[RFC] Being You is Deculture

[Star Ranger4]

So... With Garrick managing to kick off the Proto-Cultural Revolution early this certainly gives greater Impetus for Britai to capture them and bring them in for questioning. Almost a 'returning the favor' sort of thing. Will be interesting to read how YOU envision that change is going to work in the long run. Also being the sort of person I am I cant help but wonder if maybe the channel mix up was slightly more Freudian that Garrick may admit to himself.

[Black Aeronaut]

More great stuff, BA.  I meant to note after the previous installment that I am looking forward to the Big Reveal when Minmei finally learns what she's gotten herself into, but I am in no hurry as long as more like this is in the offing.

No worries, Bob.  There's a few other things I gotta get out of the way first before that can happen.  And that is about when I'd planned on it in the first place.

... why do I now have this image of Khamjin looking up at Big Brother Gar-kun and having a "Sempai noticed me!" squee? 

Snrk.  Not so much, but they will definitely be rivals.

So...  With Garrick managing to kick off the Proto-Cultural Revolution early this certainly gives greater Impetus for Britai to capture them and bring them in for questioning.  Almost a 'returning the favor' sort of thing.  Will be interesting to read how YOU envision that change is going to work in the long run.  Also being the sort of person I am I cant help but wonder if maybe the channel mix up was slightly more Freudian that Garrick may admit to himself.

It's going to be interesting, that's for sure.  For one thing, Garrick is gonna lay things out in such a way that instead of our three favorite intel guys infiltrating the SDF-1 for simple intelligence gathering, it instead turns into a mission to verify everything Garrick has told them.

And you're right about the capture thing.  After that little good will gesture, he wants to more than ever before capture some Micronians so he can have them interrogated.  Of course, no one was counting on the fact that Garrick is a slider with a bunch of tricks up his sleeve.

Buldoza is going to be deathly worried about this 'contamination', and justifiably so from his perspective.  He is one of the very select few that are ranked highly enough to warrant disclosure on what the Zentradi Supreme Commanders know about the Protoculture that they won their independence from.

See, that's what so scary about this. They eliminated the Protoculture because they didn't want to be under their thumbs anymore.  And whenever they run into a race of Micronians that have things like music and culture, they automatically assume them to be Protoculture, and commence with the planetary bombardments.  The fact that cultural contamination is a thing is just a side effect, and one that is dealt with by, if not simple indefinite isolation, then by being annihilated.

And thus, part of the reason why he lets Breetai resume command of the Autoclass Fleet is because I wants it isolated from the rest of the Zentradi forces.  In the meantime, Buldoza make plans for the annihilation of Earth.  (It takes as long as it does because you don't just pull a coordinated fleet action like that right off the bat.)

And as for the channel mix-up...  It was an honest mistake on Garrick's part, but he meant every bit of what he said.  He's seen her at PT once or twice, and he is very well aware of what she hides under that uniform.  Hikaru is being as dense as they come, but he's starting to come around... with a lot of very sharp nudging from Garrick.  (The term 'percussive maintenance' comes to mind...)

Fun thought this brings to mind.  Due to Garrick's influence, instead of singing at Kamjin and Azonia when taken prisoner, instead Minmei quotes the entire St. Crispin's Day Speech at them.  While not totally blown away, Kamjin and Azonia are nonetheless impressed, and applauds Minmei's delivery of the performance.

[SilverFang01]

Does Garrick have any plans on how to handle the United Earth Council? Specially if they still insist on firing the Alaska Grand Cannon as a show of force before negotiating like in the original.

[Black Aeronaut]

Garrick's monkey wrench in that plan is going to be him slipping Minmei's father copies of the footage that he and Misa will shoot of the Zentradi's main fleet  (only one of HUNDREDS!!!) and how they glassed a planet with nary a second thought.

There's going to be two main sides after that.  The side that's busy ripping into the UEC, both figuratively and literally as they vye for what precious few shelters they have, and those that see the writing on the wall and say, "Fuck it.  I dunno about you guys, but I'm gonna start digging a hole and I ain't stopping until this shit blows over."

(PS: Lots of old bomb shelters in England are gonna see use again - not only as shelters for people, but also as repositories of human culture as places like the Louvre and The British Museum are quickly emptied of artifacts.)

[robkelk]

If the scale of the bombardment shown in the anime is at all accurate, old bomb shelters will be of zero use. They'll need old mine shafts.

[Black Aeronaut]

Honestly, I don't think it would have been that bad, because if it had been they would have either boiled away the atmosphere, killed off all the bacteria in the soil we need to grow stuff, or even both.

FUN FACT!  You know that pretty much all nuclear weapons are actually air-burst weapons?  Otherwise they wouldn't be anywhere nearly as devastating.  This is part of why the first nuclear bombs had parachutes.

Really, I think that the Zentradi bombardment weapons don't go for a ground penetration effect because they are the very same reflex cannon weapon the SDF-1 is famed for - and we all know that thing is much more famous for its ridiculous area of lethality than actual range.

I think that the bombardment weapons are actually saturating the atmosphere with high-energy particles...

... yeah.  Anyone caught out in the open is gonna have a horrible end.

And also, if we really want to handwave away that planet's resulting crater-face, we can say that it was a cold tundra world with lots of permafrosts.

[Black Aeronaut]

Sorry folks.  I meant to post this much sooner, but I had to get my car put back together again, which was a pain in the butt because I ran into a few nasty surprises.  Unfortunately, that has been par for the course for me as of late.

---

On account of my assisting with the matter of the Zentradi Prisoners, Captain Gloval extended my 72 hour pass by another 24 hours.  I put that time to good use by acting as an ad hoc manager for Minmei.

That is to say, I was actually screening applicants for the actual job.

The weird thing is that there was no shortage of these people on the SDF-1, and really, it was no wonder.  The launch day celebrations was a celebration that kicked out all the stops, with celebrity appearances and new talent trying to break into the big games.  And that entailed all the managers and talent scouts that went with an event of that proportion.

“I don’t know about that last one, Gar-kun.  He was looking at me like someone looks at our food in the restaurant.”

“Yeah, I noticed.  And another one bites the dust,” I said as a struck another name off the list.  “So, glad that you decided to let me help you?”

“I think I’m actually gonna go pray at my family’s shrine for real this time,” said Minmei fervently.  “If you hadn’t been here, I probably would have just gone with the first one that approached me.  Who knows what would have happened!”

“Well, I’m here now, so let’s not think about what if’s like that.  Let’s see who’s next.”

The next man that came in was an older fellow.  He looked surprisingly dapper in his tweeds and saddle shoes.  His eyes were shining, he had a handlebar moustache, and though his movements were smooth he seemed to radiate energy and enthusiasm.

He strongly reminded me of ‘Hey-Hey’ Jim Neville from the film version of The Black Stallion.

And the man most emphatically did not disappoint.

“Good evening, folks,” he said in an inflection that came rip-roaring out of America’s radio newscasts of the 1940’s.  “Barnaby Truent’s my name and entertainment’s my game.  I take it that this lovely little woman is the indefatigable Miss Lynn Minmei?”

“Yes, that’d be me,” said Minmei cheerfully.

“Then you must be her infamous beau, Mr. Grimm.  I am absolutely pleased to make your acquaintance, the both of you, and I would be pleased as punch if you considered me at your disposal.”

He first shook my hand and took Minmei’s to give it a gentlemanly kiss.

“Well, Mr. Truent,” I said as we all settled back down into our seats.  “I can see from your resume that you’re quite an accomplished scout and agent.  However, I’m curious.  Since men of your caliber tend to all know each other, what are your thoughts of the man who just left here?”

“Sydney?”  Barnaby scoffed.  “I won’t deny he’s a good agent, but he’s burned out more than a few starlets in his time.  They don’t call him ‘The Lady Killer’ in this business for nothing.  The man is an absolutely ghastly task master and he has only gotten worse once he starting working in Japan.  Those poor girls with their work ethic... they have no idea.  I would never treat one of my clients like a slave.”

“Great,” I replied glibly.  “You’re hired.”

Barnaby raised his eyebrows.

“Just like that?”

I nodded.  “Mr. Truent, as long as your primary concern is Minmei’s well being, then that’s all that matters to me.  As it is, your resume speaks for itself.  I don’t know what kind of scheister treatment other bigwigs have given you, but that’s not how I like to play ball.  So, let’s get down to the brass tacks and talk business.”

Barnaby grinned and leaned over, waving an index finger at me.

“You.  You siiiirrrr, Mr. Grim.  I like you!”  He then turned to Minmei.  “Miss Lynn, I don’t know how many people have told you this, but you’ve netted yourself a good one.  Better not let him get away.”  He then winked, causing Minmei to giggle.

“Thanks!  I don’t intend to!” she replied, grabbing my arm possessively.

“Good!  Now, before we get started here, I got a proposition for you, Mr. Grimm!”

I raised my eyebrows at that.  “I’m listening.”

“Word is they already want to make a movie, right here in Macross City.  Scripts have been getting pitched left and right, and rumor has it that the producers are leaning towards doing a kung-fu film.  But if you ask me, kung-fu is a bit played out lately.  And here we have you - an American who knows his way with a sword!  I think I know the perfect thing.  Tell me, Mr. Grimm: what do you know about Anjin Miura?”

I grinned and leaned over the table.  “Mr. Truent.  I have read that book cover-to-cover several times.  Let’s do this.”

##

While Macross City had been home to a sizable movie theater, they only had as many films as they had screens.  While the theater was still being rebuilt, it was well known that the limited selection of films would get old real fast.

They would need new productions, and as quickly as possible.

Mr. Truent's plan was ambitious.

He wanted to pitch the idea as a bonafide film serial - featurettes with forty minutes of runtime - perfect for adaptation into a one-hour TV time slot - and always ending on a cliff hanger until the final climactic chapter.

Shorts are quick, easy to produce, and well within the means of the limited production equipment of a TV news studio.  And Film Serials had cliff-hangers that all but guaranteed returning customers week after week.

I was in love with the idea right away.  Hell, I loved everything about Mr. Truent.  The man was an honest to gods throwback to the first half of the 20th Century with nothing but the best of that era.

In the meantime, the Zentradi finally stopped jamming us and we could finally get a message back to Earth.

I don’t know for sure if it was the impression I made on those intelligence officers, though.  Only time would tell at this point.  Of course, I already knew what the message coming back would entail.  And I also knew of the political motivations behind that message.  I just wish that I could tell everyone about it.

##

Seventy-two hours is quite a bit of time, but as with all measurements of time, it passes eventually.  Sometimes before you even know it.  Mr. Truent was kind enough to give Minmei and I what we had of our last day together.  Besides, he needed that day to get all his ducks in a row and start working on Minmei’s schedule, and to especially make sure that hers dovetailed nicely with my own.

Minmei’s Aunt and Uncle were even kind enough to let Minmei have the day off.  In fact, they even formally put out the ad for help in the restaurant, as Minmei would from then on have her own life to attend to.

The little bird had fledged early.

That day was a blissful one.  We went to parks, ate lunch at a cafe, laid in the grass and made out at our favorite little spot, the engineered bluff, dined at Macross City’s only genuine Italian Restaurant.  In fact, their Maître D' was quick to recognize us in the line and quickly assigned us a table in the VIP dining area with its quiet, secluded, and highly intimate booths.

It was a wonderful meal as we enjoyed Pasta alla Norma and Orecchette with tomato sauce (the ear-shaped pasta being similar to one from China known as māo ěr duǒ and therefore quite the novelty for Minmei).  Minmei was too young for wine, but our waiter was perfectly understanding and suggested instead a wonderful sparkling cider instead.

And then we were off to the dance club, where I demonstrated my lack of anything not-formal (as formal dances were all that I had learned from Aeka and Rarity).  Minmei took delight anyhow in coaching me into other dances, but was surprised when I hit her with a tango-like dance that originated from the more suave parts of Jyuraian society.

Let me tell you, there were a few people that needed a cigarette after that!

Afterwards, we returned to the bluff to relax and we talked lazily about the past and what future may come.

Minmei talked about her family’s history, that her family had fled China when the communists took over - her forebearers having been restaurateurs, their entire customer base at the time had been the same kind of wealthy bourgeoisie that the communists had come head-hunting for.

And so her family had settled in Yokohama, where the Japanese were still too busy in the process of rebuilding to pay attention to the ethnic Chinese that had built up their own little slice of China in what had been a very poor part of the city.

And thus, Minmei had enjoyed a very fertile cultural background in which she spoke and wrote Japanese, Mandarin, and English fluently.

I weaved a tapestry out of the bits of my past.

My time serving in the Navy.

A family that went to pieces in the wake of a matriarch’s passing.

My time adrift in Japan, and the discovery of my new family.

Tenchi.

Aeka.

Ryouko.

Washu-chan.

Mihoshi.

Sasami.

Even Yosho and Noboyuki.

Of course, I left out the more fantastic bits.  I simply said that they were all the same family and left it at that.

But for my ladies?

I painted Minagi as a strong, yet beautiful Russian girl, traveling through Japan in pursuit of someone who could match her in her swordsmanship.

Yume was a tiny Brazilian woman, wild and untamed, yet possessed of a singular intellect as she held dual doctorates from Tokyo-U and was a good friend and colleague of Washu’s (who held a TRIPLE doctorate and for a time held tenure at Tokyo-U).

Yuki was exactly as she had been - a young middle schooler who’s life I had saved and because of that had the most terrible crush you could imagine.

Achika, a sailor in the Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force.  A tomboy to the core despite her feminine exterior.

I told Minmei that because of the impression they had all left on me that I still considered them all to be my ladies.

Minmei countered, saying that they all had played a role in making me the person I am now, and that she would love to meet them someday.
Perhaps she would.

I only hoped that she would take no issue with calling them all her sisters for the bond she would end up sharing with them.

##

Another day in the line of fire.

We had been on CAP when the Zentradi came.  I had hoped that these attacks would at least let up a bit, but I took some comfort in noticing that this was Kamjin’s unit.  He was the one most likely to not let up, even in the face of orders from Commander Breetai.

“Hoi, getting a little hairy this time around guys!  Keep it tight, Dragonball!  You don’t wanna get your nose shot off out here!”

“Gurk!  Uh, too late, Robber,” he said sheepishly.

“Maintain your heading for a second, DB.  Lemme get a look at it.”  I fired my RCS thrusters and maneuvered in close.

They had indeed got him - I wouldn’t trust his Valkyrie to be able to maintain Batroid mode with the damage being where it was at.

“How’s your radar?”

“On the fritz, Robber.”

“How’s your air-tightness?”  While we usually went with our cockpits depressurized, we still kept a tiny bit of air inside.  It made it easier to know if there was any sort of breach.  And any time there was a cockpit breach was a cause for concern.

“Ah, just a sec, Robber.”

“Dragonball, don’t screw with me on this.”

“Yes sir.  Cockpit is compromised, but my suit integrity is fine.”

“Okay, that’s it.  Gunsight, Red 2 Skull calling in a mayday.  My wingman’s taken a hit and he’s lost radar. Cockpit integrity compromised.  Requesting permission for RTB.”

“Gunsight, Red 2 Skull, permission denied. We’re spread too thin as it is.”

“Ma’am, I really don’t feel comfortable in keeping him out here.  We’re losing too many of our guys as is.”

“And I told you already, pilot, we don’t have enough birds to cover for you!”

I was starting to get worried that I might have to disobey the Air Boss for Kakizaki’s sake, but Roy Fokker came to my rescue.

“Gunsight, Skull Squadron Actual.  I’m sorry, Lieutenant, but I’m with Robber on this one, so I’m going to have to override you here.  Between Black Wing and the rest of Red Wing, we can handle it.  Either get Dragonball a new bird or scramble another two pilots.”

“... Gunsight copies, Skull Actual.  Red 2, Gunsight: return to base with your wingman and prepare to sortie again.  I’m having the flight deck ready a D-model for Red-4.”

“Gunsight, Red 2 Skull, copy that.  Okay, Dragonball.  Looks like you got stuck in a two-seater.  Let’s get our butts over there as fast as possible so we can get back into the fight.  And Dragonball?”

“Yes Robber?”

“Watch your tail next time.  The last thing I want is to be writing a letter to your family.”

“...yes sir.”

##

It was hardly ever a dreary day inside the Super Dimensional Fortress.  Sure, there were some days when they had rain.  But it was precisely scheduled, and only because it made for keeping the city clean a lot easier.

But today was not one of those days.  The simulated sky was blue with patches of puffy, white clouds, and the full-spectrum sunlamp shone brightly overhead.  Guys relaxed on benches with their dates.  Children ran about.  There was even a girl walking her pet dog.

(Not very many animals had survived the first few calamitous weeks of us being out in space.  Only service animals, and puppies and kittens too young to be without a caretaker for long were allowed in the shelters.  And even more had perished when they were tragically swept out by vacuum into space during the first transformation of the SDF-1.)

It was a perfect day to wait for a date in the park.  Although it did seem that Minmei was running a touch late.  But I wasn’t worried.  With Mr. Truent as her agent, he would brook no shenanigans in people messing with her schedule.  If someone wanted to do an on-the-spot recording, they’d have to wait instead and schedule an appointment.

I waited with confidence that Minmei had only been slightly delayed, and only because Mr. Truent had to browbeat a pushy musician into a corner.  Hell, I bet Minmei had even laughed at the whole thing.

And just while I was lost in thought, the Bridge Bunnies materialized before me.

“Who’re you waiting for, Mr. Cradle Robber?” asked Sammy Milliome impishly.

I grinned at the young lady.  “You know damn well who I’m waiting for!”

“Ah, so you’re on a date today?” asked Kim Kavirov eagerly.

“Well of course.”

“Did you get stood up?” queried Vanessa Laird.

“No!” I said rolling my eyes.  “She just got delayed.  She sent me a text, see!”  I pulled out my phone and pulled up the text message in question.

The girls all hmmmed thoughtfully as they eyed it, working on decoding the subtle feminine signs hidden in the message.

“So!” said Sammy suddenly.  “Who do you think is prettier?  Minmei, or us?”

“HAH!” I crowed.  “You adorable little imp!  How could you ask me such a loaded question!”

The girls all laughed.  It was all good and fun.

Right about then, that familiar and melodious voice drifted in from the distance.

“Gaaaarrrr~kuuuuunnn!”

“Ah, there she is!” I said happily.  I caught Minmei just as she pounced and spun her around.  This seemed to be a thing for us.  The Bridge Bunnies all made squeals of delight as we then kissed.  I didn’t mind doing it in public anymore since only people that lived under a rock didn’t know about Minmei and me.  (And they typically stayed under their rocks if they could help it.)

“There!” I said as I set Minmei down and turned to the Bridge Bunnies.  “She was just a little late, she did not stand me up, and you can judge for yourselves just how pretty you think you are compared to her!”

“Uh-oh!  Did I leave you alone for too long, Gar-kun?  I swear, you give the slightest sign that you’re disinterested with your man and the sharks start circling.”  She then winked at the Bridge Bunnies, and then we all broke out into laughter.

The day of Minmei’s Sweet Sixteen, she and the Bunnies had all made a great impression on each other.  So, whenever Minmei needed some girl time that had a somewhat more mature feel to it (though I must emphasize ‘somewhat’ here) she could always call on the Bridge Bunnies for a Girls Outing.
The fact that these outings usually included Misa and gave Minmei and the Bunnies ample opportunities to needle her mercilessly about her spats with Hikaru was icing on the cake.

“Well,” I said as we all recovered from our giggles.  “If you three would excuse us, we have a whole evening to ourselves.”

“Yes Mr. Grimm,” the Bunnies all chorused.

But before anything else could be said or done, the deck beneath our feet began to vibrate.

Oh boy.

“GET TO THE BRIDGE!” I snapped.  The girls didn’t need to be told even once - they were double-timing it for the nearest lift.

“What about you!?” said Minmei in alarm.

“You’re my main concern.  Come on,” I said as I pulled her to the grass and laid down, pulling her down on top of me.  “We should be fine like this.”

“Right,” said Minmei as she held me tightly.

Sweet Tsunami I wish that there something I could do.  All those poor souls up in the radar room had no idea what was coming.  But then Katherine called out to me.

GAR-KUN!  Your power!  I can feel it surging!

She was right.  I could feel it.  Just like that time with Tirek!  Feverishly and grabbed ahold of that sensation and refused to let go.

Katherine!  When the pinpoint barriers outside converge, help me guide my hand!

Right!  Okay Gar-kun....  NOW!!!

And then it was there.  I couldn’t see it, but I felt it, just outside the hull and behind the pinpoint barriers.  And I could feel Katherine - just like a hand guiding me through the dark.

The ship rocked under the assault and I felt my shield bearing the brunt as the barriers gave away.

But today...  Today was going to be different.

BY MY FATHER’S HALLOWED NAME, GIVE ME A DAY LIKE THIS!  THAT JUST FOR TODAY NOBODY DIES!  JUST THIS ONCE, KATHERINE, EVERYONE LIVES!

And then just like that, it was all over.  I wasn’t able to do anything about the masts.  If anything, the radar masts got hit even harder than they would have because of the increased energy wash from the blast.

But in that tiny moment, just before my shield winked out, and could sense them.

All those lives I had saved.

As I laid there with my eyes closed, I suddenly felt lips on mine.

Minmei.

I kissed her back hungrily.  And her warmth was not the only one I felt.  Katherine buzzed with the love she held for me.  Even though no one else would know what I had done, she would, and she would love and praise me for it.

But for the moment, Minmei and I shared our mutual love as we had all just been reminded how precious and fragile our lives are.

##

This is it, I thought to myself.  Today is the day.

The day that Red Wing was supposed to be captured by the Zentradi.

I didn’t know exactly what Commander Breetai had in mind.  I knew for sure, though, that it was coming.  Why else would he blow an asteroid to millions of pieces to blind our radar?  He wanted a group like ours out here so he can capture and question us just as we had with his men.  I only hope that he’d be as merciful as we were.

“Still, what are the odds that we’d get picked to fly your escort?” pondered Hikaru on the local net.

“I know!” agreed Misa.  “It must be fate.”

“Well, either way, let’s play this as safe as we can.  We can’t afford to lose you, ma’am.  Even if Sammy’s been learning to take over for you.”

We were quiet after that, with only the cool and clipped status reports and observations going around.  And only once we’d gotten too far from the SDF-1 for backup to get there in a timely manner did the attack finally come.

“Incoming contacts!” snapped Hikaru on the radio.  “Watch yourselves, they’re taking pot-shots at us!”

I hit my PTT and said, “Fuzzy, looks like they’re trying to separate us from the Catseye.”

“Oh HELL no!” replied Hikaru.

“More contacts,” said Max.  “Four at four-o’clock.  Don’t know what they’re doing over there, but they’re too close for comfort.”

“Right,” replied Hikaru.  “Robber, take Dragonball and go deal with them.  Cornflower and I will stay with the Catseye.”

“Don’t worry about me,” snapped Misa over the radio.  “All of you go and take care of those pods.”

“And leave you without an escort, ma’am?  Are you crazy?”

“We can take care of ourselves.  Now stop wasting time and get going.  That’s an order, Pilot.”

“Damn,” I grumbled to myself.  “She had to go and pull rank on us.”

“Yes ma’am,” replied Hikaru, a subtle hint of sullenness to his voice.  “Red Wing, break and fall in with me.”

We all acknowledged the order and took up Hikaru’s lead.

The action was tense once we got there.  The pods all scattered just as we arrived and began to play a game of cat and mouse with us.  It took us twenty minutes to finally do the last of them in, and that was only with me hiding in the shadow of an asteroid fragment to get the drop on him with my GU-16.

Bam-whap! Done.

Right then, Max gave us the news.

“Fuzzy, they’ve launched a recon unit!  Looks like they figured us out!”

“Figured us out hell!” I replied.  “This was their whole fucking game plan from the word Go!”

“I think Robber’s right, Boss,” said Kakizaki.  “They definitely seem to know what we’re doing.”

“Right,” replied Hikaru.  “Red Wing, form up and return to the Catseye.”

It was a tense few minutes as we made our way through the space rocks as quickly as we dared.  But all at once the radome of the Catseye drifted past, and ahead we saw a Quell-Quallie beating feet for the Zentradi command ship.

“Red Wing, break and engage!” barked Hikaru.

“Motherfuckin’ yippi-kay-yay, cocksuckers!” I called out on the open channel - see what these guys made of that!  I ignored the  battle pods, though.  I had bigger fish to fry.

“Dragonball!  Cover me!”

“You got it, Robber!”
I dove straight through the scrum, leaving behind confused Zentradi pilots as I went not for the Quel-Quallie, but something just as important.  It just took them precious seconds to figure it out.  But that was all I needed.

I don’t often use my missiles.  I try to save them for when I really needed them, relying instead on my deadly accurate GU-16.  But this time the gunpod wasn’t gonna cut it.  Instead, I fired up my targeting radar, and lit up the twelve point-defense guns closest to the docking bay that the Quel-Quallie was heading for, and then let her rip.

“Red 2, Fox Three!”

They never even had a chance.  Once the missiles were lose, their guidance computers enacted their counter-tracking flightpath programming, seeming to go anywhere but their designated target and making the men manning the point defense systems think that the missiles were duds.  That is, until the very last possible second.  That was when all of them suddenly juked and slammed into their targets, reducing twelve guns to slag and opening a fair portion of sky for us to maneuver in.

“Outstanding, Robber!” praised Max as he then got to WORK.  The sky was still thick with laser fire, but without the point defense guns the remaining battle pods were all but helpless as we mowed them down.  Even Kakizaki scored a pair of kills.

“Ensign Ichijou!  Forget about me!” came Misa’s voice over the radio as the Quel-Quallie neared the docking bay.  “You won’t make it in time!”
Hikaru wasn’t having any of that, though.  “Red Wing, we’re going in!”

Completely unopposed, we shifted into gerwalk mode and dove into the hangar right after the Quell-Qualie, with Hikaru, Max, and Kakizaki cutting loose missiles to confuse the enemy.  One unfortunate technician got a boot-to-the-head by Hikaru as we all transformed into batroid mode and swooped into the bay proper.

“Conserve your ammo!” I snapped at the others as they began to spray the bay down and send the rest of the technicians fleeing for their lives.

“Copy that, Robber,” replied Max.  “Fuzzy, we need to hurry.  Robber’s right, we don’t have much left.”

“I’m down to hand-to-hand,” added Kakizaki.

I was gonna have to have a talk with him later.

“You are all blatantly disobeying orders!” barked Misa from the cockpit of the ruined Catseye.

“This is hardly the time for that, ma’am!” snapped Hikaru as he reached down for the plane.  “Watch your head.”

Without time to use the small manipulators to trigger the canopy jettison, Hikaru simply shattered what was left of the canopy.

And then there he was, flying out of a passage one level up and vaulting the catwalk railing.

Commander Breetai himself.

“HEADS UP!” I called out as I moved to tackle him, firing my thruster pack to meet him in the air.

We collided like a pair of freight trains, me sacking him like he was an ill-positioned quarterback.  He didn’t give me the luxury of taking advantage of that, though, as he elbowed my Valyrie in the back and dislodged me.

That was okay, though.  We may have been too close for me to get a fix with my GU-16, but I could use it as a blunt weapon readily enough.  Breetai grimaced as he avoided my swings.  Damn that old fart was fast.

I moved to set myself up for me swordsmanship skills, but he took advantage of the opening to land a haymaker on me.  It may not have hurt, but it still sent my Valkyrie sprawling.

But that was fine as it had given Max plenty of opportunity to set up his take down.

Kakizaki launched his last two missile, blowing the bulkhead open to vacuum, and Max used his gunpod to put Breetai in a chock hold and send him out into space before the emergency doors could seal the breech.

“We better hurry, guys,” I said.  “I’m sure there’s more where he came from.”

“But we’re stuck here,” said Kakizaki.  “What do we do, Boss?”

“Cut through the airlock with your lasers,” said Misa from her spot in Hikaru’s hand.  We all looked at her and she had assumed that insouciant pose that only women are capable of, that one that says ‘Well? I’m waiting here.’

“Robber is right,” she went on.  “We need to hurry before more soldiers come along.”

“Good thinking, Ma’am,” said Hikaru, though his brain seemed to be in slow motion.  Seeing how much of her figure that vacuum suit revealed, I didn’t have to imagine why.  I sighed to myself.  I did warn the kid after all.  The lady could stop traffic if she wanted to, and not a soul would complain about it.

“You can thank me later.  Now would you mind putting me down?” she said, resting her head on her hand, elbow propped against the Valkyrie’s thumb joint, and amping up the I’m Waiting Factor by about three magnitudes.

“Oh!  Sorry, Ma’am!”

“Looks like our leader is helpless around the ladies,” said Max over our private band.

“You said it,” agreed Kakizaki.

“Dear God he’s such a kid still.  Come on, guys, let’s get to it.”

Whatever the airlock was made of, it was some serious shit.  We had to take turns because we were overheating our head-lasers trying to cut through it.
I kept an especially close eye on the open duct above us, knowing what was coming.

“Contact!” I snapped out as I got Breetai to back off with a few rounds from my gun.  A couple more showed him that I still had plenty of ammo to give.
Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to keep him pinned down for long because that was when more soldierS showed up, and this time in force.

No ammo, no missiles, and I was starting to run out myself.

“Guys, I think they got us.”

“What do you suggest we do, Robber!?”

“We surrender,” said Misa with grim finality.

Everyone looked at each other.  There was simply no other choice in the matter.  We threw our gunpods down and raised our arms.

---

DUN-DUUNN-DUUUNNNNNNNNNN!

[Black Aeronaut]

.......

---

The Zentradi took it easy on us once we stopped fighting.  In fact, they waited for their Commander to finally drop out of the duct above.

“Exedore!” he snapped.  A relatively small Zentradi came running out of the passage.  The two exchanged words briefly and the smaller one handed some kind of device to the Commander.

He looked to us and put the device up to his face, and began to speak.

“I must give you Micronians credit where it’s due,” he said, his voice echoing through the chamber in perfectly understandable English.  “You fight valiantly, but you also seem to understand that there comes a time where there is nothing more to be gained by struggling.  Now, you four.  Out of those machines.  MOVE!”

Like he said, there wasn’t anything to be gained at this point.  We triggered the egress mechanisms.  I made sure to grab my photo of Minmei spinning in the park and pocket it before I went up - no telling if I was going to get my bird back now.

Some of the Zentradi startled at this, a few uttering the word, ‘Dekulcha’, at seeing our Valkyries seemingly ‘lose their heads’.  Even Breetai was a bit taken aback by it.  But then they all understood as our seats all began to rise out of their cockpits.

“Very good then.  Now, before we put you five away someplace safe, I want your names and ranks.  Starting with you, the female.  You seem to be in charge here.”

“Yes, that would be me,” replied Misa.  “I am Lieutenant Junior-Grade Misa Hayase.  These four men make up Red Wing of Skull Squadron.  Ensigns Hikaru Ichijou and Garrick Grimm, and Petty-Officers Maximillian Jenius and Hayao Kakizaki.”

“Hmm.  Know this, then, Lieutennant Junior-Grade.  You have been taken prisoner by Commander Breetai, leader of the Adoclass Expeditionary Fleet of the Zentradi Army.  In some time, we are going to sit down and have a nice long discussion.  But for now, we are going to take a little trip.  There is someone else who I feel needs to be present for that discussion.  I trust that you won’t cause us anymore undue difficulty?”

“No, Commander Breetai.”

“Good.  Take them away and secure their machines.”

“Commander!” I called out.

Breetai turned, giving me a surprised look.  “And what do you need of me?  You had better make it good, Ensign.”

“The three men we sent back to you.  I wanted to know how they were faring.”

“Them!?” said the Commander in surprise.  “If you really must know, they’re doing well and enjoying the benefits of their recent promotions and a long rest period pending a full review of their report.  Part of which raises questions that I trust you have answers for, now that we can speak to each other.”

I nodded.  “I will do my best to answer those questions, Sir.”

Breetai raised an eyebrow, “You seem awfully cooperative, Ensign.  Why is that?”

“It is my personal belief, Sir, that this conflict is a grave misunderstanding.  My hope is to avert any further misunderstandings.”

Breetai frowned, but otherwise seemed quite satisfied by my response.

“We’ll see, Ensign.  Men, you have your orders.”

##

We had been bagged and brought to what appeared to be an infirmary of some kind.  There, were were literally placed in a jar with a top that held what seemed to be scanning equipment.

“So, what now?” said Kakizaki sullenly.

“I don’t know, Dragonball,” said Hikaru.  He then looked to Misa.  “Well, ma’am?”

Misa sighed.  “We’re prisoners now.  I don’t know what else to say.”

“Because you had to go flying off recklessly on your own,” said Hikaru.

I went to him and put a hand on his arm, shaking my head.

He gave me a puzzled look, so I whispered in his ear, “Fuzzy, can’t you tell she’s already beating herself up over this?  Lay off a bit.”

Hikaru sighed and nodded his head in understanding.

“What about the Catseye pilot,” asked Hikaru.

“He’s dead,” she said morosely.  “We hit an asteroid fragment... it was... quick.”

Hikaru was about to say something, but a look for me forestalled any cutting commentary.

“I’m sorry,” he said instead.  “He was too green of a pilot for this mission.  It should have been someone else like me or Robber in that pilot seat.  At least we would have been able to avoid that rock.”

Misa sighed.  “No, there’s no way.  None of you have ever trained to fly a Catseye.”

“Shows what you know.”

I elbowed Hikaru sharply.

“Is that so?  You think they just stencil anyone’s name on a Catseye’s radar operator’s seat for shits and giggles, pilot?  That Catseye was MY bird.”  Hikaru was positively agog and I had to admit, I was somewhat surprised myself.

“But... you... bridge...”

“My job as the SDF-1’s air boss is a collateral duty.  There are not very many officers with the qualifications to fill that role, Ensign.  You should know this.  And this is despite the fact that signals intelligence was where I excelled at in the academy.  But with that comes a lot of line officer training and tactics.  They needed an Air Boss.  I was available and suitable.

“So just you remember, Ensign.  I have a brain, and I guarantee that it’s sharper than yours.”

Misa then sighed as she looked through the glass and through the viewing port on the bulkhead where asteroid fragments were drifting by slowly.

“But for all my intelligence, I wish I knew what was next,” she said.

“I think we’d all like to know,” agreed Hikaru.

I thought about that for a moment.  Things have definitely gone pear-shaped here.  For one thing, Max had been captured along with us, which means he won’t be lurking around with his Valkyrie wearing a Zentradi’s clothes, waiting for the chance to bust us out.

Gar-kun, I think it’s about time we told them.

You sure about that, Sprout?  They probably won’t have a good reaction to this.

It’s the only way you’ll be able to get free.

Alright then.  Think you can use the C-Pod to confound their sensors?

Done!  Now all they see is you guys trying to be as far away as possible while Misa and Hikaru fight like the married couple they’re gonna be!  Heeeeee~.

Little imp.

I sighed to myself.  Once I did this, there would be no turning back.  Oh well, time to face the music.

“Hey, guys?  I got something to confess.  I’ve been holding out on everyone.”

Everyone looked at me in puzzlement.

“Holding out?” said Hikaru.  “What’d’you mean by that, Robber?”

“Well, before I get started here, I want you guys to know this: I am and always will be the Cradle Robber you all know and love.”

“I’m sensing a biiiiiig BUT here,” said Kakizaki.

“BUT...” I said as I took off my left hand glove and began to push up my sleeve.  “My past is very VERY different.  To put it mildly, the characters and events are more or less the same... they’re just... a lot more so than how I described them.”

Katherine, drop the cloak on the vambrace.

Roger dodger, Gar-kun!

“WHOAH!” everyone cried out at once as the intricately carved wooden bracer with its red gleaming amber jewel winked into existence on my left wrist.

“What the hell is that, Garrick!?” cried out Hikaru.

“This is called a Master Key.”

“A master key to what!?” cried out Misa.

“My home away from home, ma’am.”  I tapped the desired coordinates into the C-Pod and the familiar sight of my door appeared, startling everyone.  “Okay everyone.  Time to go down the rabbit hole.”

I opened my door and stepped inside, beckoning everyone else to come in with me.

They all stared in slack-jawed amazement, pausing to look around the edge of my door, only to see nothing but a blank space on the backside of the door, so perfectly flat that it kinda bent the mind to look at it for too long since things that perfectly flat simply don’t exist anywhere.

“Come into my parlor, said the spider to the fly,” quipped Max.

“Oh, come on!  That was uncalled for,” I grumped.  “Though I feel that I do have a nice parlor, all things considered.  G’wan, have a seat.  Those couches are actual leather.  You know, the real shit that can take an actual beating and just gain more character from it.”

I made my way to my kitchenette and opened the stasis-refrigerator.  Nothing like having coffee grounds that have only aged a few minutes since they were stored six months ago.

And best of all, this was the blend I got from Twilight’s favorite donut shop in Canterlot.

These guys were gonna fucking flip.

Again.

“What is this?” asked Misa.

“A subspace pocket that’s anchored to my physical person.  Whenever I’m occupying it, though, the front door there remains in normal existence and acts as the anchor in my place.”

“You mean this whole thing is inside a Dimensional Space Fold?” she said in astonishment.

“Not quite the same thing, but close.  It’s more like we’re inside a hypercube, a tesseract.  Actually, no that’s wrong.  It’s actually a penteract.”  Holy fuck, hanging around The Doctor must have rubbed off on me.

Misa gaped at me.  Literally gaped.  Wide eyed and slack-jawed.  I think she’s the only one here that really, truly had any idea of what that meant.  The others simply looked confused.

“we’re inside a fifth dimensional cube?” said Misa faintly.

“More or less,” I replied once I had my coffee maker burbling cheerfully away.  “Seriously guys.  Sit down before you fall down!  I’d hate to have to explain to Commander Breetai why his medical staff has to treat you guys for subdural hematomas.

Slowly they all blinked at me, and then remembered that there was a nice comfy couch, loveseat, and easy chair set just waiting to be occupied.

I prepared a tray with the needed mugs, as well as a bowl of sugar cubes and pitcher of heavy cream for those that wanted it, and set it aside for when the coffee was ready.

“Alright.  So, I know you guys are all wondering what the hell is going on, so I’ll get straight to the point.  Raise your hand if you’re familiar with the concept of a Slider.”

Max and Misa slowly raised their hands while Kakizaki and Hikaru looked puzzled.

“What do burgers have to do with this?” asked Kakizaki.

“Wrong kind of slider,” I replied.  “Since Max and Misa seem to know what I mean, then I guess it’s safe to assume you guys had that same TV series here.”

“Yeah, but it got canceled pretty early on,” said Max.  “I think it only made it through the first season.  People kinda lost interest when we had existence of aliens dropped right in our laps.”

“What TV show?” asked Hikaru.

Max shrugged at me.  “See?”

“No biggie, I got this.  Alright.  Think about every choice you’ve ever made in your life, right?  Ever imagine how things could have gone if one of those decisions was different from what you did?  Now, imagine that there are whole other universes out there, each one for each choice  and each option you ever had.

“Now, imagine that, multiplied by every single human that has ever lived.

“Now go even bigger.  Imagine that, multiplied by every single planet with any sort of life out there.

“Welcome to the world of infinite monkeys on infinite typewriters, where one of them inevitably and accidentally typed up all of Shakespeare’s plays, and even a few that he intended to write but never got around to doing.

“And a Slider is a person that travels between these worlds.”

“You’re some kind of alien?” said Hikaru in amazement, drawing startled looks from everyone but Misa.  She just gave him a scornful look.

“No, that’s just a technicality,” said Misa.  “He’s human like us... just from a different kind of Earth.”

“Different?” asked Hikaru.  “How so?”

I sighed.  “You know, I consider you guys lucky.”

“Lucky?” parroted Kakizaki.

I nodded.  “Lucky as fuck.  In my world, we never had ASS-1 crash land on South Ataria Island.  Instead, on the date of September 11th, 2001, there was a terrorist attack by Islamic Jihadists the likes of which you guys could never, ever imagine.

“In a coordinated attack, these people hijacked four airliners.  They first crashed one, with all its passengers on board, into the Pentagon in Washington, DC.  The next one was crashed into Tower One of the World Trade Center in New York City.  The third one hit tower two a few minutes later.  The fourth... we’re not sure about that one.  From what we can tell, the passengers fought back, and the terrorists lost control of the plane, crashing it in some uninhabited field in Pennsylvania.  It is thought that it was destined for someplace like either the Capitol Building or even the White House itself.

“The point is, within about two hours, over four-thousand people - not just Americans - lost their lives that day.  We never found even a tenth of their remains.  And I won’t even tell you about the ones that died before the twin towers collapsed.  It’s just too much.

“You can only imagine what happened next.  It was like Pearl Harbor all over again, only worse.  We understood that Japan attacked America because of the fuel embargoes, and they attacked a military target.

“But September 11th...  it was just simply senseless and cruel.

“And America responded in kind.”

“oh jesus christ,” uttered Max weakly.

“Yeah,” I agreed.  “That’s the world I’m from.  And I’m glad to be done with it.  Before I left, my mother died in an accident and the whole family just fell apart.  We just became strangers to each other.

“I was...  I don’t know how to describe it to you guys without overwhelming you.  Some being I know as Doctor Clay wanted to use me as some kind of weapon.  Something about the people of my world having latent abilities, but these abilities only manifest if they’re in the right kind of environment - none of which existed there on my original Earth.

“He pulled me out and dropped me in another version of Earth.  One that not only had the right conditions, but also among people that would help me develop it.  It was going to be especially sweet for this guy because it turns out these people were the enemy he wanted his revenge against.

“Funny thing, though.  Never, EVER tip your hand to beings that are far more powerful and intelligent than you.”

“What?” said Hikaru flatly.

I scoffed.  “Yeah.  He was a real fucking idiot,” I said as I got up and went to get the coffee.

I brought the tray back over with the carafe and set it on my coffee table.

“You guys are gonna want to try this.  Absolutely the best cuppa joe you’re ever gonna have in your lives, guaranteed or your money back.”
I poured the coffee and handed out the mugs, offering cream and sugar.  Everyone took theirs straight.  I added a healthy dollop of cream and three cubes to mine.

Misa’s eyes popped open and she nearly did a spit take... but didn’t because it would have been a horrible waste.

“Where did you get this!?” she cried out.

“A friend hooked me up in the last world I was in.  I won’t explain the details to you because you’d probably break your brains thinking about it.”

“Oh, c’mon!” grouched Kakizaki.  “After what you just laid on us, it can’t be that bad.... can it?”

I gave Kakizaki a very sharkish grin and said,

“My.

“Little.

“Pony.”

Kakizaki opened and shut his mouth, looking so much like a gold fish as he looked at his coffee, then at me, then at his coffee, then at me again.

“You’re kidding, right?”

“No.”

“You gotta be.”

“Ah... Hayao?” said Max.

“What?”

Max pointed an unsteady finger at the picture frame on the wall.

Ah yes.  One of my favorites.  It is a clipping from a news article.  The picture depicts me, filthy, grubby, bloodied.  But still going at it.  Still helping to move medical supplies.  Still getting food to Ponies that needed it.  And following me fretfully was dear, beloved, little Twilight.  Trying desperately to treat my wounds, never minding that I have dealt with far worse before.  Never minding that she herself had seen me with far worse before.

But I was high on my own adrenaline and endorphins - Mother Nature’s gifts to us humans that grants us our perspicacity; the ability to keep going even in such a state.

“The Living Locomotive” the caption read.  Although it was originally in Equestrian, the Ponyville Gazette was kind enough to run off a few copies of that paper in English as well as Nihongo.

“NOT EVEN A GOD WILL STOP HIM!” continued the subscript.  “After beating aside Tirek’s strongest attack and enabling Princess Sparkle her victory, the miraculous being that some call The Living Locomotive tirelessly helps survivors in Ponyville.”

Slowly, all eyes turned to me.

“Hello everyone.  My name is Garrick Grimm.  I am the adopted son of Emperor Azusa Masaki Jyurai of the Great Living Wood Throne of the Stellar Empire of Jyurai.  Keeper of the Second Generation Tree, Saint Katherine the Mighty.  Forge Master to the Great Living Wood Throne.  Beloved brother to three sister-goddesses.  Knight Errant to the Lunar and Solar Diarchy of Equestria.  Champion of Ponyville.  The Living Locomotive.  And ace Valkyrie fighter pilot of the UN Spacy.  Swordsmith.  Gunsmith.  Weaponsmith.  Engineer.  Inventor.  Innovator.  And warrior.

“I bid you welcome in my humble home.”

##

A great deal of coffee was had.  Along with a good number of Joe’s donuts, courtesy of the food replicator that I was ever-so-grateful to Washu-chan for adding to my C-Space.

“I can’t believe a pony made these,” murmured Misa as she stared at her half-eaten donut.  “It’s...  just so good.”

And I had explained a great many things.  Not that I think that all of it has sunk in yet.  Least of all how I have four fiances waiting for me back home, but that it was fine because polygyny is how the Jyuraians roll with their low male-to-female gender ratio.

Except for Hayao, but then he wished he’d never heard about it once I told him that I knew of no way to get him there.  Except, that is, to hitch the long ride with me.  Which might be so long that he may pass away from old age before we even got close.

“What are you gonna tell Minmei?” asked Hikaru.

I shrugged.  “The truth.”

“That’s it?”

“Well, she’s gonna have to make a choice.  Because whether I like it or not I’m eventually gonna be gone.  And this is a one-shot thing.  If she misses this train?  There won’t be another one along if she changes her mind.”

“But that’s not fair to her!”

“It is perfectly fair!  The thing is that she has a choice.  I never got that with this getting bounced from one world to another.  Besides,” I said, subsiding, ”... she’s young.  At her age, she can afford to say no.  She can move on and find someone else.”

“But still!  Four wives?” cried out Hikaru in astoundment.  “Five if you include Minmei!?”

“And one of them is only thirteen,” said Max.  “Jesus Christ, you really are a cradle robber, aren’t you?”

I sighed.  “Not by choice.”

“What do you mean?” asked Misa.

“Well, Yuki’s family is pretty loaded.  A lot of the old families in Okayama are.  And sometimes local thugs think that a good way to cash in would be to kidnap a child to ransom them back to their family.  And they usually do pay out, if for no other reason than to keep the whole thing quiet.  That whole Japan-ism about maintaining appearances, you know.

“Yuki was targeted that way.  But I happened to be there.  It wasn’t by my hand, but the thug I incapacitated was killed when his partner ran over his body with the getaway car.  And Yuki saw what happened.  It changed her.  Flipped some kind of switch from Child Mind to Adult Mind.

“I mean, sure.  She was still a child.  But the mentality had all shifted.  Suddenly the games her friends played, the secrets they whispered to each other, and even the social dynamics... all that was suddenly meaningless to her.

“And combine that with absentee parent syndrome... while her grandfather owned the family business, her mother and father saw to the day-to-day operations.  Which meant that they weren’t around quite a lot.  She’d barely ever see them at all.  And all her friends?  Just social climbers, really.  She couldn’t tell them about how lonely she felt or how much she needed a hug.

“What mattered to her was me.  I caught her and took the hit from the car that would have killed her.  I kept her safe in my arms even as I got rolled over the top of the car and slammed back down into the pavement.”

“Oh man,” said Kakizaki soberly.  “You were her hero.”

“Yeah.  And I still am.  Because Sasami wanted a friend her age, a partner in crime as it were, she fanned the flames and told her everything she needed to know about me.  She even promised her a Royal Tree - which she got, by the way.”

I shook my head and sighed.  “You guys thought Minmei was persistent?  Yuki was relentless and even frightening in some ways.  I’d caught her in my bed several times.  At first she thought she could just sneak in there and spend the night with me, but then she just kept doing it because she like how it smelled like me.  She’d take afternoon naps there whenever I didn’t catch her at it.”

“You’re kidding!” gaped Hikaru.

I shook my head.  “No.  The absolute peak was when we left on a mission of sorts.  We knew it was going to be dangerous because there were assassins tracking us, so I told Yuki that she had to stay behind.

“She didn’t.  Instead she stowed away by hiding in my truck when I loaded it onto one of the ships.”

“Oh no!” moaned Misa, no doubt extrapolating the rest.

I nodded and went on.  “With that she had tied my hands.  While the mission was not critically time-sensitive, it was a bad idea regardless to spend time bringing her back to Earth.  We were running silent, and that meant we couldn’t go anywhere nearly as fast as we really wanted to.

“The only thing I could do then was train her.  She had already been picking up the sword style from Yosho-dono.  But because of the inherent danger from just being with us... well, we had to step up her training for her own sake after that.

“And Sasami...  Sweet Goddess, Sasami was so horribly crushed.  She’d made Yuki promise to stay behind, but Yuki broke that promise.  Sasami had to help me train her, and it broke my poor little sister’s heart.  You see, she was definitely upset about Yuki breaking that promise, so she didn’t have any trouble summoning up the will to crack down on her during the training.  But the trouble with Yuki is that she thrives like you wouldn’t believe under those conditions.  Hell, she glows!  She loves it, craves it, even.  And that simply confused the hell out of Sasami-chan.”

“But... you make it sound so terrible,” said Max “If it was so terrible then how could she love it?”

“Oh, it was terrible alright,” I agreed.  “You see, we had no idea how much time we had.  We could have been attacked at any moment and Yuki would very likely have had to fend for herself against a trained assassin.  So Washu-chan created a restorative beverage.  Tasted like a matcha smoothie, but it healed the body, restored the biochemistry, and provided enough protein, carbohydrates, and nutrients so that a few minutes rest was the same as two days rest.  She could go at it again and again and again.  It was like putting a child through Marine Corps boot camp.  And yet, it was just like I said.

“She.  Loved.  It.

“She loved it so much that she glowed.  It didn’t matter how hard we pushed her, she welcomed it.  If not for her smile - sweet Goddess that smile of hers is beautiful - and her spirit you might think that she wasn’t human.  But Yuki, it seems, is special like that.”

“How could you do something like that!” snarled Kakizaki.

“BELAY THAT!” snapped Misa so sharply that Kakizaki shot straight up into attention.

She then looked at everyone else levelly.  “I want all of you to know this: that little girl was no freak of nature.  Nor did Garrick turn her into a monster.  Yuki is a young woman chasing her dream.  And when a girl chases her dream like that, she’ll move mountains for it.  I know... because once I was just like her.”

We were all quiet at that.  Hikaru had some idea, at least.  I knew for certain, though.  Misa was just like Yuki in that she drove herself through her education as quickly as possible, going into the military academy at sixteen years old and graduating, with honors and head of her class, in only two years.  And all that for one man who wound up dead in a cowardly attack between Earth and Mars just as she had graduated.

So now, all she had left was this.  The Spacy and The Mission.  What had been a means to an end had become the end itself - one that Misa had to settle for.

Hikaru and I exchanged looks, silently communicating in a way that only wingmen could.

Go to her!

What?  Why me?

Because I’m the wrong man for this and out of everyone else here you’ve known her the longest!

Oh fine!

Hikaru went over to the love seat, sat down next to Misa, and put a hand on her shoulder.  Much to everyone’s surprise, she suddenly latched on to him, shoving her face against his shoulder.  It didn’t take a genius to figure out that she was silently crying her eyes out.  She didn’t even sob.

“So... yeah.  That’s Yuki,” I said and sighed.  “As long as I’m alive, I don’t think there’s any one person or force anywhere could break her.  And even then I have my doubts.  Because if she had been Juliet, she would have gone up to heaven and tore it all down to get Romeo back.”

“.... That girl is gonna be scary as hell once she grows up, isn’t she?” said Kakizaki.

“Dragonball, she is all that, and being educated by a royal family (some of whom have skills that would make them ninja by your reckoning), two super-geniuses, two space pirates who are both renown throughout the galaxy, and the ditziest yet most skilled police detective in the galaxy.  Oh, and the matriarchal head of said royal family?  She’s a fucking master manipulator who could have made Machiavelli do her bidding with a smile on his face.  And she’s taken a SPECIAL INTEREST in Yuki.  She might be the youngest of my wives, but she’s going to be utter nightmare fuel for anyone that stands against me and my family.”

“Jesus Christ, Garrick,” said Max, this time in a tone of mild wonderment.  “How the hell do you manage all of that?”

“Barely.  The main thing that makes it all work out is that they all love me and want me to be happy.  And they definitely like to work together.”

I then felt the heat creeping up my face as I suddenly realized what I had just implied.  Max went pink as well.  Kakizaki fell out of his seat, laughing.  Misa and Hikaru simply gave me astonished looks.

“Right,” I said sheepishly as I got up.  “Okay, there’s one other person here that I think you guys should meet.  You’ll need to follow me.  She can’t really leave her room.”

Everyone followed as I led them up the stairs and down the hall with the windows that looked out into the garage.

“I hope that’s not because something you did!” said Misa, her voice spinning up towards righteous fury.

“No no!  Nothing like that.  It’s just... well, she’s not what you’d call ‘ambulatory’.”

I then opened the door to my garden and Katherine greeted me with shimmering light dancing everywhere.

“GAR~KUUUUNNNNN~!”

“Hey Sprout!” I said as I went up to her trunk and laid my hand against it.  “Have you been growing again?  I’d swear your canopy is a few inches higher.”

Katherine giggled sweetly.

“Just a little itty-bitty-bit of left over energy from being in Equestria.  I think I’m all done with my growth spurt now.”

“What is going on?” said Hikaru.  “I can hear a girl’s voice, but I can’t see her!”

“Fuzzy,” said Max.  “I think it's the Tree.”

“What do you mean?  Trees can’t talk!”

“Yeah-huh they can, Mr. Fuzzy!”

“Is this some kind of trick?”

“Nope!  But you sure are funny to watch, Mr. Fuzzy.”

“HEY!”

Max and Hayao were looking around uncertainly, But Misa...

...Misa Hayase spread her arms wide and raised her smiling face to the beams of light, the tear tracks on her face the only sign that not even five minutes ago she was mourning the loss of the man she loved.

“Oh this is amazing!” she cooed.  “This is really you?  A tree?  But why?  I mean, I believe you, Katherine, but I don’t understand how you came to be!”

“It’s okay, Misa-chan!  Lotsa people don’t get it right away.  Lemme do the super-shorty version.

“There was a Goddess who was also a tree that liked a man so much that she gave her seeds to him and his people.  This was the First Generation of the Royal Trees of Jyurai, and my mommy is one of them!  I’m a Second Generation Royal Tree, and when I finally make a seed of my own, that will be a Third Generation Tree.

“The generations are the important part, ya know?  Cause we all get our power from our parents.  So, Grandmother Tsunami is the Goddess - the most powerful of all.  The First Generation is not as powerful, but still strong enough that anyone they pair up with is automatically in the line to become the next Emperor.  Second Generation - That’s me! - are pretty powerful too, but we got some restrictions.  Can’t use my power to hurt anyone, not even the bad guys, unless I get permission from my mamma, the Emperor, or Grandmother Tsunami.  Third Generation Trees are still pretty strong, but they have to team up to be even close to my level, and they have the same restrictions.

“There are Fourth, Fifth, and Sixth Generation Royal Trees, but they can’t think or talk like me.  Except for having lotsa power, they’re pretty normal.

“Okay,” said Misa as she slowly began to internalize all that.  “But Garrick isn’t part of any of your Royal Families.  Why did he get you?”
Katherine’s giggle filled the air.

“That’s the cool part!  See, Princess Sasami?  She got hurt really bad a long time ago.  Like, she actually died!  But when it happened, she was next to Grandmother’s Tree - The Mother of Trees.

“And Grandmother Tsunami liked Sasami.  She liked her so much, that she healed her by becoming part of her.  Now, Princess Sasami and Grandmother Tsunami are the same person.  And because Princess Sasami loves Gar-kun so much, Grandmother Tsunami told mamma to make me just for him!

Everyone turned their eyes to me.

I sighed somewhat wistfully, remembering those first highly emotional days.

“Put yourselves in my shoes,” I said.  “Family already destroyed.  Yanked out of your homeworld, put in a place that invalidates your Faith.  There is no heaven anymore.  No going back to the family who’ve passed on in the end.  The idea of your spirit withering in oblivion starts consume you.

“And then there she is.  A child who is a princess... and in her shadow lurks a bonafide Goddess.  And both share the same heart.  A heart so big and filled with so much love...”

I had to stop because I began to tear up, thinking of that moment - a moment that felt like both ages and minutes ago.

“She reached out to me,” I continued quietly.  “Called me her brother.  And I couldn’t turn away from that.  My beloved little sister saved my life that day.  And I will forever love and cherish her for that, and all the other gifts she’s given me.”

Misa then surprised me.

She came over and sat by me, placing a comforting hand on my shoulder.

“Garrick, I am happy that you met someone as wonderful as that little girl.  Because if not for her, then I don’t know if you would be here or not.”

Hikaru was the next one to come over.  “Yeah, Robber.  She’s right.  I’m glad your here, too.  I don’t know what we’d do without you, man.”

“Count us in on that, too, boss!” said Kakizaki, with Max nodding as well.

“Thanks guys,” I said, feeling honest relief wash over me.  I was glad that I would no longer have to keep this to myself alone.  Now I had friends who knew everything, and were not one bit repulsed by any of it.

Well, maybe they were a bit weirded out by the whole plural marriage thing, but they seemed to at least understand the reasons for it.

“We better get back out there before anyone shows up to check on us.  Katherine here is fooling their sensors, but that won’t hold up against an in-person inspection.”

“Wait, can’t we use this to escape?” asked Hikaru.

I sighed.  “We could, but that’s not a good idea.”

“Well why’s that?” asked Max.  “I mean, it’s not like they’d notice, right?”

“Yes, that’s true,” I replied.  “But the thing is that there are events that absolutely must take place.”

“What do you mean, Garrick?” asked Misa.  “It sounds like you know what’s going to happen in advance.”

“As a matter of fact, I do.”

“And you didn’t do anything!?” said Misa, aghast.

“I’ve done lots of things.  The Daedalus Attack?  It was originally your idea, but you wouldn’t have thought of it until the main gun misfired.  I intentionally brought up the idea of a potential misfire, knowing that Roy would send that up the chain of command the very moment that briefing was finished.”

“And what about the misfold that brought us to Pluto’s orbit?”

“I arrived here just afterwards.  Hikaru, you remember that hull breech you sent your plane through?  I nearly got blown out through that breech before the emergency bulkhead closed over it.”

“Just then!?” cried out Hikaru in shock.  “But you were acting so cool and natural!  Not like someone who just... came from another world against his will!”

“Well... The thing is that I get a bit of advanced warning about when it’s going to happen.  This metaphysical tether that Tsunami has on me and Katherine here can only be stressed so much, and after each jump it takes time to recover.  Unfortunately, that amount of time varies from place to place because time doesn’t always move at the same rate in each universe.

“And Washu doesn’t tell me what that time differential is because she and everyone else don’t want me to worry about it.”

“...Harsh,” said Max after a long silence.

“Tell me about it.  The one thing we got going for us is, thanks to advanced science and the Royal Trees, I and my loved ones have lifespans that can be measured by thousands of years.  But anyhow...  I knew that I was going to slide again.  I had a few days.  Just enough to say goodbye to everyone back in Equestria.”

“I’m still having trouble wrapping my head around the whole ponies thing,” said Hikaru.  “Wasn’t that at least a little bit weird for you?”

“Sometimes.  The language barrier was a bit of an issue for a while.  They could only manage Japanese because of the simpler phonetics, and I had trouble making some of their own phonetic sounds.  I was stuck with the pony equivalent of a Russian speaking bad English the entire time I was there.”
Hayao started laughing at that.  “...Okay, now that’s just funny.  You?  Sounding like that?  HAH!”

“Yeah yeah, yuck it up,” I grumbled.  “Look, let’s just get back out there before someone notices we’re gone.”

I said a quick goodbye to Katherine and as we made our way out, Misa asked the important question.

“Garrick, why do we need to stick this out?”

“Because there’s gonna be things that we need to make a record of.  Otherwise the politicians aren’t gonna believe us and stick their heads in the sand.  You got your digital camera, right?”

“Yeah, I do.  You know about that?”

I nodded.  “I also know that at some point you’re gonna drop it and it’ll shatter into a bout a million pieces.  I’m gonna be making a video recording myself, but it’ll be nice if we have yours as well, so make sure that doesn’t happen.”
“Right.”

##

The moment we were back outside my C-Space we noticed something right away.

“We’re in the middle of a space fold!” said Misa in shock.  “How long has this been going on for!?”

Katherine?  Do you know?

Yep.  About an hour.

“Katherine says it’s been about an hour.”

“Really?  She can tell?”

I nodded as I dismissed my door.  “Yeah, part of the special conditions that Katherine needs is that she has to be planted in a special unit just for her.  Otherwise she loses her connection to Tsunami and becomes a normal tree as her power wears out.  Typically, these special units form the core of a Jyuraian warship.  That’s not the case with my C-Space, unfortunately.  I got pulled from that universe before Katherine could be planted into one.    But I was lucky I had this in the first place and it does have a good sensor suite.  My C-Space may not be a star ship, but it comes real close.”

“Well, either way,” said Misa, “this means that that we’ve been missing for about ten days by now.”

I sighed and nodded unhappily.  “I hope Minmei is taking this well.  I don’t like the thought of her being heartbroken because they presumed us to be dead.”

Misa groaned at that.  “Oh, the paperwork!”

“What do you mean?” said Hayao.

“The bureaucracy,” said Misa morosely.  “It is hard to correct that kind of thing because when you die there’s all kinds of protections to keep people from using your identity for things like voter fraud.”

At about that point, we felt the ship defold.

“We’re out!” I said, then pointed to the view port.  “Misa, you may wanna record this.”

“What... OH!”

Everyone else gasped as they saw what was outside.  Masses and masses of Zentradi ships.

“There’s gotta be thousands of them!” said Max in amazement.

“Yeah, and you guys wanna know the scary part?”

“What’s that?” asked Hikaru.

“This is just one fleet out of hundreds in their forces.”

“YOU’RE KIDDING!” they all cried out.

I shook my head.  “I wish I was.  We’re up against a force so fantastically huge that they can’t even maintain centralized control over the whole thing.  It’s all broken up into mega-fleets like this, each with a supreme commander who calls all the shots.”

“Look at that!” said Hikaru.

“Is it a battle?” asked Hayao.

“No... it’s something else...”

“It looks like it’s big enough to swallow up the Earth,” said Misa.

“Not really,” I said.  “But it is huge.  It’s about one-quarter of the mass of our moon.”

“How the hell did they build something that big!?” said Hikaru.

“If their forces are really as massive as Garrick says,” said Misa thoughtfully.  “...it would make sense, really.  I wonder if they even really have a home world.”

“If they did,” I said, “it was blasted into stardust eons ago.  these guys?  They’re nothing but soldiers of an extinct society they call the Protoculture.  Mass produced clones to fight against an extra-galactic menace that would have eventually wiped out all life throughout the galaxy.”

“An extinct society?” said Misa.  “What happened?”

“What else happens when your army is essentially nothing but slaves?  They revolted.  And the sad and horrible thing about it is that while they did win, they had no idea about what to do with themselves afterwards.  And that wasn’t helped by the fact that this menace they were fighting against has remnants called the Supervision Army lingering throughout the Galaxy, every bit as lost and masterless as these Zentradi.”

“They’ve been like this for EONS!?” said Max in horror.  “But that can’t be!”

“Oh it can be.  The very highest echelons of their command structure view people like us as remainders of the Protoculture.  And to them, the Protoculture is every bit as much of an enemy as the Supervision Army.  And every time they come across a society that could possibly contaminate their warrior culture?  They destroy it.”

“You mean there’s no reasoning with them!?” said Misa in shock.

“Breetai can be reasoned with.  He’s a good person, believe it or not.  But the command structure above his level?  Not a chance.  They’re among the oldest of the Zentradi and far too set in their ways.”

“YOU’VE DAMNED US ALL!” roared Hayao and he hauled me up by the lapels.  I didn’t even flinch at this.

“Dragonball, what’s gotten into you!?” said Hikaru.

“We heard about that little present we gave to those prisoners we sent back.  It was all his idea!  All that music and stuff!”

“Mister Kakizaki, unhand Mister Grimm this instant,” snapped Misa sharply.  “He is still your ranking officer!”

Hayao looked as though he might try to push the matter, but thought better of it and let go, dropping me back down on my feet.

“Garrick hasn’t damned us,” said Misa before anyone else could say anything.  “This was a calculated risk.  We did that because culture is contagious.  It’s our hope that once it’s in the hands of their junior ranks that it will clandestinely spread like wildfire in the underbrush.”

“You mean we actually might have a chance?” said Max.

I nodded.  “We do.  And the more culture we bombard them with, the better our odds will be.”

“What happens now?” asked Hikaru.  “They had to have a reason for bringing us here.”

“There is.  We’re going to be questioned by their Supreme Commander, along with Commander Breetai and his executive.  Guys, I got a favor to ask of you.”

“What’s that?” asked Hikaru.

“Let me handle the talking.  It’s best if they don’t get the wrong idea about us, and right now they think that we’re some sort of ally to their enemy, the Supervision Army.”

“Do you really think you can do this without getting us into more trouble, Pilot?” asked Misa, this time in full-blown officer mode.

“I know I can, ma’am.  At the very least, I know I can sway Commander Breetai.  I think he has come to respect us.”

Misa thought about that for a moment.  “Very well then.  As long as you can keep us on their good side.  And you’re certain that we cannot negotiate with their upper level command?”

I shook my head.  “It’d be a miracle if they felt like sparing us, ma’am, but we can try.”

“Very well then, pilot.  You may speak for us.  And you better not screw this up or else I’ll make sure you’re up for Captain’s Mast.  IF we somehow get back in one piece.”

“No worries, ma’am.  The questioning has to happen.  But the great escape is something that must happen as well.  We’ll get home come hell or high water.”

[Norgarth]

“Very good then.  Now, before we put you three away someplace safe, I want your names and ranks.  Starting with you, the female.  You seem to be in charge here.”

shouldn't this be 'five'?  

“Yes, that would be me,” replied Misa.  “I am Lieutennant Junior-Grade Misa Hayase.  These four men make up Red Wing of Skull Squdron.  Ensigns Hikaru Ichijou and Garrick Grimm, and Petty-Officers Maximillian Jenius and Hayao Kakizaki.”

typo

[Black Aeronaut]

“Very good then.  Now, before we put you three away someplace safe, I want your names and ranks.  Starting with you, the female.  You seem to be in charge here.”

shouldn't this be 'five'?  

“Yes, that would be me,” replied Misa.  “I am Lieutennant Junior-Grade Misa Hayase.  These four men make up Red Wing of Skull Squdron.  Ensigns Hikaru Ichijou and Garrick Grimm, and Petty-Officers Maximillian Jenius and Hayao Kakizaki.”

typo

Argh.  Fixed now - along with one other typo I missed.

[Black Aeronaut]

Okay, just a heads up, this one gets info-dumpy because Garrick pretty much lays out the human race in a nutshell.

Oh, and someone learns that you never provoke the protagonist.  It's never very good for your short-term health.

---

Once again, we were placed into a sack and transported.  When we were dumped out, it was in a dark conference room of some kind.  I suddenly felt like someone who’d been set up in a police interrogation room straight out of film noir.

Misa was quick to surreptitiously set her camera to record and I set up my C-Pod to do the same. 

Breetai and Exedore were already present, along with three other familiar faces.

“Wow!” cried out the leader of the three man intelligence team.  “The rumors were true!  They really did capture the Micronian Ace!”

“Hey guys!” I called out happily.  “Glad to see you’re doing good!”

“What?  We can understand him!?”

Exedore nodded.  “I have seen to it that a translation matrix is active to ease this interrogation.  It seems to be working properly.”

“That’s great!” said the shortest of them.  “Now we can finally introduce ourselves!”  The then looked down at us, excited like a kid that was getting to meet his hero.

“I’m Group Leader Loli Dosel,” he said.

The larger one with red hair spoke up next.  “I’m Senior Squadman Warera Nantes.”

And last was the tallest one with long purple hair.  “And I’m Senior Squadman Conda Bromco.”

I stepped forward and said, “I’m Ensign Garrick Grimm.  This here is my wingman, Ensign Hikaru Ichijou.  These two are mine and Hikaru’s subordinates; Petty-Officer Maxwell Jenius, and Petty-Officer Hayao Kakizaki.  The female here is our ranking officer, Lieutenant Junior Grade Misa Hayase.”

“We’re glad to meet you guys,” said Loli.  “I uh.  Kinda wish we could shake your hand, but you’re all Miclones.”

“That’s okay,” said Hikaru.  “So why are you guys all excited to meet us anyhow?”

“You don’t KNOW!?” cried out Warera in shock.  “This guy is the ace that was gonna throw down with Sub-Commander Kamjin Kravsha!”

“You mean that guy who’s had it out for Cradle Robber lately?” said Hayao.

“Cradle Robber?” said Exedore in puzzlement.  “What’s that supposed to mean?”

We all shot Hayao dirty looks as he tried and utterly failed to look innocent.

Turning back to the Zentradi, I explained, “It’s a nick name based on a very tacky joke involving my personal circumstances.  All of us pilots have nicknames like that, and more often than not they can be pretty degrading.”

“What an odd tradition,” said Exedore thoughtfully.  “Do you always treat each other in such an informal manner?”

“Mostly just among us pilots, sir.  In our culture, us pilots have always had a lot more leeway because of the dangers of our occupation.  Though bomber crews are even worse - they’re so bad that it absolutely can’t be discussed in polite company.”

“I see,” said Exedore thoughtfully.  “Yes, I can certainly see how personnel in such dangerous work would be so informal or even mocking with each other.  One never knows if they’ll even return from a mission alive.”

Breetai nodded knowingly and said, “I myself find it interesting how you have managed to gain such respect among my men, Mr. Grimm.  How is it that you came to be so skilled?”

I shrugged.  “Sir, we all have varying talents.  Ensign Ichijou is actually a much better pilot than I am.  I’m just a helluva good marksman who knows how to fight dirty.  Petty-Officer Kakizaki is pretty average but keeps up a bold front.  Petty-Officer Jenius has incredible spacial awareness that lets him engage multiple opponents at once.  And our own Commanding Officer is an outstanding prodigy as a line officer.”

A door at the far end of the room opened and a large, bald-headed Zentradi wearing a cloak entered.  Right away, all the other Zentradi stood at attention and saluted.  The cloaked Zentradi saluted back.

“Very well, be seated everyone,” he said gruffly.  Once they had all settled into their seats, he looked down and addressed us all.

“I am Boldozaa, Supreme Commander of the Zentradi 118th Main Fleet.  There are some things I wish to ask you.”

I stepped forward and introduced us.  “Greetings Supreme Commander.  I am Garrick Grimm, a low ranking officer and Valkyrie fighter pilot of the Super Dimensional Fortress Ship Macross of the United Nations Space Fleet.  I have been asked to speak for my colleagues and I will attempt to answer to the best of our abilities.”

“Good.  When did your people make contact with the Supervision Army.”

“My apologies, sir.  We know nothing of this ‘Supervision Army’ and I suspect there may be a misunderstanding that needs to be cleared up.  May I ask why you suspect the involvement of this group?”

Boldoza’s expression darkened.  “How can you not understand when you use one of their gun ships?”

“That ship crash landed on our planet some time ago with no crew aboard.  When we discovered that the ship was a war ship we reverse-engineered its technology, then rebuilt and refitted the ship so we can protect our world.”

There were surprised expressions all around at that, though Exedore was the first to regain his wits.

“You...  You completely repaired a gun ship?” asked the smallest of the Zentradi.

“Yes, sir,” I replied.  “It was perfectly within the scope of our industrial capabilities and our people are working towards building a fleet of our own.  It’s projected that the first of these ships will be operational in about a year.”

Boldoza’s brow knitted up as he pondered that.

“Breetai,” said the Supreme Commander.  “Tell me again what you know of their ship’s capabilities.”

“Yes your Excellency.  I am uncertain as to the condition of the ship when it landed on their world, but by our last accounting it was severely damaged.  It was thought that it would not survive another space-fold transition.”

Suddenly it all fell into place in my mind.  Why there were absolutely no signs of a crew and yet it had appeared on our planet without warning.

“A DECOY!” I cried out.

“Excuse me, Micronian?” said Boldoza in a tone that made it clear that what I had to say had better be good.

“If the people you were after were your enemy, then what they probably did was abandoned the ship, and then programmed the computer to fold someplace else.”

“Your excellency, if I may?” said Exedore.  Boldoza nodded to the archivist and he went on, “The Supervision Army has been known to do such things, even going as far as leaving their guship’s computers with instructions to automatically fire on our ships whenever they come into close proximity.”

“We concur, sir,” I added in.  “When your ships came within the firing arc of the main gun, the ship’s computer took over and autonomously fired the weapon.  We recognized it right away to be a booby trap left by the ship’s previous masters.  If you so wish to, I am certain that if you bring this grievance to my people then a prompt formal apology will be issued.  Our computer technicians should have been more thorough.  It was perfectly within their capability to find the malignant instruction and purged it from the system.”

“You mean to say you have people that were able to reverse engineer the computer system as well?!” said Exedore in shock.

“Yes sir.  There are entire industries on our world that are centered around not only computer programming, but also the design and manufacture of computer hardware as well.  We are constantly striving to make improvements in these fields.”

“Protoculture!” hissed Boldoza.

“It can’t be!” said Exedore.  “They were wiped out millions of years ago!”

“Sir,” I interrupted diffidently.  “With due respect, we have no idea what that means.”

They all gave us thoughtful looks at that point.

Breetai spoke up first.  “They had no knowledge of the Supervision Army.  And little to no records remain of the Protoculture.  He could very well be telling the truth.”

“Then how would they know such things as refitting ships and programming computers,” pondered Exedore.

“Tell us Micronian!” Boldoza demanded hotly.  “How do your people know these things?”

“Well, we developed the technology on our own over the course of several tens of thousands of years,” I explained.

“Impossible!”

I shrugged.  “Improbable.  There’s a popular saying among my people: Nothing is impossible.  The idea goes that if something seems impossible, then it’s only because no one has figured out how to do it yet.”

“But how can that be!?” said Boldoza, perplexed at such an idea.  “What about war!?”

“Oh, there’s been plenty of war on our world,” I said.  “And some of those wars were for reasons that might make even you, Supreme Commander, you lose your stomach.  There have even been entire family lines on our world devoted to the art of war.  But on the other hand, there have also been family lines devoted to logistics, to craftsmanship, and most importantly, family lines whose sole purpose was to rule over their empires.”

“It....  It makes sense, your excellency,” said Exedore, fitting the pieces together in his computer-like mind.  “That is the only rational explanation - that they have people who are not warriors, but dedicated instead to studies and building.  Not unlike us archivists, really, only with so many more schools and trades to choose from.  And If their people really have been slowly developing themselves to the point where they can learn our own technology just by having an example to build from... then it is no wonder they have been confounding us with their reaction missiles - the potency of which we have not seen in thousands of years!”

“Point of fact,” I said, calling attention to myself.  “Those missiles were of our own design.  We’ve had thermonuclear reaction weapons for most of a century before that ship crashed on our world.”

If they had been surprised before, this had shocked them into total silence.

“So,” said Boldoza slowly.  “You have people that are not warriors, then?”

“That is correct, sir.  In fact, in this modern day, all people who are soldiers are volunteers - a concept known as the citizen-soldier.”

“Citizen-soldier?” said Breetai, puzzled by the very concept.  “Explain.”

“Everyone in our society starts out as a civilian,” I replied.  “That is, a non-combatant who is free to decide what role they will play in our society.  Some choose to become soldiers and receive the appropriate training.  Others choose to learn a trade or a skill that will support our society.  Some of those trades and skills directly support our military.  Others don’t.”

“Then what do they support if not the military?” asked Boldoza.

I shrugged.  “It would be more appropriate to say, ‘What do they -NOT- support?’  We have trades and skills for a veritable cornucopia of of fields.  All kinds of things such as food production, manufacturing, services, construction, and even entertainment.”

“We have some idea of those things.  Most of those are handled by automated factories.  But what is this ‘entertainment’ that you speak of?”

“Oh, ah... If I may answer by asking a question in return?”

“Go on then.”

“Yes sir.  What do the Zentradi do for relaxation?  Is there anything that your people do to take their mind off of things so they may rest their mental faculties?”

“We have no such things,” said Boldoza like a teacher shutting down a student with foolish ideas.  “The only thing to take joy in is war!  How can you say that war is not the focus of your existence?”

“We have scholars that debate that topic quite heatedly, actually.  As I mentioned before, there have been many, many conflicts on our world.  But we did not have automated factories.  There had to be people that built the weapons and armor and war machines.  There had to be people that managed the logistics of moving food, weapons, munitions, and all the other sundries of war.

“In response to your original query about entertainment, well...  simply put, entertainment is activities meant to distract ourselves for a little time.”

“Distract yourselves?” said Boldoza, almost repulsed by the idea.  “Why would you ever want that?  Distractions get soldiers killed.”

“It’s a different case.  For us, Entertainment is typically mutually exclusive from war and has it’s own time and place outside the field of battle.”

“Very well then, but that still does not satisfy my curiosity, Micronian.  Why would your people wish to distract themselves in such a way.”

I gave Boldozaa a hard look, then looked to Commander Breetai.  “Sir?  How many friends have you lost in the time you’ve been alive?”

Breetai looked surprised that I would ask such a thing, but he answered regardless.

“I have lost count,” he said heavily.

“How many times do you wish that your old comrades could be fighting at your side once again?”

“Not a day goes by...”  And there in his voice was a sound close to mourning.

“That is why we have our distractions,” I said, barely loud enough for them to hear.  “They help take our minds off of these heavy emotions.  Sometimes, they can even bring great joy.  And I will admit, there are some among us that overuse these distractions.  For them the world is a terrible place that they cannot bear and seek only to get themselves drunk off these distractions.  Trust me, if you think it is a terrible waste, we think so as well.  But there is no avoiding it.  Sometimes there are people born among us that simply do not have the stomach to handle life’s rigors.”

“Born?” said Boldoza, looking to shift the topic.  “What is this word supposed to mean?”

“Ah,” I said, trying to think fast.  Not only would this be a thorny subject to navigate, but I had to do so while being and concise.  “Your people do not use sexual reproduction?”

“I have no idea what you even mean, Micronian.”

“Eeeyyyyeee,” I said, wincing.  This was going to be really tough to pull off, so I opted to be upfront about my reservations.  “Forgive my reticence, sir, but this is going to cover a number of topics that are considered taboo or simply downright rude to discuss openly.”

“You think that matters to us?” replied Boldoza with a raised eyebrow.

“No, I don’t,” I said.  “But it will matter quite a bit to my superior officer, especially as she’s of the opposite gender.”

“What does that have to do with it?” said the Surpreme Commander as that flew completely over his head.  Naturally.

“Everything,” I replied flatly.

They all blinked at me.  They simply had absolutely no idea about where this was going to go.

“Go on, then,” said Boldoza.

“Okay.  I’ll start with the very bare-bones technical aspects of this.  Sexual reproduction is basically an exchange of genetic material to create a new life from the DNA of two people - a male and a female.”

“Why does it have to be a male and a female?” wondered Exedore.

I shrugged.  “That’s simply how the biology works out.  Delving into somewhat taboo territory here, Females are the ones who are built to develop and grow a new life inside their bodies and males simply supply them with their own DNA to help start the process.”

“Ah!” said Exedore as the light in the attic came on.  “Your excellency, perhaps he is referring to the seemingly superfluous organs that females possess.”

“Impossible!” snapped Boldoza.  “Then how does this process take place?”

I grimaced at that and said, “Very VERY Taboo!  Okay...  The technical term is sexual intercourse.  In essence, a male injects his genetic material into the female’s child-bearing orifice and if the timing is correct, there will a special cell waiting inside her child-bearing organ.  The male genetic material combines with this cell, and rapid growth begins.  Over the course of nine months, an infant is grown within the woman, and through a very laborious process she forces it out through her child bearing orifice.  The new born child is completely helpless and is reliant on its mother to survive until it can do so on its own.”

No one said a word as they stared at me in utter horror at what I had just described.

“I’m guessing that you use some kind of cloning process instead?” I asked.

“That is accurate,” said Exedore.  “How long are these... newborns helpless for?”

“Well, it’s varying degrees over a period of a couple of decades.  Granted, in our second decade of life we’re pretty well autonomous, but we’re still very young and very inexperienced, so some supervision and guidance is still needed.  But during the first few months, no degree of neglect can be permitted.  Especially during their first two weeks.  During those two weeks a newborn absolutely must be fed every two to four hours.  And yes, that is every bit as hectic as it sounds - a common theme among new mothers is a lack of sleep.

“Fortunately, food itself isn’t usually a problem, as a newborn child will suckle milk produced by the mother’s mammary glands.”

“Mammary glands?” asked Exedore.

I turned to Misa with an apologetic look.  “Ah... Sorry ma’am, I mean no offense.  But you see how she has those growths on her chest?  Those are mammary glands.  If she were to have a child, her body will generate hormones that cause them to create lactose proteins in a liquid form that are easy for a newborn to digest with their still developing bodies.

“And with that we now depart taboo territory.”

There were still somewhat shell shocked, but Exedore was silently mulling this over.

“As a child grows larger and stronger, they will eventually be able to eat food.  Generally, it needs to be processed into a fine paste because infants are not born with teeth - they have to grow in from their jaws.  (And yes, that is a painful process for the infant.)  But as their teeth come in, they’ll be able to eat foods that are progressively more... solid.

“In about six to twelve months, most infants are weened - steadily getting fewer and fewer feedings from the mother’s mammaries, and more and more solid food.  By the time they’re two years old, they’re able to eat all the solid foods adults eat, but they’re still fairly helpless as they have not yet learned to control their bladders and a bowels.  Unfortunately, this is something that needs to be taught, and most children are expected to have mastered this by the time they’re four years old, with moderate progress having been made at three years of age.

“At two years, basic knowledge is slowly learned.  A child’s mind is super-active, making thousands and thousands of neuron connections every day.  Over time, they learn language - spoken at first, but at around four years old they’re expected to start learning to read and write.  By this time they’re also expected to have learned how to count, basic color and shape recognition, and basic social conduct.

“Formal education typically begins between the ages of four and six years.  For the next five years, they learn basic mathematics and proper usage of their native language as well as local geography and political boundaries, and a general summary of our history.  After that, they move into secondary education, where for the next five or six years they learn more advanced forms of math, as well as a more detailed summary of our history, basic sciences, human anatomy, and a host of other topics.

“After this, they are considered ‘young adults’ and are free to pursue higher education with the aim of taking up work in a field of their choice or even volunteering for service in the military.

“And that about covers it.”

“So, you are all... born... even smaller than you are, and you grow to your size over the course of two decades?” said Exedore, slowly putting all the pieces together.

“Yes sir.”

“Tell me micronian,” said Boldoza as he recovered his wits.  “How is it that two micronians are chosen to... reproduce?  Do you use some kind of system to ensure desired genetic traits are present in the... next generation?”

“In most cases, sir, no such system exists.  There used to be systems in the past, but these were mainly politically driven.  You see, the pairing of a male and female is generally an important part of our society.  The ideal is that once paired off, they stay together for the rest of their lives - two separate halves that work cooperatively in raising their offspring.

“As for managed pairing systems, as I said, many of them were politically influenced to build family ties between kingdoms and empires, and pairing off with the common people they ruled over was a serious taboo.

“However, once genetics was understood by our scientists, there were some that desired to create a breeding program in an effort to, as you said, to encourage desirable genetic traits.

“Unfortunately, this also had political influences that eventually resulted in one of the most violent wars in my people’s history.”

“Well, then how do you choose now?”

“It’s simple.  Evolution has provided us with a built-in mechanism for this.  We call it attraction for the way two members of opposing gender are drawn together. It works based mostly on the physical appearance of the perspective partners.”

“Oh?  How so?”

I turned once more to Misa.  “Ma’am, if I may use you for an example?”

“You may, pilot,” she replied in mild bemusement.

“Alright.  Among my people, my superior officer here is considered very attractive for several reasons.  The part that jumps out most frequently for us males is the spacing of her hips - wider hips indicates a female who is far less likely to experience complications in birthing offspring.

“Next is the evenness of her features.  Not all of us have precisely symmetrical features.  It is hard for us to consciously recognize it as it is a very subtle thing, but our subconscious minds see it clear as day, and it reflects in a negative or positive reaction.  For my superior, as you can see her features are excellently balanced, greatly increasing her attractiveness.

“Finally, there is her physical fitness.  A female with some degree of softness to her features is highly desirable as it indicates that her body maintains good reserves of energy that will contribute to her ability to grow an offspring within her.

“Additionally, there is one other aspect to physical attraction that only affects smaller segments of our population.  You may notice that some of us have slightly different facial features.  This is because our peoples developed in different and somewhat isolated regions of our world, leading to differing appearances over the course of many generations.  However, there have been times where inbreeding was an issue for smaller enclaves in highly isolated locales.  To help ensure a healthy gene pool, evolution permitted a tendency for some of us to prefer a partner that is obviously from a different locale.

“Of course, there are other traits that factor in as well, but these are entirely based on behavior patterns which are observed during an investigative period we call ‘dating’.  We call them ‘dates’ because meetings where we investigate each other are important, and so we set time aside for it - a time and date.

“Behavioral patterns are important because it factors into child rearing.  Some date simply for the enjoyment of learning about another person.  Others do so with the intention of finding a person to pair off with.

“Sometimes the observation can be done at a distance without dating.  This is called ‘stalking’ and when it turns into an obsession it is most emphatically not a desirable behavior as it can be indicative of an unhealthy mental state prone to undue monomania.

“In my case, there is a young female who observed my behavior for a short time.  She judged me to be attractive in very short order based on my even features and, to her, my foreign appearance.  Over a period of a few days, my actions were observed during a time of crisis for which she was present.  We had found ourselves isolated in an unmodified section of the gunship and uncertain that we would be able to find our way back into the known areas.

“I demonstrated my ability to keep calm in a bad situation, which is an extremely attractive behavioral trait.  She also found my intellect to be highly attractive, as I was able to suss out that we were in a former cargo hold and began a systematic search for containers with useful items.  As such I was able to procure a supply of food and water for drinking and bathing.

“My past experience and intellect also provided a means of rescue.  I have had past experience with war ships, and thus I knew that opening and closing an important door, such as an air lock, would have been indicated on a status display somewhere, and someone would come to investigate for either a malfunction or an intrusion.  After only seven days of being lost, we were discovered by the maintenance team sent to investigate the airlock and were guided back into the known portions of the gun ship.

“Now, generally it’s considered taboo for someone my age to pair off with a female as young as her; She’s only sixteen years of age.  Generally, it’s expected that I leave her for someone closer to her own age to pair off with.  However, there are some that prefer an older, much more experienced partner to pair off with, and such seems to be the case of this female.  Additionally, she has demonstrated a great degree of self sufficiency and capability for her age despite her lack of experience, so she is granted some leeway in how she selects someone to pair off with.

“As a matter of fact, you should have some recordings of entertainment that she created.  I myself curated the collection that was sent to you with the men we repatriated.  Such is her attraction towards me that she made several of those entertainment recordings dedicated towards me.”

“I do believe I know what he speaks of,” said Exedore.  “In one such recording, a female prefaces it by saying she made the recording for this very Micronian, mentioning him by name.  And then she mentioned something else.  She said that she ‘loves’ him, though I have no idea what that means.”

“It’s the emotional bond we form with other people,” I explained.  “There are varying degrees of love - love for a brother or sister.  Love of a friend or comrade.  There is even love for your own people in general.  But most important to us of all is the love of our life-partners.  Though not considered to always be the deepest and most selfless form of love, it is a central theme among our people.  This emotional bond is what helps keep life-partners together during trying times.

“Though in some cases this emotional bond is not enough or it fades over time.  It’s considered a sad thing among my people when it happens.  It typically centers around a point of contention that the two partners are unable to resolve.  Sometimes the separation is amicable - where the two simply agree that the situation is not as mutually beneficial as they once believed it to be.  At other times, the separation is a bitter and acrimonious one.  Such was the point of contention that the anger and resentment colors each partner’s view of each other.”

“I’ve heard enough of this prattle,” said Boldoza.  “I don’t believe you fully appreciate the situation you’re in.  we have enough power to destroy your ship as well as your entire world in and instant.  Observe this planet.”

A holographic display all around the conference table resolved, showing a massive Zentradi fleet closing in on a world.  It was a mostly white planet - icy and rugged with some small patches of greenery.  It reminded me very much of the tundras of Alaska and Siberia.  And then all at once, the massive fleet spat a volley of fire from their main guns.

The result was horrifying.

The entire atmosphere churned and boiled as it absorbed the energy from all those blasts.  The footage was then accelerated so we could see as the atmosphere simply evaporated away into space.

What had once been rugged snow capped mountains, frozen seas, and cold but lush tundras, only a surface that resembled our moon remained.

While my compatriots were aghast, I slowly turned to Boldoza.

“Was that planet inhabited?”

Boldoza harrumphed.  “What does it matter, Micronian.  The point is do you wish for the same thing to happen to your world?  Now tell me the truth.  Was everything you told us just now some kind of fabrication?”

I glared up at him.

Katherine?

Say the word, Garrick.  Say it and I will rip him apart.

That won’t be necessary.  We need a statement, not a manifesto.

...It’s pretty bad news if you’re quoting Tarkin.

But no less true.  Put Star Spark into hot standby.

Right away.

To Boldoza, though, I felt that I should make a point by imparting to him a bit of our own antiquated history.

“On my world, we have a legend about the life-partner, the wife, of a King of a land called Kieven Rus’.  We venerate her as Saint Olga of Kiev.  The King was slain, you see, as he went out to seek tribute from a tribe common people he ruled over known as the Drevlians.

“The legend goes that afterwards, the Drevlians came to the widowed Olga and offered their own prince to her to be wed to, seeking to boost their status by having their own prince become the ruler of the lands.

“Olga, however, already had a child by her late husband, and knew that if she married this prince that her son would never be King.  In fact, the child might even be killed to prevent any rebellions.

“The Drevlians, for their part, sent twenty of their best men to convince her to be wed to their prince.  She had them cast into a pit and buried them all while they were still alive.

“But she was not satisfied.  They had killed her husband and she would not stop until she had crushed their entire people as revenge.  So she sent word back to the offending Drevlians that she would marry their prince, but only if their most distinguished men came to escort her to their land.

“When they arrived, she bade them to bathe in a bathhouse she had her people build especially for them.  It was, of course, a trap.  The building was sealed and set aflame, burning them all alive.

“She then invited what remained of their upper class to a mourning feast in honor of her husband.  The tribe, not knowing what had happened to the previous envoys, responded obligingly.  Five thousand nobles and leaders came to the feast, and Saint Olga’s men waited on them, plying them with wine and ale until they were all drunk.

“And then just like that her men put them all to the sword, slaughtering them all like animals before they could even react in their drunken stupor.

“Finally, she declared open war and led her men to lay siege to their city.  With the greatest of their leaders all dead they struggled to fend her off.  After a time, she sent word to them - that she would be placated if they sent birds from each house in the city to her.

“This was a ruse as well.  Birds, as you may know, will always return to their homes to roost.  She had bits of sulfur tied to each bird and set them free.  When the bits of sulfur came into contact with the phosphorus bearing bird dung, the sulfur ignited and set the entire city ablaze.  Not a single building was spared.

“Her army then marched on the city and completely crushed them all, practically annihilating their people.

“So, Supreme Commander, I would caution you in dealing with us so rashly.  For my people are very well versed in the art of revenge.  And believe me, we will have revenge.  Even if there is only one of us left alive, that one would seek you out.  Play to your favor.  And then when you least expect it, they will slit your throat and leave you to bleed out like an animal in the slaughterhouse.

“Do not tread on us.”

Boldoza suddenly slammed a fist on the table staggering us all.  “I’LL TREAD OVER WHOEVER I PLEASE, MICRONIAN!”  And before any of us could regain our footing, his other hand swept down to scoop up Misa Hayase and hold her overhead in a tight grip.  Misa cried out under the pressure.

“Now tell me the truth, Micronian!  Or else I will crush your commanding officer right here in my hand!”

I have a long fuse.  It’s practically one of my defining characteristics.  Oh, I’ll get angry alright, but it’s always like a slow simmer in a pressure cooker, building pressure until I can let it go through one means or another.

But this?

I didn’t even feel this with Tirek.  Back then, it was only a cold certainty and knowing what I had to do.

This was Mount Saint Helens blowing it’s entire summit off.

“you think you have POWER OVER ME!!!  I’LL SHOW YOU THE TRUE MEANING OF POWER!!!”

I howled my battlecry, the one that was guaranteed to raise anyone’s hackles and scare the mortal soul out of anything in earshot.

I didn’t see anyone’s faces - only my objective: Boldoza’s wrist.  The one that held Misa tight.

There was a blade in my hand.  Katherine likely gave it to me - I wasn’t sure which one it was.  By the balance it felt like First Cut, but the weight was more like Funaho’s Sliver.  But that didn’t really matter.  All that did matter was that I make this a quick and clean cut.

It felt so natural.  The movement so pure and so sweet.  It was like when Chevy Chase exhorted in Caddyshack to be the ball.  This was far beyond being the ball.  This was seeing everything from a thousand angles.  This was the universe itself parting way for me.

This was the most utterly beautiful expression of a cut there ever could possibly be.

There was no resistance at all.  For a split second as I hung at the apogee of my leap it seemed that I’d done nothing.  But then a fine line appeared in his skin, like a seem in a cabinet being uncovered from the sawdust.  Boldoza’s hand slowly began to fall away from his wrist.  I reached out to Misa who grabbed my arm, us pulling together to free her from the now-slack hand.  Without even calling for it, Katherine activated the Emergency Escape, the hole appearing below mine and Misa’s feet.

Just as we slipped through, bellows of outrage filled the air, but only for a split second as the ‘hatch’ irised shut over our heads.  Misa and I drifted gently down to the floor of my C-Space where Hikaru, Max, and Hayao waited for us.

“Garrick, what the hell was that!?” cried out Hikaru as we set down.

“What do you mean?  I cut his hand off,” I replied as it should have been obvious.

“Not that, boss!” said Hayao with a look of awe on his face.  “You did it with a giant-ass glowing sword!”

“What, you mean my sword, Otouto?”  I held up my right arm...

...except my hand was empty.

“What?” I said.

“What’s wrong?”

“Did I leave my sword back there?”

“No, it just... dissipated.”

“Dissipated... as in not just ‘disappear’?”

“Yeah, it was like it turned into a whole bunch of lights like glowing grains of sand and they all faded out.”

“Wait.  Glowing?  As in the whole sword was glowing?”

“Yeah, that startled us, but it was weird because once we saw what it was I felt like everything was gonna be okay.”

“Yeah, what was that, Robber?” asked Max.

Katherine, did I really just...

Gar-kun...  THAT WAS SO FREAKIN’ COOL!!!  THAT WAS SO COOL THAT EVEN THE COOLEST GUY IN THE UNIVERSE CAN TAKE A LESSON FROM YOU!!!

I sighed.  “You guys remember that I said that Dr. Clay wanted to use me as a weapon because of the latent abilities of my people?  Well, that was a small taste of it - an actual sliver of my very own soul.”

“NO WAY,” said Kakizaki, taking a step back.  “What was part of your soul!?”

I nodded.  “Yeah.  That’s what makes me so special.  That beyond all the cool shit I got here, I can do that.  There’s only one other human being I know of that can do that, and he’s my adoptive brother, Tenchi Masaki.”

Suddenly there was an loud pop on the other side of my door, followed shortly by two more.

“Is that door gonna hold, Garrick?”

“They can toss planet-busters at it and it won’t even scratch the paint.  But all the same we shouldn’t linger.  Katherine, utilize the sensors and find us a quiet spot in the ship were we won’t be noticed.  And keep an eye out for Azonia’s ship.  It’s bound to show up sometime soon.

“Roger-Doger Gar-kun!” came Katherine’s voice over the audio system.  “Okay, I got one of the garage doors set up for you.  You should be safe.”

“Okay guys, this way.”  I led them all into the garage space and as I opened the door that had the green indicator over it, they all eyed the space, taking in my smithy, workshop, and tactical range.

“Christ, Garrick.  How big is this place?”

“Not as big as you might think.  I’m not even pushing a quarter of a square kilometer yet.  But I can make this place as big as a full square kilometer if I needed to.”

“You could fit all of Macross City in here!” said Misa in shock.

“It is a contingency Katherine and I had in mind.  A sort of break-glass-in-case-of-emergency thing.  Oh, before we go we might as well arm up.”

I went to a special alcove and keyed in a few well remembered digits.  A door opened and began to present weapons, one at a time, on magnetized mounts.  As I removed one, the mount would retract and present another one.

This was the core of my on-demand weapon system - where it was kept inside my C-Space and would quickly deliver weapons through portals into me waiting hands.

“Max, after me you’re the best shot here.  Take this.  It’s a high-power laser rifle.  It will fire a one-tenth second laser pulse at one terawatt per shot.  I don’t think I need to explain how much respect this thing demands.”

Max gaped as I handed him Raiden’s Toothpick and I walked him through the features and operations in brief.

The next weapon I went for was End of the Quiet Day.

“Hayao, I got something special just for you.  This is pretty much a forty millimeter grenade launcher, only with a ten round magazine.  Be very careful with where you aim it - I got these magazines loaded with high explosive hi-frag rounds.”  Hayao looked like a kid at Christmas time as I went over the operations and features.

“Hikaru, take this and be careful with it.”

“What is this thing?”

“I call it The Ugly Stick.  It’s an 8-Gauge rifle-barrel semi-auto shotgun packing a drum mag with fifty 3.5” magnum shells.  Normally those shells would be packing 1700-grain tungsten carbide penetrators, but having anticipated Zentradi these are instead fin-stabilized gyro-jet HE-AP rounds with PDD fuses.  They are guaranteed to fuck up any Zentradi with one shot.”

“What am I getting?” asked Misa with a worried look on her face.

“The nastiest one of all.  Say hello to Sunspark.  It’s a fluorine-chemistry plasma cannon.  SUPREMELY NOXIOUS.  If you use this thing, ma’am, you better damn well mean it, because the poor sunuvabitch you hit with this thing is gonna have an extremely horrible end.  Also, it has only two shots before I’ll need to replace the fuel cells for you.  Keep that in mind as well.”

“Hidoi!” she uttered as she accepted the warm death machine.

I nodded.  “I’m only giving it to you, ma’am, because no offense to the others, you’re the only one I feel is responsible enough to handle it.”

Max scoffed at that.  “No fucking kidding!”

I showed Misa the ins and outs of the weapon and especially cautioned her to lower the flash glasses whenever she made ready to fire.
There was just one last thing I wanted to do before we left.

##

Katherine placed the door precisely inside a vent that fed into Breetai’s ready room.  As I expected, he was in there doing paperwork - of which he undoubtedly had a great deal of given recent events.  Shutting my door quietly behind me, I dismissed it, and from within the vent I called out.

“Hail Commander Breetai of the Adoclass Expeditionary Fleet.  Ensign Garrick Grimm of Skull Squadron of the SDF-1 Macross respectfully wishes to parlay one last time.”

I heard Breetai scoff.  “Is that so, Ensign?  Very well.  Come out wherever you are.  I don’t believe any more damage can come of us exchanging words at this point.”

I stepped out of the vent and Breetai gave me a mildly bemused look.

“You are certainly more than you appear, Ensign.  What was that back there?”

“Think of it as a special ability.  Don’t worry, none of the rest of my compatriots have it.  I’m an outlier because I’m actually a traveler from a distant world who wound up at Earth.”

Breetai nodded with a grunt.  “Indeed.  Given what you did before, I’d be hard pressed to believe it if it was in a formal report.”  He then sighed and went on, “I’m not even going to ask about why you did what you did.  The Supreme Commander, as much as I respect him, acted rashly.  He backed you into a corner, so to speak, and you did what comes naturally in such a situation.

“Now between you and I, Ensign, how much that talk of yours was nonsense?”

“Sir, not one word.  I presented my... adoptive people as best as I can.  Though I fear that even if the Supreme Commander had accepted that at face value it would bode no good for my world.”

“You assume correctly, Ensign.  For the time being, my actions as Commander of the Adoclass Fleet are under review, and Boldoza, after his prosthetic is fitted, will convene a meeting of his command staff to begin laying out plans for the elimination of your world.”

I sighed.  “Can you provide a time frame?”

Breetai raised an eyebrow.  “Now why would you ask such a thing as fleet movements of me?  Surely you know that revealing such information is treasonous, at best.”

“Because I know you’re a good man, Breetai.  And that you’ve come to appreciate my people, if for nothing other than our skill as warriors.”

“This I will admit.  You micronians seem to have a certain X-factor that I believe has been missing from the Zentradi for many thousands of years.  I will say this much: you have, at the very least, four months.”

“Thank you, sir.  That might be just enough for us to at least survive and rebuild.”

“Now, how do you plan on getting back to your ship, Ensign?”

“We know that there’s a ship currently taking on supplies from your ship right now and it will be bound for my home system.

“Oh, did those three men volunteer to be spies?”

Breetai gave me a surprised look.  “How did you know of that?”

I sighed.  “Time is but a window.  Space is but a doorway.  Would you be so shocked to learn that I was once in another universe that had a window into this one?”

Breetai frowned.  “If this is true, Ensign, then you are playing a very dangerous game.”

“Yes sir.  The most dangerous possible.  But it is one that I must play for the good of my conscience.  I’ve saved many lives so far.  And I hope to save many many more.  Not only the lives of my fellow Terrans, but even Zentradi lives.”

Breetai frowned and gave me a thoughtful look.  “What are you playing at, Ensign?”

“Revolution.  Change.  Hope.  And a better tomorrow for both you and me.”

His look changed to one of surprise and shock.  “You would have us defect to your side?”

“We may be a vengeful people, Sir, but we are also capable of great levels of forgiveness.  We had to otherwise we would never have stopped fighting our myriad wars for even a minute.

“Besides, is it not always better to have a friend at your side than an enemy downfield?”

“Words of wisdom?” he asked.

“If you’d like to take it that way.  Though I will offer the wisdom of one of our greatest strategian as a warning, Sir.

“‘If you know yourself and you know your enemy, you need not fear the results of a hundred battles.  If you know heaven, and you know earth, then you may make your victory.

“‘If you know yourself, but not of the enemy, then for every victory gained, you will also suffer defeat.

“‘If you know not of yourself, nor of the enemy, then you will succumb in every battle.’”

“Wise words indeed, Ensign.  Tell me, do you believe that they apply, though?”

I regarded  Commander Breetai placidly.  “I know you, Commander, and I know the Zentradi.  I know my people and what they can and can’t do.  We know our world and our solar system.  It is our home.

“On the other hand, the Zentradi hardly know us at all.  And, I suspect, you do not truly know yourselves.”

“And how is that so, Ensign?”

I smiled.  “This is going to be something that I’ll leave for you to work out yourself, sir.  Don’t worry about your men.  I’ll make sure that they can gather all the information you want.”

“You mean the information that you want me to have.”

“I told the truth, Commander.  Whether you accept that or not is up to you... but I hope that you do.  Until next time, sir.”
With that, I stepped back into the vent and into my C-Space.

---

And so the die is cast.  All that we await is the reaction that the UNS has to this news...  Although we all know this to be a foregone conclusion.

Coming up next, revelations, celebrations, and even more revelations!

[Black Aeronaut]

Working on more - it's gonna be coming real son. Just want to keep my buffer maintained since its starting to look a bit thin lately. Expect another letters-from-home segment soon.

[Star Ranger4]

Well! Deep chapter, deep thoughts. And from the sound of it Dolza probably feels even more threatened, not less.

And even with these changes, I personally fear the UN High command would be even LESS inclined to talk, rather than shoot first. I can very easily see them deciding that people with such firepower, and this Might makes Right mindset, (never mind that they are falling into the same trap) would only respect someone who can fight them to a standstill. And that would mean proving the power of the Grand Cannon to them as a way to force them to the bargaining table. Too bad it will have the opposite result.

I hope Minmei can keep Garrick from a complete psychotic episode when he realizes that in this case his efforts have badly backfired.

[Black Aeronaut]

It's actually going to be fully expected. Keep in mind that there are at least three O-6 paygrade officers on board who have extensive experience with the higher ups that form the Spacey's High Command - something that is not really touched on in the anime because even in the original incarnation of Macross they didn't do their homework terribly well.

By all rights, an SDF should be an Admiral's Flagship - especially once they start sending out the colonization fleets - with a Commodore in overall command of the myriad organs (fighter and destroid squadrons, ARMD Platforms, etc), and the ship's 'skipper' being solely in command of the ship operations. This will be something that I address later on after the metaphorical rocks fall.

Additionally, I finally found a source with a suitable enough description of the technology that I feel comfortable in using it in the fic.
http://www.macrossnewhorizon.org/mediawi...technology

Thoughts?

[SilverFang01]

So the way I understood that document, the Thermonuclear Reaction Systems create a localized fold in the reactor to enable fusion? If the thermonuclear reaction is partially happening in fold space, that would explain why Valkyries don't blow like sub-nukes when receiving fatal damage.

My guess is that the SFDF-1 engines look like the ones in the TARDIS: https://goo.gl/images/fimDme

[Black Aeronaut]

It's really no different from what I had surmised on my own:

Now, just a break here to explain something critically important for later events.  I was basically getting a short primer to Overtechnology theory and how that applied to the fusion-turbine engines in our Valkyries.  I learned that Overtechnology’s reaction engines basically utilize dimensional distortions on a very small scale to break the laws of physics.  This way, you get a turbine engine that is capable of igniting a fusion reaction in its bowels.  Or other nifty things.

As for the main reactors of the SDF-1... honestly, I would expect it to be a bit more like the reactor from the Disney version of Jules Verne's 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea.  Complete with specially designed body shield for direct observation of the reaction taking place inside the reactor vessel.

[ECSNorway]

I just love how affable Breetai is in all this. Total gentleman throughout.

[Black Aeronaut]

I just love how affable Breetai is in all this. Total gentleman throughout.

That's the thing I find interesting about his character.  You hardly ever see him acting out.  The closest we ever come to that is when he rushes to deal with Hikaru and the others personally when they capture Misa.

I also distinctly remember that when the go to take the factory asteroid back to Sol System, he distinctly apologises to his fellow Commander for what he is about to do.  Breetai really is that kind of gentleman-warrior.

[Black Aeronaut]

Been too fraggin long.

Have an update of 5,000 words. 

It's only now in retrospect that I notice that Roy seems to be absent from the debriefing here.  Expect an updated version of that scene to be posted later on, but for now, assume that he's present for that.

---

The only other thing of note that we did was to have Katherine locate the docking bay they stashed our Valkyries in.  It was mildly tricky to pull it off without anyone noticing until they were gone, but by opening a ‘trap door’ beneath them and lowering them with a lift, it was a piece of cake.

Of course, this means I now have a hangar bay for four Valkyries in my C-Space.  But I figure that was bound to happen anyhow.

##

“Okay, so we got our Valkyries,” said Max.  “Now how do we get on the other ship?”

“Simple,” I said as I began to program in a second ‘low observability’ door.  “I just put this door that I’m making on that Meltrandi ship.”

“Meltrandi?” asked Misa.

I nodded.  “Meltran is the Zentradi word they use for females.”

“So they really are segregated,” said Misa thoughtfully.  “Well then, if we’re going to be stuck on their ship, then we might as well do some intelligence gathering.”

“You sure that’s wise, ma’am?” I asked.

Misa nodded.  “I fully intend to not let this whole fiasco be be for nothing, Mr. Grimm.  We should gather as much information as we can while we can.”

“Alright, but we gotta play this really Solid Snake style here.  And I am not even fucking around.  This is literally like playing MGS-3 on European Extreme mode.  If any of them see us, game over.  You guys get me?”

“Who’s Solid Snake?” asked Misa.

I blinked at her.  “You guys don’t have the Metal Gear series?”

“We do,” said Max.  “I think LT here is just one of the unwashed.”

“Excuse me!?” replied Misa sharply, causing him to backpedal with his hands up defensively.

I sighed.  “Okay, basically?  Secret agent BS, and AI-controlled battle movers complete with a nuclear warhead.  And European Extreme was the hardest difficulty in the third game.  Basically, if any of the enemies even saw you, then the game would end right there.  Any further questions?”

Everyone shook their heads.

“Okay, then let’s get this show on the road.”

##

Everyone took what I said to heart and we played things really cagey as we snooped through ventilation ducts, service passages, and equipment trunks, photographing everything of interest while we waited for the Meltrandi ship to defold.

One of the first places we visited was the bridge.

“Wow.  I thought that they might be ugly, but some of them look pretty nice,” said Hayao.  “Hell, some of them even look kinda cute.”

I nodded at that.  “They’re human.  Just because they’re fifteen meters tall doesn’t mean they’re going to look any different from us.”

And right then, two females swept into the command blister of the bridge I and signaled for everyone to be quiet.

“Who are they?” whispered Misa.

“The one with the curly hair is Commander Azonia.  She’s good.  Her unit is an elite unit even among the Meltrans, who are typically used as strategic units.”

“Who’s the one talking with her?” asked Max.  “She’s beautiful.”

“Yeah, that’d be Milia Fallyna.  She’s an ace and easily our rival.  She’s an honest to god prodigy.  My advice to you guys is that if we ever come across her, leave her to either Max or myself.  She’s so good that I’m not even very keen on facing her myself - I’d rather stall for time until Max can get to her.”

“Why me?” asked Max.  “I mean, I know I’m good, but am I really the only guy that can go toe-to-toe with her?”

I nodded.  “She’s all that and then some.  And you being able to keep track of multiple targets means that you’re the only one who can keep her occupied.”

Max nodded.  “Sounds like it’d be kinda fun to go up against her.”

“Don’t worry, you’ll get your shot at her.  Let’s keep moving.”

##

Shortly thereafter, we found the Queadluun Rau bay.

“What are those things?” asked Hikaru in a hushed whisper.

“Queadluun-Rau.  They’re high maneuverability battle suits used only by Meltrandi because only the females have the reaction times to handle them.  They’re incredibly fast and nimble, but very lightly armored.  They pack a helluva punch, though.  Those blisters above the shoulders and at the knees?  Missile pods.  Each one packs a couple dozen micro-missiles that are every bit as maneuverable as the Rau itself.

A female operations technician was busy making one of the Rau’s ready.  And then a door at the end of the bay opened, admitting Milia herself, wearing the intricate flight suit needed for piloting the Rau.

Misa frowned and said, “If she’s here getting ready to sortie, then we must be getting close.  We need to get ready.”

I nodded.  “Right, let’s go.”

##

The idea was simple.  Set the hangar bay doors to appear outside the hull of Azonia’s ship, blow the emergency opening, letting the decompression flush us out with our Valkyries, and then make for the SDF-1 on full burner.

The only snag was that we were plus one LT who did not have a ship of her own anymore.  And no one had the two-seat D-model.

“Well,” I said, “it’ll be a tight fit, but Hikaru is small enough that the two of you should be able to fit in the cockpit together.”

“What!?  Why me?”

“Hikaru.  Out of all of us you’re the smallest.”  It was one of those obvious things that no one really ever thought about.  While everyone kept track of the leaderboards for kills and missions completed, few of us ever really called any attention to superficial things like height.

“Oh alright,” grumbled Hikaru.  “Ma’am, I promise that I’ll be an absolute gentleman about this.”

“You’d better, Ensign,” replied Misa, though with the same coy smile that she wore when she was in his Valkyrie’s hand before.  “Or else I might actually have Roy put you to work for me.”

Hayao, Max, and I all subtly exchanged knowing smiles at that.

##

We sat, waiting for the moment that the skirmish would start and provide the fog of war we needed to make our escape.

What was strange was that now we had Katherine patched into our tactical net.

This was a first for me, hearing her girlish voice in my headset.

“Okay everyone, they’re launching their battlepods!” she announced for everyone to hear.  “I’m gonna shift the doors and blow them open in ten seconds.  Get ready!”

We all set our engines to maximum military power, just like as if we were getting ready for a catapult launch.  Except that we had wheel brakes locked hard, keeping our birds rooted to the spot.  It would be up to us to release the brake on time to get the most out of this stunt.

Katherine gave us all the countdown.

“...3... 2... 1...” suddenly, the hangar doors snapped open and the air turned white as the water content suddenly crystallized into ice-dust.  “GO! GO! GO!”

And then we were away!  It was amazing that we went unnoticed for a whole minute until the Gnerl and Battle Pod pilots began to take notice.

Not that we were interested in a fight.  Everyone was dry on ammo, though I still had 22 rounds in my gun pod.

“Don’t engage!  Just keep burning!” Hikaru called out.  “Robber, you got us covered?”

“Like a mother hen, Fuzzy!”

Fortunately, I only had to make examples out of one or two of them, and even then I merely wounded their machines with grazing strikes using my lasers.

Honestly, I was sick of killing.  These were people for Tsunami’s sake.  Misguided, yes.  But still very much people.  And I wanted as many of these people to come to our side - to join us and take joy in life.

Yes, many of them would still want to fight.  But I would do what I can to push for them to have the option to remain as soldiers.  Fighting was in their blood.  They craved confrontation.  We just needed to give them ways to blow off their steam when frustration begins to take their toll on them.

“FUZZY!  ROBBER!  IS THAT YOU!?” came Roy’s voice over the tactical net all the sudden, cutting off my thoughts.

“Sure is, Mother!” called back Hikaru, every bit as elated.  “We even have the LT here with us!”

“Hot DAMN you guys are a sight for sore eyes!  Gunsight, Skull Squadron Actual - RED WING HAS RETURNED!”

##

The excitement was palpable, even in the vacuum of the Prometheus’s hangar decks.  But once we all made it into the locker rooms, we all got dogpiled by our fellow pilots.  Back slapping, rough hair rustling, and shoulder punching abounded as we were all cheered.  It wasn’t just that we were heroes once again.

More than that, everyone was simply glad to have us all back.

“CAPTAIN ON DECK!” someone sounded off and then everyone snapped to attention as Captain Gloval made his way briskly towards us.

“At ease! At ease everyone of you!”  He suddenly took me by the shoulders.  “вот тебе и на! (vot tebe i na!)” he cried out happily then laughed heartily as he pulled me into a back-slapping manly hug fit for the Russian he was.  He then went and did the same to Hikaru, Max, and Hayao all in turn.

“You crazy young men!  I had a feeling you would all set the world on fire!  Now, there is much to be done.  You all must be debriefed, and I am thinking that we should do this very quickly, for there is a certain little lady that I fear will start tearing through the bulkheads to get back to you, Mr. Grimm!”
With that, everyone in the locker room erupted into gleeful jeering as everyone in range began smack my back and tousle my hair.

“CRADLE ROBBER!” they all called out.
The captain then raised his hands and everyone fell silent.

“GENTLEMEN!” he called out to us.  “I want you all cleaned up and in your best uniforms.  You are to be at Headquarters in thirty minutes for debriefing!  MOVE!”

No one needed to be told twice.  A great hooting and hollering broke out as everyone made way for us so we could hit the showers first.

##

It was just like the thing with the Zentradi prisoners all over again.  Only this time, Claudia was present as the person to make a record of the debrief as Misa was intractably apart of this incident.

“So,” said Captain Gloval as he bade everyone to have their seats.  “Where to begin?  The last we knew of you, you had all vanished from our line of sight and we detected one of their ships folding out.”

“Much has happened, sir,” replied Misa Hayase solemnly.  “But before we get into anything else, Ensign Grimm has something that he needs to disclose.  And sirs... Before he does, I would advise that this matter be kept classified on a need-to-know basis.  And also, you need to keep an open mind about what he is about to tell you.  It...  it’s very big.”

Gloval looked curious.  Maistrof looked like he was about to explode.  But Captain Edmund Duke raised an eyebrow and said,

“Boy, what in tarnation have you been up to?”

I sighed, knowing that there was no easy way of doing this.

“Sirs, I’m an interdimensional traveler.  A slider.”

For a moment, the only sounds were the faint noise of air circulating through the vents overhead and the deep, almost subliminal thrum of the ship itself.

“You what?” said Duke.

“Probably better that I show you, sirs.”  I then tapped out the command on my C-Pod, and the door to my C-Space appeared.  “Who wants coffee?”

##

I had to call up a few more chairs.  Maistrof, predictably, damn near exploded in outrage and had to spend some time outside cooling off.
Gloval was utterly and genuinely bemused.  After everything he’d been through lately, what more was a slider being right there in their midst, and fighting as one of their own.

Duke, on the other hand...

He simply shook his head and took it all in stride with that southern pragmatism.

“Alright then, so let me get this all straight.  Yer from a whole different kinda Earth, got adopted by some alien empire so yer technically a goddamn prince, ya got yerself four women waiting back home fer ya (oh lordy is that ever gonna go over like a lead balloon!) and on toppa all ‘at you got yerself some superpowers.

“Did I miss anything, son?”

“Sir, his knowledge of things that are going to happen,” said Misa.

Duke shook his head.  “Christ on a crutch, son.  I think that’s the worst one of all.  How we gonna explain all this craziness to the boys back in Anchorage?”

“Sir,” said Misa.  “My father is a member of the Admiralty board.  I have credibility, and I can vouch for Mr. Grimm personally.  He has been doing the very best he can for us.”

“Right, right, an' all without upsettin’ the apple cart.  I know, Lieutenant.  Problem is them boys in the Admiralty ain’t gonna see it that way.”

“Maybe so,” said Captain Gloval, breaking his silence.  “But what would they do?  Trump up charges against him?  Whether they like it or not, Mr. Grimm is already a war hero on par with our own Mr. Fokker.  A coverup like that would be far too blatant.  Too many questions would be asked.  Questions that cannot be pushed aside so easily with a statement of ‘No comment’.  Many of these men have political careers to think about, and damming a war hero in such a way would not bring favor from any of their constituents.”

Duke grunted at that.  “I see yer point, Commodore.  Don’t mean it don’t worry me none.  Ass holes like that got ways to lean on people.  Bad ways.  Our boy here may have been hiding things from us, but it weren’t outta malice.  I can even understand why the boy’d keep something like this under his hat.  For god’s sakes, I’m drinking coffee that was grown by a buncha goddamn technicolor ponies.  And god help me, this is some damn good shit, son.  I wish you had a way of getting a supply line on this fer the Officer’s Wardroom.  Make some of our days a helluva lot more tolerable.

With that, I made a ‘wait one’ gesture, went to the replicator, and paged through the menu before making my selection.

A five pound can of coffee grounds resolved in the alcove, which I then took and handed off to Captain Duke.

“That should be every bit as good as the original,” I explained.

The Captain just shook his head.  “Son, you are something else, you know that?”

I smiled wryly at that.  “I try, sir.”

“Well,” said Captain Gloval, “I think it’s best we moved on.  We already covered the basics of what happened.  Now I think it is best we got the details straight.  Miz Hayase, what strength would you say this fleet is at?”

“Sir, there could have easily have been over a hundred-thousand ships in that fleet, perhaps even more, and what’s more is that there is a distinct implication that there are hundreds of such fleets roaming the galaxy at large.”

Duke snorted.  “As if them damn politicians are gonna think ahead on this.  Dumbasses are all in the pockets of those fuck-head industrial consortiums buildin’ them damn Grand Canons.  Fat lotta good that’s gonna do us.  If what you said is true, it won’t matter if we cover the whole damn planet with them things.  They just blow the whole world to smithereens after we piss them off.”

Gloval nodded.  “Hence Mr. Grimm’s idea of a cultural assault.”

Duke scoffed in amusement.  “Commodore, if that shit works, I will give my hat to Miss Minmei and have her cook it for me so I can eat it.”

“It’s not going to be enough,” said Maistroff stiffly from the entrance of my C-space, which I had left open for his benefit.  He then came and took a seat in one of the easy chairs I had brought out.  “Even if it is successful, I believe there are still going to be a good number of units that will remain loyal to their central authority.

“Make no mistake of it, gentlemen: Earth is doomed.  It’s not a matter of if, but when and how badly.”

“So what in tarnation you gonna have us do about it?”

“This girl that is infatuated with Mr. Grim?  She has family in Yokohama.  I have some diplomatic contacts at the British embassy in Juban.  Once we reach Earth, it won’t be hard for me to call in a few favors.  We can get that girl out to see her family...  And meanwhile, Mr. Grimm can pass on the information that everyone needs to know.”

“You make this sound as though getting her to see her family will be problematic in the first place, Colonel.”

“It will be,” replied Maistroff.  “I know how these men think.  Imagine what it must have been like when we folded out, taking the entire island and a good bit of the Pacific Ocean with it.  At the very least there would have been a tsunami.  People will want to know why there was one and why suddenly South Ataria Island no longer exists.

“Gentlemen: It is clear from the recent actions of High Command that we have been written off as dead.”

“He’s right,” said Captain Duke quietly.  “And knowing those bastards they’re gonna want to keep us that way.  Which will mean no contact with the public at large.”

“Hmmm,” replied Captain Gloval, deep in thought.  “I see your point, gentlemen.  So, they’ve locked the door and pulled in the welcome mat as well.  You believe you had an ‘in’ with the British Embassy, Colonel?”

“After a fashion.  The United Kingdom’s ambassador to Japan is none other than my father.”

“Well, ‘at’ll do the trick alright,” remarked Captain Duke.  “That just leaves the question: what can the folks back home do about this mess?”
Maistroff nodded.  “Those weapons they used... judging by the effect they had on that tundra planet, it was like a mass bombardment of airburst nuclear weapons.  And I know what I am talking about.  I was an officer at Strategic Command at the very height of the Cold War.

“If this really is the case, then we may have a chance.  People can build shelters.  They can survive this.  And once it is all over, we can start rebuilding.”
Captain Gloval nodded thoughtfully.  “Indeed.  I myself remember these things from the side of the Soviets.  Many terrible ideas.  Horrible ones.  How ironic is it now that the apocalypse will not come from us bombing each other into stray molecules, but instead from an alien race with long-dead masters?

“Gentlemen, I think we’ve carried on long enough.  We have deliberations to discuss and plans to make.  Let us turn our boys and girl loose so they can enjoy themselves.  Perhaps a 72 hour pass?”

“At the gahdamned least,” replied Captain Duke.  “Alright kids.  Y’all get the hell outta here an try not to paint too much of the town red.”

“Uhm, sirs?” I said diffidently.  When they all looked to me, I looked meaningfully around.  Fortunately they all caught on.

Maistroff gave Duke a savage grin.  “Telling the man that invited you into his own home to ‘get the hell out’?  So much for Southern Hospitality.”

“Aw cannit ya damn limey Brit.”

##

And just like that, we were all whisked away while still in our best uniforms to the amphitheater where the Miss Macross Pageant had been held.  We were all stood up before the crowd of civilians, and our return was cheered triumphantly.  As I looked out into the crowd, though, I saw a trio of familiar faces.

“Hoi, LT!” I said quietly to Misa as I subtly nudged her.  “Check out who’s in the audience - eight rows from the front, five columns from our left.”

“What are you...” said Misa, but trailed off as she spotted our friends, Dosel, Nantes, and Bromco. “Them!?” she hissed, barely keeping herself from crying out loud.

I then grinned mischievously.  “Let’s round them up for the after party, huh?”

“Are you sure that’s a good idea, Lieutenant?” she asked archly, using my not-as-of-yet-official rank.

“Positive.  You saw the recording I made of my last conversation with Breetai - they’re here to see if I was lying or not.  Let’s show them just how much of a lie it was.”

We were cut off at that moment as Minmei was suddenly introduced.  She came in from stage-right, carrying bouquets of red roses.  She first handed one to Misa, shaking hands with her and welcoming her back.

And then she skipped over me.

This confused the hell out of everyone as they all began to think to themselves, ‘Hey, waituhmintue! That’s not how the script goes!’  However, I was the only one that saw her give me a mischievous wink and grin as she passed by, so I already knew she was up to something here.

Hikaru was next, though instead of a handshake, he got a chaste kiss on the cheek that set him to blushing furiously, and the crowd practically screamed in both amusement and outrage.

Max and Hayao both got the same treatment, making them both radiate bemusement as the crowed cheerfully jeered them and tossed out halfhearted threats of emasculation.

But then, Minmei came back to me, and without a word she pulled me down into a very spirited and steamy kiss.  I upped the ante by dipping her as we kissed, almost reenacting that infamous kiss a sailor gave to a nurse in New York City on Victory Day.

Utter pandemonium ensued.

If the act hadn’t been something so innocuous, then a hard nosed cop might have arrested her for inciting a riot.  People screamed all kinds of things at me.  Cradle Robber.  Lucky Dog.  Bastard.  Lucky Bastard.  Even ‘pedophile’ got thrown out by a few that really wanted to make their point clear.  But that, by far, was the smallest minority.

It’s a foregone conclusion that Minmei had staked her claim on me.  This simply put all the rumors to rest.

“I missed you,” she whispered in my ear as we broke the kiss and simply held each other.

“Missed you too.  Sorry about this.”

“Don’t be.  It’s not your fault.”

She then pulled away, but not before giving me one last impish peck on the cheek, and then left me with my own bouquet before stepping to the side and announcing that she would welcome us home with her break-out single, My Boyfriend is a Pilot.

Before, people had thought that the song was just pure metaphor.  But now everyone knew for certain that she meant every word of a song about her boyfriend, and how he’d fly so gracefully that she would sometimes wonder if he loved his plane more than her.

Of course, everyone knew better, but it was understandable that a girl does sometimes wonder - even if in a humorous, self-deprecating manner.

Immediately after Minmei bowed, Roy Fokker came out in his best uniform, as he had the distinct honor of frocking us all.

Misa Hayase was promoted from Lieutenant Junior-Grade to Lieutenant.

Myself and Hikaru from Ensign to Lieutenant Junior-Grade.

Max was awarded a meteoric promotion to Ensign.

But Hayao remained an enlisted man with a promotion to Petty-Officer, Second-Class.  He was happy enough with that, though, as just being in charge of his own plane and its support crew was responsibility enough, thank you very much!

And after one more performance by Minmei, we were about to all be shuffled off, but I stayed the hands of the ushers, jumping into the crowd, Misa following me closely, and Hikaru not far behind even though he didn’t know what was going on.

Everyone parted way for us, though a few wanted to shake my hand.  I had to pass on that because this had to be done fast.

“Hoi!  Dosel! Nantes! Bromco!”

The three Zentraedi intelligence agents went white as sheets as I called them out by name.  I just smiled at them.

“C’mon you guys!  You gotta be hungry, right?”

The three looked at each other and shrugged, no doubt recalling the last time they had enjoyed their time on board our ship, which admittedly had been a surprisingly comfortable experience for them, all things considered.

They all came over and joined us as we were hustled out en mass to the back exit where a limousine waited for us.

“You guys!?” cried out Hikaru in surprise.  “How did you get here?”

“Classified!” cried out Dosel.  Hikaru rolled his eyes.

Misa picked up the thread, though.  “You were all sent here to spy on us, right?”

“Uh, maybe?” replied Nantes sheepishly, earning a sharp look from the others as we all piled into the limo.

“Guys, it’s alright,” I said once I made sure the window between us and the driver was closed.  “I want to help you.”

“What!?” cried out Dosel, aghast.  “You’d commit treason to help us?”

“It’s not treasonous to help you understand our culture,” I replied.

“Yeah,” said Hayao, who’d seen the recording along with the others.  “You guys are just here to see if Cradle Robber was lying or not.”

“Ah guys?” said Minmei plaintively.  “What’s going on?”

We all blinked as we suddenly realized that there was a civilian amongst us.

“Hooo boy.  Sir?” I asked, looking to Roy, who was in on the whole thing anyhow, having been there for my rather remarkable debriefing.

Roy shrugged.  “Can’t hurt anyhow,” he replied.  “If they’re gonna learn about our culture, then it can’t hurt if they’re friends with Miss Macross herself.”

Minmei blushed at that appellation.

“Right then,” I said.  “Minmei, I want you to meet Loli Dosel, Conda Bromco, and Warrera Nantes.  They’re the three Zentraedi Hikaru and I captured a while back, and they’ve been sent back to learn more about us.”  I then looked to the three Zentraedi.  “Guys, this is the girl I mentioned before during our questioning - this is Lynn Minmei, my girlfriend.”

“So... males and females really do live together?” said Bromco, still reeling from the experiences they’d been through.

“What?” said Minmei in surprise.  “You guys don’t!?”

“Yeah, they’re segregated by gender,” I said.  “Probably cuts down on so-called ‘distractions’.”

“I’ll say it’s a distraction!” said Dosel.  “How do you guys even function?”

Minmei grinned.  “Practice.”

The rest of us laughed at the incredibly dead-on quip, further confusing the three Zentraedi.

##

It wasn’t long, of course, until we were pulling up in-front of the Nyan-Nyan.

It was just one of those things, you know.  It was so natural.  Everyone simply knew this to be.  It was so pervasive that once word got around, Mr. Truent, without it being requested of him, cleared Minmei’s schedule for the next three days and set to work on getting everything back into line.  So pervasive that once word got out, people began showing up at the Nyan-Nyan.  Some bore gifts: flowers, cards, some candies and treats.  Others pitched in to help with the sudden onset of decoration for the party.

The party that was entirely expected to happen.  The one that every Valkyrie pilot and a good number of Destroid jockeys all showed up to without even being asked, but were welcomed anyhow.

The party in our honor that we showed up to, knowing full well that was going on without ever being told about it by anyone.

It was simply a fact of life here in Macross City.

We walked into the Nyan-Nyan.

Everyone cheered as I reenacted the kiss Minmei and I had earlier, sweeping her off her feet once more.  Claudia was already there waiting and joined us the moment we entered, giving Roy a kiss to rival the one Minmei and I shared, provoking an equal measure of cheers.

Then the eleven of us; Roy, Claudia, Hikaru, Misa, Max, Hayao, Loli, Condo, Warrera, Minmei, and me; sat down together at a table, Minmei practically sharing one space at the table with me, and the festivities commenced with a great feast.

To say the least, we were all treated to the sight of three Zentraedi who’ve never enjoyed ‘real food’ before, have their minds completely and utterly blown.

##

That night, Roy assured me that he’d look after our three new friends for the night... after which he’d make sure that they made things right by helping to fix the damage they’d done to the locker room they broke into and become gainfully employed.

As for me...

Minmei dragged me up to her room.  No one said a word.  If anything happened, it was fine by everyone else.  This was a special occasion, after all - I and my compatriots had practically come back from the dead.  Auntie, in fact, shoved a few condoms into my hands, making it clear she didn’t want to explain any pregnancies out of wedlock to her in-laws, and causing Minmei to snicker wickedly at my humiliation.

However, nothing happened.  Minmei slipped into her pajamas.  I put on my own (she had tucked a set of mine away in her room once she heard I was coming home).

We didn’t even really say much.  She simply pulled me down into her bed with her and we kissed for a time, carefully restraining ourselves despite what we both knew what we really wanted.  And I knew she wanted to.  It was hard to miss from the way she wrapped herself around me.  But she held true to her word: until I put a wedding band on her finger, then I was out of luck.  And her as well, it would seem.

But that was fine.  It was good to wait.

We slowly deescalated, banking the fires of passion in favor of a steady and comforting warmth of simply being together as we slowly drifted off to sleep.

---

Let me tell you, I wouldn't want to wish that level of temptation on -anyone-. 

[ECSNorway]

Looking good so far, except you apparently have Minemi in the limo with Garrick et al and then she's already at the NyanNyan waiting for them to arrive.

[robkelk]

Yep. The easiest fix is simply to delete the line "Minmei practically screamed despite the fact that she knew I was coming."

If you still want her to be audibly delighted, she can really like the kiss.

[Black Aeronaut]

Ugh. Yeah, that was a leftover bit from some older material that I missed. Earlier I had forgotten that there was the whole welcome home ceremony back at the amphitheater and went back to do some rewriting... Argh.

EDIT: And fixed.

[ECSNorway]

Yup, good fix.

[Black Aeronaut]

It should not be so easy.

Even with things stacked in Garrick's favor, Minmei is still a young girl.  And even one who is so self-confident is going to stumble when she finds out...  well, what she's about to find out.

She isn't giving up.  She may falter, but she hasn't come all this way for nothing.  But it's going to be confusing for her, dealing with emotions that she's never really dealt with before.  Oh, she's had a crush or two before.  But those were just crushes.  Right now, Minmei is head-over-heels for Garrick.  And for the first time ever she is going to feel genuine heartbreak.

Ironically, this is something all of Garrick's ladies have in common.

For Minagi, it was the loss of her Father.

For Yuki, it was a life bereft of love from her family.

For Yume, it was the pain of leaving behind her people and culture.

For Achika, it was the boyfriend that left her after the Kane incident.

And now, for Minmei, it's going to be the shattered image of her fairytale ending, and the hard choice: leave Garrick behind, or share him with four other sister-wives.

And this opens things up for more conflict.

While Minmei is still going to be very much in love with Garrick, Lynn Kaifun will immediatly pick up on the rift between the two and try to take advantage.  And while Garrick will initially shut him down with the very valid point that Minmei's turbofan plane cannot be overloaded, Kaifun will appeal to the British Ambassador, citing that his own parents are on the Macross.  Garrick is absolutely powerless when the ambassador says that he will clandestinely arrange for a 'space availability' seat on the next supply shipment to the SDF-1 for Lynn Kaifun.

And what's worse is that Minmei is going to take it badly when Garrick warns her that her cousin only wants to use her.  After all, her cousin cares about her, right?  RIGHT?

The only thing about this new plot development is that a good bit of material is gonna wind up in my recycle bin.  But hopefully I'll find a use for it elsewhere.

There's still more stuff I need to work out - saving Hayao and Roy, a duel between Max and Myria, and perhaps even a showdown between Garrick and Kamjin.  And also perhaps bringing in the characters from Robotech: Battlecry - because while that may be entirely a contrivance of Harmony Gold, they were still getting the cribbing for their baby entirely from SDF Macross, and only so it would fit in with the timeframe.

Besides, I need more Valkyrie squadrons, and Wolf Squadron will go well in there.  But also, Garrick is going to be given his own squadron - not one of the already established ones.  Due to their losses, Wolf Squadron is basically reinforcing them permanently, while the remaining squadrons' planes and pilots are shuffled into Skull Squadron and another heretofore named squadron.  Gloval is going to tell Garrick, though, that before they all get shuffled in, Garrick is to take his pick of the veteran pilots and the newbies finishing their crash-course training.

This means that I need to come up with a whole slew of pilots, but I'm thinking of just snagging them from different things here and there, like Top Gun.  Except some of the names are gonna be different.  'Maverick' and 'Ice Man' are waayyyy too cool sounding (pun not intended).  Call signs are supposed to be embarrassing.  Goose, though, will get a pass.  His name will be the result of a noodle incident that nearly got him kicked out of combat pilot school that involved his instructor telling him that his goose was cooked.  And in fine tradition, it stayed with him.

Anyhow, thing is that Gloval wants a 'special missions' unit that's a veritable swiss army knife.  He's already got elite units - Skull, Wolf, and the Squadron that's going to be led by Max and Myria...  But Garrick's unit?  That will be the one where you a troublesome spot hammered with extreme prejudice and utter impunity, such as a hard to hit and highly mobile guerilla unit.  And there's going to be plenty of those running around after Budolza bites the dust.

Oh yeah, shit is gonna be MESSY.

[Norgarth]

for the new squadron, you could borrow from the Star Wars novels and use Wraith Squadron.

If you're unfamiliar with them, in the process of kicking the Empire off Corusacant, Wedge Antilles had turned Rogue Squadron into a fighter unit that could double as a commando team (elite pilots with a variety of other skills). Afterwords he decided that the Alliance needed a commando unit that could double as fighter squadron and assembled Wraith Squadron. (experts in demolitions, infiltration, etc, who were also decent fighter pilots)