Fanfic Name / Nombre del Fanfic: Choices and Aces

Chapter / Capitulo: Chapter Ten

Author / Autor: Anonymoose_Au

Rating / Clasificacion: AP15 (For Teenagers = Para Adolescentes)

Romance

Action / Accion

Alternate Universe / Universo Alterno

Fanfic: “Macross City Productions is proud to present the first movie ever made entirely on board a space ship, 'Small White Dragon'! This masterpiece starring our own 'Miss Macross', Lynn Minmei and karate black-belt Lynn Kyle will thrill all ages. Buy a ticket now!” Promotional flyer for 'Small White Dragon.' 
 
 
The Bridge Bunnies were giggling with excitement. 
 
“Oh wow!” 
 
“This is so romantic!” 
 
“I can’t believe you didn’t tell us ‘til now!” 
 
“Well, we’ve been pretty busy,” Claudia held up her hands in protest. 
 
“How did he do it?” Sammie demanded, “Did he get down on one knee and have a jewellery box and everything?” 
 
“That was when he proposed to me, dear.” 
 
“So, when is it happening?” Kim demanded, bouncing in her seat. “Can we be bridesmaids?” 
 
The other two had, surprisingly, not considered that and they gave out squeals of excitement.  
 
“Oh yes! Please, Claudia!” 
 
“We’ll pay for our dresses!” 
 
Claudia held her hands for calm. “Woah, woah, calm down, we’re looking for a small wedding, it’s hardly the time for unbridled celebration.” 
 
“Of course it is!” Sammie leapt to her feet and clasped her hands together. “It’s just the thing to cheer up the Captain! He’s going to officiate isn’t he? Oooh!” 
 
“He’ll wear his full dress uniform and so will Commander Fokker,” Kim jumped up to, “and so will the other men at the wedding! Oooh, I love the dress uniform!” 
 
“Now –“ Claudia made an attempt to break in and stem the excitement. 
 
“My favourite part is the medals,” Vanessa announced. “You can tell the bravest ones that way!” 
 
The three girls giggled amongst themselves. 
 
“HEY!” Claudia clapped her hands. “Let’s calm down, huh? Nothing’s been arranged yet, we haven’t even spoken to the Captain yet, he might not allow it.” 
 
“Why not?!” Kim demanded, looking personally insulted. 
 
“Yeah, Captain Gloval’s no meanie,” Sammie protested. 
 
“No he isn’t, but as I’m sure you’ve noticed there’s a war going on out there and the aliens have just brought back their reinforcements, all one million of them. Now isn’t the time for relaxing.” 
 
“Sure it is!” Vanessa objected. 
 
“Yeah, it’s when times are toughest that you should celebrate the most.” Kim said in a wise tone. 
 
“I think you should get married as soon as possible,” Sammie nodded. 
 
“Well, not this weekend I can tell you that much,” Claudia told them good naturedly. 
 
The Bridge Bunnies looked confused. 
 
“Minmei’s movie is coming out; don’t you want to see it?” 
 
“Ooh,” the Bridge Bunnies leaned towards each other. “Lynn Kyle!” 
 
“But we can’t go,” Vanessa frowned. 
 
“Yeah, we’re on duty,” Kim sighed. 
 
“It’s totally unfair!” Sammie pouted. 
 
“Well, Opening Night will be a total sell out, but we could all go the next day.” Claudia suggested, offhandedly. 
 
“Yeah! It could be your Hen’s Night,” Sammie took the idea and ran with it. “We could go to this little club afterwards, it’s called 'Soar'.” 
 
Kim and Vanessa burst into giggles. 
 
“And what does this club involve?” Claudia asked, raising an eyebrow. 
 
“Oh, you’ll see.” Vanessa drawled. 
 
At that moment the hatch opened and Lisa entered. 
 
“What’s all this?” She greeted them. 
 
“Oh, it’s so exciting!’ Sammie burst out, before Claudia could even open her mouth. “Claudia and Commander Fokker are getting married!” 
 
Lisa’s eyes widened in surprise, she turned to her best friend. “You are?” 
 
“Nothing’s set,” Claudia waved a hand, “the girls are just speculating.” 
 
“She just needs to ask the Captain,” Kim remarked. 
 
“Excuse us, girls,” Claudia took Lisa’s arm and lead her back out of the Bridge. “Um, sorry about that.” 
 
Lisa tilted her head. “Why?” 
 
“Well, I really should have told you first, but it sort of slipped out.” 
 
Lisa laughed, shaking her head. “I’m not surprised.” 
 
“You’re not…” Claudia wondered if she should even ask… “upset are you?” 
 
“Why would I be?” 
 
“Well,” Claudia shrugged, about to say it, but thought better of it. “I don’t know, I just thought you might be.” 
 
Lisa smiled. “No, I’m happy for you. Let me guess, though, you’ve got your bridesmaids taken care of?” She pointed toward the Bridge. 
 
Claudia rolled her eyes. “They’ve offered to pick up the tab at least.” 
 
Lisa laughed and shook her head. 
 
“But you’ll be my Maid of Honour right?” Claudia put a hand on her shoulder. 
 
Lisa hid behind her hair, suddenly shy at the suggestion. “Well…I guess so.” 
 
Claudia grinned. “Great! And I won’t even make you pay for your dress.” 
 
*** 
 
“Drink up!” Roy announced, raising a glass of beer and taking a long swallow. 
 
“Uh,” Rick looked at his uncertainly. 
 
“It’s not poisoned, you know,” Roy laughed, “at least…I hope not.” 
 
“It’s not that, I’m just not a big fan of beer…” Rick defended himself. 
 
“No-one ever is at first.” 
 
Rick sighed. 
 
“OK, what’s got you down in the dumps?” Roy demanded. 
 
“Oh, nothing.” 
 
“Please, I’m not an idiot, come on, spit it out.” 
 
“Well, Minmei’s movie is coming out tomorrow, they’re having a party at the Hotel tonight…” 
 
“What do we have that hotel for anyway,” Roy asked, idly, “it’s not like you can’t get home.” 
 
Rick glared at him. “This is serious.” 
 
“OK, OK, Minmei’s movie is coming out tomorrow, and…?” 
 
“Well, how am I ever going to have a chance with her?” Rick took a small sip of his beer, made a face and then pushed his beer aside. 
 
“Huh? I don’t think I’ve had that much to drink, but I’m not seeing the connection.” 
 
“I’m just a fighter pilot and she’s the darling of this ship! What would she see in me?” 
 
“Gee, Rick, no need to beat yourself up,” Roy patted his shoulder, “there’s plenty of things for Minmei to see in you, least of all you saved her life, gave her you medal of valour and all that.” 
 
“I don’t think she remembers those things,” Rick shook his head. 
 
“Geeze that must have been some collapse from exhaustion then, you don’t usually forget things like that.” 
 
“Well, OK, it’s not like she’s forgotten more like…well, not that she doesn’t care…it’s just…” Rick struggled to articulate the problem. 
 
“She doesn’t take you seriously?” 
 
Rick shrugged. 
 
“Well, she’s just a kid; you can’t really expect her to.” Roy finished off his beer then gestured to Rick’s. 
 
Rick pushed it over to him. “She’s not that much of a kid, I mean when I was her age I’d won –“ 
 
“Yeah, yeah the Amateur Flying Competition four times in a row,” Roy rolled his eyes. “I hate to break it to you to you, Little Brother, but that by no means meant you weren’t still a kid. Hell, I was still a kid until I went to war.” 
 
“But we are at war, Roy.” 
 
“Well, it’s not quite the same for Minmei, it’s not like she’s been in the cockpit of a veritech while aliens have been coming at her from all sides trying to take her out.” Roy pointed out. 
 
Rick tapped his fingers on the bar. “So I should just give up and go home?” 
 
“Did I say that? I’m just saying, maybe Minmei isn’t ready for a relationship, that being the case…well…there’s not much you can do, but suck it up.” 
 
“So you are saying forget it.” 
 
“Well, OK, for the meantime then,” Roy shrugged, taking a swig of beer from Rick’s glass. 
 
“I’m still going to go to the premier tomorrow,” Rick declared, stubbornly, then asked. “You want to come?” 
 
“Nah,” Roy shook his head, “I’m not up for paying twenty bucks.” 
 
“Cheapskate,” Rick poked his tongue out at him, “and I paid for that beer too.” 
 
“Hey, I’m probably going to have to pay for a wedding soon, I need to save everything I’ve got.” Roy reminded him, then he picked up a bowl of nuts and placed them in front of Rick. “But hey you can have these.” 
 
“Gee, thanks.”  
 
“Don’t mention it, I know I’m a stand up guy,” Roy patted Rick on the back. 
 
*** 
 
Captain Gloval had been invited by special invitation to the party at the Centinel Hotel. 
 
Ordinarily, he wouldn’t go to this sort of event, but he felt he should seeing as how Minmei had rushed to his defence. 
 
But the party was as boring as he expected, attended mostly by those in the media, the actors, the politicians who had been caught up in the space fold and a few other people Gloval hadn’t even been aware were on the ship. 
 
One who he had been aware was on the ship, Jan Morris, runner up of the Miss Macross pageant, was talking his ear off. 
 
“It really is quite amazing, Captain, what the stars can tell us, why I knew days before your announcement that we were leaving Earth. But you can rest easy, we will return to Earth…I’m not quite sure when, Sagittarius is being difficult and –“ 
 
Gloval tuned her out and looked about for Minmei, thinking perhaps he could thank her again for her help then make some sort of excuse to get out of there. But she was nowhere to be seen. 
 
“Captain Gloval!” Tommy Luan called from the other side of the room; he had two punch glasses in his hands and held them up in Gloval’s direction. 
 
“Oh, it’s the mayor,” Gloval interrupted Jan, “I really must speak to him, have a good evening.” 
 
Jan polished off almost an entire glass of wine in one swallow and waved him off. 
 
“Thank you, Mayor,” Gloval greeted the man once he was in earshot. “The conversation I was in…well…” 
 
“Yes, Miss Morris has become undeniably odd since her defeat,” Tommy said off-handedly. 
 
“So…how are the civilians holding up?” Gloval asked, it had been little more than a fortnight since the SDF-1 had left Earth, but it felt much longer to Gloval, busy as he had been. 
 
“Oh, same ol’ same,” Tommy waved a hand, “you know what they say, you can’t keep us down.” 
 
“I’m relieved,” Gloval sighed, “I will never understand the UEG’s reasoning.” 
 
“Eh,” Tommy shrugged, “politicians, what can you do?” 
 
At that particularly moment Councillor Clarke, a representative of the British Government came by with two plates stacked with food. 
 
Tommy winced, worried that perhaps he’d been overheard, but Councillor Clarke just looked over at Gloval. 
 
“Hello, Captain! Good night, hmm? Smashing food here,” Clarke held out one of his plates for Gloval’s inspection. 
 
“I’ve had some all ready,” Gloval told him, “it’s very good.” 
 
“I’m sure it’s no good for me, eating all this,” Clarke continued, almost to himself. “But we never do know when we will go, do we?” 
 
“Uh,” Gloval stalled, not sure how to answer that, but thankfully Clarke had all ready moved on heading for a lone table in the corner. 
 
Gloval turned back to Tommy Luan wanting to ask more about the civilians, but at that moment a voice called. “Tommy!”  
 
“Ooh, the ol’ ball and chain calls,” Tommy laughed, “been good talking to you, Captain, enjoy your evening.” With a wave he disappeared into the crowd. 
 
“Hmpf,” Gloval muttered to himself, wondering if there was a balcony somewhere, since typically there was no smoking inside the Hotel. At least that’s not an order, since it’s surely an impossible one. 
 
*** 
 
Rico, Konda and Bron had made their report to Lord Breetai and Exedore, showing off the various micronian treasures they had brought back. 
 
They hadn’t been able to get through the whole report however, since hearing about micronian life seemed to be too much for the Great Breetai and the three spies had been dismissed. 
 
But for the first time, the three spies had not be honest with their Commander, not only had they glossed over some of the aspects of micronian life they were sure neither Breetai nor Exedore would approve, they had kept a few of their souvenirs for themselves. 
 
Prized among them was the Minmei doll, which contained the singer’s two hit songs. 
 
It had not stopped there, though, the three had decided to show some of their fellow troops what life was like on the micronian ship. 
 
And now, three of them were around a table in a conference room, watching in awe as Rico, Konda and Bron explained them. 
 
“So one of these shows images of a non-combat nature?” One of the green-uniformed Zentraedi, named Tezel, demanded in disbelief, holding a tiny video tape in his hand. 
 
“Uh-huh,” Bron nodded, “they have places with thousands of these, and the micronians are free to take them for entertainment.” 
 
“’Entertainment’,” the second Zentraedi, Mardul echoed, pushing back a lock of greenish-black hair off his forehead. “I don’t understand, aren’t they too busy practicing for combat.” 
 
“That’s the thing,” Rico spoke up excitedly, “most of the micronians don’t engage in combat.” 
 
The three Zentraedi almost fell off their seats. “What?!” 
 
“They’re slaves?!” The third Zentraedi, Furel, demanded. 
 
“No, they’re not,” Konda shook his head. “They just don’t participate in combat; instead they create the entertainment for the other micronians and rebuild things.” 
 
“Re…build?” Tezel asked, confused by the word. “You mean…they can fix things?” 
 
“Yes!” Bron cried excitedly, as Rico and Konda nodded. “They can build new things too and for meals they make all sorts of things.” 
 
“They don’t have rations?” Furel shook his head as if he couldn’t believe it. 
 
“Nope! We had heaps of things! In fact, Konda here even learnt how to prepare some of them.” Rico spoke with a grin. 
 
The three looked at Konda in awe. “Wow.” 
 
Mardul became intrigued by the Minmei doll. “What about that? Is it a micronian? Why doesn’t it move? And why is it so small?” 
 
“It’s not a micronian, it’s a doll, a representation of a micronian, and in this case, it represents Minmei.” 
 
“What’s Minmei?” Tezel asked, leaning close to look at the doll. 
 
“She’s a micronian female, who sings to the micronians aboard Zor’s ship.” Rico told them. 
 
“’Sing’? What’s that?” Furel asked. 
 
“This.” Bron reached forward and very, very carefully flicked the switch on the back of the Minmei doll. 
 
"Zoom, Zoom 
Zoom, Zoom 
My boyfriend is a pilot, he’s a pilot now! 
He soars through the skies 
So free, but he passes me by 
As I wait for him to call me. 
But he’ll be back you’ll see! 
Zoom, Zoom 
Zoom, Zoom" 
 
The three Zentraedi jumped back in their chairs, shocked at first at the sound of music and singing coming from the doll. 
 
“What is it for?” Tezel gestured toward the doll. 
 
“Entertainment!” Rico, Konda and Bron said in unison. 
 
“The micronians seem to spend a lot of time on this ‘entertainment’,” Tezel remarked. 
 
“They do,” Bron nodded, “but then that’s because it’s fun. It’s fun to listen to music and watch non-combat images.” 
 
The three Zentraedi, as if in agreement, were listening to the Minmei doll completely enthralled. 
 
"I love him, he loves me, 
But sometimes I think he loves his plane more, 
All he wants to do is soar. 
Zoom, Zoom, 
Zoom, Zoom 
My boyfriend is a pilot, he’s a pilot now!" 
 
*** 
 
Miriya stalked down the street, micronians parting before her, once they got a look at her face. 
 
'Where can that micronian be? How could the greatest warrior aboard be so impossible to find? Surely honours and awards should be heaped upon him…these micronians make no sense.' 
 
She flung back her green hair in annoyance, wishing she could strike out without falling under suspicion. 
 
As she rounded the corner she almost collided with a group of micronians, all in a line. 
 
The one in front of her whirled around. “Hey, watch –hey there.” 
 
It was a male micronian and he was looking at her in a strange way, a way that many males seemed to look at her on this ship. 
 
Miriya’s first instinct was to glare at him, but then she reconsidered, she knew micronians only lined up to see something important. Perhaps…? 
 
“Excuse me,” she said to the male instead, “what is going on?” 
 
The male laughed, “I’m surprised you don’t know, honey, this is the line for 'Small White Dragon', Minmei’s movie!” 
 
Miriya was confused at been addressed as a food item, which was another thing that happened a lot when she confronted male micronians. She dismissed it however. 
 
“It’s a big event,” she observed. 
 
“The biggest! Say, I’ll let you cut in front of me, huh? What do you say?” 
 
Looking at the long line that snaked around the corner, Miriya didn’t think it would really make a difference, but then taking advantage of these males was a satisfying activity, with combat denied to her. And all ready a dozen micronians had lined up behind the one she was speaking to. 
 
She nodded. “Why thank you.” 
 
“Don’t mention it, we’ll share a popcorn, hey,” the male said, stepping back to let her in front of him. 
 
Miriya merely nodded, but really had no intention of staying with this male and sharing ‘popcorn’, what ever that was. 
 
The line slowly inched forward, and Miriya tried to listen to the various conversations around her. A movie, she had figured out was a series of images, like battle footage, it stood to reason then, that this 'Small White Drago'n was about the micronian who had bested her! Micronians seemed to enjoy attaching pointless names to everything. 
 
'And Minmei,' Miriya continued her trail of thought, 'must be the micronian who defeated me. Well then…I’ll have you now.'

Continue / Continua: Yes / Si