Fanfic Name / Nombre del Fanfic: Choices and Aces

Chapter / Capitulo: Chapter 15

Author / Autor: Anonymoose_Au

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

Romance

Action / Accion

Alternate Universe / Universo Alterno

Fanfic: “The micronians spend most of their time in mindless activities, much of it revolving around the various types of ‘food’ they consume. Doubtless they have nothing better to do and lack the knowledge and skill to create non-organic sustenance. I am quite certain that their bizarre behaviour can all be traced back to this ‘food’. A waste of time if there ever was one.” Captain Miriya Parina’s initial intel notes for her spy report. 
 
 
The reception was in full swing and Roy was piling two plates with food for himself and his new wife. 
 
“Hey, Fokker, congratulations,” Gibson showed up next to him. 
 
“Thanks,” Roy replied, surprised to see the guy in a good mood, for as long as he’d known him, Gibson had a scowl on his face. 'I guess he’s a closet romantic…or enjoys a free meal that’s actually good.' 
 
“I can’t believe how good the women here look out of their uniforms,” Gibson continued casting an admiring eye around the room. 
 
“Uh-huh.” 
 
“And with the dress uniform, I’m sure to score,” Gibson brushed an invisible speck from his jacket. 
 
'‘Cause that’s what weddings are for.' Roy rolled his eyes, but decided that he might as well keep been polite. “Yeah, it’s a good turn out.” 
 
“I had no idea you were in with Lieutenant Grant,” Gibson continued, helping himself too a large amount of coleslaw. “I had the idea you were more of a playa.” 
 
“Well...” Roy shrugged, not too sure how he was supposed to answer that one. 
 
“Not that I blame you,” Gibson gave a laugh, “if I were Skull Leader I’d sure take all the chicks I could get.” 
 
Roy decided the guy must be slightly tipsy, which was the only way he could stop himself from making some snide comment. 
 
“Well, to each his own,” he said instead and made a quick escape to the bridal table. 
 
“Not planning to eat for a while?” Claudia greeted him as he set her plate down in front of her. 
 
“Hey, you know the rule get it while it’s good,” Roy kidded, sitting down next to her, “we should get a doggie bag.” 
 
“Romantic,” Claudia drawled and took a bite of salad. “Mmmm, this is great!” 
 
“You were saying?” Roy winked at her. 
 
“I hope the rest of them are enjoying it,” Claudia remarked. 
 
“Hmmm,” Roy took a look around; most of the guests were not at the tables, but milling about talking to each other and holding glasses of wine. 
 
Roy kept an eye out for Rick, wondering what his Little Brother was up to. 
 
He finally spotted him, over in the corner having been waylaid by one of the Cat Crew officers. 
 
“Hmmm, what do you think of that?” He asked Claudia, pointing towards the sight. 
 
“She’s probably chewing his ear off about his catapult etiquette,” Claudia grinned, “he’s always a little overeager.” 
 
“Hey, you don’t know what it’s like out there,” Roy objected. 
 
“I know I don’t want to get run down by a veritech!” 
 
Rick had managed to escape and was hurrying over to them. 
 
“I swear everyone on this ship is crazy.” 
 
“Well, get used to it,” Roy laughed, taking a forkful of marinated chicken, “it’s not like there’s anywhere else to go.” 
 
Rick came around to the other side of the table and sat in the chair next to Roy.  
 
“I hope you’ve got a good speech ready.” 
 
“Ugh, don’t remind me,” Rick sighed. 
 
“Oh, it can’t be that bad,” Claudia tried to console him leaning around Roy. 
 
“If you get in trouble, though, just propose a toast to Earth and getting home,” Roy advised. 
 
That got a small laugh out of Rick. “Thanks for the advice, Big Bro,” he got to his feet, looking at the food on Roy’s plate. “Any wings left?” 
 
“Should be,” Roy nodded, “most of the guys are too busy avoiding the Bridge Bunnies, and the women are all comparing dresses...again.” 
 
With a wave Rick headed off to the buffet table. 
 
“People are so hard on those girls,” Claudia remarked, “it’s so unfair, they’re not THAT bad....And they’re better than YOU were.” 
 
“Hey now, you’re not supposed to bring that up until we’re all drunk during the speeches.” 
 
Claudia gave him a wink. “The speeches? You better watch it, Fokker, the things I could tell them about you.” 
 
“Let me guess, you’d like more salad?” 
 
*** 
 
A whirlwind of preparation was going on for Minmei’s Birthday Concert, which was to be held the very evening. 
 
Minmei was busy picking the outfits she would wear, she wanted each one to match the songs she would be singing, her red Chinese cheongsam for 'Small White Dragon', a polka-dot party dress for 'Stage Fright' and a modified sailor suit for 'My Boyfriend is a Pilot' among others. 
 
Kyle meanwhile was on the phone to Vance wanting his assurances that the Star Bowl was not oversold and that the extra musicians that were to perform along with Minmei’s regulars knew all the songs. 
 
“This is an important concert, OK, Vance,” Kyle snapped, “don’t forget that.” He hung up abruptly. 
 
“You didn’t need to be so harsh,” Minmei looked over her shoulder at him, “Vance can be sleazy, but he’s a good manager.” 
 
Kyle shrugged. “I just didn’t want him to get complacent just because your movie is doing so well.” 
 
“I’m sure the concert will be fine, after all you’ve helped stage manage it,” Minmei smiled at him.  
 
Deep down though, she wasn’t so sure about holding the concert on her birthday. Originally she had wanted to hold it on New Year’s Eve and spend her seventeenth birthday at the 'White Dragon' with Uncle Max, Aunt Lena along with little Jason and his parents. Kyle though had come up with idea of thanking those who had supported her since she had won the Miss Macross pageant by dedicating her birthday to them. She supposed it was a nice gesture. 
 
Minmei wondered about Rick, usually he left a message for her every couple of days, but she hadn’t heard from him in more than a week. She wondered if he was angry about something, but she had no idea what it could be. 
 
“Are there tickets still available for the concert?” She suddenly asked Kyle. 
 
“Not one.” 
 
Minmei frowned. “Oh dear, I was hoping there’d be at least one free seat…I wanted to invite someone.” 
 
“Not Rick Hunter,” Kyle demanded, folding his arms. 
 
“Why not? He’s a good friend, I told you, Kyle; he saved my life back at the beginning of the fighting.” 
 
“I’m sure he did, and I know you appreciate it,” Kyle spoke as if to a stubborn child. “But first of all, he’s in the military, no doubt he’ll be on duty and secondly, you can’t expect someone to give up a good seat just so Hunter can’t show up again.” 
 
Minmei pouted, she didn’t think Kyle had noticed the empty seat at the movie premiere. 
 
“Well?” 
 
“I’m sure he had a good reason,” Minmei defended Rick. 
 
“Yeah, blowing up living things for example.” 
 
Minmei hmpfed, sometimes Kyle could be SO unreasonable. There wasn’t much she could do about it though; there was no-one more stubborn than Kyle, not even herself! 
 
*** 
 
Although her main reason for been on Zor’s Fortress had nothing to do with spy-work, Miriya was a Zentraedi of her word, and having made that excuse to Azonia, had been collecting intel on the micronians since her arrival when she had the chance. 
 
And some of thing things she’d discovered! 
 
A few ‘days’ ago, as the micronian’s measured their time; Miriya had discovered something about the short ones. Originally, she had chalked them up to been failed units, but that did not explain the special treatment they received. In the Armanda such anomalies would have been destroyed, but the micronians by contrast seemed to TREASURE their smaller brethren, letting them act in a manner that the normal sized ones were certainly not permitted to. 
 
The explanation behind this nonsensical treatment was beyond belief... the shorter micronians did not remain so, over the ‘years’ – another micronian term – they somehow grew without the aid of macronisation, until they became normal sized micronians themselves! These short ones were known as ‘children’ and were somehow, someway the property of other normal sized micronians, known as ‘adults’. 
 
But that was not all, Miriya had discovered that a number of miniature micronians, whom she had all believed to be ‘dolls’ – an odd object that the female child micronians seemed to enjoy, were living as well! And they too grew…to become children and then adults. But where these miniature micronians came from Miriya could not figure out, she had not discovered any creation facilities aboard, nor any mention of them. 
 
The reasoning for having different stages in their life cycle also eluded Miriya, there was no benefits to it that she could see, certainly not in terms of warfare, since due to their size and lack of strength the miniature or baby micronians and children could not engage in combat. It appeared to be a complete waste of resources and time, but then such things seem to be a micronian talent. 
 
The most irritating thing of all was the difficult she was having locating the micronian ace who had bested her. She had not seen him since the showing of the battle footage, and none of queries had been answered seriously. It appeared many micronians, especially the female ones sought out this ace. 'Perhaps he has performed that ‘pressing of lips’ attack on them and they wish to bring him down also.' Miriya wondered, it seemed that the micronian viciousness in battle did not extend outside their mecha, although she had witnessed some altercations, apparently brought on by imbibing a drink called ‘alcohol’. 
 
Miriya, though, was determined to find the ace before any other did, no matter what obstacles were put in her way. 
 
She noticed a ‘poster’ upon the wall of one of the shops; it was of the female micronian who seemed to always be in the ace’s company. 
 
“ ‘Minmei in Concert’,” Miriya read out loud to herself and wondered exactly what that meant, she then read the smaller text beneath. “ ‘10th October at the Star Bowl’.” 
 
Miriya knew that tenth of October was a description for this current day and she knew of the ‘Star Bowl’, a stadium of sorts located in the centre of the city, it held a huge amount of the micronian population, but for what reason, Miriya was not quite sure. 
 
'But if SHE is to be there, surely he will also,' Miriya figured, 'in that case I will be as well.' 
 
*** 
 
Claudia tapped a fork against her wine glass. 
 
Eventually, word that the buffet food was delicious had got around and everyone was now at a table, chowing down. 
 
“Attention everyone, hey!” She called, waving her hand to further get the guests’ attention. 
 
Once everyone was looking at the Bridal Table, Claudia continued. “I’d like to thank you all for coming. Ordinarily, the groom would be making this speech –“ 
 
“But I’d hate to rob Claudia of a chance to blab!’ Roy called out and she made a show of hitting him on the head with her fork to the chuckles of the guests. 
 
“But I INSISTED, so you’d be able to understand what was been said,” she gave Roy a wink. “Anyway, I’d like to thank you all for coming on such short notice, and being so well dressed. And of course, special thanks go to our brave Captain, who not only officiated for us, but wore his complete dress uniform.” 
 
Captain Gloval, still in his cape gave a wave to the laughing crowd. 
 
“I hope that you’ll enjoy the rest of the day, and that Roy won’t do anything to embarrass us all.” 
 
Claudia gave Roy a kiss on the cheek as she sat down, which gave out a chorus of ‘awws’ lend by the Bridge Bunnies. 
 
Then Lisa got up, looking quite nervous at been the centre of attention, but Lisa Hayes would always keep her word, and she had agreed to make a speech, so she did. 
 
“I would just like to say that I’m truly honoured to have been asked to be Claudia’s Maid of Honour. She has been my best friend for more than five years and has been the best one I could hope for.” Lisa looked over at Claudia with one of her rare smiles. “I would like to propose a toast to her and all the happiness in the world.” 
 
Everyone followed suit and called “Cheers!” before taking a drink from their wine glasses. 
 
“What about me?” Roy called from beside Claudia. 
 
“What about you?” Lisa asked innocently. 
 
Roy made a show of looking crushed. 
 
“All right, all right, as for you Fokker, well…you make Claudia happy and that’s the important thing.” 
 
“Hey, thanks,” Roy called back. 
 
There was applause as Lisa sat down and then it was Rick’s turn. Claudia knew he was very nervous and everyone else probably did to from the way he tugged at his dress shirt. 
 
“Uh, um...when Roy asked me to make a speech, I had no idea what to say...and...I really don’t now.” 
 
Claudia and most of the room gave a laugh, though she wasn’t too sure if Rick was making a joke. 
 
“I’ve known Roy all my life and he’s always been an inspiration for me. I knew that I wanted to be a pilot for sure the first time I saw him fly for my father’s Flying Circus. Even though I was only eight years old when he left to fight in the Global War, I always remembered his advice and it served me well.” Rick paused and looked over at Roy. “He can be a total pain –“ 
 
“Hey, now!” Roy objected. 
 
“And stubborn as Hell,” Rick continued with a grin. “But I don’t think any of us would have him any other way.” 
 
Claudia gave Roy a look that had everyone in the room chuckling again. 
 
“So, a toast to my ‘Big Brother’, we may not be related by blood, but we may as well be.” 
 
Roy looked particularly touched by Rick’s speech, as was everyone else in the room as the toast was made. 
 
“As for Claudia, well, I have to admit I don’t know her that well, but she certainly knows how to keep Roy occupied, which shows what a great woman she is. I hope we’ll get to know each other more now that she’s married into the ‘family’ so to speak. I can only hope she knows what she’s in for.” 
 
With that he all but fell back into his seat, obviously relieved it was all over. 
 
There was no such hesitation on the Bridge Bunnies part, the three got to their feet as one and held up their glasses. 
 
“To Roy and Claudia!” They called in unison, and the call was echoed around the room. 
 
Then to calls from the Skull Squadron, Roy got to his feet. 
 
“I have just three things to say,” he began, “firstly, I’d like to thank Claudia for putting up with me, secondly, I’d like to thank Rick and Lisa for NOT making a whole lot of off-coloured jokes, I really hate sleeping on the couch.” He tipped his glass to both of them. “And thirdly, I’d like to thank the Captain for moving the Wedding date, the tenth of the tenth oh ten isn’t one I’m likely to forget no matter how much of this wine I consume.” The room applauded and laughed. “Oh and to Sammie, Vanessa and Kim, I guess I better thank you for breaking the news to the Captain for Claudia and I, since most of us wouldn’t have been able to think of a good time to do it.” 
 
The room erupted into laughter at the looks of the Bridge Bunnies, who didn’t seem to be sure if that was a compliment or not. 
 
“Now, let’s eat cake!” 
 
A cheer went up in the room, seeing as the cake was an amazing creation of a top cake maker, who had been at the Launch Day Celebrations and thus caught up in the fold. 
 
Claudia laughed as she and Roy cut into the large three tier cake with an unwieldy military sword, before switching to a normal knife. 
 
Roy gave her a sly look and before she could do anything, he had crammed the cake right into her mouth. 
 
“Ugh!” Amidst the sounds of laughter, Claudia grabbed a napkin to wipe off the cake from her face, glaring at Roy. 
 
“Hey, it’s tradition!” 
 
“Oh really,” Claudia returned, then gave a small smile and without warning smashed her slice of cake right into his face. 
 
Watching Roy wiping cake off his own face, Claudia knew that things couldn’t be any better. 
 
*** 
 
The news that the renegade Zentraedi had been called up by Lord Khyron to participate in the attack against Zor’s Fortress was greeted with dismay. 
 
“What are we going to do?” Several of them asked as they sat in the meeting room. 
 
“If we attack the ship, we’ll probably kill this girl and never hear sing!” Kalul spoke morosely, staring at a huge poster of Minmei that had been among the treasures the three spies had brought back. 
 
“The micronians have no chance,” Furel shook his head despairingly. “Lord Khyron won’t let any of them survive.” 
 
“Don’t underestimate them,” Rico spoke sharply, “the micronians can take on Khyron if anyone can.” 
 
Bron nodded and Konda said. “If anything this might be our big chance, the rumours are that we are to gain ACCESS to the ship to capture some micronians. That means we will be able to get aboard without arousing any suspicions. I’m sure the micronians will be able to stop Khyron and we’ll be able to ask for asylum.” 
 
“But why would they give it to us?” One of the Zentraedi demanded. “We have been hunting and killing them for more than a hundred lon, won’t they just kill us?” 
 
“That’s thing about the micronians,” Rico told them, “they don’t think like us. We told you about the one who called for ‘peace’, a long term cease of combat, one that is meant to be for good. If the micronians can go without combat, they can understand that we want to as well.” 
 
“That’s right,” Bron nodded firmly, “so now’s the time, we’ve got to make our move…I’m willing to get micronised and take the chance. How ‘bout the rest of you?” 
 
Rico and Konda agreed immediately to this, and one by one the other Zentraedi agreed. 
 
“Now, what we’ll do once we’re micronised is go three or four to a pod, we’ll have to arrive early on the bays,” Rico began, having all ready thought this plan through when rumours of the assault first started. “We don’t keep records like the micronians do, so it’s more than possible Lord Khyron won’t even notice that the our battalion has a lot less warriors.” 
 
The Zentraedis in the room didn’t seem quite as confident as the three spies, and Mardul suddenly brought up something that had been overlooked. 
 
“Who’s going to micronise us?” He asked. “Do you know how to operate the chamber well enough?” 
 
Rico shook his head. “I didn’t think of that...” 
 
Mardul looked thoughtful; he had some technical training in his military career. “Maybe I can.” 
 
“No,” Konda shook his head, “it takes a trained tech to perform micronisations, we don’t want to risk our lives.” 
 
Every Zentraedi turned to one with messy blond hair. 
 
“Karita, you were the chamber operator on a previous campaign,” Rico remembered, “you can micronise us all, and yourself too!” 
 
Karita turned his back on them and spoke in a low voice. “I...I don’t know…” 
 
“Come on, Karita!” Bron pleaded. “You’re the only one who can do it! You have to agree.” 
 
“But...but operate the chamber without permission?” Karita still wouldn’t look at them. “I just…I don’t think I can-“ 
 
The Zentraedi all looked about in despair, until Konda got a flash of inspiration. “Karita, if you do this you can have the Minmei poster...AND the doll.” 
 
That got Karita looking at them. “R-really?” 
 
“Yeah, really,” Rico jumped in. 
 
“And we’ll make sure you’re the first to see her when we get aboard the micronian ship,” Bron added, although this was perhaps something beyond their control. 
 
“Yeah, c’mon Karita!” Another Zentraedi called. 
 
“Let’s become micronians!” 
 
“Yeah, let’s have all that stuff we never had before!” 
 
Karita still looked tortured, but nodded. “O-OK, I’ll do it…we’ll…we’ll have to get started now.” 
 
The Zentraedis all cheered loudly and with the three spies leading a still uncomfortable Karita towards the micronisation/macronisation chambers.

Continue / Continua: Yes / Si