My appologies to everyone. I pasted the wrong file into my last
message. (Note to self: don't post when sleep deprived)
disclaimer: they're not mine. I'm not making anything off of it. Don't
sue, you won't get anything.
No Need For Protoculture
by Andrew Wilson
Chapter 3: The Eyes of an Enemy
Roy Fokker's voice crackled over the radio. "Change of plans, boys,
we're taking the fight to the whale."
Tenchi gulped as Skull Squadron changed course toward the alien
cruiser. He told himself that the huge ship's weapon turrets would have
trouble hitting something as small as his Veritech. He told himself
that the guns would be just as dangerous to the battlepods as they would
be to the Veritechs. He told himself that, and it didn't help much.
*Snap out of it,* he screamed in his mind. *Yume and Bizen were worse
than this, and we won that.*
*But that took a bona-fide miracle.*
"Look alive Masaki!" Kramer said over the radio as he blew a battlepod
off of Tenchi's tail.
Tenchi didn't waste time acknowledging as he cut his thrust, flipped his
Veritech around to face the alien ship, then hit full burn. Other
pilots were either switching to Guardian for the quick turn or pulling
into a long loop like a atmospheric fighter. Somehow he had been
separated from Rick, though, and he searched the scanners for his wing.
"Don't worry about Hunter," Kramer's gruff voice said to Tenchi, "he's
with the boss. Show me what you got, kid, I'm your wing."
*Great, another test,* Tenchi mentally grumbled as he flew towards a
cluster of battlepods emerging from the cruiser's dorsal launch bays.
Once he hit optimal range for his missile load he launched a volley and
caught the pods flat-footed.
Though they resembled their terrestrial cousins (and could function
inside an atmosphere with minimal loss of function), space-bound
missiles operated on a different principal than conventional models.
The missiles' range was a matter of flight time, not a set number of
miles. In this case, optimal range was calculated at slightly under the
missiles' maximum burn time. This was to allow for changes in velocity
of the target and some evasive maneuver.
Of course, the pods didn't even see the missiles coming and were torn
apart in silent flares as the shaped charges in the warheads ripped
through the pods' thin armor and breached their power cores. Though
reflex engines - which the aliens were apparently also using - were much
safer and more stable than nuclear fission or fusion plants, they still
created a great deal of energy that could be violently released. Some
of the Veritechs carried heavy missiles that used that very principal to
do an insane amount of damage.
Tenchi cut thrust and switched to Battleoid mode as he came closer to
the alien ship. He threw the thrust back on to slow his decent to the
green hull and landed in a crouch. He immediately brought up his GU-11
and lined up with the nearest pod.
A short burst of slugs was enough to rip the pod's legs off and blew
apart one thruster, sending the pod tumbling into space. Tenchi then
threw this Veritech to the side and barely avoided taking a pair of
energy beams in the back. As it was, the blast hit his GU-11 and split
the gun pod cleanly in two. Tenchi retaliated by firing a missile at
the enemy mech as he sought cover on the cruiser's hull. The missile
struck the pod just above and between the two main guns and sheared both
off while leaving a blackened crater in the mech's armor.
Inspiration struck Tenchi as Kramer finished the pod off with a blast
from his own (intact) gun pod. Tenchi grasped a nearby antenna and
tested it's strength. It turn out that the object was made of stronger
material than the pods, and would do for the task Tenchi had in mind.
With one metal-shod hand still gripping the antenna, Tenchi set the
lasers on his mech's head to their cutting setting and began burning
through a segment of the alien metal.
"What are you doing, kid?" Kramer snarled. "This isn't time for playing
around!"
Tenchi ignored the veteran as his laser finished the cut. He hefted the
ten-meter pole for a moment before charging toward a cluster of
battlepods. They were in a firefight with a group of Skull Veritechs
that were occasionally firing from the cover of a shattered laser
turret. The pods were pouring fire at the Veritech's position, and
their shots were beginning to melt the armor being used for cover.
Tenchi used a slow, but powerful, overhead cleave on the first pod he
reached. The pod's chassis caved in and it collapsed to the ground with
a clang felt through the hull. The other pods chose that moment to
notice the invader in their midst.
But they noticed too late.
The antenna segment was close enough in size (relatively) to his old
practice swords that Tenchi was employing the improvised weapon with
deadly efficiency.
Slash to the first pod's main cannons. Duck under a return volley from
the left. Dive and roll to the right. Knee strike to the next one and
send it to the ground.
After the first lethal blow, he concentrated on disabling strikes. His
club stuck out at weapons, joints and sensors. Each strike scored a
hit. Each hit disabled its target.
Back flip to the one that's about to fire. It's cannon's hit the pod
Tenchi just kneecapped and drilled a pair of large, charred holes into
it's chassis. He landed behind the pod and was about to take it down
when his target was blown apart by a burst of slugs.
A Guardian swept by him as it gained altitude from the cruiser. Tenchi
noticed the other Veritechs were likewise leaving. It was odd, though,
that he wasn't hearing anything over the radio. On an impulse, he
checked the communications settings and gasped at what he saw.
*Oh no my radio was knocked out during the fight. But why is everyone
leaving? Better catch up to them."
Tenchi guided his Veritech upward on a thruster assisted leap to clear
the alien ship's hull before switching to Jet. As he rocketed away from
the cruiser, Tenchi spared a glance back, and nearly had a heart attack.
*They're not...they couldn't...*
The SDF-1 had closed to point-blank range and was still moving towards
the alien ship. The Deadelus was held out in front like a striking
fist, and it crackled with energy from the layered shields on its bow.
*They can and they are.* Tenchi stared at the battle fortress as it's
'fist' was driven into the alien ship's bow. A moment later, the ship's
hull erupted in hundreds of bulges, as though a thousand demons were
straining to escape.
A small voice in Tenchi's head was telling him that he should be paying
attention to where he was flying instead of the spectacle he was staring
at. That voice's suspicion was confirmed as an enemy shot hit his
Veritech and threw it into a roll.
Tenchi slapped off the damage alarms and sent his craft into a set of
evasive maneuvers. The controls were a little sluggish, and when he
checked the damage readouts he discovered that it was because the
starboard engine had been blown clean off. That meant he couldn't
mechamorph, since the engine was also the Veritech's right leg. The
same readouts confirmed that both arms were heavily damaged, and
shrapnel had damaged the starboard mounted missiles.
Tenchi jettisoned the damaged missiles before they could cause more
trouble, then sought out what had hit him. It didn't take him long to
figure out, since the battlepod was still on what was left of his tail.
*Okay, think Misaki. Radio's shot so asking for help is out. With the
loss in power he's both faster and more maneuverable than me. All I got
are pair of lasers that can only shoot in front, another one that can
hit him, but wouldn't do much more than scorch its paint, and three
missiles.* Tenchi paused for a moment. *Three missiles? It might just
work.*
The missiles in question were internally guided, meaning that they had
their own radar sets and a computer that homed in on the target given to
them. What Tenchi hoped to do was convince the missiles not to light
their propellant until a few extra seconds after they were released.
A particle beam flashed by his cockpit and reminded Tenchi that he had
to break his habit of thinking too much. He punched in a set of
commands while the radar sets aboard the missiles searched for their
target. Once this occurred, he hit the launch switch and sent the
missiles flying away from the port wing.
Two things happened at that instant. First, the missile's acceleration
dropped to zero, while Tenchi's Veritech puttered along at approximately
two gravities. The pod was going slightly higher, which was why it was
gaining. The second effect (and what Tenchi hoped the pilot would think
was the primary reason) was that since the Vertiech's mass dropped by
three missiles worth, a few more newtons of thrust were freed up and
that pushed the Veritechs acceleration up fractionally. It also reduced
the chance of a stray shot blowing him up if they hit the missiles.
The missiles, though, were sent into a bit of a tumbled when they were
released. One after another, they lined up with their target and lit
off their small drives.
The battlepod pilot didn't know what hit him as three armor piercing
warheads slammed into his mecha with a combined force equal to a small
nuclear explosion.
Tenchi sighed as he checked his radar for any more threats. He saw that
the remaining enemy mecha were retreating, and the Terran forces were
heading back home. There was nothing left of the alien cruiser, and
nothing to show what the SDF-1 did to it. Tenchi resolved to find out
what happened later as he headed for the Prometheus.
Landing was going to be a trick. Had he been planet side, he would have
been advised to just eject rather than try to bring the crippled craft
in. In space, however, certain things made a landing (if you could call
it that) possible.
With no radio, he couldn't inform anyone of what he was planning. He
had to hope that someone would figure it out before he became a crater
on the Prometheus' deck. He had almost used up his reaction mass by the
time he came in slowly, tail-first, and ten meters off the flight deck
of the Prometheus. Someone must have noticed what he was trying,
because as soon as he fired his remaining truster just enough to half
relative to the battle-fortress, two Gladiator Destroids manhandled his
fighter to the elevators and onto the lower deck. Once they set him
down on the back of a recovery truck, Tenchi popped the hatch and
climbed out of the fighter. He was met by the blond-haired squadron
commander.
"Nice work, Masaki," Fokker complimented. "Eight kills and twelve
assists. Instant ace, kid."
"Thank you sir," Tenchi said after remembering to salute.
"Don't thank me yet," Fokker's expression changed from cheerful to stern
in the blink of an eye. "You also weren't paying attention and almost
got yourself killed out there."
"I was lucky, sir, I know."
Fokker nodded. "You're one of the best, Tenchi. We can't afford to lose
you. Dismissed."
*******
"Hey Tenchi, wait up!"
Tenchi turned to the voice that fast approaching him in the barracks
hall. "Oh, hi Rick."
"I was about to go into town, and you looked like you need some time
off."
"Yeah," Tenchi mused. "Where are you headed, the Dragon?"
Rick shook his head. "Not this time. I heard a new place opened up, and
I'm going to give it a try."
"New place?" Tenchi asked. He had never been one or keeping up on
rumors.
"Yeah, called the Tree of Life or something like that. Sounds
vegetarian, but it's different."
"Tree of...oh no," Tenchi had a sinking feeling about that name. Ever
since Sasami had gotten out of the hospital, he hadn't had time to see
or even talk to the gang beyond Ryoko's occasional intrusions. Given
Sasami's attitude of kindness and generosity, and given that her only
skill that wouldn't draw attention was cooking, opening a restaurant
sounded like something she would try.
"Something wrong?" Rick asked.
"No," Tenchi quickly said, "not at all. It sounds good."
"Cool," Rick said as he threw an arm around Tenchi's shoulders and
steered his wing man back down the hall. "I got a jeep out of the motor
pool, and it's waiting for us outside."
"A jeep? Why not just take the tram? It would be faster."
Rick was silent for a few moments as they continued walking. "I'll
explain on the way."
*******
They were about halfway up the Prometheus "arm" before Rick broke the
silence. They were also driving at a speed that was scandalous for a
fighter pilot (everyone else would call it a safe and sensible speed).
"I'm not asking details, Tenchi," Rick said slowly. "But have you ever
had to kill? Face to face, I mean, not out there in our mecha."
Tenchi was prepared to deny it, to maintain his 'cover' as an ordinary
teen (before Launch Day, that is), but something in Rick's voice told
him the truth was a better option here.
"Yeah, Rick, I have."
Rick slowed the jeep even more as his attention on the road wavered.
"How do you do it? How do you look in their eyes and not see another
human, who has just as much right to life as you do?"
"I remember what's at stake," Tenchi replied. "These aliens have been
hostile since day one. If they had any peaceful intentions, they would
have shown them. Instead, all they showed us was that they had the
means and the motivation to wipe out all of us."
"How do we know that?" Rick slammed one fist against the dash in
frustration. "That big gun went off before anything could be said one
way or another. As far as they're concerned, we were the ones that shot
first!"
"Don't tell me you actually believe that!" Tenchi said hotly. "You saw
the recordings, just as I did. Those things were sneaking in. Are
saying that two heavily armed warships with stealth systems were on a
peaceful mission?"
Rick flinched away from his friend, then quickly recovered before he
sent the jeep spinning out of control. "Okay, I guess I deserved that."
Tenchi shrugged in response. "Like I said, you have to remember what
you're fighting for."
Rick smiled. "You know, you're right. Hold on."
'Hold on' is exactly what Tenchi did as Rick put the pedal to the metal
and sent the jeep flying down the transit shaft.
*******
"Hello," the greeter at the door said before opening her eyes. "Welcome
to the Tree of Life. How many is your party expect-Tenchi!"
Tenchi gasped as Ryoko gripped his ribs in a particularly vice-like
manner.
"So who's your girlfriend, Tenchi?" Rick asked. "And why is it you never
introduced us?"
"Can't...breath." Tenchi gasped out.
"Ryoko!" Ayeka scolded as she came into view. "You know better than to
hold up customer...Tenchi!" With an uncharacteristic squeal, Ayeka
joined Ryoko in the bear hug that was quickly becoming a dogpile.
"Ayeka? What's going on-Tenchi!" Sasami came out of the kitchen and
also joined the pile. Tenchi was able to gurgle out a call for help,
but Rick just stood to the side and snickered.
"Tenchi!" Yosho barked in his more authoritarian voice. The power in
the voice caused Tenchi to spring to his feet and salute. He looked
rather silly, tough, with Ryoko clinging to his right side, Ayeka on his
left, and Sasami wrapped around his neck from behind. Even Rick braced
to attention almost instinctively.
Washu seemed to materialize beside Tenchi with a scowl on her face.
"Girls, really." She grabbed Ayeka and Ryoko by the ears and dragged
them into the back of the restaurant. Sasami reluctantly released
Tenchi and scampered back into the kitchen a moment later.
"You're lucky, man," Rick said.
"That's *gasp* what you *wheeze* think!"
Rick shrugged, then looked around the room. "Wow, I wasn't expecting
this."
Tenchi looked around and gave a start. He had been expecting a
traditional eating establishment, not this. There weren't even
chopsticks on the tables! And chrome, everywhere there was chrome.
Booths lined the walls and a counter with fixed stools divided the
kitchen from the dining room. Appetizing smells drifted from the
kitchen, accompanied by sizzling of meat on a grill.
"Gra...Yosho," Tenchi quickly corrected himself, "what is all this?"
Yosho smiled. "Oh, the White Dragon was already in business by the time
Sasami had the idea of opening a place up, and the crew of this ship
*is* mostly American. I simply suggested that they might like something
closer to home than another Asian restaurant."
"Wow," Rick breathed. "This is like those diners my grandfather used to
talk about."
Yosho nodded. "Yes, I spent some time in America after the War, and this
idea stuck in my head. Sasami took quickly to the recipes, as well."
Rick nodded and probably assumed Yosho was talking about the global
war. After all, Yosho looked to be in his mid twenties, and therefor
might have even served in the war's later stages. Tenchi refrained from
asking if the war he refereed to had been World War Two or the Korean
War.
Yosho showed the two pilots to a booth and seated himself across from
them. He then motioned over his shoulder, which was followed by Ryoko
gliding over to the table (not literally, of course, though it was
questionable whether her feet actually touched the floor).
"Two specials," Yosho instructed.
Ryoko nodded as she jotted the order down, and blew a kiss at Tenchi
before moving over to the counter and handing the slip to Ayeka.
"Nice," Tenchi commented.
Yosho nodded. "Yes. Ryoko waits tables, Ayeka handles the counter and
the cash register, Sasami is the cook, and Washu inventories and checks
the books when she isn't wrapped up with her own project."
Tenchi nodded at that last. Washu's 'project' involved a surplus
computer she had 'acquired' (details were sketchy) and had modified.
It's exact capabilities were unknown, but they were nowhere near her
normal computer's abilities. What she was attempting to do was figure
out what had occurred that had cut her off from her terminal and lab.
Yosho had reported a month ago that he had re-established contact with
Funaho, and Sasami had said similar things about Tsunami shortly
before. Ayeka could faintly sense Ryu-oh's sapling, and Washu was using
that to try and find her lab, but wasn't having much success. Also,
Ryo-ohki still couldn't transform, not even into her humanoid forms.
Ryoko was back at their table a few minutes later and slid a plate in
front of each pilot before heading off to her next customer. The
'special' turned out to be a hamburger and french fries. Tenchi figured
the vegetables and potatoes came from the hydroponic gardens that had
been set up shortly after Macross had been rebuilt.
But something else was bothering Tenchi. "Um, where'd the meat come
from?"
Yosho smiled, and a stray bit of light reflected off his glasses and
briefly turned them opaque. "I asked Washu the same thing. She told me
not to ask."
Tenchi and Rick stared dubiously at their burgers and Yosho burst out
laughing. "Not like that! It's synthetic animal protein mixed with soy
and Sasami's blend of spices.
"A vegi-burger?" Rick asked.
Yosho shrugged. "Just think of it as incentive to get home."
Rick smirked and took a bite. Tenchi hesitated a moment before digging
in himself. It was surprisingly good, and pretty soon both youths had
devoured their burgers and were making progress on the fries before
Yosho spoke again.
"So, Tenchi, have you been keeping up on your studies?"
Tenchi almost choked, but quickly recovered. "I've been kinda busy
lately."
"That's no excuse. Next time you have leave, I expect you to be here
bright and early."
Tenchi groaned. "I suppose you've got the practice area set up."
Yosho nodded.
"What's this?" Rick asked.
"Trust me, Rick, you don't want to know."
Rick smiled and slipped out of the booth. "Well, I'm heading over to see
Minmei. You can get back to the barracks alright?"
"Yeah," Tenchi replied. Rick gave a quick nodd and all but jogged out
of the diner.
"Now, Tenchi," Yosho said as he stood, "I think it's time to see how out
of practice you are."
*******
While the girls finished cleaning up after the dinner rush inside,
Tenchi was attracting quite a crowd out back. It seemed as thought most
of the young women in the city had congregate at the fence to watch his
little training session (the fact that he had doffed his shirt and was
practicing bare-chested had nothing to do with that, of course). Once
he progressed past his warmups and started into the real practice, the
crowd grew as pilots began to stare at the acrobatics going on.
Tenchi's grandfather had decided to once again use his own personal form
of sword practice. It was also something that Tenchi had learned to
dread years before. Hitting a short wooden rod as it swung from an
overhead branch was simple. Hitting it while moving around was easy.
Hitting the same rod while maintaining one's balance on the tops of
poles about the size of one's heel is slightly more challenging. But
jumping between many such poles so that the swinging rod is always hit
at the exact same place at the exact same angle was very difficult.
Luckily, Yosho wasn't using the device Washu had devised shortly before
the SDF-1's launch that would deliver a shock if the rod wasn't hit
exactly right.
To compensate for that, Yosho was pacing the perimeter of the wooden
rods with his own practice sword. Every now and then he would take a
shot at Tenchi, who had to block the strike without losing his rythm.
If he missed the strike, or if his rythm broke, then Yosho struck again
with even greater speed and whacked Tenchi across the head. Fortunatly,
this hadn't happened very much.
It was close to an hour later when Tenchi was finally able to slump to a
seat at the counter inside.
"Very good, Tenchi," Yosho commented. "I see you haven't lost your
edge. How long has it been since you were able to practice?"
Tenchi shrugged. "Besides morning excersices? Just when we last trained
together."
Yosho nodded. "That shows promise, Tenchi. The sign of a true master of
an Art is being never losing your edge. Constant need for practice is
the sign of a novice."
Tenchi stared at his grandfather incredulously. "I thought it was the
other way around."
Yosho shook his head. "That just goes to show how far ahead of them you
are."
Sasami scampered up to Tenchi with a tall glass of ice water. "Here you
go, Tenchi."
Tenchi took the glass with a grateful smile. "Thanks, Sasami."
Sasami waited until Tenchi had taken a long drink and set the glass down
before grabbing the young man in another hug. "We missed you, Tenchi."
Tenchi smiled down at the blue-haired girl. "Well, I'll probably be here
a little more often."
Sasami's eyes sparkled. "Really?"
"Yeah, those aliens are moving away again. Command says we're in the
clear, so we're not going to be on constant alert for a while."
"Well," Yosho commented, "that is something."
"But how long?" Sasami asked. "Why can't they just leave us alone?"
"I wish I knew, Sasami," Tenchi said. "I really wish I knew."
End Chapter 3
I'd like to thank John Dunkelburg for pre-reading.
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