Dragon Lady of Macross (part 15 of 30)

a Ranma 1/2 fanfiction by Calamity-Queen of Cordite

Back to Part 14
October 2009...

"Lisa, I can't go to the party like this," Ranma protested as she looked 
at herself in the mirror.

"Why not, Sweetie? You look stunning," Lisa said, giving her a leer. 
"You look so good I'm having doubts as to whether we're going to make it 
to the party at all."

"That's just it, Lisa," Ranma said. "This is Minmei's night to be the 
center of attention. It wouldn't be right to take that away from her."

Ranma looked in the mirror again at the black silk cheongsam she wore. 
It was embroidered with a dark pink and silver dragon that had become 
her trademark ever since the Wild Rose's presented her with her helmet 
before the show back on Launch Day. The material clung to her curves and 
the split went nearly to her waist. On her feet were three inch black 
pumps. Her hair, out of its typical braid cascaded down her back to just 
below her shoulder blades in silky luxuriant crimson waves.

"Minmei asked that you wear that tonight," Lisa argued.

"I look like a walking advertisement for hot passionate sex," Ranma 
snickered.

"I'll take a lifetime supply, please," Lisa whispered huskily in Ranma's 
ear, sending shivers down the smaller girl's spine. Lisa licked the edge 
of Ranma's ear and giggled as the redhead's arms broke out in goose 
flesh. She forced herself to step away before things got out of hand.

"Yeah, well, I don't see why you get to wear that," Ranma said, 
gesturing at Lisa's black silk pantsuit.

"Well, Sweetie, that's simple," Lisa said with a mischievous glint in 
her eye. "Somebody has to wear the pants in the family." Ranma rolled 
her eyes and groaned.

"Ha ha, very funny," Ranma said sarcastically.

"Oh lighten up, Sweetheart," Lisa giggled. "Let's go. It'll be fun. I 
promise."

She offered Ranma her arm and the two headed for the White Dragon.

(oO\O/Oo)

"Ranma! You came! And Lisa got you to wear the cheongsam!" Minmei 
squealed happily. "You look so great!"

Ranma looked at Mimei and began to suspect that something was afoot. The 
Chinese girl appeared to be the exact opposite of her, wearing a red 
cheongsam with a black and gold dragon on it. In contrast, her black 
hair was done up in odango and she had black slippers on her feet.

"Hi Minmei," Ranma said. "Of course I came to your party. I wouldn't 
miss it. Um...what's going on?"

"Come in," Minmei motioned. "Hey Lisa, nice to see you, and thanks for 
coming." She winked at Lisa and led them over to a table where Roy and 
Claudia were already seated.

"Ranma, Lisa, hey girls," Claudia grinned. "Good to see you."

"Yeah, I heard you're back on flight status, young lady," Roy said with 
a grin. "It'll be good to have my best pilot back out there. I was 
getting worn out carrying the load all by myself." He saw Ranma's 
expression darken with guilt he quickly added, "Hey don't sweat it, 
Kiddo. Nobody holds it against you. Not even I went for two straight 
years of combat flying. You needed a break. We were happy to pick up the 
slack."

"It wasn't two years of combat flying," Ranma protested.

"Well, you had a six month gap in there of just stressful flying," Roy 
smirked. "Who's counting? Anyway, it's good to have you back where you 
belong, Kiddo."

"Thanks Roy," Ranma said.

"Hey look, it's our newest squadron commander," Roy said looking toward 
the door.

Ranma and Lisa turned toward the door and saw Rick Hunter standing there 
talking sheepishly to Minmei.

"What, him?" both Ranma and Lisa exclaimed at the same time.

"Now, now, you two, play nice," Roy chuckled. "Rick has shaped up to be 
a fine Veritech pilot. Who do you think kept the aliens off of you on 
Mars while you were convincing Lisa to come back to the ship?"

"You mean I'm responsible for getting him promoted?" Lisa asked in 
dismay.

"Yup," Roy grinned. Lisa and Ranma groaned. "That's his squadron behind 
him."

They looked back over at the young man in question. Behind him stood a 
large slab of a man with wild hair. Next to the man-mountian was a 
character straight out of Ranma's favorite anime, Cowboy Bebop. The man 
was tall and skinny, almost bird-like. He was clearly African in descent 
and he had an afro that easily stood out ten inches from his head.

"Damn," Ranma said. "If he had a Welsh Corgi with him I would swear he 
was Akiim."

"That's Ensign Malcom '8 ball' McCorkle," Roy supplied. "Next to him is 
Ensign Ben 'Moose' Dixon."

"How does he get a helmet on with that 'fro?" Claudia wondered.

Minmei seated them as Lisa and Ranma were brought tea.

"Guess what, Kiddo," Roy said to Ranma.

"What's that?" Ranma asked.

"You're getting some new pilots tomorrow too," Roy said.

"Pilots?" Ranma questioned. "As in plural?"

"Yeah," Roy grinned. "We shaved off the top two brand new ensigns and 
are assigning them to Wild Rose. Since you're officially a combat 
squadron now, we are bringing Wild Rose to three full flights."

"Where are the other three coming from?" Ranma asked.

"I've approved three transfer requests from three top rated female 
pilots that wanted to be in your squadron in a bad way," Roy grinned. 
"You have developed a reputation, both you and you're 'daughters' and it 
seems that Wild Rose is nearly as desired a slot among the female pilots 
as Skull is for the guys. Scuttlebutt has it that the Wild Rose CO is a 
tactical genius who cares about her pilots."

"Yeah, but what about the scuttlebutt that says my pilots don't care for 
me?" Ranma countered grimly.

"I haven't heard anything like that," Roy said. "I haven't seen any 
transfer requests to get out of Wild Rose."

"Hi everyone," Minmei's amplified voice interrupted the darkening thread 
of the conversation. "Thanks for coming to my sixteenth birthday party!" 
Applause sounded through out the room. "But it's not just my birthday 
party. I have a friend here tonight that just had her birthday a couple 
of days ago. She just turned 24! Ranma, please come up here with me!"

Ranma looked startled and looked around. Lisa nudged her.

"Go on," Lisa encouraged with a smile.

Nervously, Ranma rose and made her way to the small raised platform 
where Minmei was standing. Applause accompanied her journey.

"Isn't she beautiful for someone so old?" Minmei asked with a giggle. 
Ranma's eyes widened. Since when was 24 old? "I'm just kidding," Minmei 
laughed. "Now I have it on good authority that Miss Ranma has a very 
pretty singing voice. Would you like to here Ranma and I sing for you?" 
The applause and cheers were quite loud. "Well, if you want us to sing 
for you, then you have to sing for us first."

And sing they did.

"Happy birthday to you,

Happy birthday to you,

Happy birthday dear Minmei and Ranma,

Happy birthday to you."

This was followed immediately by a cacophony of indecipherable voices 
adding whatever lines they had tacked on in their family.

"Thank you everyone," Minmei said happily while Ranma just blushed, 
looking self-conscious. "What do you say, Ranma? Shall we sing for 
them?"

"Sure Minmei," Ranma said.

For the next hour the people at the party were treated to two very 
talented young singers as they sang several karaoke songs. Everyone was 
very impressed and enjoyed it immensely. When the impromptu concert 
ended, Ranma tried to slip off the small stage, but Minmei intercepted 
her, still playing to the crowd.

"Uh uh, Ranma," Minmei smiled at her. "Not so fast, young lady. You 
still have to get your birthday present. Sit right here."

Minmei shoved Ranma toward a chair her uncle had just placed in the 
middle of the platform. Ranma looked confused, but did as she was asked. 
She wondered why people liked making such a public spectacle out of her.

Then she saw Lisa coming up on the stage. When she got before Ranma she 
dropped to a knee.

"Happy birthday, my love," she smiled.

"Um...thank you," Ranma said nervously as Minmei stood by holding the 
mic so that everyone could hear what was happening.

"Ranma, now that I've put Karl behind me, and you've accepted the fact 
that I love you," Lisa began, "I want to ask you...Will you marry me?" 
She produced a ring and slipped it on Ranma trembling finger. Ranma 
never felt so feminine in her life. She decided it was a good feeling, 
as long as it was Lisa that was causing it.

"Of course I will, Silly," Ranma smiled brightly and kissed Lisa 
passionately.

The reaction from the crowd was mixed. Largely there was cheering and 
hoots of support, but a few people hadn't gotten the memo and were 
shocked at the blatant display of lesbian love between the SDF-1's XO 
and the CO of the RDF's former image squadron.

"So that's why," Rick muttered, finally understanding why tangling with 
either of these to women invariably brought down the wrath of the both 
of them on his head.

"Ah, man, what a waste," Ben complained. "Two women that beautiful not 
liking men, it's just screwed up."

"Shut up, Ben," Rick said harshly. "If they make each other happy then 
that's good enough. Besides, trust me on this, you don't want either one 
of them pissed at you. The redhead could kick your ass without breaking 
a sweat and the brunette can make you life hell."

"Yeah, right, boss," Ben scoffed. "Like I'm scared of some little thing 
like that."

"You ought to listen to him, man," Malcolm said. "I've seen her fight. 
She's an expert martial artist and fast like you wouldn't believe."

"And she's probably three times as strong as you, Ben," Rick said 
seriously. "She picked me up off the ground with one hand and tossed me 
around like a rag doll and it didn't take her much effort to do it 
either. And after she's done with you, Commander Hayes will have you on 
every shit detail that comes up. Believe me, cleaning the ship's heads 
for a month or scraping the damaged paint off the hull in a P-suit for 8 
hours after a patrol really sucks."

"Well, then, I guess we should be nice to the ladies then, huh?" Ben 
laughed nervously, not sure whether to believe his comrades or not.

"Hey Hunter," Rick spun around and was looking up at the woman that 
populated his nightmares...well, they were mostly nightmares. He ducked 
his head instinctively and began making warding gestures. "I'm sorry! 
I'm Sorry! Whatever it is, I didn't mean it. Please don't hurt me."

"Oh calm down, Lieutenant," Ranma smirked. "You didn't do anything 
wrong...this time. Roy told me what you did for Lisa and me back on 
Mars. I just came over to say thanks. Maybe you're not so bad after all. 
I guess I'm saying that we can leave the past in the past and start 
fresh. Whaddya say?" Ranma stuck her hand out.

"Um...okay," Rick said nervously, taking her hand.

"Great!" Ranma grinned. "You're still stuck with your callsign though, 
Rickhead."

"It's okay, Lt. Commander," Rick grinned back ruefully. "I deserved it 
and I'm used to it now. I've always found yours to be fitting to, Dragon 
Lady."

Ranma snorted. "Well, good luck to you. Being a squadron CO is a lot of 
work. If you have any questions and Roy's not available, you can ask me 
if you want."

"Thanks Lt. Commander," Rick said.

"Sure," Ranma smirked. "Now if you gentlemen will excuse me, Lisa and I 
have some celebrating to do." She held up her hand and wiggled the ring 
there meaningfully.

"I don't know who to be more jealous of," Ben said softly, mesmerized by 
the redhead's undulating curves moving under the clingy black silk as 
she slinked off toward her fiancée.

"Couldn't handle either one of them, Moose," Malcolm laughed. "They'd 
chew you up and spit you out like a piece of cud."

(oO\O/Oo)

Later that evening in the Captain's cabin, another small celebration was 
being held. This one consisted of the 'Inner Circle', the people that 
knew of Ranma's condition. The guest list included Captain Gloval, Dr. 
Lang (who had been briefed on Ranma's condition), Roy, Claudia, Vicki, 
Marissa, and Erin. Marissa and Erin were still undecided if they could 
get passed Ranma's condition, but they had come anyway. The remaining 
Wild Roses, either didn't know, or were still upset with Ranma and 
didn't come.

Ranma had disappeared into the bathroom a few minutes ago saying she had 
to powder her nose and had left Lisa in the company of Roy and Claudia. 
She was completely taken off guard when the talking stopped and everyone 
gathered closer to her. She looked up and found an extremely handsome 
man had knelt before her. She took in his masculine presence, dressed in 
a steel grey button down silk shirt and a pair of black slacks that did 
very little to hide his powerful male build. His raven hair was pulled 
back in a tight ponytail and fastened at the nape of his neck. The 
familiar yin-yang pendant hung from his neck and took on a more 
masculine aspect than it normally did. His arresting ocean-blue eyes 
looked deeply into hers as he took her hand and raised it to his lips.

"Lisa," Ranma said tenderly, "your love and acceptance has meant 
everything to me. Had it not been for you, teaching me and supporting 
me, urging me to accept who I am and showing me that you wanted me in 
all aspects, I could have never come this far. Though I may not be 
comfortable with this body anymore, it's part of me and it belongs to 
you and you alone. Lisa, my love, will you marry me?" Much as Lisa had 
done earlier, Ranma produced the ring he had gotten for her.

"Yes, yes, YES!" Lisa said glomping him. They kissed passionately, 
taking their time, in spite of their audience. Eventually, Captain 
Gloval cleared his throat as the bounds of decorum began to become 
strained. The pair broke it up and stared smiling at each other as Ranma 
slipped the ring on Lisa's now trembling finger.

Everyone clapped and came up to congratulate the happy couple.

An hour later, the party broke up as everyone suspected that from the 
smoldering looks Ranma and Lisa were giving each other that their 
restraint would soon be exhausted and they'd end up making love right in 
front of them. Marissa, Erin, and Vicki were the first to leave.

"I have to admit," Erin said, "Mom isn't very good at being a man. I 
mean her body is certainly dreamy enough, but you can still tell there's 
a woman underneath it all."

"You noticed that to, huh?" Marissa said thoughtfully. "Maybe you're 
right, Vicki. Maybe it doesn't matter what she was born as. She's 
certainly a woman inside now."

"Bloody well right, that," Vicki grinned. "Still, I can't help but feel 
a little envious of Commander Hayes. That male form certainly makes me 
ooze. Too bad about the condition. T'was a waste of a good man, that."

"Somehow, I don't think Commander Hayes is letting 'him' go to waste," 
Erin giggled.

"Aye," Vicki smirked. "T'is a shame though. As Mum said, that body is 
for Commander Hayes' personal enjoyment and I reckon that we won't be 
seeing it much at all."

"Just as well," Marissa grinned mischievously. "You wouldn't want to 
find yourself lusting after your mom would you?"

The other two snorted mirthfully.

"Poor Akane," Vicki said sympathetically. "The poor thing has a serious 
crush on Mum, but she has no idea about the condition. Something tells 
me she won't take it well if she finds out."

"She is the poster child for the Militant Lesbian Movement, isn't she?" 
Marissa snickered.

"No kidding," Erin agreed.

(oO\O/Oo)

Ranma walked into the ready room and looked over her new charges.

"Good morning, Ladies," She said giving them a friendly smile.

"Good morning, Ma'am," was returned to her in chorus.

"Wasn't there supposed to be another one?" Ranma asked looking around 
the room. "Oh well, I guess we can start anyway. As you know, I'm Lt. 
Commander Ranma Saotome, the CO of Wild Rose. Please introduce 
yourselves, starting with you, Lieutenant."

"Hi, I'm Lieutenant Midori Ishida, Ma'am," the Japanese woman said. "I 
was in Sepia before transferring to Wild Rose."

"Welcome to Wild Rose, Miss Ishida," Ranma offered. "You next."

"Lieutenant JG Bertha Stott, ma'am," the very pretty statuesque 
auburn-haired Austrian woman answered with a slight Austrian accent. "I 
came from Wolf."

"Good to have you aboard, Miss Stott," Ranma nodded. "Next?"

"Lieutenant JG Hillary Freeman, Ma'am," the young black woman said 
shyly. "I transferred from Gold."

"I'm sure you'll do fine," Ranma gave her a reassuring smile. "And how 
about you?"

"Ensign Angelique Vasquez, Ma'am," the tall black-haired Hispanic woman 
announced confidently. "This is my first flight posting."

"Very good," Ranma acknowledged. "Welcome aboard. Now then, for you 
transfers, I have to ask, why?"

"Because Wild Rose is the best, Ma'am," Bertha said. "I like the idea of 
serving under a female CO in an all female squadron that consistently 
outperforms other squadrons."

"Because of you, as well, Ma'am," Midori added. "You have a reputation 
for being fair and sticking up for your pilots."

"This is an elite squadron, Ma'am," Hillary supplied. "It's the most 
desired posting among the female pilots. Being a member of Wild Rose 
commands respect even from the Skull pilots."

"I see," Ranma said, pursing her lips. "Just so you all realize, we work 
as hard here as any other squadron. We don't get preferred assignments 
and because we do have a good performance record, we actually get 
assigned to a lot more flight duty that other squadrons do. I expect a 
lot from you all. This is something of an elite unit in that you have to 
exceed certain requirements to be assigned here. As such, expectations 
are higher..."

"Oh, um, sorry I'm late," a young blue-haired man said as he rushed in 
the room. "I was in the simulators and lost track of time. Ensign Max 
Sterling reporting for duty, Ma'am."

"W...what?" Ranma asked in surprise. "Ensign, are you sure you have the 
right ready room?"

"This is the Wild Rose ready room isn't it?" the young man asked 
uncertainly.

"Well, yeah," Ranma answered. "Are you saying you've been assigned to 
Wild Rose?"

"Yes, Ma'am," Max confirmed.

"But, Ma'am, he's a man," Bertha said in dismay. Ranma slapped her hand 
to her face and shook her head. They would do this to her.

"We don't discriminate here, Miss Stott," Ranma said, then turned to 
Max. "You do realize this is...was...an all female squadron, Ensign."

"Yes, Ma'am," Max answered. "I was given the opportunity to take another 
assignment in the mixed squadrons, but I didn't mind." Ranma sighed. 
This was going to cause some ruffled feathers.

"Okay, before any of you say anything," Ranma began, "you should know 
that this unit was never intended to be exclusively female. It's just 
that before now, no man ever made the cut, or if he did, he chose 
another assignment because we were all female. It seems Max here has met 
the requirements, so that's that. Max, please understand, we won't be 
making allowances because of the fact that you're male, with the 
exception of the locker room, which we'll have to work something out 
with. If you're going to be part of the team, then you'll have to deal 
with the pink veritechs, the pink flight suits, and all the ribbing 
you're going to get from the other male pilots. I will expect this not 
to affect your attitude or performance, understood?"

"Yes, Ma'am, really, I don't mind, Ma'am," Max assured her.

"Very well," Ranma sighed. She turned back to the others. "Look, I know 
you all expected this to be an all female squadron, and to be honest, 
I'm just as surprised as you are. I'm going to tell you the same thing 
I'm going to tell the others when I brief them, you will all treat 
Ensign Sterling with the same respect and courtesy as you would treat 
each other. I won't tolerate any discrimination in my command. If I hear 
of any, you will be called on the carpet and disciplinary action will be 
taken. If it continues, I will bust the offending party out of my 
command, is that clear?"

"Yes, Ma'am!" the four women answered crisply.

"That goes for you too, Mr. Sterling," Ranma said. "If you disrupt the 
harmony of my unit with any chauvinistic bullshit, I'll bounce you so 
fast you'll think you time traveled."

"Yes, Ma'am!" Max said just as crisply. "Thank you for giving me a 
chance, Ma'am."

"Yeah, well, you wouldn't be here if you didn't have the potential," 
Ranma said.

(oO\O/Oo)

Ranma was at her desk going through the personnel files of her newest 
additions when her five original pilots filed in.

"Yes?" she said looking up at them. Marissa stepped forward and placed a 
form in front of her. It was mostly filled out. "What's this?" Ranma 
asked looking it over.

"That's how you're going to win us back and prove you womanhood to us," 
Marissa said. "It's an entry form for the Miss Macross Pageant. All you 
have to do is sign it and do you're best in the pageant and we'll forget 
about your...condition."

Ranma gave them a hard look, meeting each other their eyes. They held 
her gaze unflinchingly except Vicki who looked apologetic and shrugged.

"Etu?" Ranma asked her.

"Sorry, Mum," Vicki smiled mischievously. "I thought it was a good 
idea."

"You all realize that I'm the type of woman that always felt that these 
things were an exploitative farce, right?" Ranma asked.

"Doesn't matter," Natalia said. "No man would be caught dead competing 
in a beauty pageant. It works even better if you feel it's exploitative. 
It will show that you are willing to sacrifice to win back our trust."

"So you're asking me to sacrifice my self-respect to smooth your ruffled 
feathers over something that was none of your business to begin with?" 
Ranma said coldly. "What makes you think that giving me this ultimatum 
will make me feel about you any differently than you feel about me right 
now?"

"I guess it depends on how much you want things back to normal," Cassie 
said.

"Frankly, I don't need your trust, or goodwill," Ranma said. "All I need 
is your professionalism and I don't need this," Ranma shook the form, 
"to get it. I am owed it as your superior officer and if I don't get it 
then I'll bust you out of my command."

The five women looked taken aback at Ranma's vehemence.

"Whoa, Mum, take it easy," Vicki said. "We didn't mean to offend you."

"And just what did you think would happen when you came waltzing in here 
issuing ultimatums to your commanding officer, huh?" Ranma demanded. 
"Damn right I'm offended."

"A man would be," Cassie sneered.

"Anybody would be, goddammit!" Ranma snarled.

"She does have a point," Erin admitted. "I'd be offended to if someone 
tried to force me to do something I thought was exploitative. As I 
recall, several of us were concerned with that when we were assigned to 
this squadron."

"I guess your right," Marissa said. "We fucked up, Mom, sorry." Ranma 
sighed windily.

"Look, I know this has all been fucked up for you," Ranma said. "I'm 
sorry for that. It's not that I don't want things to go back to the 
close-knit group we were, but I'm not willing to sacrifice my 
self-respect to get it. For sixteen years, I was exploited horrendously. 
It pisses me off when someone tries to do it now. Look, everyone pull up 
a seat. I'm going to tell you a story; the story of a boy who was taken 
from his mother at 6 by his thieving, abusive, piece of filth of a 
father."

The five of them sat down and for the next hour listened to the most 
horrible tale of child abuse they could have imagined. The only thing 
lacking was sexual abuse.

"Bloody hell," Vicki hissed. "How did you survive?"

"I don't know," Ranma said. "I just refused to give in."

"It's a miracle you're not in a padded room somewhere gibbering and 
rocking back and forth," Marissa commented.

They all looked at Ranma with new respect.

"Look, Ma'am," Natalia said, "we'll think about it. It would have been 
easier if you had agreed to prove your womanhood in the pageant, but I 
understand why you were upset about that."

"You want proof of my womanhood?" Ranma smirked. "Talk to my 
gynecologist."

(oO\O/Oo)

"I can't believe they actually wanted me to enter a goddam beauty 
contest of all things as a way to gain their trust back," Ranma 
complained to Lisa over lunch.

"Why not?" Lisa said. "I think it's a great idea."

"Huh?" Ranma said in shock.

"Sweetie, this is not just a beauty contest," Lisa explained. "This is 
an event to build morale for the people on the ship. It's meant to take 
their mind off the war and the constant threat they are under every day. 
Even if it's for just one night. Whether you realize it or not, you, my 
love, are a very popular figure aboard this ship. I think the military 
elements would love for you to enter as their representative and I'd be 
proud of my fiancée for doing something so noble for the people aboard 
this ship. You might even win. Then I could say I was engaged to Miss 
Macross and I'm not the only one that thinks you are the prettiest girl 
on the ship." Lisa grinned.

"Etu, Brute?" Ranma asked.

"Oh come on," Lisa smiled. "Don't be like that. It'll be fun."

"Yeah? Fun for who?" Ranma asked. "Fun for the people watching me 
squirm?"

"Nobody wants to see you squirm, Love," Lisa chuckled. "Well, I might, 
but only in the bedroom. You really should think about it."

"Alright," Ranma smirked. "You think it's such a good idea then you do 
it." Seeing Lisa's shocked expression, Ranma added, "Tell you what, I 
will if, you will." 'That ought to shut her up about it,' Ranma thought.

"Okay," Lisa grinned.

"What?" Ranma squeaked.

"Okay, we'll both enter the pageant," Lisa smirked. 'Uh huh, plan 
backfired on you didn't it, sweetie,' Lisa thought amusedly. "It'll be 
fun. You'll do better than me, of course, but I can live with that."

"How could I possibly do better than you?" Ranma asked. "You're gorgeous 
and elegant, smart and sophisticated. I'm just a good martial artist and 
a good pilot without many social graces."

"You sell yourself short," Lisa said. "You'll have a major support base 
among the military community."

"Yeah, well, we'll see," Ranma sighed. "I guess I can tell the girls 
they are getting their 'proof'."

(oO\O/Oo)

"Okay, my flight leaders will be as follows," Ranma announced to her 
gathered squadron. "I will be leading Alpha flight. Bravo flight will be 
led by the XO, Lieutenant Savage. Lieutenant Demitri will have Charlie 
flight. Flying with me will be Ensigns Tendo and Sterling and Lieutenant 
JG Whitehall. Bravo will be getting Lieutenant's McKenna and Ishida, 
along with Ensign Vasquez. Charlie will have Lieutenant's JG 
Constantine, Freeman and Stott. Any questions? No? Okay, we have a 
patrol in a couple of hours so you're dismissed until then. Vicki, 
Marissa, Natalia, Cassie, and Erin, a word with you in my office 
please."

Ranma headed to her office and the five Roses followed her in, looking 
expectant.

"Well, you got your ultimatum," Ranma informed them. "I'm entering the 
stupid pageant."

"What?" Marissa said. "Why?"

"Lisa," Ranma answered. "She explained to me that unlike other things of 
this sort this pageant was more about morale than exploitation. She 
thought it would be a good idea and maneuvered me into it by entering 
with me. Will this satisfy you?"

"Yes, ma'am," Natalia said. "We'll even root for you."

The others all nodded enthusiastically.

(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

Onwards to Part 16


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