Fanfic Name / Nombre del Fanfic: Choices and Aces

Chapter / Capitulo: Chapter Six

Author / Autor: Anonymoose_Au

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

Romance

Action / Accion

Alternate Universe / Universo Alterno

Fanfic: “Dear Ma an’ Dad, Sorry I haven’t been around to see you much, but it’s been busy as anything on the base. But since all the civilians are gonna be off the ship soon, I guess you’ll have to get used to it…Not that I will, since you make the best steak and egg breakfast ever, Ma!” Corporal Ben Dixon in a letter to his parents. 
 
 
 
 
In Macross City there was an atmosphere of high excitement, the announcement had been made just a few minutes before by Captain Gloval. 
 
“Toronto! We’re getting offloaded in Toronto!” The excited whisper went throughout the streets. 
 
At the White Dragon, Max Lynn was wondering what if anything to pack. It seemed unlikely that the SDF-1 would be able to stay over a populated area for a long time and for all he knew the plan was to all but toss them onto the streets of Ontario’s capital. 
 
His wife Lena came from upstairs with a box in arms. “Too bad we never got any suitcases,” she remarked, placing the box on one of the tales in the restaurant. 
 
“Clothes?” Max asked her. 
 
Lena shook her head. “Mostly mementos, after all, we can get clothes anywhere on earth, but we won’t be able to get these things back if we have to leave them.” 
 
Max gave a small grunt and returned to his perusal of the kitchen, wondering if he should take the knife set…it had been quite an expensive purchase. 
 
The ring of the phone interrupted his thoughts and Max hurried over to answer it. “White Dragon, sorry, we’re closed-“ 
 
“Hi, Uncle Max!” 
 
“Minmei, hello! I haven’t heard from you for…well days, what have you been up to, dear? Getting ready to leave the ship I suppose?” 
 
“Oh no, Uncle, we’ve been filming! Vance has been on our backs almost non-stop.” 
 
Max raised an eyebrow. “Filming? At a time like this? You probably won’t be able to take the sets with you when we arrive in Toronto.” 
 
“Oh, well…” Minmei paused, uncertainly. 
 
Max knew that tone well. “What is it, Minmei?” 
 
“Well, Vance has suggested that…well…we stay,” Minmei spoke quickly, “after all, soldiers need entertainment, don’t they? And I’m the biggest act on the ship!” 
 
“What?! Stay?! Minmei we’re finally back here on earth, we’re finally allowed to leave this ship and you want to stay?” 
 
Lena, who was heading down the stairs with another box, looked over in concern. 
 
“Well, it’s been a good home to us, to me especially and I don’t want to give up filming!” 
 
“Minmei, do you know how dangerous being on this ship is? It’s going to war for God sake! And been a civilian is no protection, we’ve lost almost 20,000 of our fellow townspeople in a year in here!” 
 
“I know, Uncle, but –“ 
 
“What does Kyle say?” Lena, who had come to her husband’s side, asked. 
 
“I’ll stay wherever Minmei is, Mother,” Kyle’s voice came over the line. “And really, her place is here on the ship.” 
 
Max shook his head, his son had always been so stubborn, anything his parents thought was a good idea, Kyle was sure to dismiss out of hand. 
 
“I’m sure you’ll be just as much of a star on earth, dear,” Lena spoke to Minmei gently. “After all you have a fan base of 56,000 behind you!” 
 
“I won’t be on the ship forever, Auntie, I’m sure it will return for supplies in a few months and then I’ll be ready to leave.” 
 
“A few months,” Max repeated, shaking his head. You might not survive a few months. “Minmei your parents had a hard enough time letting you back to the ship the first time you were allowed off, I don’t think-“ 
 
“Look,” Kyle suddenly broke in, “let’s not discuss this right now; I’m sure they’ll be time to decide when we get to Toronto. Who knows, the military might force us all off.” He gave a brittle laugh. 
 
Max was about to object further, but from the other end of the line there was the sound of someone yelling. 
 
“Uh-oh, that’s Vance now, Uncle and Auntie, we’ve got to go! Talk to you soon!” And with that Minmei hung up. 
 
Max clapped a hand to his forehead, wondering what on earth he was going to do with his wayward son and niece. 
 
*** 
 
“First Officer Grel, we are prepared for the assault, do we have Lord Khyron’s permission to proceed?” Captain Zerrel appeared on the comm screen. 
 
Grel passed the message onto Khyron, who was overseeing the attaching of booster rockets to various battle pod’s and his own Officer’s pod so they could begin the initial approach. 
 
“Inform Zerrel that the Battalion will attack first, I will give him the signal once we have halted the battle fortresses movements.” 
 
“Yes, m’lord.” 
 
Grel repeated this information to Captain Zerrel, who appeared somewhat impatient, but acknowledged before disappearing from the screen. 
 
“Now, Grel, I will be leading the first wave in twenty mil,” Khyron informed his aide. “You will send the second in thirty mil, do you understand me?” 
 
“Yes m’lord, but why are we attacking in such small numbers?” Grel couldn’t help, but ask, it certainly wasn’t standard Zentraedi tactics. 
 
“To lull the micronians into our trap, of course, they surely believe that we are running scared and the appearance of such a small force will confirm it. They will hurry to engage us, and when they do…” Khyron trailed off and then gave a low mocking laugh. 
 
Grel smiled too, it had been a while since there had been such anticipation in the air. It was sure to be a good battle. “We are certain to succeed, m’lord.” 
 
“Indeed, Grel, indeed…for the glory of the Zentraedi!” 
 
*** 
 
Roy was going over his fighter, which had only just been returned from the engineering department after undergoing repairs on its missing arm. 
 
The engineer who had delivered it had appeared rather affronted by the fact Roy wanted to check it over, but if there was nothing else Roy had learnt in his career, it was that you wanted to be sure your plane was in good shape. 
 
And although it had been quiet on the alien front, Roy was pretty sure that he would be order to fly air cover while the civilians was been disembarked.  
 
He checked his watch, according to the announcement made by Gloval; the SDF-1 would reach the offloading co-ordinates in just under twelve minutes. 
 
It would be the first time he’d gone out in Skull-One since the battle against that alien battle suit, it had been the longest time he’d been grounded in years. 
 
Roy had long ago realized that if he had to be a fighter pilot he’d rather be a full-on one, there was nothing worse than having to live with his fears of death in the cockpit for days and days between battle rostering. So the past two weeks certainly hadn’t been a picnic. 
 
When you fall off the horse you’ve gotta get back on, he reminded himself, noticing that his palms were sweating. 
 
“Damn,” he muttered aloud, wishing he could speak to Claudia, but she was on the bridge and this was hardly the time to make a personal call. 
 
He could only hope that Rick was having a better time of it than he was. 
 
*** 
 
On the bridge of the SDF-1, Claudia was watching her console screen carefully. 
 
“We’ll be reaching the co-ordinates in nine minutes, sir,” she announced to Captain Gloval. “All maintenance crews are ready for offloading; did you want to send out the veritechs?” 
 
“Yes, send out the Skull and –“ 
 
Suddenly, an alarm began to sound. 
 
'No, not now! Please!' Gloval closed his eyes in prayer, but the alarm continued and suddenly Vanessa spoke. 
 
“Scanners are picking up a group of alien battle pods entering the atmosphere. They are heading straight for us, sir, and will make contact in three minutes!” 
 
Gloval was slightly confused. “That’s it? A group?” 
 
“Yes sir, twenty-four of them.” 
 
“Another ego trip?” Gloval wondered to himself, then shook his head, whatever was going on; there was no time to waste. “Lisa, scramble the Skull squadron, I want those aliens repelled, keep the other squadrons at the ready.” 
 
“Aye, aye, sir!” Lisa turned to her console and sounded general quarters and began to issue instructions. “Attention all pilots! Attention! We are under attack, all pilots to their battle stations, all hands to their battle stations. Skull squadron members prepare for take off, repeat…” 
 
*** 
 
A rather harried looking waitress set down three plates in front of Rick, Ben and Max then rushed away into the kitchens of The Kindest Cut. 
 
The special deal had meant the place was crowded and it had taken a good twenty minutes to get a table and a further half hour to actually get their food. 
 
“Finally!” Ben grabbed up his knife and fork preparing to dig in. 
 
At that moment general quarters sounded. 
 
Rick’s heart jumped as it always did at the alarm. “What? They’re attacking us now?” 
 
Max adjusted his glasses and got to his feet. “I guess so, we better haul, Boss.” 
 
Rick got to his feet as well, but Ben remained seated, he had cut a large piece of juicy steak and was poised to eat it. “Come on, Ben! Let’s get goin’!” 
 
“But…” Ben began, but Rick and Max had all ready started running, there was hardly enough time to take that one bite. “Damn!” Getting to his feet, Ben turned to join his squadmates, but took one last look over at his steaming steak. “Don’t you move, I’ll be right back,” he promised, and then broke into a mad sprint. 
 
*** 
 
“Okay, boys, you heard her, we’ve got to draw the alien’s fire, so the SDF-1 can continue to Toronto.” Roy went over the orders again just to make sure everyone got them. 
 
There was a chorus of ‘Rogers’ from the rest of the Skull team, including Roy’s new wingman, Lieutenant Gibson. Logically, Roy was sure that the lieutenant was a good airman and a capable second-in-command, but he still wished Kramer was there. 
 
But there was no time to think about that as the veritechs were lifted to the deck of the Prometheus and catapulted into the dusk sky. 
 
*** 
 
Khyron was in his element as at the head of the group of battle pods as his Officer’s Pod, powered by the booster packs, soared through the stratosphere to meet the enemy. 
 
“Captain Zerrel, once the second wave is launched, you will attack!” Khyron gave one last order over the tac-net then turned off his radio, so he could devoted his entire being to the fight. 
 
As expected, the micronians had sent out a small group of their fighters to intercept and within seconds missiles and explosion were raining all around. 
 
Khyron narrowed his eyes as he took in the tactics of the squadron; they were attempting to draw them from the ship. 
 
But his men had their orders and even though it was suicide for some of them they kept the micronians relatively close to the battle fortress. 
 
As the fighting became more ferrous Khyron’s group began to thin, but no sooner than it did than the second, larger wave of battle pods and tri-thrusters joined the fight. 
 
The lone squadron of micronians ended up been pushed even further back towards their ship as they were overwhelmed. 
 
Khyron let out a triumphant shout as checked his radar screen to see Captain Zerrel leading four cruisers towards their position. 
 
“Now we have got you! This is the end, micronians!” 
 
*** 
 
“Sir! The aliens are sending in four cruisers,” Vanessa reported, “and a second wave of mixed mecha, three times the size of the first wave.” 
 
“Lisa, send out the rest of the fighters,” Gloval struggled to keep calm. 'How did we not see this coming?' He didn’t have time to berate himself, though; he had to keep his mind on the aliens. “They no doubt hope to press us into surrendering the fortress, but-“ 
 
He was cut off as one of the cruisers fired a laser that struck a direct hit upon the SDF-1 making the entire bridge shudder. 
 
“Thundering asteroids! This must be renegade group –“ he barely got that out before another shot grazed the fortress. 
 
“Sir! Section A is reporting heavy damage,” Kim called from her station. 
 
“Should we ready the pin-point barrier, Captain?” Claudia asked. 
 
“No, Lang has managed to create an omni-directional barrier…I did not wish to use it untested, but…” 
 
“Aye, aye, sir,” Claudia nodded, and made the announcement. “Prepare the omni-directional barrier, repeat; prepare the omni-directional barrier.” 
 
Within seconds a voice from the barrier room located a few levels below the bridge came through the speakers. “Omni-directional barrier will be up in t-minus ten seconds.” 
 
Gloval could only hope that would be quick enough. 
 
*** 
 
Seloy’s Quaedluun-Rau reached out and tore a hole in the skin of the besieged SDF-1, then hesitated. 
 
“Now, are you sure about this, Captain, because-“ 
 
“You have your orders, Seloy!” Miriya snapped. “Leave me!” 
 
“All right…” And with that Seloy pushed the clear capsule containing Miriya into the ship. 
 
Then with a flare of the Quaedluun-Rau’s powerful thrusters, Seloy disappeared into the night. 
 
“Now, micronian, I will make you pay,” Miriya murmured in the enemy’s language.  
 
*** 
 
Rick, Max and Ben had been sent out with the rest of the veritechs to fight off the Zentraedi battle pods and tri-thrusters. 
 
“These guys are really gettin’ on my nerves,” Ben announced, still annoyed over having to leave his steak. “You wanna mess with us, well-“ 
 
“Ben, look out!” Rick shouted as from four o’clock a tri-thruster came right for him. 
 
Max, quick as ever, dispatched it just before it could take out Ben. 
 
“Whoah, that was a close one,” Ben gave a small laugh. 
 
“Watch it, Ben, this is no time for showboating,” Rick warned him. 
 
“Roger, roger- hey what’s with the light show over there,” Ben pointed towards the SDF-1. 
 
Rick and Max turned to the odd sight, around the battle fortress a huge greenish bubble had appeared, as the Zentraedi cruisers came into sight and fired upon it the laser fire was simply absorbed into it. 
 
“They must have updated the barrier system,” Rick said. 
 
“That’s a relief, the civilians will be safe,” Max added. 
 
“Right, so lets get rid of these guys,” Rick ordered as he sent a missile into an incoming battle pod.  
 
And with that the Vermillion team fought on. 
 
*** 
 
Khyron had returned to his cruiser, surprising Grel. 
 
“M’lord, I thought you were leading the Battalion.” 
 
“They can do fine without me, but what is this?” He jabbed a finger at the image of Zor’s ship on the com screen surrounded by that strange bubble. 
 
“I have no idea, sir, it just appeared out of nowhere-“ Grel began. 
 
“M’lord!” A Zentraedi tech called from the deck below. “We have identified it, it is some sort of barrier, our weapons can’t penetrate it.” 
 
“What?! Damn them!” Khyron almost put his fist through the glass of the bridge. 
 
Captain Zerrel appeared on the com screen completely confused. “What is this, m’lord?” 
 
“It’s a new weapon…those…” Khyron’s body shook with rage. 
 
“What is the plan of attack?” Captain Zerrel pressed. 
 
“Just keep firing!” Khyron shouted, thinking if nothing else that would soothe his fury. 
 
*** 
 
“This is Skull Leader to all veritechs,” Roy sent another tri-thruster into oblivion as he reported the latest from the Bridge. “The omni-directional barrier has been deployed, keep a distance of 12 miles from the SDF-1 at all times.” 
 
Roy took a look over his shoulder at the battle fortress, relieved that it was, for once, completely safe. Now he could put Claudia out of his mind. 
 
He took a quick look on his radar; the group of alien mecha was doing its best to keep the veritechs away from the ship now, which wouldn’t be such a problem, except that the battle was moving closer to the city of Hamilton, which was completely defenseless. 
 
“This is Skull Leader,” he announced over the com net, “keep the aliens away from the city, repeat, keep them away from the city.” 
 
“Why isn’t the SDF-1 firing,” Gibson’s face appeared on his left screen, he was sweating. “We could use some help here.” 
 
“I don’t think they can, Lieutenant,” Roy replied shortly, annoyed by the interruption, they had more important things to do then grumble about the lack of back up. 
 
“Watch your three,” he added, executing a quick roll to avoid the plasma fire of a tri-thruster. 
 
Fortunately, Gibson was able to lose the bogie on his tail and take out the battle pod. 
 
Roy checked the radar again relieved to see that finally the ranks of alien mecha were beginning to thin. 
 
'Things are finally going our way.' 
 
*** 
 
“Barrier room to Captain Gloval,” the tight voice of the Head Technician came over the radio. “The barrier readings are becoming unstable; we may be approaching overload status.” 
 
“Bozhe Moi,” Gloval muttered, it was unbelievable, they were so close. 
 
“This is Lang,” the voice of the Robotechnology’s premier scientist filled the bridge. “The barrier can only absorb so much energy; it will need at least three minutes without a direct hit in order to recover.” 
 
“Three minutes!” Claudia burst out. “They might as well ask us to wait for a century!” 
 
Gloval held up a hand for silence. “Lisa, call the veritechs, have them attack the lasers on the alien battle cruisers, we must disable as many of them as we can.” 
 
“Roger,” Lisa nodded and quickly relayed the orders, immediately the veritechs disengaged from the skirmishes with the alien mecha and went for the ships instead. 
 
“Do you think they can disable enough lasers to save the barrier, sir?” Lisa asked. 
 
“We can only hope,” Gloval muttered and sent up a prayer. 
 
*** 
 
“M’lord, reports from our scanners indicate that the barrier surrounding Zor’s ship is becoming dangerously overheated…it appears it will fail.” The tech reported. 
 
“Aha!” Khyron’s eyes brightened. “Those moronic micronians don’t even know the limits of their own weapons. Captain Zerrel, continue the assault!” 
 
*** 
 
Roy had commanded that all veritechs switch to Battloid mode and use Gatling fire to take out the turrets. 
 
But even with every pilot on it, there were just too many of them and each took at least ten seconds of sustained fire to destroy them. Meanwhile, the once green barrier surrounding the SDF-1 became more and more yellow in colour. 
 
“Big Brother, what’s going on, what’s wrong with the barrier?” Rick’s face appeared. 
 
“Obviously, it’s not up to sustained firepower,” Roy replied, taking out another turret. “Shit, this looks bad…” 
 
*** 
 
“What’s going on down there?” Azonia demanded from her command vessel, intel had been coming from the battle on the micronian planet. Since the battle fortress seemed in no danger she had not seen the need to interfere, but now the readings were going haywire. 
 
“It seems the barrier erected around Zor’s fortress is overloading, m’lady,” Yiata reported, “it looks like it’s going to explode. Should we warn Khyron to disengage?” 
 
Azonia narrowed her eyes, thinking. 
 
“No,” she finally pronounced. 
 
“What?” Yiata was stunned, Zentraedi may have no qualms in sending each other out to die for the purpose of war, but deliberately allowing a mass loss of soldiers was not part of their doctrine. 
 
“He has purposely disobeyed my orders,” Azonia said, coolly, “if it is the end of him, so be it.” 
 
Inside, though, Azonia’s heart was pounding in the anticipation of Khyron meeting his end, of finally getting him out her midst. 
 
*** 
 
Lisa’s heart was hammering against her chest, she could barely breath. 
 
Reports from Lang indicated that even if the barrier did explode, the SDF-1 would be undamaged, but their pilots…and the citizens of the nearby city of Hamilton. 
 
“Skull Leader reports that the fighter squadrons have taken out twenty percent of the laser turrets on the alien crafts,” Lisa reported, her voice sounding faint and far away to her ears. 
 
“It’s not enough,” she heard Gloval say, “it won’t work…” 
 
“Sir! The enemy ships have entered the red zone!” Vanessa shouted her eyes wide behind her round glasses.  
 
“Captain Gloval, the barrier readings are in overload! We can’t sustain the barrier! We’re evacuating, repeat, we’re eva-“ 
 
But the sentence was never finished, it was abruptly cut off and sirens and warning lights began to flash from Sammy’s and Kim’s screens. 
 
“An explosion has been detected in the barrier room, Captain!” Kim cried. 
 
“The barrier system is expanding out! It’s exploding, Captain!” Sammy screamed in horror. 
 
'Rick!' The name echoed in Lisa’s head louder than anything else. 
 
*** 
 
“All veritechs withdraw!” Lisa’s yell almost made Roy jump, so unusual was it for her to totally lose her cool. “All veritechs clear the area NOW! The barrier is going to explode! It’s exploding! Get out of there, HURRY!” 
 
“All fighters hit the afterburners and let’s get the Hell out of here!” Roy shouted over the tac-net in case any pilot hadn’t got the message. Launching into the air, he pulled the ‘F’ tab and the veritech immediately converted to fighter mode.  
 
A quick look around confirmed that Gibson was in position and beyond him the rest of the squadrons were speeding away from the SDF-1, the barrier had now become a garnish red. 
 
And then…. 
 
*** 
 
“M’lord! The barrier has exploded! We’re going to be caught -!” Captain Zerrel’s scream was cut off. 
 
Khyron and Grel shielded there eyes as a painfully bright light filled the entire cruiser. The heat built up quickly. 
 
“Retreat!” Khyron screamed. “Retreat before we’re blown up!” 
 
Somehow the tech’s managed to input the needed instructions and the cruiser veered upwards towards space, leaving the wave of destruction far behind. 
 
*** 
 
Roy’s eyes scanned the radar, counting the dots and judging distances. All remaining veritechs were in front of the wave…all but one. 
 
“Ben!” Rick’s shaking voice suddenly filled his ears. “Ben! Hit your afterburner! NOW!” 
 
Those frightening words were followed by ones even more terrible. 
 
“I can’t make it, Rick! I’m too late! I-ARRRRGH!” 
 
'No!' Roy winced, watching as the dot that had been Ben Dixon disappeared from the screen, as Rick shouted that very word into the night.

Continue / Continua: Yes / Si