Writer's Foreword: this is a Macross/Gundam Crossover effort. It came from a number of sources. First was when a friend of mine asked me which I thought would be a better mech: A Valkyrie or a Gundam Mobile Suit? Then we had a chance to see all 13 episodes of Gundam 0083: Stardust Memories. Followed immediately by Char's Counter Attack. (For days afterwards I was in fits of near terminal depression. Friends don't let friends watch nine hours of Gundam straight.) And finally my friend came to me with his latest fan- fiction idea: What would happen if somehow a group of VF series transformable mecha from the various Macross stories found themselves enmeshed with the fates of the Universal Century Gundam timeline? Well, I thought his idea was interesting, but not what I would do. So I ended up starting my own version of the same basic idea. The final impetus has been the flood of depressing Ranma 1/2 fanficts. Now if Ranma is getting depressing, I figure it is time to bring out the great big buckets of depression and angst: i.e. Gundam!!!! (Note: I am speaking in general terms and I do not want to piss off any of you fanfict writers out there. I _like_ a well thought out tragedy as much as, and maybe more than, the next guy. But I also like happy happy fun fun silly stuff, too. And I think that Ranma is usually best left for the happy happy fun fun silly stuff. And yes I can think of great long lists of exceptions that I loved. I studied Emerson! I don't have to be consistent!* So Nyaaah!) Now there are some things that you can look forward to seeing. They include: watching Macross characters get their lives so totally screwed up that they might rather be dead; having Amuro Rei fall for yet another doomed romance; And (deus volont) a lot of good intelligent mixing of situations, characters, and technologies between the two universes. What you won't see is the SDF-1 shooting colonies of the shy with the main gun; the Zentraedi making a peace treaty with Jion, and trashing the whole planet; Miria falling for Camille Vidan, and leaving Max behind; Minmei doing ANYTHING!!!!!!!!!; or music making Char realize that things will be better once we get together in the first spacenoid/earthnoid joint chorus. I hope that you enjoy. I have certainly enjoyed writing this. Warning: I have not seen any Gundam TV eps. I have seen some of the movies and read synopses and the books from Del Rey, but I cannot claim to be Gundam expert. Please feel free to write me when I screw up your favorite characters. I wont promise to go out and fix things, but I will listen. Likewise most of my knowledge of the Macross timeline comes from ROBOTECH's Macross Saga. I have seen Macross: DYRL, but I can't say I'm that up on the TV series. Two sources that I have used shamelessly for information (and some great images) are the Gundam Project's homepage, and the Macross Compendium. Both are available online, and I recommend them highly. Copyright Notice: Well, I might as well take credit for what I can right off the bat. Kiirai Giverns (both of them) are copyright me, 1996. Don't mess with them unless you ask first, please. Likewise, Alex Barich, Lt. Colonel Miyakuza, Miyu Tazetsu, and Ellie Giverns are mine. Other than that, everything and everyone else who shows up in this is owned either by Sunrise, or Bandai, or Studio Nu or someone else who isn't me. This is meant as a work of fan homage to two great science fictions stories that have both been going for over fifteen years! Long Live the Gundam! Long Live Macross! (Slap her again!) Down the Dragon's Throat A Macross/Gundam Crossover Fanfiction A Mutants for Nukes Production Written by: Mike Taub 2010: The Egg The fortress glowed inside a sphere of energy. He could hear the voices of the bridge crew growing more frantic. Lt. Kakizaki Hayao looked on his comm console to the face of his flight leader. "Ichijo, I think it might be a good time to get out of here. That bubble doesn't look very stable anymore." "Kakizaki, I agree." Jenius added his two cents worth. "Hold one..." Ichijo privately agreed with his wingmates' assessment of the trouble behind them. But he was certain that Lt. CMDR Hayase would find some way to make his life Hell (again) if he didn't get clearance before he left the defensive zone around the fortress. "SDF-One, Skull Leader. It looks like your shield is not going to hold much longer. Request permission to advance to a range of 10 klicks from Base." Ichijo was used to calm coming from Misa no matter what craziness was going on behind him on the fortress. He even remembered getting chewed out by her for leaving his assigned position to save her life. That made the panic he heard from the radio even more frightening. "SDF-One to Skull Leader. We agree with your assessment. You are ordered to evacuate to a distance of 15 Klicks. I repeat. SDF-One to all fighters: Evacuate to fifteen klicks. We have indications of shield system overload in progress. SDF-One to all fighters: Evacuate to fifteen klicks." "Ichijo, you heard the nice lady. Let's shag ass out of here." "Roger, Skull Two." The three Valkyries transformed from Gerwalk to fighter mode and started to accelerate from the fortress which had taken them out to Pluto and back home again. The few remaining Regults in the area fired sporadically at the retreating fighters. Sensing that something had gone sour in this latest mission to destroy the Micron Fortress they also began to withdraw to the cruisers that they had issued from. The cruiser force continued to advance on the shimmering sphere that marked where their target was. The volume of fire pouring into the shield grew as shorter ranged weapons gained acquisition on the target. The gold glow that surrounded the fortress started to flare, like a corona. Too late the cruiser commander ordered a cease fire. The three fighters flew away, all of them feeling shame at their abandonment of friends back on the fortress. They could only hope that the fortress that had protected them all would once more surprise their enemies. "Skull Three, Skull Leader. What's keeping you? You're losing speed. We have to get out of here. That shield looks like it is going to go any time now!" "Skull Leader, Skull Three. I got tagged just as we were leaving there. My port turbine is OOC. I've got the starboard red-lined but the diagnostics show that I've got no more than a minute at that level before I lose the starboard turbine too." Kakizaki visibly suppressed the urge to make one last noble statement. Behind them, one flare grew, and began to belch energy. The sphere that had stored all the energy that the Zentraedi had thrown at the fortress finally lost cohesion as a yellow-orange ball of plasma erupted from around the fortress. First to die were the battlesuits that had been pressing their attack on the shield. The pilots hadn't even time to scream before the plasma boiled them inside their suits, before boiling their suits away. Ichijo and Jenius red-lined their engines, leaving their wingmate behind, as they strove to escape the expanding plasma cloud that was destroying all in it's path. Kakizaki took a moment to look at the ball of fire behind him. He felt the tension go out of his shoulders. There was no way that his battered fighter would be able to out race that wave of fire. The shock wave hit Montreal. The largest buildings could be seen to shake and start to crumble under the pressure surge that raced before the fire. The hardy fools who had thought that the violence in the sky was only a light show for their entertainment were the next to die. Shaken off their perches, crushed by debris, or deafened by an angry god's shout, it mattered little. Those in the city who survived the shock wave were doomed as the flare came to earth. Again people simply boiled away in the star's fury that came to take them. Seconds later there was only a growing warm crater to show where a city of millions had stood. Kakizaki rode the shock wave as it threw his fighter first towards the ground then tossed it up and to the side. He knew he was dead, but it would be unsporting to give in too easily. He could hear Ichijo yelling at him through the comm. It wasn't important, though. He didn't bother to answer. It took too much effort to keep his battered bird in the air. The Regults approaching the cruisers were the next to die. Most were destroyed as the shockwave threw them against each other, their cruisers, or the ground. The rest didn't survive long enough to reflect on their fates. The plasma came and took all, Regults, suits, and the cruisers to hell. Ichijo looked around at his squadron data. It looked like all his surviving planes would be able to get out of the destruction zone. The plasma sphere was dropping in temperature. His onboard comp suggested that all who could make it to twelve klicks from the center of the explosion would be able to survive the plasma burns. Only one plane wouldn't be able to make that mark: Kakizaki's. "Kakizaki!!!!" Kakizaki felt a wave of satisfaction as his plane's instruments reported that the cruisers that had killed the fortress and Montreal were all dead. He knew that he wouldn't be spared either, but at least he had a few escorts for the ferry ride. He felt the plasma reach out and grab the rear of his plane. The control he had on his plane went all sloppy, then disappeared. He felt the heat coming through the back of his cockpit seat, and finally, he yelled. "Ahhhh!!" Ichijo and Jenius listened to the last cry from Kakizaki's plane. They rode out the weakened plasma wave, and watched as it burned paint from their planes, and even caused some of the plexiglass in the cockpit to darken to brown. Together they realized that there was no way that their friend had survived. Tears started to form, and fall down their faces. "kxxz.... F-One to all planes. SDF-One to all planes. Report status and position. All planes standby for recovery. We have no more enemies on the scope." The surprise that anything could survive the center of that Maelstrom stopped the tears. Slowly an abbreviated roster came over the radio. "Skull-Eleven 15 klicks northwest of you. No damage." "Skull-Eight 14 klicks south of SDF-One. No damage." "Skull-Four 16 klicks east of SDF-One. No damage. Skull-Five and Six are with me. No damage from any of us." "Skull-Seven 13 klicks west of SDF-One. Minor heat damage." "Skull-One here. Am 12 klicks east of you with Skull-Two. We have both suffered extensive heat damage. No immediate problems. Skull-Three was destroyed. As was Montreal." "Skull-One, SDF-One. We know about Montreal. Sorry to hear about Kakizaki. You have priority to land on Daedalus as soon as you can get back here. Skull-Two, SDF-One. You are cleared to land on Prometheus. SDF-One out." The scattered fighters headed back towards their home. Beneath them the fires still burned in a pyre for a million souls, and the dreams of peace for still more souls. 2013: Teething He hated this. It was a... what was the word? Desecration. Yes. this was a desecration of the graves of over three million souls. Intellectually he knew that there was nowhere on the surface of the Earth that the rebels could go and avoid desecration of some resting site, but he felt that Quebec had a special poignancy. Here was where he first started to see that victory could cost him and his even more than he had ever dreamed possible. It seemed that there was something that was working to keep that fortress intact despite the best that the Zentraedi could throw at them. And all knew that Lord Breetai was their best. Just as the fortress later proved it could take the worst that the Zentraedi could field, in Khyron's attacks. Now he was working for Lord Breetai again, but this time he was working to protect something. And that made a world of difference to him. Seeking glory had come to mean little to him, certainly not anything to sacrifice himself for. But he had something now that he could fight and die for. Not just Ellie, but their child, too. And what a startling idea that was. He was going to be part of this culture, and perform the most holy of duties: He would be a father to his child. It was an idea that thrilled him to the core. Fear and pride commingled in a way that mere battle had never been able to involve him before. But, before he could enjoy that duty he had to take care of these rebels. Based on the intelligence that the orbiting cruisers had given him there were no more than five poorly maintained Regults and maybe one battlesuit. The rebel camp was known to hold no more than fifteen insurgents and he felt confident that he would be able to dispose of them himself. There were merits to flying the last working Glaug in the solar system. Looking once more at his readouts he saw that he was about five klicks from the base camp. It was amazing just how much these Microns, no _humans_ knew about fighting. They had never fought in space until the Zentraedi came to them, but they knew thousands of ways to fight on a planet. As a professional, Kiirai was ashamed by the laxness that his former comrades were showing. But so ashamed that he wanted to teach the Malcontents better, for it made his job easier. The more he learned of these Mi- _humans_ the more impressed he grew. The Malcontents were dissatisfied with their lot in human society, and the share of the planet they were getting and the lack of trust that the Microns, as they called them, showed to the great warriors. Kiirai thought all of these Malcontents were out of their minds. He knew he was very impressed with culture. He could even admit to Ellie, and his wingmates, that it might even be a bit excessive on his part. But he loved this culture that had let him in, even after he had tried his best to destroy it. Such forgiveness was something that awed him. He saw what the Malcontents were complaining about. And he knew that they raised valid points. He knew he would have to prove himself beyond what the humans would expect of another human. He felt, keenly, the mistrustful looks that followed him around when he walked around the city that was growing up in the ruins of Trenton. But he also understood the reason that the _humans_ had for such looks. He had learned something new from them and it was a lesson that he hoped that the Malcontents could learn themselves: forgiveness was there, but it had to be earned. It could not be given out, nor could it be ordered. That was one reason that he had volunteered for this mission to hunt down these Malcontents himself. He felt that if he could show that a former Zentraedi officer would act to control those of his former comrades who had taken up arms again, then that would put him one step further on the road to forgiveness and acceptance. He smiled to himself. Wool-gathering (What lovely images this language lent itself to...) just as the combat was likely to start. He had his orders, and he would carry them out. The Malcontents were to be given a final chance to surrender, but if they didn't he would destroy them. They could not be allowed to hurt any more persons. 3 klicks to target... He activated the cannon primers. That would register on any active sensor that might be at the camp, so that was the end of his surprise. As he felt his pod's main weapons warm up he leisurely reached over and turned his radio on full spectrum transmission. For added effect he tied in the external speakers as well. "To the Malcontent band known as "Bodolza's Revenge," I give you one chance to surrender yourselves to me. You are accused as terrorists, thieves, and rebels. If you surrender you will be tried in a court of law by a jury of your peers. If you do not surrender I will be required to kill you all. You have one minute to make your choice. Captain Kiirai Giverns, UN Spacy, out." He tied off the recording loop and had the pod computer play that message on all bands with the time counter obligingly updated for each repeat. Still hopping in towards the target Kiirai watched as he saw the signals of three Regults beginning a crash start-up. Two other Regults went from standby to active and two battle suits lit off their internal power and their own cannon primers. He figured that he could safely bet that no one was surrendering. As the seconds counted down on his ultimatum he heard a faint popping on his link with Trenton Base. Beyond that popping he could hear a voice trying to warn him. "...pop..fssold sig...(pop)...ture in fzzzkkk area. (pop-pop)... tain... fzzterns... (POPOPOOPPOPZZZZKKKKKK)" He turned off the static before it could distract him any further from his mission. There. The time was up. And the three Regults were still in their crash start-ups. He had timed everything just right. He turned one last corner in the debris and saw the camp. A quick shot from each of his cannon quickly ensured that the three crash start-up Regults would not get any chance to finish, and join the fray. The secondary explosions also took out the pilots and their support crew. That was eight down. Damn. It was embarrassing to see just how much the Zentraedi lost from their insistence on fighting in uncoordinated swarms. If the other Regults and the suits had stayed in the area they might have bought their comrades enough time to arm the other Regults. In this poor terrain their numbers might have been enough to outweigh his much more powerful pod. Of course, with only half their numbers left, it was that much more likely he would be able to pick off the rest with similar ease. A last look around the base camp and he saw the two unaccounted for Malcontents. They were charging at him. Pitiful, really. He killed them quickly and bounced out of the kill zone. He looked again at his sensors and grounded in some cover. His fold sensor was going haywire. It was showing an unfocused fold drive field activating in the area. And that was ridiculous. It couldn't be any UN Spacy test: that was all going on at New Macross. As often as the surviving Zentraedi engineers told their human counterparts that the fold systems were perfectly safe, the humans kept pointing to a shared ignorance of the principals of the damn things. After the Macross had jumped, by accident, out to Pluto the surviving Spacy had taken the whole idea of using unknown technology with far less enthusiasm. Kiirai himself saw no reason for the delays. As long as it worked, who cared if any one knew how it worked. But he had been hanging around too much with the team that was keeping his own Glaug intact and battle ready. He was gaining some appreciation for how the humans did these things. Again there was another wonderful saying that they had: What you don't know could kill you. Of course he had heard just the opposite from other humans... but he trusted the chief of his own maintenance crew, and took her advice to heart. It was amazing how much he was beginning to understand about his own Glaug, and how it worked. He was willing to be patient. But that made this fold trace even more ridiculous. It was not a standard fold emission. Since it couldn't be a human test, it had to have something to do with the Malcontents. But no Malcontent would ever try to light off a fold system with readings as screwy as these. It just wasn't the Zentraedi way. He took a quick visual and saw plasma and lightning arcing in a sphere around the sky. The sphere was expanding, and would reach him in seconds. Kiirai weighed his options and chose to try to jump our of the range of the effect. His first jump brought him right up to the edge of the sphere. He could feel the heat of the energy through his access hatch. Then it engulfed his pod. He had time for one scream of "Elliiee!!" Then he knew no more. 2016: Teethings, Again "Quebec. What a dump. Of course most things on this planet are still dumps, ne?" "Your point, Alex?" The response was bored... "Just this why-" "-is it that we are guarding this godforsaken piece of waste?" The bored response came over Alex's comm. "Alex, ours is-" "-not to wonder why. Ours is but to do and die. Yeah, yeah. Sean, maybe you ought to come up with some new pithy sayings..." "Well, wingmate, I think that would be more likely to happen if you were to come up some new complaints." "Ouch. A hit, a definite hit." Alex appreciated one thing about the damn graveyard guarding... there was no one here to mind your comm discipline. Being stuck with an Irishman meant that it was sure that there would be comm violations, but at least this way they weren't likely to get caught on them. Of course, the brass did have a tendency to show up whenever they were least wanted... "Does that mean that you will be finding something new to complain about?" "Let me think about that, and I'll get back to you on that." Alex knew why there were still patrols over these dead cities. After the loss of the SDF-One to Khyron's attack, and the knowledge that there were countless cruisers that had never been actually confirmed destroyed from Bodolza's fleet UN Spacy had decided that a few thousand man hours a month over the globe would be cheap insurance against a repeat of that calamity. Even Alex had to accept that there was a reason for this mission. But that didn't mean he liked it. And he took as much time as necessary to ensure that anyone partnered with him got an earful of the subject. This did not endear him to many of his peers. But he couldn't give a damn for what they were complaining about. However, he thought he was actually gaining a friendship with Sean. It helped that the Irish were almost as screwed over by history as the Serbs had been. It also helped that they were both regarded as `bigots' by the powers that be. They were both too honest to ignore the other's legitimate views and took more or less took equal time complaining about a history that the rest of the world wanted to forget. "Hey, Sean?" "Yeah?" "Would you believe that they have finally got around to trying to reclaim the Belgrade crater?" "You're kidding! So soon? I mean it has _only_ been 10 years since the Zentraedi blew it to ash. What brought this speedy recovery?" "Well, of course it was guilt at neglecting my noble homeland for so long. Of course." Alex let loose a bitter laugh. Both Sean and Alex knew that Belgrade was being `restored' after much delay, as befitted a minor city that had no significant culture of its own. Hell, New Boston was well towards completion, but only now did they get around to one of the oldest and most influential cities of Europe. "That has to be the reason why the new `lords' of the city spent so much effort in trying to get accurate views of what the city had looked like before they destroyed it." Another thing that both agreed on was their contempt for treating the Zentraedi like high class neighbors and giving them whole large tracts of land to live on. Nether really wanted to fight the Zentraedi to extinction, but they both believed that they should not be equals of a Terran. It just wasn't right. "I take it, Alex, that they are planning to build the usual hodgepodge of architecture and monuments? `Yes you too can have a full sized replica of the Tour d'Eiffel right next to your Mayan temple.' Of course the idea that neither of those things deserve to be any where near the balkans might have slipped their minds..." "Worse." This came out as a growl. The bantering tone had left Alex's voice completely and a true rage filled his voice, and tightened his lips. "The bloody damned bastards have seen a series of drawings from an old book in the Macross library that depicts the typical architecture of the area as `Greek with Turkish influences and mosques throughout the city at almost every corner.' The centerless, vampires are going to suck everything that made Belgrade slavic right out of the ground and cover it over with the bloody damned Turks! All Through The Goddam City! AND, THE OVER INFLATED EGOS ARE GOING TO PRIDE THEMSELVES ON WHAT A FUCKING GOOD JOB THEY HAD DONE AT RESTORING THE BEAUTY AND CULTURE THEY HAD UNWITTINGLY DESTROYED!!" "Whoa! Pal, I feel for you. Honest. That is disgusting. But don't yell at me! Calm down before you drop that pretty plane of yours into the ash of Quebec." "yeah. Right. Sorry I hit you with that. It has just been too damn much for me. I just can't see greeting the damned giants like long lost brothers even after all this time. Doesn't anyone remember that they killed three quarters of humanity with that bombardment?" Knowing Sean's obsession, Alex added, "And maybe half the species on the planet?" "More. It is just the remains of our own efforts to have something to save when we thought that we were the ones who would destroy all life on Earth. That left us with a large gene pool to use for cloning and reintroducing species. And the hell of it is the ecologists still don't know if it will work!" Sean was almost as vehement on that subject as Alex was about the travesty that Belgrade would become. "And _we_ get ostracized for refusing to deal with those planet killers. I just don't understand these people." "I hear you." Perhaps, in the days when humanity had been alone, they might have thought it odd that the best friend of the revolutionary Serb was a radical conservationist. But now after ten years of living with the effects of an invasion from outer space they were merely glad for someone who would listen to their views. The two continued their watch in silence for some time after that. Each brooded on what they had lost in the invasion. Their planes were about 100 klicks apart. They were just in line of sight contact with each other. It meant that they would have a slight delay in getting back up if the shit hit the fan, but it also gave them an increased chance of getting good intel out of any incident that might occur. So when Alex started to get odd readings on his fold sensor he did exactly as he had been trained to do: He let the other guys know what was going on, so that if the worst happened they would have a chance dealing with it when they faced the same danger. Always give the guys who follow you a chance to learn from your mistakes. Alex had liked flight training. It suited his dour nature very well. "Sean. I have some odd fold readings coming in. Turn on your telemetry link and start recording at max data rate." "Fold! Is something coming into the atmosphere?" "How the hell should I know? I told you, these readings are wild. Don't you read them at all? The mass sensor is fluctuating from off scale high to zero and back again. Field strength is following a similar curve." "Gotcha. Recording data at max band width... I'm getting faint fold readings but nothing that matches what you are reading. Do you want assistance?" Alex translated that question immediately. What Sean really wanted to know was whether Alex thought that they were both already dead or if Sean had a chance to get out. Not a coward's reaction, but Alex was somehow right in the center of the disturbance, and might have a better idea what was going on. "Well, friend. It looks like this stadium is packed all full. At least I've got a front row center seat. Hope it's a good concert." "We'll talk about this over a beer back at the base, Alex." "Sean. I'm reading an increase in external air temperature and my altimeter is going crazy. It just had me down at -1500 meters altitude. Now it's back to normal. Shit. I'm being buffeted by a terrific turbulence. Didn't get any warning from the weather radar. Strike that. It was just no time for reaction. That was what hit the altimeter." Alex fought with his plane while he kept talking. he thought about going to Battloid to get away from the turbulence effect on his wings, but he didn't have the time to do that. "Fuck this kind of pressure wave shouldn't be outside of a nuke blast! Hey temperature is really going up. I'm seeing a visible ball of plasma. It's coming... straight at me. Expanding, too. I'm going to after burners and trying to blast through the wall. It looks kind of hollow. I hope that the temp is down inside or I'm toast..." "Alex!" Sean stopped looking at the cockpit instruments and watched as the fireball that had eaten his friend grew. He could see the damn thing growing from 100 klicks away. It must be huge. He knew that he was no longer getting any reading on his telemetry from Alex's bird, but he hoped that it was only the ionizing effect of the plasma that had swallowed Alex. He waited until the ball of plasma dissipated, with still no word from his partner. Damn. Something else those damned Zentraedi had to pay for. Relieved that at least nothing else had come out of that inferno Sean turned his bird towards the last location of his friend's plane. Idly, he wondered how he would explain this one to the brass. 2030: Striking Back "Base, Vidette One. I am in position and circling. Have activated the instrument package and activating telemetry... Now. Do you read? Over." "Vidette One, Base. Understood. You are in position and circling. We read your telemetry five by five. Stand by for estimated mark in ten minutes. Say again, time to event is One Zero Minutes and Zero seconds at my mark. Stand by." "Base, Vidette One. Standing by." "All units, Base: Stand by for ten minute warning. Standbyyyy... Standbyyyy... Mark!" In the background the single blast of a steam whistle could be heard over the comm. "Time to event is now Nine Minutes and Five Five seconds. Make final preparations. All non-essential personnel will evacuate to the bunker by T Minus Five minutes." Kiirai gave himself a chance to relax. So far this was turning out to be nothing more than the usual brass coated flail. At least his part was set up and on time. And he was flying a second generation prototype. He couldn't help but grin thinking about his classmates telling him that he would never get anywhere in life if he insisted on following his father's path. Now he was flying the lead plane in an important mission. Not only that but he was flying one of only three VF-11As in the whole squadron. It was just for this mission, but he didn't want to think about that. He was a newly qualified flight corporal, and he hadn't expected to get into these new Thunderbolts until long after they had been old hat to the rest of the Spacy. He knew that it was not due entirely to his merit, that he was here, but that didn't keep him from looking forward to the gloating he would do the next time he saw his instructors from flight school. Kiirai was sure that there was no way any of them had even gotten close enough to touch one of the mysterious replacements for the aging VF-4 Lightning III design. Really, his luck had started to come around when he had put in for his father's last base, and squadron: the Chimeras out of New Trenton. He had been ridiculed for that since his classmates had universally asked for duty with one of the colonization fortresses. But he wanted to go the base that had been the last command of his father. He had a duty to finish. He had grown up with an odd stigma following his name for the nine years of his life. His father had disappeared on a routine mission during the North American Malcontent uprising. There had been plenty of Regult wreckage found and several dead Zentraedi, but no sign of the leader of the group and, most damning, no sign of his father's Glaug. For years the suspicious had believed that the elder Kiirai had gone over to his former comrades. Kiirai, and his mother, had known different. His father would never abandon them. So she, and all the pilots assigned to Chimera Squadron at the time, had made sure that the official record showed that Kiirai Giverns, Lieutenant Commander, had given his fullest measure of duty for his adopted homeland. That had even assured Ellie and Kiirai a modest pension for living expenses. Perhaps more importantly, they had been adopted by the squad as good luck charms and mascots. They had been the first widow and orphan of the newly formed Chimeras, and everyone who had been a `plank owner' felt a duty to take care of their own. Even with that support there were still nasty rumors going around. Kiirai had learned early how to count coup on his schoolmates. He never hurt them, really, but he sure knew how to intimidate. That had been how things stayed until eight years ago. Kiirai remembered that day quite well. He had come home from school to find his mother sitting on their front steps, crying silently. From the redness of her eyes he had guessed that she had been crying for some time. "Mom, what's wrong?" "Oh, Kiirai... Come here." Kiirai had run over to his mother, scared and anxious. She had pulled him into a tight hug. He knew what his mother's face looked like when she had bad news to tell him. He didn't like that face, it hurt him and made him sad, but he knew it, and knew what it meant for his life. He likewise knew her faces for anger, and frustration, and even her face for memories of his father. These were all the reasons that he knew for her crying and he knew what to expect from each face. But today's face was one that he had never seen before in his life. It frightened him. It looked sad, and yet there was something scary in the light in her eyes. As if she had good news and bad so terribly mixed that she couldn't know whether to laugh or to cry. "Mom?" He had looked at her face again. Nothing in it had said that silence was required. "What happened?" "Kiirai there was an accident at the base yesterday." Kiirai was now ready to cry. He knew what was coming and wondered which of his uncles was gone. He had lost two others that he could remember, and his mother told him of a few more that he had never really met. But he had had this sort of news before. And he knew the face his mother had for these occasions. And that wasn't what she was wearing. "Who... *sniff* Who was it? Is he at the hospital?" "Shhh... Kiirai. No he's not at the hospital. It was Flight Sergeant Barich. He's gone. We will have to get dressed up tomorrow and help your uncles see him off." Sgt. Barich? He hadn't been one of Kiirai's uncles. In fact he had rarely said anything to his mother when they went over to the base to visit his `real' uncles. He could remember only one thing that the Sergeant had ever said to his mother: "You sold out your race, and now, I see, you are here to sell out your husband, too. I'm not surprised." Kiirai hadn't understood what that had meant, but it had gotten his mother mad and shortly after that one of his other uncles had gotten into a fight with the Sergeant. And broke his nose, too. It had been a cool fight. After that the sergeant had been more polite to Kiirai's mother. But his mother still didn't like the sergeant. The odd thing was, that even though his mother didn't like the sergeant, and the sergeant didn't like his mother, the sergeant was pretty nice to Kiirai, himself. Grown ups could be so odd at times. He told Kiirai wonderful stories about when the heroic Serbs fought to stop the evil Turks (or were they Ottomans?) from invading Europe through Serbia. After the first time that his mother had heard about these stories she had a long talk with the Sergeant. She didn't take Kiirai along that day, but she told him about it afterwards. She had explained that she didn't like the sergeant for his views on her husbands people, but she would not forbid Kiirai from visiting him. For his part, the sergeant just said something about the sins of the fathers are not the sins of the children which Kiirai hadn't understood at the time. The sergeant had also said that he would be glad to talk to Kiirai during his visits, but they really shouldn't spend too much time together. Kiirai had accepted this willingly: with eighteen uncles to choose from having one or two that he could only visit occasionally was not a hardship. Kiirai hadn't been happy to hear that the Sergeant was dead, but he couldn't understand why his mother was crying. "But, Mom... I liked him, but I thought you didn't care what happened to him?" "I didn't... really. But I didn't want him to die, Kiirai." "Oh. I know that. But then, why are you crying?" Kiirai didn't like having his mother cry. She had been his only support in the world and when she cried it made his whole world feel fragile, and in danger. "I'm crying because... because... Kiirai, your father... They know what happened to him, now." This had seemed to explain everything to his mother, but Kiirai wasn't sure how this changed anything. "Yeah. He died. A long time ago." This was basic. Everyone knew this. Well, maybe not that Kuno brat, but no one listened to him anymore. "A big explosion up north killed Sgt. Barich. And it was really weird. They don't know what exactly it was, but it was like a dragon and burned up the Sergeant's plane. I am sorry about having that happen to him, no matter how much of a bigot the man was." Here Kiirai's mother had begun to look fierce, as if challenging him to say she wasn't telling the truth. This was an expression that Kiirai knew well and he had done the safe thing: He kept quiet. After a minute his mother had calmed down and held Kiirai tight again. "Kiirai, this explosion was different. You know how if you set off a firecracker it goes pop and that's it?" Kiirai had nodded. "Well, this explosion is like a firecracker that is still going off again and again." Kiirai still didn't see what this had to do with anything. "So?" "Kiirai, they think that this is what killed your father. And they have made it official. There is no more Missing in Action and Presumed Dead." Kiirai had heard the capital letters in that sentence as he had been hearing it for years. He knew that it was always capitalized. Then he had started to get excited, this had been something that his mother had wanted for years. It would make no real difference to her, but would give more honor to her husband's name. Then Kiirai had understood what had his mother so excited. "They now feel confident that they can say that he was killed in action." At the funeral for the Sergeant, Kiirai had heard one of the speakers refer to the explosion that had killed him as a dragon reaching out to claim another victim. That image had stayed with him ever since. He had kept in touch with the study group that was going over the data that Barich death had given them. It consisted of at least one of his uncles at any time, and he was usually very free with information. As the years went by and Kiirai had a chance to get into the Spacy cadet corps he had grown to see the explosion, or `Event' as everyone else kept calling it, as a real dragon that could be fought. He had known that he wouldn't be able to fight the dragon with a lance, nor a sword. He had girded on knowledge and watched as others studied it to find out what it's eating habits were and how one might be able to kill it. Kiirai had made one promise to himself: he would be part of the team that would destroy the dragon once and for all. That was why he had put in for Trenton. It was the only place where he could get a shot at the dragon. But he hadn't expected it so soon. He reported onto the base and was told to go the CAG's office immediately. That had made him nervous. The one thing that he had worried about was that if he got into the Chimeras when one of his uncles was the CAG would he be treated even worse than a newby usually got, just to disprove any charges of favoritism. But he had been willing to take a chance on Lieutenant Colonel Miyakuza. But now he was being called into the CAG's office first thing. It must be for some sort of bad news. Kiirai had been too well trained to let his worries distract him from a prompt arrival in the Colonel's office. He had paused a moment outside of the door, and straightened his uniform. He had raised his hand to knock on the door and heard a call from inside. "It's open, Flight Corporal Giverns." That had been really unnerving. Kiirai had opened the door and walked in front of the desk. Coming to attention directly in front of the desk Kiirai had snapped a parade ground salute. "Flight Corporal Kiirai Giverns Jr., reporting to CAG as ordered, sir." Lt. Colonel Miyakuza had slowly and deliberately returned his salute with a big smile in his face. "At ease, Corporal. Have a seat. This is not a grilling. Honest." As Kiirai sat down in the one empty chair in the room he had noticed that he was not alone with his uncle. There was a pretty Captain in a Spacy uniform in the other chair. Once he had sat down he had looked back up at his uncle. "Of course if you had assumed that you could trade your previous relationship with me I would have torn you a new asshole, and we wouldn't be having this conversation. "The Captain you are looking at is the current technical director of Project Page, Captain Tazetsu. She has found out the next time that the dragon will strike." The short black haired woman had nodded to Kiirai. "Corporal, I have an unusual question for you." Kiirai had tried to keep the interest and hope off his face, and he had nodded. For some reason he hadn't trusted his voice to work right. "Corporal, would you like to fly a mission that might be dangerous that involved information gathering on the phenomenon in Quebec?" Kiirai had nodded again. The Lt. Colonel had noted the nod. He had smiled at the Captain. "Good. You are now officially assigned to our flight test program. You are to report to Lt. Harding immediately after this briefing. You are to discuss with no one what we are going to discuss here without my prior approval. The only people you have permission to discuss this with now are myself, Captain Tazetsu. No one else. Do you understand?" Kiirai was getting lots of opportunity to practise his nod. "Yes, sir!" "We have reason to believe that the next event will be in three weeks time, at the same location. We have constructed three identical ELINT packages to be attached to our three VF-11A's. We have volunteers for two of these birds and based on your performance at cadet training, we want you fro the third. You therefore have two weeks to fully qualify on the plane to Lt. Harding's standards. Fortunately I know that you have been given a great deal of the basics on the VF-11 at the academy as they are getting ready to switch over the model they are teaching. I know that you are only qualified on the VF-4 at this time, but you have 266 hours of sim time on the Thunderbolt and that is about 145 hours more than anyone else on this base except for the other two pilots. "This is not a cushy assignment, and I will accept nothing less than total obedience and your best effort from you. Is that understood?" "Yes, sir!" "Here, this is a schedule. It shows when you will be at Lt. Harding's disposal, and when Captain Tazetsu will have control of you. You will note that for the next two weeks you will be working fourteen hours with these official duties. I don't want to hear even a sigh from you, or you will be off this project so fast you wont be able to find the head you are so dizzy." "Yes, sir." "Good." And here the Lt. Colonel had smiled again. "I'm glad you are here, Kiirai. Really. I just wish I wasn't stuck tossing you into the deep end like this. I believe that I am not asking you to do anything you are incapable of doing, and look forward to having you prove me right. "Any questions for me then?" "Just one, sir. Why don't you have any choice but use me on this mission? If you have gotten three of the prototypes why not three of the pilots?" Lt Colonel Miyakuza had smiled at that. For the first time he stood up and walked around the desk. Kiirai had gotten his first chance to see the cast on his uncle's left leg at that time. "Because your uncle forgot that he wasn't as young as he once was and fell wrong jumping out of the cockpit last night. And if you breath word one of this to anyone I'll have your hide for a doormat!" Kiirai checked his instrument readings. The four different fold sensors were all quiet. Back at HQ he could he the last minute preparations going on. "Base to all units. Time to event is six minutes and counting. Set all ground sensors on auto-record now. All personnel are ordered to make best time to their assigned shelters. One minute until the final personnel warning will be issued." After that talk with The Lt. Colonel, Kiirai had found out just how easy cadet life had been. Lt. Burning was always riding him for some better knowledge of his mecha, or just a fraction more efficient performance out of the machine. It had seemed he could never satisfy the man. During his two week training period he actually logged more time the air in the VF-11A than he had in his bed. Then he went from that wringer to getting his brain stuffed full of all the data that Captain Tazetsu felt he just had to know before he could get within one hundred miles of the 'event.' While it had been interesting to learn that the dragon, as he called it, was just a physical manifestation of a fold system malfunction from some time in the past. The best guess that any one had was that during the bombardment of the planet and the subsequent fight against Bodolza's fleet a damaged ship had tried to fold to safety just as it was getting destroyed. Without the machinery to maintain and channel the fold field that the ship had managed to generate it was taking on a life of its own. The scientists under Captain Tazetsu still had many questions about the phenomenon, but all felt that they had a basic grasp on what was happening. The instrument packages were designed to gather the information that they would need to destroy the field without any further catastrophic effects. They also seemed to believe that they had found a pattern in the timing of the incidents. That was why they felt that they had so little time left before the next dragon incident. If the math was right, and their theory was correct, the scientists predicted that the next occurrence would be... "All units, Base. At my mark we are at T minus Five minutes. All bunker leaders report status of mustering in bunker. Standby for mark... Mark!" A series of six blasts on the steam whistle could be heard." Kiirai listen with only half a mind as the four bunkers reported that all personnel were present and accounted for. Kiirai had mixed emotions about that: he was glad that no one was outside unprotected, but he was also acutely aware that he was the most exposed person in the whole operation. Especially since he was supposed to be the one to fly THROUGH the plasma burst. Lt. Colonel Miyakuza was not happy about that. Hell, Kiirai wasn't happy about it, but... Tazetsu was convinced that the information that they needed would be found only by sending a probe through the plasma and taking readings from the inside of the sphere as it expanded. The VF-11 that Kiirai was flying had been hardened with ablative heat shielding, and at the speed he was supposed to go through the wall everyone was ninety percent certain that there would be no ill effects. He would even be in constant communications using laser links and a pair of wire-linked comm channels. But still he was nervous. It was not easy to forget that Sergeant Barich had tried something similar just before he was killed. And Miyakuza was honest enough to remind Kiirai that there was some risk. But it was still an ego boost to hear that he was the best of the three qualified Thunderbolt pilots. Of course it also helped that he was here to help fight the dragon and how better than to fight a dragon than with a charge? Kiirai allowed himself a small smile. It was the same smile he had used when he painted the name _St. George_ on the fuselage of his plane. Kiirai's attention snapped back to the operation, as some of his instruments started to show him the expected readings. "Base, Vidette one. I have started to get the expected fold sensor readings from the target area. Do you copy?" "Vidette one, Base. Aye. Based on our models the data is letting us predict a bit more accurately... The best projections are now the event will occur in the target area in three minutes plus or minus four zero seconds. Do you copy Vidette one? "Base, Vidette one. Copy three minutes plus or minus four zero seconds until event. Will begin acceleration to max cruising speed in nine zero seconds." "Vidette one, Base. Begin acceleration in nine zero seconds. And good luck." Kiirai watched as the chronometer display started to count down from 90 seconds. He payed some attention to his fold sensors and watched as his mass readings and field strength started to fluctuate, needles bouncing off the zero mark. Taking the opportunity to wipe the sweat from his palms, one at a time, on his uniform pants he listened to his heart beat. He took deep breaths and waited for tried to calm himself down. As the timer counted off to 20 seconds he focused on his plane, feeling how it rode the air. At ten seconds he saw his fold sensors start to go wild, from out of scale to zero, to out of scale low and back through the cycle again. The cycle was getting faster, too. There. Zero seconds. Kiirai brought his plane up to its maximum cruising speed in a smooth acceleration. He was pressed into the pilot's chair as the plane sped up to it's maximum cruising speed of Mach 3.4. Watching out the canopy Kiirai began circling the expected `event point.' He could see St. Elmo's fire growing in the area. Suddenly, the St. Elmo's fire was hidden in a large ball of plasma that erupted at the event point. "Base, Vidette one. I have visual confirmation on the event. I am beginning my insertion run." "Vidette one, Base. Beginning your insertion. We copy, and good luck Kiirai. See you on the other side." Kiirai banked his plane hard and pointed his nose straight at the ball of plasma. Somehow he was disappointed, it wasn't as big as he had expected it would be. The plane began to shake as he kicked in the afterburners to increase his thrust. A glance at the machmeter showed him at mach 3.7 and slowly rising. He barely felt riding through the shockwave from the expanding sphere. The plane bucked once, and he corrected without having to spare any conscious effort to it. "Base, Vidette one. I am through the shock wave, and heading towards the plasma front. External temperature sensors are reading nine hundred Kelvins. Do you copy?" "Vidette one, Base. We copy you're reading nine zero zero Kelvin. We have the same from our telemetry. Continue. The heat shielding wont even begin to boil off until you get to one five zero zero Kelvin. All seems to be going according to our predictions." "Roger." Kiirai hadn't expected to feel it when his plane entered the plasma cloud, but the whole nose dropped. Quick reaction on his elevators pulled him up to keep his plane as close to level as he could manage. He was in the plasma cloud now, and didn't want to even think about the external temperature. Yellow warning lights came up on his HUD, showing places where the ablative heat shielding was fifty percent degraded. "Base, Vidette one. I am in the plasma cloud. Do you still read me?" It was hard to keep the fear out of his voice. For the most part he succeeded. "Vidette one, Base. Good. By our calculations you should be through the plasma in about five more seconds. We are still reading you five by five on both wire channels. We have lost the laser link, though." Kiirai thought he could see sky up ahead of him. It was about time, and he was looking forward to being able to blow off the remains of his heat shielding. By this time all his shielding was reading eighty percent degraded, and more in places. "Base, Vidette one. I am through the-" Kiirai's message to his commanders was never completed. After the event was over a hand over hand trace of the comm wires found the ends just inside the maximum radius the plasma sphere had reached. Both wires showed some signs of heat damage, but were not melted through. Rather, it looked like an impossible sharp blade had cut them both. Lt. Colonel Miyakuza had the distinct displeasure of telling Ellie Giverns that she had lost another loved one to the dragon. But Tazetsu had her data. Miyakuza didn't think it was a fair trade, but Tazetsu promised him that she would find a way to kill the dragon before it took any more lives. 2042: Castling Well, it was perhaps the wierdest pitch for a search and rescue mission that Komiria had ever heard about. Not that she had anything against SAR. She had been picked up once by them herself, and she was very grateful. But one doesn't usually talk about getting a VF-17S to do SAR with. The Nightmare was a combatant, not an SAR platform. But still she was interested. "I can understand that you want to rescue a pilot, but why use me and my bird?" "Major, I appreciate your candor." Yeah, yeah. Enough with the weasel words, General. What's the pitch. Komiria had heard many things about the Trenton Base commander, General Miyakuza. He was a good enough commander, but was obsessed about this `dragon.' He had been offered space several times since 2030, but refused each time for personnel reasons. Komiria was not sure if it was cowardice or something else. In the meantime she and her plane had been specifically requested from this base. She just wished that the General would get on with it. "Major I have a list here of some pilots who have been lost from this base. I want you to take your Nightmare on a SAR for me." "General, with all due respect, you are repeating yourself. Why do you want a Nightmare for SAR? For that matter, how did you lose these pilots. There hasn't been a hostile in the inner system for years." "Major, bear with me. Look at these files first and tell me what you think of the information there." Arrogant prick. Komiria looked down at the desk and deigned to pick up the papers. She flipped through them quickly, and gathered the most prominent points quickly. "These pilots are all MIA for years! Hell, the most recent is from twelve years ago! Before that is one guy who has been gone for thirty years! What the hell are you thinking?" The idiot just sat there. As if he was having a rational conversation. It was really starting to get annoying. "Yes, Major. That is all true. Now, what would you say if I told you that your mission would be to help all of these pilots get back to this base?" "I would tell you that you had been drinking too much of your plane's fuel. Sir." He laughed. Komiria kept a tight grip on the frayed ends of her temper. "Major, what I have been doing makes that look sane in comparison. The other person I have with us is Major Tazetsu. She has been studying the so called Quebec dragon phenomenon for the past fourteen years." The REMF looked up as she was introduced. She was a still attractive woman entering her middle years. Her uniform was free of many commendations other than good conduct and other geedunk. Except for one: The Pluto based fold systems laboratory. Those people out there did crazy stuff: For the past eight years they had been engaging fold systems in all states of disrepair and malfunction. Just to see what happens. And this lunatic had four stars on that ribbon. Either she was good with fold systems, or she was very lucky. Komiria was beginning to think that this woman might deserve the benefit of the doubt. She nodded to the Major. Major Tazetsu, for her part, studied the angry young woman in front of her. She had no idea of what had this woman so upset, but she was beginning to think. Maybe now she would get past all this blustering, and let us explain the mission to her. "Major Jenius, we have reason to believe that at least one of those three dossiers you hold is still alive. We expect that we will be able to rescue him, if we can find the right volunteer to do the job. "Which one?" "The most recent: Kiirai Giverns, Jr. His is the incidence that we have the greatest data coverage. He was part of an ill thought out recon mission on the `dragon.' In fact he was the one who coined the phrase `dragon' for this phenomenon. We have accurate readings from his plane's sensors and several special sensor packages that his unit had had installed." Komiria simply nodded and kept skimming the briefing on this Kiirai Giverns, Jr. There were the specs on the instrument package... Wow, that is really extensive, especially for the state of the art then. "As you can see we have evidence that his plane had passed through the plasma shell associated with the `dragon' and was in stable atmosphere. Then everything cut off, and we found no physical evidence of the destruction of the plane. Rather, it was as if he had simply disappeared. "After sifting through the data from his unit and the other units involved with the operation we came a startling conclusion: Kiirai _had_ disappeared. "Major, are you familiar with the concept of alternate universes?" Startled out of her review of the files before her, Komiria looked up at the tech officer. "Say again?" "Alternate universes?" "You mean, like where the Zentraedi had never come to Terra, or no one had killed Julius Ceasar?" "Exactly. Well, we have found that under the proper circumstances a fold field can transport itself to an alternate universe. It is not normally a concern: spatial relocation is far more likely. In order for the universe shifting to occur the fold field must be unfocused, with no target coordinates in the system, and finally it must have access to enough power to light the sun for a second. Komiria looked at Tazetsu. "That's impossible. No way you can get any existent fold systems to anything like that. Besides where would you get the power?" "That was our reaction at first. Then some bright person on my team remembered something that happened shortly before the bombardment of Terra by the Zentraedi fleet. You might know this story already. The Macross had been negotiating with the Quebec autonomous region for refugee status for the civilians still onboard, when they were attacked by a large cruiser force." Komiria started. She did know this story. Her father considered it one of his rare failures, and had told all his children about what had happened that grim day over Quebec. "The techs on the fortress had come up with an omnidirectional field that would absorb any energy directed at it. It was using the fold system controls hooked up to some other stuff that they had salvaged, and for the first few minutes of the battle it worked fine." Tazetsu smiled grimly at Komiria. "They hadn't considered what might happen if it had no chance to disperse this energy. So as the battle raged on, and more energy went into the field circuits in the jury rigged system started to fuse and short in unexpected ways. Soon the fold controllers were powered up for a fold, but they had no controls and were resonating with the other systems that they had been tied into, so that the missing fold drives were being... simulated.. for all intents. And thanks to the Zentraedi bombardment the energy was there, in abundance. "The field blew and all the energy that it didn't use was expended in a plasma burst that destroyed the Zentraedi fleet, and the region around Quebec. I know your father was there, for his report was one of the most concise of the available eyewitness accounts. We now know why the Macross managed to survive the blast. All the energy that had been directed inward was redirected by the fold system, and used to open a gap to an irrelevant universe. "What happened to Kiirai, and we think those two other pilots, was that there was still an excess in energy and when conditions are right some of the excess energy comes back to this universe and opens the gate again." Komiria got excited. "You mean, that all those people from Quebec aren't dead? That's great, but why do you want my plane? Wouldn't a couple of the large cruisers be better for getting all those people back here?" "Not quite. You forget the plasma bursts. They ensured the no one unprotected would survive long enough to encounter the extra- universal transfer wave. We hold little hope for the elder Giverns' survival. But both the younger and that Serb Barich should be able to get through to the wave, and are likely retrievable. "The other thing that you should be aware of is the time difference: the other universe is irrelevant to this one." Tazetsu saw the confusion on Komiria's face. "What I mean is that there is no link between time rates in this universe and that one. As near as we can guess the other universe is near our own in technology level. There were significant levels of atmospheric helium in the data we got from Kiirai's plane. That is good, and indicates a fusion technology similar to our own. That is why we want you and your plane, Major." Tazetsu looked at the General and leaned back in her chair. The General gathered Komiria's gaze with his own. "Major Jenius, we say that the assumed technological level is a good thing. It also poses a risk to our people. If the natives of that universe have the technology to be helpful in your mission it also means that they have the technology to be a threat to you and our other people. That is why we want a Nightmare for a SAR." "Sir, I see. But how will we effect retrieval? My Nightmare has a lot of power for a fighter, but I can't... `power the sun for a second.'" The General chuffed at her understatement. "Major Tazetsu has figured a way to get around that requirement. She has engineered something she calls a fold resonator. It has two modes: First is to let you get into the irrelevant field, and let everything there start experiencing temporal progression; Second it will allow you to use the `dragon's' own energy to get you, and anyone else you can find, back to our side of the event." Komiria looked from one to the other. "I think that I have little choice but to agree to this mission, but why do you keep talking about `irrelevance?'" Tazetsu picked up the conversation again. "Major, we have reason to believe that there is absolutely no correlation between the time that you spend in that realm and the time that has passed here. The math predicts that until you use your fold resonator on `entry' mode no one from our universe will actually have experienced anything since the moment when they passed through the transfer wave. Until that time they seem to exist in a sort of nothing state where they have the potential to re-emerge, once the proper conditions are met." Seeing Komiria's expression Tazetsu looked frustrated. She turned to the General. "Sir can you try this? I hate explaining mathematics in words. It never works right." "Miyu, I'll try, but... Major, have you ever heard of an old thought experiment known at Schrodinger's cat? Well it supposes that you take a cat and a single radioactive nuclei and put them both in a box. You then set up the box to release a poison if the nuclei decays." "That's a horrible thing to do to a cat!" The two others both laughed. The general gathered his composure again, and returned to his explanation. "I agree, that is why this was called a thought experiment. Anyway, the real question became without opening the box was there any way to tell what condition the cat was in?" Komiria thought for a minute. "What's the isotope and how long had it been sealed?" "Tut. Tut. That's cheating. Remember half lives only express the behavior of a group of similar nuclei. Our single nuclei is impossible to predict. It may have decayed the second you sealed the cat in, or it may last until the end of the universe." "I don't see how the Hell you can make any statement about the cat, then." "That's it, exactly. You can't tell. What Schrodinger then went on to say was that the cat could only be said to exist as two potentialities: alive or dead. Until an observer came and actually opened the box the cat was both half dead and half alive." "If you say so, sir." And here he had been starting to make sense. "I do. Now that is similar to the state that our pilots are in. They exist in this state of potentialities until someone with the proper equipment come by to actually observe them. And that is what your fold resonator will do." Komiria was still a bit unsure of this cat business, but was willing to accept the idea for now. She was about to ask when she would be moving out, when Major Tazetsu spoke up again. "Major one more thing that this irrelevance will mean to you. If you go on this mission you will be gone for a minimum of twenty one years. You will only be able to come back in an event like the one that will send you in the first place. This isn't to say that you will need to wait on the other side of the `dragon' for twenty one years. Once again irrelevance takes its effect. You will be able to come back as soon as you get to the center of the phenomenon, and active your `return' fold resonator. "You will then exist as a potentiality until the next `dragon' occurrence on this side. Which wont be until 2063." Komiria sat back in her seat, now. She could feel the blood running out of her face. That was not what she had expected. When she had heard SAR she had thought that it would be a simple in and out mission. And it would be. For her. She wasn't sure that she wanted to be gone from everyone that she cared about for that length of time. After all there were her parents, and there was Jen.... The general was talking still. "...and your experience with fold systems allows us to send a one man fighter, instead of using an older VF-11T to carry a pilot and a mission specialist. With your combat skills we are sure that you will be able to handle any complications that..." There was Jennie. Now, wouldn't that be an _interesting_ revenge. Come back in twenty three years and still be as young as she is now and visit Jennie and her new _man_ when she got back. That might be a very satisfactory revenge indeed. Besides it would get her away from them for as long as she needed to heal. And no busybody friends could bring them together in a misguided attempt to patch bridges together. "General. I understand what you and the Major are saying. I would like some time to discuss this with my family, and think a bit more, but I agree that it seems a worthwhile endeavor. I am inclined to agree, but feel that I shouldn't make such a decision in haste." "Major, I am ready to authorize you leave to go discuss things with your parents, and you have two weeks to get back here with your answer. I have a few other candidates, but I must confess you are our best case candidate. You are dismissed. See my adjutant for the leave papers and authorization for a fold unit for your fighter. Major, you are dismissed." Komiria came to attention, and left the office. She was back two weeks later. Miria was not happy with her decision. Mom was feeling that she was losing touch with her family. Komiria's younger brothers were mostly out of the household and following their own dreams, and her youngest sister Mylene was a brat, spoiled six ways from Sunday. To add to that her decision had been the spark that set her parents fighting with each other beyond any vehemence that she had ever dreamed of seeing. Miria was all set to brow beat her eldest daughter into declining the mission when her normally reticent father spoke up, saying that if Komiria felt that she was willing to do the job and the best available choice, she ought to go. Komiria had not enjoyed her time with her family very much, but she had said her goodbyes. She also had left a note for Jennie, to be delivered a month after she had gone into the `dragon,' explaining where she was and that it would not be possible for Jennie to talk to Komiria for some time to come. Komiria knew that was merely a spiteful action on her part, but it felt satisfying none the less. After she told the General that she would get his lost sheep back she had been turned over to Major Tazetsu for some intensive and rather rarefied fold system theory training and engineering. Komiria had always had a good understanding of the basic fold system's capabilities and mechanics and limitations. After Miyu was done with her, Komiria could cobble together a fold drive from a single resonator and few custom parts. Or more usefully, she could build a replacement fold resonator in case all of hers got trashed during some unforeseen circumstances. She was going to be carrying a large surplus with her, but she had to admit that she felt better for the knowledge that she was not limited to those units. Once Major Tazetsu cleared Komiria as ready for the technical side of the mission General Miyakuza had her spend days in the simulator, flying a simulated VF-17S through the plasma bubble in all sorts of conditions and weather. They had all sorts of worst case scenarios ready for her, too. The worst had been when she came through the transfer zone in a tornado and found herself heading straight at a 95 story skyscraper. It took all her skill not to fly through the damn thing. Afterwards she had gone up to Miyakuza and was prepared to rip him a new asshole for that dirty low down trick until he showed he an old map of the city that showed that the area she had been heading towards did have the bedrock necessary to support such a structure. Once the general refreshed her North American history, she considered that if the French had kept their new world holdings it was possible that Montreal would be a world class city larger than New York had ever dream of before the Zentraedi blew it to ash. Once he had been done with that, Miyakuza had asked if she was still mad. "No sir. I'm all the way to nervous, now." "Good. That way you may have a better chance to stay alive." Komiria was sure of one thing. Miyakuza was not the useless REMF that she had first pegged him as. But she still didn't like him. Perhaps the worst part of the whole prep time though had nothing to do with the mission preparations really. She had been in the hangar, working on her Nightmare, when she heard the Chimera's mascot walk in. Not that she had anything against Ellie Giverns, but Komiria didn't want to deal with anyone else's emotions for a while yet. Jennie's betrayal still hurt. So, of course, after thinking that to herself, Komiria had the rare joy of hearing some idiot in the Chimeras tell Giverns about Komiria's mission. Komiria tried to hide next to her cockpit, but it was too late. Giverns had spotted her. "Hello?" "Yeah." Looking at Mrs. Giverns' face was a torture. She looked nothing like Miria, but her expression reminded her of the last glimpse she had of her own mother. It was all Komiria could do hold in her own tears. Seeing the age on Mrs. Giverns' face reminded Komiria of the time that she was going to skip. She had no idea whether her family would still be alive when she got back. "I understand you are... Jenius Komiria?" "Yeah. That's me. You're point?" "I... Well,... I would like to thank you for going to get my boy back." Great! Now this woman was crying. If she didn't get rid of her soon Komiria would be joining in with a full wail herself. "Don't worry about it. Hell, I'm really going on this mission to run from a failed love affair. I'm no goddam hero! STOP LOOKING AT ME LIKE THAT!" Komiria hadn't meant to lose control like that. Mrs. Giverns looked up at Komiria in shock. "thank you." Then she ran out of the hangar. Just in time, too. For Komiria's tears started flowing even before Mrs. Giverns left the hangar. Not five minutes later Komiria started to feel really bad about the whole thing. It wasn't helped by the various Chimeras coming over to congratulate her on her gracious manners. Before the afternoon was over Komiria had already promised herself to go look up Mrs. Giverns and apologize. Of course once she got back to quarters she was greeted by an orderly, with a message: "General Miyakuza's compliments and he invites you to join him for dinner at this address." Reluctantly Komiria got dressed for the occaision. She was all decked in out her dress uniform when she got to the address that the orderly had given her. She knocked on the door, and was shocked when Mrs. Giverns answered. When Mrs. Giverns invited her in Komiria followed in shock. Once the door was shut Komiria started to stammer out an apology. "Ma'am, I'm sorry for-" "Dear I would like to -" Laughing, Mrs. Giverns waved Komiria to silence. "Dear, I was unfair to you today. I would like to apologize for that scene earlier. All I can plead is that those boys in Chimera gave me news I had no idea was coming. I'm sorry I embarrassed you, and I hope we can be friends." "Well, I didn't handle things very well, either. Why don't we call it even?" "That sounds good. Now come in and join my other guest for a dinner I have been working on." Mrs. Giverns started to lead the way deeper into the house when she stopped, and turned back to Komiria. "Please, dear. Call me Ellie. All my friends do." "Only if you call me Komiria, or Komi." "Deal." So in spite of an awkward beginning Komiria made friends with the woman who had been most wronged by the `dragon.' Losing her son and husband to the same phenomenon might have made many people bitter, but she seemed stronger than that. Of course there was the inevitable comments about how her Kiirai would be about Komiria's age if he were still relevant, but they were made in passing. Instead Komiria heard a lot of family stories about both Kiirai's. She left that night with the first friend that she had allowed herself since she had found Jennie and that man together two months earlier. Later she realized that was also when she started to move ahead from the ruins of that relationship. Finally the last day came and Komiria got ready to fly out to meet the `dragon.' She was surprised to see the Chimeras all lined up in dress uniforms to see her off, especially with Ellie standing in the position of squadron commander. General Miyakuza and Miyu were also there to see her off. Komiria gave Ellie a final hug and climbed up. Ellie, Miyu and the General held her ladder for her. "Major, I promise that at least one of us will be waiting for you here in twenty one years. We look forward to your return, and the return of our other loved ones. Take care and God speed." Typical General's comments. Pompous and useless. Flying through the plasma sphere was just like the sims. And then she saw her new `irrelevant' world. End of Prologue *For anyone who is still curious about that comment waaaaayy up there in the foreward... Ralph Waldo Emerson is quoted as saying, "A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds." That's all. I hope it was worth scrolling all the way down here for. Coming soon from Mutants for Nukes: Ranma 1/2: Arthropod Antics - Chapter Three "I talk to the trees..." Down the Dragon's Throat - Chapter Two "Knight Error"