Previous chapters are at http://templar.anifics.com/ (update will be 
posted by 10pm PST tonight)

Disclaimer: The characters within belong to Pioneer, Harmony Gold, and a
couple to Palladium books.  No profit was made from this work of fiction

Chapter 21: With friends like these...

Tenchi held his former subordinate's gaze for a long time. "Too long," 
he said at last.

Miriya groaned slightly, though Anna Mitchels was still and slightly.

"I'm sorry about the bindings," Zaria continued in a voice more devoid 
of emotion than he remembered. "But there was only a five percent 
probability of being able to talk with you without violent action if you 
were not restrained."

Tenchi held her eyes, searching for something he could use, while his 
bound hands patted a small pocket sewn into his flightsuit's back.

"Looking for this?" Zaria placed the Master Key on the floor at her 
feet. "I only wish to talk, Captain.  When the others are ready, I will 
be waiting."

Tenchi tried to hide his disbelief as the violet-haired Zentradi calmly 
walked out of the cell  She completely ignored the weapon she had placed 
on the ground.

Tenchi knew that things just became more complicated than he had ever 
suspected.

*******

"It's been two days, Rick," Lisa said at last.  Two days of tension, two 
sleepless nights filled with stress, two days of constant battle on 
Earth while the bulk of the RDF's striking power was trapped in a stalemate.

"Breetai?" Rick asked hopefully.

Lisa shook her head. "He said that he doesn't have enough officers he 
absolutely trusts.  End of the week, soonest."

Rick stared at the screen on his desk.  The last snippet of a radio 
transmission was sitting idle.  It was Miriya's voice, reporting that 
she and Tenchi had been shot down.  It cut off with sickening suddenness.

"You're right, as usual.  I'll call Max, then Ryoko.  As of 0800, Zulu 
time, Miriya Sterling and Tenchi Masaki are considered Missing In 
Action, and believed dead."

Rick was amazed at how calm he sounded as he pressed his thumb to the 
sensor plate.  There would be no search parties.  No resources could be 
spared.  Rick had just condemned two friends to death, assuming they 
weren't dead already.

And he couldn't even feel regret for that decision.  Leadership stunk.

*******

Miriya was sitting up shortly after Zaria left.  Tenchi quickly relayed 
the short conversation to her.

"That makes no sense," Miriya said when Tenchi had finished. "She was 
never that cold.  Detached, yes, but not so...calculating."

"She's trying to justify her instincts," Mitchels murmured.  Tenchi and 
Miriya scooted over to the younger officer, but she shrugged them off. 
"I've been awake longer than you, Captain, I'm just a little groggy."

Tenchi nodded.  "That makes sense.  Can you two stand?"

Both women nodded. "What are you planning?" Miriya asked. "We don't have 
anything that could cut these bindings."

Miriya's confused look was joined by an identical expression on 
Mitchels' face as Tenchi crawled over to the slim object Zaria had 
dropped.  He smiled slightly as the familiar grip pressed into his 
hands.  A moment later, he sent a tendril of pure will into the Key and 
twirled it in his hands.  The glowing blade flared to life, cutting his 
bonds as it reached its full size.  He then cut the bonds on his feet 
and the ones holding the two women without fanfare.

"Max told me about that sword," Mmiriya stated. "I thought he was 
delusional after the fold you two weathered."

Tenchi shrugged. "Let's go."

*******

Ryoko stared at the dark screen for a short eternity.  Admiral Hunter's 
message had been short, given the difficulty in transmitting around the 
orbiting rebels, but it had also been perfectly clear.

Tenchi was gone.

The scum in orbit were preventing anyone from finding him.

A great blackness began to rise in Ryoko's heart.  Last time she felt 
this, she had rushed into Kagato's lair in a cold frenzy.  She had 
learned from that mistake.

"Ryo-ohki!" she called.  The cabbit responded immediately by teleporting 
into Ryoko's lap and nuzzling her partner in shared sympathy.

"I'm not going to do anything stupid," Ryoko assured her partner. "Try 
to connect to Ayeka through her key."

Ryo-ohki nodded, and chirped as a connection was established.  A bit of 
mental pressure told Ryoko that the connection was imperfect.  She could 
send a short message one way only.

Ryoko glanced at her terminal and rattled of a set of co-ordinates. 
"Tell her to be ready to hit this spot in an hour.  We're going to break 
the blockade."

Ryo-ohki nodded again, and let out a low growl as the transmission 
completed.  Ryoko smiled in return.  Had anyone seen this smile, they 
would have quickly tried to get as far away from Ryoko as possible.

"Just like old times," Ryoko purred. "It's hunting season."

*******

Tenchi led his companions down a short, dark corridor to what he 
supposed was Zaria's main lab.  The walls were covered in screens 
showing the jungles, sensor maps of a large Zentradi force in several 
critical orbital positions, and schematics of mecha.  The mecha drew 
Tenchi's eye for a moment.  There were Zentradi mecha, old and recent 
RDF designs, and a few he didn't recognize but supposed were prototypes. 
  Zaria herself was in the center of it all, manipulating a holographic 
schematic that twisted in the air before her.

"That did not take as long as I calculated," Zaria idly commented with 
her back to her new visitors. "You always seem to surprise me, Captain."

"What happened to the rest of the squadron?" Tenchi's grip on his sword 
did not relax or waver as he asked the question.

Zaria paused in her work, and slowly turned to face Tenchi. "I don't 
know, Sir."

"You don't know?" Mitchels practically screamed. "You were the one 
ordering them back and forth across the quadrant!"

"Yes," Zaria admitted. "But at the same time, no."

Tenchi extinguished his sword and slipped the Master Key in his belt. 
"What do you mean?"

"Sit down," Zaria said.  When the other three were in the chairs she 
indicated, she continued. "Have you not wondered why the Zentradi 
resistance to Terran culture is getting worse, not better?  Logically, 
the worst malcontents would have been part of Khyron's force, and killed 
then.  But petty warlords continue to emerge from the refugee 
communities.  More than that, they also have no trouble finding caches 
of mecha, even deep in the jungle."

"Don't they find them from crashed ships?" Mitchels asked hesitantly.

"That is the official theory," Zaria replied. "But think for a moment, 
Anna.  What has the RDF never found?"

Mitchels was silent for a moment. "We've never found a ship with 
salvagable mecha in the wilderness.  Those that crashed were damaged in 
the explosion of Dolza's fortress that most systems beyond basic power 
and defense were unusable."

"Very good," Zaria said.  Tenchi could have sworn there was a note of 
pride in Zaria's voice for her former subordinate. "Additionally, the 
ones that were in decaying Earth orbit were part of the force that 
sought to counter Lord Breetai's strike force.  They expended their 
mecha in that battle."

Tenchi nodded slowly. "So where did they come from?"

Zaria spun her chair away from the three, and stared at one of the 
schematics on the wall. "I believe they were supplied by the same being 
that has caused so many of my people to turn against those that have 
finally given them hope."

Tenchi was silent.  Miriya finally spoke up. "So what about now?  Are 
you saying all of this," she waved around the room in emphasis, "was 
caused by whoever that is?"

"No," Zaria sighed. "He - for lack of a better designator - was probably 
ignoring me.  As a loyal member of the RDF, I was beneath his notice. 
What triggered it was this location."

A blinking dot appeared on the map of the quadrant, just over a hundred 
kilometers from the northern-most Outpost Base. "There is a crashed ship 
here with a ruptured power core.  Because of this, the protoculture has 
escaped the containment fields and began seeding."

Tenchi nodded.  That wasn't completely unknown.  The flowers that grew 
around such cores were very effective at restoring nutrients in soils 
damaged by the Rain of Death.  There was even talk about sending them to 
the colony worlds as a way to accelerate terraforming.

"In this case," Zaria continued, "something in the area - perhaps the 
remains of some project during the Global War, or perhaps some specimin 
canister the ship was carrying for The Masters - caused the flowers to 
mutate.  My team found the site, and were exposed to the spores."

Mitchels nodded slowly. "That's when you and Sherman starting acting wierd."

Zaria nodded in reply. "Correct.  Ensign Sherman was more directly 
affected."

"Meaning he was drivin completely insane," Miriya interjected.

"Insanity is relative," Zaria replied quietly. "But he was more 
irrational.  I he suggested exposing others to the spores.  I rejected 
that notion at first, but I beleive I was eventually convinced, seeing 
the insanity among the RDF units as a way to test the mecha I was 
designing."

"Designing?" Tenchi asked. "You did this?"

A hint of pride entered Zaria's voice. "Yes, I did.  That was the effect 
of the spores.  By the scale humans use, my intelligence, both reasoning 
and memory, were boosted to immeasurable levels.  Whatever was 
influencing the warlords seized on that, and planted an urge to improve 
the mecha that Zentradi all over the world were using."

Tenchi grunted. "Some of those designs seem to be comparable to what 
Exedore and Burke are working on."

Zaria shrugged. "Yes, but with a difference.  I don't underestimate the 
intelligence of my people.  Politics aside, what Dr. Burke is designing 
is a cross between a standard Battlepod and a simplified Destroid.  He 
believes, and Exedore doesn't argue, that Zentradi cannot comprehend 
more complex controls or machines."

"Politics has something to do with it," Miriya muttered.

"Slightly," Zaria replied.  She turned to Tenchi and gave him a look 
equal parts anger, fear, and despair. "I want what is best for my 
people, Captain.  Someone used me and led me down the path of madness. 
I've fought that off, but the consequences still remain.  Will you help me?"

"I don't know if I can," Tenchi replied. "I was sent here to arrest you, 
Zaria.  The charges that could be leveled against you...are pretty bad."

Zaria nodded, and for the first time ever, Tenchi saw a tear work its 
way down her cheek. "I understand that.  Even if I get off on an 
insanity defense, I'll never fly again."

"That's the least of your worries," Miriya said. "If found guilty, 
you'll be shot."

"I know," Zaria rasped. "I don't want to die...especially not for 
someone else's wrongs.  And I have much I can give to the RDF."

"Like what?" Mitchels spoke up at last.

Zaria pressed a set of buttons on her consol, and a small disk popped 
out. "This disk contains plans for a scaled-down Veritech mecha. 
Transforming power armor, if you will, that could be put into production 
within two years."

Tenchi took the disk hesitantly. "Is this all?"

"No," Zaria replied. "There's a boat heading to the Zentradi Containment 
Zone in South America.  It is loaded with the mecha upgrades and new 
designs that I created.  It will reach the shores in three more days, 
and will be turned over to the resistance groups there.  I need your 
help to destroy it."

"With what?" Miriya asked incredulously. "In case you forgot, our mecha 
were trashed by that updated power suit of yours."

Zaria smiled slightly and stood. "Come with me."

*******

Ayeka watched the forward display with anticipation.  She had raced 
Tristar to the point Ryoko had specified.  Three other cruisers had seen 
that something was happening, and followed.  Admiral Hayes, after being 
informed of a potential opening, had given approval, but warned that 
there would be no backup if something went wrong.

Not that Ayeka expected anything to go wrong.

"Anything?" she asked.

The sensor officer shook his head. "Nothing, ma'am.  Those ships are 
taking notice of us, though.  Looks like they're turning."

"Keep us just outside their range," Ayeka replied.  Zentradi energy 
weapons had a much shorter range compared to anyone else in the galaxy. 
  It was speculated that this was still one more control on them by 
their Masters.  "Outside" of Zentradi beam range was well within the 
range of Tristar's ow energy weapons, to say nothing of the missiles.

"New contact," sensors said. "Coming up from the planet...what in blazes 
is that?"

Ayeka glanced at the repeater display and smiled. "That is our 
assistance, Lieutenant."

*******

Ryoko leaned forward in her control seat as Ryo-ohki closed on the 
Zentradi cruisers.  The range was less than a thousand kilometers, and 
dropping quickly.  Both Ryoko and her partner loved getting in close to 
their enemies; knife-fighting range, as some called it.  Missiles were 
useless at such ranges, and energy weapons often had trouble locking on. 
  Ryo-ohki didn't suffer from such drawbacks, of course.

The first cruiser, a box-like affair that was built for planetary 
assualts, had rotated to face Ayeka's group approaching from high orbit. 
  This gave Ryo-ohki a perfect shot at the exposed engines.  Beams of 
energy lanced out of the crystalline starship and raked across the 
Zentradi ship's aft hull.  Explosions followed and the entire rear half 
of the ship was consumed by the silent fire of reflex explosions as 
Ryo-ohki danced to her next target.

As soon as the cruiser's power plant blew, Ayeka's ships opened fire. 
The destroyers attempted to break away, but were trapped between a choir 
of hammers and a venomous snake.  Ryo-ohki couldn't unleash her full 
power at the remaining ships, since a good portion of her energy had to 
be transferred to her engines to stay out of the path of those killer 
beams from both sides.

"Ayeka!" Ryoko screamed over the com, "watch where you're shooting! 
Those are reflex warheads!"

"Of course they are," came Ayeka's calm voice. "Anything less than 
shipkillers would be inefficient."

Ryo-ohki jerked to the side to avoid a particle beam that followed 
through to disable a cluster of missile launchers on one destroyer's 
hull. "You did that on purpose!"

"No," Ryoko could hear the smirk in Ayeka's reply. "That was one of 
Churchill's shots.  Oh, one of the destroyers is attempting to run. 
Would you be a dear and disable the engines?  I think we could use some 
answers, and my Marines have discovered that boarding actions with the 
new Destroids and hovertanks are 'fun'."

Ryoko snorted. "They're Marines.  Anything that turns enemies into 
exploding plasma is 'fun'."

"Of course, now if you would be a dear."

Ryoko sighed, and tried not to laugh as Ryo-ohki sped toward the last 
Zentradi ship.

*******

"How did you get these?" Tenchi asked.

'These' were a trio of Vindicators sitting in a small hanger.  Behind 
the RDF mecha sat the Zentradi power armor that had shot Tenchi and 
Miriya down.  Beside that was a skeletal humanoid mecha.

"The Vindicators were salvaged from the bases after the occupants...went 
mad," there was a slight hesitation in Zaria's cool tone. "The Shell and 
Core units I designed myself."

Tenchi ran his eyes over the mecha.  It had an air of lethality reminded 
him of those months when Azonia's aces ripped holes in the SDF-1's 
Veritech squadrons. "Can it keep up?"

Zaria nodded. "Of course.  It uses the same drive system as the 
Vindicator, modified to the different mecha geometry."

"We're wasting time," Mitchels said as she dashed toward on of the 
Vindicators. "We have to stop that ship!"

Zaria and Miriya exchanged a long look, then turned to Tenchi. "You're 
still the boss," Miriya said.

Tenchi nodded and walked toward the forward-most Vindicator. "Pick a name."

"Avenger," Zaria whispered.

Tenchi looked over his shoulder, then nodded. "Saddle up."

*******

The newly-formed Avenger group raced across the Pacific ocean at six 
times the speed of sound.  Zaria was right about her personal mecha.  It 
was actually a mecha within a mecha, the skeletal 'core' unit fit inside 
the power-armor based 'core' unit.  Tenchi wasn't a mechanic of any 
sort, but he knew enough about protoculture-based mecha that an indirect 
interface like that shouldn't have been possible, yet Zaria was able to 
keep up with the three Vindicators easily.

"We are thirty minutes out from the projected location," Zaria reported. 
  The idea was to arrive with some kind of surprise, so they were flying 
low, and using com lasers for transmissions.

"Any sign of the escorts?" Tenchi asked.

"None," Mitchels replied. "I'm not getting anything on passive.  Should 
I go active?"

"Not yet," Tenchi said. "Stay silent until we're within two hundred miles."

"Aye, sir," Mitchels replied.

The minutes seemed to crawl by, though the ocean once again was passing 
below in a view.  Unlike last time, Tenchi's thoughts weren't confused, 
weren't misdirected.  His goals were clear.  He had to save his comrades 
in the RDF, he had to insure the Zentradi race would have a chance in 
the future, and he had to vindicate a friend.

Heavy, but nothing more than he was used to.

"Five minutes, Lead," Mitchels reported. "Radar is showing six fighter 
pods, plus targeting emissions of eight power armor units.  No active 
emisions from the ship itself."

Tenchi checked his own displays to confirm.  This would be interesting, 
at best. "Three and Four, hit the pods.  Two, on me.  We're taking the 
armor units."

"Why not just sink the ship, sir?" Mitchels asked. "Those units don't 
have flight capabilities, unlike normal male power armor."

"You sure?" Tenchi asked reflexively.

"I had long enough to observe their capabilities before you arrived, sir."

"She's right, Lead," Zaria said. "Those units do not posses flight 
units, and the ones that do are packed in storage and can't be activated."

"Hate to interrupt the last-minute plans," Miriya interupted, "but Four 
and I have to take care of those Fighter Pods now."

Miriya's Vindicator and Zarias unit gained altitude and launched a swarm 
of missiles ahead.  Tenchi and Mitchels continued at their course and 
speed. "Launch when you have visual.  Aim for the stern."

"Aye," Mitchels replied.  The frieghter itself resembled an old oil 
supertanker.  On the deck stood a squad of demonic-looking armored 
units, and the sun glinted off the shoulder-mounted particle beam 
cannons.  Two kilometer's out from the ship, pannels slid open on both 
Veritechs and four dozen high-explosive warheads shot toward the 
freighter.  Tenchi and Mitchels pulled up even as the missiles dropped 
to just above sea level.  Two Vindicators cleared the deck of the 
freighter by less than twenty meters, framed by a destructive latice. 
Less than a second later, the entire starboard side of the freighter 
errupted in a wall of flame.

"Target down," Tenchi reported as the ship (and the mecha) sank to the 
bottom of the Pacific.

"Two, confirmed," Mitchels added.

"This is Three," Miriya replied, "all bandits splashed."

"Four, confirmed," Zaria said.

Tenchi eased his fighter back to a cruising altitude and turned 
north-west. "Form up.  We're heading for Yellowstone.  Maximum power.  I 
think we've been out of touch too long."

*******

No light entered Lazlo Zand's lab.  At the moment, no artificial light 
was allowed to exist, either, for fear of desturbing his concentration. 
  His assistants had been banished hours before.  He was truly alone as 
he entered his meditations.

For it was only in those meditations that the Shapings came to him.  The 
Shapings of Protoculture.  From the Shapings came his power, his 
purpose, his very existance.

"You have done well," the Voice of the Shapings said.  Ever since Zand 
purposfully emulated Emil Lang's direct exposure to Protoculture, he had 
heard this same, child-like voice.

"Thank you," Zand gasped as the full pleasure of the Shapings was given 
to him for an instant.

"The Pioneer mission will proceed, that was inevitable.  Your minion 
Edwards has his own tasks there.  You will concentrate on Earth itself. 
  Breed hatred and ignorance.  And in the end, deliver the Sterling 
child to me."

Zand smiled, and for the first time invoked the hidden name that the 
Shapings identified themselves by. "Than you, Lady Tokimi."

*******

Zaria walked through the long corridor and into a lab that didn't appear 
on any directories to the factory satellite.  Technically, this was a 
storage bay for engine components.  Instead, it was a fully functioning 
mechanical and biological research laboratory.

"So you're my new assistant?" Came a voice.

"Yes," Zaria replied. "The board-"

"I know about the board of inquiry," the voice replied.  A slim red-head 
that stood half a head taller than Zaria herself emerged from behind a 
tank of bubbling liquid.

"Are you Professor Washu?" Zaria asked.

The redhead nodded. "No 'professor', though.  And I won't call 
you...whatever you would be called."

Zaria nodded slowly.  The inquiry had been quick.  A guilty plee plus 
evidence of insanity does that.  She had received a medical discharge 
and sent for psychiatric evaluation.  Even so, the damage had been done 
to her and all other Zentradi.  'Marshal' Leonard was playing up the 
untrustworthiness of Zentradi, even those that fought on the side of the 
RDF.  Her people were quickly becoming an underclass.  Forced 
micronization, concentration camps, lynch mobs, even 'Zent hunts' in 
some places.

And no one was arguing.  Some of her old comrades in the RDF compared it 
to a country called America almost a century before, when segments of 
its population were discriminated against, and in one case imprisoned, 
for no other reason than their appearance.

But she still had her life.  She still had a purpose.  And maybe, just 
maybe, she could help give her people purpose again.

"I saw the plans you came up with," Washu continued. "Very innovative. 
I'm almost impressed."

"'Almost', Washu?" Zaria asked.

Washu smiled. "Very good, no 'ma'am' or any waste like that.  But yes, 
'almost'.  Because it's not ready.  The materials you budgeted are far 
too weak.  We have to develop a different sort of high-density 
composites so these units can take at least one hit without the pilot 
being killed."

Zaria nodded. "When do we begin?"

"Now," Washu replied.

*******

The observation deck was the same.  The SDF-3 had progressed a bit, but 
that was all.  Tenchi noted that his initial estimate on the size was 
off.  Two kilometers may be an accurate estimate of the size, but the 
main guns had not been mounted yet.  Two separate reflex cannons would 
be mounted on the forward hull, and would extend the length to just over 
three kilometers.

"Impressive, isn't it?" He said.

Anna Mitchels jumped and spun to face Tenchi. "I'm sorry, sir.  I didn't 
hear you approaching."

"Of course you didn't," Tenchi smiled. "My grandfather's ghost would 
haunt me for eternity if I couldn't sneak up on a distracted person."

Mitchels straightened but didn't--quite--salute. "What can I do for you, 
sir?"

Tenchi dropped into an empty couch near the observation window, and 
motioned Mitchels to the seat next to him.  When she was seated, he 
continued. "You received your new posting today, correct?"

Mitchels nodded. "Yes, sir.  The Pioneer Mission.  A promotion to 
Lieutenant Commander and command of one of the squadrons."

"Tsunami squadron," Tenchi said. "VF-27."

Mitchels looked over at Tenchi. "Yes, sir.  What is so significant about 
that?"

Tenchi tried to look innocent. "Pardon?"

"Captain, I--respectfully--would appreciate it if you would not play games."

Tenchi shrugged. "Tsunami squadron is to be the second squadron in Wing 
One, the Command wing." He paused for a moment. "My wing.  You're going 
to be my XO."

Mitchels paused for a moment, and the information percolated through her 
mind. "Why me, sir?"

Tenchi shrugged, and held up three fingers. "Three reasons.  One, all 
the people I would choose are commanding their own squadrons or wings. 
Sterling, Archer, Montoya, Moore, and Horn are all tied up.  Two, I like 
what I saw in Indochina.  You handled yourself admirably given the 
situation."

"And three?" Mitchels asked after Tenchi had been silent for a moment.

"Three," Tenchi said, "what you went through in Indochina, while 
admirable, is enough to destroy the career of an officer in some eyes. 
I think you deserve better than that."

Mitchels was silent for a while.  Motes of light flared and died along 
the hull of the SDF-3. "Thank you, sir.  When do we start?"

"Not tomorrow," Tenchi replied. "And not the day after.  You are taking 
a month leave.  When you come back, we'll start organizing the wing."

End Chapter 21

And so ends Book 1: Macross.  This is my second attempt at writing an 
epic story.  The first one is better left unsaid at the moment (though I 
keep it on my website to glance at if I ever find my ego growing...).


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