Acting on Lt. Cmdr. Hardy's instructions, the Ranger rendezvoused with the four planes and then set all speed for Earth.  From Mars, it was still going to take the better part of a couple of weeks...and the shipboard rumor mill buzzed.  Word had gotten out--the SDF-1 was still alive and fighting, and the rumors got refreshed almost daily when radar operators and bridge personnel got off duty and shared quiet tales...

The SDF-1 was in a series of running skirmishes.  The Ranger couldn't tell, directly, because they were long out of range of the sensors...but aberrant energy readings kept popping up, and charting them showed a slow, inexorable zig-zag towards Earth, as if the SDF-1 were an old-style sailing ship, tacking against the headwind of the alien forces.  Each encounter deflected the ship, to some extent...but always, always, there was some degree of forward progress.

This resulted in mixed effects on crew morale.  Some took it as evidence that the aliens were not so formidable, since one ship kept gaining ground against so many.  Others...who had, perhaps, been on the Ranger longer or had seen a clearer picture of the scope of the enemy forces, worried about what happened with the SDF-1 reached Earth and all those ships were once again focused on the planet.

These thoughts roiled, once again, through the mind of Cmdr. Keyes as she sat her shift on the Ranger's bridge.  They were not yet in safe communications range with Earth, so, as yet, only they were aware of the situation with the SDF-1.  And the Ranger hadn't been in touch with Earth for a few weeks, now, and even then, the information passed between the two was largely trivial operational stuff.  She had no clear idea of what the tactical or strategic situation was regarding Earth's ability to defend herself...when they'd been operating near the Moon, earlier, the Ranger's sister ships were going in for upgrades, and there were another two Armor-class carriers being hurried through construction.  The new ships would likely have more conventional fighters and fewer Veritechs, as it was simply more difficult to build Veritechs without the facilities that had been aboard the SDF-1.  Every little bit would help, of course, but...

"Excuse me, Commander..." the communications officer chimed in.  She sighed...the man had almost certainly been one of the biggest culprits with regards to the rumors about the SDF-1's progress...but he was beyond competent with the equipment.  And, frankly, she felt that the morale boost from the updates was worth overlooking the indiscretion.

"What is it, Lieutenant?" she asked, stepping over to stand by his console.

"I'm, ahhhh...I'm not quite sure what to make of this..."  She was about to ask him to clarify when he held out his headphones for her.

With a mental shrug, she took them, cupping one phone against her ear as he played back the message fragment...or whatever it was...that he'd picked up.  As she listened, she scowled...there was plenty of interference, the aliens were still jamming...but now and then, something was almost understandable...

And then her eyes went wide in surprise.  "Wait.  Back that up five seconds and play it again, will you?"  He did...and her brow furrowed again, not sure whether to believe what she thought she heard.

In a low voice, the comms officer said, "So...I wasn't the only one that heard 'Miss Macross competition' out of all of that, then?"  It was bizarre enough that he didn't want it spread around...if it ended up being nothing...or something totally different...people would start accusing him of having been in space too long.

Keyes looked down at the earphones in her hand, as if she didn't trust them.  "Run that through a filter...clean it up and enhance it, however you can...maybe see if Bixby's got anything in his bag of dirty tricks that can make it clearer."

If the SDF-1 is hosting beauty pageants in the middle of all of this...  She shook her head, minutely.  Just what the hell is going on with that ship, anyway?!

Cain sat in darkness.  His cabin light off... not even the solace of the starfield winking at him through the cabin portal brought light to his internal emptiness.  The dog tags on their chain in his hand left a cold empty void in his heart... death might have been preferable.  He had called in sick for his past two scheduled patrols.  Had not been in the simulators, his usual obsession, for days.  Most of the crew avoided him at first because of his occasional short temper, but now he'd sunk into a dark dispair.. and most could not get so much as a frown out of him...

The Recon mission had ended on sharp words of anger... but the real gut-blow had been on his return.

----

He'd walked into the ICU... and immediately all eyes were on him, a combat pilot trained to notice such things gave him warning something was wrong even before the doctor moved to intercept him...

"We're so very sorry Lieut Edwards. It happened only a minute or so after your launch... it was thought best to inform you on your return.  We did everything we could for her... 3rd Lieut. Nina Petrovic... passed at 13:37 hours her brain functions ceasing and her heart went into a unrecoverable arrest and she was declared KIA.  I'm so sorry sir...we know you were her closest family onboard."

----

Cain held her dog-tags in his hand.. all that was left of the step-sister he hardly knew... a chance at connection taken from him...

It was senseless but her death hit him HARD... and he was not one to let others see his tears... but he just could not pull himself out of the nose dive he was in... some part of him didn't want too either...
This message was last edited by the player at 23:06, Fri 29 Mar 2019.

Hanako has been a tiny ball of hopeful anxiety since shortly after they returned to the Ranger.  She has been spotted practicing poses in front of a mirror, running on the treadmill until she missteped and flew backwards, where she then declared she was okay, and putting forth more effort to look cute than she did on shore leave - at least, as cute as one can in uniform.  Sometimes she has no appetite.  Sometimes her appetite is greater than normal.

Whatever is going on, it is messing with her professional demeanor, but at least she is still able to maintain her work ethic.

The only person she has openly confided her worries to is Lucas Bixby (both out of trust and in the hopes he can help confirm the rumors).  Despite her aberrant behavior, she has managed not to tip off why she's so off-kilter, but those who flew with her on the recon mission have the best chance at guessing.

Hardy stepped up to the door...and paused.  He had no idea how this was going to go.  With the news hitting right after they got back, he hadn't had a chance to talk through anything.

But as a CO, and more importantly to him, as a squadron member flying side by side, he couldn't let it keep going on.  He had to do something.  He took a deep breath, closed his eyes for a moment as if saying a silent prayer, and reached out, knocking on the door, quietly but insistently.

"Edwards?  We should talk...and I know you're there."  It was awkward...but this was unfamiliar territory for him, he was making it up as he went.

In reply to Lt.Cdr. Vance Hardy (msg # 4):

There was silence for a few tense moments... then the soft click of an unlatched door...

Then a barely heard, 'Hey. Its open...'

Cain was settling back down on his bunk back to the wall... the room was no more cluttered than before... not that he had much anyways as was normal for Space Navy.  But there were some cloths strewn about the room... not overly messy just carelessly.

Cain was in his flight suit...mostly ~ unzipped to his waist his sweat-stained tank-top beneath unkempt and his mop of sandy blonde hair tousled.  Clear signs... his usual care and keeping was seriously slacking off.  The floor of the cabin was cluttered with his scattered sketch drawings... and all the sketches of Nina were crumpled and stained with smears in clear fits of rage and grief.

His guitar that he cared for so much laid dented and cracked ...where it had been hurled against the bulkhead on the floor... discarded.

When Hardy entered Cain sat on his bunk ~ back to the wall, head down, legs bent, feet on the edge, arms resting on his knees not meeting his eyes.

"...you can save your breath .. I know.. I'm an insubordinate, loud-mouth, screw-up... always have been.. probably always will be.  If you're here to bust my chops about tha' surveillance mission... or my skipped patrols... fine, I'll accept that formal reprimand your rockin' and report to the brig!
Now~ Are we done?"

Vance took in the landscape at a glance.  Things were actually worse than he'd expected...but he didn't come unprepared.  He raised his hands to where they could be seen.  "I, ah...I didn't come here to talk about that."

In his right hand was a partial bottle of vodka.  In his left were three shot glasses.  "I came here hoping you could help me with a farewell ritual, of sorts.  I've never asked someone else to do it...but then, we've never had someone of the Ranger lose a relative in action."

He took another step into the room.  "It's something the ancient Greeks did...and since we're kind of playing the role of the Spartans, it seemed extra-appropriate to me.  We drink to the fallen...and for every drink we have, we dump one for them.  Normally, it would be poured on their gravesite...we'll just have to settle for the ship's fluid-recycling system, unless you want to go up to the hangar and throw them out into space...but that makes the drinking part a challenge."

He set the bottle and the glasses down, and stood, awkwardly.  "I'm not going to pretend I know what you're going through...I haven't lost any family in this damned war.  But Nina was part of my squadron...so I've lost a friend.  And I don't want to say goodbye to her by myself."

Cain was silent for long moments his expression and face in shadow...

'damn.', he muttered tiredly...

"why...? Why .. do I keep coming back.. when better pilots.. better peopl~... don't?  It just.. isn't right."

"The only reason ...I was even IN Echo Squadron..was because 'she' got hurt... it shoulda been me...not Parker... not 'her'... god knows I try hard enough to buy that farm in the sky.  Yet here I am...  me.. the 'screw-up'!"

He took a long deep breath... and let it out with a rasp...

Cain slid his feet off the bunk and slowly clambered to his feet to face Vance his green eyes swimming with held-in pain ~ blood shot... but mostly tired...

"Yeah,...yeah..I'll have that drink with ya... pressurized flight deck will do.. near a portal... so we can watch the stars go by... like memories on the wind..."

Vance nodded.  "I brought the drinks...you pick the venue," he replied, tired resignation in his voice.  He clapped a hand gently on Cain's shoulder before gathering up the glasses and bottle.

"And if there's one unanswerable question in the Universe, it's 'why'...especially where war's involved..." he offered, as they started down the corridor.

In reply to Lt.Cdr. Vance Hardy (msg # 8):

Cain accepted the brotherly gesture with a silent nod of gratitude... the tension melting away from his demeanor and shoulders as they walked out of the cabin.

He had spent the past day or two in darkness and his eyes squinted at the normal ship light levels but his brow was no long knotted in frustration... but settled into somber grief.

The crew took note, as on any ship ~ even the size of the Ranger, news traveled fast that Cain and Vance had been at odds ever since their return from the mission but doubly so with the death of Cain's step-sister on the heels of it.  Cain had been infrequently prowling about the Ranger in a bad-tempered mood of grief on a very short-fuse but had quickly self-confined himself to his cabin much to everyone's relief for the past couple days.

Grief was something everyone understood in war and different people processed it in their own way.  Most had expected a blow up at some point... but now the 'bear' had left its cave and a clear relief of that tension had been observed as the two pilot's strode side by side through the hallways heading for the flight deck ~ the obvious bottle of liquor and glasses in Vance's hands a sign some peaceful rapport had been reached and the healing of wounds had begun.

The crew had its own grief to recover from as well Nina had been a member of the crew months before Cain joined her loss was felt by all.  As the two approached the flight deck slowly members of the off-duty crew trickled in to see what would result from the time-honored tradition of mourning the loss and remembering a fallen comrade...

When they arrived at Cain's chosen spot, Vance nodded, and set down the glasses.  As he unscrewed the bottle's lid, he said, "I feel like we should say something...but I'll be damned if I know what to say.  I guess the best thing to say is something to celebrate her life..."

He shrugged, and then grinned slightly.  "I still remember her first day on the Ranger...they brought her and a bunch of others in when Bixby came up with the notion of doing a combined-arms squadron for enhanced 'home defense' on the Ranger...they needed some Destroid drivers, and she was the first one off the shuttle.  I'm not even sure she got her duffel to her bunk before she started tearing into her ride, double-checking everything and chewing Bixby's ear off with questions about how the squadron was supposed to work and suggestions."  Even though it was a memory of a chaotic time...with a more immediate threat hanging over the entire crew of the Ranger, since the remnant of the alien fleet that had been left over Earth was still very active...there was no mistaking the genuine fondness in Vance's voice, and the genuine regret in his face as he let the memory lapse into silence.

He poured the three shot glasses full...almost to spilling over...and set the bottle down.  "Guess that gung-ho attitude is a family trait, of sorts..." he said, picking one glass up and holding it in front of him as he looked at Cain.

Cain had chosen a position on the launch deck at the one large observation portal where one could observe the launch and retrieval of fighter craft just off the main flight deck.  Normally in battle the portal was shuttered with large armored plates... and mostly used by the flight crews as the mark-one 'eye-ball' portal to confirm incoming and outgoing craft when the ship was Not at battle alert.

He listened intently to Vance's recollections of Nina with a somber expression, taking the offered glass.

He sighed, "I envy your memories of her... I... I never met her before arriving here after my transfer.  My 'ramshackle' unit had been cobbled together from the survivors of the UN Spacy Earth Defense Force squadrons that had been scrambled to deny the alien forces air supremacy... out of Honolulu.  I was not even in the first sortie... honestly we had no idea what we were facing.  But our base Commander was a hard nosed stubborn cuss... and he threw everything we had at the aliens.  Our Falcon fighter jets were simply no match for the Battle pods.  We lost 6 squadrons in 30 minutes... then our carrier ~ the civil war era, US George W. Bush was hit by the battlepods and was going down... what was left of the squadrons was relocated to the CSV Daiyamo, out of Tokyo.  I was just the lucky 'survivor' as my CO, the XO, the CAG leader all got aced my unit destroyed... we had more pilots than planes and were cycling the most experienced to launch.  After my fourth sortie my bird was confetti-ed on the deck before I could replace the pilot so I had to wait until a UF-14 bird could be cycled in... I missed the last sortie and when I did launch again.. it was mostly over and I was in the unenviable role of last most experienced pilot.  We'd gotten hammered, then curbstomped.  Two-thirds of all the pilots from three carriers were dead.  Word came down UN Spacy was desperately calling for pilots for the ARMED Stations counterattack and close orbit defense of earth from the invaders.  Everything was chaos. I was sitting outside the Carrier Group Commander's office after my last sortie.  The Commander the Carrier Captain and his staff were arguing over the disaster.  The Carrier group commander was upset that UN Spacy was taking the last of his pilots, the Captain was reporting that ARMED 7 had a downed pilot ~ 2nd lieut Nina Petrovik... the Commander retorted "...Isn't that one of T. R. Edward's bastard brats... send them Cain at least we can get rid of his ass..."

"That was the first I'd ever heard of her.  I was shuttled into space no sooner afterward eventually being cycled onto the RANGER with reinforcements and resupply.  I was... hoping to connect with her but sh~ Nina was already hurt. I never got to even 'really' speak with her.  I wish I had known her better, she sounds like she was a hell of a lady and pilot..."

"It's nice to know.. Nina was liked and will be mourned..."

Cain lifted the glass to clink it against Vance's... his eyes full of pain and loss...

He glanced around noticing a small crowd had gathered at the portal as well... all eyes somber and supportive.

Sighing, he turned to those gathered meeting eyes with each one and giving a somber nod to each ~ he lifted his glass...

Turning to face the star filled portal Cain voiced...
"May whatever spirit that governs the movement of the stars and the cycle of life and death take witness ~ as we commit the spirits of our fallen comrades... and family to the 'Sea of Stars'.

We humbly ask they be given rest in peace from their struggles and pain, knowing they are not forgotten nor did they die in vain.

No one may remember if they were good or bad men and woman... only that they willingly gave their lives in the defense of others for they answered the call to defend those who could not defend themselves.

May they never be forgotten as long as the stars burn in the firmament, and mankind struggles for greatness in the face of the unknown!"

Then painfully wracked with emotion he downed the entire glass... before reaching for hers and poring it out on the deck...
This message was last edited by the player at 09:01, Tue 02 Apr 2019.

Vance raised his glass when Cain began to recite the toast...or benediction...or whatever it should be called, and downed the contents in an overly-large gulp.  He didn't drink often, and hadn't ever really been introduced to vodka until Lt. Khan had talked him into trying it on shoreleave, oh-so-long ago, but he mentally gritted his teeth and toughed out the burning sensation of it going down.

"Y'know...I'm going to say this just once, because I don't want to spoil the mood, but...we spend enough time surrounded by the ghosts of people we know out here, or people we wanted to know.  No sense dragging in the ghosts of people we despise.  You don't mention him often, but every time you talk about your dad, it's pretty obvious that you don't care much for his memory."  He set the glass down, and poured another, more reasonably sized shot, holding the bottle up in an offer of a refill for Cain.

"There's an old premise I was taught, back when I was first learning how to ride horses...'you go in the direction you're looking.'  If you're staring at the ground under the horse's feet, you're gonna wind up down there soon enough.  If you look left, you start to lean left, and the horse cues on your posture and starts to go left.  With that in mind...you should probably stop spending so much time looking over your shoulder at the memory of someone you don't want to be like.  Just a thought...a little Wyoming cowboy wisdom, for whatever it's worth..."  His voice was soft...the words were for Cain, and none of the business of any of the spectators watching to see how the meeting of the two was going to end up, and they were the words of a concerned friend, not a commanding officer.

"Been a few times I caught myself thinking too long and too hard about what used to be...sometimes I didn't catch it early enough.  Never ended up well..."

It took Bixby a while to track down Hanako, a situation that left the Chief wondering, only half-jokingly, if he'd become too reliant on the hardware of the Two-Ex.  "So...I heard something earlier.  Not telling it to anyone else, but given your family situation, I thought it would mean something more to you..."  He looked around, trying to make sure there was no chance his news would be overheard.

Cain placed his glass near nodding for another drink... and listened... his back stiffening at the subject briefly.... but slowly he relaxed...

Concentrating on swirling the burning liquid in the bottom of his glass he let out a breath he'd been holding... for once not getting defensive about the touchy subject of his father...

Softly he replied, "...I know Vance.  It would be easier if everyone who knows 'Him'... would let me forget... but that usually doesn't happen.  He... treated my mother... badly... the sweetest and most dedicated woman anyone could know.  Then when she had broken it off with him... gotten over him and found a decent man to treat her right... he found a way to get that man killed out of spite!  I'll NEVER forgive him for ruining her life!"

He took a drink...savoring the searing rude fluid his emerald gaze burning with the inner fires of vengeance...

Taking a breath, "But yeah... I hear you. I've heard the psych-evals about father-hating son's spending their lives trying their hardest NOT to be their fathers and turn out becoming just that.  The Edward's obsession... payback!"

"And... THAT'S what bothers me the most... the idea..I'm just like him ~ Ate-up and full of spite!"

He downed the rest of his glass eyes staring out the star-filled portal... haunted.

Cain looked over at Vance and nudges Nina's glass toward the bottle.. accepting another smaller poured amount. He picked up her glass and poured it out on the deck again.

Looking down at his glass again he spoke, "...thanks Vance... your a good man.. and CO.  Really... better than me."

Meeting his eyes he smirked, "..I can't promise not to turn into a ass again... but whatever the sphincter on my face spouts ~ your alright by me.. its not personal... and you can ALWAYS count on me to have your back...!"

Then he smiled lifting his glass for one last drink, "But don't go soft on me... if I got a reprimand coming then, damn it ~ I earned it! Bust my ass as needed... don't want to turn out like my ole' man right?"
This message was last edited by the player at 08:15, Thu 11 Apr 2019.

Hanako had just recently finished the time honored tradition of officers everywhere - shuffling paperwork around.  Supposedly the reports she filed went somewhere and were used for something, but she suspected they just got shoved in a cabinet and were forgotten.

She was a touch out of uniform, wearing a tiny sakura flower hair clip to hold her hair out of her eyes, but was otherwise fit for duty.  Nobody else was in the room as she pulled out a compact and opened it to fuss with her hair, and she nearly jumped when Bixby spoke.  It seemed he wasn't the only one who had become too reliant on sensors.  She also looked around as he began to speak, checking for others.

At the mention of her family, however, she immediately gave him her full, undivided attention.

"I am listening.

Satisfied that they were alone, Bixby said, in a low voice, "We've picked up some signals from SDF-1, that provide scant-but-strong evidence that there's a large civilian presence on board...and they're likely Macross Island survivors."  Before she could react, he hurriedly added, "We don't have any idea how many, or who they are...but it's enough that they've started doing their own television broadcasts on board...or, rather, they're gearing up to."

The sensible reaction would be guarded hope.  But between Hanako's knowledge of her parents' professions, as well as the fact that morale is clearly high enough to have civilian television broadcasts (and that lovely bit of desperation she's been hiding all along), and Hanako went straight from little hope to high hopes.  Her face brightened considerably, and her smile, while always fairly expressive, nearly filled her entire face.

She hugged Bixby tightly around the waist in thanks for the news.  "That is wonderful news.  So many people thought their families were lost, but now there is hope," she said with quiet, barely contained excitement, "I will keep this to myself until the official announcement is made, but thank you so much for telling me first."

Vance chuckled, a wry grin on his face.  "Oh, trust me...if I think you're stepping out of line, I'll call you on it.  And I meant what I said, back at Mars...at this point, we're the veterans.  They're going to be calling on us to ride herd on the rest of the carrier group, once they get the others finished and launched.  At some point, you're going to have to focus on what YOU need to do, rather than on not doing what your old man would have done.  You're not him, and this war is different."  As he spoke, he filled up Nina's glass one more time.

"But if I think your choices are bad, I'll say something.  Right now...we need you to get back in your plane.  We've been able to work around your absence...but once we get back to Earth orbit, it's not going to be just me noticing if you're not flying."  He grinned, nodding with a tired, sad expression.  He took a deep breath.

"I'll be honest, while it's just you and me talking...I'm scared as hell about whether or not we can hold the line if the aliens decide they want Earth.  Tactically, I'd stack you up against any ten of their pilots...maybe twenty, for myself..."  He laughed nervously, indicating it was an attempt at humor about a subject that he didn't find humorous.  "But there's just so damned many of them..."  He looked out the observation portal, a haunted expression creeping onto his face...

Seeing that the ice had been broken and the ritual completed.. the flight crews and off duty pilots began to trickle away, some offering offering condolences or handshakes to Cain and Vance before or as they departed.

Cain downed another drink .. and poured out Nina's glass...

Replying to Vance, "..yeah boss...my head... has been not in the right place... these past few days.  Honestly, I did not trust myself... entirely back in the cockpit...but THIS... is going a long way to setting me straight... sorting this all out at least in my head."

He paused, "I'll get back in my bird on the stick... and start doing my part... but, I'm not so sure I'm ready to lead raw recruits... guess only time will tell.  I won't let you down!"

He smirked, "..yeah, your cool as ice and quick as a whip Vance you ponce on an enemy and are just too quick to outfly.  I'm not as quick but unorthodox.. I do the unexpected.  I do things to provoke a reaction from the enemy and then exploit their response.  I tend to read how an enemy acts and then from that predict how they will react.. and take advantage of that.  Usualy my ordinance is aimed where I know the enemy will be before they get there, because I've provoked them to do what I want.  Your just too fast to avoid regardless. But either case... we can only do our best and take it one day, one enemy at a time... and NEVER give up!!"

"...I just... needed a reminder of that.  Thanks again."
This message was last edited by the player at 08:17, Thu 11 Apr 2019.

Vance clapped a hand on Cain's shoulder.  "The most anyone can ask is that we try.  And it's to our benefit that we don't all fly the same way...they do, almost like they were programmed to it or something, and that's why we haven't been scattered across the star system in little charred pieces. They're predictable, once you know what to look for.  We're not.  Even when we're all flying together, each one of us takes an individual approach to how we engage, when we shoot, which evasive tactics to use...they might be able to study us and learn how to fight us, if they focus on one individual plane...but the guy who learns how to counter me is gonna get bowled over by you."

He chuckled, and added, "As for leading raw recruits...I'm not sure any of us are ready for that, yet.  I don't think Lt. Khan was ready for it when she got put in charge of Revolt Squadron.  But I also think it's like a lot of things in life...if you wait until you feel like you're ready, it'll never happen.  It's only when the demand is actually on you that you make yourself ready.  And there's ALWAYS going to be something that comes up that you never had to deal with before, and you have to figure it out in the moment.  It could be anything from a guy getting dumped by his girl back home and you needing to get his head back in the game to...well..."  He broke into a broad grin as he finished, "an overzealous hothead insisting on engaging the enemy in a suicidal situation..."

He laughed a little and looked down.  "I'll give you the advice now, since there's no guarantee I'll be able to do it when the time comes...but the trick is to focus on what's best for your unit...whether that's a lead-and-wing element, a whole squadron, or the whole ship's contingent.  It's easy to settle on what feels right for you...it's trying to keep your focus on what's right for THEM that makes the difference."

Cain accepts the gentle brotherly gesture and clearly ponders Vance's advice and nods, "... make it right for your men.  A lot to think about, thanks Vance. You do that part well. I think I'm ready to get back in the game... so I'd best get on with those mission reports and patrol schedule I'm behind in?"

His expression shifts a bit considering something that just occurred to him, "Uhm.. Hows Lt. Moriya doing?  She taking the uncertainty of her parents ok?"
This message had punctuation tweaked by the player at 17:37, Mon 22 Apr 2019.

Vance grinned a little awkwardly.  "She's...well...I hesitate to use the word, because it's got some negative connotations, but 'giddy' is the closest thing I can think of to describe it."  He added, hastily, "I don't mean she's walking around giggling at everything and constantly loopy...but she's smiled more in the past few days than I think she has for the past six months."

He sighed, and added, "I hope like hell they ARE alive, because if they aren't..."  He didn't finish the thought,  but the look in his eyes said plenty.

The ship's PA chimed for attention, before the XO's voice came over.  "Lt. Commander Hardy, Lt. Moriya, Lt. Edwards, Chief Bixby...please report to the Captain's Ready Room in fifteen minutes."  With an audible click, the message ended.

Cain reflexively looks up at the speaker and smirks, "I guess that means us, 'coffee breaks' over ~ back to Hell!"

He takes a deep breath, "I'll take some time and ask Lt Moriya about it next time I get her someplace social... ask her how she is Really doing?  A jr. officer can ask things a superior might be... mistaken as inappropriate attention sometimes when gender is involved perhaps?  Maybe I can get her to talk about it... but let's see what the brass want!"

Cain led the way to the Captain's Ready Room... hoping he did not smell of too much alcohol.
This message was last edited by the player at 17:08, Sun 14 July 2019.

Vance looked up in surprise at the PA announcement, then nodded to Cain.  "You've also got the added 'in' of her being your squadron leader, so it's reasonable for you to check and see how she's doing...I mean, her decisions definitely have an effect on you."

He followed along with Cain, starting out a step behind and shortly dropping into pace alongside him, all the way to the Ready Room.

"Wonder what this is about...?" he muttered softly to Cain, as they approached the door.
This message was lightly edited by the player at 18:00, Fri 16 Aug 2019.

Before they could continue their conversation, the announcement came over the PA.  Wondering what, exactly, the reason for the summons of the exact same team who flew the Mars mission would be, and not wanting to jump to any conclusions, Hanako smiled up at Bixby and said, "Well, we do not want to keep her waiting.  We should get going."

As she heads out, she turns to look back up at him and adds, "I am sure there are already enough rumors about me going about.  Being late for a briefing does not need to be one of them."

Cain, smirked at Vance muttering softly in reply, 'Probably to complain about their lack of intel on the SDF - 01.  I promise not to say I told you so... afterward!'

The twinkle in his eyes and the lopsided grin  on his face made his teasing jab at Vance's decision NOT to make contact with the SDF crew clear the jest in the remark.  Still, he raised his open hands to ward off the expect elbow to the ribs he was ready for in reply.

Entering he took his usual seat at the Very front of the briefing seats... his gungho serious expression back to normal.
This message was last edited by the player at 16:11, Fri 16 Aug 2019.

Bixby gave a distracted look.  "Rumors?" he asked, sounding uncommonly bewildered.  "Who listens to rumors?  If anyone in charge around here did, I never would have made it out here...I'd be back on Earth in some little cubicle, crunching numbers for ideas from guys who have no idea what combat actually is."  He shrugged, dismissively.

"But it's not wise to keep Keyes waiting.  She has a vindictive streak that you do not want to see..."  He followed right on Hanako's tail as she headed for the Ready Room...

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

The Ranger's XO was in an inscrutable mood...it seemed as though she couldn't decide whether to be annoyed, pleased, resigned, or laugh at whatever it was that had her attention.  "Sit, sit..." she said, as she came into the room.  "No time for formalities...although some of you would do well to pay a little more attention to grooming..."  She specifically avoided looking at Cain.

"UEDF Command has acknowledged our report about your Mars mission...and despite our assurances that we're heading back to Earth orbit as fast as the Ranger and her escorts can manage, they've ordered the four of you to proceed at once to rendezvous with a special envoy at Moon Base Alice.  Your fighters should get you there a day ahead of us..."  Whatever was annoying her seemed related to that fact, as the annoyance became more pronounced.

"Furthermore, once you depart short-range comms distance, you are ordered to radio silence.  No one will explain why...and they won't tell us why they've ordered us to cease any additional reports we may have about the status of the SDF-1."  The annoyance was in full bloom at this point.  She paused, taking a deep breath and letting it out in a sigh that bled off the rising manic energy of her mood.

"If you have any questions, you're free to ask.  I'm not terribly certain I've got any answers."

Cain was silent for a bit... considering what the XO had just said, not said and implied... intentionally or unintentionally.

Then he frowned as his mind went... dark places.

"Excuse me ma'am.. but yes you do. You just need to think a little more... cynically about it all.  It all adds up."

"Who is in charge of Earth right now?  Yes, the UEDF.  But what happens if there really IS an alien force of invaders?  What military holds command position?  That's right.. the RDF.  The entire reason for the peace of the Global Civil War was for the defense of Earth in the face of potential alien invaders.  But politics is STILL politics and a lot of those East-Block bureaucrats and military high ministers jockeyed into the positions they are in using the threat of an imminent alien invasion to cut through rule of law and or people's vote to hammer themselves into support control positions of power all under the auspices of supporting the RDF which is really 'the last best hope of mankind'; all perfectly legal and above board if you get the UN to suspend certain self-governance policies of the supporting nations... using fear mongering and a propaganda media blitz to hail in, finally, a Untied Earth Government... which is really only those powerful autocrats writing themselves into positions of power legitimized by the threat to all humanity."

"But now.. the threat has shown up and it's time to yield those reins of power to the RDF...is there any wonder they would be.. aheh.. reluctant to do that?  But luck on luck... Captain Gloval gave them a clear path to do so.. when the SDF-01 vanished mysteriously.. leaving only a smoking hole in the pacific!  Those bureaucrats could not have asked for a better excuse.  The SDF-01 vanished without a trace and the majority of the RDF forces with it! Hell that just handed them the Earth on a platter.  Plus the Aliens invaders seem only interested in the Battle fortress so ... why not let them have it?"

"So yeah, they want the Captain to stop broadcasting info about the SDF-01 as they are abandoning them to the aliens.. after all they all got what they wanted control of earth!  And since the aliens all followed the SDF-01 into space away from earth... they probably have have not even told the Earth in general that aliens have even shown up.. I mean they can couch that in all the claims of  ~ 'Well we don't want to start a world-wide panic', but its been months now.. don't you find it interesting no ships even probes have been ordered to locate and make contact with the SDF-01?"

"Yes its a cover up.. how could they possibly be at fault for the SDF-01 vanishing?  'How unfortunate... I guess meddling with alien technology as some of the far left wing loonies were want to warn years ago had merit. So Sad, ah well maybe its for the best anyways.'  They are going to abandon the SDF-01 to the aliens."

"Why call us back ahead of the RANGER?  Cause WE are the only ones who can corroborate that the SDF-01 is still around and coming back to Earth... information they do not want getting out!  Yeah they are going to throw us into the deepest blackest hole they can find ...easy enough on the moon until the whole thing is over in that the aliens leave or the SDF-01 is destroyed.  And they will threaten the Captain with subtle career ending consequences when he arrives to shut him up about it too!  After all, the witnesses ~ US, to the SDF-01 being intact will be in THEIR custody and they can ruin his name without the evidence of our testimony if he doesn't play ball."

"Basically 'WE're fucked.. ma'am.  Thrown under the bus is just the start of it.  We'll be lucky to leave the moon alive."
This message was last edited by the player at 03:50, Sat 24 Aug 2019.

Vance scowled a little bit as he considered what Cain was saying...but he had a hard time buying that particular slant.  "If they were going to try and shut us up, why not just have us report to UEDF HQ on Earth?  Why send us to a moon base under RDF control?" he asked, shaking his head slightly.

"And it's hard to threaten an officer with a painful end to his career when he's basically in command of your primary orbital defenses.  I mean, I know politicians can be short-sighted and all, but Captain Wilson's never showed any interest in doing anything besides protecting the planet...no politicking for a more influential position or expressing any sort of aspirations for a position of greater power.  I suppose they COULD try and take the Ranger away from him...but that'd be a hard sell."

He pulled on one earlobe as he thought for a moment.  "They want us to report...but they don't want to run the risk of our report getting leaked somewhere on Earth.  We don't get the planetary news reports up here, but from what my family says in the few letters they write, nobody on Earth knows the SDF-1 still exists...they've all been told the official news story, that it was destroyed, along with a big chunk of Macross Island, by some kind of terrorist action that blew up the ship."

He shrugged.  "Maybe they're trying to figure out just how to break the news to people, and need whatever details they can get from us to help them formulate their plan?"  He didn't sound particularly convinced by his own theory...but to him, it sounded more plausible than a global conspiracy to silence the RDF in order to retain power.  As it was, if the RDF decided to, they had enough military power to carry out a global coup and take the reins...the UEDF had precious few assets that could attack anything sub-orbital or higher, and the Robotech forces' Veritechs could outperform most of the other fighters on the planet...it would be just plain stupid on their part to set a power struggle in motion.

Before she could open her mouth, Cain let loose with something that blew her mind.  Not in that she believed a single bit of it (aside from politicians being power hungry idiots, which was a universal experience the world over), but because of how out there it was.  This was someone she was supposed to fly with, and trust her life to.  He'd already been barely restrained from flying off on his own earlier, and this time, they hadn't even finished the briefing before he was convinced they should toss the mission aside.

When he finished, she started to raise a hand and attempt to speak, but Vance beat her to it.  He made a great deal more sense, in her opinion, and showed, once again, why he was entrusted with his position.

Still, she was taken quite a bit off guard with the whole thing, and looked between the two men with an awkward and confused expression before looking back at Keyes.

"A-ano... I just wanted to know if I may hear the some of the broadcasts from the SDF-1 we picked up."

Cain looked at Vance and shrugged, "Tell ya the truth man... I hope your take is what it really is... but I've learned to be disappointed by people with political power and am Never shocked when they fall to the lowest honorable motivations ~ guess we'll find out when we get to the moon."

Then he looked at everyone's reaction to his opinions, "What?  Yeah we should still go! We've been ordered to... what other choice do we have?  Plus, if the UEDF is going to drop the hammer on someone... I'd rather it be me than the rest of the crew of the RANGER!  Captain Wilson is Still in Command of one of the last ARMED Stations... if the UEDF pulls some shit ~ Earth, as a whole, is going to need him free to act in it's defense.  WE... ultimately don't mater... in the balance of that!"

"If the Captain disregards their order's they will immediately know he's a threat to their political plans and could prepare trouble for the RANGER before they get to Earth orbit again!  Once he returns to Earth Captain Wilson can spread the truth and it will be very hard to stop him from doing so onboard the RANGER... I trust Captain Wilson to do whatever's necessary."

He nods to Hanako, "I agree, can we listen to and or carry a copy of any communications recorded from the SDF-01?"
This message was last edited by the player at 13:34, Mon 26 Aug 2019.

"Ummmm...well, a lot of it is just operational chatter...flights on patrols, reporting status, or comm chatter during skirmishes with the aliens.  And a lot of it is really garbled...like, the aliens are jamming signals.  If we didn't know where they were, and weren't listening for them, we probably wouldn't even register it as anything beyond background radiation bleeding into our comm spectrum."  Bixby shrugged.

"It takes a lot of filtering and processing, along with a little data extrapolation, to come up with much of anything coherent...with a few exceptions.  We picked this up just a few hours ago...I've only had time to clean up the audio, the computer's still chewing on the video signal that came with it, but..."

He slipped a datacard into a reader and started playback...there was a fanfare, which didn't quite sound like it was played by actual brass instruments, then a burst of static, which cleared up just in time to hear, "...the first annual Miss Macross Competition!"  The announcer (presumably...they all had 'that' voice) continued listing off prizes for the winner.

Bixby stopped it at that point.  "It goes on like that...an occasional burst of noise obscures the signal, stuff that we just couldn't get rid of no matter how much the computer chewed on it...but they introduce contestants, have interviews, announce finalists..."  He sounded almost disappointed as he explained, "The signal dropped out completely before they announced a winner, although we've gotten stuff since then that confirms they're still there."

For a moment, he got a case of little-boy-face, as he added, "You remember Jan Morris, the actress?  She's one of the contestants!"

Vance's face clouded in a scowl when he heard the fanfare...and then the announcer.  As the playback continued, he looked around the room to gauge the reactions of the various people there...although Bixby seemed unusually animated by the whole thing...Guess he's got a thing for Jan Morris... Vance thought.

When Bixby finally stopped the playback, Vance spoke up immediately.  "They're on a warship...surrounded by an alien armada that is apparently attacking them at will...and they're having a beauty pageant?"  He shook his head in disbelief.  He knew Gloval by reputation, and the man was a fighter, through and through...but to see (well...hear) the rest of the ship's populace had become so accustomed to war that they decided to have a beauty competition in the middle of the fighting put that in a whole new perspective, for him.

Cain gave Vance a similar lopsided 'Are you kidding me?' look when Chief Bixby played the recordings.

Then he pondered it for a bit...

"Miss Macross?  As in the Island name and the city that developed around the reconstruction project?"

"Didn't the SDF-01 take a large section of the island with it?  I also believe a SLV Beachmaster and a CVS Carrier involved in evacuation operations went missing with the Battlefortress and the Half the damned island.  You don't think they managed to save a good chunk of those civis do you?  I mean the Beachmaster and the Carrier are submersible... not really made for vacuum but in a pinch... they could hold pressure!"

"I'm just saying if you suddenly found yourself with a large population of civis on a Warship.. how would YOU keep them distracted over a long  unscheduled space journey?"

"But surely they would not have enough provisions for any significant populous?"

Then he though a little more, "Well I guess they must have saved some civis.. if this Jan Morris is still alive?  Isn't she that blonde day-time soaps actress?"
This message was last edited by the player at 04:35, Wed 28 Aug 2019.

Vance shrugged.  "I dunno...I recognize the name, but I couldn't tell you anything she was in..."  He glanced over at Bixby, who was obviously a fan, and smiled apologetically.

"Sorry, Chief..."

He looked back to Cain.  "You're right...the Daedalus and the Prometheus both vanished pretty much at exactly the same time as the SDF-1.  And..."  He shrugged, and continued, "I mean, up until we got the news that they'd located the space-fold drive for the SDF-1 somewhere out close to Jupiter, we all thought the aliens had blown up the ship and everything around it...always wondered why they left a 'caretaker task force' watching Earth when the rest of their fleet moved out, since it seemed kinda like they left because the battle fortress was destroyed and there was no longer any reason for them to stick around.  I don't know how space-folds work, so I don't have any idea how they'd have taken a chunk of the island and surrounding seas with them...but it looks like they did.  I mean, those two ships would explain why the configuration of the SDF-1 was different on Mars than it was back before the aliens attacked..."  He sat back, pondering the massive number of imponderables that seemed associated with what they were just learning.

Hanako had a few things she would have said if she hadn't been literally vibrating with nervous excitement when she heard the recording and the name of a prominent civilian.  The moment Vance stopped talking, she blurted out, "There were shelters for the residents plus the crew in and around the SDF-1 and my family was directly involved in Veritech development manufacture and maintenance on the island so if there's enough of a civilian population to hold something like this then it is entirely possible my family is on the SDF-1 kyaaaaaaaaaaaa!"

She did it all in one breath, too.  If anyone was still wondering why she'd been acting different lately, it just got answered.

Cain smiled, wanely at Hanoko, "Glad to hear it LT!  My mother was moved from the Philippines E.B.S.I.S. monitoring station to Alaska last I heard to some hush-hush military project or another.  My lil' sis complained about not wanting to go where it was cold all the time from her beach house in..."

"Wonder if I'll ever see them again...", he trailed off into silence his mirth replaced with somber foreboding.

Co<mmander Keyes cleared her throat subtly.  "We're all glad to hear that your family may be alive, Lieutenant...but staying on the topic at hand, we have no reason to believe UEDF is attempting to muscle out the Robotech forces.  We are all, theoretically, on the same side, and while they have displayed the expected shortsightedness common to politicians, nothing potentially alarming has come up."  She looked at Cain with the barest hint of a smile, and continued, "I'm glad to hear you're not actively opposed to going.  That would be tantamount to mutiny and would put the Captain and myself in an extremely awkward position."

She looked at the group.  "As there appear to be no further questions regarding your recall to the moon base, we will continue on course at cruising speed.  The four of you should be ready to launch in six hours.  While I recognize that front-line duty can be a little rough, it would be advisable for all of you to try and put on as finished an appearance as possible.  While there will doubtless be military personnel at this debriefing, there are also most certainly going to be politicians, whose perception of what you say will be filtered heavily by their perception of how you look.  You've got six hours...shower, shave...get a haircut...make sure your nails are clean, polish your flight boots...all that fun military-flight-school-inspection prep that I'm certain you've done dozens of times."  Her voice softened, as she added, "How they see you will impact how they continue to treat us.  Give them every reason to assume we're all professionals."

Cain's eyes went wide and he immediately stood and crisply saluted, "Ma'am, I apologize ma'am!  It was never my intent to suggest any mutinous action ma'am!  We are soliders... we take orders! I only meant to suggest a possible reason for the seeming short-sightedness of some of the given directives, ma'am!  I apologize to my fellow officer's if my comments were taken in such a fashion, it was not my intent, ma'am!"

His expression held no mirth now.. he was deadly serious!
This message had punctuation tweaked by the player at 05:14, Thu 29 Aug 2019.

Commander Keyes held up her hands in a kind of attempt at a calming gesture.  "Nobody's accusing you of mutiny, Lieutenant...not even attempted mutiny.  Personally, and off the record, I think it's kind of ridiculous that they're pulling you in days ahead of the Ranger, just for a debrief that could easily be handled by standard communications, so even though I don't share your expressed suspicions about their motives, I certainly understand any reluctance to go.  I just don't think they would be so understanding, is all."  She smiled, almost apologetically, as she spoke.

Vance managed to shake the look of surprise off his face.  "Easy there, Cain...pretty sure none of us thought you really meant anything mutinous.  I think the Commander was just making the case that, if your scenario was correct, UEDF could make a case against us for refusing to go...that'd put Captain Wilson in the position of having to arrest us and turn us over, or actually turn rogue and really commit mutiny."  He shrugged.

"And since you said that you weren't suggesting we refuse to go, it's all an academic argument, anyway...doesn't matter."  He turned to Commander Keyes.

"Commander, I want to suggest Lieutenant Khan act as Command officer for the Ranger Air Group in my absence.  She's not 9nly got seniority, but she's got the combat record for it."

The orders were given, the necessary shuffling around made...it was decided, for the sake of flight operations, that three more pilots would accompany them to the Moon, giving them the planes to fly a diamond formation with the Two-Ex in the center, on perpendicular flight planes...that would maximize their scanner coverage and actually give them enough planes to put up a fight if the enemy somehow managed to get the bounce on them...six Veritechs, with experienced pilots, could hold their own long enough to get reinforcements from either the Ranger or the Moon base, depending on where along their flight path they were.

Orders were passed along to Lt. Kelly Jones, Isaih Rhodes, and Alec Fairfolk to report to the flight deck six hours later, along with Hardy, Moriya, and Edwards...and, of course, Bixby.  The basics of the mission were laid out...they were to minimize radio chatter...while the mission was not, technically, a classified operation, it was supposed to remain quiet...and make sure that the four pilots who'd been involved in the recon operation at Mars, where the SDF-1 had been sighted and confirmed operational, were delivered safely to the Moon base for debriefing by UEDF brass.  Best wishes were given, they were assured that the Ranger would have four planes on standby to help until they were closer to the Moon than the Ranger, and Lt. Khan was notified of her temporary status as Commander of Flight Operations until such time as Hardy returned...

Within ten minutes, all seven planes were on the flight line, awaiting launch...

Kelly worked with her crew chief to get her craft ready for launch, testing flaps and controls.  The VF1A was in good shape and quickly passed tests, she gave a last thumbs up to her crew chief and lowered the canopy, pulling her respirator into place on her helmet and turning her radio to assigned coms for the flight.  Her accent is rich and genuine UK, sounding friendly.

"Echo four, Wildcat, ready for launch.  Radio check."

She reflected with a smirk on just how she got that nickname.  Of course some assumed it was related to sexual exploits, or described how she did her piloting or such.  But the real story always caught up to her.  She'd been chased by a puma from the slit trench with her drawers in a bunch around her hips and toilet paper flying and trailing everywhere during a survival training exercise.  Wildcat stuck.
This message was last edited by the player at 15:12, Fri 11 Oct 2019.

Vance settled into his cockpit, helmet in place, as his crew chief checked a couple of things before descending the ladder and removing it.  "You bring my bird back in one piece, you hear me, Academy Brat?" he admonished.

Vance laughed softly.  "I'll bring OUR bird home, Chief, don't you worry..."  Vance still remembered the first time his chief had given him that warning...and made the mistake of calling him 'college boy'.  It was, Vance had learned, an old habit, held over from the era when most officers had gotten a university degree and with it, their commission...it had bred a new respect between his ground crew and him when they learned that he'd earned his flight status the old-fashioned way...the blue-collar sensibility they all shared had created a closeness that most pilots aimed for but never quite achieved.

He buttoned up the cockpit once all the systems had checked out, calling on the comm system as the canopy seal engaged.  "Echo Lead, standing by for launch..."  The engines had the perfect whine of their high-idle setting, a sound that he felt as much as heard, and the familiarity of it was a great reassurance to him.

Cain settled into his cockpit attached his umbilical cables to the life system for the long journey, sealed his helmet giving the flight crew the passing thumb's up without ever look at them... his mind still a swirl of loss and resigned disappointment.

He tried to resist looking around the flight bay... too many memories best left in the past.  He doubted he would ever see the RANGER again... but it was probably for the best... he'd lost family here that connection he'd so wanted with a fellow 'Edwards' who had in common the battle-scars and baggage inherited from his father.  A search for solidarity with another of his own blood... denied before he ever got the chance to find out who his step-sister Nina was.  Then the loss of Parker... his kid wingman... again... Cain's story... the Eternal Survivor when pilots~ better people, people unlike him who were filled with life and hope.. and not anger and resentment died left and right while HE kept on surviving!  People who deserved life ..perhaps more than him.. and yet.. HE Always survived ~ HIM, the screw-up... the loud-mouth, obsessive, with the Asshole father!  All he had was his dedication to protecting the Earth and what little family he loved... but then now he's being pulled from the fight.. not allowed to join the SDF-01 to help, not allowed to seek the enemy and force them to leave his world alone, Not able to save his step-sister Nina's life...how could he protect his mother or little sister playing the 'Got Ya!' word games with the Brass when he should be out here fighting... the only Damned thing he was ANY good at?

He could hear his father's biting sentiments now ~ 'Dyings a job for grunts Boy, let somebody else die for their 'Country'... if you were ANY different from me you'd find a way to stay in the fight and likely die stupidly ~ Your more like ME than you Know or Admit, Boy!'


He took in a breath and slowly let it out... trying to silent his emotions and briefly fogging half his face plate, 'Will I EVER find peace from the Demons of Regret, Anger and Loss that laugh at me continually?'

He pre-flight checked his plane ~ himself all on automatic going through the motions like a zombie his mind on his self-perceived personal failings and regrets ~ anger simmering in his belly all the while.  It was the radio check that brought him back to the conscious here-now of their orders and mission.

"<TC> Echo Five. Pegasus, Engines Hot. Ready for launch."

His tone was mechanical but the undercurrent was noticeable to those who knew him, Cain did not want to be doing this, but orders were orders.

He muttered, 'Time to see how much flying Horse-shit the brass has ready for us to take...'
This message was last edited by the player at 10:55, Fri 11 Oct 2019.

Hanako had left the hairclip in when she suited up.  It may not be full uniform, but it did keep her hair out of her eyes, and it was cute - and less distracting than taping a photo to the cockpit console of a highly maneuverable and fast craft in a zero g environment.  She did, however, remain professional as she nodded in thanks to her flight crew.  She did not have the joking relationship with them that Hardy did, but she still appreciated their work and they knew it.  The fact that she actually listened to them and gave them useful feedback probably helped.

Helmet and suit sealed, she climbed into her VF-1J and ran through the pre-flight check.  All green, just as she expected.  She took note of the loadout as the canopy closed and followed the ground crew into takeoff position.

"<TC>Echo Two, ready to launch."

The others called in ready, and in short order, the seven planes were in space, in an octohedron formation with the Two-Ex at the center.  Bixby tied into the other planes' sensors, and they were on their way back to the Moon.

"Whaddaya think they're gonna ask you about?" Rhodes asked, after they got orders from the Ranger to switch to short-range only.  His tone implied that he didn't really expect anyone to know...but it was a long flight ahead of them and he hadn't ever been particularly good at long flights in silence.  It made him antsy...

"Pretty sure they told you as much as they told us in the pre-launch briefing, Rhodes...probably just trying to make sure we're actually sure we saw what we say we saw, since nobody else has been able to verify the condition, or even existence of SDF-1 since the aliens attacked."  Vance, for all his certainty displayed aboard the Ranger, sounded like he was uncertain of just what to expect...and not thrilled about the prospect of facing that uncertainty.

"All depends upon if they have already decided the narrative they want to hear or if this is actually a fact finding inquiry to support whatever narrative protects them from public backlash... its all the same in the end."

"Expect to have your integrity as a competent pilot to be called into question..."
This message was last edited by the player at 05:53, Sun 20 Oct 2019.

Bixby's voice came in an almost-mocking laugh.  "They're gonna have a hard time questioning the sensor logs I brought along.  Human perception can be a funny thing...even if they decide that we convinced ourselves that we saw something that wasn't there, they're not going to have an easy answer for three planes all registering the same object that the pilots reported.  Going to have an even harder time explaining the recorded broadcast snippets...although they might question the sanity of the crew, with them hosting a beauty pageant while they're trying to fight their way through the aliens.   But they can't just dismiss it as overactive imagination."

The Two-Ex adjusted course minutely.  "Everyone be sure to keep your sensors on passive.  With our formation, we should pick up any alien patrols in advance so they can't get the jump on us, but I don't want any extra power output highlighting us for them."  The ECM package on the Two-Ex could mask them from casual sensor scans as long as they weren't broadcasting energy output...that made things a lot more difficult.

Kelly kept her opinions and observations to herself, she was on loan.. more or less, and didn't really have a camaraderie with the people of her flight.  She did frown deeply listening to the Chief talking, though, muttered a little under her breath.

"Never heard of esprit de corps, it seems."

She decided she might not like the pilot of the 2X, but that didn't have a thing to do with duty.  If those men and women were trapped that long and far from home for as they have, giving up their lives left and right, what right did they have to judge them for something to lift their spirits in a dark time.

Besides, her old unit in the UK military had done an 'amateur night', where the men dressed in drag and the women in suits judging them.. in much the same fashion.  She frowned deeper.  Yes, she decided, that 2X pilot was probably a self righteous asshole.

She shrugged and checked over her instruments again.  Oh well.

The flight progressed in silence, and relative peace...a couple of times along the way, Bixby ordered everyone to shut down engines and coast, while he ran ECM against the possibility that a sensor contact turned out to be an alien scout ship...but nothing came close enough to identify positively.  Autopilots kept the Veritechs on course as pilots napped...if they could sleep...until the Moon started to loom large through their canopies.

"TC:  Moon Base, this is Ranger Flight, on approach.  Request approach vector..."  Bixby's voice had an edge to it that was easily picked up by those who'd flown with him before...he tended to sound either bored or playful, depending on his mood...tense was a tone that didn't often color his words.

There was a brief pause, followed by a slightly surprised voice.  "Copy that, Ranger Flight.  UEDF officials are waiting to meet you in the hangar.  Follow approach beacon Alpha Alpha Two Three."  The beacon appeared on the screens of all the planes, providing a constantly-updating stream of speed and heading information to put them on the approach path.

"Great...waiting on us...that doesn't create any worrisome implications in my head..." Vance muttered, knowing the short-range comms between the planes would pick up the comment and hoping they were still far enough out from the Moon that they didn't overhear it there.

He tweaked a couple of settings on his console.  "<TC>Roger that, Beacon Alpha Alpha Twenty-three.  Beacon is locked and preparing for approach.  Could you guys do us a favor and notify the Ranger that we've arrived safely?  Wouldn't want Captain Wilson worrying any more than necessary about our status..."  It was uncertain just how far ahead of the Ranger they were, but the Moon Base had long range comm gear that the Veritechs did not, and hopefully even had the Ranger on tracking systems.  How they responded to the request would give some hint as to whether they were actually here just to get debriefed, or whether there was something more serious in the works...

Cain snicker at Hardy's comments, "Well nothing for it boss... let's get down there and find out just how much ketchup were gonna need on this big shit-sandwich".

Then as if on que.. the landing strip came into sight.

"<TC> Landing Strip spotted, Echo Lead.  3 O'clock."
This message had punctuation tweaked by the player at 15:04, Fri 08 Nov 2019.

Professional and keeping her craft in line Jones acknowledges.

<TC>"Echo Four copies Alpha Alpha Tuw Tree.  Visual Confirmed."

She will follow the flight communications and land where and when directed.  It's all a little dance, and should be easier than a carrier landing for certain... though low G could be tricky too.  She dropped her 'tailhook' and gear for approach.

Having been almost entirely silent on the flight over, Hanako toggles her comms to acknowledge the receipt of the landing instructions.

"<TC>Echo Two, copy.  On approach."

She then starts a by-the-book approach to land, following the telemetry data provided.

The landings were uneventful, and as they taxied their planes to waiting berths, there was a corporal waiting for them.  As soon as they'd exited their planes and taken care of standard landing protocols, he stepped forward.  "If you'd all come with me, please..."  His manner was not practiced, polished, or impatient...more like star-struck.

"I know the UEDF envoy has been waiting...but I want you all to know that we consider it an honor to have you on our station."  He blushed slightly...for all that he'd earned his corporal's stripes, he was still very young, and obviously not very seasoned.

"I mean...our CO wanted to convey to you that he's honored to have you on-station.  Things have been pretty quiet here for a long time...and it's because the Ranger's been attracting all the enemy attention, from what we can tell."  His words were a little more composed...they were, after all, someone else's words, being relayed...but he was still visibly nervous.

Cain went through the motions landing post-flight protocols..the whole procedure on his own auto-pilot.  Uncertain of how this would go down he accepted that however 'it' went..there was little he could personally do to forestall it.

The 'green' Corporal envoy was ...unexpected.  Cain kept his peace trying to figure the Brass' tactic... it only took a few words from the young Corporal to reveal the Brass' angle...

Cain chuckled slightly {So its the appeal to our ego is it? Heap praise upon our 'DEFENSE' of Earth.. and not even acknowledge the SDF-01 is out there doing all the actual fighting.. and Dare us to contradict that narrative!  'sigh'...make us complicit to their lie. Sigh.. politics... dad would laugh too.}

Grimly smiling, "At ease Corporal, we don't walk on water... and with what's coming there will be plenty of opportunity for heroism and sacrifice to go around!"

Vance had been about to speak up when Cain sought...in his own way...to calm down the Corporal that was escorting them.  He grinned slightly...Cain's approach was a bit brusque, perhaps, but accurate.  "I assume the reports from the Ranger have been getting relayed to Earth through your comm stations, here...any news coming back from Earth in response?"  He shrugged, and added, "We haven't been getting much news...bits and pieces here and there, but we've also been trying to run quiet out there and avoid attracting unnecessary enemy attention.  That means high-gain antennas and other signal-boosting hardware is generally shut down, and our reports have all been tight-beam transmissions.  So, we hear just enough to reassure us that Earth is still there...but we don't get many specifics."

Walking along beside Vance, Hanako decided not to speak up for now.  Between Cain and Vance, plenty enough was being said.  Instead, she listened and noted the reactions of everyone they passed, as well as their guide.

At least she was able to stow her helmet before they left their Veritechs.  Carrying it around is always awkward for her.  The curse of being small.

The corporal grimaced at Hardy's question.  "Well...we pick up a lot of civilian news.  We get comm traffic from UEDF command about issues that relate specifically to us...but we haven't heard a whole lot back from them in response to the reports we've been relaying from you."  He paused, almost missing a step, and quickly added, "Well, I mean, that's the rumor mill, at least.  I don't work in Communications, so I'm not privy to all the comm traffic that comes through.  But keeping secrets out here is hard, most stuff gets into rumors at some point.  The fact that we haven't heard anything beyond "keep us apprised of the situation" and "Thank you for the update" has a lot of us a little edgy."

He looked around as he spoke, as if verifying that nobody from the base would overhear him, continuing to lead them away from the hangars.  "At least, it's got those of us who pretty much never see the bridge on edge.  The Captain doesn't seem too happy about it, either."

He stopped for just a moment, in a corner area out of sight of any surveillance cameras, and added, in a hushed voice, "Some of the crew think they might be setting up to just cut us loose...take as many people as they can, hunker down in below-ground shelters, and wait for the aliens to kill off the UEDF and RDF forces and leave, then come out and start over.  They wouldn't do that, would they?!"  There was genuine fear in his voice.

The newest member of.. well this little group at least... keeps her mouth shut once she exits her veritech, falling in behind her commander with a rather serious face.  Vance and Hanako several steps in front of her.

She surveys the hangar, her flight helmet dangling from her LEFT hand, and otherwise still buttoned up in her pressure suit.  If anything she is showing mild disapproval of the general state of affairs.  She liked to keep her helmet with her in places she didn't know... since a pressure suit wasn't very useful without one.
This message was last edited by the player at 16:34, Thu 13 Feb 2020.

Cain, internally felt that cold hand of doubt touch his heart, and Vance's own words came to him ~ 'do what's best for your men...the rest will take care of itself'... sometimes a half-truth is what's needed to keep a solider going.

Cain puts a hand on the Corporal's shoulder in Reassurance, "Not happening corporal. We are just here ahead of the RANGER as we could get here faster to give our reports priority over secure channels to Earth Gov.  The RANGER is on its way here now ~ No One is getting abandoned! On THAT you can be sure!"
This message was last edited by the player at 16:06, Thu 13 Feb 2020.

There was the barest moment of surprise on Vance's face at Cain's response...odd to hear the skeptic in the group being the one who was providing the encouraging words...but he schooled his expression almost immediately.

"Just contingency plans, I'm sure.  I mean, you've got fire procedures, right?" he asked, knowing full well what the answer was.  EVERY military post had fire procedures, especially in space where fire presented a whole unique set of problems in sealed, oxygen-rich environments.  "That doesn't mean you plan to set fire to the place.  They're just trying to plan for contingencies..."  There was a momentary flicker in his eyes that showed he wasn't quite sure what those contingencies would be...but he carried on as smoothly as if he'd just gotten the word direct from Command.

"There are still anti-Unification factions down there, after all, and the tighter you keep information limited on a need-to-know basis, the harder it is for any of them to exploit any new developments."  He gave a small nod to himself, as if satisfied that his words actually sounded convincing...but as he looked at the others in the flight, concern could be seen in his eyes...what the hell is going on down there?

There was no mistaking the relief that settled in the corporal's eyes, even if his expression still showed some signs of worry and concern.  It may have been that he'd had similar thoughts, and was glad to hear someone else express them.  It may have been that such thoughts hadn't even crossed his mind, and hearing a perfectly plausible explanation gave him a new direction to puzzle and ponder.

Which it was, however, would have to wait, as the corporal stepped up to a door and pulled it open.  "The Colonel is waiting for you inside, sirs," he said, gesturing for them to proceed into the room.  It appeared to be a standard conference room...not even a briefing room, as none of the boards typically used to lay out a military briefing were in evidence...just a few blank vid screens and a long table.

Sitting alone, on one side of the table, facing the door, was a colonel in UEDF uniform.  His chair was the only one on that side.  Facing him, backs to the the door, were four empty chairs.  The colonel appeared to be looking over a dossier or briefing folder...some kind of reading material.  Without looking up, he gestured to the empty chairs.  "Please, take a seat.  This shouldn't take too long and then you can go relax for a while and wait for the Ranger to catch up with you.  Earth Command does appreciate you flying ahead to take care of this, but it is somewhat time-sensitive and we needed to deal with it as quickly as we could.  Waiting an extra day for the Ranger to arrive was deemed...imprudent."

Still silent, Hanako followed the corporal along with the others, fighting the urge to salute upon reaching the colonel's office to keep that proud Bixby/Ranger tradition alive.  Having been strapped into a seat for several hours already, she was not looking forward to sitting down yet again, but she'd been offered a seat by a colonel in his office, and it would be rather rude not to accept it.

Despite everything going on, and all the worries they have had, she could not bring herself to fully ignore the fact that she has not eaten since breakfast and is a bit hungry now.

Kelly had kept a hat off her head, but helmet in left.  She executed a quick UK palm out salute to the officer, but kept moving.  Just a show of respect to rank.

"Sah."

She did as ordered, taking a seat close to the Field Grade Officer, but making certain there was one closer for her commander.

She was staying professional, cool.  She set her helmet on the table in front of her, visor facing from her.

Vance reacted with confusion, for a moment.  He was used to a lack of formality from the command staff of the Ranger, but this was different...  Tentatively, he took a seat, setting his helmet on the table in front of him (subconsciously setting it directly between himself and the Colonel, as if it would somehow shield him).

"We, uh...we wish we could have made it sooner.  Left as soon as the orders were passed along to us."  He paused, obviously struggling with sorting out what else he wanted to say, if anything, until finally...

"If I may ask, Colonel...is there some particular reason we're meeting here, rather than on Earth?"

Cain dropped into measured silence as they made their way to the ... conference room?

Honestly, Cain had been expecting more of a tribunal set up that would have three senior staff with a single chair for each of them to be ... questioned individually but, this was not even a commander's office and only a single senior staff officer was there to interview them all at once!

Rather out of the ordinary from the usual 'formal' way the military did things... unless... this was 'off the books'.  And instantly Cain began pondering, 'why that would be?'  Was the base commander doing this on his own prerogative?

But Cain remained silent... as there was no clear warning of guards waiting at attention but his severe clearly closely controlled neutral expression tinged with wariness it was recognizable to those familiar with him that the informality of the situation had set of his Red Flag warnings of threat.

He gave a slow very precise salute, "Sir!", before taking his seat next to the 1st Lt Moriya, placing his helmet on the table before him facing him in mimicry of the other pilots.

The LC's question received an almost imperceptible nod of agreement from Cain and his gaze narrowed to tight scrutiny of the Commander's response ~ searching his posture and expression for any evidence of a duplicitous answer...
This message was last edited by the player at 10:45, Thu 09 July 2020.

At Vance's question, the Colonel looked up, discomfort on his face for the barest instant before he replaced the expression with a carefully schooled neutral expression.  He hardly seemed to notice Bixby taking a seat, although the Chief definitely had a scowl that said he also wanted to know why the meeting was happening on the Moon.

"There are...security issues, in play, here.  Matters which are beyond the scope of Veritech pilots, even the Ranger's Chief of Flight Operations.  So, there are reasons, but you don't need to know them."  He glanced down at his dossier, then looked around the table again.

"There were four of you that reported visual contact with the SDF-1, yes?  But I see seven pilots here.  Which four were on that Mars mission?"  His tone intimated that he was well-versed in the situation...possibly even to the point of being able to identify the pilots he was asking about...
This message was last edited by the GM at 17:07, Thu 09 July 2020.

Knowing that there's no purpose in lying, Hanako finally spoke for the first time since they landed.

"The flight was myself, 2nd Lt. Edwards, Lt. Cdr. Hardy, and Chief Bixby, sir," she says in a professional tone, her helmet still in her lap.  Her ability to remain fully professional and formal, she hoped, would help them out in case the Colonel was looking for something that was not on the official report.  She had, after all, mastered the ability to answer a question factually and accurately without actually providing any information.  It was quite useful when filling out paperwork.

Cain's expression made clear the Colonel's answer to LC Hardy's question was NOT satisfactory ... NOT BY FAR!

And then he got angry...

His tone coldly precise, "Excuse me Sir some clarification... please.  Are we to infer that we are Not to inform Earth Gov of the SDF-01 sitting?  Does that extend to talking to other RDF or UEG personnel?  Just what is the extent of this 'need to know' blackout on our testimony?  We would not want to be in violation of RDF Orders... or is the RDF no longer in charge of Moon Operations?"
This message was last edited by the player at 15:50, Thu 09 July 2020.

Vance opened his mouth to answer when Hanako piped up...cool, calm, professional.  He half-grinned, enjoying the notion of presenting a unified front...it would add legitimacy to what was, doubtless, a report that strained credibility.  After all, with the prevailing theories swirling around, had he not seen the SDF-1 himself, he would have doubted.  He would have come around, of course, with the constant stream of corroborating stories that had followed in its wake.  Not all of those stories had been sent on to Earth, yet, most likely...constantly streaming communications would be like lighting a beacon for enemy forces to home in on...

And then Cain had his outburst...and while Vance didn't disagree with any of his points, he cringed, inwardly.  Mental note...don't try and teach him to play poker...

He got a slight grin a moment later as the thought dawned on him that maybe playing poker with Cain might be a good idea...or, at least, a lucrative one...

Kelly didn't look away from the new Colonel, despite reports and outbursts.

Her hands were in her lap, and she remained focused on that officer's apparent squirming. She was pretty good at reading people, and trained in interrogation.  She waits, thinking that just the right few words placed correctly could get this man to spill the beans.

She was also, coincidentally, thinking about poker.  She had a feeling this Colonel would not fare too well at it, not at all.

The Colonel raised an eyebrow at Cain's questions.  "Earth government HAS been informed of the SDF-1 sighting, Lieutenant.  Word was sent by your commanding officer.  And I don't believe I said anything about who you may or may not discuss it with.  My comments were limited to Lt Commander Hardy's question about why we're meeting at the Moon Base."  If he was rattled at all by the questions, he didn't show it.  If anything, he looked like fielding questions of that sort had become tiresomely repetitive.

"However, since you seem to be in a talkative mood, perhaps you'd like to describe to me...again..." and he tapped the dossier significantly as he said the word, "what, exactly, you saw at Mars, in as much detail as possible...?"

Cain did not miss a beat and his eyes narrowed in dark amusement as he crossed a leg at his seat leaning back casually and replied in an almost... impertinent tone in its informality, "Well... I'm glad you asked Colonel.  We had just finished our approach to the Phobian Lunar Body using the radiation belts to cover our slipping into the martian orbit, and Chief Bixby gave us the go to drop to the Phobian Lunar surface to begin our sensor sweep of the Martian surface ~ the LC toward the North Pole and Echo 2 and 5, myself and 1st Lt Moriya, to descend at 120 and 240 degrees ~ respectively off that around Phobos' circumference."

"I fired my verniers adjusting my course and 'dead-sticked' the 3G dive with engines cold to avoid any sensor trace on my exhaust and got to the surface rapidly switching to Guardian Mode for increased maneuverability.  Flared my engines at 2 klicks above surface to level out and came in hot ready for any hostiles, GU-11 in hand weapons hot, head laser set on Aegis-Fire mode."

"Mars rotated far below the Phobian lunar body and Chief Bixby began his expanded sensor sweep linked to all our bird's telemetry.  Wasn't long before Mars Base Sera came into view along with the deep crevasse a few klicks North East of the base.  That's when our hostile alerts starting flashing like a haywire Christmas tree, as the Chiefs sensors picked up artificial metallic craft firing thrusters leaving out of the crevasse near Mar Base and in motion on the Martian Surface moving onto the plain surrounding Sera Base.  Our planes picked up nothing near us all the action was on the Martian surface."

"But what got Everyone's attention, cause it was too damned big for even our planes limited sensors to miss, was the SDF-01 settled right next to Mars Base Sera!  No question ~ Alien battlepods were attacking; engaged by RDF Destroids from the battle-fortress.  And in spite of being way outnumbered the SDF-01 did not move but fought back!  It was weird the battlepods way outnumbered the Destroids but they did not rush the battle-fortress and any shots at the SDF-01 appeared incidental.. no direct attempt to damage it.  Maybe they knew something not obvious to our sensors?"

"We watched as long as we could with the distance and orbital speed of Phobos sped the battle away from out of position quickly but the Chief reported his sensors indicated some massive power build up either near or within the battle-fortress unrecognizable and we were rapidly getting out of optimal sensor position."

"As the curve of the martian surface obscured the direct line of sight there was a brilliant flash, and a seismic shockwave from the blast pattern on the martian surface! That willy ole' Russki ~ Captain Gloval had detonated the reactor pile beneath Mars Base Sera! I'm sure it made for a very bad day for all those attacking battlepods!  Doubt the SDF-01 felt anything more then a few tremors."

"The remains of the battle were out of sight at that point... but we were still picking up comm traffic from battle-fortress so we know they were still active."

"That's what I remember and saw...its all in the same reports already filed and my submitted sensor logs... being here... on the moon... away from the fight against the aliens is rather perplexing... Sir."
This message was last edited by the player at 23:39, Thu 09 July 2020.

If the Colonel was at all perturbed by Cain's tone, it didn't show.  In fact, if anything, he appeared amused by it.  Nor did he appear at all fazed by the pilot jargon thrown into the middle of the report.  "Anyone have anything they wish to add to that?" he asked, an inscrutable hint of a grin creeping into his features...not triumphant...if anything, there seemed to be some degree of admiration behind the expression.

Bixby spoke up.  "Colonel, sir, as we were departing our recon position, I was able to pick up sensor readings that indicating the SDF-1 had left the Martian surface, and was engaged in what appeared to be a pitched battle with alien forces as she left Mars orbit.  I say 'appeared to be', because the alien forces were massed in enough numbers that they should easily have been able to envelope and destroy the SDF-1, but they never attacked with their full might.  It could have something to do with the energy blast from the SDF-1 on Macross Island..."

The Colonel's attention snapped sharply to Bixby at that point.  "What do you know about that?" he demanded sharply.

Bixby was as unfazed by the question as the Colonel had been by Cain.  "I was in orbital combat above Macross Island when it happened, Sir.  The only one here who was...the LC had just barely gotten his first bird and was still waiting to launch when it happened.  I heard the rumors...that it was a power overload, or that the aliens bombed Macross and the SDF-1 out of existence...but I saw that energy beam, Colonel, and it did NOT come from the alien fleet."

The Colonel scowled slightly.  "Very well..." he said, reluctantly.  "You ARE aware that information has been compartmentalized, yes?"  He looked at the faces, and then gave a tired sigh, and shrug.  "Of course you don't...why would you?  I don't think they ever thought to pass those orders to combat units that were active at the time...there were few enough of you left that I'm not sure anyone in Command ever considered the possibility that it might need to be passed along."  He frowned a bit at himself, realizing he had expressed a potentially negative opinion about his superiors, then gave the minutest of shrugs and pinched the bridge of his nose for a moment as he shook his head.

"Okay.  On the record: all information regarding the combat capabilities and status of the SDF-1 are compartmentalized.  If it's not specific to your assignment, you're not even supposed to talk about it, no matter who you're with.  Off the record: thank you, Chief Bixby.  We still hadn't heard an official confirmation of that, even after all this time...the prevailing opinion was that the SDF-1 had fired the blast, but we've had a really hard time finding anyone who actually saw it happen.  Most of the people who would have been good witnesses went missing that day, either with the SDF-1 or they were KIA."

He flipped open the dossier, scribbling a quick note inside.  "Any other details you can bring to light about the current status of the SDF-1?  Right now, it IS specific to your assignment, so speak freely..."

Hanako managed to keep a straight face during the entire exchange, although she was rather interested in what Bixby had mentioned.  She had flying then as well (it actually her first combat flight after graduating), but whatever happened had forced her to focus on a forced landing in the ocean, so she hadn't really been able to properly witness what happened.

When the Colonel asked for additional details, she remembered what she discussed with Bixby before they were called to fly to the lunar base.  She looked over at him with a curious expression, seeming to ask if she should mention it or if he will.  After all, he had much more information than she did relating to civilian activity on the SDF-1.

Vance spoke up.  "Since the Mars sighting, we've been intercepting bits and pieces of comm traffic.  It all seems to be short-range stuff, usually traffic control for fighter patrols and combat chatter.  Based on the lack of anything in the long-range bands, I'm guessing their long-range array has been damaged or destroyed."

He paused for the briefest moment, then added, "But...well, Chief Bixby would know more about this than I do, Sir, but there's been plenty of traffic to indicate the presence of a sizable civilian population aboard the ship."  He shrugged, leaving the Colonel to make of that what he would...and Bixby to explain just what that traffic was.  He wasn't about to try and explain a beauty pageant aboard a warship in almost daily combat...

Cain's eyes widened slightly, "OH, THAT! Your talking about the SDF-01 Main Gun firing?  Yeah, I saw what... ... 'sigh'..."

And Cain's expression changes to one of deep morose and lowered his eyes...

He paused several seconds before continuing on in a much subdued and softer tone, "...my previous wingman 2nd Lt Parker Harvey saw it personally, saved the footage and showed it to me several times. He.. was quite proud of it."

"I know what op reports said about the initial contact.  That the SDF-1 main gun fired at two objects approaching in low earth orbit totally destroying them, before Macross Isle was attacked by the alien battlepods in a swarm. I've heard rumors that some malfunction happened with the SDF-1's gravity lifters when it attempted to take off.  Then shortly latter it performed what can only be a spacefold taking most of Macross Isle with it... along with the UN Spacey's taskforce wet navy ships 'Daedalus', and 'Prometheus'.  And... THE Henry Gloval, of the Global Civil war fame was in command of the SDF-1."

She was keeping silent on many things, she had heard about the Beauty Pageant on the SDF-1, and having spent some time in the RAF, and around the RN, she knew that many various things were done on military vessels, and military bases to maintain or build morale.

There was a long standing tradition to hold a big party, or ball, with many various components including cross dressing, a dance, contests and more upon crossing the equator.  She understood why a ship taking a long journey like that had to have something to focus on.  It didn't even occur to her that they might have an issue with such a generally innocuous thing as a Beauty Contest when the world's navies had done far more extreme things than that on a regular basis, why.. it would be hypocritical!

"They seem to be doing what they can for morale, might even be doing their own sort of Order of Neptune ceremony, I think.  Might be one goes from polywog to shellback when crossing the asteroid belt."


OOC:  For reference, here is a bit on that, real life reference.
https://www.veteransunited.com...heir%20seaworthiness.

The Colonel cocked one eyebrow at the observation.  "Traditionally, don't you need shellbacks to make more shellbacks?  There's only a handful of people in the entire service that have been out past the Asteroid Belt, and I'm not sure any of them were aboard the SDF-1.  And if that was what they were doing, they should have been done long before you found them on Mars..."

He turned back to Vance.  "Civilians aboard?  That fits.  I mean, we were all uncertain about what happened to Macross Island, initially...it wasn't until your squadron recovered the space-fold drive components out past Mars that we even had any evidence that the SDF-1 had survived the battle...and Gloval's not the type to stand on formalities of who's allowed on military vessels when there's a civilian population at stake.  Must be crowded, though, if everyone who went missing from that incident had to cram into the SDF-1.  I mean, there were a lot of back corners to that ship, but that's the entire crew, plus all the civilians, plus the crews of the Prometheus and Daedalus.  I presume they ended up out there, as well...if not, we need to get some diving teams looking for wreckage around what's left of Macross Island, because we never saw a sign of either vessel after that day."

He seemed, for a moment, to be rambling, then stopped and focused on Bixby.  "You can shed more light on that matter, then?"

Bixby scowled ever-so-slightly, then nodded, his eyes flicking over at Vance in minor annoyance.  "Yes, sir.  We intercepted what appear to be civilian broadcasts of local events.  There was even mention of some of the celebrities that were in Macross City for the launch celebration.  Different frequencies than any of the military chatter we picked up...and if it was just for military personnel, they'd have probably stuck with the closed-circuit internal communications systems, rather than doing a general broadcast.  At a guess, sir, I'd reckon they've got a lot of personnel on board who don't have access to the closed-circuit system, so they save it for priority messages.  The stuff we were picking up seemed to be mostly recreational."

So far, the Colonel had taken everything in stride...but Bixby had his doubts about a civilian beauty pageant being swallowed so casually as everything else had been.  He wouldn't lie, if asked directly...but he wasn't going to volunteer the exact nature of the transmissions he'd managed to clean up...

Kelly shrugs slightly.

"I was just comparing it.  The whole Line Crossing Ceremony was a way to raise crew morale on a long voyage on a dangerous cramped ships in the middle of a lot of nothing.  I thought it was a decent analogy, sah."

Vance spoke up.  "We didn't get a very clear look at her, Sir...but the visuals we got indicated that she was significantly larger than the configuration she had when she left Earth.  The telemetry and sensor readings indicated additional structures added that were built of different alloys than the SDF-1...and consistent with the size of the missing vessels.  So, while we can't positively confirm that's where the two ships disappeared to, Sir, evidence strongly indicates that they are, somehow, attached to the SDF-1."

He shrugged, and added, "Considering the best and brightest of the RDF were aboard the SDF-1, I'm sure the engineers could have figured out a way to combine the superstructures.  And, given how long they've been gone from Earth, they've certainly had time to get it done, especially with the resources they had on Macross Island at the time."

For her part, Hanako looks either upset or frustrated about the whole thing.  Those who do not know her might surmise that she feels it is a waste of resources, or that such a thing seems like a frivolous activity.  Of course, anyone who has spoken to her for more than an hour would know that is not it at all.  So, really, what has her feeling this way?

Well, the truth may have surprised some of those gathered in that room, but others would not be surprised at all.

You see, it was two overlapping things.  Firstly, she wished she could have participated in said contest, quite confident in her ability to win.  Secondly, she is upset they never did anything like that on the Ranger, where she would definitely be the victor, as she was clearly the cutest woman on the ship.  She would never come out and say such a thing, of course, as that would be horribly unprofessional, but in her heart, she knew.

After all, her upset pout right then was rather adorable.

The Colonel rubbed his chin thoughtfully for a moment, contemplating the situation...like he was weighing options.  Finally, he gave an almost-imperceptible nod, and spoke.

"Based on all the sensor data we've been able to collate, and our best extrapolations, UEDF Command is certain that the enemy is primarily...almost solely...interested in the SDF-1.  Aside from a scant handful of ships--in comparison to their total numbers--that the enemy left behind watching Earth, they've hardly given us a second glance.  And that's good.  It's given us time to rebuild some of our lost space forces...and to set in motion some other measures which I'm not at liberty to discuss."

He grimaced, and then added, "Command would have my bird for this...at a minimum...but there's a growing sentiment among them that letting the aliens have the SDF-1 would result in them departing without further incident.  While the Ranger's managed to keep up a war of attrition on those few forces, we have, thus far, not been able to field any sort of defense which they would consider a significant threat.  We're trying to catch up to that level of offensive capability...but we're trying to do it in a way that the aliens won't notice.  While one group seems to think if we just lie low, they will go away when and if they get the SDF-1, another group vehemently believes that the only way to ensure peace is to hurt them badly enough for them to think twice about encroaching on our space again.  Right now, they're in a stalemate...neither can gain the upper hand and both are determined that we should not let the populace, in general, know what happened to the SDF-1 or give them any notion of the true size of the alien threat.  And we definitely can't let them know that the aliens seem to be returning to Earth...the ensuing panic would be cataclysmic."  He shook his head, then looked, slowly, at the collected pilots sitting in the room.

"You've all been out there.  You have a clearer concept of their true numbers, and a far better grasp of their offensive capabilities and tactics.  What do you think our chances are, truly?" he asked.  For the moment, at least, his manner shifted subtly and he was no longer a superior debriefing personnel...he was a man hoping for assurance while fairly certain there was none coming.

Cain sighed, then stated; "...the enemy is holding back almost all of its forces.  They exist in vast numbers that we have been unable to accurately ascertain.  Their warships are colossal in size dwarfing even the SDF-01 and its the biggest ship Earth could field!  They clearly want the battle fortress but not destroyed or they could easily mobilize the majority of their forces to accomplish that, so... there MUST be something about or within the Battle Fortress they want intact.  They may only be holding back from attacking Earth because they don't know, as yet, if what they want is still on the Fortress or in our possession planetside."

"BUT... if THAT was All they wanted... why have such a large fleet here when smaller elements would do?  THAT in addition to the fact that they have made NO attempts to contact us not even to demand our surrender or release of the Battle fortress to them... even though its clear our race resides on Earth in teeming numbers ~ every encounter with them has been punctuated with immediate unprovoked violence!"

"Sir, I do not believe for one moment that once they have the Fortress that they will 'just go away'.  It is my opinion that once they have the Fortress, if what they are after is NOT on it they will come searching for it on Earth!  But if they find whatever it is they are wanting on the Fortress then they need not fear destroying it by attacking the Earth directly.  We are not a threat to them militarily, but in every encounter they attack without provocation and make no attempt to dialogue; so once they have what they want, likely they mean to use that fleet to wipe humanity out!  Either way... they will eventually be coming for US!  I don't know what kind of enemy one would need to have such an immense fleet to defend against, but the fact that almost 90% of their total forces have been idle says to me.. they don't think WE are a threat.  Their immediate, never changing violence on any ANY encounter, their total lack of ANY attempt to contact us or try to demand our surrender or even negotiate for whatever it is they are after on the fortress says to me we are considered vermin not worth their notice.  They don't seem to be interested in our world for its resources or even our race out of curiosity... but they attack with deadly intent on any encounter."

"Sir, You wipe out vermin once you own the house."
This message was last edited by the player at 13:48, Tue 21 July 2020.

Vance had been considering his answer when Cain spoke up, and he listened carefully, his face expressionless and only his eyes giving any hint of the emotions that the words might be triggering...and those hints were all but impossible to read.

When Cain finished, he spoke up.  "I can't question Lt. Edwards' assessment, sir.  And I think it's fair to say that we may be facing only a portion of their total forces.  They had a whole second task-force join up with their fleet a few months back, and while it's possible, it seems highly unlikely to me that they would have their entire fleet strength committed to attacking-but-not-destroying a single ship. So we have no way of knowing what their true numbers are."

He shrugged, and added, "The one way in which we outstrip them, as far as capability, is our ability to repair damaged craft and send them back into service.  We haven't had too many occasions to see it up close, but it certainly appears as though they are, for all practical purposes, either unwilling or unable to repair damage to their ships, and that may be the only reason we've been able to hold our own and may be a big part of the reason the SDF-1 is still operational and they've called in reinforcements.  But if what we've seen is only a fraction of their total strength...Hell, Colonel, even if what we've seen is half their total strength, they'll blow through any defense we can mount.  And unless any sort of attack we try manages to disable the majority of their fleet in very short order, trying to hurt them enough to make them leave us alone is just going to convince them that the SDF-1 is not the only threat we pose to them."

He raised his hands in a gesture of helplessness.  "Hopefully, between the attrition that the SDF-1 must be inflicting upon them and our own efforts, we can whittle them down to the point where they decide they aren't ready to take us on just yet...buy ourselves some time to upgrade our capabilities and rebuild our forces...but frankly, sir, I don't see a scenario where they just go away and leave us alone with no plans to come back.  Much as I hate to say it, I think our limited successes against them thus far will pretty much guarantee that they see us as something more serious than just a nuisance.  Really, all we can do is try to forestall a massed attack until our offensive capability is on a more equitable footing with theirs...and hope that their lack of repair facilities also means that they are slow in innovating new and better weapons, or by the time we're ready to fight them, they'll be at a whole new level of offensive power."

He shrugged again.  It was a bleak assessment, and his voice showed full recognition of that...but it was the most honest assessment he could give.

The Colonel looked bleak, and nodded, with hopelessness in his eyes.  "Thank you for your honesty.  You are the only people we have who have been 'on the front lines' with the enemy for any appreciable length of time, and as such, your recommendation is likely to carry a lot of weight, depending on who's making the decisions...but I will pass your information along to UEDF Command.  I don't see a clear route for us coming out of this...but we can't just do nothing, and we obviously can't surrender.  Maybe we can get priority given to projects that would improve our odds, at the very least."

He flipped the dossier shut, and stacked folders more neatly than was perhaps necessary, as if the process gave him some sense of control over a situation that he'd just learned he had no control over, at all.  "You'll understand, of course, when I say that we have to keep this information under wraps.  Morale on Earth is relatively good, right now...we haven't seen an alien incursion since just after that initial attack, and the truth of what happened at Macross Island was compartmentalized, to prevent mass panic.  If the truth of just how tenuous our situation is ever made it to the general public, society would implode.  If the truth of just how hopeless our situation might be made it through the ranks, a lot of our troops would just lay down arms and go home to die with their loved ones, which would only make things worse.  We MUST keep this secret for now.  People will piece together the truth soon enough, I'm sure...there are too many eyes manning too many telescopes for us to hold it in.  But we need to do what we can to keep spirits high and people focused on working for the greater good, rather than trying to grab what they can in what time they may have left."

He could order it all classified, of course...but it seemed important to him that any oath of silence on the subject should be by consent, rather than decree.  "Can I count on your help in this?"
This message had punctuation tweaked by the GM at 04:47, Fri 31 July 2020.

Hanako lets Cain and Vance say their things.  While she may not be quite as passionate in her opinions as Cain, nor share the same perspective, his conclusions and hers - especially right now - match up rather well.  Vance manages to handle the logical side of the argument as well, leaving her without much to say at all.  The Colonel, for all his dawning dread, keeps her respect by not only believing them, but also immediately suggesting actions that can be taken.

The subject of morale is a big one, and Hanako finds herself wishing (and not for the first time) that they could just... sing the war away somehow.

That would just be silly, she tells herself, how would you even go about doing that?  Although it would be rather wonderful if it worked.

When the Colonel asks for their secrecy, she gives him a gentle smile and replies, "You have my word, sir.  I will do whatever I can to protect humanity."

Vance grimaced at the question.  That meant, in effect, lying to his family when they asked about how things were going...although military censors were filtering what was coming from and going back to Earth pretty thoroughly, at this point, he was sure.  "I'm...not comfortable with that, Colonel...but I see the necessity for it."  He could self-censor, avoid dropping any details about the enemy...he'd been doing it for months, already, not wanting to worry his mom.  He didn't expect many people to ask him for information...but he could sit on what he knew, well enough.

His expression became bleak with the thought that they had come to this point...where concealing the truth about the enemy was more than just an expedience, and he looked around at the rest of the pilots, Hanako having already agreed...

A small shrug.

"I will protect humanity, sir." She doesn't feel the need to explain further.  One does not blatantly say that one will only follow lawful orders.. and that in war sometimes the judgement of the person on the front line matters more than someone detached.  Sometimes.
She bottles it all, and stays terse.

Cain gets an angry and dark expression on his face.

"...and whose 'better interests' does this serve sir?  If YOU were not in the military, and learned of this impending threat would YOU stay in the cities working a usual 9 to 5 like nothing's wrong?  I doubt it, and that would not be a wrong choice either!  What's a 9 to 5 job going to do to protect you or your loved ones when the city's being targeted for mass destruction by alien invaders?"

"It's easy to claim, 'Well it will cause mass panic a breakdown of all society...', we've been there.. it was called the Global Civil War, but its hypocritical to say 'it's for the Public's own good' ~ bullshit, when its mankind, as a whole, that's facing extinction, and only the big-wig, dictator's In-Power who will be allowed to shelter down to protect themselves while the rest of mankind is left unaware to Burn when the cities are laid to waste!"

"You say the soldiers will give up an not fight, I SAY that's a diservice to the men and women I have had the HONOR of serving with in battle!  There is not a one of them, that I know, who would not fight to the damned bitter end to protect earth.. any who would run... Fuck 'em, WE don't need them.. and it would not matter one bit!  People who are gonna run, are gonna run!"

"But to make the majority of mankind face extinction without EVEN giving them a chance to try to hunker down or get to some safety out of the cities perhaps ~ Is just DAMN EVIL ASSHOLE WRONG!!!  Will there be panic? Yeah. Will there be looting? YUP! Will it be an end to the Big-wig's political society ~ DAMNED Straight it will be and good riddance, damned opportunistic dictator bastards BUT... but... Will some of mankind survive? YOU BET YOUR ASS there will BE!"

Then Cain folds his arms getting his most stubborn and uncooperative expression... brooding in silence for a few seconds.

Then softly sighs, "...If its an ORDER Sir, I will comply.. UNDER PROTEST, cause someone has too... but my mom's a soldier, my sister is a little soldier who will one day have her time... and I'm a solider.. better than.. the ASSHOLE whose name I own.  We should be BETTER than the political snakes in charge Sir... we're soldiers NOT Politicians.. don't forget that!"

He goes silent... satisfied with saying his peace.
This message was last edited by the player at 13:07, Fri 07 Aug 2020.

The Colonel looked at Cain for several seconds.  If he was at all riled by the outburst, he hid it masterfully.  "You know, that's exactly the kind of answer your father would have given.  Did whatever he thought was best, and to hell with how it screwed over anyone else.  He'd be damned proud of you right now, I think."

He shrugged, and began packing up his materials.  "Like I said, I'm not going to issue any orders about it.  I trust most of you to do what's best, and I know the rest of you are going to do what you think is best, regardless of what I say.  Your information will be passed on to High Command, and they'll decide how to proceed.  Thank you for your time...I know showing up was a matter of duty, but it's still appreciated, nonetheless."

He put away the last dossier, and closed his case, looking up at them for a moment.  "I hope my assessment is wrong...I truly do.  In the meantime, it appears you have several hours to enjoy whatever the Moon Base has to offer before the Ranger arrives to retrieve you.  Make the most of it.  God knows when you'll get another break."  He took a deep breath, letting it out as a slow sigh of something between relief and resignation.

"You're dismissed."

Vance sat in shock for a moment.  Cain had never made it a secret how he felt about his father, and being compared to him in such a way was something Hardy would have never even considered doing.  Granted, he'd never known Cain's father, but still...

By the time he'd recovered from the shock, they'd been dismissed.  For a moment, he blinked in surprise.  The debrief hadn't been what he'd been expecting, either, and to have it end so abruptly...  He'd been a fighter pilot too long to be left sitting in shock, however.  When he didn't know what to do, he had orders or directives to fall back on.  A little numbly, he got to his feet and saluted the Colonel, confusion still visible on his features, then turned and walked to the door.

He paused when he opened it, looking back.  It was impossible to tell if he was looking to see if his pilots were following him, or if he was looking back for one last clue from the Colonel, as he stood there holding the door open.

Cain sat there and his expression turned to a mask of UTTER Fury at the Colonel's words...

But, suddenly something occurred to him and his rage faded... then he laughed loud and hard!

"hmmhm... ha-heh-HAhAHaHAHA!"

Then he stood and saluted the Colonel, and turned to leave, facing Hardy his grin was... sardonic.

Addressing Hardy, "He's wrong. He doesn't know my dad at all, cause Captain Thomas Riley Edwards doesn't give a rat-FUCK about anybody but Himself.. never thinks about how his actions affect others ~ he'd agree with the Colonel.  But I was also not ordered to remain silent.  Think I'll see if I can call my mother... if I can get through to her at Alaska base, IF she is not on duty, no guarantee certainly.  Jus' wanna hear her voice ~ one. last. time."
This message was last edited by the player at 17:20, Sat 26 Sept 2020.

Like Vance, Hanako had also not been expecting anything like what they had for the debrief.  She absolutely had her own thoughts on what she wanted to do now that the debriefing was over, and she was never one to be shy about such things.  She also gave a quick salute back after standing, then followed the others out the door.

"You should absolutely call your mother now that we are close enough to do so, if for no other reason than to let her know you are okay.  As for myself, I think a shower, a hot meal, and sleep are in order.  We have been without both for far too long today," she said, smiling up at everyone.

Kelly stands and puts her cover back on, then tucks her helmet under her left arm, quietly following her commander.

That was a lot to absorb on both sides.  She knew this group were considered wild cards, but some of that.. wow.

Her face shows signs of thought as she walks, and she nearly bumps into Vance when he looked back.

She abstractly says "Sorry Sah." in a distracted voice.  Polite, distant.

In reply to 1st Lt. Hanako Moriya (msg # 98):

Cain shrugs, "Yeah... a shame really.  I always thought the military's sworn duty was the protection of the civilian's WE SERVE.  But I guess we'll find out after sifting through the rubble of our world after all this is done?  My little sis deserves better... so does everyone else."

"I know mom will not abandon her post... she's a real trooper, even though she's only a communications officer. But hey certainly up in Alaska Base she should be mostly ok?  Its mostly an underground base... as rumor tells.  Wonder if that's the Big Wigs plan? Hide in a bigger hole?" 'shrug'

Cain seems emotionally drained, walking with hands in pockets...

"Hey how about we have a 'Last Meal' together?  I mean after everyone has y'know does what they want to do today... say around 19:00?"
This message was last edited by the player at 13:29, Sun 11 Oct 2020.

Vance shrugged.  "I think it's a little early to declare it a 'last meal'," he responded.  "I mean, yeah...the situation's bleak, doesn't look like there's any way out of it...but they aren't attacking Earth yet, and aren't going to be there for a few weeks yet, at current pace.  Let's wait til there's a corpse before we have a funeral," he said.  He didn't sound overly enthusiastic...just...resigned, to whatever Fate was going to bring.

"But a meal sounds good.  I mean, they've GOTTA have better food here than on the Ranger, and even if they don't, we've been cooped up in our cockpits for too damned long and living on whatever we can squeeze out of a ration tube.  Steak, or halibut...hell, even some decent steamed vegetables sounds really good right now."

He clapped Cain on the shoulder.  "Tell who you think you've gotta tell, if you think it's going to help.  But do it after dinner, okay?  Pretty sure the aliens will give us at least THAT much time in peace..."

Cain laughed, "I said last meal together... you think we're just going to be sitting around until the aliens show up? We're going to be working our assess off training the greenie pilots for the next few weeks; we'll be lucky if we get to have alone time in the Can with how much each of us will be working to get all these rookies up to snuff!  An I ain't dead until I buy that bright spot in the sky, and even then don't bet on it!!"

Vance chuckled.  "Worrying about rookies is Lt. Khan's problem right now...the Captain decided a long time ago that he'd rather have a training squadron of rookie pilots than compromise the effectiveness of all the squadrons by scattering new pilots around."

He shrugged, continuing to talk as they walked.  "But you're probably right about us getting busier as the aliens get closer to Earth.  Still...we're gonna be flying as a squadron, which should mean down time as a squadron.  So I still say it's premature to call it a last meal."  He laughed softly, and added with a broad grin, "Now...call it a last DECENT meal?"  He raised a hand in a vague surrendering gesture.

"I can't argue with that..."

"Ya need to eat to keep your energy up, regardless.  Never think of anything as a last, just... maybe a last for now."

She shrugs as they head for the Officer's mess.  Nods to Vance's comments.

"A last Decent meal in a while, Leftenant Hardy, that indeed.  And we should be enjoyin' it, eh?"

Her British accent is warm and fuzzy, in a way approachable.


"I am not supposin' tha' some bangers and mash be out o the question, eh?"  She says, purposely twisting her normal accent to sound more.. 'common', or eccentric.

Hanako has been mostly walking along side everyone else rather casually, her steps quicker than theirs so she can keep up.  She has always enjoyed listening to everyone banter, but sometimes their multicultural backgrounds catch her off guard.  After all, they almost all learned a different dialect of English, and she wasn't a native speaker, so on occasion, she is unable to figure out things from context.

Looking up at Kelley, she tilts her head to the side with a quizzical expression.  "What is 'bangers and mash'?"

A momentary grin at Hanako.

"Bangers and Mash, eh, Leftenant Moriya."  She shrugs slightly.  "A banger is a good snappy thick sausage, pork is best.  Mash is potatoes that you mash.. best to have some real cream in em too if ye can."

She closes her eyes a moment.  "Been a minute since I have had some, and you want a good pint of bitters served with em too.  The O Club at Coningsby really knew how to make a body feel welcome they did."

Vance grinned, the confused look on his face fading as Hanako's question (which had also been his own) was answered.  "Well, I'd be partial to a good steak, myself, but I suppose that a good sausage would work.  Now we just need to find out if anyone on this station cooks British food, I guess..."

He gave a shrug and gestured the group forward.  They might not know how the questions from the debrief would be resolved, but they had a plan of action that would work for now.

Cain muttered, "I could go with some fish and chips if were thinking of pipe dreams..."

She pauses to bump Cain.  "Eh, it's not proper Fish n Chips unless served in the paper.  Sides, being passive aggressive no fits you, mate."

She laughs and nods to Vance.

"Steak would be proper as well, real food of any sort would be quite excellent."

Cain looks at Kelly, "Eh? Passive aggressive?!? Not sure what you mean, I just think probably the best we can hope for will be 'Hospital Food' quality.  Most of these UN Spacy personnel don't get the luxury actual sit-down meals... mostly Zero-G ration packs.  This is Luna... we might get a sit-down meal but I don't expect more than 3-star meal at best.  This is the moon, not Earth." 'shrug'

"Let's hope we get lucky and its not meatloaf night..."

"We are talking the officer's mess, leftenant.  And I personally would be greatly impressed by one Michelin star food, at all."

She was mildly amused (and it shows!) that Cain tended not to address directly what she said.. well, other than denying that passive aggressive bit that he really is guilty of, she thinks.

As the others debate what 'luxurious' meal they might wish for, Hanako finds herself looking up at the ceiling as they walk.  "I would be happy if they even serve actual rice."

As it turned out, finding the Officers' Mess was not much of a challenge...as they were walking and discussing the pros and cons of various dishes, tantalizing aromas began to linger in the air...between that and the stream of contented-looking personnel slipping out of a hatchway, it wasn't hard to follow them back to the source...

A well-appointed kitchen, that had a menu that, while not particularly extensive, offered a broad variety of regional and ethnic dishes that reflected the multi-cultural crew of the base.  Aside from the somewhat sterile and unimaginative color scheme of the place, they might have walked into a reasonably good mid-level restaurant back on Earth, by the smell and look of the food...

"And praise the lord for my commission!  Let's get a table."

She leads the way to.. well... someone may insist on seating them.

The officer's mess appeared to be a rather informal operation.  It ran buffet-style, with foods served up at counters to which anyone could take a plate and get as much or as little as desired of whatever they chose.  It appeared to be capable of seating maybe a couple hundred at a time, but was currently maybe a quarter full.

Word had, apparently, preceded them, however, because as the group of pilots stood inside the entrance, the casual energy of the place took on an expectant edge.  Talk didn't cease...but it took on a lower volume and higher intensity, as eyes around the room darted over to see the group and then returned quickly to focus on their neighbors, as if everyone was afraid to be seen as staring at them.  Even the few pilots, identifiable by their flight suits, seemed to be awed, almost to the point of reverence.

Only one of the cooks seemed to be immune to the effect.  "Well, don't stand there gawkin'," he called out, with an odd drawl that seemed to indicate growing up somewhere in the Southwest United Stated.  "Either ya took a wrong turn or yer lookin' fer some food.  Either way, grab a plate and get somethin' in ya...them carrier-platforms are nice, but I'm sure yer smellin' better fare than you get on one of 'em."  He waved them over with one hand, from behind the counter.

Not to be a bit shy about food when she is hungry, Kelly wastes no time breaking for that chow line with a plate in hand.

"Thanks, cookie!"  She calls the the damn good man.  That's a cook for you!

She slides through, and does get her mash, with brown gravy... some kind of steak, some veg, and a piece of pie on a plate.  Not served like in a O-Club, or the officers lounge, but the food looked pretty damn genuine.

"Damn, that steak looks real."

She takes her prize and finds the closest empty table big enough for their team and wastes no time sampling things.  She turns in her chair after a sample and gives the cook she somehow knows is watching a big thumbs up!

Cain shrugs and makes his way through the line grabbing steak, baked-potatoes, green beans, and corn... and washes it down with a mug of strong cold Root-Beer.

AND FOR ONCE... Cain has Nothing to say as he devours the repast... giving only a Thumbs up for the Cook, before going back two or three times for a refill of his Root Beer!

Having a chance to eat something that's not basically reconstituted protein or some form of MRE, Hanako smiles and fetches herself the most Japanese meal she can.  Which, considering what is before her, is not very Japanese at all.  A steak, a baked potato, some vegetables - her plate looks almost identical to Cain's, just with smaller portions.  For a beverage, she simply takes whatever tea is on offer - no sugar or cream.

She eats with impeccable manners, nary a bit of food missing her mouth or falling onto her chest or lap.  By the time she is done, however, the plate looks almost spotless, as if there had never been food on it at all.  This is what happens when she uses the baked potato to soak up all the drippings from everything else, because she is not about to let any of this food go to waste.

Cain does get an odd look from her for drinking root beer, though.  Being Japanese, root beer has always been a 'challenge drink' and not consumed for pleasure, so it still weirds her out a bit when people actually enjoy it.

But she likes natto, and she's gotten plenty of odd looks for eating that, so she at least understands it's a more cultural thing.

Vance grinned as he made his way around the buffet, taking experimental sniffs.  "Man...you weren't kidding about this being better than what we've been getting.  I mean, I think the cooks on the Ranger do some damn fine work...but there's only so much you can manage with whatever fits in cold storage for a few months..."

He ended up with a smaller steak, cheese-stuffed potato, bacon, salad with Italian dressing, steamed broccoli, corn, fresh-baked roll with what seemed to be real butter...and a large slice of hot apple pie with vanilla ice cream starting to melt into it.

"This'll do for a start," he said as he sat down, with obvious anticipation on his face.  The last time he'd eaten something that hadn't been overly-processed-and-reconstituted had been a shoreleave that was so long ago he'd lost track of how much time they'd spent in space.  He wasted no time digging in with obvious gusto.

Subdued conversation slowly resumed around them...but eyes flashed back to them on a regular basis, and it wasn't hard to figure out that the group of pilots were the topic of everyone's conversation.

It wasn't until one of the younger officers got up the nerve to go say something to the cook that the conversation topic was clarified.  "Hey, Greenbean here was wondering if all the chatter about the aliens and their ships is true...they REALLY that much bigger than we are?  How are they to fly against?"

He shrugged, looking around the group, who all looked at both the cook and the officer who'd approached him with some combination of dismay and annoyance.  The cook was unfazed (the officer wasn't...already startled that the cook had burst out with what had apparently been intended as private speculation, he shrunk rapidly before the glares of his fellows.)  "I mean, most of us here been on lunar duty since before the aliens attacked.  They pretty much ignored us...they's always after somethin' down planetside or in orbit, so's we never saw 'em close-up like some of you must've...and God knows, there's more'n enough gossip contradictin' each other.  You been out there...give it to us straight..."

Cain paused looked at Hardy and shrugged...

Turning around in his seat he started, "...the 'Aliens', on rumor mind you... look just like us; except they are on average 50 to 60'ft tall.  Yeah, Giants.  None of us has personally seen them in the flesh... but too many anecdotal accounts by other soldiers on record seem to point to this.  But what really matters is they are extremely aggressive and for lack of better intel.. inexhaustible in numbers.  Casualties do not seem to matter to them. As for pilot skill.. I'd rate them all as veteran killers... not soliders..killers.  They make no attempt to protect their forces from casualties, have no medical units we can identify, and make no attempt to rescue their wounded.  They fight like a pack of piranha.. each only hungry for blood."

"As you can guess such colossal beings have colossal sized ships.  They average about a mile in length... with some reports measuring their command ships types, YES multiple command ships, being as long as maybe three miles long!  And again they seem to have an inexhaustible number of these titanic warships.  And they are ALL warships.. we have not encountered any real 'support' craft... the Aliens entire battle line are warships."

"As for their fighter craft, they have these walking battlepods with clusters of particle-beam cannons, that are well suited to Urban, Air and Space combat!  They come in a few variants - missile pods, recon birds and officers pods 'bigger and more guns'.  Clearly, they have been making these for a LONG time ~ and are VERY good at it!  I've also seen some semi-cone shaped fighter pods without legs that carry internal missile stores and particle beam weapons, but not many."

"The REAL problem is with THAT massive of a fighting force they Clearly have unfathomable resources to draw upon that frankly we'd need our whole planet's entire economy tooled to nothing but producing weapons and still they would outresource us.  We don't build mile long space warships En-Masse!  We cannot attack their war producing facilities as we have no idea where they are and likely they are not in Sol System anyways.  They clearly are not interested in our planet's resources... seeming only interested in killing us whenever we encounter them.  They have made no attempt nor do they reply to any attempt to communicate with them. So trying to 'force' them to stop attacking by hitting supply and logistics.. don't seem likely."

'Shrug', "It don't look good for a 'peaceful' resolution."

He sighed, "I'm telling you this cause I'm not going to candy coat it for you... we're in some deep shit here!  The reason they have not bothered you here on Luna is WE don't seem to matter to them.  They are here for something else... we just don't know what exactly that is."
This message was last edited by the player at 15:24, Thu 31 Dec 2020.

Vance coughed, a little uncomfortably.  "That's mostly true," he commented drily.  "Everything about the ship types, fighter craft, fighting style...pretty much dead on.  But they're closer to forty feet tall, by my best estimation...although there's no guarantee that the ones we saw weren't on the short end of the scale."  He squirmed a little bit, holding up a hand before anyone could start showering questions.

"It was for MAYBE a couple of seconds, at best, and we were bugging out before the hull breach we created caused secondary explosions...but a few of us DID see them.  Kinda blue-gray skinned, massive...but proportioned very much like us.  Don't know if that makes them more or less scary, considering what our own history has been like with regards to how wars have been fought."  He scowled for a moment.

"But they not only don't have medical personnel that we've been able to identify, they also apparently don't have any sort of repair facilities or know-how.  We've tangled with the same small task-force of ships a few times since their initial attack on Earth...and nothing that we blew up got repaired or replaced.  It's like their whole philosophy of war is built around disposables...up to and including personnel."  He frowned a little more, adding, "They're also not very adaptable.  We've been flying combat against them, of one sort or another, for months...a lot of the missions against the same ships, like I said...and they still fly the same formations and seem to follow the same protocols.  It's cost them a lot, because the longer we fly against them, the more we recognize those formations and flight patterns...but they don't seem to care.  I mean, they've always got more craft to throw into battle.  It's like they've been indoctrinated to fight war by active attrition...where we've gone defensive and engaged them on our terms, fighting hit-and-run engagements and striking where they aren't, they seem to have adapted to the concept of just bludgeoning away at any resistance until they break it down."

He glanced at Cain, then at the others. "I'm sure there's a bottom to the well they're pulling craft and personnel out of...but I don't know if we've got anywhere near enough rope to reach it.  Like Lt. Edwards said, there doesn't look to be much hope for any sort of peaceful resolution.  Right now, there's only a handful of them that seem to be at all interested in Earth, though...if we knew what brought them here in the first place, maybe we could figure out how to make them go away.  But we don't.  There's still a whole lotta guessing going on..."

Finally having the chance to speak up, Hanako points out calmly, "I managed a look inside one of their capital ships during an engagement.  They are huge, but hitting the reactor lit up the whole thing.  They may be numerous and large, but they are not indestructible."

With a tiny smile, she decides to try and cute things up and hopefully lighten the mood by miming an explosion with her hands, then making a poor attempt at miming fireworks, and saying "Dokaaa~n! Tamaya~"
This message was last edited by the player at 17:20, Wed 30 Dec 2020.

Cain nods to his friends.  Turning back to those listening, "Yeah, I join Echo Flight later in their deployment so.. I've not seen all they have, but Lt Hardy is correct.. they have nothing in a way of repair operations or technical teams they fight til it breaks, and they seem to stick to a standard attack plan... once you get use to it they are Easy to predict how they will attack."

"Which comes down to this... ship for ship WE CAN outfight them... and Echo Wing has been doing just that!  I'd weigh our skill and adaptability to their mass numbers 5 of them to 1 of ours anyday!  If your willing to put in the hard effort and try to let us get your flight crews up to the task... WE can indeed teach you what we've learned in fighting them! We're NOT dead yet! If they want to come to our Earth and try to take it.. then THEY are in for one HELL of a fight! We're not about to roll-over for them... we're gonna make them PAY for every kg of Earth the try to take with blood! THIS is OUR World.. and we're not gonna give it up without a Fight!"
This message was last edited by the player at 17:46, Wed 30 Dec 2020.

She had been staying out of the.. lack of OPSEC... but at the very Japanese mention on fireworks, she started to laugh.

She had a few rotations in Japan, herself and had Japanese friends when she was there.  An introduction to the proper cheering of fireworks was done for her.  A long time ago there were competing manufacturers, and the people would cheer them on, somewhat argumentatively.

"Kagiyaaaa!"  She answered Hanako, and burst into a full laugh.

The CO of the post, had he been there, would have been envious of the focused attention that his troops directed on the group of pilots, eyes wide as the front-liners laid down some hard data for them that had, thus far, only filtered through via rumor and in tantalizing dribbles of reports that only some of them had seen.  It became rapidly obvious that they could have told the group that the aliens were giant rabid bunnies and it would have been taken as gospel truth...

The young officer whose comments to the cook had triggered the whole discussion gave a wan smile as Hanako talked about blowing up an enemy ship like fireworks, and nodded.  "Not gonna lie...that was a lot more than I was expecting.  But I think I...and everyone...appreciates hearing it from people who've actually been there.  There's so many damned rumors flying around here that I've heard everything from the enemy ships being focused-energy projections that can't be damaged because they're basically holographic to Earth has already been overrun and the Powers That Be just don't want to tell us."  His smile took on a grim edge.

"It's good to hear that they can actually be beaten on some level.  Every time someone claims it happened, someone else says it never happened, but none of us have been out there to know.  Dim hope is better than no hope at all, right?"

Vance smiled grimly as he nodded agreement.  "Right now, whatever they're after must be on the SDF-1, because they're thick as flies on horse shit around her right now..."  Even as he said it, there was a doubtful gleam in his eye...considering what they'd just been lectured about, before the meal, it was impossible to know if any of the information regarding the existence of the SDF-1 had actually made it back here, yet...

But, he reasoned to himself, he hadn't been ordered to keep the ship's continued existence a secret...

The shocked looks on the faces around the mess hall made it apparent...news of the SDF-1's survival had not preceded them to the moon...or, at least, hadn't yet made it out of official channels and spread through the troops.

Bixby nudged Vance with an elbow to the ribs.  "Good thing that's not an official military secret...yet..." he said in a low mutter.

As if that were a cue, chaos erupted.  Everyone who wasn't shouting questions at the group of pilots was asking those questions of whomever was sitting next to them.  It was all but impossible to follow any individual's speech with all the noise...but enough individual words were decipherable to understand that everyone was demanding verification and information about what they'd seen.  The last anyone on the base had heard of the SDF-1, officially, was her mysterious disappearance and presumed destruction that had also turned Macross Island into a barely habitable sliver of its former self.

"So, now what, Fearless Leader?" Bixby asked, with a wry smirk.

As Vance mentions the SDF-1 still being around, Hanako lets out a long sigh.  "Haaaaaaa~h... now you have done it," she says quietly, resting her face in her left palm, just before the chaos erupts in the mess hall.  As the questions fly, she looks up at Vance with a slightly exasperated expression, knowing better than to make any accusations or snarky comments.  After all, those would just make things worse.  Instead, she waits for his answer to Bixby's question.

Kelly was delicately eating the very genuine pecan pie after polishing off steak and potatoes, leaving a plate that was quite clean (Much like Hanako's).  When the other female pilot expresses her dismay she nods to her, pausing to take a sip of water.

"This is not going to be pretty."

Vance heaved a sigh, scowling for a moment at Bixby's comment...then got up on his seat, so as to be seen over the heads of all the standing people exchanging questions.  "WHOA, HOLD UP!" he called out, holding his hands up.  The moment people realized who'd yelled, the volume dropped...he was apparently the bearer of all unofficial news, and they didn't want to miss it.

"There's a lot...and I mean A LOT...that we can't answer.  We just don't know.  I haven't been ordered to keep it classified, so I'll tell you now...but know that this information could become classified at any time, so don't go shouting it from the rooftops, or you'll get us all in trouble, okay?"  He didn't wait for a response.

"Yes, the SDF-1 is operational. Where she's been and what she's been doing is anyone's guess, I know we've all heard rumors about what happened to her during the alien attack on Earth and I can't clarify any of them.  We never got close enough to make contact, we spotted her leaving Mars a while ago and have been trying to track her progress, but the aliens keep a pretty tight cordon around her and we couldn't get close enough to punch a clear signal through their ECM and signal scrambling, so they don't know we've seen them, and we've only got bits and pieces of comm chatter and internal signals to let us know what's going on.  No idea how many are still on board, no clear idea what condition they're in...we just know that whoever's still on board is fighting like hell because the aliens STILL don't have her and based on their behavior for the last few weeks, since we saw the SDF-1, it's a good bet they've been badgering her for months."

His voice got somber...a little strained as he tried to keep his emotions in check as he spoke.  "They've likely got no idea any of us are still left...but they're still fighting.  So, no matter how grim things may look, I don't think any of us have excuse to make any less effort than they have."  He looked around the assembled faces, and found himself blinking back tears for a moment.

"They're fighting on faith...that we're here, that between them and us, we can fight off the aliens.  We've gotta fulfill that faith.  They keep getting blocked from a direct path to Earth, but even with all the tacks and jogs their course has taken, they keep working closer and closer...and when they get here, we've gotta be ready to leap into the fight, tooth and nail, and show them they were right to have faith in us.  You with me on that?!"

Cain Stands in support of his CO and raising his fist in Defiance to alien aggression calls out LOUDLY, "Can I get a HELL YEAH?!?!?"
This message was last edited by the player at 20:45, Thu 01 Apr 2021.

Smiling at Vance's impromptu speech, Hanako listens as he explains both what they know and what they explicitly do not know, thankful that he's including the latter.  She stands up to position herself by his side, her role as XO effectively second nature to the point she doesn't even realize she's doing it.  When he finishes, she punches high into the air with her left hand and shouts in enthusiastic support, "Ou!"

However, she is both tiny and surrounded by much larger people, so it probably sounds more like "ou~" in comparison.

Kelly stands with the rest, and participates, though not as small as her squadron mate, she is unlikely to stand out in comparison to Cain.

But.. "Hell yes!" is where her feelings lie.  Besides, participation is key when it comes to these morale boosters, and to see one of his own team lounging would have been detrimental, appearances matter.

The place fell silent as Vance called out for their attention, and stayed so quiet that pan lids could be heard clinking softly as they popped up to release steam and fell back into place.  He finished...Cain leapt up and called out...the other two pilots jumped in.  Bixby sat, semi-rigid, listening and gauging reactions.

For a moment, the cries of the Ranger pilots hung on the air, alone...and then the room erupted.  "If they had the planes and ships to do it, they'd charge out there right now," Bixby said.  It would have been a muttered aside, quite likely, in different circumstances--but he had to yell to be heard, even by the other pilots right next to him.

There was a swarm of personnel coming up to shake hands, clap them on the back, offer some voice of support and appreciation...enough that it was all but impossible to get back to eating anything (Bixby tried, repeatedly...)  And it seemed as though the crowd kept getting larger...no doubt, people heard the yelling and came to investigate, or were given a rundown on the news by cohorts in the chow hall and came down.

As things began to settle into a dull roar, as opposed to a deafening one, a major stepped up to Vance and leaned in, close, speaking in his ear.  "Thank you," he said.  "I don't know how true any of what you told them is...don't even care.  They've needed to hear something encouraging for a long time, now, and UEDF hasn't exactly been reaching out to anyone beyond the planet's surface.  They...WE...needed this."

Vance's face flickered a look of surprise, that he subdued quickly.  "I'll be honest, Major...I have no idea what our chances are.  But if the SDF-1 can survive, alone, for a year out there, the last thing I'm gonna do when she comes back to Earth space is roll over and die."  A grin of irony flickered across his face for a moment.

"One thing I've learned, fighting those aliens...it's amazing what some firm resolve and a little inventive thinking can accomplish.  Our gear may be outclassed...but I'd stack our pilots up against theirs every day, and history is full of stories about how the guy behind the stick is more important than the plane he's flying."

He wasn't sure exactly how confident he was of his own words...but he was confident enough to say them with conviction.  When and if it came to a last stand, Humanity would make a good showing for itself.  Of that, he was certain.

He just didn't know if there would be enough of them left for anyone to celebrate their resolve.

He forced that thought to the back of his mind, smiling and shaking hands, exchanging encouraging words with the base personnel...and glancing around at the others that had accompanied him with an expression that showed some degree of disbelief at the scale of the reaction.

"Bollocks!  Our gear is damn well good enough, our Valkyries can hold their own or better.  Even numbers we always win.  They got some aces, but their rank and file ain't all that.  Our pilots our as good or better, and our gear is often a damn sight better too in a dogfight, but you got to be on your toes."

She had stood up and looks a bit outraged.  Those regular pods were weak, sure then Z's had some stuff that was hard to take down, and they had better drives, but their Valkyries were outstanding.

Cain smiled, and decided he'd said enough and might be better if he say no more...least he reveal something the LC wanted kept to himself, and focused on eating his meal.

He did give Lt Jones a thumbs up of agreement with her sentiments but said nothing focusing on his own thoughts.

Cain answered with simple short answers for the greetings and thanks from the Base personnel.. unused to be treated like a hero... but it was nice he had to admit.

Bixby quirked a grin, and leaned over to Kelly.  "Sure, the Valkyries more than hold their own against the aliens...but most of the Earth defense forces aren't flying Valkyries.  The Lancers are lucky if they stack up one-to-one against alien craft, and those are the primary craft of the UEDF for orbital and suborbital defense.  If the odds were only fifty to one and everyone on our side was in a Veritech, I'm sure the Commander would have a different outlook.  The odds are more like five hundred to one, and only maybe a third of our defensive force is in Veritechs...so he's got a point..."

He was analytical in his assessment...dispassionate and apparently accepting of the situation as he saw it.  Made no sense to him to downplay the odds...if they made it sound like every Human defender was worth sixty or seventy of the enemy, morale would take a huge hit when the ranks of the more basic Lancers starting getting cut down.

"If Command looks at our tactical assessment and tweaks the battle plans so our pilots aren't all flying textbook formations, the odds will be better.  But I don't think there's been a war yet where some Old Guard officers insisted that adherence to outdated tactics would somehow turn the tide...so you can bet some of the groups, especially planet-side, won't be quick to change things up.  There's only a handful of people down there who flew in the initial attack...most of the experienced pilots got rounded up and shifted to the Ranger or Moon Base."

The words were kept at a low tone, just above a murmur, just loud enough to be audible at close distance.  To most of the people in the mess hall, they barely even added to the background noise.

"The Ranger should be here in another couple of hours.  Then they'll get down to the business of deciding just how much information we really have and what we can share, officially."

She nods slowly to Chief Bixby, her face becoming more serious.  She also replies in a low tone so that they are not overheard.

"Right Chief.  Valkyries were made to fight those giants specifically.  I will.. not say more."

She nods more.

"I hope they listen, we got us a fighting chance if we use what we have learned.  Just wanted to give them a little confidence... but did not think about the Lancers a bit.  A little hope, right?"

She smiles then to the Chief.

"Thank you."

Bixby returned the smile.  "Even as limited as the Lancers are, they should do better if they can adopt some of the tactics we've been developing.  Part of the problem we had when Earth was first hit was that the Lancers all flew in tight formations...the thought being that the combined firepower of the formation could cover up for lesser maneuverability.  And if they'd been flying against an equivalent force, it probably would."

He shrugged, and continued, "Against the kind of firepower that was brought to bear, it just increased the casualty rate.  One big blast, instead of taking down a single plane, brought down half a squadron.  The Veritechs don't fly like that...the moment combat is imminent, the formation scatters and it's a furball, with pilots largely handling their own confrontations but knowing that help is just a call away.  Cuts way down on mass casualties, and makes it damned near impossible for the aliens to try and counter our tactics, because they just don't think in terms of individual actions.  They fly like the Lancers did...except they had the firepower to make it work.  The good news for us is, that makes their flight patterns predictable."

He looked around the room, speculatively.  "If Command allows it...and if the flight ops officers are smart...they'll get copies of all our gun-cam footage.  Better yet, they'll get the holo replicas of our battles, because then you can see the whole confrontation, instead of the narrow view of single planes.  They can look at what we did, how we changed it as we learned, how the results improved...and how the aliens didn't change.  More importantly, they'll start teaching pilots that when the aliens do THIS, it means you can do THAT..." and he used his hands as representatives of the combat craft in a fight, maneuvering around each other, "and you come out with the bogey in your sights and ready to go to guns on him."

He frowned again, looking at his drink for a moment, and added, "IF Command allows it..."

"If Command has any sense, they will definitely allow it, but I suspect anyone given such information will also be put under a gag order of some sort, at least in relation to civilians." Hanako sighs as she stands with the others, letting the ones with more information, authority, or just stronger opinions speak.

Mostly because if she started to truly speak her mind, nobody would be able to get her to stop.  And she might get a few demotions for insubordination.

Yes, this is well after spending a great deal of time around Bixby, too.

"It would be nice if Command was as sensible as Captain Wilson and the others."

Cain shrugged, still stuffing down his meal,"... I just wish we knew what the aliens wanted? They are not attacking earth or our ground military installations...when we know they have the fleet size to pound earth silly, and they seem to be chasing the battlefortress.  But looking at their huge armada... they don't need it and yet they haven't blown it to kingdom come yet either... so what do they want? Why are they here in sol system? They clearly have been building a war fleet for some time ~ its huge but for what purpose? Who are they fighting that they'd even need a fleet that large? If they were just here to conquer why have they pretty much ignored earth?  It makes no damned sense honestly!"
This message was last edited by the player at 05:53, Thu 13 Oct 2022.

Vance had set back, partly taking advantage of the chance to get something to eat, and partly to hear what his people had to say on the subject.  He'd known them long enough to realize that they were doing a fair bit of self-censorship...and he appreciated that.  Wouldn't look good to call someone out in front of the crowd.

"Well, in all fairness, there's not much we've learned about the aliens that would be any use to the civilians.  Maybe to civil defense forces, but those were getting pretty scant around the planet, last I heard."  There was a chance, of course, that UEDF had reconstituted many of those units, which had all gotten chewed up in the initial alien assault of the planet...he hadn't been planetside in...

He blinked a couple of times in surprise as he realized he'd completely lost track of how long it had been.  His last time planetside had been shoreleave, and that felt like a lifetime ago.

"If I know Captain Wilson, he'll make the offer to share our updated tactics...I figure the orbital commanders will all accept it right away, they've all faced off against alien formations at some point and have an appreciation for what we'll be tackling."  His voice dropped as he said, in tones meant for the group at the table, "It's the command structure planetside that I'm not sure about."  He shot a meaningful look at his people, thinking about the awkward 'welcome' they'd received when they arrived, from an officer in an old-style UEDF uniform...something that marked him as one of the 'old guard' officers on the planet.  "They may have their own notions about what will work and what won't, and they lack the actual experience in the field to really be aware of how well their intended tactics will hold up."  He sighed, and continued, in an even quieter tone, "Then it becomes a question of whether their egos are made of the same stuff as their brass, or whether they'll listen to experienced voices."  History of the last century or so pointed strongly to the former.

Bixby regarded Cain, his mind still obviously in analytical mode as he processed the barrage of questions and statements the lieutenant uttered.  "Well...looking at their pattern--well, what little of it we've actually seen, so far, at least--they may not need the SDF-1 as a warship.  Like you said, they have plenty of those, and there always seems to be more coming from somewhere.  But there must be something about it that they DO need, or else why bother with the long-duration harassment?  I mean, I only know some scant information about it...the technology base for the Veritechs came from it, although I don't know how, and I believe all of our facilities to produce additional Veritechs were copied from it, but I couldn't swear to that one.  But it was on Earth for, what...ten years?  Completely alien technology, most of which was completely unlike anything we'd ever seen or dreamed of before.  I'd bet all of your commissions that we were only just starting to scratch the surface of the secrets aboard that ship."

He quirked a grin, and added quietly, "Of course, that's a completely safe bet for me to make.  If I'm wrong, I lose nothing..."

Hanako listens as the others discuss why the SDF-1 hasn't been outright destroyed, and why the aliens haven't used their readily apparent overwhelming force to decimate any and all opposition, because they all know that if the aliens really wanted to, there wouldn't even be a fight.  Having had plenty of time to muse over that herself, she offered her opinion.

"As Bixby says, it could be a technological thing, as what I know about the SDF-1's capabilities place it above what we've seen from the enemy forces.  After all, that main cannon blast when it was still on Earth was far and away more destructive than any individual ship, even their largest, has not even come close.  Alternately, it could be of deep cultural or political importance to them, and we really do have no idea about that side of them.  We have not exactly had a chance to talk, after all.  But whatever it is, it is working in our favor, and I for one am glad for it."

As it became apparent that the five pilots from the Ranger had no further enlightenment to offer, conversation again lapsed into pockets of murmuring with an occasional outburst of laughter...but there was a tension, an excitement in the air.  However, the Ranger detachment was left to finish their meal in peace.

After they finished up, a young private...young enough to make all five of them feel old, by comparison, although much of that was based on experience, more than age...escorted them to a suite of rooms off a common lounge.  "With the General's compliments," the private said, managing not to stammer in front of what were apparently significant VIPs.  "The General thought you all might appreciate a chance to clean up and relax a little before the Ranger docks."  He paused for a moment, seeming to mentally check to make sure he'd said everything correctly, then gave a small nod, a relieved look starting to creep into his face, before he tensed up and saluted sharply, nervous all over again that he'd almost overlooked important military protocol.

Cain looks at the cabin suite, and smiles sadly, "...feel drained.  Wish I'd brought my guitar~ ..oh yeah I smashed it."

He looks at the private depressed expression on his face, "...I guess getting a bottle of booze to nurse the night away is right out huh?"
This message was last edited by the player at 17:07, Tue 18 Oct 2022.

With a chuckle, Hanako looks up at Cain and says, "Easy, Edwards.  Bixby has not broken this one in, so we will need to let our ranking officer speak for us here.  Remember, we're not on the Ranger right now."  She then looks at the poor kid who is clearly out of his depth and gives him a sympathetic smile and shrug.  As she says, it is time to let the 'ranking officer' speak, and she gently nudges Vance's side with an elbow, although due to her size it comes dangerously close to his butt instead.
This message was last edited by the player at 17:02, Tue 18 Oct 2022.

Vance flinched, ever so slightly, at the elbow, as he'd already opened his mouth to speak when Hanako had mentioned 'ranking officer' and the elbow actually distracted him momentarily from what he'd been about to say.  He quickly gathered his wits, though.

"I don't think we're going to be here long enough for you to make good use of a bottle of booze, Cain.  We were only a few hours ahead of the Ranger, and between the debrief and that scene at the mess hall, we've lost two of those...I'm guessing Ranger will be docking in three, maybe three and a half hours?"  He looked to Bixby, as the Chief was infinitely better at on-the-fly mathematics than Vance had ever been.

"That leaves us enough time for a good shower, if they have them available, and maybe a short nap, if you're so inclined."  Vance had been on the Ranger long enough that any occasion for a nap usually was taken...he'd mastered the art of falling asleep quickly.  "But anything more than a couple of shots will have you inebriated when the Ranger arrives, and we have no idea what our assignment may be at that point...so I'd strongly advise against drinking anything stronger than soda or coffee, really."

Cain stiffened and frowned, "I wasn't thinking of drinking the whole bottle alone?!? Right?!?"

He huffed, making a dismissive gesture with his hand, "...whatever, See you all in two clicks... I'll just crash some rack time ~ alone!"

Then walked into his cabin and shut the door.

---

Inside he looked around... bleakly.  Then got out of his flight suit...

It was the silence of solitude that was... often times the hardest cause there were no distractions, no easy social self-delusions one could grasp on ~ to keep the painful memories away. The failures from screaming at the corners of the mind, the haunting faces of comrades lost in battle...

Cain found there was a radio in the room and was actually pleased to find a channel playing jazz.  Slipping out of his flight boots he decided not to turn out the lights... the dark was worse when he was in this kind of mood.  He simply laid down on his back forearm over his face...listening to the jazz and tried to sleep, and hope not to dream.

He grumbled, 'Some people drink to remember, some people drink to forget ~ neither way seems to work for me.  Lucky me.'

Eventually, his breathing became regular as sleep came.. jazz playing in his ears...

A quiet, gentle rap on the door sounded (at each of the rooms), with a muffled voice on the outside stating courteously, a few seconds later, "Ranger is ten minutes out from docking, our CO thought you'd want to know..."

Bixby, in his room, hadn't been sleeping, so much as he'd fallen into some kind of meditative trance.  He found the time spent in the practice was very helpful...so many little details competing for his attention, his meditations were often a mental sorting, and filing things away if they didn't seem they would be relevant any time in the near future.  His eyes opened slowly at the knock, and he nodded to himself at the message.

"Thank you," he acknowledged, and began sorting himself out to go welcome the ship in properly.

Vance had learned, early on, to catch sleep where and when he could, so the downtime meant a solid nap for him.  Part of that, however, was having an almost preternatural sense of time passing and an uncanny ability to become fully awake instantly.

When the knock came on his door, Vance was already dressed and pulled the door open.  The poor yeoman who'd been sent to alert him about the Ranger's arrival jumped in surprise.  "Uh...sorry, LC.  The Ranger's coming in to dock..."

Vance gave a nod.  "Right on schedule.  Thank you..."  He gave a reassuring smile to the (very!) young man, and headed for the docking facilities.

For her part, Hanako knew that taking a proper nap on a bed would likely give her bedhead, and she really wanted to avoid that, so she instead sat in a somewhat comfortable chair and meditated.¹  So it was that when the yeoman knocked on the door, she startled and stood up, hastily making sure she appeared presentable before opening the door with a smile - and then a yawn, which she was very much trying not to let happen in front of the poor soldier.  Fortunately for her, he had moved on from the door by the time she opened it, and she let out a quiet sigh of relief before more properly straightening out her uniform and heading out to the docking facilities, meeting Vance on the way and giving him a happy smile.

"I see you also want to welcome everyone when they arrive," she said in a cheerful tone.  Clearly, meditating² did wonders for her mood.

¹She took a nap.
²Napping.

Cain at first did not stir at the knocking at his door.. the jazz music covering the sound when the knocking paused for the music to cease at the end of a song and begin again he woke with a start!

He had not ...'napped' well... and he pondered the need perhaps for some sleeping pills if the Doc would allow it.  Bleary eyed he got up went to the door and cracked it..

His tone was ... petulant, "What?"

When explained by the Young yeoman, "Uhm.. sorry sir. The Ranger has arrived ah~... "

Cain suddenly realized how he must appear and his curt tone and raised a hand, "Sorry ki~ er... Yeoman... ", looking at his chest uniform tag, "...Rand. Not a great rest. Thanks.. I'll be there."

He closed the door with no further word.. got into his flightsuit but not bothering to zip it up fully ... pulled on his boots. Looked in the cabin mirror and grimaced commenting, "... Flight suit ~ Check, Boots ~ Check, Still look like Shit ~ Big Check!!"
The critical accusing voice in the back of his mind jabbed at him ~ noting how like his father he appeared just now...

{If only Dad could see me now...? He'd sneer first ~ Always first! Then laugh... ... Fuck him!!}

He sighed tousled his wild sandy brown mop of hair to ...'sort of' cover the bed head... and headed out of the cabin...

His step was almost a light jog without actually 'jogging'.. but he met up a few seconds later with LC Vance, and Lt Hanako.. slowing to match their stride... he had no words... and made no comments his slowing to match their stride in step speaking nothing but conveying his support and solidarity with his fellow pilots...

He indeed looked like shit, but the fire in his emerald eyes and the set determination of his jaw said.. he was prepared to take on the universe and defend his fellow pilots and humanity to the Bitter End... if needed...
This message was last edited by the player at 09:52, Tue 31 Jan 2023.