February 2009... When Ranma made it back to the Ready Room, she found a very subdued scene. The monitor in the room showed the area of space around the SDF-1 littered with debris. "What happened?" Ranma asked Marissa as everyone stood around either looking at the screen with numb horror or looking at the floor in impotent rage and grief. "It was our orbital fleet, Ma'am," Marissa said in a sad tone. "They were about to dock and...they were massacred. It was an enemy bombardment, heavy, devastating...they never had a chance." Ranma closed her eyes, reeling from the staggering loss of life. Just then the SDF-1 shuddered as she began to plow atmosphere. General Quarters sounded over the PA and Claudia's voice followed it. "All hand, All hands, prepare for Hyperspace Fold operation," Claudia announced, the stress evident in her voice. "This is not a drill, repeat this is not a drill. All hands to emergency stations and prepare for fold operation, T-minus 5 minutes and counting." The pilots in the room burst into activity securing what could be secured and then securing themselves to the seats that were bolted to the deck by the seatbelts provided for the purpose. Nobody knew what to expect since the fold system had never been tested so they tried to be ready for anything. As the SDF-1 descended through the atmosphere, the countdown worked its way down. Ranma could make out Macross Island growing larger on the monitor. Soon it was filling the screen as the countdown reached zero. Outside the ship a blue sphere of energy expanded outward encompassing Macross Island, the ships anchored in the harbor and much of the surrounding ocean. Inside, Ranma saw the monitor wink out and things became surreal. Her vision blurred and distorted, changing colors and separating as if the various layers of light were being reflected at different speeds. Finally, there was a growing sense of vertigo that quickly peaked. As the vertigo began to fade, Ranma's vision began to resolve itself into some semblance of normal. Everything still had a red tint to it but she quickly realized that was from the emergency lighting. Ranma shook her head to clear it as she heard more than a couple people retching. The monitor stayed off and people began to look around at each other wondering what had happened. They had no way to know if the fold had been successful or if it had been among the many other things that had gone haywire that day. They didn't have long to wonder about it though, because the collision alarm sounded and Lisa's voice came over the PA. "All hands brace for impact. All hands brace for impact," she said urgently and then began to count down. When she reached zero, the SDF-1 shuddered violently and a resounding boom was heard. The motion of the ship changed from an imperceptible descent to a skittering lateral movement. When it stopped the PA burst to life again. "All Veritech fighters; scramble. We are under attack by enemy battle pods. All Veritechs scramble!" Before the message ended Ranma was running for Rose One followed closely by the remains of Rose Squadron. They climbed into their Veritechs and began to power up. Shortly after that they launched and what they saw shocked them to the core. They appeared to be in space. The SDF-1 was resting on a macabre frozen Macross Island. The enemy battle pods that had remained on the island had formed up and were now swarming over the SDF-1. There wasn't a lot of them, but still a significant amount. Ranma went to work, crushing a battle pod as she descended on it in guardian mode. Shifting to battloid mode, she took out two more in the space of as many seconds with precisely directed fire from her gun pod. She ran along the vast expanse of the wide flat bow of the SDF-1, spraying death from her autocannon and head lasers. By the time it was over she had added 7 more kills to her tally and the enemy was no more. Looking out over the prow of the SDF-1, it finally struck her, the magnitude of what she was seeing. "Masaka," she whispered, praying that everyone had been in the shelters and that the shelters had held atmosphere in a way they were never designed to do. The two Navy carriers, the Daedalus and the Prometheus lay mired in a frozen sea. Ranma knew they had had a minimal crew on broad but those who had been, most likely hadn't faired well. She had to wonder if more people died due to enemy action or due to the colossal blunders their ignorance of the alien tech had caused. (oO\O/Oo) At last some good news rolled in. The enemy was nowhere to be seen, but that wasn't expected to last. Another bit of good news was that the shelters had held and the people that had made it to them were safe and being transported to the SDF-1. The best news for Rose Squadron was that Cassie and Tia had made it to the shelters after ejecting from their damaged VF-1's. The crew and pilots of the SDF-1 were using the respite from the enemy to lick their wounds and assess the damage. Many of the Veritech Squadrons had been mauled severely. Most were now little larger in numbers than Rose Squadron. Rose Squadron itself had received commendations and proved itself a very effective combat unit, accounting for 20 percent of the enemy losses. Ranma had wracked up an astonishing 43 kills between the three separate actions. The other Rose pilots individually had some of the most impressive kill scores in the group. (oO\O/Oo) March 2009... "Commander Fokker, what can I do for you?" Bret Kingsley asked. "Well, I just wanted to give you and your men these," Roy handed them each a shiny pair of Naval Astronaut's wings. "Thanks," Brett said. "How are the Rose's? Did they pull through it okay?" "They took one casualty," Roy informed them. "Ursula Kruger didn't make it. As for how they did, they had the best performance out of all of us. They really validated the reasoning we used to put them together." "I'm sorry to hear about Ursula," Brett said sadly. "She was a great pilot and a solid officer. How are they taking it?" "They're professionals," Roy said. "They are ready to do their duty. But it's hitting them pretty hard. I guess they got pretty close to each other. Ranma is taking it particularly hard. I remember how hard it was for me when I lost my first pilot. You always wonder if there was something you could have done differently." "You have to get pretty close when flying on a demo team," Brett nodded sagely. "There's too much trust required to fly inches away from each other not to get close. Maybe I could talk to her." "It couldn't hurt," Roy said. "I've tried a couple of times but it takes a lot to draw her out. She's very private about her inner feelings. Lisa and I have been so busy with the recovery and repairs that we haven't really had time to work on her. I know Lisa would especially appreciate anything you could do for her. She cares for Ranma a lot more than she's willing to admit and I know it's tearing her up that she hasn't had time to be there for her." "Consider it done," Brett grinned. "Which brings me to this," Roy said with a broad grin. "How would you boys like to graduate from those relics you fly to the VF-1?" "You want us to join the RDF?" Brett asked, surprised. "If you want," Roy said. "The simple fact is, we are in orbit around Pluto and it's going to be a long journey home, most likely a hard one too. We have aircraft and a means to replace them, but we are short on pilots. You'll have to go through the same flight school as everyone else, but I'll work it so you guys can stay together." The Blues talked it over among themselves for a few minutes and Brett came back over to Roy. "Okay, but we have a condition," he grinned. "Oh?" Roy said raising an eyebrow. "We keep our unit identity," Brett said. "I think that can be arranged," Roy said. "I'll contact you when the time comes to start classes. Oh and if you can get Ranma straightened out, you might want to have her start teaching you her focusing techniques to help you with the Neural Link connection." (oO\O/Oo) Brett entered the officer's lounge and scanned the room. He saw his target sitting by herself, staring out the large widow out into space. She looked very guarded and yet vulnerable as she sat with her knees pulled up under her chin and her arms hugging her legs. Classic body language of someone who was trying to hide what they were feeling from the outside world. Brett walked across the room and stood behind her. "I know what you're thinking," he said gently. Ranma gave no response. "You're thinking you could have done it differently. You could have been there to protect her. You could have given different orders. You could have trained her better and she might still be here." "But I didn't and now she's gone," Ranma said after a long pause. "You're wrong, Ranma," Brett said. "It was a battle. It was her time to go. There wasn't anything you could have done to change that. She did her job and paid with her life to protect us all. Don't belittle that by punishing yourself for something you couldn't control." "She was my friend," Ranma said plaintively. "I let her die." Ranma sniffed and wiped her hand under her eyes. "Bullshit," Brett said harshly. "There's a difference between allowing something to happen and being powerless to stop it. Before you entered the engagement, did you know she was going to die?" "No," Ranma whimpered. "Did you choose not to help her?" Brett asked. "You know I didn't," Ranma said. "I would have done anything to prevent what happened." "Then it was something you couldn't control," Brett said. "That's the nature of battle. You know that. The only difference now is that you feel responsible for what happens to your people. I know how that feels. I've lost pilots under my command and it's never easy. The best thing you can do is press on and try to make their sacrifice count for something. Tell me honestly, would Ursula want you to be holed up beating yourself up for her?" "No, I guess not," Ranma said, sniffling again. "She was the one that always helped to put things in perspective for me." "It's okay to grieve, Ranma," Brett said softly. "It's okay to feel the pain of her loss. If you didn't, I would be seriously worried about you and your suitability to be an officer. Now, I know a time honored method that might help. Do you trust me?" Ranma looked up at him with red-rimmed eyes and he offered her his hand. After a minute she took it and allowed herself to be pulled to her feet. (oO\O/Oo) It was funny really. The whole city of Macross was being reconstructed in the massive holds of the SDF-1. And in someone's infinite wisdom, one of the first places to be reestablished was O'Reilly's Pub, newly redesigned with a new, more spacious floor plan, and featuring imported booze flash frozen and imported all the way from Earth. The sign on the front said so. Currently, elements of the 5-42nd Marine Mechanized Infantry (destroid) Battalion were performing a deep recon mission of the inside of said establishment. Being grunts, they considered it their sacred, if unofficial, duty to become intimately familiar with any watering holes in the region they were currently stationed in. "This booze tastes funny, Major," one of them said to Russ Newton. He had made Captain right before the ill-fated Launch Day and out of respect to the tradition that there could only be one captain on a naval vessel, space or surface going, he had received a brevet to Major. "I reckon it does, Lieutenant," Russ replied distractedly. "You probably would too if you were bloody frozen solid instantly and then thawed out again. Think of it as a novel experience, what?" The other man chuckled. "It is that, yeah," he replied. "What are you lookin' at, Sir?" "I'm not likin' the situation over there much," Russ said as he gestured with his head over to where their personal guardian angel sat with a fella. It was rare indeed to see her with a fella, but she appeared to be distraught and he appeared to be plying her with booze. "Isn't that the Dragon Lady?" the lieutenant asked. "Aye," Russ said. "If you're worried maybe you ought to call in Warrant Tendo," the lieutenant suggested. "She's been lookin' for the opportunity to thank the Dragon Lady for pullin' her fat outa the fire back in Macross. You could kinda send her in under that pretense to find out what gives. It might throw a wrench in the guys plans too if he's tryin ta gett'er drunk and take advantage." "That's not a bad idea," Russ chuckled. "Of course then we'd have to worry about Warrant Tendo finishing what he started. She thinks nobody has noticed how hungrily she looks at the Dragon Lady." "Yeah, well, at least it'd be one of us and you could order Tendo to stand down," the lieutenant replied. "Aye, you got a point there," Russ said as he got out his comm and dialed up the newly minted Warrant Officer Akane Tendo. (oO\O/Oo) "Excuse me, Ma'am?" Akane said as she tapped the cute little redhead on the shoulder. The girl turned and looked at her with wide bleary eyes. "Ooooo, a you’re a cute one, ain'tcha," she giggled and turned back to the man beside her. "Commander Kingsley," she said in a drunken accusatory tone, "since when did they start makin' Marinesha so cute. And why wasn't I informed. This is a sherious break down in com...commoony...com-moony-cay-shuns!" She managed to look serious for a couple of seconds before bursting into giggles. Akane blushed deeply. The man also laughed at the redhead's antics. As the laughter died down, the Dragon Lady looked back at the blushing Marine. "Shorry," she said. "Brett, here, 'ees the CO of the famous Blue Angel's by the way, is tryin' ta take m'mind offa my incompetence as a Commnadin' offisher by getting me, as Vicki would shay, pished drunk. You shee, I let my XO go and get hershelf killed and the treatment for that ish apparently generous application of copious amounts of firewater." The redhead tossed back another shot of whiskey, which the man immediately filled up again. "Oh," Akane said. "Well, I saw you here and I wanted to come over and thank you for saving my life in the street fighting that day before the fold. Thank you. I would have died if it hadn't been for you." Ranma looked at her for a minute...and shattered. Suddenly, Akane had her arms full of the Dragon Lady as the girl sobbed her heart out. Akane looked up at the man in confusion. He smiled at her reassuringly. "Been waitin' for this to happen," he explained. "She's been keeping it all bottled up inside, beating herself up about losing her first pilot under her command. I was starting to wonder if I was going to be able to keep up with her long enough for the booze to do its work. Thank god you came along. She needs to be reminded of the good she's done." Akane looked over her shoulder at the other Marines and gestured with her head. They rose and approached the table. "Mind if we join ya?" Russ said as he arrived at the table. "Be my guest," the man said. "What's goin' on here?" the Aussie asked, glancing at the still sobbing and incoherent redhead in Akane's arms. The man introduced himself and explained what he had just told Akane. "Chrikey, that's a bloody hard thing. 'Ere and I thought you were tryin' ta take advantage of our guardian angel. Sorry 'bout that, mate. We try to look out for her since none of us would be 'ere if it wasn't for 'er." "No problem," Kingsley grinned. "It's good to know she has people that look out for her. I suspect she has more friends than she thinks she does." "I known 'er since I was a second luey," Russ smiled fondly. "She's the best damn martial artist I've ever scene. 'Ell on wheels, that one. Bloody fine aviator, too. 'Owd you meet 'er?" "I helped to train her and her squadron for their flight demonstrations," Kingsley said. "I gained a lot of respect for her and her abilities." "She 'as that effect on people," Russ chuckled fondly. He looked over to see the redhead was winding down, still being held by Akane. "Tendo, it's your job to look after our Dragon Lady tonight. Make sure you stay with 'er until she sleeps it off. Don't want 'er chokin' ta death on us now do we?" "My pleasure, Sir," Akane said with a small smile. "I'm sure it will be," Russ chuckled. (oO\O/Oo) "Are you sure this is okay, Sir?" Warrant Officer Akane Tendo asked as she carried the sleeping Ranma along behind Commander Kingsley as he led her to Ranma's quarters. "I mean this is officer country." "I'm sure everyone will understand," Kingsley chuckled. "Ah, here we are." He took out the key card they had coaxed from Ranma while she was in a semi-conscious state and unlocked the door. "Um, sir, this is the First Officer's quarters," Akane said nervously. "Yeah, it is," Kingsley said. "She's been staying with Commander Hayes until they managed to come up with permanent quarters assignments. Although, I suspect Commander Hayes and Ranma's friends wanted to keep her close by while Ranma was dealing with the loss of her XO." "I see, Sir," Akane said with a trace of disappointment. "Are you sure I'm not going to get in trouble for this?" "Everything will be fine," Kingsley assured her. "You just have to stay with her until she wakes up or Commander Hayes returns. Now go on in there and put her to bed." "Aye aye, Sir," Akane said and entered the cabin. Kingsley shut the door behind her and left. 'So this is how the brass lives,' Akane thought as she looked around the spacious cabin. "Nice." Quickly locating the bedroom, she laid Ranma on the queen-sized bed. Thinking for a moment, she reached down and began to take Ranma's clothing off, leaving her in her sports bra and panties. Akane's eyes traveled hungrily over the lithe redhead's well-endowed form before she sighed wistfully. Pulling a wastebasket near the bed in case it was needed, Akane pulled back the covers of the bed and picked up the smaller girl again. She leaned down to place her in on the sheets but when she went to let go and stand up, the girl grabbed her, nearly causing her to fall into the bed. ""sa...h'ld me..." she mumbled in her sleep. The redhead's grip was like steel. Akane could have broken it, but she didn't want to hurt the girl. Instead, she laid down on the bed beside her, kicking her shoes off. Ranma snuggled up to her and held her tightly with her head on Akane's shoulder. Sighing, Akane stroked the red hair and placed her other arm on top of the Ranma's. 'This is going to look bad,' Akane thought to herself as her eyes traced the curvy redhead's flanks, down along her narrow waist to her full round hips, lingering on the swell of her bottom and then continuing down her sleek muscular legs before making the return journey. She had dreams of this moment ever since that Thanksgiving party. The little redheaded bombshell had made quite a strong impression on Akane and while her dreams left her panting, this situation was pure torture for the midnight-blue haired girl. She wanted to do far more than just hold the girl while she slept. But she couldn't because... "Lisa...love you...so much," the girl mumbled in her sleep. Torture. It was pure torture. (oO\O/Oo) "Who the hell are you and what the hell do you think you're doing?" an angry voice yelled, startling Akane out of at least five years of life. Akane didn't know how long she had lain there with the delectable redhead snuggled up to her. It seemed like forever and she had resisted her impulses the whole time. She almost laughed at the irony. She had just succumbed to her desire and had tentatively begun to stroke the sleek smooth skin of the thigh that was thrown across her hips. She hadn't been at it for two minutes before the interruption. Now all she could think was, 'Oh crap, oh crap, Major Newton's gonna kill me...if the furious brunette Valkyrie glaring death at me doesn't have me tossed out an airlock first.' Akane immediately leaped out of the redhead's grip which had relaxed. "It...it's not what you think, Ma'am!" Akane denied. "I can explain, really." "Oh so you can explain why you are in my bed with my...with Ranma, and why Ranma is nearly naked?" Commander Hayes demanded. "Yes, Ma'am," Akane insisted fearfully. "You see, ma'am, it was Commander Kingsley...he took her out and got her really fuck...I mean wasted...I mean drunk to help her let out all the feelings she was burying over the death of her XO. The 5-42nd...well...we try to look out for her and Major Newton sent me over to make sure she wasn't being taken advantage of. When I thanked her for saving my life in the street fighting, I guess the dam burst and it all came out. She cried herself to sleep and the Major told me to stay with her on drunk watch to make sure she didn't choke or something. Commander Kingsley brought us back here. I took off her clothes and was putting her to bed and...well...I guess she thought I was you because she grabbed hold of me and wouldn't let go so I had to lay there with her cuddled up to me. Nothing happened, Ma'am, I promise." Akane finished and took a breath. "I see," Commander Hayes said, clearly still angry. "So I didn't see you with you hand stroking her thigh then?" "I..." Akane blushed deeply. "I'm sorry, Ma'am. I didn't mean too...I tried to resist. She's just so...it was torturous, Ma'am." Akane looked at the floor. The brunette sighed. "She is irresistible, isn't she?" Commander Hayes said. "I guess I can't blame you that much." "Can I go now, Ma'am?" Akane asked, wanting to get out of there before the Commander reconsidered having her thrown out an airlock without a p-suit. "Yes, of course," the taller woman said. Akane slipped her shoes on and moved toward the door. She was stopped by a hand on her arm as she brushed past the Commander. "Thanks for watching over her. Just remember, it's not considered very good taste to poach on another woman's territory." "Yes, Ma'am," Akane said. "That wasn't my intent, Ma'am." "Then I won't hold it against you," the brunette said. As soon as she released Akane, Akane was out the door, thanking the gods she made it out alive. She was almost back to her quarters when she grinned at the memory of the redhead snuggled up tightly against her and the feel of her silky skin under her fingertips. Those memories would definitely feature strongly in her dreams later. (oO\O/Oo) Lisa peeled her uniform off and sighed. She looked at the still sleeping Ranma curled up in a tight ball on the bed. Clad only in a t-shirt and panties, she laid down on the bed beside Ranma. The smaller girl, sensing the warm of her body immediately snuggled up to her. Lisa had no need to resist her urges and began to stroke Ranma's body tenderly. 'What am I going to do with you?' Lisa thought fondly. 'I sounded too possessive with that girl. Do I really consider you mine exclusively? Is that fair of me when you have to share me with the memory of Karl? What is it about you that inspires people to be close to you?' Lisa leaned down and kissed Ranma on the forehead. "I love you, sweetie," she said. Ranma whimpered a little and pulled Lisa to her more tightly. (oO\O/Oo) "What's going on, Mom," Marissa asked as Ranma came in the briefing room. "I didn't think we were scheduled for duty for another few hours yet." "We're not," Ranma replied. "I have something to show you, but first I want to know how you all are holding up." "We're doing okay, Mom," Marissa spoke for the others. "We miss her but we're ready to do our job. We're ready to make the bastards pay." "Good, because we ARE going to make the bastards pay dearly for our blood," Ranma said with conviction. "You'll be happy to know that we've been made a front line squadron now. Wild Rose Squadron, as we are now officially known, accounted for a higher percentage of enemy losses than any other squadron, including Skull. Each of you has proven yourselves and has validated the reasons we were put together. I'm very proud of you all." "Ah, Mom, thanks," Natalia said. "We're very proud of you too. We couldn't have done it without you." There was a chorus of agreement from the others. "That means a lot to me," Ranma said, her eyes glistening as she gave them a quick smile. "Thank you." "What did you want to show us, Mom," Marissa asked. "Well, come with me and I'll show you," Ranma said. She lead the others to the hanger bay where the Wild Rose aircraft were kept. The Roses entered the bay and immediately noticed something different. Their VF-1's were lined up, four on one side and four on the other, and each now sported black vertical stabs. The dark pink tips were still there, as was the rose graphic on the outboard sides and everything else was still the same. One other thing had been added though. Below and to the aft of the bloom on the tails were small gold letters in flowing script. The beautiful script read "Baby Bear". "It's a tribute," Ranma explained. The Roses were all touched and choked up. They gathered around Ranma and hugged each other in a group hug. All of them, including Ranma, stood there for quite some time in their mutual embrace and cried for the loss of their comrade and friend. "Thanks, Mom," Marissa said when they finally broke. "It's beautiful." "I'm glad you all approve," Ranma said. "But I'm telling you now, I don't want to have to put anymore of my 'daughters' up there so you guys better stay alive, got it?" "Yes Mom," they said simultaneously. "Good girls," Ranma said fondly and received a hug from each of them. (oO\O/Oo) Dictionary of Acronyms and other Jargon 2IC--Second In Command AMRAAM--Advanced Medium Range Air to Air Missile APU--Auxiliary Power Unit ATC--Air Traffic Control AWACS--Airborne Warning And Control System BDU--Battle Dress Uniform (fatigues) BOQ--Bachelor Officer's Quarters CAG--Commander, Air Group CAP--Combat Air Patrol CAS--Close Air Support CBU--Cluster Bomb Unit CO--Commanding Officer ETA--Estimated Time of Arrival GBU--Guided Bomb Unit HARM--High speed Anti-Radiation Missile JSDF-- Japanese Self Defense Force LAV--Light Armored Vehicle SAM--Surface to Air Missile SDF--Super Dimensional Fortress UNEDF--United Nations of Earth Defense Force UNEDC--Untied Nations of Earth Defense Command RDF--Robotech Defense Force XO--Executive Officer (second in command) Angels in reference to altitude is a navy thing, and is a way of saying flight level, which basically means adding three zeros on the number for the altitude reference. (JRA) Port--left Starboard--right
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