Fanfic Name / Nombre del Fanfic: Choices and Aces

Chapter / Capitulo: Chapter 21

Author / Autor: Anonymoose_Au

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

Romance

Action / Accion

Alternate Universe / Universo Alterno

Fanfic: “There are more things in Heaven and Earth, Horatio than is dreamt of in your philosophy.” Hamlet Act 1 Scene 5, Shakespeare  
 
*** 
 
Miriya was rejoicing her search was finally over. 
 
'I now know the name of my quarry!' She thought, exulting, 'He will meet his just fate soon.' 
 
Her mission into the heart of the micronians defence force base had been a success, she had gone through the files and discovered the pilot of that distinctive Skull and Crossbones mecha. 
 
The knives she had stolen were fit snugly into her boots ready at a moments notice to be pulled from their sheaths and used against her enemy. 
 
And Miriya had discovered something else as well. 
 
She walked through the streets of Macross City, determined and purposeful. For the briefest second she thought she saw male Zentraedi in the streets, but shook aside her suspicions. The very notion was ridiculous, she certainly could not wait to be off this hideous ship, her new discoveries aside. 
 
She came to a stop at her location, a brightly lit and noisy building, like most of the others, but this one, unlike the others had a clear and understandable purpose. 
 
'No wonder these micronians are such skilled warriors! No wonder they have those lifestages ‘child’ ‘teen’ and ‘adult’.' She thought casting her eyes about the machines that filled the space, behind the various types of controls, young micronians were intent on screens depicting simulations of battle, involving both mecha and the more ancient hand-to-hand styles. 'They train on these machines as they ‘grow’ and by the time they are fit to be soldiers, they are supreme combatants. Clever...' 
 
Miriya had been somewhat uncomfortable at first by the looks upon the faces of the ‘children’ who were training. Miriya, of course enjoyed battle and conquest more than anything, but she had never had what the micronians called ‘joy’ from it. It seemed as if the ‘children’ did not take their training seriously...but perhaps she was misreading their faces, after all, they willing PAID the machines for training scenarios. 
 
“Back again, huh?” A male called from behind the counter, giving her a ‘wink’ as the micronian’s termed it. 
 
Miriya gave him the coldest look she could, as she lay down the bills she had managed to get off some of the susceptible males aboard Zor’s Fortress. 
 
The male seemed not to notice her rudeness, or if he did, didn’t really care. He flashed her a broad smile. “So ready to play a game? I thought you were just here to watch us big boys strut our stuff.” 
 
Miriya was briefly put off, realising that she had no idea what the male had just said. But quickly she brushed it off, tossing back her hair she replied. “I am eager to begin my training.” 
 
The male tilted his head at her, his brow furrowed. Then he shrugged and handed her a dozen coins that had come from a machine that he had fed her notes into. “Well, have fun.” 
 
Miriya snatched her hand away and turning looked about for a free machine. 
 
She spotted on near the wide window at the front of the building and as she got closer she read the name of the simulator. 'Veritechs!' 
 
'What luck!' Her eyes brightened. 'It’s a simulation for the very mecha the micronians use against us! Now I will learn all of its functions and when I return to my Quadronos I will be more successful than ever.' 
 
Settling into one of the two seats on either side of the simulator, she inserted a token into the slot and looked down at the screen waiting for her instructions. 
 
They flashed up and she took hold of the stick in front of her, and place her feet on the pedals. 
 
Before she knew it, an image of the ‘Veritech’ appeared and it began to move across the screen, and then battle pods appeared and began to fire upon her. 
 
Moving the stick swiftly, Miriya avoided the laser fire and pressing the button on top of the stick sent laser fire from her simulated veritech obliterating those pods, and then the ones that followed almost before they appeared on the screen. 
 
As she did, she noticed a group of micronian numbers at the top of the screen, it was increasing each time she destroyed a pod. All ready it was three numbers high. 
 
A smile spread across her lips, she would master this simulator, she would get those numbers higher than any micronian had before. After all, she was ace of the Zentraedi Fleet. 
 
*** 
 
Lisa drummed her fingers nervously on the arm rest of her chair, the report safely tucked on the floor between her feet. 
 
She took a quick look out the window, but the SDF-1 was no longer visible, which sent a shiver down her spine. She had a bad feeling in her stomach, as if something bad was going to happen, but she couldn’t think what. 
 
“Uh...how long will it be ‘til we get to Earth?” She called to the shuttle pilots in front, who had left the cockpit door open. 
 
“About half an hour, ma’am,” the co-pilot called back. “You want a drink or something?” 
 
Lisa’s lips were dry, but she shook her head. “No, I’m fine.” 
 
She took a look out the other window and saw the two Veritechs of Max Sterling and Joseph Hart, which with another two were accompanying the shuttle to Earth’s outer orbit. She wished one of them were Rick, all ready she regretted her quick goodbye. Why had she waited until the last minute? Why had she assumed Rick wouldn’t care? He probably didn’t and it was probably due to the way SHE was acting. 
 
“Claudia, you must think I’m a complete dope,” she muttered to herself, shaking her head. 
 
Subconsciously, she tightened her seatbelt, unable to dismiss the feeling that something very wrong was going to happen. 
 
'Why did I have to decide this was the best way,' she wondered, shaking her head. 'I wish I’d never left the ship.' 
 
But it was too late to change her mind now, setting her shoulders resolutely, Lisa lifted her chin and went through in her mind what she was going to say when she came face to face with her father again. 
 
*** 
 
Since the incident with the defectors and Breetai’s unconceivable command to imprison rather than execute them, Khyron had been in a state of ill-controlled fury. 
 
He paced the bridge of his ship, his right fingers curled into a tight fist, and he continually smacked it into the palm of his left hand. 
 
Grel watched him pace with nervous eyes. 
 
Khyron suddenly stopped and whirled to face his aide. “We have become complete imbeciles in the face of the micronians, have we not?” 
 
“Uh...” 
 
“While they cruise about in that single, small ship, WE, the Zentraedi, the gods of war, with our million, hide behind that...orbiting rock like frightened creatures. Where is our pride?” 
 
“Well, uh, m’lord, the orders we were given are clear –“ 
 
“I KNOW what our orders are!” Khyron hollered, and for a moment Grel was certain his Commander was going to hit him. 
 
At that moment a tech called from below. “Lord Khyron, sensors indicate a small craft has left Zor’s Fortress, heading for the micronian planet.” 
 
“What?” 
 
“I’ll patch it up for you, m’lord,” the tech continued and the screen appeared in front of Khyron and Grel, showing the micronian craft and its four mecha escort. 
 
“Take a look, Grel, they think so little of us this is all the think they need to defend themselves against us,” Khyron snarled, then his eyes gleamed with malice. “Well, we’ll show them, after all, we have no orders NOT to attack the micronians foolish enough to leave the Fortress.” 
 
Striding to the communications console he opened the comm. and announced. “All soldiers with functioning battle pods are to report to the launching bay, a micronian craft has been spotted. We are to attack it, you have twenty mil to prepare.” 
 
With that he headed for the door. “You have command of the ship while I’m gone, Grel, and when I return triumphant, perhaps we can have a small celebration.” 
 
Grel gave him a salute and watched as with a war cry, Khyron ran towards the launching bay. 
 
*** 
 
“Well, I guess there’s benefits to marriage after all,” Roy declared, finally collapsing on the couch. 
 
Claudia, who had flopped down beside him, looked over with a smile. “Hmmmm?” 
 
“This is the longest I’ve got off-duty in YEARS.” 
 
“Oh, is that all I am to you? Free time?” 
 
“Of course not,” Roy put an arm about her shoulders and drew her close. “There’s also how you got rid of that pesky problem a hand with too much space. We won’t be able to take two steps without colliding into something...reminds me of home.” 
 
Claudia punched his arm. “You like to mock, don’t you?” 
 
“Just tellin’ it like it is, babe.” 
 
“Well, with all this free time, what should we do? A five thousand piece puzzle? Watch all our videos?” 
 
Roy shook his head in mock dismay. “Clearly, you have no imagination, my dear, there’s only one thing to do when one is given nearly a week off duty.” 
 
Claudia raised her eyebrows. “Hmmm?” 
 
“I can’t say it out loud,” Roy leaned close, “it’s too top secret.” 
 
“We’re going to buy every copy of Macross Weekly ever printed and do all the quizzes?” 
 
Roy gave a horrified gasp. “You’ve spoken it!” 
 
Claudia gave him a sultry smile and then all, but pounced on him. “I can think of MUCH better things to do than quizzes.” 
 
“I think that would be a pretty hard to top,” Roy replied, cocking an eyebrow. 
 
“Oh, yeah, what about this,” Claudia murmured giving him a long, slow kiss. 
 
“Hmmm,” Roy breathed when they parted. 
 
“So you still want do quizzes?” 
 
“Hey, I’m not stupid.” 
 
*** 
 
The prospect of flying protection for Commander Hayes shuttle had not been Max’s idea of a fun assignment, but then what did he expect, being part of the war? 
 
Having said that, the fact that nothing had happened, was a blessing, Max was getting tired of the fighting, of the whole war, especially now that he knew just how close being human the aliens really were. 
 
The Earth was swiftly coming into view, atmospheric contact would be made in about five minutes, then he, Joseph, Corporal Eastmen, Airmen Andrews and Ryan would turn around and head back to the SDF-1. Then he’d be off duty...it would probably be a good time to go to the arcade and- 
 
Suddenly his screens lit up with red lights. 
 
“Vermillion Three to Vermillion Two, we got bogies heading in from Delta sector,” Joseph’s face appeared on his left screen. 
 
“I’m picking them up, Vermillion Three,” he reported, then opened the tac-net. “Vermillion Two to Shuttle, take evasive action immediately!” 
 
“Roger,” the co-pilot replied, and with that the shuttle veered sharply, Max and Joseph turned sharply to head towards the incoming battle pods, a small group by the alien standards, but it was a lot more than two veritechs could handle that was for sure. 
 
“Vermillion Three to SDF-1, we’ve got a situation here, are you sending backup?” 
 
“Uh...” Lieutenant Porter’s high, shaky voice came over the tac-net, “we are...your position is…uh…” 
 
“Lambda Thirty-four,” Max informed her. 
 
“Right, we’ll send in reinforcements right away.” 
 
“Roger,” Max tried his best to muster up a supportive smile for the poor girl, who looked completely frazzled. 
 
Then he turned his attention to the battle that was about to begin. The alien pods came from all sides, converting to Battloid, Max brought up his Gatling and started firing, dodging laser fire easily. 
 
The shuttle was nowhere near as manoeuvrable and several laser shots hit the starboard wing. Fortunately, no fuel was held there, and the shuttle held together. 
 
Max tried not to think too hard about the pilot in Vermillion Five, who suddenly vanished in a bright ball of fire.  
 
“Vermillion Three and Four, draw the enemy away from the shuttle,” Max ordered over the net. “Lieutenant Johnson,” he called to the co-pilot of the shuttle, “try and make a run for Earth while we’re distractin’ them.” 
 
“I don’t think we can, Lieutenant,” Johnson replied in a tight voice. “The starboard hydraulics are draining off fast, we can’t get equal power to both the rear engines. There’s no way for us to speed up.” 
 
“Damn.” 
 
“Vermillion Two,” Lieutenant Porter’s face appeared on screen, “Vermillion One is on its way with the new FAST pack system. It should make contact in twenty minutes.” 
 
“Roger, Bridge,” Max nodded, “OK, twenty minutes...we can do that.” 
 
At least that was all he could hope. 
 
*** 
 
His teeth on edge Rick speed towards Delta Five or Lambda Thirty-four or whatever it was called now. The extreme acceleration of the FAST packs atop his Veritech pressed him into the back of his seat. 
 
Usually this sort of thing was Roy’s domain as Skull Leader, but for whatever reason, Rick had been called up to lead the reinforcements. 
 
The minutes ticked by, and slowly the explosions of battle came into view. And right in the middle of it was the shuttle, with Lisa inside. 
 
“All right, let’s see what this thing can do,” Rick muttered to himself and getting a lock on the targets on his radar screen he hit the red button a top his control stick. 
 
A volley of missiles erupted from the Fast Pack, looping and arcing through the blackness of space, right into the furious battle ahead, destroying pods in flashes of light and fire. 
 
There must have been twenty missiles in the volley and nearly every one of them hit home. 
 
“Vermillion One to Vermillion Two,” Rick called over the net once he got his bearings. 
 
“Vermillion Two,” Max’s face appeared on his left screen. “Am I glad to see you, keep those missiles coming, they’re the only hope we’ve got!” 
 
Rick was joined by two other members of the Skull and soon the tables were turned and the alien pods were on the defensive, been pushed further and further away from the shuttle. 
 
Out the corner of his eye, Rick noticed a distinctive pod, unlike the usual white egg shaped ones, this one had a red canopy and two enormous laser cannon ‘arms’. He was pretty sure he’d met this guy before... 
 
“Oh no, you don’t,” he grunted, jettisoning the depleted FAST packs, and switching to Guardian to slow down. 
 
The enemy pod flew passed, but suddenly turned, bringing his cannons to bear upon Rick. 
 
Swiftly Rick dodged the blue lines of fire and returned a few of his own, but his challenger avoided those. 
 
“Definitely the same guy,” Rick muttered to himself, remembering how he had lost a Battloid arm way back when he was starting out as a veritech pilot. 
 
He had got a lot better during that time, but so had the pilot of the pod. There were close calls, but neither could score a direct hit on the other. 
 
The enemy pods, at least what remained of them continued their retreat, until they were in the firing range of the huge alien armada. 
 
And as much as Rick wanted to….he gave the order to retreat to the shuttle. 
 
“This is Vermillion One to Bridge, we’ve repelled the enemy,” he reported. 
 
“Oh, thank goodness!” Sammie heaved a great sigh. “Uh…” She looked over her shoulder and Rick heard Gloval’s voice, but couldn’t make out what he said. “Stay with the shuttle, Lieutenant Hunter.” 
 
Rick suppressed an urge to roll his eyes, as if he was going to do that! “Roger,” he said instead. 
 
“This is Vermillion One to Shuttle, it looks like we’ll be joining your escort party.” 
 
Lieutenant Johnson, the co-pilot of the shuttle appeared on Rick’s left hand screen. “Hey, feel free to join in, everyone’s been invited it seems!” He gave a half hysterical laugh of relief. 
 
“Is uh...the passenger all right?” Rick couldn’t resist asking. 
 
“Commander Hayes is totally fine, there’s an automatic armouring/escape pod tech on board, she was probably the safest of all of us!” 
 
Rick smiled; finally he was able to relax. 
 
“She’s got something to say though,” Lieutenant Johnson continued, “I’ll patch you through.” 
 
“Lieutenant Hunter, thank you.” 
 
“Hey, it was nothing, Commander,” Rick felt somewhat embarrassed, imagine Lisa thanking him over the tac-net where everyone could hear! He never would have seen it happening in a million years a few months ago. 
 
“That’s a compliment you won’t get every day,” Lisa spoke as if she read his mind, “I’d take it if I were you.” 
 
“Roger, roger! Thank you, ma’am,” Rick gave a salute even though he wasn’t sure if she could see him. Lisa laughed though, and out the corner of his eye he could see her through the one of the windows of the shuttle. 
 
“If I can speak freely, ma’am,” he began, but neglected to wait for answer before continuing. “What’s all this about you not coming back to the SDF-1?” 
 
“My father is on the Council,” Lisa explained, “I don’t believe he’ll be willing to let me come back.” 
 
“You’ve been assigned to the SDF-1, though, he can’t just change it on you!” Rick complained. 
 
“Well...he’s the Admiral of the Fleet...but I’ll make sure to pass on your objections to him.” 
 
“You’re just yanking my chain, aren’t you?” 
 
“Your tac net manner is slipping, Lieutenant,” Lisa warned, good naturedly. 
 
“Sorry, you’re just yanking my chain, MA’AM,” Rick added, wryly. 
 
Lisa laughed, but her voice became sombre again. “I have to go, Lieutenant Hunter, we’re about to enter the Earth’s outer atmosphere.” 
 
Rick’s heart sank he wanted to say something to her, but knew she’d be embarrassed if he did it out loud. But inspiration flashed. “Roger, Commander... uh...look out the window.” 
 
“Huh?” 
 
“Just do it, please.” 
 
When he saw her looking out at him, he started a series of flashes; he remembered way back in basic training how he and most of the others had sneered at the thought of using Morse code. It was the twenty-first century, why would they ever need it? But this was a perfect time for it, after all, he didn’t want the whole world to know what he was saying. At least what he HOPED he was saying. 
 
“I complain a lot,” he muttered to himself, “but I like you. Would miss you if you didn’t come back. Good luck on your mission, but please come home soon.” 
 
His message seemed to get through though, because Lisa smiled and gave him a salute. 
 
He saluted back, and then slowed his Veritech down, veering away from the Earth as the shuttle continued on. 
 
“OK, Vermillion Team, Skull Two and Three, let’s head back,” he ordered over the net. 
 
A chorus of “Rogers” answered and the veritech headed back towards the SDF-1. But Rick couldn’t help but keep an eye on his radar screen, watching the dot that was Lisa’s shuttle head for landing in Alaska.

Continue / Continua: Yes / Si