The day of the scout mission dawned...so to speak.  Being in space, there was no sunrise, and therefore no dawn in the traditional sense.  But the ship's clocks marked the appropriate hour, internal lighting changed over to daytime mode, and appropriate alarms, alerts, and cautions sounded, marking the new day.

On the bridge, Commander Keyes had a frown on her face as she reported to Captain Wilson.  "Looks like Lt. DiAvantos is down with the flu, flight surgeon won't clear her for the operation, Sir."

Donovan's face twisted in a grimace.  "We can't afford to have a novice on this...it's a high-risk operation, already, and I feel like we're pushing our luck with Edwards out there, given his track record..."

Anastasia gave the captain a quizzical look.  "Granted, he's made some highly unorthodox maneuvers, Sir, but those were largely under combat conditions...he's always brought his plane back, and that's more than some of our best veterans can say..."

Wilson gave his XO a sour look.  "True enough...but it still doesn't solve the problem of replacing DiAvantos..."

Keyes' look of distant amusement was almost infuriating to Wilson...but one of the reasons he'd requested her as XO was because her temperament differed from his enough to give, between the two of them, more complete consideration of any problem they faced.  "So, what's the hesitation on sending another veteran?" she asked.  "I mean, you're already sending our Chief of Fighter Operations, our only EWO, and a squadron leader.  If this goes sideways, the only one we could lose that wouldn't be a critical loss would be Edwards, but that would take Echo Squadron down another pilot and we're getting thin there already..."

Wilson nodded.  "I know.  I've had reservations about the whole mission ever since the Chief suggested it...but we also can't afford to rely on traditional tactics at this point.  We need to know what the aliens are doing on Mars, and Bixby's plan is our best chance at it..."

"So, what do we do about Bixby's operating group being short a pilot?" Keyes asked, arching an eyebrow.

After a moment's thought, Wilson gave a nod, with a soft 'hmph' as he settled his decision.  "We give him the best we can to carry it out.  Tap Lt. Moriya as the replacement for DiAvantos, get word to the hangar crews to get her plane ready to fly."  He rubbed a finger idly across a cheekbone, almost as if he thought to scratch an itch that vanished the moment he moved for it.

"Let's just hope the mission turns out well.  We can't afford to lose any of our pilots...but if the aliens get the jump on them and we lose all of them, we'll have effectively lost all of our squadron leadership..."  He looked at Anastasia grimly, and added, "Don't tell any of them that.  I'm sure it will be in the back of their minds, but we don't need to jinx them by putting it forefront in their thoughts."

With a nod, Anastasia turned, giving the orders to get the planes ready and send calls to the four pilots that would fly the mission...Chief Bixby, Lt. Cmdr Hardy, Lt. Khan, and Lt. Moriya...all four got personal notifications to be on the flight line, ready to go, in an hour's time...

The alert sounded, ending a dangling sense of anticipation, and Vance headed back to his quarters to grab his flight suit, then headed for the flight deck.  For better or worse, they were going to find out just what the aliens were up to...he hoped.  But after months and months of having no available intel, the prospect of getting a look into what the aliens were doing, rather than just reacting to their arrival in a combat zone, was actually exciting in a way he hadn't expected.

Hanako quite literally fell out of her bunk with a yelp when she got the alert.  Due to being the XO, she was the prime choice to be on alert when Hardy wasn't, so they'd ended up on opposite shifts.  When you're in space, you don't have proper day and night cycles, so having 24 hour readiness is important.  This also meant she hadn't really been able to spend much time with a good half of Echo squadron for awhile.

So, she pulled herself up, blinked a few times to adjust her eyes to the light, then yawned and got herself ready for a flight.  She put on her flight suit, quickly brushed her hair to keep it tidy, then grabbed her helmet and hurried to the flight deck to meet up with the others.

Meeting up with Vance on the way, she gave him a slightly bleary smile.  "Hello, sir.  It has been some time since we flew together, has it not?" she says, clearly looking forward to being on his wing again.

Vance chuckled.  "Yeah, it's been a week or two, hasn't it?" he asked, his dry tone making a joke of the time estimate he mentioned.  "This one should be pretty simple...SHOULD be..."

Giggling at the dry humor, Hanako smiled and seemed to be more awake.

"I would prefer not to have to fly into a capital ship and explode a second time.  Or fly through the aftermath of nuclear blast again."

She suddenly looked thoughtful as she mused, "Perhaps that is why they have not let us fly together.  Our missions tend to be rather... exciting."

Hearing the familiar voices, Bixby pulled himself out of the cockpit of the Two-Ex, where he'd been making some final tweaks.  "Nobody should be blowing up today, Lieutenant," he commented drily.  "There's not enough of us going to want to pick a fight, and if we do our jobs right, the enemy should never realize we were there."

He looked over at Hardy.  "Have you had a chance to brief her on the mission parameters yet?" he asked.  "I thought DiAvantos was flying this one..."

The Alert sounded, and it was almost lost in the cacophony of the Veritech simulator.. the stress of waiting to hurry up and die had been too annoying for Edwards.  So he had sent up the perameters of their upcoming mission to the tactical sim-Techs to make the possibilities of the mission as close to projected difficulty as possible and then proceeded to die ~ repeatedly; running the sim at the highest difficulty possible ...over and over and over again!  Currently in the sim he'd lost his right battliod arm, one foot thruster, and his wings were riddled with holes but his main body was still at 40% structural integrity... that was really good ~ actually, the best he'd done so far as he used the bulk of smaller Demios Moon as sensor cover from converging fire of 6 flights of pods.  He had one Nuclear reflex missile left ...if he could hold out just a few more seconds he could kill them all!  Officially, from the sims readouts he was already dead his pilot's compartment had been breached nothing lethal but his Life support had been registered as destroyed.. he only had another 30minutes of air left and that was not enough to get back to the simulated victory conditions point of Ranger's Simulated hanger. The scouting part had been successful the living to tell about it afterward not so much... but it was further than he'd gotten before, that had to means something.  The target lock warning from the foes sounded at the same time as the ship alert klaxons and Cain cursed as the simulator automatically paused and shut down~ ending the scenario before the conclusion.

Popping the simulator 'canopy' a scowl on his face, "Damn it, couldn't you have waited jus' one more second?!?"

The technicians looked up and smirked, "Whaddya complaining aboot?!?! Yur were dead annieway!" , the thin technician with the thick Irish accent commented, the one Cain had learned was named Finn 'The Jr.'

The big burly tech named Terrance spoke up, "An alerts and alert Ed!"

Cain climbed out of the simulator pod and paused just long enough to snatch up his flight helmet, before dashing off to the Flight Deck, "...ya don't have to remind me.. Don't call me Ed ~ I'm On It!"

----

Cain enetered the Veritech flight deck at a sprint.. his bird was already warmed up and the flight deck crew waiting impatiently.  Climbing into his cockpit without any word he gave them the 'thumb's up gesture as the canopy locked into place and sealed.  Cain was buckling in when he click on the Comm-net of the Tactical channel, <"...Echo 5, on deck, Ready for launch ~ On Standby.">
This message was last edited by the player at 07:53, Tue 13 June 2017.

Vance grimaced.  "Brandy's down with the flu, I guess...or something she ate last night disagreed with her.  Can't imagine military food EVER causing that problem..."  Thick sarcasm covered his words.

"But, no, I haven't briefed her yet..."  He turned to Hanako.

"Recon...that last big wave of alien craft was headed for Mars and Captain Wilson wants to know what they're up to.  We're gonna do a high pass, sticking close to Deimos, and using the fallout from the explosions we triggered there to mask our presence, and act as passive eyes for Bixby to process at a safer distance.  We're supposed to avoid engagement...ridiculously heavily outnumbered...just spy and scoot as soon as Bixby feels like he's seen enough."

He looked at the Chief.  "Did I miss anything?" he asked, with a grin on his face...the kind of teasing look that long-term veterans would exchange with each other.

Hanako listened to the others discuss the mission, sifting out the important mission facts from the friendly banter.  Hearing that it wasn't a combat mission made her feel a bit better.  While she enjoyed practicing her skills, she never did like the feeling of being fired at.  Being peeled out of a cockpit and covered up in splints and bandages tended to make one a bit less eager to fly headlong into danger.

"So this is a recon mission, then, not a CAP?  That is a relief," she said, feeling less tense than she did when she first got the alert.

"It will be good to fly with the both of you again."

Bixby nodded.  "If you do any shooting on this one, something will have gone incredibly wrong...and odds are extremely high, at that point, that none of us will make it back home alive.  So, yeah...don't get gung-ho on me, because I'm not done fighting this war just yet."  He gave them a tired grin...he'd flown with both pilots often enough to feel safe with their discretion in the cockpit.

"Looks like Edwards has already mounted up, we should probably get in our birds and get going," he commented, looking down the flightline.  Four planes waited in launch position...one with the cockpit closed already, and a helmeted head could be seen inside.

He gave a wave and turned to the Two-Ex.  "We've got enough flight time to talk through any questions before we get to Mars...let's get moving.  It'd be downright depressing to get there and discover that whatever the aliens were doing, they'd already finished and were moving on.  Waste of a good flight..."  With a dry laugh, he headed for his plane, climbing into the cockpit before settling the helmet on his head and starting his launch checklist.

"Haaaaaaaai~" Hanako replied with the tone of someone obeying only because they are required to do so.  The grin she gave Bixby right afterward, however, let him know she actually meant it.

With practiced ease, she tucked her hair with one arm and put on her helmet with the other, sealing it in place before climbing up the ladder to her cockpit.  She quickly performed the pre-flight check, let air control know she was ready, and then waited for her turn to launch.

She understood that their Veritechs had their usual armaments so they could sortie at any time, but she felt a bit uncomfortable flying a stealth recon mission with missiles.

"Right, Chief...on it."  With a smoothness of motion that bore silent witness of the numerous times he'd done it, Vance turned and strode to his plane, setting his helmet atop his head as he climbed and settling it securely into place one he was settled into his cockpit.

"<TC> Flight Control, Echo Lead.  Recon mission is standing by and ready to launch, on your order..."  He made the call while he was a few trivial details away from finishing his checklist...technically, breaching protocol, but he'd done the list so many times that he'd already seen the ready status of his plane without specifically looking at the last few details...just, noticed them peripherally as he was checking other items.  So, he knew he was good to go when he called...

The launch clearance came through immediately, along with a grim, "Good luck," from Captain Wilson.  Hanako and Cain launched, followed shortly by Bixby and Hardy.

"<TC>Okay...Triangle formation, centered on the Two-Ex...I'll tie into your sensors and get us the best possible monitoring alignment going forward.  Fan out to maximum range until we get closer to Mars, so if anyone picks us up, they'll only see one or maybe two planes before we get a chance to divert...Lt. Moriya, you take point, bearing 0 degrees from me. Lt. Edwards, the port aft flank, Lt. Cmdr. Hardy, starboard aft, bearing 240 and 120, respectively.  Should be ranged so you can just barely pick up the other two points of the triangle on your sensors, I should be your only constant strong signal."

Once Bixby explains the formation, Hanako boosts forward, slowing down only when she's a fair distance from everyone.  Once she does, she runs rather silent, the tight band communication through the Two-Ex being her only comms output.

"This is Moriya.  I am in position." she says, her comm being routed through the Two-Ex so everyone can hear.

<TC> "On it Chief!"

Cain's Veritech, banks slightly and side drifts to position, using as little vector thrust to keep his thermal signature as low as possible as he slides into the course correction.

<TC> "In position, linking sensor telemetry now..."

Cain's tone was clipped, curt and all professional... practiced... he'd done this many times before now...
This message was last edited by the player at 09:57, Fri 23 June 2017.

"<TC>Copy that, Chief..."  Vance banked slightly and throttled back, dropping into the position Bixby had described...the other two fighters were almost phantoms on his sensor screen, but the Two-Ex was a clear sensor return.

"<TC>Echo Lead in position..."  He switched over the sensor feeds so Bixby could tie into them and assume some degree of control over their operation, while he focused on maintaining his relative position in the formation.  Out there, so far ahead his eyes could barely see it, Mars lay ahead of them...

Information started streaming in, the software in the Two-Ex correlating and extrapolating information, which it then presented to a frowning Chief Bixby.

"Well, that doesn't make much sense..." he muttered under his breath.  He ran the system again, with a diagnostic to make sure everything was coming out right.  When the results came back, he gave a disgruntled 'hmph'...

"<TC>Soooo....there's no sign of them.  I mean, there are ion traces that indicate they passed this way...but nothing to indicate any current activity..."  He fell silent for a moment, contemplating the situation.

"<TC>Let's keep going.  The ion traces all lead to Mars, we're not close enough yet to see if anything leads away...and I'm fairly certain they don't have anything out there close enough to see us.  The captain sent us out here to solve a puzzle...it's a little bigger than I was expecting, but it's still out there.  Take it slow and easy, Lieutenant...but take us to Mars..."

Vance flew along, holding formation, his eyes darting from his instruments to gaze out the canopy at erratic intervals.  His experience with the aliens had been that any time they weren't where they were expected, bad things were about to start happening, and he wanted to be sure he saw them coming if the tried to follow that pattern.

"<TC>Last time we flew this far with no sign of enemy activity, the Ranger's task force lost a destroyer..." he muttered aloud, apparently forgetting that his mic was still live and he was transmitting on one of the tactical frequencies...

Being the one on point, Hanako knows she's probably the one most at risk of danger from a surprise attack - which the aliens have been very fond of performing.  However, that's only if there's a surprise attack.  Besides, it isn't like she's totally defenseless.

Oh.

Well.

Best not do anything to attract attention, then! she thinks to herself as she does her best to ignore Vance's unintentional broadcast.  While she is mostly focused on her instruments, she, too, is also looking around outside of her canopy for anything out of the ordinary.

Triggering his comm Cain spoke, "<TC> Echo Lead, If Echo 2 would prefer, I'll volunteer to take point... after-all, I'm not a CO...and let's face it ~ mostly considered expendable by the brass.  I don't mind.  I AM bearing most of the anti missile ordnance... though the Zent's prefer particle beams so its not as if its THAT big a risk.  Your call boss."
This message was last edited by the player at 13:54, Mon 04 Sept 2017.

Bixby's voice cut through in terse tones.  "<TC>The flight arrangements are by design, Lieutenant...there's a reason Lt. Moriya's out front.  Please keep comm chatter limited to essentials...we don't know where they are, and we don't want to attract their attention, if we can help it."

The combined feeds from the sensors on all three planes gave him a pretty strong indication...the ion trails of a multitude of enemy craft preceded them, though the trails were starting to dissipate, so the Veritechs weren't likely in much danger of flying up anyone's tailpipe and starting a fight that way.

Bixby indulged in one editorial comment.  "<TC>They're definitely heading for Mars' orbit, if not the planet itself...all the ion trails proceed in a straight line.  Point plane adjust course point-two-five degrees to port...we'll try and get behind the moons and let one of them mask our approach to the planet."

Mars was, in fact, getting bigger...it had gone from a slightly brighter and larger point of light to a reddish marble to something about the size of a softball through the cockpit canopy, and the ice caps and Olympus Mons were visible and growing.

Hanako remained silent over the comms until the course correction was given.  Very briefly, she replied, "<TC>Acknowledged," before making the necessary adjustments to her flight path.  Idly, she wondered what they might find out there.  A few Zentradi?  An outpost?  A full Zentradi base built right under their noses?

She fully trusted Bixby's capabilities and his ability to discern the pertinent facts from the readings, but that did not put her too much more at ease.  She was professional, yes, but she was still human, and she had a gut feeling something was going to happen.

Vance listened in, watching the shift in formation and adjusting his flight path to maintain relative positions to Hanako and Bixby.  He resisted the urge to fiddle with any of his sensor settings...he wasn't used to flying with them focused on a specific arc...but he knew Bixby was processing the data as it was coming in, and changing anything would interfere with that process.

As Mars grew larger, he picked out the smaller specks that were the two moon.  Phobos and Deimos...Fear and Madness, he'd been told the names translated to.  He gave a grim chuckle to himself, thinking that while the fear was held in careful check, there was all kinds of madness running rampant in this mission...

It was Phobos the flight was headed for...and Bixby's sensor readings, enhanced via the connection with the trio of Veritechs, showed heavy ion trails through the region of space near the planet...including some unusual patterns that he'd never seen before.

He keyed in a tight-beam transmission, the narrow wavelength of the message highly unlikely to be picked up by anyone else and, unless they were directly in the path of the transmission, impossible to decipher.  "<TC>Ranger, we're approaching target...seeing all kinds of evidence of heavy enemy traffic through this area, and registering new ion patterns...looks like some new ship-type has entered the area.  Sending a data-burst with our findings thus far, can't keep this connection active when we're around the planet."  He flipped a switch as he stopped speaking, and was rewarded moments later with a green indicator, showing he'd successfully transmitted the data.  He could only hope the Ranger had received it all.


"<TC>Okay, Lt. Moriya...adjust speed to keep Phobos between you and the planet.  Hardy, Edwards, close up formation on her...I'll hang back far enough to stay clear of any signal interference from the radiation..."  They were close enough to the moon, now, that the wreckage from their earlier mission there...using a nuclear stockpile detonation as a screen for their approach to Mars...was becoming visible.

Cain calmed his anxiousness, {Am I spoiling for a fight?  Not good.  Get a grip Cain...'scouting mission' remember?}

Triggering his comm "<TC> Echo 5. Acknowldged."

Angling his Veritech in he pulled in close to Lt. Moriya's/Echo 2's starbard side, the bulk of Phoebos growing on his cockpit and the Wreak of the past mission pinging on his sensor returns.  Now actually able to make out details of her bird.  Close enough to flash her a 'thumb's up' gesture...
This message was last edited by the player at 12:27, Thu 02 Nov 2017.

Keying her direct comm to Bixby, Hanako responded simply, "<TC>Acknowledged."  She then altered her speed and flight pattern per his instructions, being very careful not to attract attention.  After all, aside from the head-mounted lasers, her Veritech was completely unarmed.

The mission was also to remain completely undetected and not to engage the enemy, but the extra incentive to remain out of combat did help, she had to admit.

She glanced over at Cain's Veritech when he pulled alongside her, just able to see the gesture.  Despite her professionalism, she found herself responding with a V held sideways next to her face, and a wink.

Whether or not someone would ever be able to see her winking through her helmet at that distance is anyone's guess.

Vance eased his throttle, keeping his power output at a minimum, and closed in on Hanako's plane.  Looking down at the carnage below, he shook his head.  "Never expected to be flying over this again," he muttered, to himself.

Of course, prior to the war, he'd never expected to be battling alien craft in space, either...when he'd signed up, it was still just the UEDF against the rebel forces that didn't want to serve under a single flag.  He shook his head slightly at the thought...because he really hoped this didn't end up being as cataclysmic as that had been, even as part of his mind laughed sardonically and reminded him that THIS was still part of THAT, and it hadn't ended yet...

With a sign, he keyed his short-range comm...it should be safe to use with Phobos between the planes and the planet.  "<TC>On your five o'clock, Echo Two.  Raven Lead, we should be ready to commence operations on your call..."

Bixby made a few last-second adjustments.  "<TC>Okay, Echo Lead, over the north pole, Echo Two and Echo Five, at 120 and 240 degrees off that around Phobos' circumference.  Stay as close to the surface as you can for as long as the radiation will allow you to, just far enough over the horizon to get a full view of the planet.  I'm collating information so any differences in readouts between your ships gets highlighted and we can take a closer look at any anomalous readings."

He paused for a moment, then added, "<TC>And...go..."

Cain made no reply either to Lt Moriya nor to Chief Bixby... mind focused.

In the many scenarios in the simulator... the possibility of the surveillance mission encountering the enemy before reaching the orbit of Phobos and the mission turning into an ever escalating running battle had been passed the next was this encountering the enemy just as surveillance operations began at the Martian micro moons.

Cain smirked..'Well at least simulation-wise, I've beaten the odds already by 37.5% and am still alive... day must be looking up!'

Everytime the simulator had randomly determined the Veritech team encountered the enemy before reaching Phobos Orbit had gone Extremely Badly... Cain managing to only survive 2 of the 12 such painful scenarios he'd endured...

His grimm amusement notwithstanding, Echo Five went into action... a short burst from his main drives to set his Veritech 'falling' toward the mishappen micro moon angled with his various control surface verniers put him on his course.  His main drive then dropped 'cold' to only standby power as Cain 'Dead-sticked' his fall toward the lunar surface on maneuvering verniers only to have as little thermal signature as possible.  Pulling the "G" lever he went to Guardian Mode for the more maneuverability and flexibility of options as he was now only using more precise maneuvering jets in this mode to swoop in low over the Martian Lunar surface perfectly angling toward the 240 degree position of Echo lead's course.

AND as per his usual fashion it was another gutsy madd display of piloting finesses to slow his Veritech's Detla-V using only maneuvering verniers against the pull of the Phoboan G-Well... which set him to fighting with the HoSaT {Hand on Stick and Throttle} frantically before leveling out.  Cain barely cracked a sweat.. he did such dare-devil maneuvers now as a regular course of 'just another day at the office..' as a Veritech Pilot of the UN Spacy...

The Guardian-Mode, Veritech hefted the GU-11 Gun pod in hands ready to react if needed to incomming missile fire or enemy contact...

Hopefully, the Phobos mass would hide any minor Thermal signature or Radar image his Veritech retained in the radiation bands of the oddly shaped lunar bulk...

Again Cain set his headlaser on the A-1 Model Veritech, to 'Aegis-Fire' too hopefully snag any missiles launched at the diving trio of Veritechs.
This message was last edited by the player at 11:08, Tue 12 Dec 2017.

Vance shifted his Veritech to Guardian mode, dropping vertically toward Phobos before he began moving across its surface on the assigned heading.  He dropped as low as he could before radiation alarms started flashing in his cockpit...the body of the plane kept him safe, at those levels, as it had been engineered to be out in space and exposed to unfiltered cosmic radiation, but he didn't feel like pushing his luck and risk of exposure.

A strange sense...not quite deja vu...swept over him as he flew slowly over the wreckage of what had been a Separatist nuclear stockpile, before the Ranger forces had turned it into a smokescreen, of sorts, for attacking the rebel forces on Mars.  It had been a brutal battle...and in quieter, more introspective moments, Vance wondered just where his place in Hell might be for the people who'd died down there, many from exposure when the walls of the stronghold had been breached and the viable atmosphere inside vented to the thin veil of tenuous gases that passed for Mars' natural atmosphere.

Just as his thoughts were about to turn truly macabre, the edge of Mars appeared over the horizon.  He slowed, easing forward until he'd reached the point Bixby had described...and settled into a station-keeping mode, staying constant relative to Mars and maintaining his altitude above the surface of Phobos, using minimal adjustments with maneuvering thrusters to minimize the chances that he'd alert anyone out there to his presence.  He could still pick out Bixby's plane, behind and above him...the other two planes in the flight were hidden by the bulk of the moon.

Data began streaming in from the three Veritechs, as Bixby's machine, with its enhanced systems, began analyzing the commonalities and variations of each feed, building a more detailed map of the planet's surface than could be achieved by any single craft using passive receptors....possibly even better than a single craft with active sensors operating.

Bixby watched the screen carefully, as the planet rotated beneath them.  The image was constantly shifting, partly due to planetary motion, partly due to the speed of Phobos' orbit around Mars, and partly due to resolution shifting with the processing of more data.  "Mars Base Sera should be coming into view soon..." he muttered to himself, recognizing the landscape from previous missions to Mars and the amount of time he spent reviewing mission logs and records.  There was the deep crevasse just a few kilometers from the base...

Alerts began flashing, and he looked in consternation for a moment as nothing seemed to be approaching any of the planes...then the software highlighted artificial metallic shapes, deep in the crevasse, suddenly firing thrusters as they leapt upward onto the plain surrounding Sera Base...

And then his jaw dropped slightly, as the software highlighted a large craft that was settled adjacent to Sera Base...large enough, in fact, that each of the pilots could see, on their own screens.  The SDF-1...or something very much like it, at least...was there, on Mars.  And then the shooting started...alien battlepods engaging Earth Destroids.  And in spite of being ridiculously outnumbered, the SDF-1 didn't move...

Cain's Jaw involuntarily clenched tight...at the sight of the Battle fortress and the onslaught of advancing enemy battlepods....

Hands flying over his controls... he brought online his laser-comm and directed a tight-beam encrypted transmission at Raven Lead and Echo Lead his unspoken sentiment clear in the shortness of his directed comm message, [ "Echo Five ~ Enemy sighted and engaged in hostilities with UN Spacy Forces. Sir, permission to engage?" ]
This message was last edited by the player at 21:47, Thu 08 Mar 2018.

Vance's jaw clenched, as he looked at the situation below...

It was the SDF-1...it HAD to be, even if it didn't look quite the same as it had when it was last seen on Earth.  And the area was absolutely swarming with battlepods...

But, then again, Macross Island had been teeming with battlepods, too...at least, in the footage he'd seen.  He'd been engaged in his own battles with the aliens, at the time.  And, somehow...Gloval had managed to get the battlefortress clear of the island, kept it intact during the interval in between then and now...

And what were three more Veritechs going to accomplish in the mess down there?  They could expend their entire payload and barely dent the numbers...

"<TC>Negative, Echo Five..."  He bit the words off, hating the taste of them as they came out of his mouth.  "We're too few to swing the battle, and if we come swooping in from behind, the enemy will be aware that there are more Earth forces out here.  We can't compromise the Ranger...if we had the rest of the squadron here, it would be different, but we don't.  I'm sure Captain Gloval has something up his sleeve...he always has in the past..."  He hated himself for saying it...and he was sure he'd take heat for the decision.  But that was part of the position and rank he held...

In reply to Lt.Cdr. Vance Hardy (msg # 33):

Cain was furious... but tightly controlled his rage though that made his words short and clipped his tone clearly HIGHLY displeased [ "Beg pardon Sir~ but don't we have to try to establish some contact with the SDF?  You Know Earth can't have missed her being here if she did any communicating from the Mars base... are WE ALSO going to abandon her..abandon Captain Gloval?!?" ]

Hanako wanted to do nothing more than rush to the SDF-1's aid, but she knew it would be a truly foolish thing to do.  After all, if the SDF-1 was still around, maybe her family also-

No.  Do not dare think about that possibility, she scolded herself, if the worst happens down there, even that remote chance will be dashed, and with it, your heart.  Focus on the mission.

[ "-abandon Captain Gloval?!?" ]

Woken from her thoughts by Cain's barely controlled anger, she toggled her comms with a shaky voice.

"<TC> We have our orders.  We do not have to like them, but for the sake of our flight and the Ranger, we must follow them.  He made the right call.  The best way to help is to return to the Ranger and let them know what's going on."

<TC> "And just what good will returning to the RANGER to tell them, 'yep..we saw the SDF-1' do huh?  We don't know one damned thing more than when we started this mission...  ITS CLEAR.. our mission requires us to land on the SDF-01 and contact them to find out their status! Whose in command, the condition of their armed forces, where are they headed, why have they not contacted earth?  THIS is vital intel..and we're just gonna run away?!?  We don't even know if UN Spacy military is still in command of the SDF-01.. the Aliens may have already captured it and they are just fighting over who controls its...WE DON'T Know..and we MUST KNOW!!  If you don't have the guts to do it I will! Yeah its dangerous.. but the aliens did not come here because of us.. they are here because of the Battle Fortress..THAT'S Obvious!"

Vance listened to the outburst dispassionately.  There was part of him that was yelling the very same thing.  "<TC>And, tell me, Edwards, how are three Veritechs and an unarmed EW variant going to rescue the SDF-1?  I think we can safely assume the aliens don't have control of her, unless they've somehow adjusted size to be able to control human Destroids...SOMEONE is fighting back.  And Captain Gloval is a slippery sonofabitch...I saw some of the footage of the initial Macross attack and it looked like it was a given that they were going to wipe out the whole island before the SDF-1 could even get off the ground...and Gloval somehow turned that around."

Where Edwards' words had all been fire and vitriol, Vance's were cool, dispassionate.  "I've got faith that Gloval's got something up his sleeve.  Looks like Gloval's been holding his own against the aliens pretty well without our assistance, so, yeah, I'm willing to let him face this fight alone so that Earth doesn't lose her last defending ship.  The Ranger is the ONLY ship Earth can put out in space at the moment...they've got others nearing completion, they've got crews on a couple...but NONE of them are ready to fight.  We can't risk that.  Like I said, if the whole squadron was here, I'd have some faith that we could actually swing the tide of the battle.  But for all the difference three planes could make, against those numbers, we just as well suicide dive right into the planet's surface.  Does that sound like a good plan to you?"  His tone grew a little heated as he came closer to the end of his explanation, trying to get the younger pilot to understand that it was, in fact, sometimes better to do nothing than to do the wrong thing...

<TC> "... ... ..damn it. Gloval IS a damn slippery Russian bastard... he must have a reason for deploying only destroids... probably does have a plan.  So... we stay on station and watch how it unfolds...then decide? We got a front row seat after all?"

The young pilot could not argue with the calm reasoning... much as he wanted to help... it was not just his life on the line...but people he'd come to think of as family as well his fellow Echo Squadron... at least he was NOT doing what... THAT 'Man' would do.. 'turn tail and abandon those who were not convenient to HIS plans'. Cain Edwards was a better man than his father.. at least today.
This message was last edited by the player at 09:26, Fri 16 Mar 2018.

"<TC>Wait...what the...?"  Consternation was plain to hear in Bixby's voice.  Because of the orbital speed of Phobos, the battlefield below them was already starting to fade toward the horizon.

"I'm picking up some kind of energy reading...a build-up, almost like someone's charging a big gun or something...but it doesn't match any of the energy signatures we've got on file...and the passive sensors didn't pick up anything in the enemy gear that would house that kind of power.  Also getting weird energy readings out around the Battlefortress, but...I've never seen anything like them before, and we're out of position for optimal passive scans..."

The explosions from the exchanged fire flashed, remaining visible as distance and the planet's curvature made it harder and harder to make out specifics on the ground.  It did appear that the destroids took a pretty hard beating...but actual fire on the SDF-1 was so light as to be almost incidental.

"They're still fighting," Bixby explained, as the horizon swallowed the scene.  "Weird, that they'd have so many pods and not just rush the Battlefortress.  I mean, maybe they know something about its defenses we don't, but you'd think with that many, they could just--"

A brilliant flash of light appeared over the horizon, and even from the distance they were at from the planet's surface, they could see a shockwave of seismic tremors race across the surface, apparently from wherever the blast had come from.  As the light appeared, Bixby's comm could be heard..."Holy sh---!!!"  The words were cut off as a burst of static wiped across all communications channels.  For the moment, it seemed, they were isolated...from each other, as well as the Ranger...as their onboard systems reinitialized...

Hanako expected many things on their recon flight.  Readings.  Radio silence (mostly).  Careful flying.

What she hadn't expected was to find the SDF-1 and a large group of Destroids fighting the aliens on Mars, nor did she expect the shockwave that caused her craft to go dark and reboot.  Losing her radio contact as well as all readings nearly caused her to panic, but she forced herself to stay calm and focused.  The systems were coming back online, nothing seemed to be damaged, and she'd already ensured she was moving in a path that wouldn't cause her to crash into a moon or through the atmosphere of the planet should she suddenly lose thrusters.

None of that made her feel better about suddenly being very, very alone.

Cain reflexively looked away from the flash! He certainly recognized a nuclear detonation when he saw it and even at this range when the delayed EMP Effects hit him he just as quickly realized what ole' willy Captain Gloval had done!

His systems went dark for a few seconds while the systems rebooted but from his speed and vector as long as he did not impact something his veritech would hold is orbital course with the Echo team snuggled up to the Martian micro moons own gravity with ease.

When his systems did come back up his laughter was the first thing heard...

<TC> "Shit~... Ha! Hahaha... you sneaky bastard you!  Gloval detonated the Mars Base ~ Alluce, underground Reactor pile!  You can tell by the seismic pattern of the blast! The Battle Fortress won't be slowed down by that... but those battlepods are going to have one hell of a rotten day...!"

Then with a more professional Tone...

<TC> 'Ahem' "Echo Lead, Sir those Battlepods were significantly closer to that blast they will likely need several minutes to reboot their systems from that close of an EMP.  We have a 'window of opportunity' to make contact with the SDF-1 on our next orbit. But it might be to important to risk transmission across open space Sir... landing on the SDF-1 might be best. Sir."
This message was last edited by the player at 11:26, Mon 26 Mar 2018.

Vance hardly even had a chance to react to the flare of the explosion before his systems went down...so nobody could hear the string of profanities that slipped through his lips.  Or so he hoped, at least...he had a reputation to maintain, after all.

He watched with trepidation as Phobos inched marginally closer, waiting for the reinitialized systems to come back online.  Orbital mechanics being what they are, and the law of inertia being in full effect regardless of the status of the systems, the plane continued to drift along at more or less the same orientation to Phobos as it had been, until thrusters were available to make the needed adjustments.

He weighed Cain's argument.  There was, no doubt, a strong appeal to being the first people to re-establish contact with the SDF-1...but there was another consideration.

"<TC>I don't know...if we go in, and the support ships for the battlepods close in, we could be cut off from Ranger.  Our orders were to assess the intentions of the enemy, see why they were massing at Mars, and we've got that intel.  We can go connect with SDF-1, sure...but how does the Ranger get word on our situation?  We're outside comms range, by design, so the aliens can't possibly trace a comm signal back to their position.  If we get back to the Ranger, Captain Wilson can set up an intercept course, try to rendezvous with the SDF-1 away from the planet...and Ranger can get word back to Earth, so they can prioritize finishing the other space platforms and get some support out here."

He decided it was time to let Lt. Edwards start learning some of the lessons the hard way.  "What would you advise, Echo Five?  Do we go alert Earth that the SDF-1 is coming home and we need to brace ourselves for another round of alien attacks?  Or do we let the SDF-1 know that there's another Earth ship out here...that only has two effective Veritech squadrons left, one of which is a bunch of barely-trained rookies?  Which one provides the greatest strategic benefit to the Human race?"  He paused...his tone was calm, still, reasoned, and he was actually asking for input.  "Keep in mind, the SDF-1 apparently has problems with their comm system, because they have thus far been unable to get any word to Earth of their continued existence, so the only way Earth is going to get word is either from the Ranger, or from SDF-1 approaching Earth close enough for orbital sensors to pick them up.  Until then, all Earth will see is a large object on an intercept course, with no way to determine if it's one of ours, one of theirs, or just a very long asteroid that's apparently going to plow into the planet."

He paused again, and added, "But if you can make a solid strategic argument for going to Gloval instead of back to Wilson, I'll do it."

Cain was shocked.  The Echo lead ~ Vance was ...actually consulting him.. on a command decision.  He triggered his mike to reply... then paused... as thoughts ran through his mind... a quick somewhat snarky reply on the tip of his tongue... but then he weighed that response.

{Vance is asking me.. he could have asked Moriya ~ she IS the senior officer... but he asked me... and... much as I  would never say to anyone... this is my family too.  Is he trying to teach me something about command?}

...he was silent for a few moments then as usual a plan came to mind.

Triggering his comm, <TC> "Sir, I'm not so sure both of those choices are mutually exclusive.  Why not do both at once? Raven Lead, does your bird have long ranged comm hardware that might be utilized to repair say a damaged comm systems if cannibalized properly?  We could send two Veritechs back with Raven Lead's data while Raven Lead and an escort Veritech could continue on to the SDF-1 perhaps even help them restablish communication with the VEF-2X systems, at least, with the Ranger and STILL get our intel back to the Ranger.  I would volunteer for that escort mission to the SDF-1!  Sir..we have many options other than two."
This message was last edited by the player at 13:39, Tue 27 Mar 2018.

There was a pause, that seemed longer than it actually was after the rapid response from Cain.  "<TC>Well, Lieutenant, I like the inventive thinking...but..."  There was a deep, audible sigh.

"If the Two-EX had that kind of hardware on board, we wouldn't need to fly back and report to the Ranger, we'd be in contact right now. I could maybe tight-beam a message to the Ranger...if we were close enough for me to get a radar fix on their position.  Additionally, cannibalizing the Two-EX for comm gear would mean sacrificing the electronic warfare benefits to the Ranger's squadrons...the aliens would no longer be stuck relying on visual information to target the planes, because I couldn't be out there scrambling their sensor readings to the point where they couldn't reliably lock onto anything.  But if Commander Hardy wants it done, I'll do it..."  It was plain to hear, by the tone of his voice, that he felt it was ill-advised...

"If we're going to do it, we need to do it fast," Bixby continued.  "Being a little further out than all of you, I'm able to get a sensor sweep a little further around the planet.  SDF-1 is outbound...FAST...and the skies are about to get incredibly unfriendly, judging by the number of alien ships approaching Mars from the other side...I don't know if I can keep us hidden, even if we actually set down on Phobos.  Maybe, if we headed down to Mars, and got there before scout ships got around the planet...assuming they're interested in the planet, and not the SDF-1.  And assuming that none of the alien battlepods down there register us coming in, if any survived.  We need a plan, Vance...now."

Cain listened to the Chief.... much as he would have hoped otherwise... he was right about denying the RANGER Squadrons without the Two-EX coverage against the enemy... Cain had already caused the death of one pilot... He could not ask other's to risk that same loss.

No matter what what Vance decided... the choice had to be one or the other any half step would be to put someone at risk.  A risk Cain was willing to take.. but not as willing to ask other pilots to make with him.

<TC> "I'll do it.  Chief load my Avionics with RANGER'S previous telemetry on her course and speed and her last current course and speed.  I'll get that intel to Gloval... and I'm sure that willy ole Russki will figure out a way to meet up with the RANGER... tell Captain Wilson, I'll try to get Gloval to meet up at the coordinates where the debris field for the James Madison is.. which is more or less in the direction of Earth Luna..."

"Your right Chief the RANGER needs the Two-Ex.. but we also NEED to coordinate with the SDF-01.  One ship is a risky... but that's our stock and trade as pilots.. I'll do it."

Then adding in his most flippant and tone to relative a bit of the tension..

"Trust me, No one will miss me ~ but this is a risk Worthy of taking, Echo Lead!"

Then he smirked his thought's bitter ~ {Yeah, 'That Man' would never stick his neck out for any cause so selflessly ~ Today.. I'm the Better MAN... the Better Pilot!}
This message was last edited by the player at 10:52, Fri 06 Apr 2018.

Vance ground his teeth, inwardly...then shook his head.  "If the Chief is right about the odds changing, you've got an incredibly slim chance of even getting within comms range of the SDF-1 before you're surrounded by alien fighters.  Gloval's got a plan...he's always got a plan...and he looks to be holding his own, despite the odds."

He took a deep, audible sigh, and let it out.  "Right now, our best bet is to get back to Earth as fast as we can and let them know the SDF-1 is alive and active...and apparently headed for Earth with an alien fleet hot on its heels.  A random Veritech showing up in the middle of otherwise-empty space is going to tip off the enemy to our presence, and send them hunting after the Ranger...and much as I love that old bird, she's not ready for a running gun battle with only two partial squadrons of seasoned Veritech pilots and another combined-arms squadron for home defense.  We've survived a lot...but we've also taken a lot of beatings, and getting our message back to Earth is more important than getting in another fight."

He knew the choice wasn't going to be popular...hell, he hated it, himself.  The tactical fighter-pilot half of his brain screamed at him for even saying it out loud.  But the strategic, long-term planning half of his brain...the half that had to be taken seriously with him serving as the wing commander for the Ranger...was implacable in stating those facts.

"We've got to get back to the Ranger...maintain radio silence until we can get a tight-beam signal to them so the aliens can't pick it up, so they can be ready to start for Earth as soon as we're aboard.  I don't know how Gloval's stayed alive this long...but we've got to have faith that whatever he's been doing has been working, and he's not done yet.  Time to clear out, before we can't even get out of Mars orbit without being noticed."

Bixby checked his readouts.  "I can mask our departure for another two minutes, as long as we don't go above half-throttle...once we're gone and out of range of the Two-Ex ECM system, they'll be able to pick up the ion trails from our engines...but if we leave quiet, nobody should be looking to see them.  They all seem pretty tightly focused."

He fell quiet for a moment, then added, "Odd, though...all those big warships closing in on the SDF-1, and there's only a handful of their weapons powered up...it's like they're not actually interested in destroying her..."

He couldn't believe what he was hearing..at some point SAFE or NOT we Mankind was going to have to make a stand... slim or not to fight these aliens off and Cain could not understand why no one could see it was better to fight them out here than on Earth where all the ones they loved would be endangered...

Oh Yeah he was Red-hot pissed off...!

Cain didn't try to keep the disdain from his tone, "So let me get this straight.. our plan is to run away like cowards cause its too dangerous... when the SDF-1 is Leading the Entire Alien Battle Fleet Back to Earth?  So I guess were ALSO hoping the SDF-1 gets there before us so WE don't have to be involved in the ensuing battle that will WIPEOUT everything else on Earth?  Is that the plan.. to Let the Aliens Get to Earth as long as our precious hides aren't put at risk?"

Hanako had spent as much time as she could staying out of the debate, which was quickly turning towards insubordination.  Hardy had made his call, and she trusted him with her life.  Of course part of her wanted to dash off to the SDF-1.  But she remembered how big the battle fleet was that showed up at what was supposed to be the SDF-1's launch party.  They'd been having trouble with what were basically *recon* fleets when you looked at the grand scale of things, and charging off now would be merely throwing grains of sand at the ocean.

No, they needed a proper plan based on this new information, and as Hardy said, Gloval had a plan.  He always had a plan.  And if the SDF-1 was still around, it was because the plan was working.  And if Bixby's reports were accurate, it seemed like the Zentradi didn't want to destroy the SDF-1, but capture it.  Why else would they have accepted such losses and kept trying the same methods?

With a very shaky voice that showed she was fighting a great deal of conflicting emotions, Hanako said, <TC>"My family might be alive out there, and I would like nothing more than to fly and check.  But I also know that the Ranger needs us.  Earth needs us.  So, please, do not disobey the Commander's orders."

"<TC> Beg pardon ma'am, but just exactly What does Ranger need us for?  As far as I have seen we've done everything to avoid contact with the Alien Invaders!  We've not launched one sortie to take the fight to them.  All we've done is hide.  So what exactly have we done to help defend Earth?  Yeah we've tracked the aliens we know their on their way back to Earth following Gloval.. but how does that help?  Gloval.. tactical genius he may be.. but he's only got one ship... how does avoiding directly helping him help protect Earth?  At some point.. we're going to HAVE to engage the enemy!  I'm sorry about your family, really.. but this is the Time to act ~ to get into this fight...you  should be even more eager than me!"

The clear and angry but heart-felt frustration in his tone is... compelling.

"Y'know what ~ FINE... I'll go back to the hiding Ranger and I'll immediately put in a request to transfer to somewhere I can do some good ~ FIGHTING to DEFEND EARTH, cause honestly it doesn't seem to be here. I have people back on Earth That I joined the UN Spacy to protect ~ by Defending Earth from hostiles forces... no matter how strong they may 'seem' to be! I joined cause I believed One Man can make a difference.. I don't get the feeling that is Here anymore."

With that he lapses into a surly but compliant brooding silence...
This message was last edited by the player at 05:09, Wed 27 Mar 2019.

Vance bit his tongue, counted to ten...twice...then spoke.  "We have to report back to Earth, because they have weapons there that we can't begin to touch.  They have additional space carriers in drydock that could be launched on short notice...IF THEY GET NOTICE.  We can't indulge our personal whims of fighting a great, suicidal last stand.  You want to re-enact Thermopylae and play Spartan, that's great...but the Spartans sent people back to warn the rest of Greece, and they were in a location that let them stem the tide for three days.  There's nothing here to stop the aliens from swarming all over us and the Ranger, and then who's going to warn Earth to make what preparations they can before they've got the whole damned alien fleet in orbit?"

He let out a deep breath.  "I get it...really, I do.  I was out here fighting these things when you were just starting flight school.  Nobody wants them dead more than I do.  But we don't stand a chance...we wouldn't be making a stand out here, we'd be kicking a hornets' nest...or, more likely, poking a hungry bear with a really short stick.  There's no way three Veritechs are going to stop the aliens alone, and trying would only lose Earth three planes and maybe the rest of Echo Squadron and everyone else on the Ranger.  Right now, we're the most experienced pilots Earth has, and without us to give them pointers, Earth is going to be throwing a bunch of green pilots at the enemy. Right now, the greenest member of Revolt Squadron has more combat time against the enemy than all the pilots back on Earth, combined.  Under different circumstances, after that rant, I'd be inclined to tell you to go ahead and get yourself killed, and that way I'd be spared the trouble of having to report the whole incident...but, dammit, we need you.  We need every single pilot who's every flown against these guys, so we can pass on what we know to as many pilots on Earth as possible.  You go out there and die, you not only kill yourself, but you effectively sign off on the deaths of the one or two squadrons you could help prepare for the fight that's coming.  So, you've gotta choose...are you more interested in dying in a blaze of glory that nobody besides you will appreciate?  Or in making the fight for our planet the toughest fight those aliens have ever faced?"

He started activating his fighter's primary drives.  "We've got a mission to finish.  And we've finally got some good news, since the SDF-1 is alive and kicking.  You going to come back and help us get Earth ready for the fight?  Or are you going to piss away the training and experience you've accumulated before it can do anyone else any good?"  He nudged the throttle, easing back into the moon's shadow before he converted back to fighter mode.

"Let's go...the longer we sit here, the less time Earth has to prepare."  As his plane eased away from the moon's surface, he added, "Chief, the moment we're in comm range of the Ranger, tell them to set course for Earth, max speed, and we'll rendezvous with them along the way.  There's no time to waste..."

Cain was seething... running away Again! The alien invaders were not going to stop and they had already killed so many good pilots and soldiers... they deserved some payback!  Lt. Hanako's family, missing possibly even dead, his step sister ~ 3rd Lt Nina Petrovic, Veritech Pilot assigned to the Ranger, in a coma injured in battle with the aliens... 2nd Lt. Parker Harvey, KIA.

Cain was starved for some vengeance... and the frustrating thing was in the back of his tactical mind he Knew THAT was the real crux of it!  HE wanted to make the enemy pay for all they had done... all the lives they had taken... but that was irrational and he knew it.

He was not angry at Hardy... he was angry at himself... and all the things he had no control over.  He knew he was not thinking straight.. again his anger had gotten the best of him.  Somewhere he pictured his dad laughing at him shaking his head.

Echo 5 delayed reacting for a brief few seconds then Cain's plane maneuvered into formation; drives set to just under 45% thrust vectoring course back toward the Ranger in silence...
This message was last edited by the player at 16:12, Wed 27 Mar 2019.

The planes eased away from Mars, the Two-Ex laying down a curtain of what would appear to be cosmic background noise in their wake, masking the energy signatures of the four birds.

Their departure went almost completely unnoticed...one Zentraedi ship, on the far outskirts of the formation, noticed a visual anomaly...four points of light, moving faster than the background of space behind them...and when the Two-Ex got far enough away, the ion trails were easily read, laying down a line that matched perfectly with the observed trajectories of those anomalous lights.

"Should we inform Breetai?" the sensor officer inquired, looking over his shoulder.

Behind him, Zedil scowled.  "No," he replied after a moment.  "Since he's placed so much faith in Khyron, let him suffer the consequence of trusting that impetuous, unobservant fool."  His reports of the humans' activities around their home world, and about their resourcefulness in battle, had not quite been laughed at...but they had been readily dismissed, and Zedil's ships had been ordered to stay with Breetai's fleet.  Zedil had been content to stand back and watch as the Space Fortress had slowly-but-steadily whittled away at Breetai's forces...and despite the constant losses the humans were taking in their voyage and the running encounters with the Zentraedi, they always had more.

"These humans require careful consideration...they're more dangerous than anything we've dealt with before, despite their size..." the Zentraedi captain murmured quietly, deep in thought.

"Sir?" the sensor officer asked in surprise, having overheard at least part of the statement.

"Nothing.  Bring us around...let's see how long it takes for Khyron to rouse Breetai's ire again..."