Macross Odyssey 1

Chapter 1

Lightning III

            September 2, 2012

            Macross City, Alaska

            The VF-4 Lightning III variable fighter burst through the low, heavy clouds, rolling out into a level flight path. Inside the cockpit, pilot Hikaru Ichijyo glanced at his tactical screen, trying to discern at what angle his opponent would attack him. At the last second, his radar picked up his opponent and he rolled right as a VF-1J Valkyrie came screaming out from the low cloud cover as well, laser guns blazing. Hikaru pulled back on the stick and threw a lever marked with a large letter G. His plane shifted into the hybrid mode known as GERWALK Mode, allowing the thrust of his engines to be directed in a path that took him out of the line of fire. He brought up the Gatling gun pod and fired a line of 55mm slugs back at the Valkyrie. The Valkyrie pilot, no slouch either, also transformed into gerwalk mode and ducked under the line of fire and fired a pair of missiles.

If Hikaru knew his opponent, which he did, he figured that the missiles were really to distract him so that the Valkyrie pilot could line up the kill shot. He would have to deny him that possibility. He yanked a lever marked F and the Lightning III transformed back into fighter mode and shot forward with a burst of speed. He fired the Gatling pod at the missiles but in reality he was lining up a shot on the Valkyrie with his beam cannons. The Valkyrie, also transforming back into Fighter mode was a half second too late and Hikaru managed to nail it with a pair of beam blasts to the right engine.

“Dammit, I could have sworn I had you boss,” called the pilot of the Valkyrie, one Maximillian Jenius whose Valkyrie showed absolutely no sign of damage except some scorched paint from Hikaru’s direct hit.

“Lightning 3, we show a confirmed hit on Valkyrie 1. He’s going down, over,” crackled a high-pitched female voice over the two pilots’ radios.

“Roger that Control. We’re coming back in over,” replied Hikaru, casting a bemused glance at Max’s Valkyrie which was most certainly not going down. “Let’s close it up for today Max.”

“Damn and I almost had you too. They just had to give you the new model didn’t they?” It may have sounded like complaining but Hikaru knew that Max was likely grinning in his cockpit.

“Well don’t sound too disappointed Max,” said Hikaru, chuckling a bit, “If I got paid for every time that you’ve shot me down in sim, I could retire with Misa as a rich man.”

Later, Max and Hikaru had walked out to the base parking lot. Hikaru waved at Max as the blue-haired man jogged off to his car and was just about to start walking in the direction of where he parked, when his car came around the corner and pulled up next to him. A beautiful brown-haired woman leaned out the window and pulled the sunglasses she was wearing down enough to reveal her vivid green eyes and said, with a smirk, “Hey there fly-boy. Need a lift?”

Hikaru grinned himself and replied, “Gunsight One, I think you have things a little mixed up. I’m supposed to do the driving.” Captain Misa Hayase frowned at him.

“Just get in the car Ichijyo, or you’re walking back to the Megaroad.”

With a smile and a shrug, Hikaru tossed his bag into the backseat and climbed into the passenger seat.

A short while later, Hikaru and Misa walked into the quarters they had been temporarily sharing in a barracks building. The rooms were very sparse, likely due to the many packing boxes that were stacked around the room.

“Hey I thought the dockworkers were supposed to have all this stuff transferred to the ship by now.

“We’ve got most of them working extra time trying to make last minute additions to the ship. Admiral Global wants the ship launched on the 8^th and we will have the ship launched if we have to get outside and push.” Hikaru put his hands on Misa’s shoulders so they could look at each other squarely in the eye.

“So who is going to move our boxes from here to our quarters on the Megaroad?” Misa just smiled sweetly.

“I have a couple of guys coming tomorrow to do it. We’ll have to help them though, if we want to get the stuff moved before the staff meeting I have to go to with the Admiral,” she said as she broke free from Hikaru and headed into the bedroom. Hikaru was about to make a short retort but cut himself off. He’d learned both from experience and from Claudia LaSalle that trying to argue with Misa when she had her mind made up about something like this was a recipe to be sleeping on the couch. Instead he settled on a different tactic.

“I’ll call Millia and Max and see if they can lend a hand.”

“Oh no you don’t!” retorted Misa, poking her head around the frame of the bedroom door. A bare shoulder indicated that she was changing from her uniform to normal clothes. “Max and Millia have a kid to raise and besides Max is busy with his own duties tomorrow. The only reason you get time off is to get set up on the ship.” She retreated back into the bedroom and Hikaru sighed. After thinking about it for a moment, he slinked into the kitchen and picked up the phone. He knew a couple of Skull Squadron grunts that would be just thrilled to help out their commander with moving.

Across town a beautiful, dark-haired woman stepped through the doors of the Lake Global Plaza, one of the few fancy hotels in Macross City. She wore a long coat, a wide-brimmed hat and large sunglasses that seemed somewhat out of place now that the sun had gone down. She walked up to the desk and the rotund, balding clerk glanced up from the computer he was typing at.

“Can I help you?” he asked somewhat snootily.

“I have a reservation,” replied the woman. She had an accent that the clerk didn’t recognize.

“Name please.” The woman smiled a dazzling smile and pulled the glasses down to reveal her eyes and the rest of her face. The clerk’s eyes widened in recognition.

“Lynn Minmei-desu.”