Fanfic Name / Nombre del Fanfic: Choices and Aces

Chapter / Capitulo: Chapter Twelve

Author / Autor: Anonymoose_Au

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

Romance

Action / Accion

Alternate Universe / Universo Alterno

Fanfic: “For the first time in recorded history, Zentraedi felt they had better things to do than fight! We did not realise it at the time; of course, if we had we would have taken swift action to prevent it from spreading further.” Exedore Formo, 'The Zentraedi Question' 
 
 
Miriya had viewed the unfolding scene between the male and female micronians in abject horror. 
 
The touching had been bad enough…but the pressing of lips! 
 
She had wanted to turn away, but her body had felt frozen, unable to comprehend what was unfolding. It is even worse than the ‘song’, than the energy pulse from the micronian’s hand! She cried inwardly, it seemed to violate everything she’d ever known. 
 
The sickening thrall of the image was thankfully broken when a micronian sitting in front of her suddenly jerked to his feet, blocking her view. 
 
Those around her were not in the least relieved, in fact they shouted angrily at the male. 
 
“Hey siddown!” 
 
“Get out of the way, buddy!” 
 
“Don’t make me come down there!” 
 
The micronian ignored them, turning he swiftly pushed his way into the aisle and dashed towards the back of the theatre. 
 
The male and female on screen were no longer pressing lips, but he was carrying her in his arms as he ran through the trees. 
 
'Why are the female micronians so weak?' Miriya wondered, still slightly dazed. 'Could the lip pressing be a weapon used by the males against them? And for what purpose?' 
 
Miriya did not have much time to wonder about it, because at that moment a shrill alarm sounded and the comm. screen suddenly went black. 
 
There were more shouts from the micronians around her, but then a female voice announced. 
 
‘All civilians evacuate! Repeat all civilians to the nearest shelter! We are under attack! Modular transformation will commence in one minute. Repeat-“ 
 
All around her micronians were leaping to their feet and spilling into the aisles, rushing for the back doors. 
 
“Come on, let’s go!” The female on Miriya’s left shouted. 
 
Miriya hurried to her feet and was soon swept up in the crush of bodies, and was propelled out of the huge room, her feet barely touching the ground. 
 
Being in such close proximity to males as well as females was intensely uncomfortable, but the flow did not stop, not until the pack she was in had left the huge hall of the building, crossed the street and gone down a flight of stairs to a lower level of the ship. 
 
Then the crowd dispersed and Miriya found herself in another large room, with recessed shelves in the walls stuffed with an odd array of unidentifiable objects. 
 
A wave of unease crashed over her. 'Where am I? Why are we here? Do the micronians know I am not one of them?' She looked from face to face. 'Have they all been sent to kill me?' 
 
*** 
 
On the Bridge, Sammie, manning Lisa’s post in her absence was almost going to pieces. 
 
“A small attack group is coming from…from…” 
 
“Niner seven point two,” Claudia called to her. 
 
Sammie repeated the information. 
 
“Roger,” came Roy’s voice, “flying to intercept.” 
 
Meanwhile Sammie’s replacement, Laura and Kim were giving reports from within the ship. 
 
“Section 18 is reporting heavy damage,” Kim called. 
 
“Block A is reporting a loss of gravity,” Laura announced. 
 
“Oh no! It’s all my fault!” Sammie was almost in tears. 
 
“Calm down, calm down,” Captain Gloval said from just over her shoulder where he had position himself. “Everything will be just fine, keep the veritech squadrons updated on the enemies movements, that’s all we can do.” 
 
Sammie nodded, but wished desperately someone would rescue her from her predicament. 
 
As if reading her mind, the Captain asked. “Claudia, any word from Lisa?” 
 
“Negative, sir,” Claudia shook her head, “she was last seen at the movie premiere, she must have been herded into a shelter.” 
 
“Hmmm, I see,” Captain Gloval rumbled. 
 
Sammie was far less calm she clasped her hands together in a prayer. “Oh Commander Hayes, please get back soon!” 
 
*** 
 
Lisa, however, was going nowhere, of all the rotten luck, who should run into her; literally, as she fled the theatre in the wake of Minmei and Kyle’s on-screen kiss, but Lieutenant Hunter! 
 
Since, his release from Macross General, Rick had had little if anything to say to her. He had barely acknowledged her words of condolence on Ben Dixon’s death and certainly had not gone of his way to speak to her off-duty. Evidently, he was too wrapped up in Miss Macross. 
 
So when he had grabbed her from behind she had been more than ready to land one right on his kisser. 
 
But the streets had been so crowded with those who had not got into the premiere, but had stuck around in the hope of seeing the stars leaving, that she had let him off not wanting to humiliate herself. 
 
Now, the two of them were trapped in a tiny space created by two servo blocks. 
 
“Well, this is just great,” she said now, arms folded, “you really have a top sense of direction, Hunter. How’d you get in the RDF again?” 
 
“Hey! Don’t blame this on me,” Hunter snapped from his position as far away from her as possible.  
 
“If we had gone to a shelter like I’d wanted we wouldn’t be in this mess!” 
 
Lisa merely hmpfed, since privately she had to agree with him. 
 
A few long moments passed. 
 
“So,” Rick said, slowly, “what were you doing out on the town?” 
 
Lisa bristled slightly at his tone, but seeing as how they were trapped together, decided to try and be polite. 
 
“I was at the premiere; I know the manager and he got me a ticket.” 
 
Rick looked completely stunned. “YOU at a kung-fu movie?” 
 
“For your information,” Lisa snapped, hotly, “I have a life beyond the Bridge. Does it shock you that much that I like to see movies?” 
 
Rick shrugged, seeming not to realise how much he was pushing it. “I’ve always pictured you as the home-all-alone type.” 
 
“And I’ve always pictured you as a complete numbskull!” 
 
“Hey, you don’t need to yell,” Rick held up his hands. “I’m just saying I’ve seen you all but three times in Macross City since I’ve met you.” 
 
“And the first time you were looking up my skirt!” 
 
Rick blushed a fiery red. “I was not! I dropped my shopping! Why would I look up your skirt? You’ve got nothing I want to see.” 
 
It took all of Lisa’s self-control not to go over to Hunter and knee him in the groin. “How nice of you to say,” she said instead through clenched teeth. “You’re not a person I want to see either, AT ALL.” 
 
Rick glared at her then looked away. “Fine, if that’s the way you want it.” With that he slumped to the floor putting his arms around his drawn up knees and looked away from her. 
 
Lisa felt a prick of discomfort. “Look, Hunter, there’s no need for us to act like children. You just need to think before you speak.” 
 
Rick didn’t answer. 
 
“You know, you can’t be expected to be taken seriously if you’re going to act like a child.” 
 
Still no answer. 
 
“And you’re acting like one right now, Hunter,” Lisa’s voice got higher with anxiety, “a big spoiled brat, is that how you want the world to see you?” 
 
Rick was silent. 
 
Lisa dropped to her knees. “Rick, please, answer me,” she gulped down a wave of fear. “I get insecure when people won’t talk to me,” she admitted, almost in a whisper. 
 
“Huh?” Rick turned to here with a look of utter surprise. “You insecure? Give me a break.” 
 
“I’m not a robot,” Lisa objected, hiding behind her hair, “no matter what you think, I like to have company.” 
 
“Well, uh…” Rick looked embarrassed, “look, I’m sorry I said what I did. It’s just I can’t believe we’re trapped here like this.” 
 
Lisa gave a small smile. “I know, it’s almost like been back on that Zentraedi battle cruiser.” 
 
“Well, at least we know there won’t be any giants trying to crush us here,” he looked up through the small gap above them, but there was nothing to be seen or heard. 
 
“What do you think they’ve attacked us for this time?” Rick turned to here. 
 
“It’s hard to say, isn’t it?” Lisa shrugged. “Their command structure seems to have collapsed in the time since they first attacked us.” She was in her element discussing war strategy and tactics. “They seem to have spilt into two groups, the large one seems to think that this Protoculture we allegedly have needs to be taken back, but the smaller group disagrees.” 
 
“Yeah, well, the smaller group still has enough fire power to take us out,” Rick pointed out, morosely. 
 
“They do,” Lisa nodded, “but they haven’t succeeded so far, because the larger group always intervenes. If anything we should thank them, otherwise we’d be dead now.” 
 
“Forgive me if I don’t send a card,” Rick said sarcastically, but as the sarcasm wasn’t directed at her, she laughed. 
 
“I can agree with you there!” 
 
*** 
 
“Man, what a drag,” Joseph declared, “not to mention a rip off! Just at the best part of the film.” 
 
Max was laid-back about it, having got used to combat interrupting everything and anything in life. 
 
“Well, you win some, you lose some,” he said to Joseph with a shrug, then he folded his arms behind his head and leaned back against the wall. 
 
“I hope we get our money back, at least,” Joseph remarked. 
 
Max just nodded, absently, his mind on the battle outside; he wondered how it was unfolding and who was out there. 
 
Suddenly, a flash of green caught his eye. 
 
Since the start of the millennium weird and wacky hair colours had been the norm. Just about anyone who was a natural blond was unnaturally something else. 
 
But Max had never seen such a vibrant shade of green before. 
 
And the woman the hair belonged to… 
 
'Wow, where have you been all my life?' Max’s eyes widened behind his glasses. 
 
The green haired woman was stunning, dressed in an odd ensemble consisting of dark green knickerbockers, a tight fitting purple vest over a white ruffled blouse, white stockings and a pair of dark green high heeled mary janes. 
 
She carried herself like she owned the place and seemed to be in deep though, Max tried his best to catch her eye, but uninitiated in flirting as he was, he was not too surprised when he failed to and she strode right by. 
 
Joseph was staring after her, too, but more in surprise than in admiration. 
 
“Nice,” Max whistled, almost to himself. 
 
***  
 
In Skull One, Roy was trying to figure out what on Earth the aliens were playing at this time.  
 
The small attack group seemed to be playing ‘catch me if you can’. They had started at the SDF-1 full blast, but now were slowly retreating as if trying to draw the veritechs into a trap. 
 
Of course, having recognised this, Roy had ordered his men to keep well back and at the same co-ordinates as the SDF-1, so the alien cruisers would not be tempted to fire on them for fear of destroying what they were there for. 
 
Finally, the aliens realised that the humans were not about to fall for something so obvious and began to withdraw in earnest. 
 
“Should we pursue?” Gibson appeared on Roy’s left side screen. 
 
“Negative, Skull Two, we’re not here to tempt fate,” Roy replied, shortly. 
 
Once Gibson disappeared from the screen, Roy shook his head. He’d never get used to having that guy, rather than Kramer. 
 
“SDF-1 to Skull Leader,” Sammie appeared on screen, “all veritechs return to base.” 
 
“Roger that,” he smiled and unable to resist, gave the girl a wink. 
 
Sammie’s cheeks went bright red and she gave a surprised giggle. 
 
Roy relayed the order to the rest of the men and turning sharply, the veritechs headed for home. 
 
Roy though, took one last look over his shoulder at the retreating enemy and wondered if anyone would ever understand their tactics. 
 
*** 
 
“I am sorry we are out of ‘Get us outta here you stupid machine’, please reorder.” 
 
Rick felt like banging his head against the wall, not only had the stupid cola machine not gone to for help, it had continued to circle the crevasse and repeat that phrase over and over. 
 
“We can rebuild an alien star ship, but we can’t shut that thing up?” Rick snapped, pointing a thumb up in its direction. 
 
Lisa shrugged. “You shouldn’t have yelled at it.” 
 
Rick looked at his commanding officer, who was surprisingly stylishly dressed in a long white coat, green pants, yellow turtleneck and red boots. No matter what her story was, Rick was still curious about why she had gone to the premiere. 
 
“So, come on, spill,” He spoke up, startling her a little, “what’s the real reason you went to see Little White Dragon? I can’t believe you’re a big kung-fu fan, or a Minmei one for that matter.” 
 
Lisa’s cheeks were faintly pink and she folded her arms across her chest. “Think what you want.” 
 
“Well, you obviously have a crush on someone in the movie,” Rick continued his speculation. “Hmmm, let’s see,” he tapped his forefinger against his lips and his mind raced back to a few months ago, when he’d brought Minmei and her cousin back from Yokohama. “I know its Kyle, isn’t it?” 
 
Lisa jumped and turned from him so he couldn’t see her face. “Don’t be ridiculous.” 
 
“Oh, come on, don’t be shy, if you ever wanted to prove you’re not a robot, this is it,” Rick laughed. “And its Kyle you just can’t resist, his long black hair and kung-fu fighting,” he whistled a few bars from the song. 
 
“Well, what about you?” Lisa whirled to face him. “You’re supposed to be in love with Miss. Macross, aren’t you? Haven’t seen you two together lately.” 
 
Rick’s shoulders slumped. “You’re right; Minmei barely knows I’m alive anymore.” 
 
Lisa didn’t say anything. 
 
“You left the movie for the same reason I did, you couldn’t stand to see the person you’re in love with kissing someone else. What a joke.” 
 
Lisa didn’t agree, but she didn’t deny it either. 
 
“Minmei’s a lost cause,” Rick acknowledged, “but we had something once. Kyle, though, how could you fall for someone so totally anti-military?” 
 
He was surprised when Lisa actually answered him and moved by the pain in her voice. 
 
“He reminds me so much of my fiancé; he had to go away, to Mars to get away from all the fighting on Earth. He died there before I had a chance to be with him again.” 
 
Rick went to say something, but Lisa continued, her voice thick with tears. “Whenever I see Kyle’s face, I see Karl’s and I miss him so-“ 
 
“Don’t cry, Lisa,” Rick begged his own eyes stinging with sympathetic tears. “Please don’t.” He rifled through his pockets and pulled out his handkerchief. “Here take this.” 
 
Lisa took the handkerchief with a small sob and pressed it to her mouth before drying her eyes. 
 
“Thank you,” she said, “I’ll have it dry cleaned.” 
 
“Don’t go out of your way or anything,” Rick told her, “it’s just a handkerchief.” 
 
Lisa gave a wavering smile and then blew her nose before pocketing the handkerchief. 
 
“I guess that’s love,” Rick said, returning to the original topic, “but what can you do?” 
 
“I wish I could do something,” Lisa murmured, “I hate feeling this way, I wish it would stop.” 
 
“Hey,” Rick laid a hand on her arm, “don’t be like that, it’s better to have loved and lost than never loved at all, right?” 
 
Lisa turned to look him right in the eye. “Do you really believe that?” 
 
Rick found his thoughts drifting as he looked at Lisa, her thick brown hair, her sad green eyes, her lips… 
 
“Uh…” 
 
Lisa seemed entranced too and slowly they began to lean toward one another. 
 
“Attention!” Sammie’s voice blared, making them jump, “the attack has ended, the ship is now returning to its normal configuration. Thank you for your patience and remain safe.” 
 
Suddenly, the servo that had blocked them in retreated, revealing a corridor, a way to the city streets above. 
 
“Thank God that’s over,” Rick cheered, jumping to his feet. 
 
“Oh, thanks a lot,” Lisa made a show of looking affronted. 
 
Rick laughed and held his hand out to her, she took it and he helped her to his feet. 
 
“Well, it wasn’t all bad, you’re not as strict as you appear to be,” he smiled at her. 
 
“And you’re not as dumb,” Lisa joked back. 
 
“Come on, let’s get going,” Rick rolled his eyes and dropped her hand, taking a step forward. 
 
“On second though, why don’t I lead,” Lisa said, stepping ahead of him. 
 
*** 
 
Azonia had been in a foul mood ever since Breetai’s return, but Yiata could not really blame her, having been present to see Commander Breetai so coolly brush of Azonia’s command and her attempts to make a report. 
 
Since then, Lord Breetai had not deigned to contact the Commander of the Female Zentraedi, but Khyron had been more than glad to. 
 
An alert sounded, indicating an incoming transmission. 
 
“From Lord Khyron, m’lady,” Yiata informed her, “shall we ignore it?” 
 
Azonia ran a hand through her dark blue hair in any annoyed gesture. “No, let us see what the cretin has to say.” 
 
Yiata sighed, but patched the transmission through. 
 
“Well, well, well, Lady Azonia, worn out from lons worth of combat,” he drawled. 
 
“About the same amount of combat as you have had, Lord Khyron,” Azonia returned, icily. 
 
“Commander-in-Chief Dolza was not pleased to hear of your failures,” Khyron prodded, ruthlessly, “why I’ve heard that your command may be withdrawn and handed to another…more worthy candidate.” 
 
Yiata was unable to suppress a small thrill of hope, if that were true, perhaps His Excellency would choose…her. 
 
“It doesn’t surprise me that you would engage in mindless speculation, my Lord,” Azonia began, a cold smile curving her lips, “it’s something in your field after all.” 
 
Khyron’s eyes narrowed dangerously and for a moment it looked as though Azonia had bested him. 
 
But Khyron was not one willing to take defeat, so with a laugh he went on the offensive. “You of course have no talent for speculation of any kind; otherwise you would have seen your failure coming.” 
 
Azonia jumped to her feet. “Now, you listen to me!” She yelled. “Speculation or not, my rank still supersedes yours! Continue to taunt me and you will find yourself on trail for treason, don’t think I wouldn’t do it!” 
 
Khyron though, seeing how he had angered her had had enough; an almost innocent smile had spread across his face. “Why, I don’t know what you mean, my Lady Azonia, I am merely passing on information to a comrade of a higher rank. Do you mistrust me so?” 
 
Azonia did not answer, at least not to his face, with a strangled grunt she signalled for the transmission to be cut. Once it was, she spoke. “I would not trust for all the ships in the Armanda.” 
 
*** 
 
Sammie was looking at Claudia, slightly wary, but Claudia just rolled her eyes. 
 
Honestly, Fokker, you’re such a flirt. 
 
Vanessa and Kim were giggling while Laura just looked non-plussed. 
 
“You’re such a boy-stealer, Sammie!” Kim called, waggling her index finger at her best friend. “And to have a go at Claudia’s man!” 
 
“I was not!” Sammie protested. “Oh, Claudia, you know I wasn’t!” She turned to her. “I’d never got after Commander Fokker, especially since you’re getting married and all.” 
 
Captain Gloval who had returned to his command chair suddenly looked up.  
 
“What?!” 
 
“Oops,” Sammie put her hands to her mouth and Vanessa and Kim fell silent. 
 
'Oh, Sammie,' Claudia thought, shaking her head. 
 
The cat was out of the bag, the Captain go to this feet and walked over to Claudia. “What’s all this?” 
 
“Well, I was planning to leave it to a more appropriate time, sir,” she dodged a glance at Sammie, “but, well, I ask permission to get married, sir.” She saluted, smartly. 
 
Captain Gloval stroked his moustache. “Married?” He repeated. 
 
“Yes, sir, I know we’re in a war, but well, you’ve got to take the bull by the horns, as they say.” 
 
“To Commander Fokker,” the Captain seemed to need clarification. 
 
Claudia began to feel slightly nervous, had she read the Captain wrong? Was he going to flip his lid over this? “Uh, yes sir.” 
 
Silence reigned over the Bridge, a truly out of the ordinary occurrence. 
 
Then a smile creeped across the Captain’s face and he reached out to give Claudia a hug that almost took her off her feet. 
 
“So you finally got him to do it?” He cheered, laughing. “Congratulations, my dear! Congratulations!” 
 
Vanessa, Sammie and Kim clapped their hands together in excitement. 
 
“Oh, see Claudia! We told you!” Sammie cried. “Captain Gloval’s just as happy as we are!” 
 
The Captain nodded. 
 
“Oh, it’s going to be great!” Vanessa cheered. 
 
“Especially with you officiating, Captain!” Kim blurted. 
 
Captain Gloval stopped mid-laugh, his eyes widening. 
 
“Whaaat?” He asked again, staring at Claudia. 
 
Claudia clapped a hand to her forehead.

Continue / Continua: Yes / Si