeant Jameson gestured down the hall, then turned to the recruit next to him. "See these bays? We had one hundred and sixty Valkyries, ninety-six Destroids of various types, and six experimental or prototype mecha."

"And how many do we have now?"

"Well, the Valks have taken the brunt of the battle, and we're down to less than seventy of them. The Destroids have only seen three major engagements, and we still have eighty or so. The experimental jobs?" Jameson waved a hand towards the bay at the end of the deck. "Just two."

"Where are the rest of the experimentals?"

Jameson sighed. "All of 'em were fielded. The Valkyrie-J can be fitted with external modules, and three of the experimental sets were armour and missile pod combos. Lieutenant Hunter took two of them out, the Space Augmentation Package and the Armour Valkyrie Package. Scrapped 'em both. The Valkyrie-S was issued to Captain Saotome, and he smashed it up some, but it's almost done being repaired. But then back it goes to the front lines. The Training Augmentation Package just never worked, and was broken up for parts. As was the Micro-Valk."

"The what?"

"Oh, some dimwit figured it'd be a good idea to make a Veritech that stood only twelve feet tall. The pilot was crammed into a tiny little cockpit, could barely move. And the thing didn't even have a Soldier Mode. We broke it up for parts; all that's left of her is the engines. So the last one we have is the Rapier."

The recruit walked down the length of the bay, and looked up at the Rapier. It was small, something like two-thirds the overall size of a Valkyrie. Her carriage was somewhat higher, and her control planes rose more closely to the vertical, but other than those details, she could easily have been mistaken for the larger Valkyrie.

"What's wrong with her?"

"Oh, we stripped out the avionics and life support a while back. Took the engines out, too. Nothing else in her'd fit any other jet in the hangar."

The recruit walked up to the Rapier, and pulled himself up the service ladder. He looked around the cockpit of the fighter, noting that it was somewhat smaller than that of the Valkyrie. Gaping holes showed in the instrument panels where electronics had been removed.

"I think I'll take this one."

Jameson scratched his head. "You sure? I mean, any of the Valks would be a lot easier to scratch up parts for."

"Hey, it's supposed to be a challenge, right? And we need every jet we can get, right?" The recruit hopped down. "If I get this thing flying, then not even Commandant Stevens will refuse my qualification."

"True." Jameson shook his head. "I just hope you aren't in over your head." He started walking towards his office, then turned back to the recruit. "You sure you can find your way back?"

Recruit Third Grade Hibiki Ryouga, U. N. Spacy, laughed unsteadily. "I'm not that bad..."

* * * * *

Tendo Akane stepped into the Blue Squadron's ready room.

"Officer on the deck!"

The squadron snapped to attention, all save one rather gangly dark-haired youth who was sprawled on the CO's desk. Akane stepped up to him, double-checked his rank insignia, then handed him her orders.

"Ah, fresh meat for the grinder." The Captain sat up straight, and flipped through her orders. "Hey, it says here you're my new XO."

"Yes, sir."

"A Fallen Angel, at that."

"Silence, knave! You cannot speak of the beauteous Tendo Akane in such--"

"Shut up, *Lieutenant* Kuno. She's your replacement."

"But--"

"You're bucking for Sergeant real quick here, Kuno." The CO scowled down at the Samurai wannabe, then turned back to Akane. "I'm Captain Mototada, CO of Blue." He hopped to his feet and bowed to her. "We welcome you here."

Akane relaxed for the first time since she'd recieved her orders. "Thank you, Captain." She bowed. "I'll try not to embarrass your Squadron."

"You know what our next orders are to be?"

"No, sir."

"We'll be screening the Macross from enemy action while she shapes orbit for re-entry. We'll be closely co-ordinating with Vermillion on this job; I want you to go chat with their CO, get a copy of their TOE. Vermillion's equipment is a little more modern than ours."

"Yes, sir."

"Oh, and Lieutenant?" The Captain grinned. "If Kuno gets on your nerves, you have my full permission to beat the hell out of him."

Akane smiled. "Why, thank you, Captain. I'll be looking forward to it."

* * * * *

Her welcome at Blue was surprisingly warm; at Vermillion's ready room, she got rather a different surprise.

"Why the hell did they send you?"

Akane blinked. "Excuse me, Lieutenant?"

"Why couldn't Mototada come himself to get this?" Hunter dropped the folder in front of Tendo. "Or even sent that jerk Kuno down to pick it up?"

Akane began to darken. "Is there a problem, Lieutenant?"

One of Hunter's Sergeants, a geeky-looking guy with glasses and blue hair, sat up. "Hey, Rick. Be easy, okay? I mean, she's an Ace."

Hunter grumbled something under his breath, then looked back to Akane. "Vermillion's got fifteen C-type Valkyries, two J-type, and one S-type at its disposal. Both the Jaybirds and the Super are fitted to carry the Scorpion missile. The S-type carries a GU-12."

Akane flipped through the folder, and her eyes widened. "That Super Valkyrie is Captain Saotome's jet."

"Yeah, but he's in the brig, so Doctor Lang assigned it to Max, here."

Max spread his hands. "Hey, it wasn't my idea. Lang said he needed a volunteer, and you know what that means in anybody's army."

Akane nodded. "Well, I suppose they weren't likely to just let it sit idle. We're awfully short on fighters."

Hunter muttered, "Yeah, especially with twelve being lost by Angel--"

Akane slammed the folder down on Hunter's desk and grabbed the front of his jacket. "Look, pal, you are within ten seconds of the worst beating of your life!"

Hunter's eyes widened.

Max hopped up and laid a hand on Akane's wrist. "Easy, Lieutenant. He ain't worth it." He smiled. "Trust me. I work with him!"

"Max!"

Another Sergeant walked forward, a giant of a man, and dropped a huge hand on Akane's shoulder. "Tell ya what, Lieutenant. Why don't Max and I buy you a pint, to apologize on behalf of the Looie, and we'll go over this TOE with ya." He glowered down at Hunter. "We'll leave Lieutenant Hunter here."

Akane smiled slightly. "Thank you, Sergeant. I'd like that."

* * * * *

*Your arrogance will yet be the undoing of you, Miriya.* Khyron scowled at the Meltraedi Ace's image. *Twice you have faced this Micronian devil, and twice you have lost! Even I have fallen before his prowess.*

*You presume too much, Khyron.* Miriya sneered. *The pilot that you speak of is in fact a female of their species.*

*Impossible. I have seen several of their pilots; they are male.*

*I have spoken with the pilot; she is definitely female.* Miriya leaned forward, filling the projecbeam's field of view. *The entire unit that she leads is female; it is obvious from their superior fighting skills.*

*Superior, yes.* Khyron nodded. *Superior even to your own skills.*

*The Microne has never defeated me! Twice I have disabled her combat mecha, and was prevented from finishing her off!*

*Twice you have nearly lost your own life in the process.* Khyron smiled patronizingly; time to drive the needle home. *Perhaps you should admit defeat. Obviously this Microne is more than you can handle.* He looked away. *Best if you simply avoid her.*

Miriya bared her teeth, and disabled the projecbeam.

*Think she'll take the bait, My Lord?*

Khyron nodded. *Oh, yes, Grel. As I said...her arrogance will be her undoing.*

* * * * *

Thirty-six Valkyries, the combined might of Blue and Vermillion Squadron, roared from the catapults and quickly formed up. Vermillion had been designated lead for this sortie. Long range radar had detected twelve incoming bogies. Gloval had wasted no time; the Valkyries had been launched well before any identification could be made.

Roy Fokker had taken command of Blue's third Flight, due to its flight leader having taken ill. Blue Thirteen was the only G-type Valkyrie in either Squadron. Optimized for electronic warfare, the G was only lightly armed compared to a conventional Valkyrie, but carried a powerful jamming suite and radar system. Her advanced targeting computer could handle the load for an entire battalion of fighters.

"Vermillion Lead, this is Blue Thirteen. Be advised that I am detecting heavy use of K-band radar sets ahead. This is consistent with either the Zentraedi recon pod, or that new powered armour that's been turning up."

"Affirm, Blue Thirteen. Can you confirm which type?"

"No problem, Little Brother." It somewhat irked Roy that he had to take orders from Rick Hunter - not only did he outrank the Vermillion commander, but he'd diapered him at one point. "I'm showing four thermal blooms per unit; not consistent with battle pods. Probably armour."

"Great."

"No kidding. Getting some communication stuff; it sounds like the mothership is yelling their head off at the armour."

"Jam 'em."

"You got it."

"By threes, break and attack."

* * * * *

Ahead of them, Miriya smiled as Azonia's face vanished from her comm screens in a blur of Micronian jamming static. She smiled slightly. It would save her the trouble of fabricating an equipment failure. And her short range communications were unaffected.

*To all Quadranos: There is one enemy ace ahead, who will demonstrate superior fighting skill. You are to leave the execution of that one to me. But for the rest: Smite them from the sky!*

* * * * *

The Valkyries didn't even have time to blink before they found themselves in the rat race.

"Blue Thirteen. I need some help here. Jenkins and Yoshi are down."

"Roger, Thirteen. Seven, can you assist?"

Akane clicked her mike. "Negative, Lead. I'm latched."

"Vermillion Lead. I can assist Blue Thirteen."

"Thanks, Little Brother."

Vermillion Lead wheeled about, shifting to Soldier and unlimbering its rifle/cannon. The Quadrano that was chasing Blue Thirteen never even realized that it was in Hunter's gun sights until the first shells rattled off its armour.

"Oh, hell. These things can bounce our guns."

But the Quadrano had been shaken by the attack, and broke off its pursuit. Roy took advantage of the situation, dropping true and launching two Stiletto missiles at the powered armour. The Quadrano exploded in a silent fireball.

* * * * *

Miriya smirked. *There you are...* She hit her thrusters and roared into the fray.

* * * * *

"Blue Thirteen! Watch your back!"

Roy whirled, still in Gerwalk, and sprayed the incoming mecha. To his surprise, the suit jinked right out of his gunsight and peppered his mecha with its own chest cannons. He bit back a yell of pain as he felt shrapnel cut into him.

"Roy!"

"I'm okay, Rick." He fired two more Stilettos, but the enemy armour shot them down, and hammered him again.

Vermillion Seven haloed the fighting machine that was tearing into the Skull Commander's unit and pulled the trigger. A single 100mm teflon-coated slug slammed into the suit, knocking it off course.

"Blue Thirteen, bug out. I can cover your retreat."

"Affirm, Sergeant." Roy's voice sounded weak and strained, as though he were fighting back pain. "She's all yours."

* * * * *

Miriya ignored the damaged fighter that was now limping away from the battle; she had mistakenly assumed, due to the skill demonstrated by its pilot, that it had been her quarry. But now she recognized the fighter ahead of her; it was of a slightly different construction than the others, and would surely prove a test of her skill.

She smirked. *Third time's the charm, Microne...*

* * * * *

"Uh, oh..." Max hauled back on the stick as the enemy mecha disgorged a cloud of missiles. His battle computer quickly overloaded, which meant that the enemy had launched at least fifty missiles. He ignored it, and switched over to manual targeting.

This Zentraedi pilot - a female, if Captain Saotome was to be believed - was definitely skilled. She'd been harassing Fokker quite badly, and was now attacking him with the same ferocity. The other Zentraedi mecha seemed to have backed off, as though they wanted to watch their boss work; he realized that his own teammates were doing the same.

"Showdown, eh?" He pickled the head laser's trigger, blasting down missile after missile; a lucky shot caused a chain reaction that exploded most of the volley. "That's just fine, lady."

* * * * *

Miriya gaped as the enemy fighter shot down her entire missile volley, then sailed through the debris to engage her in close quarters. She quickly found herself on the defensive, stressing the inertial thrust system of her Queadlunn-Rau as she darted about, avoiding transuranic slugs, laser blasts, and the occasional guided missile. She realized that again, this was not her quarry; however, she was a far more dangerous adversary than Miriya had expected to face. Truly a worthy opponent.

It suddenly occurred to Miriya that she might not survive this engagement.

* * * * *

"Captain Fokker has recovered aboard Daedalus; he's been injured."

"Roy!" Claudia turned to Sammie. "Is he okay?"

"They're not sure yet; he's lost a lot of blood. He's being rushed to surgery."

Claudia forced herself to concentrate on her instruments; she couldn't afford to be distracted right now. "It appears that for some reason, Sergeant Sterling has been singled out by the enemy pilot."

Gloval nodded. "Recall Sterling. If the enemy pursues, we'll route some backup in for him."

"Aye, sir." She gritted her teeth. ~Roy'll be okay...he's gotta be!~

* * * * *

"Fall back?" Max was puzzled.

"The Captain believes that that bandit is trying too hard. He wants you to fall back, so we can figure out what his game is."

Max shrugged. "You got it."

* * * * *

*Oh, no you don't.* Miriya rammed her reactor controls well into the red zone and rocketed after the retreating Microne. Her opponent's mecha was returning to the Protoculture Fortress; Miriya could not allow it to reach its destination. She triggered a second volley of missiles.

Again, the enemy mecha destroyed the volley; apparently, the anti-missile laser on the underside of the reconfigurable mecha could be aimed to the rear. The mecha dropped in towards the Fortress, but rather than entering an airlock, it shifted to its hybrid form and began matter-surfing along the surface.

Miriya checked her radar display; her forces were holding back, as ordered. Curiously, the Micronian mecha were also holding back, as though they too wanted to observe the outcome. ~We are more alike than we thought...~

* * * * *

Max shifted to Soldier Mode, did a quick snap-turn, and brought the gun-pod up to his shoulder. He haloed the enemy Mecha, and pulled the trigger.

And was rewarded with a flash as the gun jammed.

"Aw, hell." He discarded the gun - it dropped down to the deck, thanks to Macross' internal gravity web - and drew the Zentraedi laser sidearm fromt he left leg. "At least now I know why Saotome carried this."

The Zentraedi mecha dropped onto the surface, falling into a half crouch. Max centered it in his gunsights, and waited.

* * * * *

*What is she waiting for?*

Miriya considered her opponent. The enemy mecha had been performing with the same dizzying speed she was used to seeing from it, but also showed a crisp, precise, economical nature to its movements. It spoke well of the pilot's talents. But now, the Microne merely waited, a pistol held at arms' length.

Miriya slowly drew her own pistol. Her missiles were expended, and her impact cannons empty, but she still had her pulse lasers and her pistol. She resolved not to use the lasers unless her opponent showed some other weapon in backup.

The Microne snapped into motion, squeezing off several blasts from the pistol. Miriya dodged, relying solely on instinct and her bond with the mecha, and returned fire. The Microne simply ducked around a hull protrusion, and her shots went wide.

She glanced back at her radar; no sign of the Micronian ace. Though most of her teammates were still hovering above. Next, she clicked her communicator, setting it to the Microne frequency.

"Give yourself up; the end will be the same, regardless of what you do."

Her only answer was a burst of laser fire from the Microne; she ducked back under cover to avoid being hit, then put a few blasts of her own into the area from which the laser fire had originated. She waited, but there was no movement, either on visuals or on sensors.

She thought the mecha into a run, slipping from cover to cover. Stopped again, and checked her radar.

She was certain that the enemy mecha did not register on radar as it stepped out and blasted her from behind. Luckily, her suit's armour absorbed the blast, though telltales indicated that it couldn't do it again. She jumped back and whirled about, only to discover that the Microne had again vanished.

"Very tricky, Microne. You won't catch me that way again." She glanced to her left; was that movement? She stepped in that direction, raising her pistol. "You are good; perhaps even my equal. This is why you must die."

"Sorry, lady. Dyin' ain't on my agenda."

Her eyes widened in shock. "A male!" She began to shake in rage. "Microne! You die now!" She leaped forward, raking the structure ahead with laser fire.

The blast came from the other direction, knocking her mecha away from the Fortress. She glanced quickly down to her engineering panel, and realized that her thrusters were offline. As was her life support systems.

~Defeated! By a Microne! A Micronian male has defeated me!~

* * * * *

Max watched the crippled enemy mecha float away from the Macross. He shook his head. ~What a waste!~

The enemy mecha gathered up their fallen leader, and boosted away from the Fortress. Max tapped his tactical controls. "Macross, this is Vermillion Seven. Enemy forces are in retreat; your path seems to be clear."

"Roger that, Vermillion Seven. Be advised that we will begin planetfall operations in three hours."

* * * * *

The alien armada fell back as the Macross, escorted by its squadrons of Valkyries, dropped into recovery orbit around the Earth. No further attempt to impede the massive Dimensional Fortress was made, and shortly after entering orbit, the Macross began its slow fall down to the Pacific Ocean.

After more than a year in deep space, being chased by an alien fleet, the Macross had returned home. Sixty thousand people raised their voices in celebration. All but four.

Miriya raged, slamming her fist over and over again into the carapace of her almost completely destroyed Queadlunn-Rau.

Azonia cursed her subordinate's actions; Miriya's disobedience had cost her the opportunity to capture the Fortress.

And Rick Hunter and Claudia Grant wept, mourning the death of Roy Fokker.