Macross Fan Fiction ❯ Legend of Megaroad -- Book One ❯ Chapter 8: Final Preparations ( Chapter 8 )

Chapter 8: Final Preparations

--March 23, 2016--

--18:50--

Corina's buzzer started ringing, and when she looked through the peephole she caught a glimpse of Broli, beaming at her through the door. He seemed to be in a very good mood today. "Hi Broli!" She said, throwing the door open.

"Hi Kitten! Ready to go?"

"Yeah. You know, you're early."

"I know. I managed to borrow the Colonel's car."

Corina's heart started pounding to the point where her chest hurt. "You have Hikaru's car?! The 2012 Lexus?!"

"That's the one."

"He's never even driven that car! It has like...2 miles on it!"

"He said it was a wedding gift from Minmei, but he never uses it so he loaned it to me for the day. I want tonight to be special."

Corina started to hope Broli wouldn't be peeling her off the ceiling by the end of the night. "Then let's not delay any longer. Onward my love!" She said, half leading half dragging Broli out of the apartment to the Hikaru's waiting Lexus.

The ride to King Laos was shorter than usual, and for a change Corina actually bothered to look around the city. Megaroad city was quite a bit smaller than she thought it was, with much of the traffic being either bicycle or pedestrian. Very few people in the city actually owned cars; even Hikaru either walked or biked almost everywhere he went, but after the 10 minute drive across town to King Laos, Corina wondered if she'd ever be willing to walk anywhere again.

When she stepped out of the car, she noticed something very strange in the surroundings. There was an unusual number of bikes parked outside the restaurant, but the lights were off and the doors were closed and locked. She looked at the building and saw that the restaurant seemed to have been closed for the day. "Broli, is it Sunday or something?"

"No, they're open. Let's go inside."

"Are you sure?"

"Trust me." Broli took her by the hand and led her up to the door, but stopped her there as he recovered the key to the lock from his jacket pocket. "Kitten, I really think you've forgotten something."

"What? What did I forget?"

"Something very important."

"Like what?"

Broli pushed the door open and the lights clicked on. Some 50 voices inside all shouted at once. "Happy birthday Commander!"

Corina tried to move, she tried to speak, and she tried to show some kind of expression, but her feet were nailed to the floor, her voice was gone, and her face had turned to stone. "What the hell?!" She said at last, "Is this for real?! You mean to tell me that I forgot my own birthday?!"

Sara was standing next to the door, laughing raucously with everyone else in the room. "You did last year too, and the year before that, and if I'm not mistaken, you ALWAYS forget your own birthday, even though you remember everyone else's."

Broli nodded. "That's right. Happy birthday."

Corina leapt into Broli's arms and kissed him. "Thanks Broli!" She turned to the others gathered in the room, most of them crewmen but all friends. "You guys are the greatest!!" She dashed into the room and quickly vanished into the crowd, leaving Broli to marvel at her enthusiasm. He found the entire concept of the birthday confusing, but he had long ago dismissed it as just another micronian excuse to throw a party. Not that he minded all that much, any excuse was good enough for him.

Hikaru seemed to appear out of thin air next to him and shoved a bottle of champagne into his hand. "Lieutenant Broli, you're a lucky man." He said, patting the Zentradi warrior on his powerful shoulders.

"You're so right Colonel. She's absolutely amazing."

"Are you ready yet?"

"For what?"

"After tonight, there's about a one in thirty chance you'll be waking up in your own apartment tomorrow."

Broli uncorked the bottle and gulped down more than half of it at once. "I've done scarier things. I think I'll be fine."

"Good to know! Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go peel my wife off those jet jockeys from Buzzard squadron."

Broli took anther long gulp of the champagne before diving into the mass of people in the party. Hikaru migrated over to where Misa was laughing/arguing with several fighter pilots when Minmei appeared in front of him wearing a silk Chinese dress. "Hi flyboy. Keeping busy?"

"Hey Minmei. Thanks for showing up, it means alot to Corina..."

"Corina's my friend, it was a pleasure. But I really wanted to talk to you."

"About?"

"My boyfriend."

"Boyfriend?" Hikaru was intrigued now. "Now THIS I gotta hear! What's he like anyway? Jet jockey? Grunt? He a sports jock or a movie star..."

"He's an industrial artist. And he's a bit of a shut-in. And, believe it or not, he has never heard of Lynn Minmei."

Hikaru almost laughed in her face, at the last moment he realized she was being serious. "How's that possible? Aside from Zombie Zentradi, and C.K.'s jazz band you and Corina's band are about the only live music on the entire ship! I mean, he's never done paintings of you or a billboard for one of your movies or anything?"

"I don't know how, but apparently he hasn't. But that's what's so great about it! He loves me just for who I am! I mean, after all this time I've finally found a man loves me dearly and he does it just because of ME! That's like finding gold in a sewer!"

Hikaru scratched his head. "I guess that makes me the log that drifted by..."

"You know what I mean..."

"Yeah. Well what do you want ME to do about it?"

"He'll get suspicious if we don't go out and meet some people. I want you and Misa to meet him, but lead him on like I'm just a regular person."

"But you're not a regular person."

"Yeah, but HE doesn't know that. And I wanna keep it that way as long as possible, at least until we have a baby or something."

Hikaru stared her down a bit. "You're really serious about this one, aren't you?"

"More than you could ever know."

Hikaru looked over at Misa, who was in the process of chewing out one of Lieutenant Harper's rookies for some unheard comment. "I think I can relate. Just give us the time and the place, and we'll be there."

"Thanks Hikaru." Minmei kissed him in the cheek and vanished into the crowd just as the music started up from the Karaoke machine in the corner. First up was Lieutenant Sara Douglass singing (or trying to sing) to Mariah Carey, but butchering the high notes and sending most of the Zentradi crewmen cowering in terror. Corina felt like she was floating, it felt good that at least SOMEBODY remembered her birthday. She danced with the crowd to the beat of Sara's off key yelping until the hapless tactical officer was unceremoniously removed from the little stage in the corner of the room and replaced by a Zentradi gunnery sergeant for a Barry White solo, with far more success than the eager yet untalented Sara.

Hikaru watched Corina and Broli surrounded by their friends for a minute before moving off to subdue Misa before she hurt someone. "...and just what the hell happened to chivalry anyway?! When I was a kid, men used to look out for women! They were polite and respectful around ladies, gentlemanly and civilized, and then all of a sudden there was an explosion of perverts like you who go off and say anything they like!"

The pilot she was tearing into was extremely young, barely out of the training corp and clearly inexperienced in the ways of Misa. "B-but..."

"What kind of soldier are you?! With that kind of brutish mentality, you'll be hanged for gross incompetence!"

"B-but Captain I only wanted to know if you'd met him! I didn't mean..."

"Who?" Hikaru interrupted.

"Roy Fokker sir! I saw that movie and I was wondering if it was true!"

Hikaru laughed. "Captain quit pickin on the kid! He doesn't know any better!"

Misa looked at the Ensign like a bug in a jar. "Alright, you're off the hook now Ensign. But you better watch it from now on, I'll be keeping an eye on you! Got that?"

"Y-yes ma'am!" The young man stood up, saluted awkwardly, and shot out of the building like a frightened animal.

Hikaru walked over an lightly knocked in Misa's head with his knuckles. "I remember when you put ME through my paces. I was ready to strangle you."

"But instead you married me and inflicted that little nightmare of a three year old on me. I guess this means I'll have a backup it you ever get hit." Misa said, playing with his hair.

"I don't get hit, Misa. Not while we still have to put Miko through college." Hikaru saw the door to the kitchen open up, and Lao Fei Chan appeared with a gigantic birthday cake. He saw movement from the crowd of people by the Karaoke machine that he realized it was Corina actually vaulting into the air with excitement. "Broli's gonna have a great life with that woman. Two free spirits together at last."

"You really think they'll get married?"

"Yes. And soon. Speaking of which guess who else has plans to get hitched?"

"Who?"

Hikaru pointed to the corner of the room where Minmei was climbing onto the little stage. They watched her face twist in disgust as the machine called up a Brittany Spears title, but she launched into the song like a true professional. "She says she met a man who's never heard of her before. Apparently he's some kind of artist, which probably means he's been living in a basement somewhere for the past 5 years."

"I know, she told me about him. She LIVES with him!"

Hikaru almost blasted through the ceiling. "She's sleeping with him?!"

"Actually no, or so she tells me. Why do you bring it up anyway?"

"Minmei wants him to meet us and he wants us to paint her like the nothing girl she wants him to see."

Misa laughed. "Hikaru, do you have any idea how crazy that sounds?"

"Well it wasn't my idea. She seems pretty serious about this though, and I know she wouldn't have asked me if she didn't think she could trust me. Or you for that matter."

Misa nodded. "Fine then, I'll play along." She kicked her feet up on the table and put her head on his shoulder, whispering in his ear. "I wouldn't be surprised if Richard turned out to be a vibrator."

Hikaru roared with laughter until he noticed a commotion from somewhere else in the building. With no prior warning and for no obvious reason, two drunken marines had apparently started exchanging punches in a corner of the room near the bar. Corina caught sight of the commotion and immediately sprinted across the room, danced up the two marines and blackened both of their eyes one after another. She fought them both for almost 3 minutes, giddy as a schoolgirl on prom night, before Broli sidled up to them and cracked their heads together like a pair of cue balls. "They make such a perfect couple." Hikaru said smiling.

--22:40--

The party was winding down. Minmei and Sara had grown horse from a fierce battle of pop songs, (which most onlookers agreed that Minmei won hands down) and both opted to turn in for the night. Misa and Hikaru left after the first hour to check on Miko, but for some reason did not return to the party that night. Lieutenant Harper and Ensign Blake remained with an electric piano and a violin for those still sober enough to try and dance, though Blake actually spent more time tearing into the cake than playing music. At 11:00 pm, Lao Fei Chan and the others began dragging some the groundlings out of the restaurant, depositing them face down on the sidewalk side by side like fish at a market. MPs started to arrive and transport the inebriated officers to their barracks for a thorough ass chewing by their unit commanders, or a ruthless mockery by junior officers for those who were themselves unit commanders. Corina and Broli were the last to leave. They danced almost all night, fueled by the triple sugar rush of Corina's birthday cake, until Fei Chan tactfully informed them that it was time to close up, at which point Broli and Corina both chipped in to help clean up the mess left from the others.

They returned to Corina's place at almost midnight, both quite sober and of sound mind, but both intoxicated by something far more powerful than alcohol. "I had a great time tonight Broli. And thanks for remembering my birthday."

"It was my pleasure Kitten, I'm just glad you had fun." Broli started to leave, but remembered something and reached into his pocket. "I forgot your present." He pulled a small wooden box from his pocket and handed it to her. "I'm sorry, I don't know how to wrap things yet."

"It's okay." Corina opened the box and almost cried. There were two wooden figures of Broli and Corina inside, each about 4 inches long, carved out of pinewood. They were incredibly detailed, and Corina noticed that they looked exactly like her and Broli. "Where did you get these?!"

"I made them."

"What?!"

"A big part of the cultural exchange was exploring creative activities other than fighting. So I had my roommate teach me how to carve wood. If I have nothing better to do, sometimes I do this."

"How long did these take?"

"I started yours when I met you, and I did mine last year. I do a little bit every day, but it doesn't take long if you do it all at once..."

Corina felt like she was melting. "How come you never told me that?"

"You never asked. I'm sorry Kitten."

Corina looked at the two wooden figures in her hand and started to tremble. "You can't give these to me."

"I have to. I don't really own anything else, just pinewood and carving knives. And I have some guns, but Hikaru told me firearms aren't usually given as gifts. I think that's kinda strange, but I wouldn't know."

"Well... thank you Broli."

"You're welcome Kitten..."

"Broli, so help me, if you call me Kitten just one more time I cannot be held responsible for my actions."

"You don't like want to call you that?"

"I LOVE it when you call me that, but this is too much!"

Broli got the impression that he had somehow offended her and turned to leave. "Then I am sorry. Goodnight Kitten." He immediately scolded himself for saying it, and though to apologize for saying "Kitten" again, but with a flash of movement Corina snatched him out of the hallway outside her apartment and dragged him inside by his collar, slamming the door behind him and locking it for the night.

--22:50--

Minmei came in to the apartment she shared with Richard and found him asleep on the couch with the TV on. She sat down next to him and rested her head on his shoulder while she contemplated her plans for them. She already knew she desired to marry this man, but the hows and whens of it escaped her. She would end up either bribing all of her and Richard's friends to ensure their silence, or she would convince him to have a very small and private ceremony with only their most trusted acquaintances present. And there was always the problem of the tabloids; keeping Richard out of the lens of the paparazzi had been tricky work when she first started dating him, but the cameras gradually lost interest when their collective bosses decided that there just wasn't that much public interest in the personal life of the retired songstress, and they'd vanished altogether after Minmei complained to Misa about harassment two weeks ago. But a marriage was something no bribery or smooth talking could keep out of the papers. She would almost have to become a whole different person...

Richard was stirring. He awoke to the scent of her perfume and put his arms around her as soon as he felt her head on his shoulder. "Hey. What happened to you? You don't usually work this late."

"My best friend's birthday party."

"Oh yeah, I remember. What's her name again?"

"Never mind. Richard, I want to take you to meet my friend Hikaru tomorrow."

"What for?"

"You don't know any of my friends, and I don't know any of yours. If we're really going to live together like this, we have to get to know about each other's lives."

Richard kissed her. "I guess you're right." He said, then added, "Hikaru isn't Zentradi, is he?"

Minmei growled at the question she knew he was going to ask. "Richard would you lighten up?"

"Is that a yes?"

Minmei sighed in aggravation. "No, he's not. But that's why I didn't want you coming to Corina's party. There were lots of Zentradi there."

Richard sat up suddenly. "Really? Any of them seem overly interested you?"

"What the hell is that supposed to mean? Corina's an officer, and most of the Zentradi there were dedicated soldiers. And her boyfriend is a kind and decent man just like you..."

"How could you even compare me to one of those... things? They're ruthless killing machines that would exterminate all of us given half the chance."

Minmei always became frustrated when Richard got into one of his moods, but she always did her best to just ride it out. "Look, they all know me, and I know them, and I trust them, and you know there aren't alot of people in the world who I really trust. But I trust THEM because they were created for only one purpose, and that was to fight wars. All they really want now is some the life that you and I take for granted, and even the simple luxury of being able to make their own decisions. I just wish you could look past the Bodolzas and Kamjins and the other maniac warlords out there and see all the good they've tried to do for our people."

Richard stood up and they walked together towards their bedroom. "Minmei, you are truly the most beautiful and pure person who has ever lived, inside and out, to say something like that about the Zentradi. They're the same people that almost ended our entire civilization, the same people that pose a constant threat to our very species and you have nothing but love for them. And for that, I truly admire you." He paused outside the door. "Even so, I'd feel better if you'd stay away from the Zentradi from now on. It terrifies me just to think of one of those things hurting you."

Minmei groaned, more than ready to let the subject die. "If it means so much to you, then fine. I'll keep my distance whenever possible."

--March 24, 2016--

--05:00--

The little girl in the Daffy Duck pajamas plodded along in the hallway of her house, past the bedroom door of her parents, past the closet door they had padlocked to keep her from playing with her father's gun, ultimately reaching the linen closet between the bathroom and the attic stairs. As she had done a dozen times before, she climbed the shelves of towels to the top of the closet until her tiny fingers grasped the wooden box of party balloons left over from her last birthday party. She pulled the box down and searched through the many colors until she found one that matched her mood, a bright purple and yellow balloon with fiery orange streaks. Satisfied with her selection, she gleefully scampered back down the hallway to her parents room to complete her mission. With no particular urgency, she blew up the balloon and held it next to Hikaru's ear, pinching the opening with two stubby little fingers to keep it from flying off. Then she reached into the drawers next the bed and found one of the safety pins Misa always kept around just in case. She giggled to herself one last time and then popped the balloon with the pin.

Hikaru gave a startled yelp and burst awake, leaping out of the bed in a panic, heart racing, eyes glazed over from a shattered sleep, chest heaving from the rush of adrenaline in his veins. "Miko again." Misa murmured in her sleep after Hikaru caught her breath.

Hikaru finally saw and heard the three year old girl rolling around laughing on the floor, infinitely amused by her latest exercise in prankage. "Oh you think that's REAL funny don't you?" Miko only laughed harder, and Hikaru turned to his half sleeping wife still mashed into their bed. "How come she never does stuff like that to you?"

Misa grunted and went back to sleep while Hikaru collected the exuberant little mischief maker and dumped her on her own bed down the hall. "Miko, what have I told you about playing tricks on people?"

"But it's time to wake up, daddy!" she pointed to the clock next to the bed that read 5:15. Hikaru rubbed his tired eyes and headed down to the kitchen for some coffee. "Five. I just had to teach her number five. And now I can't ever sleep past five in the morning..." Hikaru heated up a pot of coffee and got dressed for the daily grind. Miko followed him, tugging at his t-shirt for attention. "Daddy, could you take me up in your airplane today?"

"No. It's too dangerous now."

"Please?"

"I told you, no."

Miko whined for a couple more minutes, but Hikaru didn't seem to be bending so she plainly gave up. "Are you gonna war now?"

"Probably not. I have to go find the bad guys so the ship can move to a new star."

"Are the bad people scary?"

"Yup. And they've got big sharp ugly teeth that could snap your little fingers right off!"

Miko wiggled her fingers around mockingly. "That doesn't sound so scary! I wanna go war too!"

"Why don't you go play war with your friends?"

"I don't wanna war with them! I wanna war with you and mommy!"

"Maybe when you get older."

"But that's a long time!"

"Not when you think about it." Hikaru poured some of the pot into a coffee cup and left the house for the trolley car that led strait to the flight deck. Miko watched him walk away and then went back to the kitchen to wait for Misa, who arrived on schedule exactly 15 minutes later.

"Mommy, can I go war with you?"

Misa poured the last of the coffee into her own mug, and yawned. "I'm not going to war."

"But you're a army people. Army people war the bad army people. Aren't you gonna war them?"

"Not today. And when we do have a battle, you have to stay right here."

"How come?"

"In case the bad guys attack the house. I need a big tough soldier to protect all our stuff, okay?"

Miko clicked her heels together and snapped off an awkward little salute. "Aye aye mommy!"

--07:30--

Broli yawned widely and stretched, feeling more than refreshed with his 5 hours of sleep behind him. He felt energetic, alert, and satisfied that Corina had enjoyed her birthday. He smoothed a wrinkle in his uniform as he headed off towards the door to her apartment, but Corina emerged from the bedroom before he could get there, wrapped in a blanket to cover herself. "How come you didn't wake me up?"

"Sara took your shift. She said you'd need it."

Corina squinted at him. "How did she know that?"

"Just a guess." Broli winked at her, and she leaned up and kissed him.

"Was it all as bad as you thought it would be?"

He grinned like a wolf. "We'll have to talk about it some time, I mean that was... interesting."

"It sure was."

Broli turned to go again, but then stopped. "I give you my word as a soldier, I'll come back alive for you."

"That's for damn sure. You're no use to me dead."

Broli laughed and left her apartment, walking down two flights of stairs to where Hikaru's Lexus waited. He knew that after he returned the car and made his way back to his ship, there would be no going back. The next time he would see Corina, it would be on the planet Gallaron.

--March 25, 2016--

--19:35--

Commander in Chief Bruno J. Gloval lit his pipe once again. He'd had a bad feeling ever since the last report from Misa, indicating that the ship was headed for the center of the galaxy and the latest developments weren't helping matters much. A seasoned officer with the engineering corps burst into his office on the SDF-Macross with a memo from the com room. "Chief Gloval sir, reports from the hyperspace relay station just came in. Contact lost with SDF-2 Megaroad shortly after last fold jump on March 3, 2016. They should have automatically transmitted a systems report after their defold sir."

"Yes I know. And the ship disappeared somewhere in the Arturo sector, yes?"

"Yes sir."

"That's the area Exodor warned me about. He thinks that the Supervision Army might still have a strong presence there."

"Should we send the 6th fleet to search for them sir? If they are damaged or in need of assistance..."

"Would we send additional ships to investigate any of our other colony ships if THEY stopped transmitting?"

The officer thought about it, but shook his head. "I doubt it sir. We're barely holding up our own defense as it is."

Chief Gloval bit his pipe for a moment. "Send this to Admiral Bennet of the 6th fleet. You're ordered to deploy ARMD-16 with an escort of frigates to the last known position of the Megaroad 01. If they cannot find any sign of the ship, instruct them to proceed towards the center of the galaxy on the most logical route the ship may have taken."

"Yes sir!" The officer jotted down the note and shuffled off to contact Admiral Bennet.

Chief Gloval was no fool as Bennet had assumed he was, and for that matter neither was Britai. But Britai was a military man, as was plainly obvious from his Zentradi heritage, and was incapable of seeing most situations from any point of view than the most practical and realistic extremes. Gloval, on the other hand, had to appreciate the intricate political nature of their predicament. SDF-2 was so far from Earth that any complaints he could have about one of Misa's decisions would be little more than an afterthought by the time she heard about it, but for longer operations he had always tried his best no to impose his authority on her judgment, even though the Advisory Council almost always chose to interfere with whatever it was she was doing. In this case, he couldn't really blame her for whatever it was she was holding back. He had a running list of theories as to why she would be slacking with her telemetry, though an automated systems report hardly seemed like something she'd hold back in the interest of time saving... unless the ship had somehow become damaged. Either way, he could only reflect on the policy he had secretly adhered to since the launch of the first colony mission 4 years ago. "Long range bureaucracy is a dangerous thing in any century. I only hope ARMD-16 doesn't find anything out there."