Previous parts can be found at www.geocities.com/groves_ca. Oh, and I
don't own Macross or Ranma 1/2, so please don't sue.
* * * * *
AMAZONS
"It's called a stun pistol," said Rico. "One pull of the trig-
ger, and your chosen target is rendered unconscious."
Bron and Konda stared at the weapon, impressed. Bron looked back
up at Rico. "And with this, we'll be able to capture the
Meltran?"
"You got it." He set down the pistol, and hefted a small but
heavy device. "As soon as the red light goes on here, we zap the
Meltran, then head for the Battle Pod."
* * * * *
Kuh Lon looked up as the bell over the front door rang. "Welcome
to the Nekohanten! Please take a--" She paused; her danger
sense was pinging faintly.
The woman framed in the doorway was wearing traditional chinese
clothing, similar to the one Son-in-Law had worn in the talent
contest. Her hair was green, right down to the roots, and un-
bound. And Kuh Lon could clearly see the knife hidden up one
sleeve. Oh, anyone else would never notice, but her own senses
were nearly superhuman.
In Cantonese, she asked, <Are you one of the Sisters?>
The woman looked at her, puzzled, then spoke in English. "I'm
afraid I don't speak that tongue." Her accent was odd; Kuh Lon
couldn't place it.
The Elder switched to English. "You seem familiar to me. Per-
haps you are an Amazon, of a tribe not familiar to me?"
The woman considered this, then nodded. "Yes. I am an Amazon."
"I thought so." The old woman cackled. "So good to see a Sis-
ter, even one from a distant tribe. Please, be seated, and I'll
send my great-granddaughter out to serve you."
Miriya glanced around the room, and sat down with her back in one
corner. Shortly, a young Microne female came from the back room.
"You Amazon?" The girl's speech was halting, and very heavily
accented.
Miriya switched to Japanese. "Perhaps you speak this language
better?"
"Some better, yes. Thank you." The girl smiled brilliantly.
"You is Amazon?"
"Yes. Though my...tribe...use a different word."
"What is word?"
"Meltran."
The girl tilted her head. "Is unusual. Don't know language.
You want ramen?"
"Ramen?"
"Food. Too-too delicious."
"All right. How much is this 'ramen?'"
"For Amazon, is free. Here only. Be back soon!" The girl
turned and bounced off. Bouncing seemed to be her normal mode of
movement.
Miriya frowned. It seemed incredibly unlikely that the girl, or
her great-grandmother, were Meltraedi. They claimed to be, but
of course they could be lying. She would have to investigate
more thoroughly.
* * * * *
Elsewhere...
Reality rippled, and a fleet of a thousand warships fell out of
the rift in space/time. They immediately dispersed their tight
formation, spreading out until they encompassed a half-sphere of
approximately fifty thousand kilometers diameter. And moved in,
unerringly, on Earth.
On the bridge of the flagship, Breetai, Supreme Commander of the
Botoru Armoured Regiment, surveyed the tactical arrangement of
the Meltran Fleet. He turned to his aide, a tiny - for a Zentran
- and rather gnomish man. *Exedore, please establish communica-
tion with Azonia's ship.*
*At once, My Lord.*
The projecbeam crackled to life, and Azonia's face formed before
him. *Ah, Lord Breetai! What brings you to this part of space?*
*The fact that you have failed in your mission, Azonia. The Pro-
toculture Fortress remains in the hands of Zor's Descendents.
Dolza has charged me with its recovery. The Alliance remains; we
shall both reap the benefits of the Fortress' capture.* Breetai
allowed himself a tight grin. *But I have been placed in command
of this operation.*
Azonia's face darkened. *I have not had sufficient time or re-
sources to allocate to--*
*You have had six megapulses to complete the assignment, as well
as the fifth Botoru Batallion to assist the Quadrano.*
*Fifth Botoru is a liability, and has cost us three battles.*
*Nonetheless, you have failed, and Dolza has ordered me to resume
command.*
Azonia smirked. *Do not think that you can merely step in and
take command. Any one of my troops is worth five of yours.*
*But you are outnumbered ten to one. The nearest Meltraedi fleet
would require three kilopulses to arrive.* He crossed his arms.
*You will submit, or you will be destroyed.*
Azonia cut the projecbeam; Breetai turned to Exedore. *Transmit
the recovery code.*
*If I may, My Lord...* Exedore folded his arms and leaned back
into his seat. *Azonia will not accept this change of command
without some act of resistance. Either she will attack us, or
she will attack the Micrones. Either way, we should wait for her
to make her move before recovering our spies.*
*Yes...* Breetai closed his one good eye, and nodded. *Under
cover of the resulting chaos. Excellent thinking as always, Exe-
dore.*
*I try my best, My Lord.*
* * * * *
There was a knock at the office door. Ranma glanced up from the
sheaf of paper on his desk. "Come."
The door opened, and Lisa Hayes stepped in. In one hand was a
Navy cup - flared lip and base, so that a sudden shift of axis
was less likely to spill coffee. In the other hand was a very
bulky folder. "Captain."
"Commander." He nodded. "How may I help you?"
"Three things." She set the coffee on his desk, opened the fold-
er and started flipping through it. "First, I have received your
request for more operational Mecha, and have approved it." She
pulled out a number of pages, stapled in the top left-hand cor-
ner, and dropped it on his desk. "Four Destroids, two of them
Tomahawks and two Spartans. That totals...seven Rapiers, nine
Valkyries and six Destroid-type mecha. Enough rides for the en-
tire squadron, plus four left over."
"Good. We've needed them for a while."
"Yes. Captain's considering another boarding action, and that
will probably mean your team. Second." She flipped further
through the folder. "I went through your debriefing, and noted
that you'd experienced some sort of hallucination, shortly before
you performed a space fold operation."
"Yeah." He shook his head. "It's kinda fuzzy; I don't really
remember what happened. But I remember one part." His hand fell
to the Reflex battery, strapped to his belt. "You know how Re-
flex energy lets the Valkyrie reconfigure?"
Lisa's eyes widened, as Ranma shifted from male to female, and
back to male. With no water.
"Turns out it'll let me reconfigure, too."
"Very interesting. Doctor Lang will be interested in hearing
about this."
"Oh, no!" Ranma raised his hands. "Don't you dare tell him
about it! He'll have me back in the lab, covered with goop and
sensors, and a wire up my butt, before I have time to blink."
Lisa giggled. "All right. I won't tell anyone." She flipped
through the folder. "It also says that you raised a pin-point
barrier to block an incoming missile." She looked up. "How?"
"No idea." He shrugged. "Just instinct, like the first time I
folded. I could probably do a fold in my sleep, now. But only
in the modified S."
"Why?"
"Might have to do with all the extra Reflex energy a Kustonov
Heat-Pile gives off."
"Ah." She closed the folder. "Since Reflex energy is also tied
into the pin-point barrier system on the Macross, it seems likely
that only the modified S will be able to raise a pin-point barri-
er."
"Seems that way." He nodded. "That it on the debrief?"
"Yes." She hugged the folder to her chest, and hesitated.
"The third thing?" Ranma prompted.
"Umm..." She bit her lip. "Would you care to join me for dinner
tonight?"
Ranma sighed, and dropped his head into his hand.
"I'm sorry I asked." Lisa turned to leave.
"Wait, Commander." He looked up. "Look, just hear me out, okay?
It's not like I don't like you or anythin'. But there's two lit-
tle problems."
"Rank?"
"Not really...one pay grade isn't much. But you *are* my direct
superior. And second...I'm engaged, remember?"
"But not married."
He raised a finger. "True...but my family and hers view it as a
matter of honour. How long, do you suppose, before the gossip
circle gets back to Colonel Tendo on the Daedalus?"
She sighed. "Well. I'd be kicking myself forever if I hadn't
asked."
"Under normal circumstances, I'd jump at the offer. But I'm
afraid I can't. Sorry."
"I understand." She opened the door. "I'd better get back to
the bridge."
She stepped out of the office, closing the door...and grinned.
~He said he likes me! He said he'd jump at the chance!~
As usual for Lisa Hayes...objectivity goes right out the port-
hole.
* * * * *
"It was not enough that I was defeated." Miriya paused to drain
her coffee cup, then slammed it down on the table. "But to be
defeated by a male!"
"Xian Pu understand." The Amazon girl nodded. "Is same to hap-
pen to Xian Pu."
"So I'm trying to find him, so I can avenge myself."
"'Avenge?'"
"I mean to kill him."
"Kill? No!" Shampoo shook her head. "Sister not understand
laws?"
Miriya frowned. "What do you--"
"Is Amazon law, if defeated by male, then woman must marry! This
bring more strong into tribe." Shampoo's Japanese suffered, the
more excited she got; she forced herself to calm down. "Miriya
find this man, and make him husband."
"Husband..." Miriya considered. "I'm afraid that I don't know
that word."
Shampoo repeated, "Husband," in English, and Miriya nodded.
"Ah! I see. I must bend his strength to my will, bring him un-
der my control, and conserve, not destroy that strength."
"Yes!"
"I don't know how I will do that...I haven't even found him
yet--"
The bell over the door rang, and the three Zentraedi spies en-
tered. The small one was holding a sidearm of some sort. Miriya
jumped to her feet.
The small one blinked. "Parino!"
"What are you--"
She got no further; the Zentran raised his pistol and fired. She
ducked to the side, then abruptly realized that she had not been
the target; Shampoo yelped, and fell to her knees.
"Bastards!" Miriya drew her knife, and leaped towards them. The
largest of the three stepped forwards, prepared to grapple her,
but she sidestepped him easily and charged the pistolero.
A fist slammed into the side of her head, and she reeled. The
big guy was much faster than he looked; he delivered a kick to
her ribs, knocking her away from the group. She rolled to her
knees, and glanced up...to find that the pistolero had leveled
his weapon at her.
"Easy, Parino. Nobody has to die here." He glanced over at
Shampoo, who was still on her hands and knees. "We're taking her
with us, taking her back to Azonia."
Miriya scowled. Her knife lay six feet away from her; she
couldn't possibly recover it before the Zentran fired. "She
isn't--"
The Zentran fired. The blast hit her like a wall, flipping her
backwards. Her vision blurred, and it felt like there was a two
hundred pound weight on her chest. She tried to get up, but was
unable to do more than twitch.
The Zentran fired again, she assumed at Shampoo. His voice came
to her faintly, like her head was wrapped in cotton.
"Piece of cake! We should fight Meltraedi more often..."
* * * * *
Someone was shaking her, and yelling in English. She shuddered,
rolled over, and pushed herself up.
"I'm alive..."
"You're lucky to be alive." The woman was dressed in U.N. Spacy
whites, and had a red cross on the sleeve of her uniform. "They
abducted the waitress."
Miriya shook her head. Defeated, again by a male! Though at
least this time, it was by three armed Zentraedi males, when she
had had nothing more than a knife.
This time, she could ignore it.
* * * * *
"Conn, I have forty-eight bogeys closing on us."
Commander Hayes leaned forward. "Type?"
"I think they're powered armour, Ma'am. Female type. We're now
also picking up another contact. Too far out for a make, but it
looks like a small capital ship."
The 'Female' designation was based on Captain Saotome's belief
that they were only piloted by females; though they still had no
proof of this, the usage had spread. Lisa bit her lip. "Scram-
ble the Alert One. As soon as they're clear, call up Ready Five.
Oh, and call the Irregulars to Ferryboat' hanger." She slammed a
hand down on the command chair's intercom. "Captain to the
bridge!"
* * * * *
They had tied Shampoo very efficiently, and gagged her to boot,
then made their way down to the salvage bay. During their explo-
rations, the three micronized spies had had the great good luck
to discover a battle pod, in almost pristine condition, and with
micronized controls. Though they didn't realize it, it was the
same pod used by Rick, Lisa, Ben and Max to escape from the Zen-
traedi. Once they had been recovered, the pod had been dumped in
the salvage bay and forgotten.
Already, it was half packed with Micronian artifacts. They
tossed Shampoo's unconscious body onto an air mattress, then set
to work. Rico manned the pilot's station, Bron took engineering,
and Konda took over the guns.
"Peak power in thirty centipulses..." Bron flipped a switch.
"Particle cannons are online."
"Right." Konda switched on the targeting reticle. "Seal the
hatch."
"Already done."
"Good..." Konda sighted on the bay door, and pulled the trigger.
Dual charged particle beams slammed into the door, which promptly
exploded. The sudden depressurization blew the pod, with a bunch
of other junk, into vacuum.
Rico fired the thrusters, and aimed towards the recovery vehicle.
"We'll be home within the hour."
"Yeah..." Bron sighed. "Home."
* * * * *
Azonia noted the approaching battle pod.
*Fourth wing, take that pod in tow. Fifth wing, disable the Zen-
traedi recovery vessel. The rest of you...Charge!*
Four wings of Meltraedi Battle Armour dove to engage Green
Squadron. Azonia hung back, watching, as her troops tore up the
Valkyries. She smiled. ~I didn't even need to commit the de-
stroyer. Inside a kilopulse, the Protoculture Fortress will be
mine."
Her IFF beeped at her; she glanced down at her instruments, and
cursed. The Micronians had launched reinforcement, and the news
could simply not be worse.
Skull Squadron.
Maybe she would need that destroyer after all.