Great news! One of my brothers messed around in the history for Mozilla and found an online copy of what I had written for my Robotech step!
Now, do remember - most of what I am usually after when I post here in the forums is NOT spell checking and grammar. That is purely secondary at this time. What I am most concerned about is the story itself. Spelling and Grammar I can fix before this gets sent out.
This time, I was awake when I arrived. I knew because it hurt being dropped on my ass. Have you ever landed flat on your ass? It's not like landing on the part where you have all the fat and muscle to pad your fall. Instead, you land right on the bottom side of your of your pelvic bone and you feel your guts slamming against the tissues that hold them in place. Not a pleasant sensation, let me tell you.
I didn't get much time to pity myself, though, because while it was dark the air was getting vacuumed out of whatever this place was.
"HOLY SHIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIT!" I screamed as a grabbed ahold of a pipe. Fortunately, it was firmly attached and I was able to lever myself against the current and hook an arm over it.
Fight-or-flight had already set in, and by God, I had no choice but to fight. I knew that vacuums of any kind were dangerous things. God only knew what I would find if I let myself get carried away, but chances were pretty good that it would be fatal in the extremely short term. I only hoped that this place didn't run out of air or else I'd really be in trouble.
There was a sudden crashing sound, accompanied by whirring motors from some distance...
And like a light gone out the air stopped moving... and I fell onto my ass once more, this time wrenching my arm painfully as I did so.
"...uuuuuuuuugggghh," I managed to vocalize after a few minutes.
I just laid there for a while, blood hammering through my arteries as though being forced through by a huge whizz-bang pump. I could already feel the headache coming on from all that blood pressure and began to hope that maybe somewhere I might find a first aid kit with some aspirin or something.
Another noise. Something clattering followed by voices.
With some pain I began tp push myself up. Pain is good, I remind myself. Pain reminds you that you're alive. Also, you need to make sure you keep on moving because more often than not it helps keep you from getting stiff.
Wincing and limping, I made my way down the coridoor until I came to the source of the noise. It was some kind of aircraft, suspended in the over head with some assembly of hooks and chains. Apparently this was some kind of workshop space. The canopy had been opened and in the cockpit were two people. A girl dangling from the arms of the guy still strapped into the seat. Suddenly the two fell into a heap together, then looked at each other and cracked up laughing.
"Hey, you guys okay?" I called out as I began to make my way over to them.
"Hey, who's that?" said the girl pointing at me. I got my first good look at her then. She was definitely Asian, and most likely Chinese. Here voluminous hair was a bit of a mess, but I could tell that it was supposed to be in an oriental style that was supposed to accentuate her cute-factor. She was also pretty small - most likely because she was only sixteen or seventeen years old.
Small performance plane in the ceiling.
Girl in the cokpit with the pilot.
Strange industrial setting where I almost got sucked into God knows what.
Most likely the vacuum of outer space.
Oh please no... I'm in Robotech, aren't I?
"Just some poor sorry civilian," I said as I reached down to help them up. "Not unless one or both of you guys are actually with those guys in the crazy fighter planes."
"Ah, kinda," grunted the guy as I pulled him up. He was something of an everyman, with thick dark-brown hair and blue eyes. He was young, too. Either eighteen or nineteen if I had to guess. "I was flying one but I'm not one of them."
I helped the girl up next, who said, "Yeah, it was all a mistake."
"Do you know how to get out of here?" he asked.
Now, here I faced a major decision point. I could try and convince this guy that I was a dimensional traveler, but I was pretty sure that would go over like a lead baloon, especially once we are discovered later on by a search and rescue party.
Or, I could play it off like I'd been around all along. Besides, if I was right then there was a passport in one of my cargo pockets that would help solidify any and all claims of citizenship.
I shook my head. "Nah. I was taking a tour of this place when I got separated from my group and then everything went to hell. What's been going on out there?"
"It's an alien invasion!" piped up the girl. "These machines came and destroyed our town!"
I played up the clueless, blinking and looking to Rick. "Did she bump her head, or did she just get too much sugar this morning?"
"HEY!" fumed the girl and Rick laughed.
He then sobered up quickly, then said, "It's true. I don't know what they want, but they did come and wreck the town."
"Unreal," I said, playing up the shock a bit. I then sighed and kicked it into business mode. "Well, look. Either way, we're lost and we need to get out of here, maybe find some help. Is your radio working?"
"Hmm. Lemme check." Rick poked his head up inside the cockpit and cursed.
"What's wrong?" asked Minmei.
"The radio's broken."
I wasn't gonna be deterred that easily. "Do you got a survival kit in that plane of yours?"
"Yeah, but it's not much. Just some rations for one person for a few days."
"Does it have an emergency beacon?"
Rick blinked. "Yeah, it does! I can't believe I didn't think of that!"
"Well, let's activate it."
"Sure. By the way, what's your name?"
"I'm Garrick Grimm," I said automatically. Damn, so I'm still Garrick here as well.
"How about you two? All I know is your first name is Rick."
"I'm Lyn Minmei," said the girl. "But please just call me Minmei."
"And I'm Rick Hunter."
"Nice to meet both you guys. Well, Rick, it's your plane. I dunno where you got that kit stashed at."
"No problem," said Rick as he stuck his head up in the inverted cockpit. Soon enough, the emergency beacon was active, we ate the first three of nine ration tins, and began to figure out what all we had.
Poor Minmei, due to her circumstances, had nothing.
Rick was little better off. All his gear was meant for survival in a wilderness setting. He did have a gyro-compass built into his watch, though, so we could at least maintain our orientation. However, he did have a small tool kit that he could use to do emergency repairs to his plane. Perfect.
Me, on the other hand... I was a Boyscout once upon a time. I was a US Navy Sailor once upon a time. These things tend to stick with you.
Therefore, I had a Leatherman tool with a complete set of bits for the screwdriver, a sharpener for the straight-edge blade, my iPod Touch and Nano, earphones with integrated microphone and controls for iPods, and a Maglight 3 watt LED flashlight.
Now, I know that some people wouldn't think that an iPod Touch or Nano could be used as survival tools, but there these people would be wrong.
The Touch itself is, in all reality, a microcomputer with more processing power than any desktop machine in the early 90's. It has digital accelerometers. The fourth generation model (which I had) has two cameras - one on the face and one on the backplate. If you had a drawing app you can create crude maps and save them to memory. You can record an audio log using the built-in app. And with frugal usage, it can go several days without a charge.
The Nano was not quite as useful... but it did have a digital radio. With a bit of fiddling around in the regional settings, it might be possible to monitor radio transmissions. Desperate, but this situation was just that. And it could also record audio logs using the earphones I had. Using it's own set of accelerometers, it could also keep track of how many steps I'd taken, giving me an idea of how far I'd traveled.
Using the tools I had on hand, I gave us even odds on finding a way out back to... well, civilization.
What I found to be mildly surprising was that Apple not only existed in this world, but the advent of Robotechnology had pushed the tech curve forward a bit - my models were actually a generation behind in this place. Made me wonder if their iPhone supported 4G. Hell, for all I know their 4G was an entirely different protocol from our 4G.
We made a plan to take turns between exploring the area and keeping someone behind at what I had dubbed Base-Camp. Minmei was left behind for the first shift, but not without an important job.
"Minmei, do you know the Morse code for SOS?"
"No, I don't know any Morse code at all."
"That's okay. Pretty much the only thing I know is SOS. Here, let me show you." I got a handy chain link that was lying around and tapped it against the deck.
Tap-tap-tap-tap...tap...tap...tap-tap-tap.
Tap-tap-tap-tap...tap...tap...tap-tap-tap.
Tap-tap-tap-tap...tap...tap...tap-tap-tap.
"You see, it's three short, followed right away by three long, and then three short again. And you keep on repeating that sequence."
"Sure! It's pretty easy to remember."
"Yup. They made it like that on purpose - anyone can at least do SOS if they know what it is."
When we left, Minmei was eagerly tapping out the sequence for SOS. I knew that wouldn't keep up for long. She'd get bored in no time and I knew that a bored Minmei was not a good thing.
Once we were out of ear shot I started going over everything with Rick.
"We can't leave her by herself for long. She's just a kid still."
"Minmei's just a kid?" said Rick suddenly.
I snorted at that. "Relax. I know you're actually barely older than she is. Probably a year at the most."
"How can you tell?"
"I know I don't look like it, but I'm actually thirty-two."
"What? You're pulling my leg here!"
"Heh. Nah man. It runs in my mother's side of the family. They were people used to hard and loose living. They worked themselves to the bone and partied like it was 1999. Drinking, smoking, womanizing, and unhealthy food. Well, Mom and I, we try and take it easy and live much cleaner lifestyles. End result is that she's almost sixty but doesn't look a day older than forty. And then you have me, who barely looks older than twenty."
Rick whistled. "Lucky."
"Same to you, you're still young. Anyhow, here's what you and I are gonna do here. Since this corridor is the only way out of that place, we're gonna look for doors, other corridors, and stuff like that. We also wanna keep an eye out for two very important things: food and water. Without that, we don't survive."
"What about air?" he asked.
"I don't think that's gonna be an issue for a while. With just the three of us in this big space I think our oxygen supply will last a while. Besides, this space was open to vacuum for a while. I think the life support systems in this area are working just fine if the air pressure was maintained. But for Minmei's sake, let's keep this session short and sweet. You or I can stand to be alone for extended periods of time. Or at least I know I can. Minmei... I don't think so."
"Right then."
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With Rick and myself we were able to keep it strictly business for the most part. He asked questions about my family, for sure, but that didn't distract us much from what we were doing. In return, I learned about his family, which operated a flying circus. I knew about the circus, but I just didn't know what all that intailed.
Parachutists, wing walkers, aerobatics, hot air balloons, antique planes... it was basically an airshow on crack. It sounded like a complete blast.
Hey, don't look at me that way. I'm just a big fan of aeronautics.
Anyhow, conversation aside we moved quickly enough that we soon found the very large chamber that had the Zentreadi-sized airlock in it. Of course, I didn't say it like that to Rick.
"This is perfect!" I said excitedly, and I was too, because something obvious had occurred to me.
"Why?" asked Rick.
"Think aerospace. With emphasis on the space part, kid. Someone up there has to have some sort of computer monitor that tells them when an airlock somewhere is being opened up. It's a safety thing. You want to know exactly who is using your airlocks and when they're using it in order to prevent accidents."
Rick blinked as that sunk into him. "So if we keep on cycling the airlock someone is gonna come and investigate!"
"Exactly! Let's go get Minmei and gather up what we can. This place is our new base-camp!"
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I didn't have my computer with me.
This realization was a huge let down for me. If I did have it, then maybe I could recharge my iPods. The laptop itself I wouldn't have had to worry about because there was a 115 volt outlet nearby that had been jury-rigged by whatever work crew had been in this area. But my laptop wasn't here, and so I had to control my urge to record every fragging little detail.
At least I could get into everything in sight.
In the original timeline, Rick had a tool kit, but no multitool. But here and now I had brought my Leatherman with me, so there wasn't a single cargo container in the space that was safe from me.
"Okay guys, all clear down there?"
"Yeah, we're good!"
"Alright then. Bombs away!" With a kick I shoved loose the access panel. It probably weighed a good two-hundred pounds and made an impressive noise once it hit the deck. After the first one, Rick, Minmei and myself knew to keep our ears covered for this part.
"Okay, what can you guys see from there?"
"Hmmm," said Minmei. "Looks like more of those giant-size space suits."
"Damn. Okay, let's try the next one." The last two had been something that looked like giant pistols and then the space suits mentioned earlier. Both useless to us because we couldn't even lift the things.
Fortunately, the containers were fairly easy to open. Whoever these people were, they weren't big on internal security. A few quick cuts with my Leatherman's diamond file and I could easily push off an access panel for the container.
And pop! Another panel falls away to make a truly thunderous racket down below.
Minmei looked inside and scrunched her face up cutely. "Hey, Garrick? I think you may wanna take a look at this."
"Oh?" I asked as I began to jump from one container to another. I was starting to feel like Arrietty Clock in this place. With a bit of work, though, I got there and saw that the container was full of packages sealed in what looked like white plastic wrappers. Each was, disturbingly, about the size of a body bag.
"Huh. Let's see what's inside one of these," I said as I tugged on one experimentally. It didn't want to give. "Hey Rick, give me a hand with this?"
"Sure." Rick came over and grabbed ahold of the other end of the wrapper and we both tugged on it to no real effect. "You know what, let's try doing it on three," Rick finally said.
"Sounds good," I replied. "One... Two... Three!" We both tugged sharply and the plastic wrapped object came flying out... along with what must have been about half of the rest of the container!
"GYAH!" we both cried out as we tried to avoid getting buried alive. Rick got the worst of it and Minmei practiclly fluttered to his side, helping him get out of the mess. I was able to pull myself out.
"Well... that was interesting," I said sarcastically.
"Let's not try that again," Rick said.
With no more to say on the matter, I pulled one of the packages loose and cut it open with my Leatherman.
"Well?" asked Minmei anxiously.
My eyebrows went up as the scent hit my nose. "Smells like a ration bar." Experimentally, I carved a piece loose and tasted it. "Tastes like a ration bar, too."
"Well what do you know," said Rick excitedly. "We have food!"
"Alright!" cheered Minmei.
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With the food issue resolved, all that left was water. I fixed it by carving a small hole in a fresh water pipe in the nearby coridor with my file. That gave us drinking and washing water. We weren't worried about flooding since it all seemed to drain away somewhere. Hopefully it wasn't messing anything up.
We used Rick's parachute to pitch a tent. It was my idea to make pitch it against the big window so we could sleep by the stars. The window was a bit cool, but not freezing. By the second day I found a way to control the light level in the room and that really added to the effect.
We passed the time getting to know each other. Minmei sang songs now and then, and I played a song from my iPod when I thought it wouldn't drain the battery too much. (Minmei really took a shine to Gwen Stefani and Florance and The Machine.) Honestly, hearing Minmei's voice, her real honest-to-God singing voice was a shock to me. It was nothing at all like Robotech dubs. She had the voice of an angel and her lyrics flowed smoothly and sweetly.
Messing with the airlock got their attention relatively quickly. It was only one week until a maintenance crew came to check on the airlock. Weren't they surprised to find us living there like we owned the place!
The pipe was patched and the space was tagged urgent for reevaluation, because hey! Giant food bar rations! And we were commended on our resourcefulness.
I was given the hairy eyeball. However, once I fed them my story about being separated from my tour group and losing my pass in the mayhem that ensued, I was forgiven. Especially once they went over my passport.
I was issued an ID card, given a ration stipend, and told to make my way in what was quickly becoming Macross City rebuilt.
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Macross City.
The city inside the Super Dimensional Fortress.
It was quickly starting to take on all the aspects of a military town.
What homes could not be salvaged from the ruins of the original city were rebuilt. Minmei's family had been lucky in that their home, complete with the restaurant, had been salvaged. Reclaimation had been a simple matter of producing the home owner's deed which had been locked in a fireproof safe.
Rick and I had no homes to call our own in Macross City, so we stayed at Minmei's house for the time being. Her Aunt and Uncle were more than happy to host us because we had taken care of Minmei. The fact that we insisted on paying a regular rent only helped.
This wasn't a problem at first. Rick wasn't sulking too badly because I had effectively derailed any romantic interest between the two. With any luck that would make things a lot simpler for the poor guy once Lisa Hayes started noticing him in that special way.
However, there was one thing that he was still moody about, and honestly I couldn't blame the guy.
"Damn," I grunted as I pushed myself out from under the racer. "I'm sorry Rick, but I think your girl here is a total loss."
"I know," moaned Rick. "The entire frame got warped. It's easier to list what isn't broken."
"Hey Rick!" called out a voice. "Now, show me this junk pile."
"What junk pile?!" snapped Rick. "Listen, buddy. This is the racer that I won eight international championships in and you call it junk? I oughta knock your block off."
Ladies and gentlemen, the one and only Roy Fokker.
When he and I met the first time we began to size each other up. Roy treated Rick like his little kid brother, and I was just now starting to look at the poor guy like that myself. But then I opened my big mouth and kicked off the snark-off to end all snark-offs. I only wish I had recorded the whole damn schpiel because it was the stuff that legends were made of. Poor Rick and Minmei could stop gawking. The only reason Roy and I stopped was because we were worried that flies would start flying into their mouths.
"My eternal rival returns," I intoned. "Hey, Roy, lay off the kid, will ya? He's distraught enough as it is."
Roy rolled his eyes. "Yeah yeah. Look, you two guys are getting stressed out over something you can't do anything about. Why don't we go for a walk? The exercise will be good for you."
I knew what was coming, but I made a show of looking to Rick. He simply sighed and shrugged his shoulders at me.
"Whatever," I said. "Can't hurt at this point."
----------------
About twenty minutes later, we found ourselves at the Grand Observation Deck. Usually it was only open to military, but since we were with Roy we got in.
I went ahead and broke the ice first. "Well, I'd heard about this, but seeing it is something else altogether. DAYUM, that is one big mother of a carrier!" Seriously, it was. Carriers from where I'm at can only fit two aircraft abreast at the forecastle. This one looked like it could accommodate six, but only had catapults for four.
We watched as a pair of Valkyries were brought up to the flight deck, moved into position, and then launched out into the wild black yonder, their engines flaring star-bright.
"Hey, those fighters!" said Rick, excitement and wonder creeping back into his voice at last. "How can they fly in deep space?"
"Those Veritech fighter engines are built on a reactor design," said Roy with a salesman's persona. "With that kind of propulsion, believe me, you can go anywhere!"
"Wow, terrific!" said Rick, completely in awe.
Roy grinned and placed his hands on Rick's shoulders, saying, "How'd you like to fly one again."
"Huh?" said Rick.
I just snorted. "So that's what you're up to! Surely that offer isn't open to just Rick."
"You wound me," replied Roy blithely. "Of course they'd be interested in you, having prior service and all." That had taken me by surprise. Apparently Roy had looked into my background, just because he was concerned about where the hell I'd come from and why I was hanging around his brother. Only he'd found my old military records... from when I was in the US Navy... Don't ask me how that works because it is way the hell above my paygrade. But were they really my records? Time to test the waters.
"Even though I was just a technician that fixed a gun," I asked archly, referring to my old posting.
"A technician whose scores blew the curve away and whose performance was nothing short of spectacular," countered Roy, referencing my test scores back at gun school. But that wasn't all he had. "Not to mention a perfect score for your workcenter on INSERV when you were the only maintenance tech? I've seen how they do business. That is beyond impressive."
"Maybe, but you conveniently forgot that the US Navy didn't want me back afterwards." I had... issues... dealing with the politically charged environment.
"This is UN Spacey. We could hardly care less what that bureaucratic mess that is the US Navy thinks."
Rick looked a little lost. "What?"
"Your friend here's been omitting details. He's prior enlisted."
"So, I did my four years and then got out of that political rat race. And it turned out that the feeling was mutual. What if I don't want to deal with that again?"
"Hah! Kid, this is entirely different. For one thing, you're going to be a pilot, which means you'll get a little more leeway around here. Of course, rank does help, but around here people tend to advance fast."
He sure as hell didn't mention why.
This would be funny if it weren't real. Here he was, he was probably expecting Rick to be the hard sell, but it was me that was giving him the schiester treatment. But it was tempting. Oh so very tempting. Valkyries. Wonderful veritech goodness.
But then.... I'm living here now, aren't I? If I'm gonna be living here I might as well fight for it. Only God knows if I'll ever jump again.
"I'll give it a shot," I said. I then held up a hand to stop him from going off on congratulating me. "But if I'm not jiving with the UN Spacey, then I'll put in my time and get out."
"Fair enough," said Roy. He then turned to Rick. "What about you? You gonna let action man here have all the fun?"
Rick looked a bit uncertain though. So much for me being the hard sell.
"I... just need a bit of time to think about it," Rick finally got out.
Roy sighed. "Okay, I guess that's all I'm gonna get out of you for now. But really Rick, think about it. Even if you do fix your racer it's not like you'll be able to fly it around out here."
"Ugh, don't remind me," replied Rick as we all sauntered off together.
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"Hey, Rick?" I said as we made it to the outskirts of the city.
"Hmm?" replied the airshow pilot noncommittally.
"I'm gonna walk around on my own for a for a spell. Are you heading back home?"
"Yeah, why?" asked Rick, perking up a bit.
"Let them know not to worry about me."
"Oh, sure thing."
Rick went on his way. He had a lot on his mind for certain, but he wasn't being as apathetic as he had been in the original timeline. Thank God for small miracles. Maybe that way Minmei won't wind up fawning over him so much.
I wandered aimlessly for a while, not really caring where I was going.
A Veritech pilot in the RDF? Should I really do it? Would I be any good at it? And would I really have to deal with the same political merry-go-round I had to face in the Navy?
It really weighed heavily on my mind. I knew that I'd probably make for at least a decent pilot. My vision, while nothing spectacular, was slightly better than average and I had better nightvision than most people. That, and I had an eye for detail - I knew, almost on an instinctive level, when something was out of place. And my spatial awareness was pretty good, too. At least, as long as I was paying attention.
Then there was the bonus factor in that I knew what was coming. For sure, there was the butterfly affect, but I wasn't going to give it too much thought. So much of this timeline depended on the reactions of the Zentraedi that I didn't see my actions diverting things too much until we got to Earth.
But there was still the politics to consider. I hate politics because it means picking your battles wisely... and I've never been the best at that, let me tell you. When confronted I'm a hot-head at worst and litigious at best, as we've already seen. But for some reason... I don't know why, but Captain Gloval, for some reason, lets shit like that fly. Maybe he's just that much more understanding of the situation we find ourselves in. He certainly seems unhappy about it all, that's for certain, though he does tend to keep a somewhat cooler head about it.
Or maybe the guy secretly finds it all amusing.
... Naaaaaah.
Before I knew it I found myself on some sort of engineered bluff that overlooked a good portion of the newly reconstituted Macross City. I just sat there and stared out into space for a while, kinda admiring the view. But then there was something at the back of my mind trying to warn me about something.
I didn't get to think on it too hard because I heard Minmei's voice coming up from behind me.
"GARRICK!" she yelled as she ran up the backside of the bluff. "There *pant* you are *pant*."
"Minmei," I said in surprise. I don't think I'd ever seen her really exert herself like that before. "Is something wrong?"
Minmei waited a short moment to catch her breath, then said, "Just wanted to find you. With everything that's been going on we haven't had a quiet moment alone."
Uh-oh. Danger Will Robinson! Okay, Garrick, stay calm. This may be nothing.
"Okay, so there's something you wanted to tell me that you didn't want others hearing?"
Minmei gave me a look as though to say, 'Well DUUUUH!'
Instead, she said, "I just wanted to thank you for everything you did back there. If it had been only Rick and myself I don't know for sure what would have happened. But you thought of things to get us out of that situation. That thing with the airlock was brilliant."
"Well yeah," I said, "we already went over all this. With the SAR teams, the debriefing teams, and your aunt and uncle until we were all blue in the face. What's different now?"
Minmei gave me a glare. "Are you really that dumb when it comes to girls? I guess I oughta spell it out for you."
I didn't really have much of a chance to react without hurting her. She suddenly grabbed me by the lapels and pulled me into a very spirited kiss.
Good God, I'm kissing Minmei!
Good God, I'm kissing a 15-year-old!
Quickly but gently, I pushed her away. She was still giving me an indignant expression, as though she were an impatient student demanding that the professor tell her, right now, where her grade stood in the rankings.
"Okay," I began, "first off I didn't know you had a thing for me because I wasn't even looking for the signs. I'm nearly old enough to be your father!"
"Only if you started having kids when you were sixteen," said Minmei piously. "I would wait a little bit longer than that."
Granted, some people jokingly called my mom a cradle robber because there was a seven year difference between her and my dad. But that was that and this is this.
"Minmei, even if you did wait it's not gonna be some difference of a few years. This is gonna be *sixteen years*. People are gonna ask some really uncomfortable questions!"
"Ask me if I care!" she dared me.
"I'm not asking you, I'm asking myself," I shot back. "And the answer is 'Whiskey-Tango-Foxtrot shipmate! What are you thinking!?'"
Minmei suddenly smiled suggestively. "I dunno. What *are* you thinking?" She was so good at that that it was scary. It was no small wonder she was bound to become a pop idol sensation.
I blinked, then recollected myself. "I am thinking you are a very pretty, very talented, and very young girl who should be dating boys and not grown men that are considering military service."
That made her pause. "You're joining the RDF?"
I nodded. "You know I've always wanted to fly a fighter jet. The RDF seems to be taking just about anyone that'll pass the preliminary exams, so this is my chance."
"That's great though! You'll have a good job and prestige and being married to me will look great because when we get back to Earth I'm gonna be a famous singer!"
Oh boy. I was starting to think I knew where all this was coming from. For better or worse, Minmei spent a good part of her young life in Japan, and what was worse her family is mostly Chinese nationals. In Asian cultures it wasn't unheard of for a pretty girl like her to get married off to a man my age because he had a position of prestige. It wasn't even so much that the family was trying to climb the social ladder, they just wanted the best for their little girl - the best being a husband with a guaranteed salary that could cover her expenses and that of the children that would come later. And, during the time we were missing, Minmei did say that one of her dreams was to be a bride.
Shit.
This girl was absolutely determined to get herself married and she saw me as the best man for the job - nevermind that she would have to wait a few years. I'd hate to break her heart, but then again she just wasn't taking no for an answer. Maybe I can weaken her resolve by stalling her a bit.
"Look, Minmei..." I sighed and ran a hand though my hair, pushing loose strands that were tickling my face back into place. "I don't know about this. I really don't. Let's just take some time to think on it. And I mean really think on it. If anything happens to me out there would you want to be the widow of a fighter pilot?" At that she grabbed me by the lapels once more, hauling me down to her level.
"Don't even think about it, flyboy, or else when I come to heaven I'm gonna kick your butt so hard that your ancestors will wince in sympathy."
What. The hell. Was that?
I knew Minmei had a fire all her own, but this was something else entirely. Where was this coming from?
At the moment, a siren began to wail in the distance, accompanied by the words, "Air raid warning!"
Oh SHIT!
"What's that?" asked Minmei.
"I'm not sure," I said, playing up the clueless factor, "but I think it might be a good idea to get back home, and fast!"
She didn't argue the point with me. We just took off at a jog. However, before we left the bluff entirely, she turned and said,
"This isn't over."
I decided to let that go for now. Hopefully with all the excitement we were about to have she'd forget about this... for a little bit.
----------------
When we got back to the restaurant I went straight to my room and began arranging things so there'd be as little damage as possible. In the background there were ominous messages about the modular ship transformation. Just as I left my room, Rick came out of his.
"Garrick? What's going on?"
"Not sure, Rick, but you can bet it ain't a drill of some kind." At that moment, the countdown started. I heard noises down in the kitchen still and... shit!
"Minmei!" I snapped out, just as the count down hit one. "Everyone out of the kitchen!" I ran down the stairs, vaulting the railing halfway and startling the patrons that were still present. As my feet hit the floor the tremors started.
Just like an earthquake.
Minmei and her family came rushing out of the kitchen. "Garrick! What's happening?" she asked as she threw herself at me. Not really thinking on it, I grabbed her up with one arm and held onto the railing with the other.
"I'm not sure, but we better hang on tight!" I saw a few patrons going outside. "NO! STAY INSIDE!" I yelled. It was too late for them, though. A bulkhead down the road opened to vacuum and they were swept away by the sudden galeforce current. I could only pray they managed to find something to grab ahold of.
And then suddenly gravity went away.
"WHOAH!" I screamed. I wasn't the only one. All around me people cried out in panic as they floated off the floor. Granted, this wasn't the first time for them, but it wasn't like they were trained for it. Hell, I'd never had training for it, but I at least understood what was going on. At least I was able to force my feet to the deck and keep them there.
"Hold on tight, Minmei. The gravity should come back in a minute."
She said nothing. All she did was bury her head in under my shoulder as best as she could.
It took a minute, but it felt like an eternity. Every crash, every electro-mechanical noise was punctuated by panicked screams and groans from everyone present. Even Rick wasn't immune. Minmei and I were the only ones quiet.
And then it was over. Gravity came back on in a snap and everyone and everything spilled to the floor. I stumbled a bit and I had to help steady Minmei.
"Are you okay?" I asked Minmei as she looked up at me. She nodded shakily.
And then there was something new. It came up from the floor, through our feet and legs, and reverberated in our chests and heads. An infra-sound so intense that it was just shy of being an earthquake itself.
"What's that?" said Rick.
There was only one thing it could be. "The main gun," I intoned. Right now, hundreds of thousands of Zentraedi soldiers were dying, their ships and battlepods disintegrated with almost contemptuous ease under the brutal, punishing force of a gamma-ray laser big enough to engulf several New York City blocks. And all because of a gambit by Commander Bretai.
But then, I guess that was life for the Zentraedi. It evoked the words spoken by Roman gladiators before the battle commenced: "We, who are about to die, salute you."
And as suddenly as *that* started... it ended.
----------------
Minmei was not as badly shaken up by the experience as I thought she'd be. After we rearranged every thing and made our reports to our section's Shelter Officer I then went to my room just to relax.
There was a knock at my door. No rest for the weary.
"Come in," I called out, not bothering to lever myself off my bed.
Rick poked his head in. "You okay, Garrick?"
"Yeah, I'm alright. Just a bit drained from that experience."
Rick scoffed as he came into the room and shut the door behind him. "No kidding."
There was a moment of uncomfortable silence. I was just about to break it when Rick spoke first.
"Were you serious back there? About joining up with the RDF?"
I sighed at that. No point in refusing it now. "Yeah, Rick. I'm gonna give it an honest shot. Whether it works out for me or not..." I let that hang, but he knew perfectly well what I meant.
"Yeah. So. You were in the Navy."
"Not an experience I'd recommend for the faint of heart. I had to deal with so much crap that it'd make a sanitation worker blush."
Rick laughed at that. "I'll take your word for it. But for the RDF... If you're joining up, then I will too."
"Really?" I asked. I was honestly worried that he wouldn't, given that he didn't have Minmei needling him along this time.
"Yeah. Someone's gotta be your wingman, you old fart."
I snorted at that. "Only old enough to know better."
"Old enough for me," Rick shot back.
"Must be, I don't even see any peach fuzz on that face of yours, kid!" At that, we started into some spirited, brotherly fisticuffs. Soon enough, though, Minmei knock and pocked her head inside.
"What are you two doing?" she asked archly.
I gave her my best innocent look. "Why, we're settling a difference of opinion in the time honored tradition of men."
"Oh, is that what this is?" asked Rick blithely.
"Coulda fooled me," said Minmei. "You both look like you're acting like a couple of kids." Before we could retort, she added, "Despite the excitement, evening board is ready. You guys may wanna come down and eat with us before it gets cold." And with that she shut the door behind her.
"Dunno about you, Rick, but this is the best I've eaten since my time in the Navy. Let's go get some grub."
"Sure thing. Age before beauty," teased Rick.
"Good thing I got both, kiddo."
-------------------------
Two months pass.
Rick and I go through training together to become Veritech pilots. And the shocking thing was that he and I both made it into Skull Squadron.
In only two months.
Yes, it was every bit as hellacious as it sounds. We have to learn so much in so little time. Flight and astrogation, aerospace combat tactics, basic military training... We alternate days in and out of the simulators for the first month. In the sims, we break only for meals. The rest of the day, we're drilled harshly in the sims, essentially learning hands-on how to fly.
Outside the sims the relentless drilling continued. On some days it was book work like flight theory, Robotech science, and rules and regulations. Other days it was marching and drilling, gunnery ranges, obstacle courses, and physical training until we drop dead of exhaustion.
In the second month we graduated from simulators and went to the real thing. VF-1D Veritechs. I was so excited that I could barely contain it. Instructors and students alike were all saying that the Old Man was looking like a kid at Christmas time.
Relentless drilling in the sims paid off in spades. Inside a day I was handling the D-model Veritech like a pro. But that didn't mean they would make it easy on me. Instead, it was combat drills in the cokpit, and combat tactics in the classroom. Physical Training was as brutal as ever, and now included survival, escape, recovery, and evasion (SERE) classes.
I was a pretty good pilot, but Rick far surpassed me. He had my aptitude combined with a natural talent and years of experience sitting behind the stick of racers. However, when it came to book smarts and marksmanship I left him in the dust. As I had before in my Naval schools, I blew the curve out of the water with my uncanny ability to memorize procedures - don't ask me how, but seeing the procedures performed and studying them programmed them into my brain like song lyrics. Once I had them, it was virtually irrevocable, especially since we were demanded to spout procedure on the spot at any given time on demand.
Everything else I memorized through a combination of mnemonics and brute force rote-and-drill.
The final days were tied up in a number of final activities. Everything was graded. A single failing grade would get you moved into another class for remedial training, and here a three strikes policy applied. You fail your finals a third time and that was it.
Fortunately, I passed.
I was awarded liberty along with all the other graduates, and the first thing I did was to buy a laptop to replace the once I was missing, go home to the Lynn Family, and play the song Stress by Jim's Big Ego.
I'm Addicted to stress 'cause it's the way that I get things done
If I'm not under pressure then I sleep too long
And I hang around like a bumb
And I think I'm going nowhere and that makes me nervous
Everybody's out to get me but I feel alright
Everybody's out to get me but I feel alright
Everybody's out to get me but I feel alright
Everybody's thinking about me!
It's the little things that getcha
It's the little things that getcha
When you weren't paying attention
It's the little things that getcha
It's the little things that getcha
It's the little things that getcha
When you weren't paying attention
It is a freaking hilarious song to listen to.
Minmei came in to see me 'dancing' to the song and I just about died of emberassment on the spot. The one saving grace was that she found my dancing to be every bit as entertaining as the song. God, I can only imagine what this song would do to the Zentraedi.
"So, do you want to go out with me later today?" Minmei asked once we'd both recovered from the incident. "There were some things that I needed to get and I could use the company."
I knew what was coming. This was where Rick would unwittingly meet Lisa Hayes, the woman he called an 'old sourpuss' on the radio before he got stuck along with the rest of us on SDF-1. If Rick wasn't there to meet her, then God only knows what this would do to things between them.
"Mind if Rick comes along?" I asked. "He needs to get out, too. Besides, what would people think seeing you alone with me?"
"Probably that we make a good couple," Minmei replied with a mischievous smile.
"Real cute, kid," I replied with a flat expression. She only stuck her tongue out at me. "Seriously. The only way I'm going out with you is if I have Rick along as a decoy."
"Oh fine then," huffed Minmei.
"Good girl," I said, and, against my better judgement, I gave her a kiss on top of her head. Just to give her a bit of incentive. Must have worked because Minmei practically glowed.
----------------
The only thing left to do was to break the news to Rick.
"Hey Rick?" I asked as I knocked on his door. "You here still?"
"Yeah, come in buddy."
"Thanks," I said as I opened the door and shut it behind me. "You got anything going on? Minmei wants to go out and I don't feel entirely comfortable with just her and me."
"She's fawning over you again, huh?"
"That obvious?" I asked.
Rick grinned. "Old man, I am going to give you hell for this whenever Minmei isn't around."
I rolled my eyes. "So, you'll be my decoy?"
"Sure," he replied. "Not like I got anything better to do. I'll just make you pay for it later."
"Joy," I drawled out.
----------------
"But Rick, that bag is so heavy!" said Minmei plaintively as we walked down the market district.
"It's okay, Minmei," Rick tried to reassure her.
"Yeah, it's nothing," I said, trying to help. "Especially compared to doing a ten mile run with a rucksack and a rifle."
"Ugh, don't remind me," Rick groaned.
Minmei giggled and the stopped cold infront of one shop window. Ah yes. The women's apparrel store. This was the place.
"Oh please guys!" Minmei called out. "Stop just a minute!"
"Hmm," I said as I admired the display. "They look real nice. Never thought they'd have stuff like this here."
"Yeah," agreed Rick.
Minmei then turned to us. "I promise I'll only be a second."
"What?" Rick said, verbally backpedaling. "We can't go in there!"
"Yes we can," I droned as I dragged Rick in after Minmei. "We're big boys, Rick. As long as we mind ourselves we'll be fine."
Minmei was the picture of efficiency - a shocking thing coming from a woman in an apparrel store that caters specifically to their gender. She knew exactly what she wanted - she only paused as she looked for the right dress size, then snagged it and made a beeline for the dressing rooms.
"No peeking now," she said with a coy wink and smile.
I smiled. If I was gonna get razzed for this later by Rick then by God I was gonna get my money's worth.
"That's right now, Rick," I said as I maneuvered him away from the leering store clerk. "No peaking now."
"Garrick. I am gonna kill you."
"Not with witnesses around you are."
As I moved Rick away, though, Murphy struck by allowing a good portion of Minmei's purchases to spill out of the bag. Perfect! Thank you God for small miracles! I let Rick go ahead and take things from there since I knew what was coming.
And right on cue was Lisa Hayes along with the rest of the SDF-1 Bridge Bunnies. Coming in, they immediately stopped cold at the sight of me. To which my response was to thumb myself and say,
"Chaperone." I then pointed down at Rick and said, "His date's in the changing room." I finished by gesturing at the changing room in question. The women looked at Rick, who looked nervously back as he fumbled yet more of Minmei's purchases, and then at the obviously occupied dressing room.
"We'll go ahead and come back later," Lisa said diplomatically to the store clerk.
Just as the ladies left, Minmei came back out. I had to admit, she did look really nice.
"Well, Garrick, what do you think of it?" said Minmei. The shop keeper was quick to pick up on that as she looked between me and Mimei. She then cackled wickedly, causing me to wince. Rick snickered as well.
I sighed then looked to Minmei. "It looks lovely enough that if you were the right age I'd be bringing you home to meet my momma."
"But Garrick, your parents aren't here on the ship." She then grinned mischievously and added, "But you already met my aunt and uncle, so it's okay."
Rick and the store keeper exploded into laughter at that.
"God help me," I muttered.
----------------
We got back with no incident and, after a good lunch courtesy of Minmei's family, we went on our way back to the barracks so we'd have plenty of time for the big briefing we were having later that afternoon. Along the way we met Roy, who congratulated us heartily on our graduation for what must have been the umpteenth time.
"Well boys, what do you think?" said Roy as we approached the gate. "From today on you're real live fighter pilots. You two even get your own rooms!"
"Better than the Navy BEQs," I supplied. That was no exaggeration there. Nice loft bed over an equally nice desk space. There was plenty of storage space and even some nice places for curios and knick-knacks to be displayed.
"Better for certain, but don't forget that even though you do have your own rooms you can't fool around."
Rick snickered at that and Roy looked between the two of us curiously.
"Something I should know about?" Roy asked archly.
"I'll let you know when it becomes an issue, sir," I replied.
A look of comprehension dawned on Roy's face, but then he went on, "Oh and one more thing, boys."
"What's that?" asked Rick.
"AH-TEEUUUN-SHUN!" snapped out Roy.
I was quick to react, snapping to and giving a crisp salute to Lisa Hayes and the bridge bunnies. They may be bunnies, but I was pretty sure that at this point even the most junior of them outranked me by at least a paygrade.
Rick, of course, fumbled.
"At ease, gentlemen," said Lisa easily and I relaxed. "Good afternoon."
"Afternoon Ma'am," I replied cordially.
Roy once more read into the situation perfectly and swept in. "You little devil, I didn't know you knew the Lieutenant-Commander."
"Uh well, kinda," said Rick as he looked to me for help. I simply grinned back at him. Sorry buddy, you're on your own for now.
Meanwhile the bridge bunnies giggled. "It's them!"
"The guys at the lingerie shop!"
"My dear Lieutenant-Commander Fokker," said Lisa Hayes, "are these the brilliant new pilots you've been raving about?"
"Boys, introduce yourselves," prodded Roy.
We both saluted sharply. "Corporal Garrick Grimm, ma'am, at your service."
"Corporal Rick Hunter, ma'am!"
"I'm Lieutennant-Commander Lisa Hayes," she replied cordially returning our salute. A funny look then crossed her features. "Rick Hunter," she repeated. "Why does that name sound so familiar to me?" Her eyes suddenly shot wide open in shock as the memory returned to her. "I remember now! You're that loudmouthed pilot, aren't you!"
"And your that... uh..." Rick lamely fumbled for something other than 'old sourpuss'.
"Yup," replied the Lieutenant-Commander with a flat look on her face.
"Oh no!" Rick cried with a look of horror on his face. It was taking everything I had to keep myself standing up.
"Hey sir!" I gasped. "Maybe his callsign should be foot-in-mouth!"
Roy stifled a laugh. "Yeah, Rick. Better be careful or else that one will stick. Especially around the Lieutenant-Commander. She's your superior officer."
This was so freaking funny to see in person. Rick looked like he wanted to either run for the hills screaming or die of embarrassment on the spot.
He settled for stammering out, "SIR!" to the Commander as he got off another shaky salute.
"Hmm," replied Lisa. "I hope for his sake that he takes your advice." With that, she sauntered off. At least this time she didn't leave that nasty parting shot that implied he was a crossdresser.
Although, the one little redheaded bridge bunny did get up in his face and snapped, "Meanie!" as a parting shot. That was it. I lost it. Seeing Rick flinch like that from the smaller woman sent me reeling against the fence laughing like a loon.
----------------
We stood through the all-call in the parade grounds like the good little pilots we were. Just like those Captain's Calls back in the Navy. But good lord, could they get any more cheesy with the send-off?
"But until then I only want you to think of one thing: Robotech!"
God almighty save us. I know awesome machinery like Veritechs gives the gadgeteer in me a hard-on, but dayum.
"Hey, Garrick," called out Rick once he spotted me. I waved him over. "Are you gonna need any help with, ah, tonight?" he asked. "I know Minmei is probably gonna want to see you and all."
I sighed at that. I might as well go see her. "No need, Rick. This time, I think I can handle her on my own. Thanks for earlier, by the way. All snarking and sniping aside, it was a big help."
"Hey, that's what a wingman is for, right?"
"You got it, bruthah."
"And good luck in dealing with Minmei."
----------------
I arranged the date over the phone and Minmei met me promptly at the park. By prompt, I mean running herself ragged in pumps. Ouch.
"You okay there, Minmei?" I asked.
"Yeah," she said after taking a moment to catch her breath. "Sorry for taking so long. What's the big rush, anyway? Not that I don't mind."
"Cheeky," I grunted, then sighed. "They're shipping us out tomorrow."
"Oh Garrick! I'm so happy for you! Your first mission!"
"Minmei! I said softly, but firmly as I put my hands on her shoulders. I then went on in a low enough tone that only she would hear me. "This isn't fun and games. I know that there's going to be people who won't come back tomorrow."
Minmei was taken aback by this. "But... you'll comeback, right?"
"I'll do my best to, Minmei. Believe me, I want to live."
"You'd better, then. When we get married I want you to look distinguished in your dress uniform."
I sighed and wondered how long she'd keep this up for. Not that I didn't find her attractive, but for God's sake I was sixteen years older than her!
"Don't you start with me, mister Grimm! Now come on, this way!" She then grabbed ahold of my hand and dragged me further into the park, just as the backlit fountains started, creating a dance of light and color on the pond. "Ooohhh, how beautiful!" She spread her skirt out, saying, "Garrick, look."
I did and saw that she was wearing the dress she picked out earlier.
"I knew you'd look beautiful in that dress," I said without really thinking about it. D'oh! Sure, go and feed her ego, why don't you!?
"You mean that, Garrick?" she asked buoyantly. "Am I really beautiful?"
"Minmei, I shouldn't have to reinforce that notion for you. Yes, you are beautiful. And you have the voice of an angel. And for the umpteenth time, you are way too young!"
"I won't be too young forever," she challenged. The then turned away and called out, "Hey Camera! Over here!" At Minmei's call, a most curious sight appeared: a robotic camera popped out of the shrubbery, looking for whoever called it.
"Over here!" she called out again. This time the camera-bot locked onto Minmei and swiftly trundled over.
"DEPOSIT COIN," the machine requested in a monotone synthesized voice. Minmei quickly fed a credit into the slot. "THANK YOU."
She then went up to the railing by the water's edge and spun about, pirouetting like a dancer. The camera bot snapped the picture and soon a glossy photo was printed. It was a little blurry at the edges, but the machine had timed the shot perfectly so her smiling face was in the picture.
She really was beautiful.
I offered it to Minmei, but she pushed it back to me. "Keep it," she said. "Put it in that fighter of yours so you have a reminder of what's waiting for you. That should get you home in one piece."
I didn't argue the point. It was useless. Even worse, my sentimental streak was rearing it head, and I was gonna do something else I had a feeling I'd regret.
"Camera, one more photo," I called before the machine could get too far.
"DEPOSIT COIN," it stated as it zipped back to us. After I complied with it's request, I pulled Minmei in close and she immediately understood, wrapping herself around my arm.
"HOLD STILL PLEASE," said the robot as it set up the shot. "SAY CHEESE."
Another flash and another picture was produced. This one I offered to Minmei.
"In case something does happen," I said to her quietly. "At least you'll have this to remember me by."
"Don't say it that way!" she whispered back harshly. "You will come back! You will!" Tears started to form at the edge of her eyes.
"I'll do my best. But while Murphy never sleeps, that's no reason to poke him with a sharp stick."
Minmei laughed despite the heavy nature of my sentiments. Her watch's alarm chose that moment to go off.
"I gotta go," she said. "Uncle gets upset if I'm out too late. With a boy, that is." She grinned mischievously once more. "Come back safe, Garrick."
"I will, Minmei."
I left the park with a heavy heart that night, and I was fervently hoping that I was not falling for that girl.
There were a lot of qualities about Minmei that I found to be desirable. Beautiful, smart, energetic, and very playful, just to name a few. She also had a slightly combative nature as well - she wasn't afraid to stand up for her choices, and this was also a big plus in my book. But the fly in the ointment was her age. Not that I wouldn't have gone after a younger woman, but Minmei was still a *girl*.
Even so, it was getting harder and harder to resist her. She was absolutely infectious. It was probably the main reason why she walked away with the Miss Macross crown.
Later that night, Roy came in to check on me.
"Trouble sleeping?" he asked.
"A bit," I admitted. I never really was all that big on sleep. At least at night time. Yeah, I'm weird like that. "Though it's probably not for the reason you're thinking."
Roy blinked at that. "Something you want to talk about, Garrick?"
"Sure, why not?" I sighed and hefted myself out of the loft bed and hit the lights. "Not like I'm getting any sleep like this."
Roy came in and pulled up a chair.
"Get you anything to drink, sir?" I asked as I went to the kitchenette.
"No thanks," replied the Lieutenant-Commander. I got myself a glass of ice water and sat down in my desk chair.
"It's Minmei," I said.
"Dammit, Grimm," groaned Roy. "Are you serious?"
"She is, at least," I said offhandedly.
"Explain, Corporal," he said, leveling a look at me.
"Yes sir," I said and I went on to explain the dynamics of the relationship, how I keep trying to fend her off and how she kept persisting. "And you know the scariest thing about all this, sir?"
"She's starting to grow on you," the Commander groaned in a worried-yet-knowing tone.
"Yes sir," I replied with honest shame.
Roy sighed. "I hate having to ask this question but... has she shown any sexual interest in you?"
"A bit, sir," I replied reluctantly, but I knew that from a female's perspective that the few times she was sending those particular signals, they were loud and clear. "I think it was mostly just to yank my chain, though, but its there."
"Great," grumped the Lieutenant-Commander. "Can you at least promise me that if she makes any more of those kinds of advances on you that you'll fend them off and then immediately report to me?"
"Yes sir, that I can promise you."
"Good. The last thing I need is to have you brought up on charges. I'm going to let this go for now, Grimm. There's nothing in the UCMJ that says she can't hang around you. But the moment it starts getting physical... You better not disappoint me, Garrick."
"I won't, sir."
"Good. Anything else you'd like to get off your chest?"
"Just one thing, sir."
Roy looked at me apprehensively.
"You be careful out there yourself. If I heard the rumor mill right, you got a perfectly good woman waiting for you too, sir. And I'll get you home even if I gotta drag you there in battloid mode."
Roy barked a laugh. "The rookie telling me he's gonna get me home? That's rich. Get some sleep Grimm. We got ourselves a long day tomorrow."
"Yes sir."
----------------
Fortunately, sleep did come, and quicker than I thought it would, so I woke up the next morning not feeling completely like death warmed over. I was just thankful that they had Monster Energy drinks on board. Although I did miss the Import version of their cans, I was more in a position to gulp it all down in one shot and run anyway. Once I had breakfast in me, though, I was firing on all eight cylinders and raring to go.
"You're looking chipper," said Rick as he caught up with me in the pilot's mess.
"Energy drink for the kickstart and a good breakfast works wonders," I replied.
"Not a coffee person?" Rick asked.
"Too troublesome in the morning. I just grab a can from the fridge, gulp it down, and I'm through the shower and dressed in no time. Sometimes if I know its gonna be a really bad morning in advance I'll put the can behind my pillow. A warm drink right away is sometimes better than trying to bumble my way out of bed for a cold one."
"I might try that sometime," Rick grumped.
----------------
From there, it was death-by-powerpoint briefings. Fortunately I was smart enough to bring an extra energy drink for Rick, so he managed to stay awake. The plan was that we were to fly through the rings of Saturn with EWAR systems kicking out all kinds of noise. The idea was to act as a decoy for the Zents and draw them into a firefight. Once we had their attention we were to keep it while the SDF-1 positioned itself to fire its main gun.
In theory, it was a sound tactic. Except one thing...
"Are the any questions?" asked Roy.
I raised my hand and Roy called on me. "Sir, what if the SDF-1 has some kind of issue with the main gun? A misfire, as it were? Do we have a contingency plan set aside in that event?"
"That's a good question, pilot, but it's a bit above your paygrade. You better watch it or else."
"Yes sir," I said as I sat back down. Hopefully that will make it back up the chain of command and Lisa will be prodded into coming up with the Daedalus Assault sooner rather than later.
----------------
Strapped in. Sealed up. Life support connected. Cockpit depressurized. Fusion turbines nominal. Propulsion agent tanks full. Fully armed. EWAR is green.
And for myself, I was as jittery as they come. At least I had the comfort of knowing that I wasn't the only one.
Hearing Rick's voice cracking over the radio was especially amusing.
My VF-1A was towed out to the the catapults and locked into place. Once I got the all clear, I started the engines and set them to full military power. After I checked over all my powerplant readings and ran my RCS through a thorough check, I signaled my readiness to fly with a salute to the catapult officer.
Inspectors made one final check on my plane, I got a final reading of my craft's gross weight, and the cat officer gave the final go signal.
Once upon a time I got to ride a fun roller coaster in Japan that used something like a catapult system to launch you out a tunnel at four G's of acceleration.
This was about the same.
"WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!" I screamed, making sure to keep my hands away from the PTT button. That was an awesome rush. But after that, it was time to work.
Right away I found Rick and formed up with him as my wingman.
"Okay, brutha, you ready for this?"
"Whenever you are, Old Man."
"Cool. Let's you and I keep it cool and tight, just like the sims. Last thing I wanna hear is Lieutenant-Commander Hayes bitching us out."
"Amen to that!"
----------------
I had the lead at first when we began our trek through the rings, but we switched places when we crossed into the shadow zone. Rick's reflexes were a bit better than mine so I'd have a split-second to react after him. In this way, we made it through the rings with little trouble at at.
As we knew it would, the Zentraedi came barreling in through the rings, their ship plowing ice-rocks aside like a wake from a ship. As we exited the shadow zone, we broke formation under a hail of anti-ship missiles while, far off in the distance, the SDF-1 took it's position.
All hell broke loose as we hit a field of space thick with Zentraedi battlepods of all kinds. It was madness, and it took everything for Rick and I to stick together.
"C'mon, Garrick! Let's rack these guys up, just like we practiced in the sims!"
"You got it, Rick!" And with that we began to settle into a rhythm. Rick takes one out while letting one settle on his tail and I would come and take that one out before it could get so much as a bead on him. Battlepods are weak little things. Their armor is laughable and they don't even maneuver anywhere nearly as well our Valkyries. However, for every one of us there's seems to be fifty of them. Seems like pretty even odds to me. Rick and I alternated over and over again until we got an advisement from Lieutenant-Commander Hayes to be aware of the SDF-1 changing its position. I spared a glance at my tactical monitor and saw that the SDF-1 had begun a head-on charge at the attacking Zentraedi ship.
This brought a smile to my lips. Roy had been smart enough to bring it up to Lisa, and Lisa thought of the Daedalus Assault much sooner in advance and briefed the Captain. And instead of taking the precious time needed to wait and see if the problem could be fixed, and for the destroids to be armed up, manned up, and moved into position, they are ready to go the moment they know the main gun is out of commission. I would probably get no credit, but that was fine by me. My satisfaction was the fact that many more Veritech pilots would be coming home today than there would have been without my interference.
Let me tell you, seeing the Daedalus Assault up-close and in-person was a sight to see! Like one of my favorite signatures said about it, nothing says screw you like an amphibious assault ship to the face!
Cheers filled the radio channels as we began to mop up the battle pods that were still in the area.
It took a while. Zentreadi rarely retreat. We had to destroy every single battle pod that had been fielded. Fortunately, there wasn't that many left, but we still lost a few people that got careless.
As we made our way back to the SDF-1, some niggling little thought occurred to me. I check the chronometer and saw that it was May 16th, 2009.
Three months to the day since I arrived in this strange place. But why did I have this feeling of foreboding? It was just a so-called anniversary, right?
And with that thought, I had the strangest sensation of everything stopping for the briefest eternity.
Now, do remember - most of what I am usually after when I post here in the forums is NOT spell checking and grammar. That is purely secondary at this time. What I am most concerned about is the story itself. Spelling and Grammar I can fix before this gets sent out.
This time, I was awake when I arrived. I knew because it hurt being dropped on my ass. Have you ever landed flat on your ass? It's not like landing on the part where you have all the fat and muscle to pad your fall. Instead, you land right on the bottom side of your of your pelvic bone and you feel your guts slamming against the tissues that hold them in place. Not a pleasant sensation, let me tell you.
I didn't get much time to pity myself, though, because while it was dark the air was getting vacuumed out of whatever this place was.
"HOLY SHIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIT!" I screamed as a grabbed ahold of a pipe. Fortunately, it was firmly attached and I was able to lever myself against the current and hook an arm over it.
Fight-or-flight had already set in, and by God, I had no choice but to fight. I knew that vacuums of any kind were dangerous things. God only knew what I would find if I let myself get carried away, but chances were pretty good that it would be fatal in the extremely short term. I only hoped that this place didn't run out of air or else I'd really be in trouble.
There was a sudden crashing sound, accompanied by whirring motors from some distance...
And like a light gone out the air stopped moving... and I fell onto my ass once more, this time wrenching my arm painfully as I did so.
"...uuuuuuuuugggghh," I managed to vocalize after a few minutes.
I just laid there for a while, blood hammering through my arteries as though being forced through by a huge whizz-bang pump. I could already feel the headache coming on from all that blood pressure and began to hope that maybe somewhere I might find a first aid kit with some aspirin or something.
Another noise. Something clattering followed by voices.
With some pain I began tp push myself up. Pain is good, I remind myself. Pain reminds you that you're alive. Also, you need to make sure you keep on moving because more often than not it helps keep you from getting stiff.
Wincing and limping, I made my way down the coridoor until I came to the source of the noise. It was some kind of aircraft, suspended in the over head with some assembly of hooks and chains. Apparently this was some kind of workshop space. The canopy had been opened and in the cockpit were two people. A girl dangling from the arms of the guy still strapped into the seat. Suddenly the two fell into a heap together, then looked at each other and cracked up laughing.
"Hey, you guys okay?" I called out as I began to make my way over to them.
"Hey, who's that?" said the girl pointing at me. I got my first good look at her then. She was definitely Asian, and most likely Chinese. Here voluminous hair was a bit of a mess, but I could tell that it was supposed to be in an oriental style that was supposed to accentuate her cute-factor. She was also pretty small - most likely because she was only sixteen or seventeen years old.
Small performance plane in the ceiling.
Girl in the cokpit with the pilot.
Strange industrial setting where I almost got sucked into God knows what.
Most likely the vacuum of outer space.
Oh please no... I'm in Robotech, aren't I?
"Just some poor sorry civilian," I said as I reached down to help them up. "Not unless one or both of you guys are actually with those guys in the crazy fighter planes."
"Ah, kinda," grunted the guy as I pulled him up. He was something of an everyman, with thick dark-brown hair and blue eyes. He was young, too. Either eighteen or nineteen if I had to guess. "I was flying one but I'm not one of them."
I helped the girl up next, who said, "Yeah, it was all a mistake."
"Do you know how to get out of here?" he asked.
Now, here I faced a major decision point. I could try and convince this guy that I was a dimensional traveler, but I was pretty sure that would go over like a lead baloon, especially once we are discovered later on by a search and rescue party.
Or, I could play it off like I'd been around all along. Besides, if I was right then there was a passport in one of my cargo pockets that would help solidify any and all claims of citizenship.
I shook my head. "Nah. I was taking a tour of this place when I got separated from my group and then everything went to hell. What's been going on out there?"
"It's an alien invasion!" piped up the girl. "These machines came and destroyed our town!"
I played up the clueless, blinking and looking to Rick. "Did she bump her head, or did she just get too much sugar this morning?"
"HEY!" fumed the girl and Rick laughed.
He then sobered up quickly, then said, "It's true. I don't know what they want, but they did come and wreck the town."
"Unreal," I said, playing up the shock a bit. I then sighed and kicked it into business mode. "Well, look. Either way, we're lost and we need to get out of here, maybe find some help. Is your radio working?"
"Hmm. Lemme check." Rick poked his head up inside the cockpit and cursed.
"What's wrong?" asked Minmei.
"The radio's broken."
I wasn't gonna be deterred that easily. "Do you got a survival kit in that plane of yours?"
"Yeah, but it's not much. Just some rations for one person for a few days."
"Does it have an emergency beacon?"
Rick blinked. "Yeah, it does! I can't believe I didn't think of that!"
"Well, let's activate it."
"Sure. By the way, what's your name?"
"I'm Garrick Grimm," I said automatically. Damn, so I'm still Garrick here as well.
"How about you two? All I know is your first name is Rick."
"I'm Lyn Minmei," said the girl. "But please just call me Minmei."
"And I'm Rick Hunter."
"Nice to meet both you guys. Well, Rick, it's your plane. I dunno where you got that kit stashed at."
"No problem," said Rick as he stuck his head up in the inverted cockpit. Soon enough, the emergency beacon was active, we ate the first three of nine ration tins, and began to figure out what all we had.
Poor Minmei, due to her circumstances, had nothing.
Rick was little better off. All his gear was meant for survival in a wilderness setting. He did have a gyro-compass built into his watch, though, so we could at least maintain our orientation. However, he did have a small tool kit that he could use to do emergency repairs to his plane. Perfect.
Me, on the other hand... I was a Boyscout once upon a time. I was a US Navy Sailor once upon a time. These things tend to stick with you.
Therefore, I had a Leatherman tool with a complete set of bits for the screwdriver, a sharpener for the straight-edge blade, my iPod Touch and Nano, earphones with integrated microphone and controls for iPods, and a Maglight 3 watt LED flashlight.
Now, I know that some people wouldn't think that an iPod Touch or Nano could be used as survival tools, but there these people would be wrong.
The Touch itself is, in all reality, a microcomputer with more processing power than any desktop machine in the early 90's. It has digital accelerometers. The fourth generation model (which I had) has two cameras - one on the face and one on the backplate. If you had a drawing app you can create crude maps and save them to memory. You can record an audio log using the built-in app. And with frugal usage, it can go several days without a charge.
The Nano was not quite as useful... but it did have a digital radio. With a bit of fiddling around in the regional settings, it might be possible to monitor radio transmissions. Desperate, but this situation was just that. And it could also record audio logs using the earphones I had. Using it's own set of accelerometers, it could also keep track of how many steps I'd taken, giving me an idea of how far I'd traveled.
Using the tools I had on hand, I gave us even odds on finding a way out back to... well, civilization.
What I found to be mildly surprising was that Apple not only existed in this world, but the advent of Robotechnology had pushed the tech curve forward a bit - my models were actually a generation behind in this place. Made me wonder if their iPhone supported 4G. Hell, for all I know their 4G was an entirely different protocol from our 4G.
We made a plan to take turns between exploring the area and keeping someone behind at what I had dubbed Base-Camp. Minmei was left behind for the first shift, but not without an important job.
"Minmei, do you know the Morse code for SOS?"
"No, I don't know any Morse code at all."
"That's okay. Pretty much the only thing I know is SOS. Here, let me show you." I got a handy chain link that was lying around and tapped it against the deck.
Tap-tap-tap-tap...tap...tap...tap-tap-tap.
Tap-tap-tap-tap...tap...tap...tap-tap-tap.
Tap-tap-tap-tap...tap...tap...tap-tap-tap.
"You see, it's three short, followed right away by three long, and then three short again. And you keep on repeating that sequence."
"Sure! It's pretty easy to remember."
"Yup. They made it like that on purpose - anyone can at least do SOS if they know what it is."
When we left, Minmei was eagerly tapping out the sequence for SOS. I knew that wouldn't keep up for long. She'd get bored in no time and I knew that a bored Minmei was not a good thing.
Once we were out of ear shot I started going over everything with Rick.
"We can't leave her by herself for long. She's just a kid still."
"Minmei's just a kid?" said Rick suddenly.
I snorted at that. "Relax. I know you're actually barely older than she is. Probably a year at the most."
"How can you tell?"
"I know I don't look like it, but I'm actually thirty-two."
"What? You're pulling my leg here!"
"Heh. Nah man. It runs in my mother's side of the family. They were people used to hard and loose living. They worked themselves to the bone and partied like it was 1999. Drinking, smoking, womanizing, and unhealthy food. Well, Mom and I, we try and take it easy and live much cleaner lifestyles. End result is that she's almost sixty but doesn't look a day older than forty. And then you have me, who barely looks older than twenty."
Rick whistled. "Lucky."
"Same to you, you're still young. Anyhow, here's what you and I are gonna do here. Since this corridor is the only way out of that place, we're gonna look for doors, other corridors, and stuff like that. We also wanna keep an eye out for two very important things: food and water. Without that, we don't survive."
"What about air?" he asked.
"I don't think that's gonna be an issue for a while. With just the three of us in this big space I think our oxygen supply will last a while. Besides, this space was open to vacuum for a while. I think the life support systems in this area are working just fine if the air pressure was maintained. But for Minmei's sake, let's keep this session short and sweet. You or I can stand to be alone for extended periods of time. Or at least I know I can. Minmei... I don't think so."
"Right then."
----------------
With Rick and myself we were able to keep it strictly business for the most part. He asked questions about my family, for sure, but that didn't distract us much from what we were doing. In return, I learned about his family, which operated a flying circus. I knew about the circus, but I just didn't know what all that intailed.
Parachutists, wing walkers, aerobatics, hot air balloons, antique planes... it was basically an airshow on crack. It sounded like a complete blast.
Hey, don't look at me that way. I'm just a big fan of aeronautics.
Anyhow, conversation aside we moved quickly enough that we soon found the very large chamber that had the Zentreadi-sized airlock in it. Of course, I didn't say it like that to Rick.
"This is perfect!" I said excitedly, and I was too, because something obvious had occurred to me.
"Why?" asked Rick.
"Think aerospace. With emphasis on the space part, kid. Someone up there has to have some sort of computer monitor that tells them when an airlock somewhere is being opened up. It's a safety thing. You want to know exactly who is using your airlocks and when they're using it in order to prevent accidents."
Rick blinked as that sunk into him. "So if we keep on cycling the airlock someone is gonna come and investigate!"
"Exactly! Let's go get Minmei and gather up what we can. This place is our new base-camp!"
----------------
I didn't have my computer with me.
This realization was a huge let down for me. If I did have it, then maybe I could recharge my iPods. The laptop itself I wouldn't have had to worry about because there was a 115 volt outlet nearby that had been jury-rigged by whatever work crew had been in this area. But my laptop wasn't here, and so I had to control my urge to record every fragging little detail.
At least I could get into everything in sight.
In the original timeline, Rick had a tool kit, but no multitool. But here and now I had brought my Leatherman with me, so there wasn't a single cargo container in the space that was safe from me.
"Okay guys, all clear down there?"
"Yeah, we're good!"
"Alright then. Bombs away!" With a kick I shoved loose the access panel. It probably weighed a good two-hundred pounds and made an impressive noise once it hit the deck. After the first one, Rick, Minmei and myself knew to keep our ears covered for this part.
"Okay, what can you guys see from there?"
"Hmmm," said Minmei. "Looks like more of those giant-size space suits."
"Damn. Okay, let's try the next one." The last two had been something that looked like giant pistols and then the space suits mentioned earlier. Both useless to us because we couldn't even lift the things.
Fortunately, the containers were fairly easy to open. Whoever these people were, they weren't big on internal security. A few quick cuts with my Leatherman's diamond file and I could easily push off an access panel for the container.
And pop! Another panel falls away to make a truly thunderous racket down below.
Minmei looked inside and scrunched her face up cutely. "Hey, Garrick? I think you may wanna take a look at this."
"Oh?" I asked as I began to jump from one container to another. I was starting to feel like Arrietty Clock in this place. With a bit of work, though, I got there and saw that the container was full of packages sealed in what looked like white plastic wrappers. Each was, disturbingly, about the size of a body bag.
"Huh. Let's see what's inside one of these," I said as I tugged on one experimentally. It didn't want to give. "Hey Rick, give me a hand with this?"
"Sure." Rick came over and grabbed ahold of the other end of the wrapper and we both tugged on it to no real effect. "You know what, let's try doing it on three," Rick finally said.
"Sounds good," I replied. "One... Two... Three!" We both tugged sharply and the plastic wrapped object came flying out... along with what must have been about half of the rest of the container!
"GYAH!" we both cried out as we tried to avoid getting buried alive. Rick got the worst of it and Minmei practiclly fluttered to his side, helping him get out of the mess. I was able to pull myself out.
"Well... that was interesting," I said sarcastically.
"Let's not try that again," Rick said.
With no more to say on the matter, I pulled one of the packages loose and cut it open with my Leatherman.
"Well?" asked Minmei anxiously.
My eyebrows went up as the scent hit my nose. "Smells like a ration bar." Experimentally, I carved a piece loose and tasted it. "Tastes like a ration bar, too."
"Well what do you know," said Rick excitedly. "We have food!"
"Alright!" cheered Minmei.
----------------
With the food issue resolved, all that left was water. I fixed it by carving a small hole in a fresh water pipe in the nearby coridor with my file. That gave us drinking and washing water. We weren't worried about flooding since it all seemed to drain away somewhere. Hopefully it wasn't messing anything up.
We used Rick's parachute to pitch a tent. It was my idea to make pitch it against the big window so we could sleep by the stars. The window was a bit cool, but not freezing. By the second day I found a way to control the light level in the room and that really added to the effect.
We passed the time getting to know each other. Minmei sang songs now and then, and I played a song from my iPod when I thought it wouldn't drain the battery too much. (Minmei really took a shine to Gwen Stefani and Florance and The Machine.) Honestly, hearing Minmei's voice, her real honest-to-God singing voice was a shock to me. It was nothing at all like Robotech dubs. She had the voice of an angel and her lyrics flowed smoothly and sweetly.
Messing with the airlock got their attention relatively quickly. It was only one week until a maintenance crew came to check on the airlock. Weren't they surprised to find us living there like we owned the place!
The pipe was patched and the space was tagged urgent for reevaluation, because hey! Giant food bar rations! And we were commended on our resourcefulness.
I was given the hairy eyeball. However, once I fed them my story about being separated from my tour group and losing my pass in the mayhem that ensued, I was forgiven. Especially once they went over my passport.
I was issued an ID card, given a ration stipend, and told to make my way in what was quickly becoming Macross City rebuilt.
------------------------------------
Macross City.
The city inside the Super Dimensional Fortress.
It was quickly starting to take on all the aspects of a military town.
What homes could not be salvaged from the ruins of the original city were rebuilt. Minmei's family had been lucky in that their home, complete with the restaurant, had been salvaged. Reclaimation had been a simple matter of producing the home owner's deed which had been locked in a fireproof safe.
Rick and I had no homes to call our own in Macross City, so we stayed at Minmei's house for the time being. Her Aunt and Uncle were more than happy to host us because we had taken care of Minmei. The fact that we insisted on paying a regular rent only helped.
This wasn't a problem at first. Rick wasn't sulking too badly because I had effectively derailed any romantic interest between the two. With any luck that would make things a lot simpler for the poor guy once Lisa Hayes started noticing him in that special way.
However, there was one thing that he was still moody about, and honestly I couldn't blame the guy.
"Damn," I grunted as I pushed myself out from under the racer. "I'm sorry Rick, but I think your girl here is a total loss."
"I know," moaned Rick. "The entire frame got warped. It's easier to list what isn't broken."
"Hey Rick!" called out a voice. "Now, show me this junk pile."
"What junk pile?!" snapped Rick. "Listen, buddy. This is the racer that I won eight international championships in and you call it junk? I oughta knock your block off."
Ladies and gentlemen, the one and only Roy Fokker.
When he and I met the first time we began to size each other up. Roy treated Rick like his little kid brother, and I was just now starting to look at the poor guy like that myself. But then I opened my big mouth and kicked off the snark-off to end all snark-offs. I only wish I had recorded the whole damn schpiel because it was the stuff that legends were made of. Poor Rick and Minmei could stop gawking. The only reason Roy and I stopped was because we were worried that flies would start flying into their mouths.
"My eternal rival returns," I intoned. "Hey, Roy, lay off the kid, will ya? He's distraught enough as it is."
Roy rolled his eyes. "Yeah yeah. Look, you two guys are getting stressed out over something you can't do anything about. Why don't we go for a walk? The exercise will be good for you."
I knew what was coming, but I made a show of looking to Rick. He simply sighed and shrugged his shoulders at me.
"Whatever," I said. "Can't hurt at this point."
----------------
About twenty minutes later, we found ourselves at the Grand Observation Deck. Usually it was only open to military, but since we were with Roy we got in.
I went ahead and broke the ice first. "Well, I'd heard about this, but seeing it is something else altogether. DAYUM, that is one big mother of a carrier!" Seriously, it was. Carriers from where I'm at can only fit two aircraft abreast at the forecastle. This one looked like it could accommodate six, but only had catapults for four.
We watched as a pair of Valkyries were brought up to the flight deck, moved into position, and then launched out into the wild black yonder, their engines flaring star-bright.
"Hey, those fighters!" said Rick, excitement and wonder creeping back into his voice at last. "How can they fly in deep space?"
"Those Veritech fighter engines are built on a reactor design," said Roy with a salesman's persona. "With that kind of propulsion, believe me, you can go anywhere!"
"Wow, terrific!" said Rick, completely in awe.
Roy grinned and placed his hands on Rick's shoulders, saying, "How'd you like to fly one again."
"Huh?" said Rick.
I just snorted. "So that's what you're up to! Surely that offer isn't open to just Rick."
"You wound me," replied Roy blithely. "Of course they'd be interested in you, having prior service and all." That had taken me by surprise. Apparently Roy had looked into my background, just because he was concerned about where the hell I'd come from and why I was hanging around his brother. Only he'd found my old military records... from when I was in the US Navy... Don't ask me how that works because it is way the hell above my paygrade. But were they really my records? Time to test the waters.
"Even though I was just a technician that fixed a gun," I asked archly, referring to my old posting.
"A technician whose scores blew the curve away and whose performance was nothing short of spectacular," countered Roy, referencing my test scores back at gun school. But that wasn't all he had. "Not to mention a perfect score for your workcenter on INSERV when you were the only maintenance tech? I've seen how they do business. That is beyond impressive."
"Maybe, but you conveniently forgot that the US Navy didn't want me back afterwards." I had... issues... dealing with the politically charged environment.
"This is UN Spacey. We could hardly care less what that bureaucratic mess that is the US Navy thinks."
Rick looked a little lost. "What?"
"Your friend here's been omitting details. He's prior enlisted."
"So, I did my four years and then got out of that political rat race. And it turned out that the feeling was mutual. What if I don't want to deal with that again?"
"Hah! Kid, this is entirely different. For one thing, you're going to be a pilot, which means you'll get a little more leeway around here. Of course, rank does help, but around here people tend to advance fast."
He sure as hell didn't mention why.
This would be funny if it weren't real. Here he was, he was probably expecting Rick to be the hard sell, but it was me that was giving him the schiester treatment. But it was tempting. Oh so very tempting. Valkyries. Wonderful veritech goodness.
But then.... I'm living here now, aren't I? If I'm gonna be living here I might as well fight for it. Only God knows if I'll ever jump again.
"I'll give it a shot," I said. I then held up a hand to stop him from going off on congratulating me. "But if I'm not jiving with the UN Spacey, then I'll put in my time and get out."
"Fair enough," said Roy. He then turned to Rick. "What about you? You gonna let action man here have all the fun?"
Rick looked a bit uncertain though. So much for me being the hard sell.
"I... just need a bit of time to think about it," Rick finally got out.
Roy sighed. "Okay, I guess that's all I'm gonna get out of you for now. But really Rick, think about it. Even if you do fix your racer it's not like you'll be able to fly it around out here."
"Ugh, don't remind me," replied Rick as we all sauntered off together.
----------------
"Hey, Rick?" I said as we made it to the outskirts of the city.
"Hmm?" replied the airshow pilot noncommittally.
"I'm gonna walk around on my own for a for a spell. Are you heading back home?"
"Yeah, why?" asked Rick, perking up a bit.
"Let them know not to worry about me."
"Oh, sure thing."
Rick went on his way. He had a lot on his mind for certain, but he wasn't being as apathetic as he had been in the original timeline. Thank God for small miracles. Maybe that way Minmei won't wind up fawning over him so much.
I wandered aimlessly for a while, not really caring where I was going.
A Veritech pilot in the RDF? Should I really do it? Would I be any good at it? And would I really have to deal with the same political merry-go-round I had to face in the Navy?
It really weighed heavily on my mind. I knew that I'd probably make for at least a decent pilot. My vision, while nothing spectacular, was slightly better than average and I had better nightvision than most people. That, and I had an eye for detail - I knew, almost on an instinctive level, when something was out of place. And my spatial awareness was pretty good, too. At least, as long as I was paying attention.
Then there was the bonus factor in that I knew what was coming. For sure, there was the butterfly affect, but I wasn't going to give it too much thought. So much of this timeline depended on the reactions of the Zentraedi that I didn't see my actions diverting things too much until we got to Earth.
But there was still the politics to consider. I hate politics because it means picking your battles wisely... and I've never been the best at that, let me tell you. When confronted I'm a hot-head at worst and litigious at best, as we've already seen. But for some reason... I don't know why, but Captain Gloval, for some reason, lets shit like that fly. Maybe he's just that much more understanding of the situation we find ourselves in. He certainly seems unhappy about it all, that's for certain, though he does tend to keep a somewhat cooler head about it.
Or maybe the guy secretly finds it all amusing.
... Naaaaaah.
Before I knew it I found myself on some sort of engineered bluff that overlooked a good portion of the newly reconstituted Macross City. I just sat there and stared out into space for a while, kinda admiring the view. But then there was something at the back of my mind trying to warn me about something.
I didn't get to think on it too hard because I heard Minmei's voice coming up from behind me.
"GARRICK!" she yelled as she ran up the backside of the bluff. "There *pant* you are *pant*."
"Minmei," I said in surprise. I don't think I'd ever seen her really exert herself like that before. "Is something wrong?"
Minmei waited a short moment to catch her breath, then said, "Just wanted to find you. With everything that's been going on we haven't had a quiet moment alone."
Uh-oh. Danger Will Robinson! Okay, Garrick, stay calm. This may be nothing.
"Okay, so there's something you wanted to tell me that you didn't want others hearing?"
Minmei gave me a look as though to say, 'Well DUUUUH!'
Instead, she said, "I just wanted to thank you for everything you did back there. If it had been only Rick and myself I don't know for sure what would have happened. But you thought of things to get us out of that situation. That thing with the airlock was brilliant."
"Well yeah," I said, "we already went over all this. With the SAR teams, the debriefing teams, and your aunt and uncle until we were all blue in the face. What's different now?"
Minmei gave me a glare. "Are you really that dumb when it comes to girls? I guess I oughta spell it out for you."
I didn't really have much of a chance to react without hurting her. She suddenly grabbed me by the lapels and pulled me into a very spirited kiss.
Good God, I'm kissing Minmei!
Good God, I'm kissing a 15-year-old!
Quickly but gently, I pushed her away. She was still giving me an indignant expression, as though she were an impatient student demanding that the professor tell her, right now, where her grade stood in the rankings.
"Okay," I began, "first off I didn't know you had a thing for me because I wasn't even looking for the signs. I'm nearly old enough to be your father!"
"Only if you started having kids when you were sixteen," said Minmei piously. "I would wait a little bit longer than that."
Granted, some people jokingly called my mom a cradle robber because there was a seven year difference between her and my dad. But that was that and this is this.
"Minmei, even if you did wait it's not gonna be some difference of a few years. This is gonna be *sixteen years*. People are gonna ask some really uncomfortable questions!"
"Ask me if I care!" she dared me.
"I'm not asking you, I'm asking myself," I shot back. "And the answer is 'Whiskey-Tango-Foxtrot shipmate! What are you thinking!?'"
Minmei suddenly smiled suggestively. "I dunno. What *are* you thinking?" She was so good at that that it was scary. It was no small wonder she was bound to become a pop idol sensation.
I blinked, then recollected myself. "I am thinking you are a very pretty, very talented, and very young girl who should be dating boys and not grown men that are considering military service."
That made her pause. "You're joining the RDF?"
I nodded. "You know I've always wanted to fly a fighter jet. The RDF seems to be taking just about anyone that'll pass the preliminary exams, so this is my chance."
"That's great though! You'll have a good job and prestige and being married to me will look great because when we get back to Earth I'm gonna be a famous singer!"
Oh boy. I was starting to think I knew where all this was coming from. For better or worse, Minmei spent a good part of her young life in Japan, and what was worse her family is mostly Chinese nationals. In Asian cultures it wasn't unheard of for a pretty girl like her to get married off to a man my age because he had a position of prestige. It wasn't even so much that the family was trying to climb the social ladder, they just wanted the best for their little girl - the best being a husband with a guaranteed salary that could cover her expenses and that of the children that would come later. And, during the time we were missing, Minmei did say that one of her dreams was to be a bride.
Shit.
This girl was absolutely determined to get herself married and she saw me as the best man for the job - nevermind that she would have to wait a few years. I'd hate to break her heart, but then again she just wasn't taking no for an answer. Maybe I can weaken her resolve by stalling her a bit.
"Look, Minmei..." I sighed and ran a hand though my hair, pushing loose strands that were tickling my face back into place. "I don't know about this. I really don't. Let's just take some time to think on it. And I mean really think on it. If anything happens to me out there would you want to be the widow of a fighter pilot?" At that she grabbed me by the lapels once more, hauling me down to her level.
"Don't even think about it, flyboy, or else when I come to heaven I'm gonna kick your butt so hard that your ancestors will wince in sympathy."
What. The hell. Was that?
I knew Minmei had a fire all her own, but this was something else entirely. Where was this coming from?
At the moment, a siren began to wail in the distance, accompanied by the words, "Air raid warning!"
Oh SHIT!
"What's that?" asked Minmei.
"I'm not sure," I said, playing up the clueless factor, "but I think it might be a good idea to get back home, and fast!"
She didn't argue the point with me. We just took off at a jog. However, before we left the bluff entirely, she turned and said,
"This isn't over."
I decided to let that go for now. Hopefully with all the excitement we were about to have she'd forget about this... for a little bit.
----------------
When we got back to the restaurant I went straight to my room and began arranging things so there'd be as little damage as possible. In the background there were ominous messages about the modular ship transformation. Just as I left my room, Rick came out of his.
"Garrick? What's going on?"
"Not sure, Rick, but you can bet it ain't a drill of some kind." At that moment, the countdown started. I heard noises down in the kitchen still and... shit!
"Minmei!" I snapped out, just as the count down hit one. "Everyone out of the kitchen!" I ran down the stairs, vaulting the railing halfway and startling the patrons that were still present. As my feet hit the floor the tremors started.
Just like an earthquake.
Minmei and her family came rushing out of the kitchen. "Garrick! What's happening?" she asked as she threw herself at me. Not really thinking on it, I grabbed her up with one arm and held onto the railing with the other.
"I'm not sure, but we better hang on tight!" I saw a few patrons going outside. "NO! STAY INSIDE!" I yelled. It was too late for them, though. A bulkhead down the road opened to vacuum and they were swept away by the sudden galeforce current. I could only pray they managed to find something to grab ahold of.
And then suddenly gravity went away.
"WHOAH!" I screamed. I wasn't the only one. All around me people cried out in panic as they floated off the floor. Granted, this wasn't the first time for them, but it wasn't like they were trained for it. Hell, I'd never had training for it, but I at least understood what was going on. At least I was able to force my feet to the deck and keep them there.
"Hold on tight, Minmei. The gravity should come back in a minute."
She said nothing. All she did was bury her head in under my shoulder as best as she could.
It took a minute, but it felt like an eternity. Every crash, every electro-mechanical noise was punctuated by panicked screams and groans from everyone present. Even Rick wasn't immune. Minmei and I were the only ones quiet.
And then it was over. Gravity came back on in a snap and everyone and everything spilled to the floor. I stumbled a bit and I had to help steady Minmei.
"Are you okay?" I asked Minmei as she looked up at me. She nodded shakily.
And then there was something new. It came up from the floor, through our feet and legs, and reverberated in our chests and heads. An infra-sound so intense that it was just shy of being an earthquake itself.
"What's that?" said Rick.
There was only one thing it could be. "The main gun," I intoned. Right now, hundreds of thousands of Zentraedi soldiers were dying, their ships and battlepods disintegrated with almost contemptuous ease under the brutal, punishing force of a gamma-ray laser big enough to engulf several New York City blocks. And all because of a gambit by Commander Bretai.
But then, I guess that was life for the Zentraedi. It evoked the words spoken by Roman gladiators before the battle commenced: "We, who are about to die, salute you."
And as suddenly as *that* started... it ended.
----------------
Minmei was not as badly shaken up by the experience as I thought she'd be. After we rearranged every thing and made our reports to our section's Shelter Officer I then went to my room just to relax.
There was a knock at my door. No rest for the weary.
"Come in," I called out, not bothering to lever myself off my bed.
Rick poked his head in. "You okay, Garrick?"
"Yeah, I'm alright. Just a bit drained from that experience."
Rick scoffed as he came into the room and shut the door behind him. "No kidding."
There was a moment of uncomfortable silence. I was just about to break it when Rick spoke first.
"Were you serious back there? About joining up with the RDF?"
I sighed at that. No point in refusing it now. "Yeah, Rick. I'm gonna give it an honest shot. Whether it works out for me or not..." I let that hang, but he knew perfectly well what I meant.
"Yeah. So. You were in the Navy."
"Not an experience I'd recommend for the faint of heart. I had to deal with so much crap that it'd make a sanitation worker blush."
Rick laughed at that. "I'll take your word for it. But for the RDF... If you're joining up, then I will too."
"Really?" I asked. I was honestly worried that he wouldn't, given that he didn't have Minmei needling him along this time.
"Yeah. Someone's gotta be your wingman, you old fart."
I snorted at that. "Only old enough to know better."
"Old enough for me," Rick shot back.
"Must be, I don't even see any peach fuzz on that face of yours, kid!" At that, we started into some spirited, brotherly fisticuffs. Soon enough, though, Minmei knock and pocked her head inside.
"What are you two doing?" she asked archly.
I gave her my best innocent look. "Why, we're settling a difference of opinion in the time honored tradition of men."
"Oh, is that what this is?" asked Rick blithely.
"Coulda fooled me," said Minmei. "You both look like you're acting like a couple of kids." Before we could retort, she added, "Despite the excitement, evening board is ready. You guys may wanna come down and eat with us before it gets cold." And with that she shut the door behind her.
"Dunno about you, Rick, but this is the best I've eaten since my time in the Navy. Let's go get some grub."
"Sure thing. Age before beauty," teased Rick.
"Good thing I got both, kiddo."
-------------------------
Two months pass.
Rick and I go through training together to become Veritech pilots. And the shocking thing was that he and I both made it into Skull Squadron.
In only two months.
Yes, it was every bit as hellacious as it sounds. We have to learn so much in so little time. Flight and astrogation, aerospace combat tactics, basic military training... We alternate days in and out of the simulators for the first month. In the sims, we break only for meals. The rest of the day, we're drilled harshly in the sims, essentially learning hands-on how to fly.
Outside the sims the relentless drilling continued. On some days it was book work like flight theory, Robotech science, and rules and regulations. Other days it was marching and drilling, gunnery ranges, obstacle courses, and physical training until we drop dead of exhaustion.
In the second month we graduated from simulators and went to the real thing. VF-1D Veritechs. I was so excited that I could barely contain it. Instructors and students alike were all saying that the Old Man was looking like a kid at Christmas time.
Relentless drilling in the sims paid off in spades. Inside a day I was handling the D-model Veritech like a pro. But that didn't mean they would make it easy on me. Instead, it was combat drills in the cokpit, and combat tactics in the classroom. Physical Training was as brutal as ever, and now included survival, escape, recovery, and evasion (SERE) classes.
I was a pretty good pilot, but Rick far surpassed me. He had my aptitude combined with a natural talent and years of experience sitting behind the stick of racers. However, when it came to book smarts and marksmanship I left him in the dust. As I had before in my Naval schools, I blew the curve out of the water with my uncanny ability to memorize procedures - don't ask me how, but seeing the procedures performed and studying them programmed them into my brain like song lyrics. Once I had them, it was virtually irrevocable, especially since we were demanded to spout procedure on the spot at any given time on demand.
Everything else I memorized through a combination of mnemonics and brute force rote-and-drill.
The final days were tied up in a number of final activities. Everything was graded. A single failing grade would get you moved into another class for remedial training, and here a three strikes policy applied. You fail your finals a third time and that was it.
Fortunately, I passed.
I was awarded liberty along with all the other graduates, and the first thing I did was to buy a laptop to replace the once I was missing, go home to the Lynn Family, and play the song Stress by Jim's Big Ego.
I'm Addicted to stress 'cause it's the way that I get things done
If I'm not under pressure then I sleep too long
And I hang around like a bumb
And I think I'm going nowhere and that makes me nervous
Everybody's out to get me but I feel alright
Everybody's out to get me but I feel alright
Everybody's out to get me but I feel alright
Everybody's thinking about me!
It's the little things that getcha
It's the little things that getcha
When you weren't paying attention
It's the little things that getcha
It's the little things that getcha
It's the little things that getcha
When you weren't paying attention
It is a freaking hilarious song to listen to.
Minmei came in to see me 'dancing' to the song and I just about died of emberassment on the spot. The one saving grace was that she found my dancing to be every bit as entertaining as the song. God, I can only imagine what this song would do to the Zentraedi.
"So, do you want to go out with me later today?" Minmei asked once we'd both recovered from the incident. "There were some things that I needed to get and I could use the company."
I knew what was coming. This was where Rick would unwittingly meet Lisa Hayes, the woman he called an 'old sourpuss' on the radio before he got stuck along with the rest of us on SDF-1. If Rick wasn't there to meet her, then God only knows what this would do to things between them.
"Mind if Rick comes along?" I asked. "He needs to get out, too. Besides, what would people think seeing you alone with me?"
"Probably that we make a good couple," Minmei replied with a mischievous smile.
"Real cute, kid," I replied with a flat expression. She only stuck her tongue out at me. "Seriously. The only way I'm going out with you is if I have Rick along as a decoy."
"Oh fine then," huffed Minmei.
"Good girl," I said, and, against my better judgement, I gave her a kiss on top of her head. Just to give her a bit of incentive. Must have worked because Minmei practically glowed.
----------------
The only thing left to do was to break the news to Rick.
"Hey Rick?" I asked as I knocked on his door. "You here still?"
"Yeah, come in buddy."
"Thanks," I said as I opened the door and shut it behind me. "You got anything going on? Minmei wants to go out and I don't feel entirely comfortable with just her and me."
"She's fawning over you again, huh?"
"That obvious?" I asked.
Rick grinned. "Old man, I am going to give you hell for this whenever Minmei isn't around."
I rolled my eyes. "So, you'll be my decoy?"
"Sure," he replied. "Not like I got anything better to do. I'll just make you pay for it later."
"Joy," I drawled out.
----------------
"But Rick, that bag is so heavy!" said Minmei plaintively as we walked down the market district.
"It's okay, Minmei," Rick tried to reassure her.
"Yeah, it's nothing," I said, trying to help. "Especially compared to doing a ten mile run with a rucksack and a rifle."
"Ugh, don't remind me," Rick groaned.
Minmei giggled and the stopped cold infront of one shop window. Ah yes. The women's apparrel store. This was the place.
"Oh please guys!" Minmei called out. "Stop just a minute!"
"Hmm," I said as I admired the display. "They look real nice. Never thought they'd have stuff like this here."
"Yeah," agreed Rick.
Minmei then turned to us. "I promise I'll only be a second."
"What?" Rick said, verbally backpedaling. "We can't go in there!"
"Yes we can," I droned as I dragged Rick in after Minmei. "We're big boys, Rick. As long as we mind ourselves we'll be fine."
Minmei was the picture of efficiency - a shocking thing coming from a woman in an apparrel store that caters specifically to their gender. She knew exactly what she wanted - she only paused as she looked for the right dress size, then snagged it and made a beeline for the dressing rooms.
"No peeking now," she said with a coy wink and smile.
I smiled. If I was gonna get razzed for this later by Rick then by God I was gonna get my money's worth.
"That's right now, Rick," I said as I maneuvered him away from the leering store clerk. "No peaking now."
"Garrick. I am gonna kill you."
"Not with witnesses around you are."
As I moved Rick away, though, Murphy struck by allowing a good portion of Minmei's purchases to spill out of the bag. Perfect! Thank you God for small miracles! I let Rick go ahead and take things from there since I knew what was coming.
And right on cue was Lisa Hayes along with the rest of the SDF-1 Bridge Bunnies. Coming in, they immediately stopped cold at the sight of me. To which my response was to thumb myself and say,
"Chaperone." I then pointed down at Rick and said, "His date's in the changing room." I finished by gesturing at the changing room in question. The women looked at Rick, who looked nervously back as he fumbled yet more of Minmei's purchases, and then at the obviously occupied dressing room.
"We'll go ahead and come back later," Lisa said diplomatically to the store clerk.
Just as the ladies left, Minmei came back out. I had to admit, she did look really nice.
"Well, Garrick, what do you think of it?" said Minmei. The shop keeper was quick to pick up on that as she looked between me and Mimei. She then cackled wickedly, causing me to wince. Rick snickered as well.
I sighed then looked to Minmei. "It looks lovely enough that if you were the right age I'd be bringing you home to meet my momma."
"But Garrick, your parents aren't here on the ship." She then grinned mischievously and added, "But you already met my aunt and uncle, so it's okay."
Rick and the store keeper exploded into laughter at that.
"God help me," I muttered.
----------------
We got back with no incident and, after a good lunch courtesy of Minmei's family, we went on our way back to the barracks so we'd have plenty of time for the big briefing we were having later that afternoon. Along the way we met Roy, who congratulated us heartily on our graduation for what must have been the umpteenth time.
"Well boys, what do you think?" said Roy as we approached the gate. "From today on you're real live fighter pilots. You two even get your own rooms!"
"Better than the Navy BEQs," I supplied. That was no exaggeration there. Nice loft bed over an equally nice desk space. There was plenty of storage space and even some nice places for curios and knick-knacks to be displayed.
"Better for certain, but don't forget that even though you do have your own rooms you can't fool around."
Rick snickered at that and Roy looked between the two of us curiously.
"Something I should know about?" Roy asked archly.
"I'll let you know when it becomes an issue, sir," I replied.
A look of comprehension dawned on Roy's face, but then he went on, "Oh and one more thing, boys."
"What's that?" asked Rick.
"AH-TEEUUUN-SHUN!" snapped out Roy.
I was quick to react, snapping to and giving a crisp salute to Lisa Hayes and the bridge bunnies. They may be bunnies, but I was pretty sure that at this point even the most junior of them outranked me by at least a paygrade.
Rick, of course, fumbled.
"At ease, gentlemen," said Lisa easily and I relaxed. "Good afternoon."
"Afternoon Ma'am," I replied cordially.
Roy once more read into the situation perfectly and swept in. "You little devil, I didn't know you knew the Lieutenant-Commander."
"Uh well, kinda," said Rick as he looked to me for help. I simply grinned back at him. Sorry buddy, you're on your own for now.
Meanwhile the bridge bunnies giggled. "It's them!"
"The guys at the lingerie shop!"
"My dear Lieutenant-Commander Fokker," said Lisa Hayes, "are these the brilliant new pilots you've been raving about?"
"Boys, introduce yourselves," prodded Roy.
We both saluted sharply. "Corporal Garrick Grimm, ma'am, at your service."
"Corporal Rick Hunter, ma'am!"
"I'm Lieutennant-Commander Lisa Hayes," she replied cordially returning our salute. A funny look then crossed her features. "Rick Hunter," she repeated. "Why does that name sound so familiar to me?" Her eyes suddenly shot wide open in shock as the memory returned to her. "I remember now! You're that loudmouthed pilot, aren't you!"
"And your that... uh..." Rick lamely fumbled for something other than 'old sourpuss'.
"Yup," replied the Lieutenant-Commander with a flat look on her face.
"Oh no!" Rick cried with a look of horror on his face. It was taking everything I had to keep myself standing up.
"Hey sir!" I gasped. "Maybe his callsign should be foot-in-mouth!"
Roy stifled a laugh. "Yeah, Rick. Better be careful or else that one will stick. Especially around the Lieutenant-Commander. She's your superior officer."
This was so freaking funny to see in person. Rick looked like he wanted to either run for the hills screaming or die of embarrassment on the spot.
He settled for stammering out, "SIR!" to the Commander as he got off another shaky salute.
"Hmm," replied Lisa. "I hope for his sake that he takes your advice." With that, she sauntered off. At least this time she didn't leave that nasty parting shot that implied he was a crossdresser.
Although, the one little redheaded bridge bunny did get up in his face and snapped, "Meanie!" as a parting shot. That was it. I lost it. Seeing Rick flinch like that from the smaller woman sent me reeling against the fence laughing like a loon.
----------------
We stood through the all-call in the parade grounds like the good little pilots we were. Just like those Captain's Calls back in the Navy. But good lord, could they get any more cheesy with the send-off?
"But until then I only want you to think of one thing: Robotech!"
God almighty save us. I know awesome machinery like Veritechs gives the gadgeteer in me a hard-on, but dayum.
"Hey, Garrick," called out Rick once he spotted me. I waved him over. "Are you gonna need any help with, ah, tonight?" he asked. "I know Minmei is probably gonna want to see you and all."
I sighed at that. I might as well go see her. "No need, Rick. This time, I think I can handle her on my own. Thanks for earlier, by the way. All snarking and sniping aside, it was a big help."
"Hey, that's what a wingman is for, right?"
"You got it, bruthah."
"And good luck in dealing with Minmei."
----------------
I arranged the date over the phone and Minmei met me promptly at the park. By prompt, I mean running herself ragged in pumps. Ouch.
"You okay there, Minmei?" I asked.
"Yeah," she said after taking a moment to catch her breath. "Sorry for taking so long. What's the big rush, anyway? Not that I don't mind."
"Cheeky," I grunted, then sighed. "They're shipping us out tomorrow."
"Oh Garrick! I'm so happy for you! Your first mission!"
"Minmei! I said softly, but firmly as I put my hands on her shoulders. I then went on in a low enough tone that only she would hear me. "This isn't fun and games. I know that there's going to be people who won't come back tomorrow."
Minmei was taken aback by this. "But... you'll comeback, right?"
"I'll do my best to, Minmei. Believe me, I want to live."
"You'd better, then. When we get married I want you to look distinguished in your dress uniform."
I sighed and wondered how long she'd keep this up for. Not that I didn't find her attractive, but for God's sake I was sixteen years older than her!
"Don't you start with me, mister Grimm! Now come on, this way!" She then grabbed ahold of my hand and dragged me further into the park, just as the backlit fountains started, creating a dance of light and color on the pond. "Ooohhh, how beautiful!" She spread her skirt out, saying, "Garrick, look."
I did and saw that she was wearing the dress she picked out earlier.
"I knew you'd look beautiful in that dress," I said without really thinking about it. D'oh! Sure, go and feed her ego, why don't you!?
"You mean that, Garrick?" she asked buoyantly. "Am I really beautiful?"
"Minmei, I shouldn't have to reinforce that notion for you. Yes, you are beautiful. And you have the voice of an angel. And for the umpteenth time, you are way too young!"
"I won't be too young forever," she challenged. The then turned away and called out, "Hey Camera! Over here!" At Minmei's call, a most curious sight appeared: a robotic camera popped out of the shrubbery, looking for whoever called it.
"Over here!" she called out again. This time the camera-bot locked onto Minmei and swiftly trundled over.
"DEPOSIT COIN," the machine requested in a monotone synthesized voice. Minmei quickly fed a credit into the slot. "THANK YOU."
She then went up to the railing by the water's edge and spun about, pirouetting like a dancer. The camera bot snapped the picture and soon a glossy photo was printed. It was a little blurry at the edges, but the machine had timed the shot perfectly so her smiling face was in the picture.
She really was beautiful.
I offered it to Minmei, but she pushed it back to me. "Keep it," she said. "Put it in that fighter of yours so you have a reminder of what's waiting for you. That should get you home in one piece."
I didn't argue the point. It was useless. Even worse, my sentimental streak was rearing it head, and I was gonna do something else I had a feeling I'd regret.
"Camera, one more photo," I called before the machine could get too far.
"DEPOSIT COIN," it stated as it zipped back to us. After I complied with it's request, I pulled Minmei in close and she immediately understood, wrapping herself around my arm.
"HOLD STILL PLEASE," said the robot as it set up the shot. "SAY CHEESE."
Another flash and another picture was produced. This one I offered to Minmei.
"In case something does happen," I said to her quietly. "At least you'll have this to remember me by."
"Don't say it that way!" she whispered back harshly. "You will come back! You will!" Tears started to form at the edge of her eyes.
"I'll do my best. But while Murphy never sleeps, that's no reason to poke him with a sharp stick."
Minmei laughed despite the heavy nature of my sentiments. Her watch's alarm chose that moment to go off.
"I gotta go," she said. "Uncle gets upset if I'm out too late. With a boy, that is." She grinned mischievously once more. "Come back safe, Garrick."
"I will, Minmei."
I left the park with a heavy heart that night, and I was fervently hoping that I was not falling for that girl.
There were a lot of qualities about Minmei that I found to be desirable. Beautiful, smart, energetic, and very playful, just to name a few. She also had a slightly combative nature as well - she wasn't afraid to stand up for her choices, and this was also a big plus in my book. But the fly in the ointment was her age. Not that I wouldn't have gone after a younger woman, but Minmei was still a *girl*.
Even so, it was getting harder and harder to resist her. She was absolutely infectious. It was probably the main reason why she walked away with the Miss Macross crown.
Later that night, Roy came in to check on me.
"Trouble sleeping?" he asked.
"A bit," I admitted. I never really was all that big on sleep. At least at night time. Yeah, I'm weird like that. "Though it's probably not for the reason you're thinking."
Roy blinked at that. "Something you want to talk about, Garrick?"
"Sure, why not?" I sighed and hefted myself out of the loft bed and hit the lights. "Not like I'm getting any sleep like this."
Roy came in and pulled up a chair.
"Get you anything to drink, sir?" I asked as I went to the kitchenette.
"No thanks," replied the Lieutenant-Commander. I got myself a glass of ice water and sat down in my desk chair.
"It's Minmei," I said.
"Dammit, Grimm," groaned Roy. "Are you serious?"
"She is, at least," I said offhandedly.
"Explain, Corporal," he said, leveling a look at me.
"Yes sir," I said and I went on to explain the dynamics of the relationship, how I keep trying to fend her off and how she kept persisting. "And you know the scariest thing about all this, sir?"
"She's starting to grow on you," the Commander groaned in a worried-yet-knowing tone.
"Yes sir," I replied with honest shame.
Roy sighed. "I hate having to ask this question but... has she shown any sexual interest in you?"
"A bit, sir," I replied reluctantly, but I knew that from a female's perspective that the few times she was sending those particular signals, they were loud and clear. "I think it was mostly just to yank my chain, though, but its there."
"Great," grumped the Lieutenant-Commander. "Can you at least promise me that if she makes any more of those kinds of advances on you that you'll fend them off and then immediately report to me?"
"Yes sir, that I can promise you."
"Good. The last thing I need is to have you brought up on charges. I'm going to let this go for now, Grimm. There's nothing in the UCMJ that says she can't hang around you. But the moment it starts getting physical... You better not disappoint me, Garrick."
"I won't, sir."
"Good. Anything else you'd like to get off your chest?"
"Just one thing, sir."
Roy looked at me apprehensively.
"You be careful out there yourself. If I heard the rumor mill right, you got a perfectly good woman waiting for you too, sir. And I'll get you home even if I gotta drag you there in battloid mode."
Roy barked a laugh. "The rookie telling me he's gonna get me home? That's rich. Get some sleep Grimm. We got ourselves a long day tomorrow."
"Yes sir."
----------------
Fortunately, sleep did come, and quicker than I thought it would, so I woke up the next morning not feeling completely like death warmed over. I was just thankful that they had Monster Energy drinks on board. Although I did miss the Import version of their cans, I was more in a position to gulp it all down in one shot and run anyway. Once I had breakfast in me, though, I was firing on all eight cylinders and raring to go.
"You're looking chipper," said Rick as he caught up with me in the pilot's mess.
"Energy drink for the kickstart and a good breakfast works wonders," I replied.
"Not a coffee person?" Rick asked.
"Too troublesome in the morning. I just grab a can from the fridge, gulp it down, and I'm through the shower and dressed in no time. Sometimes if I know its gonna be a really bad morning in advance I'll put the can behind my pillow. A warm drink right away is sometimes better than trying to bumble my way out of bed for a cold one."
"I might try that sometime," Rick grumped.
----------------
From there, it was death-by-powerpoint briefings. Fortunately I was smart enough to bring an extra energy drink for Rick, so he managed to stay awake. The plan was that we were to fly through the rings of Saturn with EWAR systems kicking out all kinds of noise. The idea was to act as a decoy for the Zents and draw them into a firefight. Once we had their attention we were to keep it while the SDF-1 positioned itself to fire its main gun.
In theory, it was a sound tactic. Except one thing...
"Are the any questions?" asked Roy.
I raised my hand and Roy called on me. "Sir, what if the SDF-1 has some kind of issue with the main gun? A misfire, as it were? Do we have a contingency plan set aside in that event?"
"That's a good question, pilot, but it's a bit above your paygrade. You better watch it or else."
"Yes sir," I said as I sat back down. Hopefully that will make it back up the chain of command and Lisa will be prodded into coming up with the Daedalus Assault sooner rather than later.
----------------
Strapped in. Sealed up. Life support connected. Cockpit depressurized. Fusion turbines nominal. Propulsion agent tanks full. Fully armed. EWAR is green.
And for myself, I was as jittery as they come. At least I had the comfort of knowing that I wasn't the only one.
Hearing Rick's voice cracking over the radio was especially amusing.
My VF-1A was towed out to the the catapults and locked into place. Once I got the all clear, I started the engines and set them to full military power. After I checked over all my powerplant readings and ran my RCS through a thorough check, I signaled my readiness to fly with a salute to the catapult officer.
Inspectors made one final check on my plane, I got a final reading of my craft's gross weight, and the cat officer gave the final go signal.
Once upon a time I got to ride a fun roller coaster in Japan that used something like a catapult system to launch you out a tunnel at four G's of acceleration.
This was about the same.
"WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!" I screamed, making sure to keep my hands away from the PTT button. That was an awesome rush. But after that, it was time to work.
Right away I found Rick and formed up with him as my wingman.
"Okay, brutha, you ready for this?"
"Whenever you are, Old Man."
"Cool. Let's you and I keep it cool and tight, just like the sims. Last thing I wanna hear is Lieutenant-Commander Hayes bitching us out."
"Amen to that!"
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I had the lead at first when we began our trek through the rings, but we switched places when we crossed into the shadow zone. Rick's reflexes were a bit better than mine so I'd have a split-second to react after him. In this way, we made it through the rings with little trouble at at.
As we knew it would, the Zentraedi came barreling in through the rings, their ship plowing ice-rocks aside like a wake from a ship. As we exited the shadow zone, we broke formation under a hail of anti-ship missiles while, far off in the distance, the SDF-1 took it's position.
All hell broke loose as we hit a field of space thick with Zentraedi battlepods of all kinds. It was madness, and it took everything for Rick and I to stick together.
"C'mon, Garrick! Let's rack these guys up, just like we practiced in the sims!"
"You got it, Rick!" And with that we began to settle into a rhythm. Rick takes one out while letting one settle on his tail and I would come and take that one out before it could get so much as a bead on him. Battlepods are weak little things. Their armor is laughable and they don't even maneuver anywhere nearly as well our Valkyries. However, for every one of us there's seems to be fifty of them. Seems like pretty even odds to me. Rick and I alternated over and over again until we got an advisement from Lieutenant-Commander Hayes to be aware of the SDF-1 changing its position. I spared a glance at my tactical monitor and saw that the SDF-1 had begun a head-on charge at the attacking Zentraedi ship.
This brought a smile to my lips. Roy had been smart enough to bring it up to Lisa, and Lisa thought of the Daedalus Assault much sooner in advance and briefed the Captain. And instead of taking the precious time needed to wait and see if the problem could be fixed, and for the destroids to be armed up, manned up, and moved into position, they are ready to go the moment they know the main gun is out of commission. I would probably get no credit, but that was fine by me. My satisfaction was the fact that many more Veritech pilots would be coming home today than there would have been without my interference.
Let me tell you, seeing the Daedalus Assault up-close and in-person was a sight to see! Like one of my favorite signatures said about it, nothing says screw you like an amphibious assault ship to the face!
Cheers filled the radio channels as we began to mop up the battle pods that were still in the area.
It took a while. Zentreadi rarely retreat. We had to destroy every single battle pod that had been fielded. Fortunately, there wasn't that many left, but we still lost a few people that got careless.
As we made our way back to the SDF-1, some niggling little thought occurred to me. I check the chronometer and saw that it was May 16th, 2009.
Three months to the day since I arrived in this strange place. But why did I have this feeling of foreboding? It was just a so-called anniversary, right?
And with that thought, I had the strangest sensation of everything stopping for the briefest eternity.