Fanfic Name / Nombre del Fanfic: Choices and Aces
Chapter / Capitulo: Chapter Nine
Author / Autor: Anonymoose_Au
Rating / Clasificacion: AP15 (For Teenagers = Para Adolescentes)
Romance
Action / Accion
Alternate Universe / Universo Alterno
Fanfic: “Goodbye to bad rubbish!” Remark attributed to Colonel T.R Edwards on hearing that the SDF-1 had left Earth’s orbit.
In between the mad preparations to leave Earth, Roy had barely had time to sleep, let alone speak to Rick about his loss.
It was only on the morning of Ben Dixon’s funeral that he managed it.
Rick was standing at an observation deck, watching the still steady stream of incoming supplies arriving.
“Hey, Little Brother,” Roy put a hand on his shoulder.
Rick looked up. “Oh, hey…”
“Tough week, I guess.”
“Yeah…”
“Look, I’m sorry about Ben, I know you’ve probably heard that a million times,” Roy said.
“Actually, I haven’t,” Rick looked up at him, “every other pilot I’ve run into…well they just haven’t said a thing…even Max.”
“Well,” Roy shifted a little uncomfortably, sometimes it was hard with Rick, even though he had been a combat pilot for almost a year there were still a lot of things about the military he didn’t really get. “That’s kind of…that’s just what combat pilots do.”
“What? Ignore a comrade’s death?”
“In a way, yes.”
“What the Hell for?” Rick snapped. “They just don’t care? That whoever it was DESERVED what they got?”
“Of course not,” Roy objected, “look, it’s a war, so many die out there… the guys, it’s just a way of coping you know.”
“Well I’m NOT coping.”
“I imagine not,” Roy admitted, “it has its drawbacks.”
“I’m sure it makes holding a funeral hard,” Rick drawled sarcastically.
“They really don’t forget, you know, I remember every man I’ve lost in combat-“
“EVERY one?” Rick looked surprised.
“Yes I do, and as you might imagine it’s not particularly something you want to talk about.”
“There must have been…hundreds of them,” Rick continued still stunned.
'Thanks for rubbing it in,' Roy almost said, but bit his tongue. “Max will probably talk about it, but you don’t have to go around announcing it all over the place.”
“Right…” Rick sighed, “but I don’t know if I can talk to Max, I sort of…I just…I couldn’t write to Ben’s parents, I couldn’t meet them…I let Max do it instead.” He bowed his head.
“Hey, come on Little Brother, don’t beat yourself up, I’ve done the same thing.”
Rick looked at him as if he didn’t believe it. “Yeah, right.”
“Of course, I have, geeze, you think when I lost my first wingman it was just another day on the job? That guy had a girlfriend on board, he had parents and five brothers and a sister at home. You think I wanted to tell them what happened? Hey, I came back alive, but your son, brother, boyfriend didn’t, sorry about that? I had no idea what to say, or what to write, so what did I do?”
Rick shrugged.
“Nothing. At all. Not a damn thing, until his girlfriend showed up at my door wanting to know where he was.”
Rick was stunned. “Uh…what did you say?”
“I had to tell her of course,” Roy looked out over the ocean. “Let me tell you, it was a million times worse than I thought. At least you had the foresight to send someone else.”
“I uh…that’s rough…”
“Well, I wasn’t trying to one-up you or anything, I’m just saying, that every pilot has trouble with it and it’s unspoken rule that its downplayed as much as possible. Just keep that in mind.”
Rick nodded.
At that moment the Taps began, signalling that it was time for the funeral to begin.
Putting an arm around Rick’s shoulders the two headed off to the deck of the Prometheus to farewell Ben.
***
Lisa had kept mostly to herself for the passed few days, only briefly taking calls from Claudia.
She was still upset about what had happened in the Ontario Quadrant, but her grim words of a few days ago seemed like the words of someone else. She knew that she couldn’t give into grief; it was what Karl would have wanted for her.
Now, she was standing outside Captain Gloval’s office, having seen the official United Earth Council helicopter depart. She knocked on his door and was admitted.
“Hello, Captain, I just saw the emissary leaving, we’ve received our official orders then?” She greeted him.
The response was sharp. “Yes.”
Lisa was taken aback, at his tone. “Sir, is everything all right?”
The Captain turned to her, holding his pipe with white fingers. “No, it’s not, Lisa.”
She was surprised to see him this way; Captain Gloval was always so cool and calm. “Uh…can I get you a drink, sir?”
“Please,” he nodded.
Lisa went to the cabinet and poured some wine for them both, as she handed him his glass she asked again. “What were the orders, sir, do we-“
“We’ve been ordered to leave the Earth, Lisa, civilians and all…”
Lisa sighed. “Well…it was to be expected, I guess…”
“But it is not just that,” Gloval shook his head. “We’ve been told to act as a decoy, to draw the aliens away from Earth...and if we are killed in the process and the civilians with us, so be it.”
“Sir, can they do that? I mean, there’s conventions-“
“They’ve all ready done it,” the Captain answered her, walking over to the phone and dialling a number.
“Lieutenant Grant,” Claudia answered from the Bridge.
“Listen to me, Claudia; I want you to begin preparations to leave Earth quickly and quietly.”
There was a moment’s pause. “What, sir?” Claudia gasped.
“We are to leave the Earth’s atmosphere in two hours, there is no time to waste, do you understand?”
“Roger, sir, will you be coming to the Bridge to oversee the preparations?”
“No, I have to speak to the civilians, first,” Gloval sighed. “Lisa will be coming with me, as well.”
“Yes, sir.”
Gloval hung up and turned to Lisa. “All right, now, are you ready?”
Lisa swallowed hard. “Yes, sir.”
“Let’s go then…”
***
Rico and Bron had finished loading the battle pod with every artefact they had got their hands on during their stay aboard Zor’s fortress.
Meanwhile Konda was cooking up a meal over a camp stove, likely to be their last. Radio transmissions they had picked up from the battle pod’s communication system indicated that Commander Breetai was returning.
“OK, you guys,” Konda called, “it’s ready!”
“All right, what are you trying to poison us with today, Konda?” Rico asked as he and Bron jumped down to the deck.
“It's fish soup,” Konda replied, good naturedly, “and you’ll be fine.”
“Hmm…I dunno,” Bron laughed as he accepted a bowl.
“Smells good though,” Rico was willing to admit.
“Come on, try it,” Konda encouraged them, and took a big spoonful.
The other two followed suit. “Wow that is good!” Bron commented, digging in.
“Yeah, your cooking has got so much better,” Rico spoke, taking another spoonful himself.
“Thanks.”
“Now I only get indigestion about an hour later,” he added, nudging Bron and the two burst out laughing.
“Oh, ha, ha,” Konda rolled his eyes.
“You know, this thing the micronians call ‘joking’ is a lot of fun.” Bron spoke up.
“I’ll say!” Rico nodded, licking his lips. “It was never like this back on the command vessel.”
“Yeah, everyone was just in it for themselves,” Konda remarked, “I mean think about it, before we came here we didn’t know anything about each other. We never spent time in each other’s company. And well…I don’t mind saying that I’m enjoying the time we spend together. I…like you guys, as the micronians would say.”
Rico and Bron looked slightly surprised, then they turned to each other and smiled. “Well, hey, we like you too, Konda,” Bron waved his spoon.
“Yeah, except when you’re givin’ us indigestion.”
“You know…you two are starting to…what’s the expression, ‘beat a dead horse’ with that joke.”
“Oh, get a grip,” Rico laughed with a wave of his hand. “But you know what,” he sighed, “we’re not gonna be able to do this when we get back to the ship.”
The other two fell silent.
“We always knew that,” Konda remarked, “we sure haven’t talked about anything else for the last few lon.”
“Heh, except for Minmei,” Bron spoke up.
“Yeah, Minmei’s great,” Rico sighed.
“I can’t believe we won’t be able to listen to her anymore,” Konda shook his head. “I love her songs!”
“Yeah, they make everything seem so bright and happy,” Bron smiled.
“Yeah, what do we get to hear back on ship,” Konda rolled his eyes. “The dripping of cooling fluid and the sound of marching.”
“We’ll always remember them though,” Rico spoke up, trying to lighten the mood again. “We could sing them ourselves! Like…karok!”
“I think its karaoke,” Konda corrected.
Bron leapt to his feet. “A world of things we’ve never seen before! Where silver suns have golden moons!” He bawled.
Rico put his hands to his ears. “Ugh, stop! That’s terrible.”
Bron shut his mouth with a look of embarrassment.
“Maybe you can practice somewhere, QUIETLY,” Konda grinned, “if I can became an ace cook, I’m sure you could become an ace singer.”
“Really?”
“Sure,” Rico nodded, and winked at Konda, “just remember that word…quietly.”
***
“Married? YOU?!”
“Thanks for that vote of confidence, pal,” Roy rolled his eyes.
“Sorry, but since when do you think marriage is a good idea.”
“Hey, I’ve never had a problem with it…well, with other people doing it, at least.”
“Exactly,” Rick remarked, with a grin.
“Look, are you gonna ride my butt or are you going to give the appropriate response.”
“Wasn’t that the appropriate response?”
“Funny, Rick, so funny.”
Rick held up his hands in a show of defeat. “OK, OK, congratulations, when’s the big day?”
“I really don’t know, to be honest,” Roy shrugged, “I mean, you can’t just get married anytime you want in the military.”
“Geeze, I’m surprised they don’t tell us when to go to the bathroom,” Rick rolled his eyes.
“They don’t? Someone hasn’t been passing on all your orders to you.”
“Let me guess, though, you’re telling me this because you want me to be your best man, since hey, I’m the best.”
“And so modest, of course,” Roy rolled his eyes, but then gave Rick a slap on the shoulder. “But yeah, that was what I had in mind.”
“Well count me in…if I’m not on duty of course.”
“Here’s hoping for the two of us.”
“But aren’t people who are married not supposed to serve on the same ship?” Rick suddenly pointed out.
“Well, unless they throw one of is in a dinghy out back they really don’t have much of a choice.”
Rick gave a laugh and was about to say something in return when suddenly their pagers went off.
“Oh, what? I’m not even supposed to be on today.”
“Well, it’s a 999, so you’re on now, let’s get going.”
As Rick hurried off at Roy’s heels he had to wonder how anyone would find time to get married.
***
Minmei had been preparing to give her weekly live performance on the MBS when Captain Gloval showed up with an entourage of military personnel.
“What are they here for?” Kyle snapped from Minmei’s right.
“I dunno,” Vance muttered, pushing by them, “I’ll go find out.”
“It’s bad enough they dictate everything we do,” Kyle sneered, “now they’ve got come and ruin your performance, too.”
“It’s OK, Kyle,” Minmei put a hand on his arm, hoping to prevent him from making a scene.
Vance returned from a heated discussion with Gloval’s people.
“Well, it looks like we’ve been pre-empted,” he told the dryly. “The Captain has an announcement to make.”
Minmei was curious and watched as Captain Gloval got into position in front of the cameras.
“OK, everybody,” one of the MBS camera men called, “settle down! We’re goin’ to air in three…two….”
“Hello people of Macross City,” the Captain began, his cap pulled low over his eyes. “I…stand before you today to give you regretful news…as you know ten days ago the mayor of Toronto withdrew his permission to allow you to offload. Since that time we have been hoping that some other government would agree to give you asylum. I stand here before you to tell you that no such permission has been granted. In addition to this, we have been given orders by the United Earth Council to leave Earth immediately….” He paused for a long time.
Minmei looked around; everyone was staring at the Captain with fearful eyes.
“We have been told that if we do not do so, we may be subjected to attacks from elements of our own Defense forces.”
There were cries of “What?!”
“I don’t believe it!”
“It can’t be true!”
Minmei looked over at Kyle, but he seemed just as stunned as the rest of them.
***
Tommy Luan was looking at the TV, his mouth opened wide in complete shock.
“They can’t do that!” His friend, Vern was on his feet, shouting at the TV as if the Captain could hear.
“With no country willing to accept you therefore, you will be joining us on our return to conflict with the aliens.”
“Oh, no!” Vern’s wife who was sitting on Tommy’s other side put her hands to her mouth.
“I know your patience and your bravery have been severely tested since the initial attack upon Macross Island and our long voyage home, I can only beg you to keep that patience and bravery,” Captain Gloval continued. “Because it is up to us to defend Earth from alien attacks, it is we who will have to fight on, for the good of all of those on Earth, even though they do not know the sacrifices we are to make for them.”
“Wha-“ Verne looked ready to go on with another diatribe.
“Ssh!” Tommy held up his hand for silence.
The Captain at least deserved to be heard out.
***
“I can’t believe this,” Sammie was saying as the Bridge Bunnies and Claudia hurried to get the ship ready for take off. “I can’t believe we’re been sent away!”
“Well, we don’t have much choice,” Claudia remarked over her shoulder as she hurried about flipping switches at her and Lisa’s station. “We’ve been given our orders.”
“But that’s so unfair! How could they do this to us?!”
“Well, let’s be realistic,” Kim spoke up, “we did destroy a whole city.”
“That was an accident! We couldn’t have known it would happen.” Sammie cried.
Vanessa looked over at them. “I don’t think they really care.”
“But someone must be able to do something!” Sammie insisted. “Wait! I know, Lisa’s father is on the council, why doesn’t she speak to him?”
Kim stared at her as she spoke, but then her eyes darted to the front of the bridge as Claudia made her way towards them.
“She can just call him up and tell him that we need help and ask him to –oh!”
Claudia leaned over right in her face. “Sammie, don’t you dare bring this up with Lisa! She’s had enough trouble with her father without you putting pressure on her like that! We’ve been told to leave with the civilians aboard and so we will, you got that?”
Sammie who had sunk in her chair stunned, gulped. “Yes…”
“OK, then,” Claudia smiled at her, and then at Kim and Vanessa. “Let’s go this ship won’t take off by itself.”
***
Gloval was struggling; he couldn’t bear to meet the eyes of anyone in the room for fear of what he’d see there. “I hope one day that you will be able to forgive us…the military, for what we are asking of you. I pray that you will still give us support and for that we will…” He tried, valiantly to clear the lump in his throat. “We – the military- will strive to protect you as we always have.”
He had more to say, but he couldn’t…the tears that had been stinging his eyes spilled forth and he could not speak through them. His shoulders began to shake. How could he ask this of civilians…?
And suddenly someone was beside him; someone was laying a hand on his arm.
“Everybody, I think it’s only right we should support the Captain and the rest of the RDF in this!” It was Minmei. “It’s not their fault we’re been sent away, and if anybody can get through it, we can! After all, for over a year we’ve been here on this ship and we’ve come through. In fact, we’ve done more than that, we’ve flourished! I don’t know about the rest of you, but I think of this ship as my home now and I think of you all as my family! I have so many friends here and I love you all. I think that together we can win this war and come back to Earth, until that day though, we’ll band together here on this ship and make the most of it.”
Gloval looked up and saw that everyone in the room was nodding, that Minmei’s words were getting through. And then as Minmei walked to stand in front of the observation window that reflected the beautiful Earth night, Gloval felt another hand on his shoulder.
It was Lynn Kyle, head of the Anti-War movement.
“You can depend on the civilians, Captain,” was all he said before turning to look at Minmei.
Perhaps all was not lost after all.
***
“Wow,” Rick whispered, distracted by the MBS broadcast he had tapped into. Minmei’s face filled the screen and her words were inspiring.
But at the same time, they represented how far she had risen, how far she had moved from him. Would he ever have a chance?
“Hey, Rick,” Roy called, interrupting his thoughts.
“Huh?” Rick looked down, on deck Roy was giving directions to other pilots to secure their veritechs before take off.
“We’ve still got things to do here, you can get all weepy eyed over your girl when your off-duty!”
“I’m not weepy eyed,” Rick objected, surreptitiously wiping away a tear.
“Yeah, sure,” Roy rolled his eyes and turned away, “just get on with it. Hey, you watch out with that!” He shouted to a rookie pilot across the hanger. “You don’t want damage your own plane, we’ve got plenty of aliens out there to do it for you.”
“Yes, sir!” The rookie squeaked.
As Rick reached out to turn off the tac-net he heard Minmei dedicate a song to Earth and to the hope they’d return.
“Here’s to you, Minmei,” he murmured as he was forced to turn his mind back to his duty.
***
As Minmei sung hopefully however, flashes of light beyond the moon signalled that the Zentraedi were grouping en masse.
“We’re detecting a huge amount of disturbance in radio waves and the infra-red spectrum, Captain!” Vanessa called as Lisa and Gloval returned to the Bridge.
“A fold?” Gloval asked, raising his eyebrows.
“It’s worse than that, sir, its multiple folds…thousands of them!”
“The aliens must be sending reinforcements,” Lisa spoke up as she went to her station.
“Maybe not!” Sammie cried, “Maybe they’re coming in peace!”
Everyone turned to stare at her in complete disbelief.
Sammie blushed. “Um…right, probably not.”
“Well, I guess it’s up to us to draw them away,” Gloval grumbled as he sat in this command chair. “Claudia, begin take off sequence!”
“Aye, aye, sir!” Claudia called. “All hands prepare for take off, navigation ensure all co-ordinates are set and entered, all sectors ensure airlocks have been sealed.”
With all orders confirmed, Claudia pulled the thrust lever and with a great shake the SDF-1 lifted out of the ocean and rose swiftly in the air towards the stratosphere.
Lisa watched as the earth receded, the view port showing first the sea, then tracks of land covered with lights from the cities of Earth.
'Who knows when we’ll see them again…?'
***
Rico, Konda and Bron had struggled with the controls of the battle pod, blasting a hole into the skin of Zor’s battle fortress and launching through it into the ocean. Their signal had come and it was time to go back.
Reaching rocks that served as a launching pad, the cockpit of the battle pod detached from the legs with a burst from a secondary engine, sending them up into space.
“This is 2nd Officer Rico reporting to Lord Breetai,” Rico called over the radio as they headed for the co-ordinates of the defolding of the Zentraedi Imperial Fleet. “We have succeeded in our spy mission and are returning to the ship.”
“Message received, Officer Rico,” a tech’s voice crackled through the speakers, sounding extremely loud to the micronised Zentraedis ears. “Lord Breetai eagerly awaits your report.”
“We will make contact with the ship in three hundred mil,” Rico continued, “and are prepared to undergo macronisation immediately.”
“3rd Officer Karita will be ready,” the tech affirmed.
“Yes, sir!”
He returned his mind to manning the controls of the pod, until he noticed what Konda and Bron were staring out the face plate.
He looked to, do see Zor’s battle fortress heading into space as well. For one desperate minute, Rico actually thought of steering back to the ship, returning to the life they had discovered.
He shook his head to clear the thought. It was ridiculous! What was he thinking? What were they thinking?
“Hey, you two,” he called sharply, “let’s make sure we keep on course, huh?”
“Oh, right,” Konda turned back to the navigation instruments.
“Of course,” Bron added, returning his attention to the thruster’s ratio panel.
Rico nodded and the three continued for their ship.
Continue / Continua: Yes / Si