Hrrmmm....
Mars.
The Red Planet.
I had always dreamed of coming here. And even though I knew what was coming, it wasn't going to keep me from enjoying the view.
There were a few observation points accessible to the civilian population of Macross City. It was here that Minmei found me, camped out with a book.
"Heya Garrick. Whatcha reading?"
I looked up to Minmei, this time smiling. "A Princess of Mars by Edgar Rice Buroughs." Minmei scrunched up her face in puzzlement and just a hint of disgust.
"Never heard of it."
"Oh, you're missing out on something special here. It's the story of a cavalry man from the old American Frontier who was somehow transported to Mars. He had incredible adventures there, and he even fell in love with the beautiful and highly sought-after Martian Princess, Dejah Thoris."
Minmei blinked at that. "For real?"
I grinned back at her. "Fiction, actually, but that's what's in the book."
That got a giggle out of her. "Look at you! You're all smiling and everything, and I didn't even have to do anything. What's up with you, Garrick?"
I just smiled back up at her and said, "I've always wanted to go to Mars."
"Well, if you like it so much then why don't we go honeymooning there?"
I rolled my eyes. "Sorry. Malaquite Beach first. Then we'll do Mars if we got the time or money for it."
"What is Mal-"
"Look it up."
"And now you're no fun."
##
Of course, my fun time couldn't last forever. We soon touched down on Mars and right away we were sent off to patrol the area.
I'd been thinking about the best way to blow the lid on this whole thing, but a conversation with Roy came back to mind.
With that in mind, I keyed my PTT button. "Mother, you know how you told me last time to let you know when I got a funny feeling?"
"Yes? Is your old man sense tingling again, Cradle Robber?"
"Jangling is more like it, Mother. Request permission to take Fuzzy along with me on a patrol of the outer perimeter in Battloid mode."
"Denied, Cradle Robber. We got our assignment and you know it. However, I can have the higher-ups rustle up a couple of free pilots to go check it out for us. Got anything else to add?"
"Yes sir. I was looking at the maps of the surrounding region, and those canyons to the East look like an awful nice place to stage a surprise attack from."
"There you go again, Cradle Robber,” said Roy mock-chidingly. “Better be careful about that sort of thing or else someone is gonna look at your file and say 'Early Promotion'." After recently being promoted to Petty-Officer Third Class along with Hikaru it was no secret that I was actually quite happy where I was at.
"What'sa matter, Cradle Robber? Afraid of that big shiny S-Model Valkyrie?" came Hikaru, ribbing me.
"Yuck it up, Boneheads," I shot back, using our own derogatory nickname for our squadron. "And Mother, no way in hell. If that happens I'll wind up taking your job. Better Fuzzy than me, anyhow - he's the better pilot. I'll settle for being his XO."
I caught snippets of raucous laughter as people had forgotten to turn off VOX, Roy included.
##
Just as Misa had made it into the base to look for signs of her old crush, the alert came from a Catseye flight that had been diverted as per my suggestion: a whole mess of Zentradi battlepods, just waiting for the right moment.
At that the word came to hold our positions.
Bullshit.
"Gunsight, Black-4 Skull Squadron. If they're waiting for something, then it really does not behoove us to be here when that something happens."
"GRIMM! Just what the hell are you doing, Pilot!?" thundered Roy.
"Belay that, Lieutennant-Commander Foker," came the voice of the grand old man on the radio, Captain Gloval himself. "Black-4, this is SDF-1 Actual. Please explain yourself."
Gulp.
"Yes sir. If they're setup for an ambush and we're already in the trap, then why haven't they sprung it? I think they're waiting for some sort of special condition that will provide them with a key tactical advantage over us, and when it happens... Checkmate, sir."
"And what do you think could give them such an advantage, pilot?"
"I couldn't tell you, sir. God only knows what these aliens are really capable of, but I get the suspicion they've been holding back their strong arm."
"You're not the only one that feels so, pilot. In that case, say that they are waiting for something else. What would you suggest?"
"We bug out, sir. Pack up the SDF-1 and have the Valkyrie squadrons cover your ascent. And as a further suggestion, sir, I say we leave a trap of our own. A base this big in such an isolated location has to have a reflex furnace. Rig it to blow and it will take care of any pursuing forces from the surface. Aside from supplies, the base is useless to us, and even more so to the Spacy if these aliens have really compromised it."
"That's a little cut throat, isn't pilot?"
"Survival has the highest stakes, sir. It's gonna get more than a little ugly."
"Hmm. Well said, pilot. SDF-1 Actual, out."
Right afterward, Roy's voice came over my radio and he did not sound happy. "Grimm, you better hope that this is in our best interests, because if it isn't, your ass is mine."
"Understood, Black-Leader."
Suddenly all transport vehicles received an order to drop what they were doing and return to the Daedalus at once. The destroids were to cover their retreat, and then they too were to fall back to Daedalus. And finally, Lieutenant-JG Hayase received the order to overload the reflex furnace and get the hell out of there.
Oh man, I knew Kamjin was gonna be pissed!
Sure enough, once our withdrawal was noticed, Kamjin didn't waste any time and was on us like white on rice. In return, we hit his forces from above with every bit of ordnance we had on our pylons, and then dove into the fray.
Here I finally got to put my new toy to the ultimate test.
The standard issue GU-15 gunpods were good stuff, but it was felt that we could use something for the designated marksmen such as myself. Thus, we have the GU-16.
Unlike the 15 with its tri-barrel rotary canon and 35mm shells, the GU-16 used a single-barrel canon based loosely on the venerable OTO Malera 76mm gun. It carried far fewer rounds than the GU-15, but its caliber and single-shot nature more than made up for it with it’s far greater range, outstanding accuracy, and devastating stopping power.
That was the idea, of course, and thus far it had proven itself well in the trials.
But this was to be its first actual combat use.
Once my missiles were expended, I called for Hikaru to cover me while I settled into an outcropping of boulders, shifting to batroid mode as I did so. The Zentradi battle pods were still outside their own effective weapons range as I bracketed my first target - a heavy missile pod - and squeezed the trigger.
WHAM.
I felt the shot clear through my seat, though it wasn’t enough to jar my Valkyrie out of place. Not unlike firing an actual rifle at human scale.
The battle pod at the other end of the field, though, ceased to exist in any meaningful fashion and I lined up another pod - this time one of those pesky ECM pods known for jamming our radars.
WHAM.
And another one bit the dust.
“Mother, I think I’m in love with my new gun!” I called out as I lined up yet another pod and wasted it.
“Don’t get too cocky down there, Cradle Robber,” came Roy’s reply. “We still got a lot of these guys to take down. Keep hitting those troublesome targets, though. You’re doing good.”
Suddenly, a sizzling beam of light zipped by my Valkyrie’s head, causing the display to fuzz up momentarily from the electrical interference.
“Yipe!” I cried out as I got behind cover in a hurry. “Mother, I think I got someone’s attention out there.”
“Mother to all elements - Everyone keep your distance from the unit that just targeted Black-4; that’s an elite commander unit! Robber, if you get a clear shot, take it, but otherwise you keep your head down. He’s way out of your league.”
“Understood, Mother.”
I moved through the cover and settled into a position behind another ridge that gave me decent cover, but with enough room for getting my head down whenever Kamjin took an interest in me.
Everyone’s heard about playing cat-and-mouse. What I was doing might seem similar, except it was actually more like cat-vs-cat. Really, have you ever seen cats stalk each other?
While I was to keep an eye on Kamjin in the event he ever turned his back on me, I went ahead and tried to isolate him from covering fire by taking out units in his vicinity. I could tell it was working from how Kamjin would stop to find cover until another battle pod came to give him covering fire. And the volunteers for that job were quickly starting to taper off.
Either they were too afraid of getting annihilated by my GU-16... Or Kamjin had wised up and told everyone to back off and let him handle me.
Both were pretty flattering sentiments. I didn’t let it get to my head, though. I was simply satisfied that I was able to keep him pinned down and not be an utter menace for our guys.
While we held up Kamjin's forces, the SDF-1 started lifting off. Slowly at first because the gravity mines that had been planted were only partially effective, but soon enough the SDF-1 was out of range.
Roy's voice then came over the radio. "Fuzzy! Take the Cradle Robber and retrieve Lieutenant Hayase."
Well, I kinda expected this. It was part of why I suggested we overload the reactor anyhow.
"Hikaru, I'll cover you while you get her."
"What? Why me?"
"I'm the better marksman and you're the better pilot. You figure it out."
"Yeah yeah," grumbled Hikaru. "Leave me to deal with the old sourpuss."
I kept Hikaru covered like a mother hen. I was bouncing all over the place, from fighter, to gaurdian, to battloid, and back again, putting my VF-1A through its paces. I wasn't THE best pilot, but I was hell unleashed at keeping the Zentradi occupied.
Too bad I couldn't meet Kamjin in battle, but then again I'm pretty sure he was eager to deal with me as well, and I could certainly deal without that tsuris.
Right about then I heard those two over the radio - Misa with her wounded imprecations at Hikaru coming to save her, and Hikaru giving her guff for acting so offended when he was just following orders.
Fortunately, I didn't need to prod Hikaru into doing what needed to be done. Once he was boosting to orbit, I did the same. Maybe Kamjin won't take the defeat quite as hard since the trap hadn't been properly sprung.
Later on when we got back I spotted Hikaru lingering in the cockpit of his Valkyrie. He was keeping an eye on Misa as she looked longingly out into space at Mars.
I knew better than to interfere.
Instead, I got showered and went to the park.
##
"So, John Carter of Mars returns," said Minmei as she draped herself over my shoulders. "Did you fall in love with a martian princess while you were away?"
"Nah. I think someone else found their princess, though."
"Oh?"
"Hikaru and Lieutenant Junior Grade Hayase."
"Really? Oh I do hope they work it out. The Lieutenant really is a pretty woman. She deserves someone nice like Hikaru."
I snickered. "Yeah, if they could ever quit sniping at each other to notice."
Minmei giggled at that. "Yeah, no kidding. So what about you then? No princess?"
"Are you kidding?" I grouched. "I already got more than enough princess to deal with as it is."
Minmei only giggled again and let it go at that.
Mars.
The Red Planet.
I had always dreamed of coming here. And even though I knew what was coming, it wasn't going to keep me from enjoying the view.
There were a few observation points accessible to the civilian population of Macross City. It was here that Minmei found me, camped out with a book.
"Heya Garrick. Whatcha reading?"
I looked up to Minmei, this time smiling. "A Princess of Mars by Edgar Rice Buroughs." Minmei scrunched up her face in puzzlement and just a hint of disgust.
"Never heard of it."
"Oh, you're missing out on something special here. It's the story of a cavalry man from the old American Frontier who was somehow transported to Mars. He had incredible adventures there, and he even fell in love with the beautiful and highly sought-after Martian Princess, Dejah Thoris."
Minmei blinked at that. "For real?"
I grinned back at her. "Fiction, actually, but that's what's in the book."
That got a giggle out of her. "Look at you! You're all smiling and everything, and I didn't even have to do anything. What's up with you, Garrick?"
I just smiled back up at her and said, "I've always wanted to go to Mars."
"Well, if you like it so much then why don't we go honeymooning there?"
I rolled my eyes. "Sorry. Malaquite Beach first. Then we'll do Mars if we got the time or money for it."
"What is Mal-"
"Look it up."
"And now you're no fun."
##
Of course, my fun time couldn't last forever. We soon touched down on Mars and right away we were sent off to patrol the area.
I'd been thinking about the best way to blow the lid on this whole thing, but a conversation with Roy came back to mind.
With that in mind, I keyed my PTT button. "Mother, you know how you told me last time to let you know when I got a funny feeling?"
"Yes? Is your old man sense tingling again, Cradle Robber?"
"Jangling is more like it, Mother. Request permission to take Fuzzy along with me on a patrol of the outer perimeter in Battloid mode."
"Denied, Cradle Robber. We got our assignment and you know it. However, I can have the higher-ups rustle up a couple of free pilots to go check it out for us. Got anything else to add?"
"Yes sir. I was looking at the maps of the surrounding region, and those canyons to the East look like an awful nice place to stage a surprise attack from."
"There you go again, Cradle Robber,” said Roy mock-chidingly. “Better be careful about that sort of thing or else someone is gonna look at your file and say 'Early Promotion'." After recently being promoted to Petty-Officer Third Class along with Hikaru it was no secret that I was actually quite happy where I was at.
"What'sa matter, Cradle Robber? Afraid of that big shiny S-Model Valkyrie?" came Hikaru, ribbing me.
"Yuck it up, Boneheads," I shot back, using our own derogatory nickname for our squadron. "And Mother, no way in hell. If that happens I'll wind up taking your job. Better Fuzzy than me, anyhow - he's the better pilot. I'll settle for being his XO."
I caught snippets of raucous laughter as people had forgotten to turn off VOX, Roy included.
##
Just as Misa had made it into the base to look for signs of her old crush, the alert came from a Catseye flight that had been diverted as per my suggestion: a whole mess of Zentradi battlepods, just waiting for the right moment.
At that the word came to hold our positions.
Bullshit.
"Gunsight, Black-4 Skull Squadron. If they're waiting for something, then it really does not behoove us to be here when that something happens."
"GRIMM! Just what the hell are you doing, Pilot!?" thundered Roy.
"Belay that, Lieutennant-Commander Foker," came the voice of the grand old man on the radio, Captain Gloval himself. "Black-4, this is SDF-1 Actual. Please explain yourself."
Gulp.
"Yes sir. If they're setup for an ambush and we're already in the trap, then why haven't they sprung it? I think they're waiting for some sort of special condition that will provide them with a key tactical advantage over us, and when it happens... Checkmate, sir."
"And what do you think could give them such an advantage, pilot?"
"I couldn't tell you, sir. God only knows what these aliens are really capable of, but I get the suspicion they've been holding back their strong arm."
"You're not the only one that feels so, pilot. In that case, say that they are waiting for something else. What would you suggest?"
"We bug out, sir. Pack up the SDF-1 and have the Valkyrie squadrons cover your ascent. And as a further suggestion, sir, I say we leave a trap of our own. A base this big in such an isolated location has to have a reflex furnace. Rig it to blow and it will take care of any pursuing forces from the surface. Aside from supplies, the base is useless to us, and even more so to the Spacy if these aliens have really compromised it."
"That's a little cut throat, isn't pilot?"
"Survival has the highest stakes, sir. It's gonna get more than a little ugly."
"Hmm. Well said, pilot. SDF-1 Actual, out."
Right afterward, Roy's voice came over my radio and he did not sound happy. "Grimm, you better hope that this is in our best interests, because if it isn't, your ass is mine."
"Understood, Black-Leader."
Suddenly all transport vehicles received an order to drop what they were doing and return to the Daedalus at once. The destroids were to cover their retreat, and then they too were to fall back to Daedalus. And finally, Lieutenant-JG Hayase received the order to overload the reflex furnace and get the hell out of there.
Oh man, I knew Kamjin was gonna be pissed!
Sure enough, once our withdrawal was noticed, Kamjin didn't waste any time and was on us like white on rice. In return, we hit his forces from above with every bit of ordnance we had on our pylons, and then dove into the fray.
Here I finally got to put my new toy to the ultimate test.
The standard issue GU-15 gunpods were good stuff, but it was felt that we could use something for the designated marksmen such as myself. Thus, we have the GU-16.
Unlike the 15 with its tri-barrel rotary canon and 35mm shells, the GU-16 used a single-barrel canon based loosely on the venerable OTO Malera 76mm gun. It carried far fewer rounds than the GU-15, but its caliber and single-shot nature more than made up for it with it’s far greater range, outstanding accuracy, and devastating stopping power.
That was the idea, of course, and thus far it had proven itself well in the trials.
But this was to be its first actual combat use.
Once my missiles were expended, I called for Hikaru to cover me while I settled into an outcropping of boulders, shifting to batroid mode as I did so. The Zentradi battle pods were still outside their own effective weapons range as I bracketed my first target - a heavy missile pod - and squeezed the trigger.
WHAM.
I felt the shot clear through my seat, though it wasn’t enough to jar my Valkyrie out of place. Not unlike firing an actual rifle at human scale.
The battle pod at the other end of the field, though, ceased to exist in any meaningful fashion and I lined up another pod - this time one of those pesky ECM pods known for jamming our radars.
WHAM.
And another one bit the dust.
“Mother, I think I’m in love with my new gun!” I called out as I lined up yet another pod and wasted it.
“Don’t get too cocky down there, Cradle Robber,” came Roy’s reply. “We still got a lot of these guys to take down. Keep hitting those troublesome targets, though. You’re doing good.”
Suddenly, a sizzling beam of light zipped by my Valkyrie’s head, causing the display to fuzz up momentarily from the electrical interference.
“Yipe!” I cried out as I got behind cover in a hurry. “Mother, I think I got someone’s attention out there.”
“Mother to all elements - Everyone keep your distance from the unit that just targeted Black-4; that’s an elite commander unit! Robber, if you get a clear shot, take it, but otherwise you keep your head down. He’s way out of your league.”
“Understood, Mother.”
I moved through the cover and settled into a position behind another ridge that gave me decent cover, but with enough room for getting my head down whenever Kamjin took an interest in me.
Everyone’s heard about playing cat-and-mouse. What I was doing might seem similar, except it was actually more like cat-vs-cat. Really, have you ever seen cats stalk each other?
While I was to keep an eye on Kamjin in the event he ever turned his back on me, I went ahead and tried to isolate him from covering fire by taking out units in his vicinity. I could tell it was working from how Kamjin would stop to find cover until another battle pod came to give him covering fire. And the volunteers for that job were quickly starting to taper off.
Either they were too afraid of getting annihilated by my GU-16... Or Kamjin had wised up and told everyone to back off and let him handle me.
Both were pretty flattering sentiments. I didn’t let it get to my head, though. I was simply satisfied that I was able to keep him pinned down and not be an utter menace for our guys.
While we held up Kamjin's forces, the SDF-1 started lifting off. Slowly at first because the gravity mines that had been planted were only partially effective, but soon enough the SDF-1 was out of range.
Roy's voice then came over the radio. "Fuzzy! Take the Cradle Robber and retrieve Lieutenant Hayase."
Well, I kinda expected this. It was part of why I suggested we overload the reactor anyhow.
"Hikaru, I'll cover you while you get her."
"What? Why me?"
"I'm the better marksman and you're the better pilot. You figure it out."
"Yeah yeah," grumbled Hikaru. "Leave me to deal with the old sourpuss."
I kept Hikaru covered like a mother hen. I was bouncing all over the place, from fighter, to gaurdian, to battloid, and back again, putting my VF-1A through its paces. I wasn't THE best pilot, but I was hell unleashed at keeping the Zentradi occupied.
Too bad I couldn't meet Kamjin in battle, but then again I'm pretty sure he was eager to deal with me as well, and I could certainly deal without that tsuris.
Right about then I heard those two over the radio - Misa with her wounded imprecations at Hikaru coming to save her, and Hikaru giving her guff for acting so offended when he was just following orders.
Fortunately, I didn't need to prod Hikaru into doing what needed to be done. Once he was boosting to orbit, I did the same. Maybe Kamjin won't take the defeat quite as hard since the trap hadn't been properly sprung.
Later on when we got back I spotted Hikaru lingering in the cockpit of his Valkyrie. He was keeping an eye on Misa as she looked longingly out into space at Mars.
I knew better than to interfere.
Instead, I got showered and went to the park.
##
"So, John Carter of Mars returns," said Minmei as she draped herself over my shoulders. "Did you fall in love with a martian princess while you were away?"
"Nah. I think someone else found their princess, though."
"Oh?"
"Hikaru and Lieutenant Junior Grade Hayase."
"Really? Oh I do hope they work it out. The Lieutenant really is a pretty woman. She deserves someone nice like Hikaru."
I snickered. "Yeah, if they could ever quit sniping at each other to notice."
Minmei giggled at that. "Yeah, no kidding. So what about you then? No princess?"
"Are you kidding?" I grouched. "I already got more than enough princess to deal with as it is."
Minmei only giggled again and let it go at that.