Fanfic Name / Nombre del Fanfic: Choices and Aces

Chapter / Capitulo: Chapter Five

Author / Autor: Anonymoose_Au

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

Romance

Action / Accion

Alternate Universe / Universo Alterno

Fanfic: “Lord Khyron doesn’t frighten me! I can keep him in order just fine.” Azonia, Commander of the Female Zentraedi Fleets on hearing that Khyron would be under her command. 
 
 
 
Two weeks had passed since the SDF-1 had taken off. 
 
The UEG had barely been able to believe their eyes when the received the footage of the giant battle fortress taking flight, but there was not much they could do about it. 
 
As it turned out, though, most of the people on Earth didn’t know what to make of the SDF-1 either. The ship had passed over Santiago, Lima and Panama, but none of those cities had responded to the ship’s pleas to accept the 50,000 civilians aboard. It was quite possible with all the misinformation the UEG had been throwing about the officials of those places simply didn’t believe it. 
 
Admiral Hayes kept a close eye on the ship, after all his daughter was on it, even though it was rather apparent she had no interest in taking up his offer of getting her transferred off the ship. 
 
'Lisa, I’m only trying to protect you…' 
 
He had to admit to himself, though, he was rather uncomfortable with the Council’s decision to refuse asylum to the civilians. Hayes may have a bone to pick with Gloval, but he had nothing against the civilians of Macross City. In fact, Hayes felt sorry for them, dragged as they had been into a conflict with aliens. 
 
But he had been voted down by the rest of the Council, and he had no choice, it wasn’t as if he could go over their heads. 
 
The phone on his desk rang, and even though he knew it was impossible, his heart leapt, hoping as ever, that it would be Lisa. 
 
“Hayes,” he answered. 
 
“Admiral, it’s Edwards with an update on the SDF-1,” a low grumbling voice spoke down the line. 
 
Hayes straightened in his seat and picked up his computer pen to take notes. “Yes?” 
 
“Its projected flight path will take them directly over the base…General Herbert is of the opinion that they plan to reveal our location to the world.” Edwards continued. 
 
“What? That’s ridiculous…they may be disobeying orders, but Captain Gloval would never reveal the location of the Grand Cannon, he is under military oath.” 
 
“The fact he’s disobeying direct orders surely points to the captain not putting much stock in oaths, sir.” 
 
“There’s no way,” Hayes affirmed, “Edwards, I want you to convene a meeting of the council, seems like a few people on this base are giving in to hysteria, I won’t have it.” 
 
Edwards was silent for a few moments, which made Hayes distinctly uncomfortable, over the past year that Edwards had become his aide; he had got the impression that the man had no real allegiance to the RDF. And that worried him. 
 
“Aye, aye, Admiral,” Edwards finally said. 
 
Hanging up the phone, Hayes began tapping his fingers nervously upon the desk. He was sure that disaster was going to catch up with the SDF-1, and it probably would sooner rather than later… 
 
'Lisa, why didn’t you listen to me?' 
 
*** 
 
Rick Hunter entered the Prometheus, surprised to feel relieved to be back. 
 
After a week in the hospital, he had been released into the outpatient facility, but had not allowed to return to duty until the bruising in his brain had healed. 
 
For the first time since joining the RDF then, Rick had had time on his hands…a few months ago he would have been overjoyed, calling up Minmei and visiting her at the White Dragon. 
 
But Minmei was a star now, and was never able to take calls, and certainly was no longer a waitress at her aunt and uncle’s restaurant. 
 
For the first couple of days Rick had sat in his barrack room, his boredom finally punctuated by visit from Ben and Max. 
 
Max took them along to an arcade near the base Close Encounters and despite being a pilot for most of his life, Rick had never really played video games, Max however, was an old pro. And since the tokens you could win at the arcade could be converted into dollars, Max had been able to shout them all dinner. 
 
Roy had also visited him, albeit very briefly. 
 
“Geeze, you’re a wild one aren’t you? All this time off and the best you can think of to do is sit here staring out the window?” Roy had greeted him. 
 
“Well, there’s not much I can do is there?” 
 
“What do you mean? There’s a whole city out there.” 
 
“Because you spend so much time there yourself,” Rick had cocked an eyebrow at his Big Brother. 
 
“Well, I don’t, but then I can get my kicks on the base.” 
 
“Good for you, I can’t get my kicks anywhere.” 
 
Roy had folded his arms and sat down on the edge of the desk in the room. “I assume you’re talking about Minmei?” 
 
Rick had shrugged and made a show of trying to assemble a particularly difficult section of a model plane Roy, Max and Ben had brought him as a gift. 
 
“She’s a busy girl, I suppose, but then aren’t we all? Have you tried visiting or calling her?” 
 
“I’m beginning to look like a stalker!” Rick had shaken his head. 
 
“Hmmm…” Roy had looked thoughtful, as if he was trying to come up with some idea to help Rick out, which he appreciated, but Rick could hardly expect Roy to always solve his problems. 
 
“Look, don’t worry about it,” he had told him, “I’m fine…I’m sure once Minmei finishes up her movie we’ll get together. You’ve got more important things to worry about.” 
 
Roy had still looked concerned, but at that point his pager had gone off and he had had to excuse himself. 
 
Now, having been cleared by a medical check, Rick headed over to one of the engineers on duty. 
 
“Hey there.” 
 
The engineer turned and taking in his lieutenant stripes saluted. “Sir.” 
 
“Uh, at ease,” Rick was sure he’d never get used to been saluted, “I was just wondering if a plane had been assigned to me yet…Lieutenant Rick Hunter.” 
 
The engineer looked through the pages on his clipboard and ran his finger down the columns. “Uh-huh, there’s something here…VT 209, it’s over there,” the engineer pointed. 
 
Following his finger, Rick saw a rather dented veritech, obviously it had been salvaged. 
 
“We’ll get it back into top condition before you go out in it, of course,” the engineer was quick to reassure him. “But if you wanna look it over now, be my guest.” 
 
Rick nodded and headed over, it was really no surprise that he’d get a fighter like this…after all in his brief career this would be his fourth. 
 
As he was examining the fuselage for any cracks or holes he heard two familiar voices. 
 
“He returns.” 
 
“Take cover!” 
 
Rick looked over his shoulder. “Max, Ben! I didn’t know you guys would be here.” 
 
“Just checkin’ our equipment, Boss,” Ben said with a big grin, “after all, we wanna be in top shape if we have to face those aliens again.” 
 
Max nodded. “The engineers here are pretty busy, so it’s always good to make sure you’re in the clear.” 
 
“Well, I better not make any bets then,” Rick muttered, looking at his fighter. 
 
Ben gave a laugh. “Oh, you’ll be fine!” And with that he gave Rick a hard slap on the shoulder, which almost sent Rick falling flat on the deck. 
 
“Ow…thanks, Ben, I just got clearance.” 
 
Ben put his hands on Rick and Max’s shoulders. “You know what we should do? Head over to the Kindest Cut they’re havin’ a sale, three for the price of two.” 
 
“Well, who could resist,” Rick said, slightly sarcastic. 
 
Ben didn’t seem to mind, he just laughed. “All right, let’s go!” 
 
*** 
 
Captain Gloval was tapping his fingers on the arm of his command chair as Claudia made yet another communication asking for assistance. 
 
'Who’d have thought this would be so difficult?' Gloval wondered, shaking his head. 
 
Briefly he considered simply landing the ship and offloading the civilians, what was anyone going to do? But he wasn’t prepared to go that far yet…surely, some mayor or city official somewhere would… 
 
“Captain,” Claudia suddenly announced, “we’re receiving a transmission from a civilian channel.” 
 
Gloval got to his feet quickly. “What’s its source?” 
 
“The Ontario Quadrant,” Claudia responded, “I’ll patch it through.” 
 
“Greetings from Ontario, Captain Gloval, I’m Mayor Carlisle. I’ve received your ships SOS and would like to inform you that we would be willing to take on the civilians. Repeat we are willing to take your civilians. We can furnish you with landing co-ordinates as soon as you respond.” 
 
There was a cheer from the Bridge Bunnies. 
 
“Hooray!” Shouted Kim 
 
“Go Canada!” Sammie punched the air. 
 
“I knew someone would come to our rescue!” Vanessa clapped her hands together with relief. 
 
Lisa was more subdued, but she turned to Gloval with a smile. “It looks like we’ve succeed, sir, should I respond right away?” 
 
Gloval nodded. “Yes, and change co-ordinates, Claudia, how soon can we get to the Ontario sector?” 
 
Claudia turned to her station and imputed some quick calculations. “If we go to stratospheric level and go at flight speed we can reach it in about an hour.” 
 
“All right then, Lisa, give Mayor Carlisle our thanks and those details, I’ll give Mayor Luan the word so he can prepare the civilians.” 
 
“Roger.” 
 
Gloval walked to the front of the Bridge, looking over the wide view of sea and land, which began to recede as the SDF-1 gained altitude in order to pick up speed. 
 
Soon the battle fortress would be just that, a military ship, rather than a civilian carrier. 
 
'Well, things are finally looking up.' Gloval thought, as he straightened his cap.  
 
*** 
 
Azonia frowned. 'Where is Miriya?' 
 
Aside from a short recording from her a few lon ago there had been nothing, which was quite unusual, especially since the micronians had kept Zor’s fortress on the move. Ordinarily, Miriya could be depended on to ask for frequent updates and possible launch windows for attacks. 
 
“Yiata,” Azonia called, suddenly. 
 
“Yes, m’lady?” Yiata, a small red headed Zentraedi, who acted as Azonia’s aide came to stand beside her. 
 
“Get me into contact with Miriya, the micronians are planning something and if they aren't Khyron certainly is and I want to get her input.” 
 
“Yes, m'lady,” with a salute Yiata went to a nearby control panel and made the necessary inputs needed for a ship to ship transmission. 
 
A comm screen appeared on the face of the command bubble, but the Zentraedi who appeared was not Miriya. 
 
“Second Officer Seloy Deparra reporting,” the red haired Zentraedi saluted sharply. 
 
“Second Officer Deparra,” Azonia nodded to her, “where is Captain Parina? She has not been injured, certainly?” 
 
Seloy’s eyes shifted to the left as if she was thinking of what to tell her Commander. “Miriya has been…practicing drills rather incessantly since our fight with the micronian forces three lon ago.” 
 
Azonia raised her eyebrows. 'Drills? Miriya?' Miriya did not do drills, since she considered herself well-practiced enough all ready, she only engaged in mock battles. 'What is this?' 
 
“Be that as it may, I need to speak to her urgently, call her in.” 
 
“I’m afraid that she is not in communication…she is using my Quaedullun-Rau, there may be some probably with its comm system…I was having trouble with it.” 
 
“Using YOUR Quaedluun-Rau,” Azonia even more surprised. “Why would she be doing that?” 
 
Seloy cleared her throat and seemed to shift from foot to foot. “Hers was irreparably damaged in the battle…so…” 
 
Azonia rose to her feet. “What? Why was I not informed of this?” 
 
“I wasn’t aware you’d been left uninformed m’lady,” Seloy replied apologetically. 
 
“Well, she can’t stay out practicing drills forever, when she returns to the ship I want her to come aboard my cruiser immediately.” 
 
“Yes, m’lady,” Seloy nodded, quickly. 
 
Azonia nodded, the communication screen disappeared and Azonia returned to her command chair her lips pursed in thought. 
 
'These micronians are nothing but trouble.' 
 
*** 
 
Khyron would have agreed with Azonia had he known what she was thinking. 
 
He paced on the bridge of his own cruiser observing Zor’s battle fortress as it sped towards…somewhere. 
 
“Grel, what is the trajectory of the battle fortress?” 
 
Grel, his aide quickly worked at a console, a screen appeared with a map on it, showing the outline of the landmass the battle fortress was currently flying over, a dotted line showing the its projected path. 
 
“We did intercept a communication a few mil ago,” Grel continued, “we weren’t able to make out all of it, but it seems to suggest that they are heading for here…” He hit a button and a red dot appeared on the map. 
 
“Hmm…I wonder why…” Khyron tapped his chin with his forefinger. “These micronians…so unpredictable, but then perhaps that is their strength.” 
 
Grel looked surprised at what was almost praise for the enemy, but he did not say so, one did not cross Khyron. 
 
“But, if they are indeed stopping, we have a chance,” Khyron turned to him, “they will certainly be offloading something, and that will leave them vulnerable to any assault.” 
 
“Uh…but m’lord, we have received orders not to attack the ship,” Grel felt the need to point out…again. 
 
Khyron crossed his arms. “So? It is quite obvious that ship is more trouble that it is worth. Of course we will attempt to capture it intact, but if it is destroyed by accident, well…” 
 
Grel was quite certain that Azonia or Dolza for that matter would not accept such an excuse, but he also knew that there would be no stopping Khyron. 
 
“Ready the Battalion,” Khyron announced, looking over his shoulder at his aide. “We will send in Captain Zerrel.” 
 
Grel wasn’t surprised, Zerrel was almost as much of a loose cannon as Khyron and would certainly be up for any battle, authorized or not, but he complied with the order quickly and soon the green haired image of the captain was on the screen. 
 
“M’lord,” he greeted Khyron enthusiastically with a brisk salute. 
 
“At ease,” Khyron smiled. “I have a mission for you, Zerrel; we have reason to believe the micronians, buoyed by our pathetic non-action, will be bringing the battle fortress to a stop at the co-ordinates I am now furnishing you with. We may have let them reach their home planet, but we cannot stand idle now. I want you to arrange for an assault.” 
 
A grin even wider than Khyron’s spread across Zerrel’s face. “A fine plan m’lord.” 
 
“Now, for appearances, you should at least attempt to capture the ship undamaged, but…” Khyron trailed off suggestively. 
 
“Mistakes are a danger of war,” Zerrel supplied. 
 
“Indeed,” Khyron gave a wink, “now, I will lead up the mecha group, but Grel will man my cruiser, now get started, the ship is nearing its destination.” 
 
“M’lord,” Zerrel saluted and signed off. 
 
“Now is the time…we will reclaim the glory of the Zentraedi,” Khyron vowed before striding from the Bridge. 
 
*** 
 
Ever since her defeat, Miriya had been practicing, and practicing hard, but not as her squadron thought on combat drills, she did not need practice in that. But she did need practice in the micronian language. 
 
Having made her vow to confront the micronian who bested her, she knew what such a thing would require and she would have to blend in with the hated enemy if she was going to succeed. 
 
The micronians were a primitive and backward species and their language had been easy enough to pick up.  
 
Of course, whenever Miriya thought that she was reminded of her defeat…perhaps the enemy was not so primitive… 
 
She shook her head, angrily, she must not let herself be tortured by those scenes of battle again, she had more important things to attend to. 
 
Such as convincing Azonia to allow her to go ahead with her plans. 
 
“But first, I must converse with Seloy,” she spoke aloud in the micronian language, which sounded strange to her ears. Such a soft-spoken language, with none of the guttural tones of Zentraedi speech. 
 
Miriya headed towards the bridge of her ship, where Seloy was waiting at least that was what the message she had received said when she had returned from her drills. 
 
At the door to the ship’s command centre a Zentraedi of about her height stood as guard, she saluted Miriya as soon as she saw her. 
 
“At ease Officer Hesh,” Miriya nodded to her. “I take it that Seloy is still on the bridge?” 
 
“She is,” Hesh confirmed. “I will announce you.” 
 
Miriya was somewhat affronted, it was her ship after all, but she decided the Hesh might not realize how things worked. “Very well then.” 
 
“Captain Parina,” Seloy greeted her as she entered. 
 
“Second Officer Deparra, may we speak alone?” Miriya wasted no time. 
 
Seloy looked slightly surprised at the request, but nodded and the two Zentraedi went to a side room. 
 
“I have something to ask of you,” Miriya began as soon as the door closed behind them, “and in return I will give you something.” 
 
Seloy was immediately intrigued; favours were not often made between Zentraedi, and tossed back her red hair. “What is that you want?” 
 
“I have been studying the micronians language for three lon and I am now ready to be micronised. After that I need you to deliver me to Zor’s battle fortress and return for me when I send for you, without fail. In return for this, you will have indefinite command of the Quadronos.” 
 
Seloy’s eyes took on an excited gleam. “Command of the Quadronos?” 
 
“Pending my return,” Miriya reminded her sharply. 
 
“Of course…” 
 
“So, you will do it?” Miriya asked, relief flooding through her. 
 
“Certainly,” Seloy shrugged, not bothering to wondering why the finest pilot of the fleet suddenly wanted to be a spy. “Inform me when you are ready and I will meet you in the loading bay.” 
 
“Good, good, now I must report to Azonia, you have command of the ship from this point on.” 
 
“Yes, Captain!” Seloy saluted sharply. 
 
With that Miriya left, to prepare herself for the meeting with Azonia.

Continue / Continua: Yes / Si