"... and then what happened?" Asuka Langley blinked, the flame haired pilot quietly talking to the officer who was in charge of the SDF-1's fully equipped brig. It didn't really look like a prison, in part because of the bright lighting and high tech design, but the feel of the place was still oppressive. The blonde haired young woman grinned back as Hitomi cheerfully said, "Well, apparently your friend Miriya decided that Min-Mei had been insulted and took a swing at Petty Officer MacKenzie. His buddies jumped into it, then Min-Mei started clobbering people over the head with chairs." "Oy," Asuka winced, easily imagining how that brawl down at the Little White Dragon must have gone. "We're just lucky her cousin Lynn Kyle wasn't there," Rei Ayanami noted thoughtfully as the red eyed girl continued, "or things could have been much, much worse." A very sheepish looking Miriya emerged from the back first, then a chuckling Min-Mei, talking pleasantly to the officer escorting them. "Asuka," Min-Mei smiled charmingly, "fancy seeing you here." "You're lucky Shinji's out on patrol duty," Asuka said wryly, "or he'd be here getting you out and demanding a explaination." Mirya bowed slightly as the green haired woman said to the both quietly, "Thank you for helping us, ma'am." Rei Ayanami noticed how pale Miriya was as the blue haired woman asked her, "Are you all right?" A ghost of a smile flickered across her lips as Miriya conceded, "I don't handle captivity very well, it seems." "Ah," Rei nodded. Hitomi extended forms to them to fill out as she said briskly, "Petty Officer MacKenzie will be coming up on charges over this incident, but the military police are just letting you two off with a warning." Min-mei frowned, "But they started..." Asuka reached out to put a hand on her shoulder, "The captain wants to discourage fighting aboard ship in the strongest way possible. With all of us bottled up in here, things could get out of hand very, very easily." "She's got a point," Miriya conceded. "Hmm," Min-Mei frowned, clearly not agreeing with them but also unwilling to continue to argue the issue. "Do you want to go home, or should I accompany you to rehersals for the pageant?" Miriya asked respectfully. Min-Mei winced visibly. "What I'd really like to do is go home and sleep," she admitted, "but the show must go on." "Miss Min-Mei?" Hitomi asked as the group got ready to go. "Yes?" Min-Mei turned to ask. Hitomi produced a piece of paper as she asked, "Could I have the autograph of a future Miss Macross winner?" "I haven't won yet," Min-Mei blushed as she signed. "You will," Hitomi nodded firmly, "you outshine them all." The group of four left the security wing of the mighty fortress ship, Asuka leading the way while Rei took up the rear. "I think she likes you," Asuka teased as they passed a digital screen showing the view outside, the planet Earth receeding slowly as they put distance between the SDF-1 and it. "Asuka," Min-Mei blushed, pausing a moment to take in the view too. Exiled from Earth by government order the massive vessel had left home peacefully, but they were always shadowed by the massive Zentradi fleet. Day after day they launched probing assaults against the ship, and each time they fought the enemy back. But all the crew were aware that the Zentradi had a overwhelming force available if they truly wished to use it, and grimly waited for the other shoe to drop. 'Which is why we're so caught up in the pageant,' Rei silently mused as they reached a transit route into the city itself, 'it provides a distraction from all that.' "I'm not surprised you're popular," Asuka noted cheerfully, "you certainly have the looks and charm." "I'm glad you're settled down with Rei," Min-Mei noted with some amusement, "or I'd be worried you were trying to charm me into something." "I'm shocked you even think that," Asuka joked. Seeing the slightly pinched look on Miriya's face Rei murmured to her, "You don't need to be so worried. They're just old friends." "Sorry," Miriya managed a smile, "I'm just not used to things like this." Meanwhile, up on the bridge Captain Misato furtively snuck a sip from her can of beer. "Do you have to do that?" Aoba asked wearily. "Yes, I do," Misato answered as she put her can of beer down beside her chair. The black haired woman adjusted her officer's cap as she briskly asked, "Maya, patrol status?" Maya Ibuki touched her control console, the brown haired younger woman oddly dressed in a tuxedo. "Ikari reports a skirmish in sector I-1," she said briskly, "he believes it to be merely a probing attempt." Ritsuko frowned as she studied combat data then the dyed blonde noted, "But they've been probing more frequently lately..." "Do you think they're planing something?" Misato wondered, her eyes narrowing. "They have to do something," Maya offered, "if their high command is anywhere near as impatient as ours is." Everyone on the bridge chuckled at that. Misato's fights with Earth high command were becoming legendary, from her fight to offload civilians to their recent forced launch from Earth before ship and crew were ready. To say Misato was becoming a thorn in Earth Command's side was a understatement, but there was little their superiors could do about it. "Any changes in their force deployments?" Misato wondered. Ritsuko shook her head, "Not that we can see. But there's such a high density of screening ships at the core of their fleet we can't say for sure what's happening there." "Would deploying a radar wing help?" Maya wondered. A radar wing was a modified craft carrying a powerful sensor rig, named after the older radar planes. It could be more powerful than ship sensors in that it could probe with greater focus in a particular direction, but such craft were also very vulnerable. "No," Misato shook her head firmly, "they've been able to capture one previously. I'm not risking it happening again." "We could ask Skull Squadron to attempt a reconnasance mission," Ritsuko offered. "The Angels of Death?" Misato smiled faintly, "Knowing them, they'd volunteer. But it'd be a massive blow to our morale if we lost them." "I doubt we'd lose them," Maya said after a moment, "but you're probably right." Out in the depths of space a squadron of fighters swept through the night, their metal shining in the starlight. Shinji Ikari lead them in his blue trimmed Valkyrie, the brown haired man's eyes intent as he studied the darkness. "Sir, we've cleared the sector," Lynn Kyle said quietly. "Yeah..." Shinji frowned slightly, wondering what exactly was bothering him. The sensor data showed clear, as did ship based scans but... "Do you want to do another fly-by?" Aida asked a bit tiredly. "Sorry folks," Shinji apologized, "but something's bugging me. Another pass. Please." Firing low powered thrusters the fighters shifted course, retracing their steps as the ominous shapes of Zentradi ships followed at a distance. As they cruised along the pilots searched the darkness, then Hikari spoke up, "You're right, there IS something." "Eh?" Kyle wondered. "There are black shapes...," Hikari said seriously as the brown haired woman peered out her view screen, "you can see them when they blot out the stars." "Oh crap," Aida breathed out in alarm. 'We're using tight band transmissions between fighters,' Shinji's mind raced, 'they probably don't know we've spotted them. Do I radio the SDF-1 or...' THOOM! Suddenly the concealed ships were wracked by missile fire as a single fighter swept in, weapons blazing. "Let's do this," Hikari cried, leading Aida in a rapid assault. 'Jumped the gun.' Shinji thought grimly as he activated the radio and contacted the SDF-1, "This is recon flight one, there are cloaked battlepods inbound! I repeat, cloaked battlepods!" Shutting down the connection Shinji kicked in the afterburners and raced to the fight, the battlepods revealing themselves as they fired back. "Cloaked battlepods?" Misato sat up on the bridge, her eyes widening in surprise. Ritsuko raced to the sensors console and began to manipulate scan frequencies as she muttered, "We should have anticipated this..." Maya hit the general alarm as she ordered, "All reserve pilots, to your fighters! This is not a drill, I repeat, this is not a drill!" "Keep an eye on the main fleet," Misato ordered, "and prepare to transform the SDF-1!" She sat back as she thought, 'This could be it...'
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