Dragon Lady of Macross (part 12 of 30)

a Macross fanfiction by Calamity-Queen of Cordite

Back to Part 11
March 2009...

Ranma was on her feet and running the instant General Quarters sounded. 
She reached the locker room several steps ahead of the rest of her 
squadron and began to hastily shuck off her uniform down to bra and 
panties. She quickly pulled on her rose and white Lycra/Kevlar 
reinforced form fitting flight suit. Not only did it provide protection 
against shrapnel that might enter her cockpit, it was also capable of 
acting as an emergency p-suit should her cockpit be breeched. One thing 
it failed utterly to protect against was the display of how 
exceptionally well formed her female body was. Securing the closures, 
she grabbed her helmet and ran for Wild Rose One.

Due to the lack of replacement pilots, they had restructured the 
squadron slightly. Alpha flight was now three aircraft, consisting of 
Ranma, Natalia, and Erin. Natalia and Erin would fly wing for each 
other, letting Ranma use all of their potential without having to wait 
for a wingman to catch up. Bravo flight was composed of Marissa as 
flight leader followed by Tia, Vicki, and Cassie. The Roses quickly 
climbed into their Veritechs and began powering up.

With the canopy sealed and the cockpit pressurized, Alpha flight was 
brought out to the elevator. They queued up to get on the Prometheus's 
bow cats just behind the last of Skull. The new pilots with no carrier 
experience were being launched from the SDF-1 while the experienced 
naval pilots had been assigned to launch off the Promy.

The last of Skull's planes launched and Ranma followed the Cat Officer, 
Moira Flynn's directions as she staged on the cat. Beside her, Natalia 
and Erin were also being staged for launch. Lieutenant Flynn and her 
team hooked Ranma's Veritech to the cat and made a quick inspection. The 
blast deflectors came up and Ranma gave a thumbs up to Flynn's signaled 
inquiry and grabbed the 'oh shit' handle on the glare shield while 
opening the throttles wide.

Flynn saluted her and went to one knee, giving the signal to launch. 
Ranma was thrust back onto her seat as she went from a stand still to a 
couple hundred knots in less than five hundred feet. As she cleared the 
launch zone, Ranma slowed to allow the rest of her flight to join her. 
As soon as they were formed up, she turned toward the battle that was 
just beginning.

As she did she caught sight of the biggest furball she'd ever imagined. 
She new it was ugly from the panicked transmissions on the Tac-net, but 
the reality was worse. Chaos reigned supreme as she led her flight into 
the middle of it.

"Ice, Banshee, cover each other," Ranma commanded. "This is ugly and 
we're going to have to bump it up a notch."

In truth the enemy seemed better out here in space than they had in the 
atmosphere. Battle pods seemed to be everywhere as did Veritechs. 
Missiles and tracers were so thick Ranma thought she could have gotten 
out and walked across them. Explosions were eerily silent in the depths 
of space, but the screams of the dying on the Tac-net more than made up 
for it.

"All right, let's dance," Ranma said as she jinked out of the way of the 
energy bolt from a battle pod.

The pod quickly blossomed into a ball of burning gas as Ranma struck it 
with four of her laser cannon. She wasted no time acquiring another 
target and spearing it with a short-range missile. Wild Rose One swirled 
through the chaotic dogfight like a pretty grim reaper. Using abrupt 12+ 
G direction changes she appeared to bounce around the battlefield 
leaving blossoms of flaming gases and shrapnel in her wake.

Suddenly her danger sense tingled a warning to her.

"Everyone, break off, break off," she yelled into the Tac-net. "We've 
got heavy incoming fire from the larger ship."

Veritechs scattered but some weren't quick enough. They died as the 
nearly solid stream of fire came in from the large enemy vessel. The 
insane thing was a large number of the enemy battle pods disintegrated, 
cut down by their own fire. The dogfight continued out of the line of 
fire, but slowly the Earth forces were coming out on top.

Unfortunately, the SDF-1 was taking a pounding. Ranma was contemplating 
making an attack run on the larger ship when something strange began to 
happen. The SDF-1 began to move and change shape. When it finished it 
stood like a massive mile tall battloid. The booms of the main gun stood 
high above the shoulders and the salvaged naval carriers formed its 
arms.

Once the transformation was over the twin booms of the main gun leveled 
themselves at the large enemy ship. Energy began to swirl and arc 
between them as the gun charged. Finally the gun unleashed a torrent of 
death that consumed the enemy ship like wet rice paper in a hurricane.

"Whoa," Ranma breathed at the awesome power she'd just seen. She didn't 
dwell on it though. She quickly turned back to mopping up the remaining 
enemy battle pods.

The battle didn't last long after that. Ranma was very thankful that 
Wild Rose didn't lose anyone this time. Indeed, they had once again out 
performed other squadrons, accounting for more enemy losses than any 
other unit save for the enemy themselves with the barrage they fired 
through their own forces on the SDF-1.

(oO\O/Oo)

Inside the SDF-1, human (both military and civilian) morale took another 
grievous blow. The newly reconstructed Macross City had been decimated 
by the modular transformation. Buildings lay crushed and tumbled as 
their owners sifted through them for their meager possessions. It was 
fortunate that civilian casualties were light. Nobody had died but there 
were injuries.

The same could not be said for the crew. Many had paid the final price 
in defense of the SDF-1 as the bombardment came in and opened 
compartments to vacuum, or destroyed their battle stations outright. 
Brave Damage Control crews succumbed when they became trapped in 
compartments with fires burning out of control or in areas where the 
enemy bombardment continued to pour in as they worked to keep the ship 
in the fight.

The horrors of war had returned to the people of Earth, of this there 
was no doubt.

Still, the human spirit remained strong as those that had previously 
been reluctant to join the ranks of the defenders flocked to sign up. 
One of those had been Rick Hunter. The young man had finally had to face 
the fact that his opinion of the military, ingrained in him by his 
father, was, in this case, completely wrong. Peace was a wonderful 
concept, but when faced with an enemy that cared not for peace, 
sometimes you have to fight, and kill, to protect those you care about.

(oO\O/Oo)

May 2009...

"Lisa," Ranma growled warningly.

"Oh, come on Ranma," Lisa said. "I'm not going to push you to try 
anything on. We're just looking. That doesn't mean I won't make some 
suggestions that I'd like to see you in, though." Lisa waggled her 
eyebrows and grinned suggestively.

"Oh, is that so?" Ranma said, blushing.

"Uh huh," Lisa grinned. "Besides, you deserve something nice to wear 
tonight when we celebrate you promotion to Lt. Commander." Lisa grabbed 
Ranma's hand and started for the boutique.

"I don't know what shocks me more," Sammy said to the other members of 
the terrible trio. "Commander Hayes flirting like a teenager, or who 
she's flirting with."

"I think they make an adorable couple," Vanessa giggled.

"Yes, and Lisa is so much easier to get along with when Ranma is keeping 
her, um, satisfied," Kim said suggestively. The three dissolved into 
giggles as they followed the pair in question into the boutique.

Inside, Lisa and Ranma were looking at the lingerie selection. Lisa 
picked up a pair of white satin and lace high cut panties.

"These are cute, don't you think, Ranma," Lisa said holding them up.

"Um, yeah," Ranma said, imagining them on Lisa. "Very cute."

Lisa blushed a little and began to look at the table for a matching bra. 
It was then that she noticed a head pop out from under the table between 
Ranma's legs. The head slowly turned to look up Ranma's uniform skirt.

"See anything you like PERVERT?" Lisa snarled.

The man's eyes got wide as saucers as he got a good view of Ranma's 
panties and a small trickle of blood began to seep from his nose. Lisa's 
angry question caused Ranma to look down.

"Eeep!" Ranma squeaked as she leaped back. As she did, she got a view of 
the pervert. "Well, if it isn't Ensign Rick 'Head'. You mean I haven't 
beaten on the thick head of yours enough in basic, Rickhead? You have to 
go out of your way for more?"

She reached down and snatched Rick from under the table, hoisting him up 
by the front of his uniform.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry," Rick chanted. "It's not what it looks 
like, I swear."

"It looks to me like you were looking up Ranma's skirt and enjoying the 
view, Pervert," Lisa said.

"Yeah, look at the pervert's nose bleed," Vanessa said, glaring at the 
hapless flier.

"Sure sign of a pervert," Kim chimed in, also glaring in female 
indignation.

"Humph, lecher," Sammy added.

Ranma took Rick, still being held off the ground, and walked toward the 
door.

"Since you have enough time to be out molesting innocent women, I guess 
you won't mind being on head cleaning duty for the next month to keep 
you occupied," Ranma informed him. When she got to the door she drop 
kicked him in the family jewels. Rick landed on his head across the 
street, his hands in warding gestures. "And stay out, Rickhead no 
Hentai!"

Ranma when back over to Lisa, who grabbed her hand possessively.

"Are you okay?" she asked. "Who was that?"

"I'm fine," Ranma giggled. "You remember that civilian pilot that Roy 
brought on board?"

"The one that called me an..." Lisa started.

"That's the one," Ranma interrupted.

"Why that no good slimy bastard," Lisa fumed. "First he insults me and 
then he looks up my wo...er your skirt. I'll have him on every shit 
detail that comes down the pike, I can promise you that!" Ranma blushed, 
catching Lisa's slip. The terrible trio giggled.

"Well, Rick, what do you think?" Minmei called out, coming out of the 
dressing room in a very pretty dress.

"He had to leave, Sweetie," Lisa said.

"Yeah he had a nose bleed," Kim added.

"And I think he said something about abdominal pain too," Sammy offered.

"Oh," Minmei said, looking concerned. "I hope he's okay." She looked at 
Ranma and Lisa and brightened. "Well, since Rick's not here, do you like 
this dress?" She twirled around to show them.

"It's very pretty, Minmei," Lisa said, smiling.

"Yeah, too good for that hentai," Ranma muttered.

(oO\O/Oo)

"You wanted to see me, Sir?" Ranma asked, entering Roy's office.

"Yeah, I got some news for you," Roy said. "Your buddies, the Blue 
Angels are ready for flight status. They're, not surprisingly, solid 
pilots. Not as good as Wild Rose, but then you girls do have an 
advantage there. Anyway, since your Squadron is under strength, I'll 
having them fly with you until they get some combat time in with the 
Veritechs. When you go on patrol, I want a flight of Wild Roses and a 
flight of Blues paired up. Get with Commander Kingsley and the two of 
you work out who is with whom."

"Aye aye, Sir," Ranma replied. "Was that it?"

"No," Roy said. "I got a request from Dr. Lang. He wants you to work 
with him on some R&D projects to try to improve the Neural Link. He 
mentioned something about testing new weapons systems as well."

"Okay, sure, anything else?" Ranma inquired.

"Well, as a personal request, I don't suppose you'd consider lightening 
up on the kid would you?" Roy asked tiredly.

"You mean Rick-head?" Ranma asked. "He brings it on himself."

"He's a good kid, Ranma," Roy argued. "He's a little full of himself, 
but then aren't we all? You might actually like him if you give him a 
chance."

"Yeah, that, and if he kept his big trap shut," Ranma laughed.

"Just consider it, Ranma," Roy sighed. "He'll be almost as good as me 
someday once he has a little seasoning. Between you and Lisa, the only 
seasoning he's getting is how to clean the heads."

"A nice humble position for him, don't you think, Sir?" Ranma smirked. 
Roy snorted. "Look, Roy, I know he's your old pal and all and I can't 
speak for Lisa, but I'll cut him some slack. Not that it will do him any 
good. I think he's firmly on Lisa's shit list, especially after he 
looked up my skirt. That really pissed her off for some reason."

"I heard she's been a bit territorial concerning you recently," Roy 
chuckled.

"I noticed," Ranma laughed. "I just hope she's not causing herself 
problems. The only way she could be more blatant would be to piss on my 
leg."

"I told you, didn't I?" Roy grinned. "She's way too smart to let a good 
thing get away from her." Ranma blushed.

"Roy, I'm not such a good thing," Ranma protested. "I come with some 
serious issues. I don't see what she sees in me that makes it worth the 
risks for her."

"You don't have to," Roy smiled. "It's part of your charm."

"Where's the shovel?" Ranma quipped. "It's getting deep in here." Roy 
laughed.

(oO\O/Oo)

Ranma went through her advanced kata smoothly and gracefully. Her kicks, 
punches, chops and blocks were done with power and precision that made 
even the most advanced martial artists green with envy. She was used to 
having an audience when she practiced her art and today was no 
exception. She held her finishing position, her leg extended straight 
up, for ten controlled breaths before relaxing. She saw the 
midnight-blue haired girl, that had been watching her intently, 
approach.

"Hello, Ma'am," the girl said. "I don't know if you remember me as you 
were pretty smashed when we met, but I'm Akane Tendo."

"Hi Akane," Ranma smiled. "I remember. Sorry 'bout that. I was pretty 
out of it I guess."

"It's okay, Ma'am," Akane smiled. "I was glad to be there for you. After 
all, I do owe you my life."

"And I owe you for a very good quick explanation," Ranma giggled. "I 
heard all about what happened while I was passed out." Akane blushed 
guiltily. "Thanks for smoothing things over with Lisa. That could have 
been a bad thing for everyone if you hadn't said the right things."

"She's very fond of you, Ma'am," Akane said carefully.

"Please, call me Ranma here. I tend to leave rank at the door while 
practicing the art," Ranma said.

"Okay, Ranma," Akane smiled. "Would you mind if I asked what style you 
practice?"

"I practice an obscure family style called Anything Goes," Ranma 
answered, not seeing Akane's eyes widen in surprise. "It's really not a 
style though. It's basically a blend of a lot of other arts. The 
individual practitioner develops their own personal style based on the 
unique blend of techniques that they customize to suit them."

"Y...you're related to Genma Saotome, aren't you?" Akane asked. Now it 
was Ranma's turn to be startled out of a few years of life.

"I...I...might be," Ranma said carefully. "Not that I would claim him if 
I was. What did he do to you? Disgraceful buffoon..." Ranma muttered the 
last part.

"Nothing," Akane said. "He came to stay with us for a while. He was my 
father's friend. They trained together under the same master in the 
Anything Goes Style. They were planning on joining our families through 
marriage to Genma's son, but Genma said his son betrayed him. According 
to him, while in China, his son framed him for something and ran off 
while he was in the custody of the locals. I'm just glad they couldn't 
find him. I would have hated for my sisters or I to get stuck in some 
arranged marriage with a boy that would sell out his own father."

"It wasn't like that," Ranma growled.

"Oh? You know Genma's son? Is he your brother or something?" Akane 
asked.

"Or something," Ranma nodded. "Akane, let me tell you some things about 
Genma. He's a lying manipulative thief who would and did sell out his 
own flesh and blood if he thought it would be to his benefit. The man 
had no concept of honor and was a cowardly bastard that tried to dump 
all his problems off on his son. His son never framed him. He just 
refused to accept responsibility for the old man's actions and let the 
bastard deal with his own problems for a change. His son had to get away 
from the prick before Genma completely destroyed his life...any more so 
than he had already done."

"How do you know?" Akane asked. "Come to think of it, why do you have 
the same name as your brother?"

"Make no mistake, Akane, the man is an abusive piece of filth that will 
do or say anything to further his goals, usually those being to fill his 
fat stomach or to make himself look good," Ranma said. Ranma closed her 
eyes and took a deep breath. "Look, I don't want to talk about it. I 
despise that man and if I never see him again for the rest of my life, 
I'll be thankful. So I take that to mean that you practice Anything Goes 
as well?"

"Yeah, I was the best martial artist in Nerima," Akane said proudly. 
"You wanna spar?"

"Sure, why not?" Ranma smirked.

Akane's answering smirk vanished soon after the match started. She 
couldn't lay a finger on the agile little redhead and Ranma seemed to be 
able to penetrate her defenses at will. She wasn't used to being 
outclassed and it annoyed her greatly. In the past, she would have taken 
a dislike to the girl that was so easily beating her, but respect for 
the Dragon Lady, age, and combat experience as well as her own family 
betrayal had taught her some degree of humility. An hour later when they 
called a halt, Akane was bruised and out of breath, sweating heavily. 
She bowed to her opponent.

"Ranma, w...would you t...train me?" she asked clearly uncomfortable 
making the request. Ranma looked thoughtful for a moment.

"Akane, if I train you, I won't go easy on you," Ranma said finally. 
"It'll seem very harsh. I will have to be blunt about where you need to 
improve and you will have to accept that. You may not like me very much 
if I train you. Do you still want to do it?"

"Y...yes," Akane said meekly.

"You got yourself a sensei then," Ranma said. "I have to tell you, while 
you are better than most people on this ship, you have some very bad 
habits that will be hard to break. Didn't your dad tell you what you 
were doing wrong?"

"My father," Akane spat the title like it was something foul on her 
tongue, "stopped training me ten years ago. I mostly trained myself."

"I see," Ranma said. "That would explain why you're not far enough 
advanced to have begun to use the true concept of the Anything Goes 
Style."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Akane said, her eyes narrowing 
dangerously.

"Simply that you haven't learned enough styles to have developed you own 
personal style," Ranma said. "Once you learn enough to do that, you'll 
be much less predictable. You use what, two, maybe three styles? And the 
main one is Kenpo. Also all of your styles are hard styles. You need to 
learn some soft styles to balance them out and give yourself some more 
options. The more weapons in your arsenal, the tougher you'll be to 
beat."

"Hai, Sensei," Akane said, realizing just how badly her father had 
betrayed her.

"Good, now we're done for today," Ranma said. "I have flight duty later 
and I need to go grab some lunch before then."

"Okay," Akane said. "How about I buy you lunch? As a way to say thanks 
for saving my life and agreeing to train me."

"You're on," Ranma grinned at her new disciple. "Let's hit the showers, 
Teishi."

(oO\O/Oo)

"So what's you're story, Akane?" Ranma asked over lunch. "I sensed a 
little hostility concerning your father earlier."

"We had a falling out," Akane explained. "It all started in high school. 
There was this upperclassman that had a thing for me. He was a real nut 
job, completely insane, but his family was rich so nobody said anything. 
If he didn't like reality he just rewrote it in his head to suit him. 
When I wasn't interested in him, he came up with this idea that I would 
only date someone that could defeat me in battle. So each day I had to 
fight my way through 30 to 50 boys to get to class. Thankfully, I never 
lost."

"Man, that's gotta suck," Ranma said. "It does explain some of you 
habits though. You are probably better fighting a large group than one 
on one. Please go on."

"It did suck," Akane continued. "I was never interested in boys in the 
first place and I was terrified of what might happen if one of them beat 
me. After all, they had already proven I couldn't stop them if they 
wanted to...take liberties and they had also proven that they weren't 
above using force to get a girl. I lived in fear everyday because of 
that one asshole upperclassmen. I hated him with all my being. I was so 
glad when he graduated and was looking forward to a more relaxed senior 
year."

"But that wasn't the last of him, huh?" Ranma asked.

"No, it wasn't," Akane said. "My senior year was more relaxed. With out 
that jerk there to goad them the Hentai Horde, as they were known, 
became smaller but didn't ever go away but they tended to leave me alone 
after the morning attack. My father and Genma gave up on finding his son 
and I thought things were looking pretty good. I couldn't have been more 
wrong."

"What happened?" Ranma asked sympathetically.

"I had just graduated and there was to be a party at the dojo in honor 
of my graduation," Akane growled. "My no good betraying father had other 
plans though. When I got to the party, I found out that my father had 
turned it into an engagement party. He had accepted a large amount of 
money and engaged me to that fucking psycho upperclassman.

"I couldn't believe it. I just couldn't believe my own father would 
betray me like this, engaging me to my worst nightmare. I beat Kuno, the 
lunatic, to a bloody pulp and nearly started in on my father. He started 
babbling about honor and how I had to marry the prick for the sake of 
the family and I just couldn't take it."

"What did you do?" Ranma asked.

"I went up stairs and packed a few things and left," Akane said. "I 
didn't know where I was going or what I was going to do, but I knew I 
just had to get out of there. I felt so lost. This was so far outside my 
plans for the future. Anyway, I ended up staying with my sister for a 
few weeks at her apartment near the college she was going to. Finally, I 
joined the UNEDF Marine Corps. The rest, as they say, is history."

"Man, I'm sorry, Akane," Ranma said sympathetically. "I guess you 
understand a little bit about how Genma's son felt when he left Genma 
behind."

"Oh and how do you know?" Akane asked.

"Genma's son and I are close, Akane," Ranma said enigmatically. "Closer 
than you can imagine, and we tell each other everything."

"Oh," Akane said. "So Genma really did things like that to his son?"

"That and worse," Ranma said emphatically. "Akane, I have a question for 
you."

"Go on," the midnight blue haired girl prompted.

"Well, you're a martial artist, and well, while not quite to my level, 
you're a pretty good one," Ranma said. "Have you considered joining the 
Air Wing flying Veritechs?"

"Not really," Akane said. "I'm a Marine destroid pilot. I never really 
thought about flying. Why?"

"Because I think you would be a good Veritech pilot," Ranma explained. 
"You might be nearly as good as I am, since I owe my abilities to my 
martial arts skill. I could tell that you're advanced enough in the art 
to be augmenting you strength with your ki. Because of this I think you 
could take G-loading nearly as good as I can and, because you can 
control you're ki, you would probably score a high neural link 
percentage. I would like you to be a part of Wild Rose. If you're 
interested, I can make it happen."

"Wow, I don't know what to say," Akane said. "I'm honored that you think 
so highly of me. Can I think about it?" Ranma grinned.

"What's to think about?" Ranma said. "You'd be an officer instead of 
enlisted. You'd draw a lot more pay. You'd get to fly with the best 
squadron in the RDF. What more could you ask for?" Akane laughed.

"I have to admit you do make it sound tempting," Akane smiled. "You know 
what? Okay, I'll do it."

"Yatta!" Ranma smiled.

(oO\O/Oo)

Wild Rose Alpha and Blue Angel Bravo flights sat in the Wild Rose ready 
room. The enemy was currently staging one of their harassing attacks 
that had been coming in since the last major battle where the SDF-1 had 
transformed. They were keeping their ships out of main gun range but 
they were still sending in battle pods from time to time. Currently, 
this was one of those times and Ranma's two flights were currently on 
standby incase they were needed.

"Wild Rose Alpha, Blue Angel Bravo, you are needed on the cats 
immediately," the call came over the PA.

Ranma was off with her team in tow. They were already in their flight 
suits and ready to go so they were headed toward the hanger. At that 
moment, the ship was struck by an out of control battle pod. The impact 
and resulting explosion caused the ship to pitch violently. This caused 
a jeep traveling down the corridor to careen out of control and slam 
into a high-pressure steam line across the hall from Ranma.

Ranma screamed as the extremely hot water vapor engulfed her, picking 
her up and slamming her into the bulkhead. The rest of her team had 
managed to check up before they got seared with the steam as well, so 
they were standing right there when it happened.

"What the hell?" someone asked as they all witnessed Ranma's body 
expand, stretching the flight suit to its limits, and her hair turn from 
flame red to jet black. The female body that bounced off the wall landed 
in front of them was now clearly male. The Roses and Blues would have 
thought they hadn't seen what they thought they did except for one 
rather telling factor. The man in front of them was wearing a pink and 
white Wild Rose flight suit with the name Saotome displayed on it.

The medical teams were arriving and the stunned pilots realized they 
still had a job to do so they rushed off, putting what had happened out 
of their minds for now.

(oO\O/Oo)

"Skull Lead to all squadrons," Roy said over the Tac-net, "that's the 
last of them, let's go home." The various squadrons formed up and they 
headed back to the SDF-1. "Wild Rose Leader, where's the Dragon Lady?"

"I...um..." Natalia stammered. "I don't know, Skull Leader. We were on 
the way to the hanger bay when the ship was rocked. The Dragon Lady was 
hit with high-pressure steam when a pipe ruptured. Um...she was hit with 
the jet of steam and I don't know what happened after that. When the 
steam was turned off there were just the driver of the jeep the struck 
the pipe and another man there." Damned if she was going to say 
something as insane as she had seen Ranma change into a man across the 
Tac-net.

"I'm sorry, did you say steam?" Roy demanded with a sinking feeling. "As 
in really hot water?"

"Roger Skull Lead, that's what I said," Natalia confirmed.

"Did you see anything...well...strange?" Roy asked.

'He knows,' Natalia thought to herself incredulously. "I might have, 
Skull Lead, but it was pretty steamy in there so it was rather hard to 
see," Natalia lied.

"Judas Priest," Roy muttered. Time for some damage control. "Okay, Wild 
Rose and Blue Angles squadrons, report to your ready room as soon as we 
are back aboard. Stay there until I arrive, understood?"

"Roger, Skull Lead," Natalia said.

(oO\O/Oo)

As soon as Roy brought Skull One to a stop he shut it down, ignoring the 
checklist, and was out of the cockpit running for the sickbay. He burst 
into the anteroom and grabbed the first med tech he saw.

"Where is Lt. Commander Saotome? I must see her," he demanded.

"I'm sorry, Sir, we don't have a Lt. Commander Saotome here," the man 
said.

"You don't?" Roy asked in surprise. "Are you sure? She was caught in a 
steam pipe rupture. She would have been burned."

"They only two burn victims we have are both men," the tech replied.

"Show me," Roy ordered.

The med tech shrugged and led Roy to the two men. Sure enough, one of 
them was Ranma in male form. He was unconscious and had a bandage on one 
side of his face but he didn't look bad otherwise.

"Look, I'm going to need to speak with all the medical staff that 
attended this man," Roy said. "Like immediately."

"Aye aye, Sir," the tech said and scurried off to get the requested 
personnel.

Roy grabbed a phone and called up to the bridge.

"Lisa, this is Roy," he said urgently. "Look, something's happened to 
Ranma...no...she's unconscious and burned but it doesn't look too 
bad...no wait...look, she was hit with steam, as in very hot 
water...exactly. I'm doing damage control now, but I think it's time you 
briefed the Captain on the situation if we have any hope of keeping this 
quiet."

Roy then called up the Wild Rose ready room and had them report to the 
sickbay.

Twenty minutes later a crowd of people, including the entire Wild Rose 
Squadron, where standing around Ranma's bed looking at Roy expectantly.

"Alright people, listen up," Roy said in a commanding voice. "You are 
all here because you probably saw or noticed something...strange about 
this person here. What I'm about to tell you does not leave this room. 
It's classified need to know information and if I find out anyone 
repeats this, I'll have you court marshaled and spaced. Is that clear?"

"Yes, Sir!" the gathered group chorused.

"Good," Roy said. "I'll start by saying that the person in this bed is, 
in fact, Lt Commander Ranma Saotome..."

"That's impossible, Sir," one of the techs protested. "I've treated Lt. 
Commander Saotome before and there's no way you will convince me that 
this man is a petite attractive woman."

"Do any of you believe in magic?" Roy asked and received several looks 
that appeared to question his sanity. "I didn't think so. Well, you 
won't be able to say that after today. I know this sounds crazy but I'll 
prove it in a minute. Lt. Commander Saotome is a victim of an ancient 
Chinese curse that she received while training in the martial arts."

Their was several snorts of incredulity, but the gathered people weren't 
prepared as yet to openly question the sanity of the third highest 
ranking officer on the ship.

"I don't expect you to take my word for it," Roy replied. "They say, 
however, that seeing is believing."

Roy picked up a cup of cold water and splashed Ranma. There were several 
gasps and at least two people fainted dead away. Smelling salts were 
brought out and the unconscious were brought around.

"Look, I know this rocks your world view," Roy said. "It did mine when I 
was told about it. But the fact is, if this got out, it would destroy a 
fine officer and pilot's career, and probably her personally. So what 
you are going to do is forget about this, put it down to a bizarre 
hallucination or you can accept that there are forces out there that 
science can't explain and leave it at that. You will not speak of this 
further. Am I clear?"

"Yes Sir!"

(oO\O/Oo)

Teishi -- Disciple

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

Onwards to Part 13


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