Part Five Chapter Three

Index

Part Five Chapter Five

Disclaimer

Macross is owned by or licensed to lots of people - Tatsunoko Studios, Harmony Gold, Studio Nue, Streamline Video...note that none of them are me.

The same can be said of Ranma 1/2 - Rumiko Takahashi, Kitty, Shonen Sunday Comics, Viz Video. Not me.

I didn’t create any of them, and I certainly do not own them. Please don’t sue me.

"I am First Lieutenant Miriya Parino, commander of the First Assault Group of the Second Quadrano Battalion of the Meltraedi."

The image on the television screen was grainy, and the audio had a tendency to crackle. Gloval sighed, and clicked his remote. The display now showed the same Meltraedi, her hands bound in front of her, seated on a chair. An unseen interrogator’s voice could be heard.

"What was your mission aboard this ship?"

Miriya’s eyes remained on the floor. "To locate and assassinate a pilot named Max Sterling."

"Have you encountered Lieutenant Sterling?"

"No. The only U.N. Spacy crew I have interacted with are Captain Saotome, Lieutenant Tendo, and Specialist Hibiki."

"How did you get aboard this ship?"

Gloval sighed again, and turned off the monitor. "She has answered all of our questions?"

"Yes, Captain."

He turned to face his Executive Officer. "You authorized her to go aboard a Valkyrie?"

She didn’t meet his gaze, but instead kept her eyes on the back wall. "Yes, sir."

"Mm." He turned back to the now-blank screen. "Well, no harm done, luckily. I trust you will find some way of making sure this does not happen again."

"Sir...there is one person aboard who also claims to be an Amazon, and one other who may or may not still be aboard."

"I understand." He pulled out his pipe, and started to pack it with tobacco. "Investigate this discreetly, please. We’ve had a little too much indiscretion so far."

* * * * *

Ryouga grabbed the front of Ranma’s flight suit and slammed him up against the bulkhead. "How could you let them just take her away?"

"I told ya! She’s an alien! An enemy!" Ranma grabbed Ryouga’s hands, and tried to pull them apart. "Let go of me, ya big ape!"

Ryouga slammed him against the bulkhead again, then tossed him aside as easily as though he were a rag doll. "You bastard! This is all your fault!"

"Gee, didn’t see that coming." Ranma stood up, and straightened his uniform. "Now listen to me, Ryouga. She’s okay, she’s co-operating with Intelligence, and she saved a bunch of innocent people, all right? She even got that other Amazon co-operating."

"But she’s still locked up, and it’s--"

"All my fault. I know. Find a new line. And shut up. That’s an order."

Ryouga gritted his teeth, and forced himself to calm down.

"I’ve been talking with Lisa, and she tells me that Intel’s probably gonna give Miriya the run of the ship. Save for places where civvies can’t go. They’re likely gonna have a tail on her, because she is an enemy agent. But it’s almost guaranteed that you’ll see her again. Okay?"

Ryouga sighed. "Okay."

Ranma clapped him on the shoulder. "We’ve been getting along fairly well for almost a week now. I’d like to keep it that way."

* * * * *

"You were able to relocate the device without attracting any unwanted attention?"

Claudia adjusted the controls, stripping more interference from the signal. Normally, she was very careful to ignore private communication within the ship, but when said communication was highly encrypted, and bounced through the main sensor array...

"Yes, I was, and I arranged for its delivery to the gentleman during our last engagement. Have you spoken with him?"

"Oh, yes. You’d think he was overjoyed to be destroying so many of his own people. To hear him speak, you’d swear that he wasn’t discussing his own people at all, but some alien race."

"How ironic."

The terminal beeped quietly; it had found a 99% match on the second voice, the one located off-ship. It started pulling up files on one Anatole Leonard, Lieutenant.

"Isn’t it, though? I also told him where to acquire the ship to deliver it with."

"You’ve done well, my friend. There shall be a very sizeable reward for you in the future."

The communication ended with a click; Claudia cursed. The voice-trace on the first voice stood at 68%. Ninety-nine was sufficient for a match, but anything less than ninety-five might as well be zero.

None the less; she’d recorded as much of the conversation as she could. No doubt Doctor Lang would find it interesting.

* * * * *

Colonel Maistroff sipped his coffee, then set the cup back down in front of him. "Now that we’ve both had a break, what say we continue this, eh, Miriya?"

Miriya’s gaze did not rise from the floor. "As you wish."

"You stated that you were not the only alien spy planted aboard this vessel. Who were the others?"

"Zentraedi."

He snorted. "Of course they were."

"No, you do not understand." She looked up. "They were Zentraedi. I am Meltraedi. They were males."

"Yes, you’ve said that too."

"The Zentraedi are not aligned with us, under normal circumstances."

"And why is that, Miriya?"

"Because they are inferior."

Maistroff snorted.

Miriya glanced down at her wrists. "I have given my word of honour not to harm you, or to attempt to escape. I give it again. Will you please remove these binders?"

Maistroff shook his head. "I don’t think that would be wise. How can I trust you?"

"How, indeed." She smirked; it was not lost on Maistroff.

"You ask me to trust you, and yet you admit that you cannot be trusted."

"No, Robert. I have stated that you are incapable of trust."

He darkened. "You will refer to me as Colonel Maistroff."

"Why?" Her expression darkened. "You have not shown me the same respect. And I am an opposing officer, who has given binding oath. Who has surrendered herself, to males, no less!"

"You are an enemy of my people, and a spy." He looked as though he would say more, but the door behind him opened.

"Colonel, I’ll take it from here."

He turned, to see Commander Hayes standing behind him. "Lisa. Don’t worry, I’ve got this situation under--"

"Colonel. Please, don’t make me repeat myself." Hayes folded her arms, and stared down at the rather pudgy officer.

"My orders to interrogate the prisoner come from Captain Gloval."

"I am overruling his order."

"You cannot--"

She sighed. "Do not force me to bring your treatment of this prisoner to his attention. You recall how distressed he was over the possibility that an enlisted member of their forces was being mistreated? How much more so will he be concerned over an officer?"

Maistroff darkened, stood, and left without a further word. Hayes stepped forward, and held up a key. "Please, Lieutenant, stand up."

She stood. "I have already sworn not to try to escape, and to harm no person aboard this vessel."

"You swore it to him."

Miriya smirked. "I am pleased to see you recognize the difference. I so swear to you."

"Good." She unlocked the cuffs, and sat down in Maistroff’s chair. "Unfortunately, I do have to continue questioning you."

"I understand."

"But before we begin...can I get you something to drink? Coffee, or tea?"

"Perhaps a rye and coke."

Hayes blinked.

* * * * *

"In short, she wishes to fly. That is all she really wishes. And to get it, she has told us, she will ensure that her people join us."

Gloval snorted. "That simple."

"Yes, sir." Hayes slid three pictures across Gloval’s desk. "These are sketches of the three alien spies that were on board before Miriya. She has told me that the males of her species are somehow different from the females."

Gloval raised his eyebrows.

"More so than the obvious, sir. They each believe that the other is a separate species, and often war against each other."

"Indeed." Gloval sighed. "Of course, they might decide the same about us, seeing how we operate. All right; do you suggest we do as she asks?"

"Yes, sir." There was no hesitation in Hayes’ voice whatsoever. "For one thing, the ship is dangerously low on mecha and pilots; we need as many as we can get, and if that means allying with alien Amazons...why not?" She smiled. "They appear to be excellent pilots, sir."

"Yes, they do." He frowned. "And you are asking me to place one of our Valkyries, of which you admit we have very few, in the hands of an enemy pilot. One of their best."

"I am, sir."

"Does this not strike you as dangerously foolish?"

"I suggest that she be given an under-armed mecha, equipped with a kill switch in case she proves false, sir."

"Hmm." Gloval leaned back, his cap shading his eyes, and crossed his arms. "This would reduce the chances of her causing harm...but I’m not convinced. Go on."

"Second, there is the matter of the alien cruiser we captured. We’ve made repairs to it, making it better than before we attacked it, but we still need a crew of thirty-to-forty-foot-tall people to operate it."

"There are no human-sized controls aboard?"

"No, sir. And we can’t convert it to such, either; the technology is not the same as the Macross. We’d have to spend another ten years learning about it."

"Understood." He pulled out his pipe and began to pack it. "Not being content with putting her in a Valkyrie once, you wish to do it again, eh?"

Hayes’ eyes snapped back up to the wall. "Results seemed satisfactory last time, sir."

"Calm down, Lisa. I was teasing you." He struck a match and lit his pipe, drew on it a couple of times, then turned back to Hayes. "Lord knows why I’m agreeing to this. It seems an exceptionally dangerous idea. Perhaps it’s my well-known weakness for a pretty face."

Her cheeks coloured slightly, but she kept her face impassive. "Thank you, sir."

"I could have been talking about her, you know." He chuckled. "Any idea where you’re going to post her?"

* * * * *

"Commander, have you got something against me?" Ranma threw the papers down on the desk. "This is even more stupid than last time. And this time, I can’t even blame it on Ryouga."

"Orders, Captain."

"Yes, ma’am." He sighed. "Well, at least we know she’s a shit-hot pilot. She proved that last time she was in a jet." He turned to Miriya. "They give you a rank yet?"

"No, Captain."

He glanced over at Hayes, who was digging through her files. "She identified herself before as a Lieutenant. That good enough for now?"

"Yes, Captain. I think we can give her a Lieutenancy."

"Great." He turned back to her. "Next, we’ve gotta assign you a ride. I think I have one for you; We’ve been given a heavily modified Zentraedi Officer’s Pod--"

Lisa winced.

Miriya’s expression darkened, and she stepped forward. "I am not Zentraedi. I am Meltraedi."

"...Okay. No Zentraedi Officer’s Pod. Got it." He turned and studied the Table of Organization and Equipment on the back wall. "Sergeant Kosuji is about to hit Warrant. Commander, if I put in a recommendation--"

"Consider it signed, Ranma."

"Thanks, Lisa. I understand Skull’s got an opening for a Flight Commander. Put her under Hunter."

"Sounds good."

"A commission is just the right parting gift for her. Plus, that frees up a Rapier for Parino to drive."

Hayes finished scribbling notes. "Got it. Can you meet me later tonight, and we can finalize this? There’s some details that we have to go over."

"How much later?"

"I’ve got to iron out some problems over with Green and Blue Squadrons."

"What’s up with Blue?"

She grinned. "They need a new commander."

"What’s wrong with their old commander?" Ranma did not mean Mototada; that unfortunate had met his end on the flight to Toronto.

"She’s not officially squadron commander." Lisa’s grin widened. "I’m going to fix that. Green has other personnel problems. Together. it’ll take me about three hours, I think. I’ll page you then."

"Shouldn’t be a problem."

"All right. We can make it a working dinner. I know of your fondness for food." She turned and headed for the ready-room door. "Later, then."

"Yeah." He turned to Miriya. "So you’ve defected, huh?"

She smiled. "So you’re my new commanding officer, huh?" She flicked a hand,

knocking the glass of water into his lap. "At least let me have the illusion of a proper commander."

Ranma stood, wringing out her uniform jacket. "Never do that again."

"No promises."

* * * * *

"Replacement parts are extremely low, as are trained technicians." Tech Corporal Arisa ticked the issues off her fingers. "Ammunition is still at acceptable levels, but unless we leave station, there is no way to replenish."

Azonia sighed. "And we cannot leave station."

"True enough, Lady."

"My Lady." One of the bridge crew turned to face Azonia. "We have detected a Micronian warship approaching us."

Azonia stood. "What is its course and velocity?"

"Its course will have it pass us by three thousand meters, Lady. Its velocity is slow, within low limits of a Micronian ship."

"Type?"

"It appears to be a Terran Heavy Cruiser type, similar to those that screened the Protoculture Fortress from Breetai’s initial attack."

Azonia nodded. Those vessels were large and extremely powerful, by Terran standards, but should pose no threat to her Command Cruiser. Provided she was not caught off guard by it.

"Launch fighters to screen us from possible enemy attack. Stand by the main gun. Warm up all secondary batteries."

The bridge flooded with crimson light, as the massive battleship went to red alert.